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IMMEDIATE MEDIA ALERT: April 6, 2017
MEDIA CONTACT: Catherine Williams, 206-351-1632, [email protected]
Please Send Reporters, Photographers, Video Crews; Call for Interviews, Photos
Dave Reichert Empty Chair Town Hall, April 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Organized by 8th CD Indivisible Alliance and
47th District Democrats
WHAT:
WHEN:
WHERE:
Town Hall Meeting, free and open to all members of the public
Wednesday, April 12, 2017, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. PDT
Cedar Heights Middle School, 9640 SE 272nd St., Covington, WA 98042
th
WHY:
Despite numerous requests, Washington 8 District Congressman Dave Reichert has
refused to meet with his constituents in person as is expected practice for a representative of the people. In
response, the people he is supposed to represent have scheduled a spring recess town hall meeting to
discuss and strategize about issues important to the district, and to provide a mechanism for relaying those
thoughts and questions to his Issaquah office immediately following the town hall meeting, while he is indistrict.
Topics to be covered will include, but not be limited to, Russian interference with the 2016 US election
and the Trump campaign, healthcare legislation, conflicts of interest and emoluments, and other executive
actions detrimental to democratic values, such as the travel bans, removal of environmental protections,
movement toward dismantling public education, and continued separation of church and state.
Mr. Reichert is still encouraged to attend this event, however his constituents will meet whether he is
there or not to plan the future of their district and to voice their values. In addition, Washington State
Senators Murray and Cantwell were also invited to this town hall event, and both have declined. However,
they have not unilaterally declined all town hall events, and Indivisible and the Senators are continuing to
work towards a public forum at which they will speak. Additionally, the Senators conduct bi-weekly office
hours conducted by staff, open to the public, as a meaningful constituent conduit.
BACKGROUND: Following the inauguration of Donald Trump, Washington State’s 8th Congressional District
residents, from west and east of the mountains, have repeatedly asked Representative Dave Reichert to conduct face1
to-face town hall meetings to hear constituents’ questions, comments and fears. Reichert has said that constituent
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calls have increased significantly under the current administration, reaching “an unprecedented level of demand”.
Local Indivisible leaders, responding to anxiety due to Trump administration actions, have requested that Congressman
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Reichert conduct town halls , to provide the light of leadership to his constituents in the darkness of what many
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fear as an assault on democracy itself. Reichert’s Republican status should afford him unique insight into the
opinions and intent of the party at large, invaluable to his constituents regardless of political affiliation. Despite being
invited to a town hall that will be entirely coordinated and conducted by a partnership of partisan and nonpartisan
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groups , with the help of high school student volunteers, and on behalf of all members of the public regardless of
political affiliation, voter registration, and citizenship status, where he has merely to arrive and participate,
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Representative Reichert has declined to attend.. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: “There comes a time when we
must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.”
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http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/hundreds-protest-at-us-rep-reicherts-office-demand-town-hall-meeting/
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/unhappy-with-trump-call-your-congressman-local-delegation-fielding-recordnumbers-of-calls/
https://patch.com/washington/sammamish/local-activist-group-slams-rep-dave-reichert-over-tele-town-hall
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/unhappy-with-trump-call-your-congressman-local-delegation-fielding-recordnumbers-of-calls/
https://nextcloud.toomanydogs.org/index.php/s/WepIDP9r8xNAAHb/download?path=%2F&files=TownHallInviteReichertPDF.pdf
http://q13fox.com/2017/02/22/representative-congressman-dave-reichert-discusses-president-donald-trump-and-why-he-decided-tostop-holding-town-halls/