Kirkpatrick Brushes Off Grieving Grandma With Selfie Invite

Kirkpatrick offers photo-op to grieving grandmother who asks for border security

ann kirkpatrick
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick cuts short a conversation with grieving Angel grandmother Laura Basurto during Kirkpatrick’s Congress On Your Corner event on Saturday, June 22, 2019.

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick brushed off a grieving grandmother with an offer of a selfie during her sparsely attended Congress On Your Corner event on Saturday.

Although the congresswoman had touted the event as an opportunity to “talk about issues that are important to you,” she showed little interest in what Angel grandmother Laura Basurto had to say.

Basurto became an Angel grandparent when her 17-year-old grandson, Fernando Jose Basurto Jr., was killed on May 19, 2016 at the hands of a man illegally present in the country, just a few days before he was set to graduate from a West Covina high school.

Basurto told the ADI that she informed Kirkpatrick, D-Tucson, that she had “been calling her office in Washington D.C., and also her Tucson office since January 2019, and since she was not returning my calls, I came to see her.

“I told her my grandson was murdered by an illegal alien. She said she was sorry, and I said, ‘no your not, and you don’t care.’ She responded with ‘yes we do care.’ I replied, “this why I have to confront you because you don’t reply to my calls.

“She asked what I wanted from her. I told her she is part of do-nothing Congress and that she worked for me – the voter. I informed her that I wanted her to do her job and secure the border and make it safe for Americans. Stop the illegal aliens from coming here. All she did was smile and asked if I wanted a photo-op with her, which I refused and also refused to shake her hand.

“She is out of touch with what her constituents want, but did have ‘impeach Trump’ bumper stickers on hand. That’s my taxpayer money hard at work.

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords started the Congress On Your Corner events. In fact, it was at a Congress On Your Corner event that she and over a dozen other people were shot by a madman. Six people died that day in 2011.

Kirkpatrick, who lacks the empathy for which Giffords was much admired and beloved, was criticized for attempting to resurrect the Congress On Your Corner concept. In light of her infamous exit from a Safeway in 2009, after angry constituents tried to to discuss Obamacare, politicos were surprised Kirkpatrick would even try.

Related article: Ann Kirkpatrick – “Listens” about Obamacare now ad

Besides lacking Giffords’ interpersonal skills, Kirkpatrick has also been unwilling to acknowledge the unique difficulties her constituents face living along the crime-ridden southern border.

After resigning her House seat based in Yavapai County to launch an unsuccessful Senate race, Kirkpatrick moved to southern Arizona to run in 2018 for the House seat previously held by now-Senator Martha McSally. The move forced Kirkpatrick, a one time blue dog democrat, to adopt a more progressive stand on illegal immigration and border security.

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