Lawmakers ditch town halls: ‘They want to avoid those gotcha moments’ – By Heather Caygle (politico.com) / Aug 21 2018
Some members are taking heat for not reaching out to their constituents.
Constituents hold up signs to show their disapproval of a statement by Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) during a town hall meeting in Aurora, Colo. on April 12, 2017. This August members on both sides of the aisle are avoiding holding similar events. | David Zalubowski/AP Photo
Wither the town hall.
Long gone are the angry mobs of voters pushing and shoving one another, hissing and shouting down lawmakers — in one instance, hanging a lawmaker in effigy at an anti-Obamacare protest — that defined Congress’ summer of hell in 2009.
Even the outbursts last year, fueled by a fiery liberal base intent on stopping President Donald Trump and by constituents outraged over GOP attempts to dismantle Obamacare, are a distant memory.
So far, the August recess is quiet. Very quiet. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to prefer it that way.
Members have scheduled only about 180 in-person events this recess, a nearly 70 percent decrease from the same time last year, according to data tracked by Legistorm.
Last year, driven in a large part by mobilization on the left of the anti-Trump resistance movement, was a high point for town halls. But this year’s numbers are still low compared with the same time frame in recent election years.
Lawmakers held nearly 550 in-person events in August 2014 and roughly 450 public meetings with constituents during the same period in 2016, according to Legistorm.
The doesn’t mean that every lawmaker is eschewing the traditional constituent outreach that is as old as Congress itself. Sen. Doug Jones told POLITICO he has no plans to pause the public forums, even after being heckled recently over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“People have come to expect disrupters on both sides. And, you know, you just gotta move on and not be flustered and not worry about it,” Jones said in an interview. A woman was kicked out of a town hall by police after throwing a pair of stuffed lips at Jones and telling the Alabama Democrat he could “kiss my ass” if he votes to confirm Kavanaugh.
Angel Padilla, policy director for Indivisible, one the leading progressive groups that helped organize many of the headline-making town hall protests last year, adds that members of Congress are smart “and one of the things they do is do everything they can to avoid any bad press.”
“They want to avoid those gotcha moments and that’s what those town halls became last year,” he added.
While various factors can help account for part of the drop — the Senate will be in for a rare August session while many House members have naturally pivoted to campaign events with the midterms less than 80 days out — it doesn’t entirely explain the decrease.
Jones, who hails from a ruby red state where more than 60 percent of the voters went for Trump in 2016, said it’s particularly important for lawmakers in states like his to hold events, so they don’t end up in their own “echo chamber.”
“It’d be real easy to go talk to only people who love you, but you represent everybody,” he said. “You don’t need to get locked in your own echo chamber like so many people are doing in this country with their social media.”
It’s clear not all of Jones’ colleagues feel the same way.
A majority of House members aren’t holding any public events this recess. Of the 180 public events tracked by Legistorm, five lawmakers — Reps. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) — account for 30 percent of the total.
While DeFazio, Lucas and Byrne have scheduled traditional town halls, Marshall’s events consist of “coffee with your congressman” and Davis is hosting office hours around his district, which are meetings limited to five people or less at a time. (Both Marshall’s and Davis’ events are open to the press.)
Davis, whose central Illinois district is a top target for Democrats in their bid to win back the House, is a rarity among lawmakers in tough races. Several other Republicans in top target districts for Democrats have cut off most public appearances completely, some for the past year or so, others for this entire Congress.
Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) is one of the most notable examples. He hasn’t held a town hall in more than a year after complaining “the women are in my grill” back in his district over GOP attempts to repeal Obamacare.
Brat’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but he is far from being the only vulnerable incumbent this cycle who has shied away from holding town halls.
Spokespeople for several lawmakers who are in competitive races yet have no town halls or similar events listed in the Legistorm database this entire Congress — GOP Reps. Mimi Walters of California, Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Bruce Poliquin of Maine, Mike Bost of Illinois and Keith Rothfus of Pennsylvania — did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Andrew Eisenberger, spokesman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, another vulnerable member on the no-show list, said the California Republican thinks the town hall is “less effective at producing constructive dialogue with his constituents” and prefers meeting with individuals and smaller groups.
“He also has held a number of town halls by telephone and on Facebook, which are not subject to disruption. He has found these methods to be more effective means of communication with constituents,” Eisenberger said.
Another Republican in a tough district who has shunned town halls, Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio, defended the decision through a spokesman.
“Congressman Chabot can reach exponentially more constituents at a fraction of the cost by using tele-townhalls rather than in-person townhall meetings,” Brian Griffith said.
It’s not just lawmakers in tough seats who are declining face time with voters.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive upstart who knocked off longtime New York Democrat Joe Crowley in a primary earlier this summer, banned reporters from two town halls in her district last week.
Members in safe seats are also taking heat for their lack of outreach to constituents.
Padilla from Indivisible didn’t single out specific Republicans for skipping town halls this year, instead dinging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in an interview.
New York activists were outraged after Schumer canceled a long-awaited town hall earlier this summer, citing a plane equipment problem. Schumer hasn’t held an in-person town hall this entire Congress, according to Legistorm.
“It’s crazy that Chuck Schumer, who wasn’t up for reelection — he’s safe — he has been actively avoiding our constituents,” Padilla said.
Schumer hosted a telephone town hall that night instead but has yet to reschedule the in-person event. His office declined to comment.
Jimmy Dahman, founder of the Town Hall Project, a progressive grass-roots organization that tallies lawmakers’ public events, said there’s been a noticeable decline in town halls since his group started tracking the data in January 2017, and not just during recess.
There has been roughly a 30 percent drop in the number of town halls and similar events members held from January through August of 2017 compared with the same time period this year, according to the group’s data.
And the number of town halls this year so far is down nearly one-third compared with the same time frame in 2016, via Legistorm data.
Part of it, according to Dahman, Padilla and others, has to do with the fact that there’s not a singular policy issue dominating the headlines right now, unlike last year, when GOP attempts to repeal Obamacare and overhaul the tax code drove voter outrage and outreach.
Still, some lawmakers relish the face-to-face interaction, like Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has held 45 town halls since January.
“There is no better way to empower citizens than to throw open the doors,” Wyden said in an interview. “The Founding Fathers never had in mind that this would just be a spectator sport.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/21/congress-town-halls-gotcha-public-meetings-789430
