Dear editor,
I attended state Rep. Matt Maddock’s latest coffee hour (for District 44 including Springfield Township, Feb. 17, at Leo’s Coney in White Lake). A tremendous waste of time. It was more of a “party” for his “friends.”
Within hours, he boasted on Facebook of having over 70 “constituents” present. But, instead of speaking to the audience, he slipped into a corner booth where his friends could isolate him from his constituents. This included several large men in MAGA gear. It appeared to me less than one third were there to ask questions of their representative.   Made all the more difficult by his isolation.
People were only allowed to speak to him one or two at a time. His junior aide acted as the gateway. While I did not speak, after being granted “an audience,” my friend had a question. She was turned away by one of the representative’s “friends.” Her seat at the table was blocked until it could be confirmed she had been cleared by the aide.
Rep. Maddock scheduled a coffee hour ostensibly to hear from his constituents. Instead he surrounds himself with his “friends” a gatekeeper, and a bouncer. Who is Mr. Maddock afraid of? My friend is 62 and stands 5’2”; she posed no threat to Mr. Maddock.
Our representative wasn’t afraid of his constituents; he was afraid of their ideas. We need a representative who doesn’t just play to his base and is open to our ideas.
I’ve read his proposal to raise money to fix the roads. In my opinion that plan is an attempt to make it look like the Republican legislature is doing something without actually doing much at all. My friend was concerned over why Maddock had voted with a small minority of legislators to not support an increase in school funding. Apparently, when he talks about being pro-education he only means private and charter schools and the public schools are forgotten. His intransigent position on no new revenue for the state is frustrating, too.
Lee Estes
Milford
Asked to respond, Rep. Matt Maddock said, “We met with everyone who attended and signed up, and even accommodated several people who said they weren’t able to wait even though they showed up late. I suspect this person wasn’t there, as I met with many Democrats who attended and whom I had a nice conversation with.”