Michelle Malkin | Congressional Fugitive Watch: Has your lawmaker absconded today? «

Congressional Fugitive Watch: Has your lawmaker absconded today?

By Michelle Malkin • August 17, 2009 02:01 AM

At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey has compiled a very handy list of congressional representatives who have refused to show up for town hall meetings.

Ed jokingly calls them Milk Carton Politicians.

But the missing kids on milk cartons are mostly kidnap victims — abducted and missing against their will.

The lawmakers on the run from voters during this August recess are deliberate runaways from accountability. They are intentional absconders from public scrutiny.

The congressional cowards belong on Fugitive Watch posters. Keep on them.

***

Last week, I noted the new phenomenon of empty chair town hall meetings convened by voters who can’t get their representatives to meet with them.

Reader Mary Kay Mason e-mails an exchange she had with the staff of Democrat U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina back in May:

On Fri, 5/8/09, Wink, Sue (Hagan) wrote:

From: Wink, Sue (Hagan) Sue_Wink@hagan.senate.gov
Subject: RE: Request a Town Hall Meeting in Wilmington
To: “Mary Kay Mason”
Date: Friday, May 8, 2009, 7:43 AM

Dear Mary Kay,

I understand that everyone would love to have some time with their Senator, so we will keep your request on file and continue to review it each week, with the backlog of requests that we are still working through.

Perhaps you would like to stop by one of her Carolina Coffees each Wednesday morning in DC or drop by one of her regional offices as we get those open.

Again, I will be back in touch as soon as possible. Thanks for your continued patience.

Sincerely,
Sue Wink
NC Scheduler
US Senator Kay Hagan D-NC

On Saturday, 200 constituents turned out for a mock town hall meeting on health care with Sen. Hagan in abstentia.

Via the Star News Online in NC:

She couldn’t come, but they pretended she was there, saying her absence wouldn’t silence their opinions about health care reform.

So, at Saturday’s “mock” town hall meeting, leaders of the local Constitutional Patriots hung an enlarged photo of Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and announced plans to send a video of all speakers’ questions and comments to her office.

Almost everyone who spoke to the crowd of more than 150 people seated at New Hanover County Northeast Library – and to Hagan’s photo – was opposed to the health care reform legislation lawmakers are considering.

…The crowd that gathered was a mix of ages, though most of the speakers were seniors who spoke of their worries of receiving adequate health care when they were sick.

And via the Raleigh News Observer: