On Thursday evening, June 1, there was a real Town Hall meeting at the West Allis Library. It was one of the 73 meetings held by Cong. Jim Sensenbrenner since January. His meetings have a standard agenda. He chooses someone to ask a question and then responds—at length. Normally, there is only time for five questions at most because his answers take up most of the meeting.
On June 1, the first man who spoke asked Sensenbrenner to help raise the minimum wage. The Congressman announced that “econometrics proved that every time the minimum wage goes up, unemployment increases .”
The crowd groaned and booed since it is widely known that raising the minimum wage has next to no effect on employment levels.
Sensenbrenner banged the gavel. He said he wouldn’t tolerate disruption and if it occurred again, he would close the meeting. He then repeated that increasing the minimum wage causes unemployment. The crowd reacted again. Sensenbrenner banged the gavel and announced the meeting was over. He stormed out of the room and left the building with his entourage. Amid the confusion, someone said, “Let’s have our own Town Hall.”