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Virginia's Congressmen Take Different Approaches to Constituent Demands

Steve Helber
/
AP

 

After a whirlwind first month of the new Congress lawmakers took a recess this week, and many are facing the music back home. Constituents have gotten vocal, and are demanding face time. 

 

Virginia’s Republicans took different approaches to those demands. Some opting to use Facebook or phone calls, others holding in-person townhalls.

 

A senior center in Vinton was filled beyond capacity Wednesday night for a town hall for Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte of the 6th District—even though the Congressman wasn’t there. He declined the invitation weeks ago.  

 

Instead, event organizer Indivisible Roanoke had constituents ask questions to a cardboard cutout of their Representative, which was placed before a miked podium.

 

“Well, I have a request to make of you since you’re an honorable gentlemen,” asked one constituent. “Will you please, as an honorable man, request that Mr. Trump, that his tax returns be subpoenaed by Congress?” 

 

The mood was civil and orderly, a clear contrast to the hostile, jeering crowds facing live representatives at town halls cross-country. Instead, the cardboard cutout served as a symbol of Goodlatte’s perceived inaccessibility. 

 

Credit Jessie Knadler
"Cardboard Bob" Goodlatte was joined by Djuna Osbourne (seated right) of Strong Women, Strong America, and event moderator Chris Gavaler of 50 Ways Rockbridge at a town hall for the no-show Congressman in Vinton, VA, February 22.

“He’s going to avoid situations that make him look bad,” said Chris Gavaler of the activist group 50 Ways Rockbridge, who moderated the event. “But he needs to come out and talk to people and have a dialogue with them. That’s what he is not doing. There’s no back and forth. Tonight showed that people actually want to hear from him.”  

 

Since 2012, Goodlatte has hosted 25 “telephone town halls” instead. These are recurring conference calls with potentially thousands of constituents at once who queue up to ask him live questions. 

 

“He can literally press a button and silence the other person talking,” said Gavaler, who participated in one recently. “That’s not a dialogue.”

 

Goodlatte isn’t the only Virginia Congressman to keep constituents at arm’s length. Republican Representatives Barbara Comstock and Rob Wittman of Northern Virginia, plus Republican freshman Tom Garrett of Buckingham have all said they will keep in touch with constituents through phone or online forums. Democrat Representative Donald McEachin of Richmond wrote on Facebook this week that in-person town halls “are being scheduled.” 

 

 

 

Like other Virginia congressman, Republican Dave Brat has faced a vocal constituency since the start of this year’s Congress -- but unlike others he did opt for a face-to-face town hall. 

 

Still he’s gotten flack for holding it in Blackstone, about an hour’s drive from most in his district.  If the idea was, as some critics say, to discourage people from attending -- it didn’t work. 

 

But not all were in opposition. Jan Charlton and her husband Bob are Brat supporters who have attended his town-halls before. They drove an hour to have his back. 

 

Credit Steve Helber / AP
/
AP
Congressman Dave Brat, R-Va., answers a question during a town hall meeting with the congressman in Blackstone, Va., Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017.

“Plus I like his town hall meetings he educates everyone on what’s going on in Washington, and you get kind of an inside view, which I really appreciate,” said Bob Charlton as he waited in line for the event. 

 

Inside the small restaurant where the forum was held, only a couple hundred could be seated. Hundreds more though were outside peering through the large glass windows and listening through speakers. 

 

Juanita Matkins was one of the lucky few to get a seat. Despite the fact that she drove an hour and a half, she wasn’t surprised by the turn-out. 

 

“There have been people who I haven’t seen in years who I see now at meetings who are talking about ‘So what are we going to do about people in our county who are undocumented aliens? How are we going to help them?’” Matkins said. “‘What are we going to do about healthcare? What are we going to do to make sure Donald Trump doesn’t use his position to make himself richer, and members of his family?’” 

 

As things got underway, it quickly became clear many in the crowd felt like Matkins. 

 

Despite pleas for civility from the mayor, and jokes that fell flat from the Congressman, the crowd remained boisterous, heckling, interrupting and shouting. 

 

 

 

Standing in the back, I saw the same couple I had talked to outside stand up and creep out well before everything was over. 

 

Outside, Jan and Bob Charleton said this was not like any town hall they had been to before. 

 

“I mean I’ve been on the other side of the coin where I disagree with people, but I’ve never behaved like that in my life, even when I was a student back in the seventies,” said Bob.

 

“To me it’s just disrespectful, it’s all about them, it’s not about the other people who weren’t protesting,” Jan added. “If I get to protest against the protestors, I’ll be there.” 

 

Jan says that after tonight, she’ll be doing her best to make sure her Congressmen gets re-elected.