About 30 people, five in bright yellow chicken suits, gathered outside First District Congressman James Comer's Paducah field office Thursday afternoon demanding that the Republican face the home-folks and hold a town hall. Four Rivers Indivisible, a local branch of the national group, sponsored the protest. Several passing motorists honked their horns and gave thumbs up signs of support.
Why chicken suits? Let the announcement from Four Rivers tell the tale.
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“Local citizens have been visiting Rep. James Comer’s Paducah field office weekly in February and March. They have expressed questions and concerns to the staffer there, Austin Wetherington, who has taken questions privately from small groups of 2-3 in his office, but no photos or recordings are allowed. He reports that he shares the comments with Rep Comer, but we have no immediate feedback or response, and the general public misses out on the valuable venue of a traditional Town Hall format. We have asked each week if or when Rep. Comer will hold a town hall in Paducah, but each time have been told there is no plan for one.
“We have therefore planned our own “empty chair” sidewalk town hall to be held in the public sidewalk/parking area outside the Commerce Center where his field office is located. Rep. Comer is on Congressional recess week and the staffer was notified last week we would be doing this.
“We plan to include a variety of new activities for this event, including 4 costumed “chickens” to represent Rep. Comer, who is evidently too “chicken” to hold a town hall, and 3 staffers. It has been reported that Congressional Republicans have been told by their leadership to stop holding town halls because of fear of negative publicity. Our 4 “chicken” stand-in representatives will carry humorous/satire signs and give humorous/satire responses to participant’s town hall questions.
“We are all local citizen-volunteers, none of us are paid by anyone. National Indivisible, a non-partisan non-profit 501c4 organization, does provide some limited funds to be used for things like signage and costume rental and our local group accepts grassroots donations using an Act Blue account provided by Indivisible.”
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