Around 7 p.m. on Tuesday night, John Beardsley, a Vancouver resident, received a robo-call inviting him to participate in a telephone town hall hosted by Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler.
Beardsley has been watching the news of Republicans, across the country, returning home to face angry constituents at town halls during the congressional recess. He noticed that when lawmakers gave what were perceived to be canned responses, the crowd wouldn’t let them off the hook — an effort he believed to be productive.
The idea of the telephone town hall offended him, but he opted in.
“The reason I was offended was because it was impossible for her to gauge our reaction to her responses,” he said, adding later that he had a question ready but didn’t have the opportunity to ask it.
“My question is, ‘Do you not care what our response is? And if you do, will you commit to hosting a traditional town hall in person?’ ” Beardsley said.
Herrera Beutler has been facing mounting pressure locally to host a traditional town hall. Also on Tuesday, a sizable crowd rallied outside of her office, many holding “Where’s Jaime?” signs.
But some people appreciated the telephone town hall. Mary Stevenson of Vancouver, who is 82 and an avid C-SPAN watcher, can no longer drive. She was grateful for the opportunity to phone in.
“It was very interesting. I had about six questions, and a lot of it was covered,” Stevenson said.
Herrera Beutler’s office said more than 90,000 people were called in Lewis, Clark and Cowlitz counties to participate in the event. About 30,000 people connected to the town hall, with 8,500 staying on the line for the full hour.
Residents were called once the town hall had started and could choose to stay on the line and participate. Some people complained about the lack of notice.
“It’s impossible to time these events perfectly for every single person who would like to participate, which is why Jaime offers so many ways to communicate with her — email, phone calls, social media, and future telephone town halls,” said Amy Pennington, Herrera Beutler’s spokeswoman.
Although she doesn’t have any traditional town halls on the calendar, Herrera Beutler’s office said she will continue to host them in the future. She did host a traditional town hall last month. She was frequently interrupted and shouted over during the meeting.
“Jaime recognizes that a lot of people have valid concerns about very important issues like health care, immigration, ethics in government, and the economy right now. It’s important for residents to be able to ask her these kinds of questions, but it’s equally important for her to be able to answer them completely, even if some people don’t agree with those answers. A telephone town hall is a very effective means of accomplishing these goals,” Pennington said.
Herrera Beutler’s office said there were about 10 questions asked on a range of topics from the Affordable Care Act to President Donald Trump to job creation. The questions were screened before, her office said, to ensure a broad range of topics were covered and that people weren’t asking specific personal questions that wouldn’t be applicable to others.
Craig Costanza of Salmon Creek also listened in. He thought the questions were “pretty softball.”
“They ranged from a rambling elderly gentleman, I’m not even sure he had a question … to some good, solid questions but nothing I felt like someone with her record and with the way national politics are today … she should feel obligated to face us. I’m looking forward to the next in-person town hall she plans,” he said.
Costanza said he had some questions about the Affordable Care Act he wanted answered. And he’s curious of her stance on the increase in immigration enforcement efforts.
“I didn’t hear any of that,” he said.
Costanza is a recent political observer, but that’s changing rapidly.
“Count me in as a person that was apolitical, but now that time has passed,” he said.
