To date, U.S. Sen. John Boozman and U.S. Rep. French Hill have refused to meet in public with constituents and Sen. Tom Cotton finally was embarrassed into doing so, but is holding his meeting today in Republican-friendly Northwest Arkansas.
This has led Indivisible Central Arkansas and other groups to schedule a town hall for the rest of us. It’s scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church at 12415 Cantrell Road.
Cotton, Boozman and Hill are invited. If they choose not to attend, the meeting will be held with three empty chairs signifying the absent members, a press advisory said.
Republicans — who loved the Tea Party attendance at town halls for Democrats back in the day — have grown reluctant to meet in public and have met sharp questioning when they do. See Rep. Steve Womack, whose effort to restrict attendance in West Fork yesterday didn’t deter a strong response. (That meeting received no coverage in the Little Rock edition of the state’s largest newspaper, but it was covered in the Northwest edition.)
Here’s a New York Times report about events around the country. Some boos were heard.
(PS: No, Cotton’s carefully controlled, insurance industry-orchestrated, invitation-only session with a handful of people yesterday over Medicare Advantage does not count as a public meeting.)