Second round of protests in Modesto at House Rep. McClintock’s Modesto office
Constituents of Rep. Tom McClintock once again gathered outside his 15th street office to express concerns about the Republican’s support for the Trump administration and the activities of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Around 50 people congregated in front of the office at 10 a.m. Monday, waving signs and some carrying prepared statements to give to McClintock’s staff.
Office hours scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 25, in Modesto, Riverbank and Oakdale were canceled about six and a half hours after the original email was sent the day before.
Colby Zavala, who helped organize both last week’s and this week’s protests, said he and some of the other protesters plan to continue to show up at McClintock’s office until he responds.
“We were here last week to meet with McClintock’s staff, we did that, and later that day he shut down all of his constituent meetings he had scheduled,” Zavala said. “The people that didn’t get to speak to him that day wanted to come back.”
On Monday, protesters came into the building through the back entrance because the front of the building was locked. Matt Reed, McClintock’s deputy chief of staff, said he didn’t know why the office was locked but would ask the landlord.
Reed heard the complaints in groups of five people while another staff member took notes.
After being heard for a minute each, protesters then went to the corners of J and 15th streets. There were some younger adults and children at the protest, but like the week before, many in the group were older.
Protesters said they felt ashamed by the actions of President Donald Trump at his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. Vice President JD Vance and Trump told Zelenskyy to say “thank you,” incorrectly claiming that Zelenskyy had not expressed gratitude for U.S. support.
Donna Endsley of Turlock was standing in front of a chair with a cardboard cutout of a person that read “Tom McClintock, where are you?” She referred to McClintock as her cardboard representative.
Caroline Byerly of Modesto said she sent an email asking for an in-person town hall after attending virtual town halls. She said they were not helpful and mainly consisted of the representative talking at, rather than with, his constituents.
“He needs to be more accessible and more accountable,” she said.
She said she also is concerned about proposals by the House budget committee, on which McClintock sits. “His constituents cannot bear those cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” she said.
Debbie Fong of Modesto said she came back for the second protest because she feels overwhelmed by what’s going on in the federal government. “I’m letting people know that our representatives need to stand up to Trump, and if they are not willing to do that, they need to get out of office so we can get somebody who can.”
Some protesters said McClintock appears to have no interest in representing them. They cited recent redistricting that has McClintock representing a large area he hasn’t reached out to.
On Feb. 18, McClintock posted a column titled “Musk and Democracy” in which he states that concerns around democracy and Elon Musk are “hysterics.”
Bob Jackson, 72, is originally from the Bay Area but moved to Waterford about five years ago.
“He needs to be a good representative, not a good Republican,” he said. “He has to come home sooner or later.”
Michael Ruhland and his wife, Patty, from Hughson said they hoped their representative would stand up to Trump. “We’re not overly confident about that because they’re from the same party,” he said.
Some drivers at the intersection honked in support, but others flipped off protesters or cursed at them. One yelled, “All you Karens are anti-American.”
Elena Bush, a protester who spoke with Reed in McClintock’s office, read aloud a 2013 speech McClintock gave against the abuse of executive power, directed at then-President Barack Obama. She encouraged McClintock to stand by the statement, which reads in part:
“The Constitution makes very clear that only Congress may make laws, and that the principle responsibility of the executive is to take care that those laws be faithfully executed. Yet the executive has increasingly asserted sweeping powers to unilaterally nullify laws that it dislikes, to pick and choose who must obey the law and who need not, and even to impose entirely new laws that Congress has explicitly refused to enact.”
“It’s not right that they are closing out the constituents, not speaking with them just because they don’t like the topics and don’t like what our concerns are,” Zavala said. “He still represents the whole district, he needs to hear us.”
The Bee reached out to McClintock’s media representative but did not hear back in time for publication.
