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More on Stefanik and town hall forums

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro (Photo provided)

Tom Flanigan, spokesman for U.S. Rep Elise Stefanik, asked us Tuesday to correct Monday’s editorial, specifically this sentence in the first paragraph: “By not showing up at a forum Wednesday in Glens Falls — organized by political critics, drawing about 300 people — she (Stefanik) made it look like she’s either afraid or dismissive of them.”

Not so, Flanigan said; she was unable to attend because she was traveling on a congressional delegation trip for new members of the House Intelligence Committee that had been scheduled in early January.

We had known that; it had been in our news coverage. Why not mention it in the editorial, too? Because she had chosen not to make room in her schedule for town hall meetings. We thought her excuse for missing this one didn’t mean much because she already had made it clear she didn’t want to take part in that kind of event.

From Flanigan’s point of view, however, that omission looked like an effort to mislead. We didn’t mean it that way. Please consider this a clarification.

Small vs. big meetings

It doesn’t change our position that our congresswoman should attend town hall forums if that is what a substantial number of her constituents want. Even if the people calling for them want to vote her out in 2018, to avoid these meetings reflects poorly on her.

In the meantime, Flanigan said, he’s setting up small-group meetings with people in all 12 counties of New York’s 21st Congressional District, which she represents — including with progressive critics following a national game plan called “Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Resisting the Trump Agenda,” modeled after the Tea Party protests of 2009 and 2010. They’re calling for town-hall-style public forums, which Tea Partiers were often able to steer toward their goals.

Stefanik sees small meetings as more productive, Flanigan said. In many ways, they are. Grandstanding mostly fades away, and people often treat each other more like people than they would with a crowd behind them. Plus, lengthier dialogue builds understanding better than squeezing in lots of people’s questions at a forum.

But public forums have their place, too. Stefanik should be willing to meet constituents on their terms, not just her own. Also, these forums reach more people, both in person and via media coverage. Most people are not going to reach out to set up a meeting with their member of Congress, but they do want to observe what the rep is doing, saying and thinking.

Other examples

Stefanik is far from the only member of Congress trying to avoid getting sucked into the town hall push. In western New York, Republican Chris Collins and Democrat Brian Higgins are doing the same. Citing them as well as Stefanik, our sister paper in Jamestown, the Post-Journal, wrote in its editorial Sunday, “Such behavior is unacceptable at any time, but especially during the uncertain and politically charged early days of President Donald Trump’s time in office.”

We’ll echo what the Post-Journal wrote next, in praise of another western New York congressman’s approach: “It was good to see U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, continue his tradition of town hall meetings throughout his district. Reed held two town hall meetings in Chautauqua County on Saturday and, notably, surprised a group in the midst of a three-day sit-in at his Ithaca office with an impromptu meeting late Thursday evening after returning from Washington, D.C.

“We’re not sure how satisfying the town hall meeting was for anyone. The Stow town hall meeting was raucous at times and too often dissolved into political point-making rather than a true give-and-take of ideas. Those who disagree with Reed’s stance on issues likely left feeling disappointed. Those who support Reed’s stance on issues likely felt drowned out. The meeting was a predictable microcosm of our national discourse in 2017 in which playing a role in the political theater is more important than arriving at consensus.

“Regardless of how one feels about the meetings’ outcome, however, give Reed credit for hosting the meetings in the first place. There are many representatives from both sides of the political aisle who don’t give their constituents even that much.”

We call upon North Country progressives to be much more civil than the people described above. If Stefanik is to agree to such a listening session, everyone involved should show respect — both for our congresswoman, who has a hard job, and for our nation’s system of democratic self-rule.

We’ve offered to have the Lake Placid News help organize and sponsor a town hall forum in Lake Placid, in Stefanik’s home county of Essex. We promise to run it in an orderly, civil, fair, professional and democratic manner. No answer so far, but hopefully she accepts.

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