Why didn’t you tape the whole thing? I didn’t see anyone stopping you.

I’m just back from attending my very first town hall meeting with Randy Kuhl. From the moment Kuhl started speaking I knew this was not going to be like any town hall meeting I had ever attended.

Kuhl jumps right into laying down the guidelines for the meeting. He tells the crowd this is not a forum for debate. He talks to the crowd about respecting each other. More than once Kuhl tells the crowd he is not present to answer questions, but he is there to gather information. Some of what he said put a huge smile on my face—not because I agree with his meeting tactics, but because he made me think about the “it’s not you, it’s me” episode of Seinfeld. But in this case, Kuhl repeatedly told the crowd the meeting was about our views and thoughts and not about Kuhl.

Kuhl even draws attention to the flyer that he sent out informing his constituents of his town hall meetings. He explains that the flyer carefully lets the public know how the meeting is to be used and how the public should conduct themselves. And finally, Kuhl made many references to the concept that his meetings are not “political”.

So many times Kuhl would agree with statements made by someone in the audience, which, on the surface, is rather odd since he is agreeing with progressive Democratic ideals. But while he may agree with many of the statements of the public, his voting record does not reveal this agreement.

So, while I sat quietly and listened to the many opinions of the audience, I began to realize that Randy Kuhl is terrified of true engagement with his constituents. Many times when a member of the audience pressed for a response from Kuhl, Randy would say this is not the forum to discuss the topic at hand. Kuhl suggested writing to him or requesting a meeting. But Kuhl then went on to blame the new rules of the Democratic majority in the house for screwing up his schedule and his ability to meet with his constituents. He is now required to be in Washington to conduct business and that is keeping him away from being in the 29th CD. It sounded like he was complaining and whining about having to work, which in turn shows he is out of touch with his hardworking constituents.

Possibly the most annoying aspect of the exchange between Kuhl and his constituents was Kuhl firing back questions after someone had just offered an opinion. One man suggested the focus on military action was a mistake when diplomacy was obviously needed. To hear Kuhl ask “what do you think we should do” meant his ears totally missed the suggestion of diplomacy.

Overall, I came away with the feeling that Randy Kuhl controls the ground rules for the town hall meetings specifically so there is no real engagement with members of the public. Because of his rules of disengagement, Kuhl will continue to be out of touch with the people he represents. Kuhl is just as out of touch now as he was when he was on TV in Elmira talking about how wonderful it is that our troops in Iraq get to eat lobster tails.

What is the point of a town hall meeting with an elective representative if he is not going to answer questions?

Nothing more than an excuse to send out a taxpayer financed campaign fliers and answer softball questions from the news media afterwards. This shows a lack of respect and outright disdain towards the voters.

Randy must go.

Wow. This is crazy. Randy Kuhl is clearly an individual who sees himself higher than those he “represents”. Rubberstamp Randy needs to be ousted.

Did you have any interaction with RNews after this happened? Will this make it on air?

I just got back from the Torrey Town meeting (Yates County) He started out the same way–with the guidelines. By the way, I never got one of those cards. The crowd was probably smaller, but a good size crowd for Torrey. He was rather subdued the most of the time. The first question/comment was about the VA Psych problem by a person who has been involved with it for over a decade. Kuhl said that he is doing everything he can to stop the closure–he might have to take it to the White House. The second comment, from the same person, was about the Negative Ads the last week before the election. Kuhl claims that they weren’t his ads, but the Republican Committee, and he can not have input with them. He ‘never has created a negative ad.’. I know different. My wife’s boss, who is very much a Kuhl fan was shocked when he saw one of those negative ads with Randy saying, “I approve this ad.”
My input was about health care and prescription drug prices being able to be negotiated, which he voted against. He asked me if I knew the details of the bill. I told him “not all of them.” He then went on to tell me why the bill wouldn’t work. I was very pleased,a dn surprised, that he added that he haad read my letter on the topic (Which I had sent to various papers) and that I might want to write another one now that I know the facts. He was very pleasant about it, but a dig indeed. Someone else talked about her experience with Medicare D and questioned him on some of his ‘facts’.
He was suppose to leave at 2:30 but stayed for about 15 minutes extra. A big difference from one in Yates last year–he got there 10 minutes late and rushed to leave on time.
He works a small crowd well.

The R news story is up…
http://rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=46666&rnews_story_type=18

Here is their reason for ending the interview…

“When R News asked Kuhl about his unwillingness to answer questions during his forum, the congressman stopped the interview.

“Well, I will do it another time,” Kuhl said as he walked out. “

As someone who was at the town hall meeting, I was quite frustrated at Kuhl not stating why he voted on a particular issue. Afterall, he’s in office to represent us, and if he refuses to give reasons in a public forum as to why he voted the way he did, then he should be booted out of office. Now that I’ve been to one town hall meeting, I will try to go to others just to irk him and make my viewpoints heard.

This was my first Kuhl town hall meeting as well. Thank you for providing an excellent recap Tom.

It just amazed me how Kuhl demanded that no one ask him a question, but he felt free to throw hard balls at his “guests.” Talk about rude.

What’s worse is that he promised to address everyone’s questions at an unspecified future date. When pressed on when this date might be, he made it clear that all you have to do is call him on the phone and have a nice chat. Unfortunately, from what I hear, if you call his office his answering machine picks up, so he can decide whether he actually wants a staff member to respond. In other words, don’t bother him with a phone call when he’ll be visiting your town hall.

Hey, I understand, its hard to switch over when Karl Rove is on the other line. I mean, who is more important?

As much as I may disagree with Kuhl’s positions I do want to say his office is responsive. Call his Fairport office and ask for Ben…he’s always been willing to talk and has personally followed up on issues for me.

220 Packett’s Landing
Fairport, New York 14450
585 223-4760 (phone)
585 223-2328 (fax)

I’m now wondering what he meant when he suggested people write to him. I write to him via email and specifically request a response. But the response I eventually get has nothing to do with what I write to him about.

I do notice a pattern though. I might write about the war or health care and the response always seems to reference a current bill in Congress–but doesn’t begin to answer my questions.

I am amazed that so many Republican Congressman have adopted the policy of not allowing questions and/or refusing to answer them if asked. Policies like this bode ill for our democracy (and don’t speak well of those who adopt them).

[...] rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate Note: This video clip was filmed after Randy Kuhl’s public forum inside the Henrietta Town Hall. [...]

I am very annoyed by Randy Kuhl’s gimmick of turning around and asking the person who asked him the question what they think the answer is. You know what? I have a job. I work 40 hours a week. If Randy wants to ask me questions about my job, I’ll gladly answer without being coy and turning the damned question back in his face. His job is Congressman. I pay the salary. That means when I ask a question, I want an honest, straight answer - not some smooth talking baloney about how he’s not there to answer questions. What the hell is he doing down in Washington if he can’t even articulate and explain his positions? Apparently, from what I saw, he’ll only answer the softball questions. That makes me indignant and angry. These town hall meetings have long been one of his bragging points. If he is only willing to take on the easy questions then that bragging point is starting to ring hollow.

Good thing Kuhl left when he did… it looked like he was about to make a George Allen-esque comment

[...] This is the kind of thing I’m trying to pay forward here.ÂÂ I’ve never liked bullies, whether they’re crude, like Bart Dombowski’s wingman, everywhere, like the corporate right-wing noise machine, or even smooth, like Randy Kuhl. [...]

[...] the fun begins. Randy’s Town Hall meetings prove to be nothing but PR shams and Randy “loses his cool” when confronted by a citizen photographer. Kuhl refuses to answer questions or debate issues [...]