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Cowardly Republican Legislators Canceling Weekend Town Hall Meetings

Cowardly Republican Legislators Canceling Weekend Town Hall Meetings

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Almost all congressional Republicans are scared of facing voters in town hall meetings over the long President’s Day weekend. Only 19 representatives and senators—a tiny number—will hold town meetings during the first recess of the current session of Congress, reports the Town Hall Project. But the group’s listing of these democratic mainstays barely tells the story.

An eye-opening Washington Postaccount revealed that Republican officeholders have been canceling planned town halls because they don’t want to face critics upset that they may soon lose their health insurance or see an increase in costs as the GOP plans to undermine Obamacare. Even worse, they don’t want organized progressive groups to show up with posters, video cameras, and a determination to challenge them in public while posting the confrontations on YouTube:

According to the Town Hall Project, which collates information about public town halls, there are no availabilities in Utah—where every federal officeholder is a Republican—over the coming week. That’s not a fluke. Just 19 Republican members of Congress have scheduled traditional town halls over the weeklong recess. Several more, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), have listed ticketed events or ‘office hours;’ a few more have announced tele-town halls, which allow constituents to lob questions without risking a “YouTube moment.”

This cowardly response is nothing new from immoderate Republicans; it’s in line with their partisan ethic that “anything goes” to win, except playing fair. They cannot win in many states without gerrymandering federal and state districts, which allowed them to seize power after the 2010 Census. They cannot win widely in high turnout elections, hence their efforts to limit participation by creating barriers like new voter ID laws or restricting voting options favored by critics, like early voting on weekends.

Their partisan cowardice goes further by not wanting to reveal who is funding negative attack ads, thus they encourage super PACs to throw mud because they do not disclose donors. In contrast, they never stand up and say all sides should put forth their best ideas and allow citizens to decide, live with that verdict and fight another day. And in 2017, a new twist has emerged: the party that would stamp on others is hiding from voters.

Indeed, Republicans don’t like it when the tables are turned on them—that is, when their town hall meetings are not filled with angry Tea Partiers but with aggrieved citizens from their districts and organized progressives.

“Since Republicans took control of the House six years ago, helped by angry, viral town halls that embarrassed incumbent Democrats, big public meetings have become rarer and workarounds like the tele-town hall more common,” reported the Post. “But in the past week, as Indivisible, Organizing for America, and other progressive groups have become more open about demanding town halls, some Republicans have become bolder about shutting them down.”

A few are even admitting this is exactly what’s going on.

“In a letter to constituents first shared by the Knoxville News Sentinel, Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-TN) said that he valued being accessible but would not indulge protesters by holding a public event,” noted the Post article. “I am not going to hold town hall meetings in this atmosphere, because they would very quickly turn into shouting opportunities for extremists, kooks and radicals,” Duncan said. “Also, I do not intend to give more publicity to those on the far left who have so much hatred, anger and frustration in them. I have never seen so many more sore losers as there are today.”

Needless to say, these Republicans are fine when their own propagandists are doing the yelling, namely those in right-wing media and related GOP groups, who conveniently ignore that progressives and others are doing what Tea Partiers have been doing for many years.

“The National Republican Congressional Committee denounced a ‘top-down effort’ to manufacture controversy,’” according to the Washington Post. “‘Fox and Friends,’ a cable news morning show that President Trump watches regularly (and praised in Thursday’s news conference), has frequently highlighted violent protests and hyped reports that some protesters are being paid.”

Such shamelessness is nothing new in Republican circles. It may even be part of their twisted political DNA—the attitude that everything they do is magically patriotic, all-American and justified. The truth is congressional Republicans are running away from the voters in their districts who have ample reasons to be angered at the GOP’s uncritical embrace of Trump and the far right’s extremist economic and cultural agenda.

What’s the word for elected officeholders not standing by their beliefs in public and facing voters in their districts? Cowardice, plain and simple, and that’s just the start.

IMAGE: Angry protesters outside Republican Rep. Tom Reed’s town hall in upstate North Harmony, N.Y. on Saturday morning, February 18, 2017, one of only 19 held by Republican House or Senate members over President’s Day weekend / New York Times video

 

Jobless Demand End To Pay-Per-View Town Hall Meetings

Several Republican members of Congress, fed-up with being grilled on their plans to privatize Medicare and other controversial Tea Party measures, are exclusively holding pay-per-view town halls, where attendance will cost you. The response from their constituents has only been to increase the volume.

Paul Ryan, architect of the Republican plan to to shift Medicare to a voucher system that has hurt the GOP in some special election races since it passed the House this spring, is among those sick of regular old free democracy:

Ryan will appear at a late August event where voters can pay $15 to have lunch with the congressman. Those who register in advance, providing their names and background information and writing their checks, might even get to ask their congressman a question.

That’s fine for the pay-to-play crowd.

But the folks on fixed incomes who are most threatened by Ryan’s proposed assaults on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will have to decide whether they can afford to be citizens. Some of them decided Thursday that Ryan’s price was too high. A group of unemployed workers staged a sit-in at his Kenosha office, while others protested outside, chanting “Ryan is a no-show, bring jobs to Kenosha.” The message from one of the largest cities in the district was blunt: “After being denied a meeting with Ryan after multiple requests over the last few weeks, the unemployed men and women have decided to sit down and wait for Congressman Ryan.”

Emulating Ryan’s avoidance of critics are Reps. Ben Quayle (R-AZ), Chip Cravaack (R-MN), Lou Barletta (R-PA) and Renee Elmers (R-NC). All seem intent on making it as difficult as possible to register protest to a Tea Party agenda that is failing to catch on with the electorate.

“These pay-per-view town halls make it perfectly clear who GOP members of Congress think they’re working for. If you’re a major donor or a big corporate supporter, the Republicans in Congress are willing to bend over backwards to make sure you get your way. If you’re an ordinary citizen who wants to have your voice heard, tough luck,” Michael B. Keegan, president of People for the American Way, told The National Memo Friday. His group has been active in corralling support for traditional town halls that are, you know, free.

“The right to petition your representatives isn’t accidental to system of government—it’s spelled out in black and white in the First Amendment. It’s a tremendously important part of democracy. The worst possible outcome would be for this to become the norm, so we’re making sure that our activists hear about this trend and that members of Congress hear from activists.

“Congressman Paul Ryan is charging people to attend town halls to hear what he has to say and have a chance to ask a question. Congressmen Ben Quayle and Chip Cravaack aren’t even hosting town halls themselves — they’re attending events hosted for them by friendly organizations with a fee for attendance. This amounts to nothing less than pay-per-view government as the Republicans try to privatize democracy.”