Baumgartner at Whitworth: Dissing and dismissing his constituents
From Jerry LeClaire - Indivisible: The High Ground
Eastern Washington’s freshman Representative to the U.S. Congress Michael Baumgartner held a somewhat infamous town hall at the Cowles Auditorium at Whitworth University last Monday, March 17th. He deserves some credit for appearing in person at a town hall. Many other Republican congresspeople are either avoiding town halls entirely or withdrawing to “telephone town halls” where constituents with tough, probing questions can be avoided by curation and critical audience response cannot be heard.
Saturday and Sunday, March 22 and 23 the Spokesman, to its credit, published a total of a page and a half of letters from writers, most of whom attended the event at Whitworth in person. As you read the letters copied below, remember that these writers were the folks later characterized and dismissed by Baumgartner on a talk radio interview as “unhinged lunatics”. I believe these letters deserve a wider airing than the Spokesman opinion page provides.
“He was given ample quiet and respect to answer each of the well-constructed questions presented. Booing and jeering came as a result of the quality and/ or truthfulness of the answers he offered. Quite possibly the attendees took the meeting more seriously than Baumgartner did.”
“Those of us who disagree with Baumgartner's positions aren't the enemy: We are his constituents. We deserve better.”
“…in his Spokane town hall on Monday, when challenged by members of the audience, he responded by asking who had voted for him and Donald Trump. He then proceeded to dismiss the concerns of his questioners, saying they were only angry because he and Trump had won. So clearly Mr. Baumgartner isn't actually interested in hearing the concerns of all of his constituents, but only those of the people who share his thinking.”
[Whitworth University has posted a recording of the town hall]