Out of 14 Republican representatives from swing districts examined by USA Today, only two are holding town halls during the congressional break through April 23. Heidi Przybyla writes:
The migration away from public forums has been going on for months, despite complaints from constituents and local media. There have been roughly 30 recent newspaper editorials slamming lawmakers for avoiding town halls and calling on members to face their voters, not only in bluer portions of the country like New York but also in critical battlegrounds like Pennsylvania’s 6th and 7th districts, represented by Reps. Pat Meehan and [Ryan] Costello.
Rep. Costello along with Rep. Leonard Lance of New Jersey are the two exceptions to the town hall boycott by 14 GOP members who voted for Paul Ryan's health care repeal bill in committee. But following their approval in committee, both Costello and Lance then suggested they wouldn't support the bill if it got a floor vote—which it didn't. But even the town halls being held by someone like Costello don’t represent anything close to a profile in courage.
Costello’s office screened participants for his Saturday town hall through the online reservation site Eventbrite and forbid videotaping, leading the local Democratic Party chair to call the event “staged.” Others lawmakers are holding question-and-answer events over the phone or Facebook Live, a social media tool allowing them to speak to a camera while avoiding uncomfortable public exchanges with the citizens they represent. [...]
Costello’s town hall restrictions drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It raises serious Constitutional concerns for a sitting Congressman to host a public event at a courthouse, forbid any recording, and deny entry to any constituent who doesn’t turn over their cell phone at the door,” ACLU spokesman Karthik Ganapathy said in a statement.
GOP members avoiding accountability for their agenda over the April break is just a continuation of the February break, when I found that most of the two dozen Republican members who hold seats in districts where Clinton beat or tied Trump boycotted town halls with their constituents.
Based on a little googling, my research of the Clinton 24 shows that 19 members have faced protests and/or petition efforts of some sort this year, at least a dozen are outright blocking constituent contact, and just a handful have actually held or scheduled some type of in-person town hall or meeting.
Republican excuses range from not needing town halls to communicate with constituents to this deflection advanced by a spokesperson for Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois: "As we've seen around the country, large, unstructured events tend to devolve into shouting matches." Roskam has been holding tele-town halls in order to avoid the embarrassing spectacle of trying to explain the Republican majority’s failures in person.
Avoid away, GOP. Escaping uncomfortable situations isn't going to do jack for you at the polls in 2018.
“Republicans have already squandered a lot of political capital on a bill that went nowhere. The longer the health care issue lingers the more displeased members of both bases are,” said David Wasserman, the House analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. [...] “These members are staring at the ghosts of 2009, and images of angry town halls held by Democrats are making them think twice."
Our protests during the February recess are what stopped House Republicans from passing Trumpcare. Ready to do it again in April? Click here.
Here’s a list of the Clinton 24—below, I’d be happy to hear from any Daily Kos readers in these districts about what their member is doing or not doing. Thanks!
The Clinton 24
1. Martha McSally, AZ-02, Clinton
2. Jeff Denham, CA-10, Clinton
3. David Valadao, CA-21, Clinton
4. Steve Knight, CA-25, Clinton,
5. Ed Royce, CA-39, Clinton
6. Mimi Walters, CA-45, Clinton
7. Dana Rohrabacher, CA-48, Clinton
8. Darrell Issa, CA-49, Clinton
9. Mike Coffman, CO-06, Clinton
10. Carlos Curbelo, FL-26, Clinton
11. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL-27, Clinton
12. Peter Roskam, IL-06, Clinton
13. Kevin Yoder, KS-03, Clinton
14. Erik Paulsen, MN-03, Clinton
15. Leonard Lance, NJ-07, Clinton
16. John Katko, NY-24, Clinton
17. Ryan Costello, PA-06, Clinton
18. Pat Meehan, PA-07, Clinton
19. *Brian Fitzpatrick, PA-08, (Tossup, C: 48%, T: 48.2%)
20. John Culberson, TX-07, Clinton
21. Will Hurd, TX-23, Clinton
22. Pete Sessions, TX-32, Clinton
23. Barbara Comstock, VA-10, Clinton
24. David Reichert, WA-08, Clinton