N.C. Members of Congress Shy Away from Town Halls

RALEIGH — A CNN poll released Wednesday found that 71 percent of adult Americans were very likely (41 percent) or somewhat likely (30 percent) to attend a “town hall meeting or some other public forum where voters got a chance to speak” on health-care reform hosted by a member of Congress in their communities.

If you’re a North Carolinian and hoped to offer your two cents at one of these events, you’re probably out of luck. As of Tuesday, based on calls to the office of every member of the state’s congressional delegation and searches of their Web sites, only one had scheduled any public forums in his district during the August recess: 10th District Republican Patrick McHenry, who over the next three weeks is planning a town hall meeting in each of the 10 counties he represents in the House.

Several representatives will make speeches to civic organizations, participate in photo ops at businesses and ballparks, speak with newspaper editorial boards, and make other media appearances (6th District Republican Howard Coble is set to do a live interview, including listener phone calls, this morning at 9:30 on WBAG-AM 1150 in Burlington). Ken Willis, spokesman for 1st District Democrat G.K. Butterfield, told Carolina Journal his boss had tentatively slated a teleconference-style town hall for the first week in September.

But nearing the midway point of one of the most turbulent sessions of Congress in decades, few members of North Carolina’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives have set aside time to meet with constituents in person in open forums.

While health-care reform may have seized the headlines, since January, Washington has taken on an ambitious agenda, with Congress passing a record-setting stimulus package and the largest federal budget (with the biggest deficit) in history, along with the “cash for clunkers” plan to encourage new car purchases. Meantime, the House has narrowly enacted legislating limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, and the so-called card check bill affecting union elections may come up for a vote at any time.

You’d think with so many contentious issues on the agenda, federal officials would want to hear the views of their constituents in a setting where many can openly participate.

Apparently not.

Legislators may have second thoughts about meeting the public after media reports of angry encounters between lawmakers and voters at town halls and other press events in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Ohio, and Missouri.

Mike Munger, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at Duke University, says “it is just human nature” for elected officials to avoid potentially hostile crowds. “I can understand why members might not want to go out on the pancake breakfast circuit and listen to complaints,” wrote Munger in an e-mail to CJ.

“But it makes me wonder if the [Democrats] from our state actually have doubts about the real value of [the Obama administration’s] program, since they are not willing to defend it publicly,” Munger added. “Now should be the time that Democratic members (and we have some pretty senior members, with powerful committee assignments) spread out across the country and try to answer questions about why the Obama stimulus, health-care package, and regulatory incentives are the right thing to do.”

Earlier this week, the Democratic National Committee produced an advertisement calling those attending town halls “angry mobs” orchestrated “by high-level Republican political operatives.”

But Brock McCleary, spokesman for McHenry, said the constituents who attended McCleary’s initial town hall of the recess Tuesday night in Newland — “the biggest turnout by far we’ve ever seen in Avery County,” he said — was “not hostile, but not soft.”

McHenry has hosted town halls every year since first being elected to Congress in 2004. “There was never a question of whether we’d do [town halls],” McCleary said. “We firmly believe the town hall is an important way to get feedback from our constituents. … Not every question was a pat on the back, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be” in a representative government.

Among House Democrats, only 12th District Rep. Mel Watt had posted any events on his Web site. This week, Watt “traded places” in one-hour stints with workers at various job sites in the district; it’s the 13th straight year he’s staged “Trading Places” events. But there are no public forums on his schedule.

On Wednesday, 2nd District Rep. Bob Etheridge released his schedule for the remainder of the week to members of the media. Between today and Saturday, he’ll speak to elected officials in Franklin County, the local Farm Bureau, the Lillington Rotary Club, and the Johnston County Democratic Men.

But spokesman Don Owens told CJ that Etheridge didn’t schedule town halls because he was “worried” about the nature of the public input. Owens said “three or four people can dominate the time” of a one-hour public forum with their questions, and Etheridge wants to make sure constituents who have concerns about getting the services they’re entitled to “lost in policy discussions.”

The response by Etheridge’s press secretary is similar to one reported in an Aug. 3 New York Times story about lawmakers facing angry constitutents at public events. In one instance, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, was confronted by constituents when he held “neighborhood office hours” at a grocery store.

“Mr. Doggett said that he had tried his best to answer questions,” the Times reported, “but that the demonstrators expressed opposition not only to the health care plan but also to all government programs, including Medicare and Social Security.

“He said that because of the protesters he was unable to speak to other constituents, including a father and his son, wearing a Boy Scout uniform, who wanted to talk about applying to one of the military academies. He said he remained firmly committed to the health plan.”

Other Democrats were less forthcoming than Watt or Etheridge. They have no information about public events on their Web sites. Reps. David Price (4th District), Mike McIntyre (7th Distict), Larry Kissell (8th District), and Brad Miller (13th District) did not respond to telephone calls asking for their schedules during the recess.

In response to an e-mail, Doug Abrahms, press secretary for 11th District Rep. Heath Shuler, wrote “He’s [Shuler’s] meeting and speaking with groups during the recess but we don’t give that information out.”

Republicans weren’t models of transparency, either. Aside from McHenry, who’s hosting those 10 town halls, and Coble, who posts his schedule on the Web, Reps. Virginia Foxx (5th District), did not respond to a request for her schedule. Ninth District Rep. Sue Myrick was “still nailing down” her recess schedule, said Press Secretary Taylor Stanford.

And in a response to an e-mail, Kathleen Joyce, press secretary for 3rd District Rep. Walter Jones, wrote, “As a general policy, Congressman Jones’ schedule is not publicly released. However, as you can imagine, he has been invited to speak to a number of civic groups throughout the 3rd District during the August District Work Period and some of those groups will choose to publicize those meetings so that the public and media may attend.”

Munger said he’s not surprised that Republicans feel little obligation to “explain the Obama program … because it is not their program. … But the fact that the [Democratic] members are not willing to go out and explain the broad outline of the program, its philosophy and approach, does worry me,” Munger added. “Do the Democratic members realize that the Obama program is really a power grab, a radical move toward a much different society? … What else could explain their silence?”

Rick Henderson is managing editor of Carolina Journal.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been corrected to indicate that G.K. Butterfield represents North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District and Bob Etheridge represents the 2nd District.