Most in state GOP delegation buck pressure to hold town halls

Jayme Harvey isn’t proud of it, but she admits she was “lazy” and routinely voted for Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen because he had a familiar name and she thought the 12-term Republican shared her support for abortion rights and gun control.

Since President Trump’s election, however, Harvey has become an activist, and Frelinghuysen is in her sights.

A 56-year-old architect from Morris Township, Harvey considers herself a Democrat-leaning independent. She’s upset Frelinghuysen voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and now considers him “pro-gun,” especially since he voted to overturn a regulation that would deny gun purchases to people declared mentally unfit to handle their finances.

Harvey wants to know what happened, and with many others in the group NJ11th for Change, she has been seeking a “town hall” meeting with Frelinghuysen. The group has even reserved rooms for constituents to speak out in the four counties his district covers — Essex, Morris, Passaic, Sussex — and invited the congressman to attend.

But Frelinghuysen is not coming and he cited concerns about confrontations echoed by other Republicans from New Jersey, a state that overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton over Trump.

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“I applaud the effort,” said Frelinghuysen, of Harding Township. “I am happy that they are exercising their First Amendment rights. … But my goal is not argument. My goal is to continue the same civil discourse I have had with my constituents over the years.”

Activists motivated to oppose Trump have been pushing for meetings with Republicans around the country, but members of the New Jersey delegation say they're holding telephone calls or more limited in-person meetings because of concerns about violence or publicity-grabbing stunts.

The pressure for in-person meetings is reminiscent of what Democrats experienced in 2009 and 2010 as the Tea Party movement grabbed headlines by members confronting lawmakers about the Affordable Care Act that was under consideration.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat from Paterson, held a town hall meeting in September 2009 at Montclair State University that filled a 1,000-seat auditorium, had another 250 in an overflow room and two conference call lines to dial in.

The event was “at times a shouting match,” The Record reported. The Montclair Times said Pascrell was booed when he stepped on stage, and there was “jeering throughout” presentations about the health care law.

This year, Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Hunterdon, is the only member of the Republican delegation holding a similar event during the Presidents Day recess. He will be at Raritan Valley Community College on Wednesday, and constituents have to RSVP in advance to attend.

Lance said he’s had about 10 town halls a year during his eight years in congress. Half have been in person and half over the telephone, a process that gives his office more control over which questions to take and what listeners hear.

“I think it's important to communicate with constituents and to have constituents communicate with me,” Lance said. “I hope the level of discussion will be conducted with civility and I know I will conduct myself with civility. … I do not want any constituent shouted down and I do not wish to be shouted down.”

Rep. Thomas MacArthur, R-Ocean, said he’s a better representative when he hears from people who disagree with him, but he decided to do a telephone meeting Monday because he had heard about groups busing protesters to gatherings in other districts.

“I'm not interested in being baited into a sideshow where my constituents are the ones who are the losers,” MacArthur said. “Their voice gets stolen.”

A change in the schedule early in the week meant House members could be in their districts instead of Washington on Friday, and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-Atlantic, used the time to arrange nearly a dozen separate meetings with groups that had been angling for a town hall.

“I met with over 100 constituents in my New Jersey office and appreciated the constructive discussion,” LoBiondo said, noting more meetings are being scheduled.

“I have no plans at this time to host a town hall-style event for the sole purpose of those only seeking their YouTube moment,” he said.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-Mercer, said some of the people behind efforts to get him to hold a public meeting have come to his office and insulted his staff. One man became so agitated the congressman contacted authorities, and Smith said a cease-and-desist letter was sent.

Smith complained that one group boasted that it had “ambushed” him recently at a Monmouth County library where he was meeting with members of a group promoting federal research and funding for Alzheimer’s Disease.

“That's hardly conducive to dialogue and discussion on the issues, when you self-describe the meeting that you were not invited to on a very specific issue as an ambush,” Smith said. “That's what this is all about.”

Frelinghuysen said he would continue his practice of visiting every town in the district, and he urged anyone attending the other sessions arranged by the change coalition to make sure his office had their phone numbers so they could be contacted for telephone meetings.

Harvey questioned why Frelinghuysen would assume a meeting now would be uncivil when past meetings with constituents were not.

“I suppose the concept of meeting a group is scary, but he’s chosen to be a public servant and you can’t run scared if you’re going to be a public servant,” she said.

If she gets to question him, Harvey wants to know if Frelinghuysen changed his stances on issues as he moved up the ranks in the House, culminating in his becoming chairman of the House Appropriations Committee last month.

“If these had always been his beliefs, he should have stood up and said those things,” Harvey said. “If they’re only his beliefs now because he has so much power and wants to stay where he is, that’s crap. That’s not working for me, that’s working for his best interests.”