Some residents of the 5th Congressional District have been asking Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard Township, since January to hold a town hall meeting, and once again they have decided to schedule their own and invite Thompson to attend.
The town hall, scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, 780 Waupelani Drive, is billed as taking place with or without the congressman.
It will be without.
‘He won’t be able to make it to the event,’ said Renee Gamela, Thompson’s communications director. ‘As you may know, his schedule is planned in advance and he already has commitments that day.’
The town hall is the second organized this year by a group of residents. In February, Thompson was invited to participate in a town hall, but said at the time that he was notified only days before it took place and that he had previous commitments and could not attend. About 350 people attended that meeting.
Marc Friedenberg, of Ferguson Township, has helped organize the town halls and rallies at Thompson’s Bellefonte office. He said he has contacted Thompson’s staff on multiple occasions to find out the congressman’s schedule to no avail. Thompson’s office said in March that he would be scheduling a traditional town hall this spring, but since one has not yet been announced, Friedenberg does not believe it’s likely to happen.
‘Unfortunately, I do not think it is likely that the town hall will be happening this spring,’ he said. ‘My concern is that Rep. Thompson is ultimately not willing or able to handle live, on-the-record, and public questions from his constituents.’
Friedenberg added that other legislators around the country are holding local town halls now because the House of Representatives is in the midst of a two-week district work period.
Thompson has said he is accessible to his constituents in a number of ways, including regular individual meetings and monthly telephone town halls.
‘I want the people to know that I am accessible and available to meet with them to discuss the issues that are most important to them,’ Thompson told the Centre County Gazette in March. ‘In 2016 alone, I hosted more than 1,000 constituent meetings in 16 counties. These meetings are to sit down at the table and find out how we can solve problems.’
Kelli Hoover, who has been involved with the rallies and town halls, said while those avenues for communication are appreciated, she does not believe they are enough.
‘We appreciate that GT holds individual meetings with constituents, but they are short, he can only see a few people, and there is not an opportunity for the vast majority of his constituents to hear from him,’ she said. ‘Tele-town halls are managed by GT’s staff so that questions are carefully screened to ensure he primarily receives softball questions. We hope that he will still schedule a town hall soon when he is home in the district, anywhere in the district.’
Thursday’s town hall will be similar in format to February’s. Friedenberg will open with remarks about code of conduct, then the microphone will be open for attendees to take turns stating their concerns and questions that they have for Thompson. As with the last one, the event will be live streamed on Facebook and recorded so the video can be sent to Thompson.
Health care, the federal budget, Environmental Protection Agency cuts and environmental protection rollbacks are expected to be among the topics. Hoover stressed that the event is non-partisan and anyone in the district is invited to attend, regardless of party affiliation or position on the issues.
‘[Thompson] seems to have felt enough pressure to say that he’s going to hold a town hall, but not enough to actually go ahead and schedule one, which is incredibly disappointing,’ Friedenberg said. ‘In the meantime, there are momentous discussions to be had about healthcare, the budget, taxes, climate change, the importance of legislative checks on the executive branch, and many other issues.’
Friedenberg added that based on the February event, ongoing discussions with other constituents, and response to the announcement of Thursday’s town hall, he believes ‘the need for a town hall is crystal-clear.’ He said the group will continue to organize town halls in Centre County and throughout the district.
In November, Thompson won his fifth term representing Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District.
The 5th Congressional District is Pennsylvania’s largest geographically and represents Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, Venango and Warren counties, and parts of Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Huntingdon and Tioga counties.
