4 things to think about before attending Rep. Scholten’s Town Hall meetings next week

Updated version as of 5:45PM on March 20.

Next week, Rep. Hillary Scholten will be finally holding an in-person Town Hall meeting. I say finally, because Rep.Scholten has not held an in-person Town Hall meeting at least since the summer of 2023. Remember, Rep. Scholten only began her tenure as the 3rd Congressional Representative since January of 2023. 

People have been raising hell over the fact that other members of Congress in Michigan have not been holding in-person Town Hall meetings, but this is likely the first one that Scholten has hosted.

However, just because Scholten is hosting in-person Town Hall meetings, doesn’t mean she is really interested in what people think. What follows are some reasons why.

First, you can see from the graphic included here, that Rep. Scholten has two Town Hall meetings, one in Grand Rapids and the other in Grand Haven. If you want to attended you have to RSVP, by going to this link. Once you RSVP they will send you the location of either Town Hall Meeting. I sent an RSVP in 2 weeks ago, and finally got a response on March 20th. Here is what the response said: For security purposes, you’ll receive the exact location details and your final confirmation ticket needed for entry next week, so stay tuned. Please note that all bags must be limited to 12” x 6” x 12” and backpacks will not be permitted. Bags can be subject to search upon entry. Weapons of any kind, including firearms, knives, and other dangerous items, are strictly prohibited. It appears that security will be heavy, which begs the question of why? What does Rep. Scholten have to fear? The notification also stated, “All attendees must be registered for the event in advance and sign in upon arrival.” This means that people who are registered can’t invite people to a Town Hall meeting with the person who is suppose to represent us. All so very controlling and cowardly. 

Second, the Town Hall meetings are only one hour in length, which is ridiculous considering how many issues that Congress deals with, both domestic and foreign policy. In addition, politicians always take time to tell people during these Town Hall meetings what they are doing, often 15 – 20 minutes, which leaves 40-45 minutes for people to ask questions or make comments. 

Third, the likely mechanism for people to ask questions will be through writing down your question/comment on cards. This allows the Scholten team to pick and chose which questions will get asked and refuse those that are more challenging or questioning of her voting record.

Fourth, rhetoric from candidates or politicians is meaningless, especially when it doesn’t match up with their voting record. You can search Rep. Scholten’s voting record at this link.  In addition to voting records, we should also scrutinize campaign financing for elected officials. You can investigate what people, groups or Political Action Committees (PACs) that Scholten is in bed with, by going to this link.

GRIID has been tracking Rep. Scholten’s voting record since she first took office in 2023. There are three areas that we have done lots of monitoring on, immigration policy, US Military Budget and her unconditional support for Israel, before and since the genocide began in October of 2023.

• Most of the GRIID articles on Rep. Scholten’s support for the Israeli genocide can be found at this link.
• Since Rep. Scholten was elected, she has voted both years to support a massive US military budget, in 2023 and 2024. 
• Since the beginning of this year, Rep. Hillary Scholten has voted three times with the GOP on legislation that further criminalizes undocumented immigrants.

You might consider keeping this information in mind, especially if you plan on attending the Town Hall meetings next week.