Give Your Representative Your 2 Cents for $15

Posted on Aug 17, 2011

AP / Jeffrey Phelps

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin speaks during a listening session in April. Ryan is one of four Republican representatives who is opting to appear only at paid-entry events over the summer congressional recess.

At least four Republican members of Congress have scheduled only paid-entry meetings with constituents rather than free, town-hall gatherings over the summer break, a move that is not unconstitutional but one that some people consider to be “skirting an ethical line.”

An Obama administration official told Politico that these “pay-per-view” meetings, which cost constituents $10 to $30 a head, are evidence that House Republicans are purposefully out of touch with a public that is eager to tell them just how fed up they are with the job Congress has been doing lately. —BF

Politico:

Neither Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.) nor Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) held or have scheduled town halls, but Barletta appeared last week at a $30-per-plate “CEO to CEO” forum and Ellmers is scheduled to speak at a federal employees’ forum that is charging a $13 admission fee.

Barletta and Ellmers join Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), who POLITICO reported Tuesday are all appearing at pay-per-view functions while eschewing town hall meetings open to all.

Another tactic for avoiding crowds of angry voters is being employed by members like Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), who held two town hall events — but in far-flung, relatively unpopulated parts of his northeastern Minnesota district, while doing only paid events in Duluth, the district’s population and media hub.

Read more

More Below the Ad

New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.