Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler said Wednesday The Chronicle Editorial Board has an ax to grind when it comes to calling out her rare public appearances and reluctance to host a true town hall meeting.
Well, if she means we have a different opinion than her own, she’s right.
To be fair, she made the statement under the mistaken belief The Chronicle had attempted to couch an appearance in Morton (see page Main 6 or www.chronline.com) as a public forum, when in fact we had simply published the information her office provided about the meeting.
A spokeswoman for her office called me to explain the matter after being pressed by our reporter, who was at the gathering. The congresswoman had been provided incorrect information prior to her statement.
I’m comfortable chalking the whole thing up as a misunderstanding, but it creates another opportunity to discuss the matter of town halls and, more specifically, the congresswoman’s reluctance to host them.
The Chronicle Editorial Board’s stance remains the same — lawmakers should have the courage to face their constituents in public forums.
There’s no question that, as her office has essentially stated, some political activists see public appearances by members of Congress as an opportunity to stir up trouble rather than take part in a meaningful discussion.
Recent events have proven that some prefer to create a scene over simply asking questions and allowing a member of Congress to provide an answer in a calm setting. Still, I continue to believe a majority of our country is above the hysterics and scorched Earth commentaries that consume the fringes of both the Left and the Right.
These are divisive times, but a two-party system has always lended itself to such division. The only real change in recent years has been the volume of discontent, which has been amplified with advances in social media paired with an increasing number of news outlets gleefully clouding the lines between opinion and fact.
On the internet, it often seems that the less reasonable an individual is, the more likely he or she is to scream an opinion rather than speak it. I’ve found that most of the folks willing to take several hours out of their day to hear their representative speak are much more reasonable, at least here in Lewis County.
By refusing to hold town halls, I believe lawmakers can inadvertently add weight to the myth that civility is dead. Beyond that, why should well-meaning members of the public lose an opportunity to hear from their representative — perhaps even meet her — because of the bad behavior of a few?
It’s not fair to place the issue solely at the feet of Herrera Beutler. She’s just the best example of the growing trend we have here in Southwest Washington.
In the last several years, we’ve seen broad reluctance by state and national officials to stand before their voters to explain their records and hear directly from those they serve. It’s not relegated to Democrats or Republicans, as members of both parties have at times dodged public appearances.
To Herrera Beutler’s credit, at least she takes the time to appear in Lewis County, where she’s been very effective in helping local governments and individuals solve a number of conundrums. I can’t recall the last time our Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell even visited our area.
If Herrera Beutler were to hold a town hall meeting in Lewis County, though, it would likely feature a few troublemakers looking to embarrass her or create a disturbance. I think it would include far more people who simply want to hear her discuss the issues in an impromptu setting.
In the past couple months, Lewis County has been host to several demonstrations, from the peaceful anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights camps at Planned Parenthood in Centralia, to a subdued demonstration in Chehalis focused on the national health care debate.
This weekend, some are planning a March for Science in Chehalis with the caveat that they won’t actually be marching. Why? Because that would disrupt traffic.
They’re not exactly the type of people who create fear or stamp out opposing viewpoints.
Sure, they might have a different opinion than the congresswoman. They might even want to shout it out or carry a sign. One might even say they have axes to grind, but I maintain they’re not the kind that do damage.
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Eric Schwartz is the editor of The Chronicle.
