Shea-Porter owes her constituents a ‘real’ town hall

New Hampshire’s District 01 Representative Carol Shea-Porter finally held her first town hall since being elected. The problem is attendance had to be requested; the venue was small and constituents had to submit their questions. This was not a ‘town hall’. This was Democrat Shea-Porter pretending to hold a town hall so she could say she held one. With all of the unanswered questions about Obamacare and how it has hurt many Granite Staters who lost their insurance plans; doctors and hospitals they can use, it’s egregious that Shea-Porter chose to cower in a corporate-owned venue which also didn’t allow protesters outside.

In a news release from ‘Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire’, Derek Dufresne explains why Shea-Porter’s town hall was indeed no town hall:

(January 11, 2014) – This morning, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter hosted what she called a “town hall meeting” in Dover at Maple Suites Senior Living Community. Sadly though, the event was anything but a public forum. Instead, it was a scripted, tightly-controlled event where she made sure to avoid those who might disagree with her.

Derek Dufresne, spokesman for Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire, released the following statement:

While we were hopeful this morning that Rep. Carol Shea-Porter would finally be hosting her first town hall meeting, today’s event was no public forum. In order to attend the event, individuals were told they needed to pre-register themselves and the questions they planned on asking. At the meeting itself, video cameras were not allowed inside. This is disheartening both for transparency purposes and for anyone who couldn’t attend the event especially considering the dangerous driving conditions caused by today’s bad weather. Furthermore, those protesting outside were forced to leave the premises because it was against the ‘corporate policies’ of the venue her meeting was held at.

Granite Staters deserve a representative who cares about the opinions of all her constituents and allows for real town hall meetings where all views can be expressed. Once again, we still await to hear from Rep. Carol Shea-Porter on when she will actually hold her first real town hall meeting. Granite Staters deserve better.”

If Shea-Porter cannot defend her vote for Obamacare along with her lies that people wouldn’t lose their plans, maybe she should re-think her vote in support of it against the majority of what her constituents wanted. There is no excuse for Shea-Porter demanding that questions be submitted ahead of time so her team could script the answers. Granite Staters deserve to be heard and deserve answers to the many questions they have about Obamacare. When Shea-Porter denies her constituents the ability to do this, she is proving to New Hampshire that she doesn’t deserve to hold the District 01 seat. Shea-Porter owes her constituents a real town hall so that they can get real answers to a real problem that she and her fellow Democrats created.

Originally posted here: http://www.examiner.com/article/shea-porter-owes-her-constituents-a-real-town-hall