Snyder critics unhappy over closed access to town halls

LANSING – As Gov. Rick Snyder prepared to hold the first in a series of 10 "town hall" meetings in Kalamazoo Monday night, disputes erupted over who can attend the meetings and who can't.

Lonnie Scott, executive director of the liberal group Progress Michigan, complained on Twitter that his online ticket to the event at Western Michigan University had been canceled.

Bruce Fealk, a political activist who was involved in a 2012 Snyder recall effort, said his ticket was also canceled "with no explanation."

The governor claims to be one tough nerd." Fealk said in an e-mail to the Free Press. "He's not tough. He's scared to answer hard questions about his policies that have devastated Michigan's seniors, students and teachers."

Emily Benavides, a spokeswoman for the Snyder campaign, said the idea of the town halls is for the governor to take questions from undecided voters and tickets are screened to remove what the campaign believes are known supporters of Snyder's Democratic opponent, Mark Schauer.

The Schauer campaign "should be ashamed" for trying to "steal seats" from undecided voters, Benavides said.

Progress Michigan has no official connection to the Schauer campaign but Benavides said she believes Scott is either a Schauer supporter or Schauer has a significant problem with his base.

Scott said the Snyder campaign is being disingenuous. The meetings "are either open to the public or they get to pick and choose who they want to be there," he said. "If only certain people are allowed, then that's what they should be saying."

Asked if known Snyder supporters would have their tickets canceled in favor of undecided voters, Benavides said she wasn't sure. But people suspected of coming "to disrupt the event" won't be allowed in, she said.

The Bernhard Center at WMU will hold about 150 for the event, she said.

Snyder and Schauer have agreed to a joint town hall meeting in Detroit on Oct. 12 that will be televised live on Detroit Public TV. Snyder's campaign manager, Kyle Robertson, said Schauer was welcome to attend the other town hall meetings, but Schauer said he doesn't plan to do so.

"Those are his dog and pony shows," Schauer told the Free Press. "They're screened audiences, screened questions.

"I'm glad he finally decided to stand side by side with me and defend his record in one live debate. And I hope there are more of them. But the town halls are campaign events for him and I think the press and the public should accept them for what they are."

Also Monday, Benavides said a town hall event announced for Saturday in Detroit will be rescheduled because the event conflicted with the Yom Kippur holiday.

Snyder will hold a town hall meeting in Troy Thursday, followed by one in Grand Rapids on Oct. 8, she said.

Paul Egan is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Free Press staff writer Kathleen Gray contributed to this report.