Large Crowd Turns Out For Town Hall Meeting With 10th District Congressman Collins, Who Said In Advance He Would Not Attend

***Audience Members Read Questions To Empty Chair***

Organizers of the Tuesday evening Town Hall Meeting With Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins were not able to get Collins to attend, but they did turn out a very large crowd that produced a stack of 163 comment forms to deliver to Collins’s Monroe Office this week.

Selected individuals in the auditorium of the Athens Library read aloud a number of those questions, and the crowd remained engaged and orderly for the more than 90 minutes set aside for the meeting.

Four people who had been affected by the massive federal cutbacks ordered by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk led off the program in the absence of Collins.

The first of those, Mark Farmer, a professor in cellular biology at the University of Georgia, set the stage for the evening by listing cuts in federal funding for research at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service in Athens.

“Why are you not doing your job?” Farmer asked Collins, noting that Congress had voted to fund the research being closed down by the executive branch of the government.

State House District 122 Representative Spencer Frye, an Athens Democrat who moderated the event, told Collins “I'm very disappointed in you as an American, as an elected official, and as a Georgian, that you are unwilling to come and speak with your constituents at this time.”

Collins was represented by a red Make American Great Again hat placed on the seat of a chair on the middle of the stage. His image also was projected on the screen behind the chair.

The auditorium has150 seats, all of which were taken, and at least 40 more people crammed into the room and stood along is rear and aisles, despite requests that they not do so.

Two overflow rooms into which the event was live streamed also were filled to capacity, with counts of 66 and 100 in them, and the hallway outside the Auditorium was filled.

Another 45 people were watching the live streaming remotely, according to event organizers.

Organizers And Format

Barbara Burt, representing Indivisible Georgia 10, a local activist group, one of the three organizers of the Town Hall, began the program by noting the large crowd size and saying that “our representative is missing an opportunity” to interact with his constituents by not being present.

Colllins Stand In

The other two organizers were the Oconee County Democrats and the Athens-Clarke County Democrats.

Organizers asked people entering the meeting to name the county where lived, and Burt said on Wednesday that people from Athens-Clarke, Barrow, Hart, Jasper, Madison, Morgan, Oconee, Oglethorpe, and Walton counties, all in the 10th Congressional District, and Jackson County, in the Ninth, were in attendance.

Not every one interacted with a volunteer, she said, so the list could be incomplete.

The 10th Congressional District, is made up of 16 complete counties and four partial counties, and stretches from the Savannah River in the east to the east and south of Metro Atlanta in the west.

“So even though we aren't able to actually speak to our Congressional representative,” Burt said, “we are here today sharing the sense that we have something to say...We're all in this together, and it's going to take all of us to make a change.”

“So you might be wondering why we don't have our representative here,” Burt said. “And I will tell you, we tried very hard. We tried very hard to get him to come.”

“He got many invitations, formally and informally, but unfortunately did not arrange his schedule so that he would be here,” Burt said.

Burt did not say this, but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has advised Republican members of Congress not to participate in Town Hall meetings.

Farmer On Bird Flu Research

Farmer, when called to the podium, said that “In recent weeks, there have been indiscriminate firings” at the CDC and the Agriculture Research Service and “in some of these cases, researchers were literally in the middle of experiments when they had to walk away.”

Farmer

“With the current threat that the bird flu outbreak poses to the $28 billion poultry industry in Georgia and the potential for the H5N1 virus to infect humans and cause a deadly pandemic,” Farmer asked Collins, “how can you justify the firing of these essential workers, many of whom live and work in District 10?”

“What do you say to the Georgia farmers who are desperate for guidance as to how to keep their livestock safe?” he continued.

“How do you look a parent in the eye and assure them that their children are safe from a virus that has a fatality rate of 5 percent in humans when so many researchers have been laid off from the CDC?” he asked.

“Now, I understand that this is the work of Mr. Musk and his DOGE team, and that these firings are their responsibility,” Farmer continued.

“But if I may ask a follow up question,” he continued, “is it not true that it is the role of Congress, not the president, to approve and direct federal funding?”

“Sir, why are you letting the executive branch overrule those decisions that you and your fellow congressmen have made regarding the funding of this important research?” Farmer asked.

Teitelbaum On Job Loss

Claire Teitelbaum, a researcher formerly at the Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit of the U.S, Geological Survey (USGS) and an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia, followed Farmer to the podium.

Teitelbaum

On Feb. 14, her employment was terminated because she was designated as probationary.

Teitelbaum, a wildlife ecologist, said “Most recently, I have been studying avian influenza in wild birds, trying to understand whether their movements and migration patterns are related to outbreaks of this disease in wildlife.”

Her assignment in her job at USGS was to partner with other organizations, including the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the University of Georgia.

“We provide research and technical support to extend their capacity to manage wildlife and public lands,” she said of her collaboration with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

“This was more or less my dream job,” she said. “I had left a job that I liked to take this one (last September) in part because it provided more job and financial security than I had had in the past. But also because it provided this unique opportunity to do really useful applied research.”

“This was a really unique opportunity that I won't find anywhere else. And that's a loss for me personally,” she said.

“And my story is just one of many in natural resources management and research,” she said, “and includes people doing on-the-ground work, managing public lands like wildlife refuges that are important for both conservation and recreation.”

Ringdahl On Autism Research

Joel Ringdahl, a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education and Co-Director of the Center for Autism and Behavioral Education Research at the University of Georgia, was the third speaker on Tuesday evening.

Ringdahl

“My goal tonight is to express my concern for how the recent changes at the federal level might impact individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” he said.

“The closing and/or reduction of force at education related federal agencies such as the Department of Education and the Institute for Educational Sciences and budget uncertainties of other federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, has at least two potentially negative impacts,” he said.

First, these agencies historically have funded training grants that increase opportunity to develop the workforce for special education teachers and other practitioners who provide services to individuals, he said, and that workforce development will be lost.

Second, these reductions have interrupted or ended research related to special education and other services individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities, he said.

“The United States has built a worldwide reputation over a number of decades as leaders in special education and developmental disabilities and research,” he said.

“I have concerns about the long-term viability of programs related to the population that I work so closely with,” he said, “and potential negative and likely unintended impact on those same individuals.”

“If Representative Collins were here tonight,” he said, “I would be interested to learn from him how the potential negative impacts I foresee from these decisions will be mitigated.”

“In short, what plans does the current administration and Congress have for ensuring the continued support, advocacy and evidence-based intervention for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities?” Ringdahl asked.

Horvath On Women In Military

Capt. Abby Horvath came to the podium only to pick up a microphone, and then strolled back and forth across the stage as she talked.

Horvath

“There is a story that American politics wants us to believe,” she said. “They want us to believe that political issues are an all or nothing conversation.”

“It is a fallacy because when we disagree on an all or nothing, there is no conversation to be had,” she said. “We are either right or wrong. My statement tonight is that every issue we talk about, we believe in, belongs on a spectrum.”

“My passion right now is women in combat,” she said. “So in my eight years and three months active duty, I had two combat deployments--12 months each, one to Iraq, one to Afghanistan. Twelve months minus the two weeks vacation you get throughout the year.”

“I was in charge in Afghanistan,” she said. “I led my soldiers as individuals and I led them as professionals. I shared respect for what they knew and what I could learn from them.”

“We're going to talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she said. “And I say those words out loud because we have cut it down to DEI to avoid accountability.”

“There are web pages being deleted that have the word female in them,” she said. “This saddens me. This makes me angry, this hurts.”

“We should not be afraid of pages that celebrate people's history,” she said. “We should be celebrating them and celebrating one another.”

Questions From Audience

The first question asked of Collins from the audience was a simple and direct one.

Questioner Addressing Frye

“Why did you skip out of the meeting?” the person asked.

She followed by asking: “What are you planning to do as a congressman whose Constitutional responsibility is to uphold the Constitution while Musk illegally closes down important government programs? I am in favor of eliminating waste, but not as it is happening.”

The next speaker asked Collins if he would “support a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia that requires Ukraine to cede any territory to Russia?”

The next questioner wanted to know if Collins thinks “that rich appointees are more capable and more entitled to run our government than employees with more experience who work for their living?”

“If yes,” the questioner continued, “please explain or justify your opinion. If no, please explain or justify your aiding or abetting their takeover of our democracy?”

“I’m very unhappy about plans to close Social Security Offices,” the next speaker said.

The next audience questioner told Collins that “it was appalling” that he supported the pardoning of the Jan. 6 rioters and asked “what are you doing to restore respect for the rule of law in this country?”

Other Legislators

At that point in the program, Frye invited to the podium Rep. Ruwa Romman from Duluth, who represents the 97th Georgia House District, and Sen. Josh McLaurin, from Sandy Springs, who represents State Senate District 14.

Frye, Romman, McLaurin

Both are Democrats, and Frye said he invited them in to serve as “backup.”

“Thank you all so much for being here,” Romman said. “I mean, it is incredible seeing not just folks in this room, but the two overflow rooms...which we passed walking in."

“So it matters,” she continued, “to keep showing up no matter what anyone tells you.”

“We hear complaints from the majority party of the state Capitol,” McLaurin said, “that we shouldn't be talking about federal issues here because this is the state Capitol and there's not a lot that we can do about that, or nothing we can do. And, well, these aren't really our problems.”

“To which our response is,” he said, “one way it might become a state problem fast is if $20 billion of federal funding gets cut to the state of Georgia.”

“On top of that is the fear, the terror, that our constituents across the state are living on a daily basis,” he said, because of deportation programs underway.

“We try to serve you,” McLaurin said, “but you also serve us by having energy. It makes us realize, seeing so many people assembled here on a day like today, that we are not going to go down without a fight.”

More Audience Questions

The next audience question addressed to Collins asked if he would “consider a revision to budget cuts and removing Musk from DOGE, which aligns more with your constituents such as me?”

Questioner, Facing Panelists

“My first question to Mr. Collins,” the next speaker said, is “why did you lie about January the sixth? Where were you watching it from? I was in front of my TV watching everything. Where were you? You lie.”

“My next question is, why do you need to feel like you need to belittle a bishop...and wanted her to be deported?” The speaker was referring to Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who gave an address at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service and asked President Trump to show mercy to immigrants.

“Congressman Collins,” the next questioner said, “American research universities are one of our greatest achievements, and I stress the word our. What have you done to stop this potentially crippling brain drain of valuable American researchers (resulting from the budget cuts)?”

“Mr. Collins, why are congressmen allowing President Trump to blatantly disregard the laws set forth by our Constitution?” the next questioner asked. “Have you no backbone?”

“And why is a man, Elon Musk, who is not an elected official, have no restraints placed on the actions he's taken?” she continued.

“My question for Mike Collins would be,” the last speaker said, “how can you justify slashing Medicaid in Georgia when that will only worsen the threat to women and children in our state? Georgia consistently ranks as one of the worst states in our country for maternal morbidity and mortality.”

“Why is he willing to slash Medicaid to give tax breaks to millionaires?” she finished.

Video

I shot the video below from the rear of the room.

Frye made his initial comments at 4:43 in the video.

Farmer spoke at 11:42 in the video.

Teitelbaum came to the podium at 15:16 in the video.

Ringdahl spoke at 19:21 in the video.

Horvath picked up the microphone at 25:23 in the video.

Romman and McLaurin joined Frye at 44:01 in the program.

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