The visitor at last Monday’s Wayland Board of Education meeting was Jon Rocha, who is challenging Congressman Fred Upton in the Republican primary in August 2022.
Rocha also recently was identified in a video from the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington D.C.
He came to meeting and disrupted it from the start and eventually was escorted from the premises by public safety officer Matt Miller.
Townbroadcast incorrectly identified him its its story Monday night as “John Rotha.”
Rocha, a native of Kalamazoo, is a Mexican-American Marine veteran.
“I am someone who is tired of complaining about the issues and is ready to get something done,” he said in a candidate profile. “A Marine Corps Vet, football coach, father, and Patriot, ready to serve once again!
“I am not a rich politician. I am just a man tired of NOTHING being done in Congress, willing to put it all out on the line to bring the People’s Voice back to Congress. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness is a simple principle that for whatever reason we have pushed away from. EVERY American deserves these opportunities and God Given Rights.”
Well that’s one way to run for public office. He will be a household name, the “@$%^&#” that police had to escorted out of meetings. Must be cheaper than yard signs.
He thought he was at Mar- Lago for his audition.
Why was he escorted out of the meeting? I must have missed that part?
I just love how it was an insurrection on Jan. 6, but when Joyce Beatty and her crew get arrested in the capitol for their activities, it is a protest.
When the burning and looting was going on, they were righteous protesters. But when protesters were in Lansing, they were armed thugs.
Somehow, your diatribes smack of ideological bias, when describing certain events. It is becoming more and more difficult to take you seriously and harken to your warnings and outrage, because of this.
No ideological bias when the nation’s Capitol Building is overrun and vandalized by 100s of protesters who were among the 25,000 to 30,000 who protested the false premise that somehow then President Trump had been turned out of office by “fixed election results.” That was the first time the Capitol Building had been overrun by those opposed to American democracy since British troops did it in the War of 1812.
Every school board meeting and other public meeting at the municipal, county and state level I’ve ever attended operate using Roberts Rules of Order as meeting procedure to hopefully prevent unruly individuals (or groups of individuals) from disrupting meetings. There are meeting schedules including time set aside for public comments.
Mr. Rocha’s actions were part of a planned stunt on his part getting some cheap publicity to prove he’s more outraged than other potential primary opponents vying for MI 6 Congressional District. It worked for Congress members Bieber CO 3rd (R) and Taylor Green GA 14th (R) in 2020.
Given the fact MI GOP Co-Chair is Meshawn Maddock, a very vocal supporter of the alleged stolen presidential election, also organized and arranged for buses of protesters from MI to be at the January 6 Capitol protest, Mr. Rocha may already have some MI GOP support.
If Mr. Rocha thinks his disruptive actions are acceptable, why should the voters of MI-6 think he’d act any differently if he would be elected to Congress?
And why is it that attacks on other federal buildings or on law enforcement not called insurrection? Why is not ANTIFA not considered an insurrectionist group? I get it. It was wrong to storm the Capitol Building. But, it seems that the motivation behind it could be linked to the hands off approach given to ANTIFA and the rioters and looters that were not only unpunished but encouraged or ignored, by the very same people that were put in harms way on Jan. 6.
Bob,
Please don’t waste your time with the facts. 2030 doesn’t get it. These folks will try to bring you down to their level and crush you with their experience.
Thanks for the “other side” of the story……….Just hoping The Editor doesn’t go completely Zuckerberg on the facts presented on this forum……..
Cheers!!
David , the headline calling the action of January 6 an insurrection kinda stretches the truth. The videos I saw showed capital police opening doors ( secured with magnetic locks that are extremely difficult to breach) , waving people in and even leading them into the Capital building. Capital police outside that would not interfere with people attempting to break windows even though people asked them to do something. Police removing barricades and waving people toward the capital. The intruders were not armed and only one person died when a Capital police officer fired his weapon in a reckless manner. The police officers behind Ashley Babbit were fortunate not to have been hit. Shortly before that a Capital officer stood next to a man breaking a window in the door and did nothing. If this was an insurrection then those people were ill prepared. Having over 2000 officers to secure the building and unable to do so shows very poor leadership and job performance. Nobody was fired to my knowledge.
To Mr Couchman. There have been several attacks on the Capital building in modern memory.
March 1, 1954. Puerto Rican separatists injured 5 congressman by gunfire. The bullet holes can still be seen in the house chamber. March 1 ,1971. Bomb was detonated below Senate chambers by Weather Underground terrorists . An organization led by William Ayers, friend and mentor to Barrack Obama.
July 1998. Attack on Tom Delay’s office. 2 Capital police officers were killed.
9-11-2001. Anthrax in an envelope sent to Majority Senate Leader Tom Daschle’s office. These are some of the attacks.
Don,
Be careful bringing those pesky facts forward. This hurts 2030’s and the Editors narrative.
Thanks for “The rest of the story.”
Cheers!!
It’s disappointing to see Trump supporters minimize overrunning The Capitol and their only response continues to be “WHAT ABOUT ANTIFA?”
Want to name any of the Antifa members arrested on January 6 in DC? Its doubtful anyone living in Allegan County, especially rural NE Allegan County, has ever met anyone who identifies as a member of Antifa. Finding an active group of Antifa members in Allegan County will have the same results as a snipe hunt.
The protesters challenging the November election results who gathered on The Ellipse for the “Stop the Steal” rally, like Mr. Rocha, wanted to nullify the November election results by raising so much hell that Vice President Mike Pence would bail on his responsibilities and vacate the Capitol. They wanted to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote. The next step would have been one vote from each state. That would have resulted in Donald J Trump being re-elected. That could explain why former President Trump addressed the crowd at The Ellipse hours before a portion of the same crowd the stormed the Capitol.
Those folks, including Mr. Rocha, aren’t patriots. They are terrorists who were attempting to subvert an election because their candidate lost. Mr. Rocha and others like him are political bullies who wouldn’t hesitate to move to nullify any elections that didn’t have the results they desired if they were elected.
Let’s call it what it is. Those folks who like to be smarmy about pesky facts are quick minimize the assault on Capitol Police and vandalizing of the nation’s Capitol. They continually play the WHAT ABOUT ANTIFA card because they got nuthin’. They refuse to admit the United States they want to see can toss aside election results they don’t like.
Don’t whine about democracy. Bottom line is the GOP ran a candidate who won MI by 10,704 votes (0.22% margin) in 2016 but lost MI in 2020 by 154,188 votes (2.78% margin). No one was crying about pesky facts in 2016, but suddenly we are supposed to believe the incumbent claims the election was “stolen” when his opponent’s vote margin was 14.4 times large than the victory he proudly claimed in 2016.
Not only did former President Trump lose MI in 2020, he also lost PA and WI that he narrowly won in 2016 and AZ flipped to Democrats. Now we are to believe the election was fixed and resulted in a “stolen the election” from now former President Donald J Trump and the GOP. Okey dokey.
If people feel we need to elect people like Mr. Rocha who supports the idea the 2020 election was “stolen” from the GOP and local school board meetings should be subjected to the same mob as seen in DC after the “Stop the Steal” rally he attended, what’s next?
Want to accept the premise that our democracy isn’t safe because the people you voted for lost? If that’s the case, I suspect you suffer from selective Alzheimer’s and have forgotten everything you learned in the U.S. government class that is required for a high school diploma in Michigan. That’s the best case. Worst case is you have convinced yourselves one-party rule is the answer and elections become nothing more political kabuki, where the results are predetermined.
2030,
Yet more fake news that you continue to spew……
“That was the first time the Capitol Building had been overrun”
Cheers!!