THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

I know my Congressman is avoiding the town hall called for by March For Our Lives organizers. This is not unexpected because the bastard prefers to be Home On The Range, seldom hearing any discouraging words.

The organizers of March for Our Lives are hoping they can turn more than 700 marches in the U.S. on ending gun violence into 535 town halls on April 7 – one for every member of Congress right before they return to work on April 9.

It’s an uphill battle under normal circumstances. But with fewer in-person town halls generally, polarized demonstrations at town halls last year over Obamacare, and the volatility of a congressional election year, it’s more a mountain than a hill.

“This is not an unreasonable thing to expect. If they can meet with donors every recess they can take an hour to talk to constituents – it is called ‘district work period,’” said Nathan Williams, managing director of the Town Hall Project, which is helping out March for Our Lives organizers on the issue. “But yes, it’s safe to say that not all 535 will host town halls over recess. There will probably be mostly empty chair town halls on the seventh.”

Williams said they’ve gotten calls from more than 300 potential organizers from about 130 districts on hosting town halls on April 7. If the member of Congress refuses to show up, they’ll have an “empty chair” town hall, inviting members’ campaign opponents and hosting constituents to voice their concerns. So far, 48 members of Congress have in-person town halls scheduled over the recess, and about a third of them are Republicans.

More than a dozen such empty chair town halls were officially organized by Thursday, including ones for Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Ken Buck, R-Colo., Ron Estes, R-Kan., Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

“Nobody likes to get shouted at, or have their humanity called into question,” said Michael Neblo, a professor at Ohio State University who has studied town halls for over a decade. “Especially in purple districts, you won’t have members willing to stand there and look contrary to their constituents.”

The town hall on gun violence hosted by CNN in February after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida, was a “red flag” for many Republicans, according to Scott Jennings, a Republican political strategist and special assistant to former President George W. Bush. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was both repeatedly booed for his views on gun control and occasionally thanked for showing up to the debate, as other Republicans such as Florida Gov. Rick Scott and President Donald Trump declined invitations. Rubio was also a frequent target of Stoneman Douglas students who spoke at the D.C. march last Saturday.

“He’s been drug through the mud ever since. And he’s not a radical on this issue,” Jennings said. “We have a saying in debate prep – if someone is moving your way, don’t step on them. That’s what they’re doing to Rubio.”

There is no historic data on how often town halls are held, according to Neblo, but most who study the issue say it has markedly decreased. It started when Democrats took heavy criticism over Obamacare in 2009, and then suffered another drop after renewed debate over repealing Obamacare targeted Republicans in 2017.

The Town Hall Project has identified 158 “missing members,” the group’s term for members who have not held an in-person town hall since January 2017. Nearly half of Republican House and Senate members make the list compared to 10 percent of Democratic members.

Nobody promised these critters an easy job so when their voters ask them to show up they should despite the promise of abuse. If they had been doing their jobs, that abuse would probably not happen. Go to a meeting if your jamoke is going to show up, give them Hell if they don't.