To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Ky. Senators and Reps: hold August Town Halls
Citizens have a right to meet with their elected officials face-to-face in person at their offices and at public events that do not cost anything to attend and that are open to the public, not just select invited guests. Our Senators and Representatives have stopped doing this. We demand that Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and Rep. Hal Rogers of the 5th district and Representatives of all other Kentucky districts hold free public Town Hall Meetings in Kentucky in centralized locations which are easily accessible to all citizens of the Commonwealth. We further demand that all Kentucky Senators and Representatives schedule face-to-face meetings with individual citizens and citizens' groups at their offices in Kentucky during the August recess. During the last few months, these visits have been refused and citizens have not even been able to meet with staffers in the offices. They have been forced by staffers to talk through doors, slide photos, petitions and letters under the doors, and talk to staffers outside in the 90 degree heat. Our laws require small groups of citizens be allowed into the offices to talk to elected officials and their staffers, but these laws are broken repeatedly by the GOP elected officials.
Why is this important?
GOP elected officials have refused to meet or have their staffers meet in district offices with concerned citizens who disagree with them. They have stopped all public appearances. They have stopped holding Town Hall Meetings. Instead, they meet in secret with donors and others who agree with them. They allow their email and voice mail boxes to fill up and do not respond or make space available for more calls and emails. They turn off their fax machines dedicated to constituent letters. Meanwhile, they hold secret meetings and charge thousands of dollars for participation. They delete Tweets and Facebook posts by those who disagree with them and have their accounts deleted by Facebook and Twitter. They meet with lobbyists, foreign officials and big donors at expensive restaurants at our expense. They have made it impossible for us to petition our elected officials as the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America allows. They are making it impossible for citizens to play their part in democracy after the election. And they are continuing to pass laws and redistrict in ways that interfere with our right to vote.