Dreier Town Hall Style: Phone Call
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune gave this Editorial on Rep. David Dreier (R-Glendora) approach of a town hall meeting via phone call.
Legislative connection
IF your phone rings this evening, pick up. It could be your congressman. That is, if you live in the 26th District, which runs through the foothill communities from Altadena and part of Pasadena to Arcadia, Bradbury, Monrovia, San Marino, Sierra Madre, Walnut, San Dimas, Glendora, La Verne and Claremont and into San Bernardino County. The district is represented by Republican David Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, who has found a new way to stay in touch with the folks back home while he's in Washington.
Dreier held his first telephone town hall meeting last week, connecting with nearly 800 constituents. He held another Monday night and will be back on the line tonight and Wednesday. We approve. It sounds like a great way to communicate with voters and avoid the isolation that can creep up on our respresentatives on Capitol Hill. It's a more interpersonal approach than an Internet chat and a technology more of our Congress members should try out.
A computer link, marketed by Tele-Town Hall Inc., allowed Dreier to use a telephone switching network to call more than 11,000 homes within minutes for his inaugural forum last week. Twenty constituents got to ask in-depth questions. Dreier could see their names pop up on a computer screen and he answered their questions as the hundreds who had joined the call listened in. The forum lasted more than an hour.
People could say and ask whatever they wanted.
It's a healthy thing for representatives to hear directly from voters.
Legislative connection
IF your phone rings this evening, pick up. It could be your congressman. That is, if you live in the 26th District, which runs through the foothill communities from Altadena and part of Pasadena to Arcadia, Bradbury, Monrovia, San Marino, Sierra Madre, Walnut, San Dimas, Glendora, La Verne and Claremont and into San Bernardino County. The district is represented by Republican David Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee, who has found a new way to stay in touch with the folks back home while he's in Washington.
Dreier held his first telephone town hall meeting last week, connecting with nearly 800 constituents. He held another Monday night and will be back on the line tonight and Wednesday. We approve. It sounds like a great way to communicate with voters and avoid the isolation that can creep up on our respresentatives on Capitol Hill. It's a more interpersonal approach than an Internet chat and a technology more of our Congress members should try out.
A computer link, marketed by Tele-Town Hall Inc., allowed Dreier to use a telephone switching network to call more than 11,000 homes within minutes for his inaugural forum last week. Twenty constituents got to ask in-depth questions. Dreier could see their names pop up on a computer screen and he answered their questions as the hundreds who had joined the call listened in. The forum lasted more than an hour.
People could say and ask whatever they wanted.
It's a healthy thing for representatives to hear directly from voters.
posted by Allen J. Wilson | 8:06 AM
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