Idaho’s congressional delegation shuns town halls. What are they afraid of? | Opinion

It seems that the members of Idaho’s congressional delegation are afraid of their own constituents. As the Idaho Statesman’s Kevin Fixler reported March 15, none of Idaho’s delegation have faced their voters in a town hall this year — or for quite a long time before that.

Sen. Mike Crapo seems particularly reluctant to answer for the actions he’s taken in government. Crapo was in town this week — to speak to business leaders at a $50-a-plate luncheon. Meanwhile, demands from constituents that he speak to them went unanswered.

It must have been embarrassing to have to scurry through the back door to avoid speaking to the people whose votes are supposed to put you in office.

There were lots of other people who wanted to speak with Crapo, to share legitimate concerns about a growing tide of abuses of power, mismanagement and unfair treatment at the hands of the federal government the Republicans control. They’d also like to speak with Sen. Jim Risch, who seems not to have hosted a town hall in half a decade; Rep. Russ Fulcher, who is last known to have hosted a town hall over a year ago; and Rep. Mike Simpson, who no one seems to remember hosting a town hall.

(To his credit, Crapo recently scheduled a telephone Q&A hosted by AARP for March 25. It’s not the kind of in-person town hall his constituents deserve, but it is at least more than nothing.)

There have been a lot of headlines about protesters disrupting some events like these, which is unfortunate — orderly critique is often more effective than shouting — and also no excuse for refusing to hear all the legitimate questions that constituents from around the state have. Let’s not pretend protesting is some new phenomenon; hosting a town hall always meant you might have to hear from someone who disagrees with your decisions. That’s the whole point.

And there are people with legitimate reasons to be upset.

Take the scores of federal civil servants in Idaho who were illegitimately fired for cause. Because the current government is dishonest, it lied and said workers who were still in their probationary period had poor performance. It was a lie the government told in order to attempt to fire them legally. They have a right to talk to their congressional representatives about their mistreatment, and if our representatives support these actions, they should have the courage to look them in the eye and tell them so.

Or Idaho’s disabled community, who has serious concerns that they will lose vital services and basic health care because of the growing push from the GOP to slash funding for Medicaid. That would be a very hard conversation to have, but if that’s what our delegates want to do, they should meet the people at the other end of their budgetary bludgeon.

Or Idaho’s farmers and ranchers, who in President Donald Trump’s first term lost important export markets for their products due to much milder tariffs than this go-round, and many of whom required taxpayer support to make up for the losses, which may not be forthcoming this time.

Or veterans concerned about cuts at the Veterans Administration. Or retirees concerned about gutting the Social Security Office. Or any of the thousands of other groups of people who have a right to hear directly from their representatives.

But since 2016, the members of Idaho’s delegation have acted like they have a constituency of one, the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

This should be a golden opportunity for the Idaho Democratic Party. Former Sen. Larry LaRocco and former Rep. Richard Stallings, Democrats of a bygone, more decent era, have been making the rounds, hearing from the voters around the state that elected Republicans refuse to engage. It’s good work for them to do, and we commend them for doing it.

But where are the Democrats of tomorrow? Where are the people who are going to challenge Crapo and Risch, Simpson and Fulcher? Where are the people who offer a different direction?

For that matter, where are moderate Republicans who can present some alternatives to the Idaho delegation’s unreserved embrace of the MAGA movement?

Our delegation will listen to their constituents if they have to, if they are afraid of losing an election. Is there anyone left in Idaho who could confront them with that risk and make them attend to matters back home?