This Jewish Republican Is Ducking Rowdy Town Hall Meetings

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By Nathan Guttman February 22, 2017

After hecklers shouted down Republicans in their home district town hall meetings this week, one New York representative says he’s found a way to avoid the embarrassment: don’t go. Instead, Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in the House, says he is doing “tele-town hall” meetings by phone.

In an interview with CNN Zeldin said that congressional town hall meetings have turned into a “political theater” in which protesters “want to get their 19 seconds of fame” and behave in a “disrespectful” manner. He also complained that some participants show up at the town hall meetings “with no sense of decorum.”

Zeldin’s staff will control who is invited to participate.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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