Despite my criticism of Sixth District Congressman Ben Cline, I appreciated his willingness to hold regular in-person town hall meetings with constituents throughout the Sixth District. These meetings have given his opponents as well as his supporters a chance to voice their opinions face to face without the insulation provided by his staff.
This marked a welcome contrast with Cline’s predecessor, Bob Goodlatte, who stopped holding in-person town halls some years before he retired from Congress.
When Cline started holding town halls in 2019, he scheduled them in American Legion and VFW halls, community centers and other reasonably spacious locations. He announced the events on his Facebook page at least four or five days in advance and simply required people to get free tickets online. Although the times weren’t always convenient, there was room for anyone who was able to attend.
After a pause in town halls due to the COVID pandemic, Cline– with no explanation– changed the format. He rebranded the town halls as “Coffee with Your Congressman” and held them mostly at restaurants. And the advance notice for these events has got progressively shorter.
Most recently, on April 4 Cline held “Coffees” at restaurants in Warren and Shenandoah. They were announced on his Facebook page just one day in advance— making it difficult or impossible for many people to attend.
But that’s not the worst of it. One commenter on the Facebook page complained that she wanted to attend the Warren County event but couldn’t because tickets disappeared almost immediately.
According to one constituent who did attend:
What’s going on? Why the ridiculously short notice and the limited seating?
I hope this is nothing more than a case of bad management.
Gene Zitver is the editor of ClineWatch.
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