"An aide from the governor's office was there who welcomed us and gave us cards to fill out for questions to ask the governor.

...

The room was set up so you could see the governor on the screen above the podium, but there were other screens so you could see each of the audiences at the other sites around Michigan including us.

Wayne sat in the very last row at our meeting site, where he was called on by the governor, 3 times, to ask a question by one of our audience members.  What Wayne forgot (or didn't think about) is that  during the entire meeting he was on camera and his actions were being watched.

While he sat there he was either talking to someone next to him or he was on his cell phone, texting or reading messages and not paying attention to the governor.  I noticed the representatives in the other districts were sitting in the front rows and paying complete attention!

The meeting lasted a little over an hour.  I timed each of the 12 questions.  At the end the governor said something like (I'll paraphrase).....   "We'll take the last question from Wayne Schmidt in Traverse City..... (dead silence)   Wayne?   (dead silence)...  Wayne? (dead silence)...."  People in our audience were turning around looking  for Wayne and he was nowhere to be found.  The guy who had been sitting next to Wayne grabbed a question off the stack to ask the governor.   Then the governor said something like "Wayne, your voice has suddenly changed and gotten lower."  

The governor answered the question and later I saw Wayne  walk back in the room and the guy who was seated next to him told him he asked the question on his behalf. "

The reporter then suggests:
"Maybe the governor's office should be watching the video from this event to see how our Representative in TC can't sit still for one hour without getting up or playing with his toys.  No wonder he doesn't know what is going on with his job."
And there are still (only a few) folks up here wonder why I am running?

Effectiveness in leadership comes from a multitude of talents.

Including a talent for listening. Additionally, its not a bad idea to have and understanding of your surroundings, and what might happen next.

But opportunity wasted, be it a simple question to demonstrate to your constituents that you actually care, or something more aggressive like Right-To-Work reform when you have all the cards, is a downright dirty shame.