When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court to disenfranchise voters in four states, including Michigan, by overturning the will of the voters in electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 election, few people in the 7th Congressional District were surprised to learn that their “representative” Tim Walberg had signed on to support it:
In the flood of specious legal claims asserted (and repeatedly rejected by state and federal courts) in the course of the president’s unsuccessful campaign to overturn the election, the most outrageous may have been Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to block Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin from casting their state’s Electoral College votes for Biden.
In a lawsuit filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton asked justices to let the four state’s legislatures — all controlled by Republican majorities — decide how to allocate their electoral votes.
The court dismissed the Paxton’s initiative in an unsigned order — but only after four of Michigan’s seven GOP congressmen — Bergman, Huizenga, Moolenaar and Walberg — had signed a brief urging the court to effectively disenfranchise 2.8 million Michigan voters.
Even after the violent sacking of the U.S. Capitol Building and murder of a Capitol police officer by Trump supporters on January 6th, Walberg voted against holding Donald Trump accountable for inciting the seditious riot.
Those of us living in the 7th were not only not surprised by Walberg attempting to disenfranchise 2.8 million of our fellow Michiganders. We were outraged. Individuals and groups across the 7th District made our opinions heard through emails, phone calls, and letters to the editor. One group, Saline Indivisible, undertook an effort to ask Rep. Walberg’s donors to stop supporting him financially. They sent a very calmly and politely worded letter to his financial backers:
To whom it may concern;
Dear ___________,As a resident of Michigan District 7, I am writing to you regarding future donations to Representative Walberg. According to FEC records, I see that you have donated to his recent campaign and I am highly concerned about his recent behavior. Between joining the Texas lawsuit attempting to throw out valid votes of Michigan residents and his choice to object to the counting of other states’ Electoral College votes, once again disenfranchising more voters. Although I understand he is disappointed that President Trump lost the election, to continue to object after the “election fraud” rhetoric resulted in the storming of the Capitol is unpatriotic and unacceptable.
Due to his actions, I respectfully request and hope that you will consider suspending donations to Walberg and his campaign in the future and donate to other, more honorable, conservative candidates in the future who would put country above his or her political ambitions.
I hope you consider this letter in the spirit in which it’s intended, which is for the good of our country. I am writing as a member of Saline Indivisible and while we trend toward liberal membership, we believe that all good people want the best for our country. We are also happy to have productive conversations “across the aisle”. We will not write to you again but if you would like to reach us, you can email salineindivisiblemi@gmail.com. Thank you for your time.
Respectfully,
First name, last initial
Member: Saline Indivisible
Well, that bit of civic engagement was a bridge too far for Mr. Walberg. Today, he sent out this fundraising letter, calling the citizen activists of Saline Indivisible “far-left”, “extremist”, “blinded by their hatred”, “fringe”, and “disgusting.” He even called their effort to hold him accountable “political intimidation.”
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Tim Walberg has been safely ensconced in a heavily gerrymandered district for years. He barely campaigns each cycle because he knows that, no matter what he does or who he’s running against, he doesn’t have to worry about getting re-elected. In fact, most of us believe that, once his district is redrawn in a more fair way by Michigan’s amazing new independent redistricting commission, he will retire from politics. He draws a pension from the state of Michigan from his time as a state legislature and, once he’s out of Congress, he’ll have a pension from that, too. Why would he run if he actually had to work for it?
The truth is, Tim Walberg is terrified of his constituents. He knows that his ideas and political positions are widely and wildly unpopular and, if it weren’t for his gerrymandered political safety, he would have been tossed out of his job several cycles ago. After redistricting, Michigan and the citizens of the current 7th Congressional District will be well-rid of this un-American member of the Republican Sedition Caucus.
Hat tip to Steven, the man behind the excellent Take Care, Tim website and Twitter feed.
