Unlike the happy messages of typical greeting cards, these carried political points and suggestions for how Goodlatte should represent the 6th Congressional District in 2017.

In her card, Ivonne Wallace Fuentes, an associate professor at Roanoke College and a Roanoke Times contributor, wished Goodlatte a happy new year and said she hopes they can work together to make the community stronger.

While Fuentes considers herself politically motivated, she was propelled to become more of a political activist after Goodlatte’s actions earlier in the week.

Her representative in Congress seemed to be leading the charge to make government accountability more difficult, she said.

“People want out of government a government that is clear, that is transparent, that works for their interests and if we take ethics review and we move it from an independent to a partisan tribunal conflict of interest becomes much more likely,” she said.

At the SunTrust building in downtown Roanoke, Fuentes and her cohorts handed their cards to Pete Larkin, Goodlatte’s chief of staff at the office. One woman handed him clear plastic wrap — a symbol for more transparency in government.

Larkin, who did not let the group enter Goodlatte’s locked district office, said he would pass on the messages to his boss. Two protests at the district office in the past six months have resulted in sit-ins in the office foyer. In both incidents, building staff called Roanoke police who escorted protesters out of the office at the end of the day.