CLEVELAND — Outside of the Carl B. Stokes Federal Court House building in Downtown Cleveland, you'll find several dozen sign-carrying protesters each Wednesday who are upset over what's happening in the Trump administration in Washington.
"I fear for our democracy," said Barb Sespico of Mentor. "I don't like what unelected Musk is doing; he's slashing people's jobs with no consideration of whether they're doing a good job or not."
Lori King, also of Mentor, expressed frustration with members of Congress who, she said, give the president a free pass.
"I don't like that the Republicans are not standing up to Donald Trump; they know what's right, and they need to do the right thing."
That's why they've come to the federal courthouse where Senator Bernie Moreno has his Cleveland office. Folks like Kevin Becker of Rocky River feel they aren't being heard.
"You try to get ahold of your Congressman, both Senators, they're hiding behind their telephones, they're hiding behind their offices," Becker said. "I want to see them come on out and do a town hall, and I don't see anything like that happening."
News 5 has heard from a number of viewers with similar complaints. After taking office last month, Senator Moreno told News 5 of his plans to open 21 offices around the state so constituents are never more than an hour away from one.
"We're going to build a constituent services operation that is absolutely world class," Moreno said.
So, as for the complaints of constituents who say they can't get through? Moreno tells News 5 a lot of it simply is unprecedented volume.
"We're getting over 1,700 phone calls per day just here in Washington, D.C., probably that many in our state offices," he said.
And it's not just in Ohio. The Senate Sergeant at Arms reported earlier this month that instead of the normal 25 to 40 calls a minute the Senate receives, they were at times seeing a volume of 1500 to 1600. Moreno blamed outside groups with a political agenda for repeatedly calling their Senate numbers and overwhelming staff.
"These are people who are doing the absolute best they can to answer a record-setting number of phone calls, and it's a shame that these dark money groups are flooding the zone with these kinds of phone calls that really aren't about constituent services and in fact are getting in the way of actual constituents that need help to get things done for them," Moreno said.
Out on the street, Ellen Franks of Shaker Heights takes exception with that. She says she's simply one of those constituents seeking to be heard, not part of any dark money effort.
"Look at the people behind me. Do we look like we're dark money? Most of us are over 50 years old. We are out here, most of us are retirees that give up our time out here in the cold," she said. "None of us is getting any money, and the organizations that we belong to, it's all volunteer grass roots. There's no dark money."
