Despite hot issues, lawmakers meet public face-to-face less

FORT DODGE, Iowa — From her front row seat at the Fort Dodge Public Library, pugnacious retiree Betty Nostrom wasted no time grilling the U.S. senator standing before 80 constituents over how he was investigating the deaths of four Americans in Libya last fall.

“Or will that just be swept under the rug?” Nostrom asked Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, kicking off an hour of polite, though pointed, questioning.

Farmers, nurses and veterans took turns pressing Grassley on gun control, immigration, the deficit and the Internal Revenue Service scandal, and listening to his answers.

Some in the audience applauded. Others scoffed. But all embraced the chance to put their representative to Washington on the spot, face to face, during the town hall style meeting, a staple of American civics that’s growing increasingly scarce.

These days, lawmakers generally are holding fewer in-person public gatherings with constituents. Instead, members of Congress are relying far more on telephone and online forums, according to watchdog groups, political organizations and lawmakers themselves.

“There’s a myth out there that legislators aren’t listening,” said Brad Fitch, president of the Congressional Manage- ment Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit group that advocates best practices for members of Congress. “They are, but we’re seeing them shift to other forums, and the discussions often aren’t as robust.”

Why the shift? For one, angry crowds, sometimes in the thousands, mobbed public question-and-answer meetings in lawmakers’ home states during the raucous debate over health care legislation in 2009. Then there was the shooting rampage in 2011 at a public appearance in Tucson by then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz.

Such incidents spooked lawmakers, who also were facing constituents deeply down on Washington and frustrated by high unemployment and foreclosure rates.

Some lawmakers say electronic versions of town halls are more efficient and convenient than the real thing.

Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Penn., says he can check in with voters at home without having to travel back, often holding constituent conference calls on Mondays or Tuesdays when Congress is in session.

In an era of shrinking congressional office budgets, advocates say electronic forums also are appealing because they reach many times more people and are cheap to advertise via a single email sent to thousands.

About 20 people showed up for Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s meeting in Union, S.C., last week.