As many of you know, our US Representative for Illinois’ 13th district has a bit of a constituent problem. To put it bluntly, he’s scared of us. He’s scared of Champaign-Urbana. Which really sucks, because he’s so scared that he won’t listen to us, which is literally what he’s employed to do.
Now, I rip on Hot Rod a lot, so let me be fair to him – these open office hours are a way for constituents to voice their concerns. There are no two bones about that.
The problem, however, is that they’re not efficient, he makes people wait outside for hours to talk to him, and he gives the same bland GOP talking point to every question he’s asked. Hot Rod does, at the very least, meet people face to face (but only if it’s during the afternoon on a weekday), so there is a miniscule facade of constituent interaction.
Next Friday, June 2nd, Hot Rod will be making his way back to his Champaign office on Fox Drive to hold more open office hours, this time between 1 and 3 pm, when pretty much everyone has to be at work.
Rodney, who has never really been interested in hearing out opinions before, will perhaps have an open mind this time, especially after he denied the Congressional Budget Office’s report that 23 million people will lose health care under Trumpcare, a bill he has long-supported. But I wouldn’t bet on it if I were a concerned IL-13 resident. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to show up and have your voice heard.
We’ll see you next Friday, Hot Rod, and we’ll be just as mad, if not more mad, than we were before.