US rep. a no-show at second town hall
April 24, 2017
DeKALB — U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) did not appear at a Friday town hall in Cole Hall to which he was invited.
About 60 constituents of Illinois’ 16th Congressional District gathered to voice their concerns to Kinzinger. This is not the first time he hasn’t shown up to a town hall organized by Action Steps for America, a local progressive activist group that’s not affiliated with NIU.
“I was just hoping that he would be here to listen to his constituents’ concerns,” said Sarah Moses, a member of Action Steps for America.
Questions constituents had for the representative were stuffed into a box attached to a cardboard cutout of the representative.
Members of Action Steps for America will email the questions taken out of the box to Kinzinger after Friday’s town hall.
Moses said she’s worried about a number of issues such as healthcare and Kinzinger’s commitment to “keeping Trump in check.”
Actions Steps for America invited Kinzinger to a town hall meeting Feb. 21, but he did not attend.
Moses said her concerns have only grown since the Feb. 21 meeting.
Kinzinger said during a March 29 Facebook Live town hall that he supports the idea of the meetings, but a wave of rowdy, loud town halls goes against the meetings’ purpose.
“The goal of this push for these, quote-unquote, in-person town halls is so that folks can show up and scream, yell and shout somebody down,” Kinzinger said in the Facebook Live video. “So, that’s not actually fair to the people that actually want to go to hear what’s going on.”
On Saturday, Kinzinger attended a town hall meeting at Rock Valley College in Rockford where about 500 constituents showed up, according to a April 22 WREX article.
One concerned constituent said Friday that she was aware of the town hall in Rockford but would have liked for Kinzinger to come to listen to his DeKalb citizens.
“I’m really concerned with many things including this administration’s ties to Russia and making sure that it’s being investigated,” Moses said.
Lindsey Salvatelli is a staff writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
