Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler made it about three steps through the door of the Community Room at the Luepke Center in Vancouver before she was approached by a constituent. Then another, then another.
There the Battle Ground Republican stayed planted for the next hour, answering questions about everything from sea lion population control to a Mexican border wall to the recent report on the president’s conduct from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. She didn’t make it any farther into the room until it had nearly cleared out.
It wasn’t an explicitly political affair — the senior resource fair, hosted by Herrera Beutler’s office and featuring booths from 37 senior-focused organizations, was designed to connect the older residents of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District to various medical, recreational and employment services.
But much of the conversation veered toward the political. And while many of the 400-odd attendees came for information on local senior services, for others, an audience with the congresswoman herself was a big part of the draw.
“This wasn’t a partisan event, so that surprised me a little bit,” Herrera Beutler said, speaking just outside the venue after the event wrapped up around 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“A lot of people wanted to talk about the wall. Somebody had an idea on taxes.” She added with a laugh: “There were some sweet grandmas talking to me in there about killing those sea lions.”
For Doug Daniels, a senior who donned his Make America Great Again hat and drove 45 minutes from Longview for the event, it was a two-birds, one-stone kind of situation — he wanted to touch base with Herrera Beutler about volunteering for her campaign and posting signs on his property. But he and his wife were also planning to open a herbal medicine store, he said, and he’s looking for tips on opening a business.
“I got a lot of information, hopefully it’ll be helpful. We’ll see,” Daniels said.
Vancouver resident Carolena Cassidy said she came to the event with a single goal in mind: to set up an appointment with Herrera Beutler to discuss child abuse laws, after working a long time to get in touch with her office.
“I’m trying to make a difference,” Cassidy said. “And she’s a very powerful, good person with a lot of good morals.”
Herrera Beutler also fielded questions from the crowd on the Mueller report, which she voted to release back in March but declined to comment on since the 400-page, partially redacted document came out five days ago.
The report found insufficient evidence that President Donald Trump committed criminal conspiracy with Russia, but detailed the president’s efforts to derail the investigation.
Herrera Beutler said it’s time to move on.
“I supported giving (the investigation) an independent go, much to the chagrin of some folks,” she said. “To me, the most important piece of the Mueller report was, it’s time to move forward.”
“There’s no reason to further make this a political circus,” she added.
Connecting to resources
The congresswoman’s office has hosted one other senior resource fair during her tenure, back in 2015. They revived it this year because “we just felt like there was a need,” said Angie Riesterer, her communications director.
At the time, Herrera Beutler said, they weren’t sure if there would be much interest in the event, and in the intermittent years her staff has focused their attention on annual job fairs and a youth leadership summit.
But Tuesday’s turnout showed there’s still a big demand for these events, she said.
“People come to us about a certain issue, and we just say, ‘Oh, let’s get just everybody in a room,'” Herrera Beutler said. “I know there’s solutions in the community — let’s just get them all in the same spot.”
Seniors also make up the largest voting demographic in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, according to data from the office of Secretary of State Kim Wyman.
The district was home to 117,914 registered voters 65 and older as of April 1. From there, the number of registered voters shrinks with age. People ages 55 to 64 make up 83,350 voters, down to just 36,673 voters between 17 and 24 years old.
The 37 organizations that attended the fair covered a wide range of senior services, including volunteer opportunities such as Meals on Wheels, health resources including the Alzheimer’s Association and education programs including Clark College Mature Learning.
Kathy Bazan, a business adviser for the Small Business Development Center, said the fair was a chance to connect with people looking to start their own business.
Seniors, she said, are at an especially opportune time in their life to get entrepreneurial, but they often need direction on some of the details of opening a storefront or online business.
“They’re giving themselves something entertaining and educational to do,” Bazan said.
Janice Butzke, operations and programs manager for Clark County’s Meals on Wheels, said she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout and hopeful that her booth had inspired some new volunteers.
“I’m ecstatic. There’s been lots of good questions, and we’ve been able to fill in some blanks,” Butzke said.
