'Left-wing' marchers message falls on deaf ears

Dressed in black, the South Valley Civics group marched through downtown Visalia Tuesday. They were mourning the lack of representation by Congressman Devin Nunes, they said.

Roughly 60 people, walked Main Street near the entrance of Nunes' office on the corner of Church and Main streets.

Protesters were hopeful to get their representative's attention.

"He's our elected official and we need to have access — we need for him to talk to us," said Valerie Ehrlich, co-leader of South Valley Civics.

Cars honked their horns in support of the group holding up signs stating "real democracy is the opposite of our congressman's actions. No Nunes," and "Nunes shirks responsibilities and instead provides cover for [White House]."

Ehrlich said the congressman has dodged invitations to talk about issues within the district. However, Nunes' spokesperson said South Valley Civics weren't looking to talk.

"Our office takes immense pride in providing excellent, comprehensive, and timely services for our constituents," said Jack Langer, Nunes' communications director. "Today's protestors, however, aren't looking for constituent services. They are members of left-wing activist groups that are simply trying to oust Rep. Nunes from Congress and replace him with a Democrat."

He added that Nunes spends time in the district and talks often to groups without an agenda.

South Valley Civics is based in Visalia. According to their Facebook page, the organization consists of satellite groups that "work indivisibly in and around the Visalia, South Valley area of [California] to resist the Trump agenda."

"What's concerning to us is Congressman Nunes' lack of responsiveness to invitations to come speak at public free forums," Ehrlich said. "He hasn't held a public free forum here for about the last eight years."

Ehrlich added his local office doors are locked and in order to speak with an aide or representative, residents have to sign up on a national website.

"Without good discussion, there isn't an ability for us to exchange ideas, one way or another," Ehrlich said. "The first thing we need from him is to listen and be a participant with us."

By talking with his constituents, Nunes would find out there are people in his district that care about local issues and want their voices to be heard, Betsy Gaudette-Cross said.

"There a lot of people who are very concerned with representation and with someone who will listen to us," Gaudette-Cross said.

Fawn Pender, a Visalia resident, has been a member of the group since it was started. She was also one of the organizers of the local Women's March in January. She said inclusiveness is what drew her to hold a sign and march with the others Tuesday morning.

"This is part of my way of making sure that other progressives in the area know they are not alone because for a long time thought I was alone," Pender said. "Hopefully this will send a message to our congressman that he needs to pay attention to all of his constituents, not just some of them."