I wonder how this is legal? Sounds like taxation without representation.
DC: first time?
Unless the town hall is paid for with taxpayer dollars or held on government property, it's a citizen who happens to be in Congress having a private event with their political supporters.
Same as a political party convention or fundraiser dinner,.AFAIK.
(And, depending on state law, even a function on government property may be legally private.)
No, that's not how it works.
So, how does it work? Does your state have a law requiring congressional "town halls" to be open to the public?
Town halls by their definition are open to the public. He is holding a private campaign event.
He is lying to the public by calling it a town hall.
Or it is a town hall, and he's lying to the public by claiming he's allowed to exclude non-Republicans.
"town hall" is a style of event. Back when there were meaningful debates during presidential campaigns, it used to be a regular choice.
I guarantee you that they were closed events, with attendees chosen legally-arbitrarily by whatever TV network was hosting the event.
So long as he takes questions from those in attendance, it's a town hall. Even if no cameras are allowed.
The public put their name in a hat and submitted questions for presidential debates. Those people were picked to speak. Still was open to everyone. This is not a town hall.
I assure you that anyone who ever put on a town hall debate, including the League of Women voters and definitely the TV networks, screened the questions and reserved the right to exclude anyone they chose to.
No debate or political event since well before Nixon/Kennedy has been "open to everyone".
You missed the point. Anyone can apply. The questions are screened. They don't discriminate based on party.
14 upvotes? Take a civics class you schmucks, Jesus tapdancing Christ
So, what rule do you think makes "congressional town halls" work differently than any other campaign activity?
I think the main point is that non-republicans are still forced to pay taxes, but the elected official is denying those people representation. If he wants to hold a non-republican only event for equal representation, then that's a really dumb way to do it, but at least is closer to acceptable.
It's the "taxation without representation" thing, not the "blocking a demographic from their private event" thing.
"taxation without representation" I believe was a slogan, not a legally binding principle.
I get ya. It was a rallying cry for revolution, not really anything that ended up in writing as law.
The “town hall” tem generally connotes...
Fuck the rep and all, but what is happening in this article? Spelling and grammatic issues all over the place...
So less "town hall" and more "klan rally" - got it
These fucking idiots willfully forget they are supposed to represent everyone in their districts. I hope everyone else in his district makes a picket line to keep all the traitors out.
The people who bought them don't appreciate them working for other people.
there would be a larger crowd outside than those allowed in.
I'm picturing a moat of people, like 30-60 feet deep around the event. A couple orders of magnitude more people outside than inside. And thinking that might give an impression.
"GOP rep discontinues town halls, switches to private party meetings"
"GOP rep discontinues private party meetings, switches to private prerecorded video Q&A on X"
Ah, so a bunch of assholes smelling their own farts. Got it.
I'm in a town hall rn. Waiting for it to start anyway. My rep is a dem, and guess what? No restrictions on attendees. Imagine that!
Can't you just say you are one and walk in? Idk how they check that if you never registered.
I'm sure there will be a lot of, well, let's say "visual inspection" going on to enter these town halls, if you catch my drift. It probably won't matter if you claim to be a Republican but are brown, black, female, or under the age of 50.
Come on, they're just simple dress code requirements
Business casual: red cap, formal: white hood
With or without the eye holes?
Straight cis white male liberals rise up - it looks like there's a problem to solve and the minorities can't solve it themselves.
It's the opportunity you've been waiting for!
(This is ribbing in jest. Allies are awesome)
Party registration is public data in Arizona. They provide a ton of data, actually. A lot of states just provide name and party affiliation and maybe zip code or whatever. But you can often just buy it.
If they required people to RSVP, it’d probably be pretty easy for a political party to cross reference and check ID. (It seems Arizona sells the list to political parties and mere citizens have the right to inspect the voter rolls. Whatever that means.)
Source: https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/access-to-and-use-of-voter-registration-lists
Looks like it's my time to shine.
They'll just fill the place with known loyalists, party officials, and MAGA social media influencers, denying access to actual republican voters.
They'll be quiet and listen to their master like good little boys and girls, and then they'll go on social media and say "see? our town hall was full of republicans and it was peaceful! your town hall must have been infiltrated by socialists!"
The town hall outrage will just become another charade, if it hasn't already, very very soon.
I had to check in at the door at my reps town hall in nys.. There was a list of folks that rsvp. I got the invite by email, so I bet it's based on voter registration, and if you walk up at aren't registered R, no dice.
Ahh yes, a true representative of the people! 🥴
Boy, it’s a good thing there aren’t vets that voted R (or other non-insane R’s) that will totally stay home and be quiet.
Sue
Echo chamber effect. Dumbass.
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