About halfway through Randy Kuhl's town meeting in Pittsford, the person standing next to me muttered, "Why would someone want to be a Congressman?". I've often wondered that myself, and this afternoon's meeting did nothing to answer that longstanding query.
The setting was the basement of the Pittsford town hall, in the heart of the most affluent suburb in Monroe County (and the district). The players were a SRO crowd of about 60 constituents. Some of them were covered with sheets splattered with fake blood, wearing black bags over their heads and holding anti-war placards. Others were brandishing editorials from the Wall Street Journal. The common denominator was outrage and dissatisfaction: with the government in general, and John R Kuhl, Jr. in particular.
I'd like to give an calm analysis of the interplay of ideas that occurred, but frankly the whole thing was a bit overwhelming. An undercurrent of dissatisfied grumbling would sometimes drown out the speakers. Some participants were critical of Kuhl for not answering their questions, while others cut him off as he attempted to explain his position. Towards the end, there was yelling. It wasn't fit for kids or the elderly, though at least one of the former and many of the latter were present.
I'm not sure that any real conclusion about Kuhl, his constituents, or the 29th can be drawn from this mudfight. Nevertheless, I'll offer a few highlights.
First, the comedy. One constituent began by saying that he had come to make a tougher statement, but since Kuhl was answering questions, he would give a "nice speech". His next sentence: "You have allowed yourself to become a puppet of the Bush Administration." One wonders what he would have said if he weren't making nice.
At a couple of points, Kuhl pointed out that some of the participants had been in other town meetings. One gentleman in particular, who was wearing a red Legion cap, was clearly well-known to Kuhl. He spent at least five minutes berating Kuhl for using the term "assured funding" instead of "mandatory funding" in a letter about the Veterans' Administration. A few minutes earlier, his friend had loudly declaimed that the most important issue facing the country was "bees". Actually, that might be true, and Randy's position on the Agriculture Committee probably gives him some insight on the issue. Unfortunately, the bee man kept cutting Randy off as he tried to answer.
Perhaps the most tragic figure was a dissatisfied Republican who had voted for Republicans all his life, except for the last two elections. He asked why the Republicans didn't have a "bit of courage" to stand up to the Bush Administration. His question was followed by a round of applause from the anti-war contingent, which he waved away, saying he was "talking as a Republican". He, too, didn't get an answer because someone immediately asked another question. He walked out in disgust a few minutes later.
Kuhl's demeanor was a bit different from March's meeting in Henrietta. I missed the first few minutes of this meeting, so perhaps Kuhl had laid down rules about it being a "listening opportunity." Whether or not he's still holding on to that convenient fiction, he seemed more willing to answer questions today. He tried the "I'm here to listen" line a few times, but the crowd was on to him, and they were adamant about demanding answers. Kuhl did give a few answers, and he might have said more had he been given the chance. Some of the answers were on point, and some were full of misdirection, but on the whole he seemed more willing to engage the audience than he did in Henrietta.
The overall impression I got from the meeting was that of people talking past each other. Some hot topics were the Virginia Tech shootings (gun control), Immigration (with the main concern being cutting off illegal immigration), Gonzales, melamine in the food supply and the war in Iraq. On all of those topics, I don't think anyone was satisfied.
Though I'm tempted, I can't really blame Kuhl for not satisfying this group. They came to yell at Kuhl, and Kuhl came to get yelled at. Both sides played their roles, and then, like most well-organized performances, it ended at the appointed time.
Comments
Interesting.
That was very nice to know.
Perhaps these town hall meetings will get us somewhere. What a wasted opportunity. The one time you get Kuhl to answer your questions, but you're too busy shouting at him to listen.
Your right. It's enough to make any fair, open-minded politician cynical, not to mention a fair, open-minded voter -- if either exist. As to his motivation, Randy may not have many other
options but to be a politician, given his character, compulsions and skills.
I don't know him personally, but his father was a highly respected family doctor in Hammondsport. In my ten years as a transplant to Urbana/Hammondsport from NJ, one thing that has really impressed me about the area is a really strong public service ethic. While the obvious perks are there, Randy doesn't have to expose himself to the kind of abuse that you describe, in order to keep his job. He still has a pretty good option, I would think, in the conferece call meetings that he held earlier. As a state senator he was just as scrupulous about holding his town meetings as he has been recently. Given the number of venues in his district he has held himself to a pretty stressful schedule, while still keeping on top of things in DC.
I'm guessing that these meetings were more effective when Kuhl was a State Senator. The set of issues for a Senator are a shorter list, and there aren't any major national issues (e.g, the war) that stir up such high feelings.
The stated goal of the meetings is for Kuhl to learn what his constituents are thinking. What's happening is that a tiny, vocal slice of his constituency is dominating the meetings. If there is a widely-held and strongly felt anti-war sentiment in the 29th, I don't know how Kuhl would see that. It's being obscured by a group who's been against the war from day 1.
He, like a lot of Republican politicians, seems to be ready to finesse the war issue in the near term. With a new president coming in in '08, I don't believe that the war will be especially important in the Congressional elections. local economic issues are Kuhl's strength, and I'm sure that he'll be prepared.
I agree that as long as we're on our way out of Iraq in '08 that it's much less of an issue. That's why a consensus is forming around September as the date for deciding whether the surge is working. That date allows surge supporters to point to some little change in status as "victory" and use it for cover to get out.