Connelly: Cantwell to hold three town halls, a first for Washington's senators
Despite much grousing about the insularity of Washington's Republican members of Congress, neither of the Evergreen State's Democratic U.S. Senators has staged a town hall during early tumultuous months of the Trump Administration.
Change is coming. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will stage three town halls -- all in Seattle -- over during Congress' the Fourth of July recess.
The health care town hall will be held in the Roethke Auditorium of the University of Washington's Kane Hall, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Obama administration put in place rules protecting a free and open internet, but these have come under fire from new FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. The town hall discussion will be moderated by Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association.
The net neutrality town hall will be Friday from 11 a,.m. to 12:30 at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Avenue on First Hill.
The third town hall, on Saturday, July 8, will be more free form, with Cantwell fielding questions and talking about her Senate work. It runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the TEC High School gymnasium, 830 SW 116th Street.
Net neutrality has become a cause for Cantwell. It is the principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated as equally as possible. It should not be possible for certain web sites and services to get preferential treatment from internet service providerss like Verizon or Comcast through special deals and added fees.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has yet to hold a town hall this year. She prefers small one-issue discussions, almost always with people who agree with her, which the press is invited to attend and cover.
The events, usually spotlighting legislation Murray is sponsoring, have a ritualized Kabuki dance-like flavor.
U.S. Reps. Derek Kilmer, Rick Larsen, Pramila Jayapal, Adam Smith, Denny Heck, and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., have all held multiple public meetings during the first tumultuous months of 2017. Smith drew 900 people to one South Seattle meeting.
Town Hall Seattle will be busy this week. Jayapal is hold a health care town hall there at 5:30 on Thursday, July 6th. It will be her second in the same neighborhood. She met with seniors at Horizon House during the spring.
By contrast, Reps. Dave Reichert and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., have gone to ground even as hundreds of constituents have demonstrated asking for town meetings.
McMorris Rodgers has met her Eastern Washington constituents at small by-invite coffees, since confronted with chants of "Save Our Health Care!!!" at a January celebration of Martin Luther King Day in Spokane.
Although he was once a hostage negotiator with the King County Sheriff's Office, Reichert has grown gun shy. A march by 700 demonstrators outside his Issaquah office didn't produce a meeting. Getting a schedule out of his office has become as difficult as going through Mont Blanc before they built the tunnel.
By: Joel Connelly
Source: Seattle PI