Rep. Ron Kind PHOTO: Larry Lee © 2015 Midwest Communications
At the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, a Wisconsin congressman gets heckled on a hot button issue – the Trans Pacific Partnership.
It happened as La Crosse Democrat Ron Kind spoke with the media after talking with Wisconsin delegates on Wednesday morning. A small group of protectors began heckling Kind with chants of “TPP has got to go.”
Afterward, Kind said he wasn’t phased by the hecklers. “You know, this is Democracy, and people have a right to come out and peacefully assemble, but I’m willing to come out and talk to anyone about any issue, whether it’s trade agreements or whatever” Kind told the hosts of Devil’s Advocate Radio.
“I would hope this week that we Democrats – even though there are going to be some differences of opinion from time to time – would have some common decency and civility to at least talk to each other in a civil manner. And I’m all in on that.”
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both oppose the TPP, and Trump has made a promise to renegotiate existing trade deals a central component of his campaign.
Kind has consistently said that the TPP must be considered in light of the status quo. “Without a high standard TPP, the U.S. will face a Pacific region that could have no trading rules or possibly China’s rules. In order for our economy to continue to grow, the United States must be at the table setting the rules for 21st century trade,” Kind said in October of last year.
Kind faces a primary challenge in the Third Congressional District from Myron Buchholz of Eau Claire, a retired educator who argues that free trade agreements have failed to deliver on their promised economic benefits for working Americans.