BY JOE POTENTE, Kenosha News

A year ago, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., conducted a listening session at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha that drew an overflow crowd of more than 400 people and a league of protesters.

Six months ago, another session in the same spot attracted a smaller crowd, but still featured a series of heated exchanges with Ryan opponents who repeatedly interrupted the congressman and his supporters.

Bill Siel | Kenosha News U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., fields questions during a listening session at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha on Thursday. About 130 people attended -- less than half of the capacity crowd that came out for a similar event a year ago.

Ryan was back Thursday, with a still smaller crowd and what appeared to be a more sympathetic Kenosha audience than he has seen in some time.

About 135 people turned out for the event, where constituents had the opportunity to ask questions of Ryan after he gave what has become his customary presentation of the positions he has staked out as House Budget Committee chairman.

And while there were still some in the audience who were clearly opposed to Ryan’s platform — including some who sported bumper stickers advertising Ryan’s likely opponent in the November election, Democrat Rob Zerban — the session was absent of most of the rancor that has greeted Ryan in the more strongly Democratic parts of his 1st Congressional District, and the crowd enthusiastically cheered Ryan upon his entrance and exit.

Selling his budget

In pitching the House Republican budget package, which includes massive spending cuts, tax cuts and a controversial overhaul of Medicare, Ryan said action must be taken to get a handle on the federal government’s expanding debt.

Citing the nation’s growing fiscal gap — unfunded liabilities that Ryan conceded have come in the form of promises by Democrats and Republicans over the years — Ryan said he wants to avoid a situation where “empty promises become broken promises.”

“Time is of the essence,” Ryan said. “We don’t have a lot longer left in this country before we are presented with a European-like situation.”

Ryan and a few of his supporters lamented the lack of action by the Senate, which is not expected to approve any budget before Congress adjourns for the year.

Safety net exchange

While streamlining spending and debt, Ryan said his goal is to maintain a safety net for those who need it — one that promotes upward mobility.

Ryan’s philosophies did not square with Mike Frontier, a retired Racine Unified School District principal who questioned the congressman on why he is backing cuts to Head Start and the Opportunities Industrialization Commission, which provides job training programs to disadvantaged, under-skilled workers.

“For every buck you spend on Head Start, you get $7 to $17 back, and your budget knocks $2 billion out of Head Start,” Frontier said. “I’m asking you this as a Catholic ... how can we justify taking (from) these? There’s very little mobility between income levels in our country, and these are programs that allow kids to move and achieve their dreams.”

Ryan told Frontier he does not believe the nation’s poverty-fighting strategies are working today, as one in six people are in poverty — the highest rate in a generation.

The congressman said it is important to promote economic growth to ensure that jobs will be waiting for people as they are pulled from poverty.

Ryan also said he believes the government has become top heavy with poverty-fighting programs that fail to measure outcomes.

“We need to have the right incentive structure,” Ryan said. “Incentives to work, incentives to go to job training, incentives to get back on your life of self-sufficiency in a society of upward mobility with prosperity — you’ve got to have a growing economy to achieve those ends.”

Fewer people, fewer protesters

Thursday’s listening session did feature what’s become a common fixture at such events — anti-Ryan demonstrators outside the auditorium — though there were only a handful, compared with last year.

Five demonstrators, dressed as nuns, held signs spelling out “SHAME.”

Florence Hammelev, a local representative of Catholics United, which was not affiliated with the costumed protesters, called Ryan’s budget “basically a tax break for the rich” that belies Catholic social teachings on poverty.

As for the smaller turnout for the session, Zerban, chatting with supporters outside, said he believes a lot of people are now focused on the upcoming gubernatorial recall election.

Republican Party of Kenosha County Chairman Matt Augustine agreed, adding he believes opponents are tired of hearing the same answers from Ryan.

“They think he’s lying,” Augustine said, “and he’s not.”

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