Mainer Ran Full-Page Ads in the Portland Press Herald Requesting a Meeting

 

MDP Has Received Hundreds of Questions from Senator Collins’ Constituents & Will Deliver Them to Her Office This Week

 

A newly released report from The Town Hall project reveals that Susan Collins has failed to hold a public town hall “since her first years as a senator” despite her own past statements that “rough and tumble” town hall meetings are valuable because they represent “unvarnished, direct democracy.”

 

The 2019 Congressional Accessibility Report reveals that while members of Congress in both parties increasingly held town halls in 2019, Senator Collins is a “missing member” who has failed to appear at a public town hall in Maine for more than 20 years.

 

Mainers have tried to push Senator Collins to hold a town hall with petitions and even full-page newspaper ads, but while Collins has time to attend fundraisers with Washington lobbyists and Mitch McConnell, she apparently has no time to be accessible and accountable to her constituents.

 

That’s why Maine Democrats have collected more than 500 questions from Senator Collins’ constituents across the state and will be hand delivering them to Senator Collins’ office this week.

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

 

Newsweek: Republican Senator Susan Collins Hasn’t Held A Single Town Hall For Years

 

Melissa Lemieux

January 13, 2019

 

Key points:

 

  • Among them is Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who, though she has publicly praised the value of town halls by saying that such meetings are an "unvarnished, direct democracy" which "rejects the notion that wealth dictates political discourse," has not appeared at a town hall in her state since her first years as senator.

  • Voters in Maine have protested Collins' choice over the years, creating petitions requesting or demanding her appearance at town halls since.

  • The Town Hall Project also notes that the number of town halls held over the year has increased—2,670 took place in 2019, up from 1,096 in 2018.

  • They also note that the number of town halls held by both parties has gone up—1,739 by Democrats, versus 691 in 2018, and 931 by Republicans, versus 405.


 

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