August Flashbacks: Target Dems Skip Town Halls
FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: Leonard Boswell (IA-03); Bruce Braley (IA-01); Dennis Cardoza (CA-18); Russ Carnahan (MO-03); Jim Costa (CA-20); Joe Donnelly; Chet Edwards (TX-17); (IN-02); Bill Foster (IL-14); Gabby Giffords (AZ-08); Martin Heinrich (NM-01); Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL); Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01); Frank Kratovil (MD-01); Rick Larsen (WA-02); Dave Loebsack (IA-02); Harry Mitchell (AZ-05); Ed Perlmutter (CO-07); Tom Perriello (VA-05); Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23); John Salazar (CO-03); Loretta Sanchez (CA-47); Mark Schauer (MI-07); Kurt Schrader (OR-05); Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01); Ike Skelton (MO-04); John Spratt (SC-05); Harry Teague (NM-02); Dina Titus (NV-03); Tim Walz (MN-01) and David Wu (OR-01).
August Flashback: Shea-Porter Skips Town Halls
Dems Head Back to Washington After Hiding from Constituents at Home
Washington– As Carol Shea-Porter returns from a week-long Congressional recess, it’s clear that the same voter anger and backlash that fueled the rage against Democrats during healthcare town halls last August recess is still alive. Despite strong opposition from voters across the nation, Democrats like Shea-Porter defied their constituents and willingly rubber-stamped their party’s big-government agenda, which has yet to deliver on healthcare and jobs. Last week, while Congress was in recess, Shea-Porter had ample time to hold a town hall for her constituents back home, but she deliberately refused to do so. Rather than listen to what voters have to say during the Memorial Day break, Carol Shea-Porter will spend more time listening to Nancy Pelosi and her liberal party leadership in Washington this week, proving that she cares more about her loyalty as a Pelosi puppet than the constituents she is supposed to represent.
Before the Memorial Day recess, party leaders urged Democrats to go home and “sell” their big-government agenda to their constituents:
“House Democrats are being urged this recess to combine their electoral sales pitch on issues like healthcare and jobs with warnings about how a Republican Congress would jeopardize the party’s legislative accomplishments.
“‘Plan your public events, communications, and editorial board visits at home to highlight what Republican control of Congress would mean, and your hard work for the middle class on issues,’ the Memorial Day recess packet prepared for rank-and-file House Democrats reads. ‘Democrats have a strong story to tell, and we hope you’ll highlight this contrast with Republicans back home.'” (Jared Allen, “Over break, House Dems asked to sound warnings of GOP takeback,” The Hill, 05/31/10)
However, as reported by the New York Times, Democrats are still hiding from voters as they refused to hold town hall meetings over Memorial Day recess:
“Of the 255 Democrats who make up the majority in the House, only a handful held town-hall-style forums as legislators spent last week at home in their districts. It was no scheduling accident… [M]any Democrats heeded the advice of party leaders and tried to avoid unscripted question-and-answer sessions. The recommendations were clear: hold events in controlled settings – a bank or credit union, for example – or tour local businesses or participate in community service projects.'” (Jeff Zeleny, “Democrats Skip Town Halls to Avoid Voter Rage,” New York Times, 06/06/10)
“One would think that Carol Shea-Porter could find the time on her week-long vacation to explain to her constituents why she consistently ignores their concerns and votes with her party’s job-killing agenda, yet in typical fashion she turned her back on them once again” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Despite encouragement from Democrat party leaders to go home and ‘sell’ their big-government agenda during Memorial Day recess, it appears that Shea-Porter went into hiding to avoid the same backlash and opposition that she received at home last August. Now as she returns to Washington she will run back to Puppeteer Pelosi’s side, and spend more time proving she is a loyal Pelosi puppet rather than listening to the constituents she is supposed to represent. The fact is that if Democrats can’t sell their unpopular job-killing agenda today, voters are unlikely to be buying it five months from now on Election Day.”