Houston Congressman John Culberson's Town Hall was a Private, GOP-Only Affair

[TexasTowelie]

Last edited Thu Feb 23, 2017, 04:31 PM - Edit history (1)

To a remarkable extent, our current political moment is a sort of funhouse mirror version of the events that followed the inauguration of Barack Obama. Now, as then, a charismatic president whose opposition feels he is unduly influenced by shadowy foreign elements has been swept into power. A populist rabble has emerged to challenge the new regime, and the president’s supporters are certain the new movement is fraudulent, paid for by shadowy billionaires. Except for the fact that what’s happening now is almost completely unprecedented, we’ve seen it all before, to an eerie extent. If the 2009 chart-topper “I Gotta Feeling” starts playing on the radio irritatingly often, we’ll know that a hole has opened up in the space-time continuum, and it is time to make your peace with God.

On Wednesday, outside an invitation-only speech by Texas Congressman John Culberson, those resonances played out on two sidewalk curbs near the gate of Lakeside Country Club, in west Houston. Culberson is a nine-term Republican rep whose wealthy district voted for Clinton in the general election, which means he’s got a target on his back.

Culberson, like every other Republican member of the Texas congressional delegation, isn’t holding public town halls with his constituents during the February recess, as is tradition. Democrats and some moderate Republicans had many disastrous town halls in 2009 and 2010, when agitated tea party types swarmed public events. Footage of those confrontations fed the perception that those in power were losing control.

So Culberson and all of his colleagues are holding private meetings instead — very private — to minimize what people in politics call “bad optics.” If you’re a constituent who’d like to meet Culberson and ask him about health care policy, you’re S.O.L. But on Wednesday, he spoke to the Village Republican Women, a local party group. Only members of the Lakeside Country Club and those on the group’s “waiting list” were allowed past the security guards and a platoon of Houston police officers.

Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/houston-congressman-john-culbersons-town-hall-private-gop-affair/

[Dustlawyer]

1. My Congressman won't hold a town hall!

[murielm99]

2. I just finished calling my congressman's office.

He won't hold a town hall, either. Coward. He can go speak to republican groups, but not hold a town hall.

We are going out tonight to protest outside a republican fundraiser where he is the keynote speaker. I am going to tell everyone to call his office all day every day.

We need to write letters, too. They respond better to snail mail.

I told his office worker that this is very cowardly behavior for a veteran. We won't quit.

This is a red district, but maybe we can defeat him.