Republicans avoid town halls after health care votes
Analysis highlights GOP’s precarious political position
Republicans who are vulnerable in competitive congressional districts are ducking town hall meetings this spring because of a backlash against their efforts to repeal Obamacare, according to a USA TODAY analysis of scheduled town halls compiled by Townhallproject.com.
The lack of town hall meetings in key swing districts during a spring break underscores the party’s precarious political position on health care and peaking civic activism by progressives. The Town Hall Project bills itself as a progressive movement that researches every district and state for public events with members of Congress.
The GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare stood at 17% approval by the time it was pulled from the floor, according to a late March Quinnipiac survey. Republican leaders announced just before the break that they are still negotiating provisions of the bill and have not given up on passing it this year.
Reps. Leonard Lance of New Jersey and Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania will both face constituents at town halls despite having opposed the final bill, saying changes made by House leaders made it more likely the bill would raise costs and reduce coverage for their constituents.
Costello’s office screened participants for his Saturday town hall through the online reservation site Eventbrite and forbade videotaping, leading the local Democratic Party chair to call the
event “staged.” Others lawmakers are holding question-and-answer events over the phone or using Facebook Live, a social media tool that allows them to speak to a camera while avoiding uncomfortable public exchanges with the citizens they represent.
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 Costello.
After a February congressional break generated spirited and even hostile face-to-face meetings with constituents — including one lawmaker who snuck out a back door to avoid an angry crowd — grass-roots organizers credited the power of those images in sending a message to moderate Republicans.
“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 non-partisan Cook Political Report.
One member who has drawn criticism for avoiding town halls is Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill. In an email, his spokesman said the congressman has averaged more than one telephone town hall per month. “As we’ve seen around the country, large, unstructured events tend to devolve into shouting matches. Both sides compete with each other over who can scream the loudest,” said David Pash. Tele-town halls are “a much more effective way to engage a larger number of people, including those who aren’t able to make it to an in-person event,” he said.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, another vulnerable Republican who voted for the bill in committee, isn’t doing town halls, but his spokesman said he’s received and responded to more than 42,000 constituent emails, letters and phone calls and held tele-town halls.
While the strategy may be smart in the short term, allowing members to avoid images of themselves on the defensive, in the longer term it could hurt, said Ross Baker, a political science professor who specializes in Congress at Rutgers University. Just like the Tea Party-driven protests against Obamacare in 2009 came with a price for House Democrats, who lost control of the House in 2010, Republicans should not ignore the current backlash, he said.
“If there’s anything worse than being on the wrong side of a political issue it’s appearing cowardly and not facing your constituents,” said Baker. “Politics is all about accountability,” he said.
Progressive organizers are flipping the script by scheduling town halls and inviting the members to attend them, setting up empty chairs and posting “missing ” signs when the invitation is declined.
“It’s not an attractive quality in an elected official to be as nervous as a Christmas goose when you’re dealing with your constituents,” Baker said. “It’s something people remember.”
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 cellphone at the door,” ACLU spokesman Karthik Ganapathy said in a statement.
“Politics is all about accountability.” Ross Baker, Rutgers University