Protesters call on Rep. Cliff Bentz to schedule an in-person town hall as he left the Rotary Club of The Dalles' Aug. 20 meeting, where he was a guest speaker.
Protesters call on Rep. Cliff Bentz to schedule an in-person town hall as he left the Rotary Club of The Dalles' Aug. 20 meeting, where he was a guest speaker.
Since being elected, to recognize and appreciate my constituents’ views, I have read, listened, discussed, and repeatedly reached out. Town hall meetings can be a valuable part of this process, but equally important are meetings with smaller groups, including county commissioners, mayors, service organizations, chambers of commerce, central committees, irrigation districts, schools, hospitals, and many others. I have no idea how many public meetings I have attended, but the total is well into the hundreds. Let me emphasize: The purpose of reaching out is to learn what it is that my constituents believe would make their lives better.
In February of this year, I kicked off a two-day, four town hall trip, including Baker City, La Grande, Pendleton, and the Boardman. In previous years, we were drawing between 40-100 people to these town hall meetings. This year, we had about 250 in Baker City, 450-500 in La Grande, 300 in Pendleton, and 180 in the Boardman. Unlike previous years, many of those attending followed us from town hall meeting to town hall meeting, so that they could pack the house.
When given the opportunity to ask a question, many of those following along engaged in intentionally disruptive, repetitive, practiced, rude, and demeaning behavior. Catcalls, profane language, derisive and accusatory comments, canned questions, and reading from scripts of screed written and distributed by the anti-Trump gang, “Indivisible,” constituted the majority of the new attendee’s “questions.” The intent of Indivisible, a left-wing group initially formed in opposition to President Trump, is to disrupt, intimidate, and threaten. Everyone has the right, under the First Amendment, to express themselves at public town halls in ways that are as crude, rude, nasty, and obnoxious as they might want. But Indivisible cannot be forgiven for delivering a message that is false and intended to scare the most vulnerable people in my district. Much of what they offered was designed to do just that.
What was abundantly clear is that by holding live in person town hall meetings, I was not learning what I could do to make lives better, but instead was providing Indivisible with a forum to spread misinformation, create a false sense of opposition, and drive away local people who are disgusted with meetings that are taken over by the loud and obnoxious.
This is why I have shifted, for the time being, to telephone town halls. The first telephone town hall I held, several months ago, drew 13,000 participants. The next two are scheduled for smaller initial call groups (50,000 rather than 100,000 calls). The first of these next two meetings will be held on Monday, Sept. 8; the second on Wednesday, Sept. 17. Please visit my web page at bentz.house.gov/live to participate and write in your questions. If you do not have web access, please call my office at 202-225-6730 or 541-709-2040 or 541-776-4646.
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