Running From the People Vol 4

From New Hampshire (h/t NowHampshire):

Members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation are under fire today from the editorial pages of the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader and the liberal Portsmouth Herald.

No time for town hall meetings

At issue is the fact that the Granite State’s representatives, specifically Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, are not holding town hall meetings on health care reform with their constituents this August recess but instead partying with liberal bloggers and holding a smattering of so-called tele-town hall meetings—essentially controlled conference calls in which constituents are tellingly kept on “listen only mode.”

“Are they reluctant to hear unfiltered, unscreened questions and feedback on this important bill from their constituents in a forum in which other constituents can also hear and participate,” asks the Union Leader’s editors in a Sunday editorial.

“New Hampshire’s own Democratic representatives to Washington seem less than interested in using this congressional recess to hear from the general public in an unfettered way on an issue that has certainly captured public attention and created great uncertainty,” they continue.

The Herald joined the chorus.

“The whole concept of a telephone town hall meeting is flawed. We live in New England, where the town meeting form of government originated and where it still thrives. We know how a town meeting is supposed to work, and it certainly isn’t by telephone. It is neighbors meeting face-to-face to discuss the issues,” its editors state, also in a Sunday editorial.

Neither editorial credits NowHampshire.com for its detailed coverage of the delegations’ dearth of activity during the August recess.

There are no longer any Republican congressmen left in the New England states. There are a couple of moderate GOP Senators in Maine, but that's it.

That may change next year if the people's representatives don't start responding to their voters rather than outside liberal special interest groups.