A striking number of congressional Democrats have steered clear of hosting formal town hall events at home during the August recess in the wake of disruptive, sometimes angry protests over the party’s health care reform plans.
Only 17 of the 58 Democratic senators — less than a third — were holding town halls back home, according to an informal POLITICO survey of every Democratic office in Congress.
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) all notably spared with health care opponents, and freshman Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has hosted four town halls so far, and plans more.
The proportions were similar across the Capitol. Among 263 Democrats in the House, 91 were holding public forums for constituents — just over a third.
However, that figure may be higher, since POLITICO did not hear back from 67 House Democrats and could not determine through local media reports whether they had held any town hall events in their districts.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) held a town hall that has already made him a YouTube phenomenon. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) hosted a rowdy town hall in his district, and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), a Blue Dog Democrat, hosted a mostly civil event in Willmar, Minn.
Some lawmakers have managed to keep the peace in town hall meetings even when they described them as “charged” or “heated.”
Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.), freshman Rep. Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-Pa.), and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) have all had fairly uneventful town hall meetings.
Julia Krahe, a spokeswoman for Wu, characterized his event as “charged but quite civil” and said that the events highlighted “how much the sense of ‘too much change too quickly’ is scaring people.” And she said the congressman plans to change how he addresses the debate as a result.
But given the raucous crowds on many a YouTube town hall clip, many Democrats have instead opted for more sanitized events ranging from telephone town halls, to small group meetings, to radio question-and-answer sessions.
According to Jennifer Duffy, a senior political editor at Cook’s Political Report, many senators do not see an upside to exposing themselves to the wide-spread town hall backlash.
Still, “while Senate Democrats might benefit in the short term from staying away from contentious meetings and angry voters, there is some potential for that strategy to have negative consequences in the long term if their constituents perceive their absence from the debate as indifference to their concerns,” Duffy said.
Of nine representatives who have held town hall events in New York, seven were disruptive or heated. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) left with a police escort at one of his meetings in June; Rep. Mike McMahon’s (D-N.Y.) spokesman described his last town hall as “mostly negative;” and Rep. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) needed police to calm a July town hall and hosted another heated event in August.
Like most of their Democratic Senate colleagues, New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand avoided town halls in favor of what they say are more representative events.
Matt Canter, a Gillibrand spokesman, said the senator has held a number of “Senator in the Supermarket” events throughout the state — a holdover from her time as a member of the House.
What a bunch of pansies. Supposedly these are the hardened warrior-kings of the Democratic Party. Can't they stand a little opposition to their attempted takeover of the healthcare industry (and 20% of the economy)? Or are they afraid that Conservatives have learned a thing or two from the Anti-War protesters that they unleased on the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans that disrupted any and every meeting they could get into? Either way 41 Democratic Senators 172 Democratic members of the House are acting like cowards. They are hiding behind any rock and excuse they can find in order to stay away from those who they represent to avoid having to deal with the frustration and anger these people feel and the hard questions their constituents want answers for. Maybe it is because these Democrats have no clue what is in the bill and can't answer the questions, or maybe (and less likely) they know full well what is in it and are afraid to tell the public the truth out of fear of what the ramifications would be. Either way these Congressional Democrats have an obligation to face their constituents and explain why they are choosing the way of the special interest (these are the same ones who are constantly blaming the Republicans for doing the same thing) over their constituents' desires and beliefs.
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