Congressmen Andy Barr and Jamie Comer are pissed off… at their constituents.
The lawmakers, Barr (R-Lexington) and Comer (R-TheFrankfortLoop), are among President-cum-Dictator Donald J. Trump’s most faithful bootlickers: Andy, a dupe in rabid hopes of attracting the great man’s endorsement for a U.S. Senate run; and Comer because, well, he’s just a faithful flunky of the first order.
Both men maintain overwhelming support from voters in their respective congressional districts, winning re-election last year in a breeze. It’s Trump’s world, after all, and he’s just letting us live in it.
Yet, for some reason, Andy and Jamie are reluctant to take a few hours from their schedules to face questions from their constituents, a task generally accomplished in a Town Hall, where a lawmaker takes on all comers in a question-and-answer session in order to remain in touch with the approximately 760,000 people they represent.
But Jamie and Andy apparently don’t feel duty-bound to meet with their voters of various stripe, being scaredy-cat that someone might pose a question they really don’t want to answer. So they’ve limited their appearances to friendly crowds – Barr, for instance, recently appeared before the Northern Kentucky Young Republicans and the Fayette County Republican Party while Comer has, as usual, taken up residence in a chair on the nearest right-wing television network set.
Some folks don’t consider that near adequate, and that Andy-Jamie are openly displaying disrespect for the people they represent in Washington. Both men seem to feel they only need answer to the individuals who voted for them, free to snub the needs and desires of the minority, dismissing them as cranks and weirdos.
That’s not the way the system works. People ought to be heard and offer challenges to a lawmaker’s preconceived notions. Sometimes, approaching a forum with an open mind, something evidence shows that neither man is capable of doing, might prove a naysayer right.
So, folks have taken matters in their own hands, staging unofficial town halls and daring Andy and Jamie to show up. These two losers failed to appear, of course, and seemed insulted that constituents might expect them to answer for their actions.
In Lexington last week about 800 people trooped to the Kentucky Theater downtown to conduct what organizers called the People’s Town Hall. Andy was asked to attend, but a representative from his office related his declination, citing security concerns, the new catch-all for politicians bowing out of an event they didn’t want to attend in the first place.
Barr subsequently responded in that snide way he has on the X social website, “Nice to see Soros + the left lighting money on fire. No amount of manufactured outrage by paid activists will stop the mandate for total overhaul of DC. I stand with @realDonaldTrump and @ElonMusk in our fight to Make America Great Again and make government more efficient and effective. Enjoy your Saturday!”
What a putz.
George Soros, the archfiend in all Republican fantasies, is an investor and philanthropist who has contributed billions of dollars to Democratic causes and is constantly cast by the GOP as the living Lucifer while all their billionaire donors (like, maybe, Elon Musk) in contrast, are squeaky clean angels. Soros is targeted because he’s Jewish, but Andy and the rest dodge claims of antisemitism by pointing to their support for Israel, using it as a handy crutch.
By all accounts no one got paid to attend the event – only folks wondering what the hell their representative is doing to put the brakes on the destruction of the federal government.
Meanwhile, about 40 folks in Paducah, including my friend, Berry Craig, professor emeritus in history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College and a published author, gathered in front of Comer’s regional field office to, as Berry wrote, “shame him into holding a town hall.”
Five people attended wearing bright yellow chicken costumes, declaring that our boy Jamie was, well, too chicken to show up.
“…the protestors, most of them from the local Four Rivers Indivisible group, think Comer owes his constituents a face-to-face town hall meeting,” Craig said. “Evidently others do, too. Several motorists honked their horns, smiled, and flashed thumbs-up as they drove past the chickens, who joined the others in waving signs. (One chicken had a sign ID-ing himself as Comer).”
Comer, like Barr, sneered about the Town Hall protest.
In a statement, Comer’s office responded, “Congressman Comer and his staff are always accessible and encourage constituents in Kentucky’s 1st District to contact our offices with any federal issues they may be experiencing. The protestors outside of the Paducah office have met with the Congressman’s staff on 4 different occasions and their concerns are documented. Congressman Comer does not plan on holding therapy sessions for left-wing activists suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
As Berry said, a hit dog hollers.
Talking to staff and questioning the representative in a face-to-face forum is, of course, worlds apart. And these dimwits just love to refer to Trump Derangement Syndrome, acting as if throwing the economy down the toilet and picking up people off the street and jailing them without charges like the East German Stasi isn’t worth getting riled about.
“These aren’t people that are asking for therapy,” Leslie McColgin, co-leader of Four Rivers Indivisible, told Spectrum News 1. “These are people that are asking for government services, and that’s his job, to have town halls and explain his position on policies such as Medicaid, such as the oversight of how they’re dismantling Social Security.”
Those two issues alone – Medicaid and Social Security – merit Barr and Comer taking the heat and meeting with their constituents face-to-face rather than hiding behind their staffs.
Both lawmakers have rural constituencies who face dire consequences over potential cuts in Medicaid funding. About 1.5 million Kentuckians depend on Medicaid to meet their health care needs. What’s more, rural hospitals depend on Medicaid disbursements to keep humming along. Massive cuts could lead to closures, requiring many rural residents to travel extensive distances to receive care.
Why the cuts? Well, the president-cum-dictator wants to extend the tax cuts perpetrated during his first term in office, a move that will cost the Treasury trillions of dollars at a time when the nation is already in debt to the tune of $36.6 trillion.
It’s a stupid time to cut taxes – but that’s what happens when you have a lunatic in the White House.
In response, the House budget proposal calls on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid and, by the way, is chaired by Rep. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green, to come up with $880 billion in cuts over 10 years to preserve the Orange Ogre’s precious tax cuts.
What do Barr and Comer think about that? Who knows. You might find out in a Town Hall. Otherwise count on them to keep their traps shut.
In the meantime, more than 1 million Kentuckians receive Social Security benefits. The Trump administration is contemplating changes to the program that could potentially interrupt payments. Thousands of SSI employees have already been laid off and the program’s office in Hazard is one of the 47 slated for closure.
Folks might like to know something about that and where their congressmen stand.
In Lexington, it’s been reported that two federal agencies — the U.S. Farm Services Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration – are being shut down. This is Andy Barr’s district.
What’s the story, morning glory?
It’s obvious that neither Barr nor Comer want to open themselves to verbal abuse from constituents at an open forum.
Tough.
It should be part of the job. Try being a grownup and stand for what you believe in.
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Written by Bill Straub, a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. Cross-posted from the NKY Tribune.
