Give Your Representative Your 2 Cents for $15
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 18th, 2011 4:46 am by HL
Give Your Representative Your 2 Cents for $15
At least four Republican members of Congress have scheduled only paid-entry meetings with constituents rather than free, town-hall gatherings over the summer break, a move that is not unconstitutional but one that some people consider to be “skirting an ethical line.” An Obama administration official told Politico that these “pay-per-view” meetings, which cost constituents $10 to $30 a head, are evidence that House Republicans are purposefully out of touch with a public that is eager to tell them just how fed up they are with the job Congress has been doing lately. —BF Politico: Neither Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.) nor Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) held or have scheduled town halls, but Barletta appeared last week at a $30-per-plate “CEO to CEO” forum and Ellmers is scheduled to speak at a federal employees’ forum that is charging a $13 admission fee. Barletta and Ellmers join Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), who POLITICO reported Tuesday are all appearing at pay-per-view functions while eschewing town hall meetings open to all. Another tactic for avoiding crowds of angry voters is being employed by members like Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), who held two town hall events — but in far-flung, relatively unpopulated parts of his northeastern Minnesota district, while doing only paid events in Duluth, the district’s population and media hub. Read more
At least four Republican members of Congress have scheduled only paid-entry meetings with constituents rather than free, town-hall gatherings over the summer break, a move that is not unconstitutional but one that some people consider to be “skirting an ethical line.”
An Obama administration official told Politico that these “pay-per-view” meetings, which cost constituents $10 to $30 a head, are evidence that House Republicans are purposefully out of touch with a public that is eager to tell them just how fed up they are with the job Congress has been doing lately. —BF
Politico:
Neither Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.) nor Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) held or have scheduled town halls, but Barletta appeared last week at a $30-per-plate “CEO to CEO” forum and Ellmers is scheduled to speak at a federal employees’ forum that is charging a $13 admission fee.
Barletta and Ellmers join Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), who POLITICO reported Tuesday are all appearing at pay-per-view functions while eschewing town hall meetings open to all.
Another tactic for avoiding crowds of angry voters is being employed by members like Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), who held two town hall events — but in far-flung, relatively unpopulated parts of his northeastern Minnesota district, while doing only paid events in Duluth, the district’s population and media hub.
Related Entries
- August 15, 2011 Worms and Fishes
- August 10, 2011 London Riots: The View From Brixton
Jim Hightower and Rick Perry’s Army of God
This week on Truthdig Radio in collaboration with KPFK: Texan populist Jim Hightower and Robert Scheer discuss Rick Perry’s entry into the presidential race while Texas Observer Editor David Mann tells us about Perry’s “army of God.”
This week on Truthdig Radio in collaboration with KPFK: Texan populist Jim Hightower and Robert Scheer discuss Rick Perry’s entry into the presidential race while Texas Observer Editor David Mann tells us about Perry’s “army of God.”
Related Entries
- August 15, 2011 Worms and Fishes
- August 10, 2011 London Riots: The View From Brixton