About 25 people, including some well-known local Democrats, turned a meeting planned for constituency services on Monday in Warsaw into a forum to vent anger over President Donald Trump’s slashing of government services.
They also made it clear they want to have a town hall meeting with Rep. Rudy Yakym whose office hosted the meeting originally overseen by a sole staffer.
The meeting at Warsaw City Hall turned momentarily raucous as residents complained about the slew of changes ushered in by Trump and specifically Elon Musk.
The meeting was intended to be for constituents who need one-on-one consultations, but apparently, everyone who showed up wanted to discuss policy changes set forth by Trump during his first 30 days in office.
A congressional staffer, Savannah Smallwood, said minutes after arriving at the noon-time meeting that she felt overwhelmed by the crowd and their desire to talk policy rather than discuss individual issues like receiving veterans services.
Often, those kinds of meetings attract very few people, sometimes none, she said.
Tensions escalated after Smallwood put district director Griffin Nate on speakerphone. Nate demanded those attending be respectful of his staffer.
“This is how this is gonna work,” Nate said. “These are not town halls. These are office hours, and so you all are to be respectful of members of my team. What’s going to happen is you can speak to her one by one, but we are not offering a group format.”
Don Zolman, a farmer and businessman, complained about the lack of town halls.
“I have a question for you, sir, when are we going to have a town hall since you are the boss?” Zolman said.
“We are not doing a town hall,” Nate said.
“Why not?” Zolman asked as others started yelling.
“Because we’re not,” Nate replied.
Nate pointed out that Yakym regularly travels through the district and meets with groups and businesses and that one of those tours ended last week.
While those are publicized to the media for the sake of coverage, the schedules are not released to the public.
Yakym has never held a public town hall meeting, which follows suit with his predecessor, the late Rep. Jackie Walorski, who only held one in about 10 years.
About 50 minutes later, Nate showed up at the meeting and reiterated his demand that people act respectfully.
Both sides accused each other of being disrespectful, but tensions soon settled and everyone who wanted to speak was given a chance.
Among those speaking was Vicki Morton, Kosciusko County Democratic Party chair who is also a board member for Cardinal Services. She expressed concern over the future of Medicaid funding and the potential cuts to Head Start, which is funded through the U.S. Department of Education.
Trump has said he wants to eliminate the Department of Education, which provides money for Head Start.
Former Democratic Party Chair Brian Smith said the plan to dismantle USAID would have far-reaching circumstances. One of those programs provides essential services for AIDS patients in Africa and was established by President George W. Bush.
Julie Kuhn joined others upset with the role of Elon Musk who appears to be overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency known as DOGE. She also wondered what would happen if Social Security was cut.
“What if half of my income goes away because of the random 8% budget cuts? What will I do? What will anyone do?” she said.
Donald Guthrie expressed concern with the lack of apparent oversight.
“For me personally, I don’t have a problem with them scaling back on the government,” Guthrie said. “I want to know what kind of oversight is Congressman Yakym is doing to make sure these choices of letting people go are thoughtful … that they’re not just one guy with some twenty-somethings going through (the process).”
A military veteran said he worries that cuts to the Veterans Administration will hurt significantly services.
A woman also brought up national security.
“I am also very upset and concerned that the executive branch seems to be siding with what used to be our enemies and turning away what was our allies,” she said. “The executive branch is pretty much stating out loud that we are friends with Russia and throwing Ukraine under the bus. This is a shift in the international order that has kept us safe as a nation for 75-80 years.”
Nobody stepped forward to discuss personal constituency issues with the staff.
On Tuesday, Yakym’s office issued the following statement reiterating his dedication to transparency and serving all constituents of Indiana’s Second District:
“Congressman Yakym and our team are committed to accessibility and transparency, hosting monthly mobile office hours across the district so every constituent can connect and be heard,” said Nate. “We’re here to serve and represent all Hoosiers in the Second District — but we won’t stand for leftist lies meant to disrupt, disrespect, and intimidate.”