Melissa the Coward

My previous escapades with Melissa Bean's office have been blogged upon here.

Despite my skepticism, Bean's people were true to their word and connected me with the call. I was pleasantly surprised.

Of course this "tele-townhall" was still a carefully controlled environment, and who knows how many of the other people in the line were plants. The event was basically set up like a talk radio show, where you wait in a queue and get connected when and for as long (or as brief) as they wish.

All of the calls were screened in advance. One of Bean's staffers connected with me to ask what my question was. Alas, I let the cat out of the bag that I wasn't going to be a softball call, and--coincidence, most certainly!--my turn with the Congresswoman never came.

This method of communicating with one's constituents is completely unacceptable. If we can get off our asses and go out and vote for our public officials, they can take a day out of their recess to meet with us face to face. If we're worthy of their pleas for our votes, we're worthy of an in-person meeting. In fact I think there ought to be legislation mandating this, with an obligatory congressional censure for any representatives that fail to comply.

Were she flawless in every other way, I would still say that Congresswoman Bean should be defeated in the next election for this blantant demonstration of disregard for her constituents.

Here's a summary of my tweets of the event, from most recent to oldest:

#Beanteletownhall: Well, surprise surprise! My turn with the old Bean never came.
less than 5 seconds ago from web

#Beanteletownhall OH MY WORD. Bean just said that public option would be self sustaining and not dependent upon tax dollars.
24 minutes ago from web

#Beanteletownhall: "budget-neutral" doesn't mean no new taxes.
32 minutes ago from web

#Beanteletownhall now she's trying to say that the co-ops will be exclusively at the state level. Right.
43 minutes ago from web

#Beanteletownhall what a farce. One of Bean's todies just got online to ask "what my question is." Yeah, they're gonna let me talk to her.
about 1 hour ago from web

#Beanteletownhall She just praised herself for supporting Cash for Clunkers.
about 1 hour ago from web

#Beanteletownhall Blah blah blah, I included a measure on water treatment...
about 1 hour ago from web

#Beanteletownhall now patting herself on back for voting for porkulus.
about 1 hour ago from web

#Beanteletownhall Right now she's reading her CV. I'm on this committee, that committee, blah blah blah
about 1 hour ago from web

I got the call! Joining Bean's conference call right now. Any requests?
about 1 hour ago from web