Oconee County Democrats are going forward with plans to hold a Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday evening, even though they acknowledge invited Republican 10th Congressional District Rep. Mike Collins has said he will not attend.
The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Athens Clarke-County Library Auditorium, according to an email message sent out by Harold Thompson, Oconee County Democratic Party Chair, on Friday (March 14).
Four speakers have been invited to talk about how they have been affected by the federal budget cuts.
Those wishing to attend are being asked to write out questions they would like to ask Collins in advance with the promise they will be forwarded to Collins.
Those questions will be screened at the meeting on Tuesday, with some of those submitting questions being given the opportunity to read the question at the meeting, which is to be live streamed and recorded.
Spencer Frye, who represents the 122nd Georgia House District, has agreed to serve as the moderator of the Town Hall, according to the email from Thompson. Frye is a Democrat from Athens.
The meeting is being organized by the Oconee County Democrats in collaboration with their Athens-Clarke County counterpart and with Indivisible Georgia 10, a local activist group.
Thompson announced on Wednesday (March 12), that the meeting was being moved from the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus on Jennings Mill Road and Virgil Langford Road to the Athens-Clarke County Library on Baxter Street because more than 90 persons had signed up electronically for the event.
The reserved room on the Health Campus has a capacity of 75.
Agenda For Town Hall, Registration
Thompson, in an email on March 12, announced that “Collins staff has officially replied that he won't attend the town hall.”
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| Thompson 2/20/2025 |
He also announced the speakers in the Friday email.
The four are a former medevec helicopter pilot who flew in Iraq and Afghanistan, a co-director of a center for autism research that depends on federal funding, a scientist who studies bird flu in wild fowl and who lost her job, and a scientist whose research faces cuts in federal funding.
The meeting is scheduled to run to 7 p.m. The address of the Library is 2025 Baxter Street, Athens.
The meeting room has a capacity of 150, and interested persons are being asked to use the Mobilize app to sign up. An overflow room with a video link also is being arranged.
After registering, participants will receive an email message of confirmation and, in the message, a link to a form that can be used to write a question.
The text of that message says the event will be live streamed on the IndivisibleGA10 Facebook page.
“We will collect the forms and deliver them to the Collins's congressional office in Monroe, along with the videotape,” that email states.
“This is an important community conversation, and we ask that you come prepared to listen to others and share your opinions respectfully,” the email message states. “We are hoping to have press coverage. Questions that are serious and substantive will make the biggest impact.”
Calendar And Request
Thompson first announced to Oconee County Democrats in an email on March 6 that “We're trying (to) arrange for a town hall with CD10 House Rep, Mike Collins. Tentatively scheduled for afternoon/evening Tuesday, March 18th.”
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| Collins Official Photo |
In a well-publicized news conference in Washington two days earlier, House Speaker Mike Johnson had advised fellow Republican lawmakers to skip town hall meetings.
“The best thing that our members can do is communicate directly, frequently, consistently with their constituents,” Johnson said. “And there are other avenues to do it than just going in to give the other side sound bites. They are doing this for the cameras. We all know it. So it is wise not to play into it right now.”
Thompson wrote to the Democrats on March 14 that “Even though he's a no-show, we'll still tee up questions to an empty chair and forward those to his office.”
The email message sent out in response to registration on March 16 states that “We finally heard back from Rep. Mike Collins's office. He will not attend. ‘He will be out of town at a very important meeting.’ (Well, it wasn't on his calendar. We were told there was ‘nothing on his calendar’ when we asked for a meeting weeks ago.)”
Request Of Press Office
Collins has scheduled a “1st Annual Mike Collins’ Surf & Turf” for May 3 in Covington.
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| Screen Shot 3/4/2025 |
I called Collins’s Monroe Office on the morning of March 13 and got through on the first try.
I told the woman who answered that I was interested in talking to someone about the invitation from the Democratic Party.
She recommended I send an email to Corbin Keown in Rep. Collins’ press office in Washington. I did so at 11:02 a.m. that day.
“I have received many emails from the Oconee County Democrats regarding a request they say they made of Rep. Collins to attend a Town Hall Meeting on March 18,” I wrote. “I am just seeking an explanation from the point of view of Rep. Collins of the request and of the response.”
“Congress is not in session,” I wrote. “I do not know anything of the Congressman's schedule, so I don't know when he actually is in the District. I see on Eventbrite that Rep. Collins is holding an event in Covington on May 3.”
“Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated,” I wrote.
When I did not hear from Keown, I called the number I had been given for him by the woman in Monroe at 1:45 p.m. the next day, Friday (March 14).
I spoke with a person who gave his name as Jimmy and said he worked in Collins’s office . He said he would pass along to Keown the message that I had called and that I had asked for a reply to my email or a return call.
I have not heard from Keown.
1 comment:
Just to be clear, while all of the info on the Collins town hall was sent out under the Oconee Dems banner, we've been working with Indivisible 10 and the Athens Clarke-County Democratic Committee
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