Some lawmakers are turning to conference calls with their constituents to avoid the hostile crowds that have greeted Republicans at their town halls across the country.
Lawmakers returned to their home districts for a week-long recess this week, and some are holding town halls filled with throngs of protesters concerned primarily about the future of Obamacare.
Others are turning to the telephone, with lawmakers condemning in-person events as flooded with paid protesters. Activists, on the other hand, charge that the lawmakers should face constituents to explain their choices on issues such as Obamacare.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., last week held an hour-long virtual town hall that featured questions on Obamacare repeal.
Harris, the only Republican lawmaker from Maryland, told a local radio station recently that the protests are being funded by Democratic mega-donor George Soros.
“It is obviously an anti-Trump organization that wants to cause trouble,” Harris said, referring to the nonprofit advocacy group Indivisible that promotes government benefits.
“They don’t want to hear town hall meetings. They want to disrupt town hall meetings,” he said.
President Trump also has dismissed the town-hall protesters, recently tweeting that the crowds are “in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!”
The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2017
Harris pointed out that people could have come up to him at any time during the campaign season last year to ask about his opinions on Obamacare.
While he is turning to virtual town halls now, he said he hopes to hold in-person events when Republicans’ Obamacare replacement plan comes out.
But Harris’ decision didn’t sit well with a local healthcare advocacy group.
“They are doing this because they are afraid to face the people who would be deprived of healthcare if these measures are enacted,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative.
DeMarco said the people coming to town halls aren’t paid to do so, but are concerned about the impact of losing Obamacare.
Harris’ office did not return a request for comment.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., also defended his decision to go virtual.
“I think this is a very useful way to hear from a lot of people, and there are tens of thousands of people who can listen in,” he said during a telephone town hall Feb. 16. “I think it is very constructive and I am going to continue to communicate in many forums as best we can.”
Toomey added that none of the questions are screened, a complaint from one person on the call.
Toomey angered some constituents when he held a telephone town hall that published reports say took place 90 minutes after being announced on Facebook.
A petition on moveon.org calling for Toomey to hold a town hall got a little more than 13,000 signatures, and roughly 200 people gathered Tuesday outside one of his offices calling for an in-person town hall, according to a report in the Philly Voice news website.
Toomey’s office told the Washington Examiner that the senator has held 14 town hall meetings since taking office six years ago. He has hosted nearly 50 tele-town halls over the past three years.
The senator doesn’t have any town hall meetings planned.
Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., recently told a local newspaper that he put on hold his in-person town hall schedule, but he is holding conference calls. MacArthur said he didn’t want to be “baited into having an event that some outside group can just make a spectacle out of,” according to the Asbury Park Press.
A recent poll found that the public isn’t a big fan of the tele-town halls.
The poll from Morning Consult and Politico found that 56 percent preferred in-person town halls and about 2 in 10 voters prefer the calls.
About 51 percent said that their Congress member doesn’t spend enough time working in their districts, with both Republicans and Democrats feeling the same way.
Half of the 2,013 voters surveyed said their lawmaker doesn’t hold enough town halls and 43 percent said they don’t hold enough tele-town halls.
Some lawmakers contend that the town halls reflect genuine concern.
“This wasn’t an artificial crowd. It wasn’t manufactured. It was real people with real concerns on what comes next on healthcare,” Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., who held a session in his district Saturday, said on CNN.
Sanford was one of numerous Republicans who faced heat at local town halls, including large gatherings for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., held a crowded town hall Wednesday, while Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., was scheduled to hold his third on healthcare.
Other lawmakers, however, aren’t holding any events at all.
A lack of town halls prompted a Twitter campaign with milk carton fliers asking for information on Rep. Paul Cook, R-Calif., who they say is missing.
