Congressman's East Austin Constituents Denied Town Hall Entry

AUSTIN, TX — Local constituents of U.S. Congressman Roger Williams — whose expansive district stretches from Fort Worth, Texas, to a large swath of East Austin — are complaining of being denied entry into a town hall-style gathering this week, saying they were barred from participating as organizers vetted their political party affiliation.

The event Monday at 901 Congress Ave. in Central Austin was billed as a "town hall" for constituents, and many would-be attendees eagerly signed up to attend given the Republican congressman's historical lack of staging such forums. Those wishing to attend were directed to RSVP with a password in securing an admission ticket through Eventbrite. The town hall was organized by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Americans For Prosperity.

In addition to Williams on the panelists' dais in the discussion on tax reform were Samuel Sheetz, policy director at Americans For Prosperity-Texas and Chuck DeVore, vice president of national initiatives for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

But at least a dozen constituents are complaining they were denied entry as organizers allegedly attempted to discern their political affiliation in an effort to curate the crowd, filling the room with supporters rather than intersperse the gathering with those airing concerns or grievances, Patch was told. The official reason the constituents were turned away is unclear, however, and the reasons posited are solely from the group of rebuffed, including some who reached out to Patch.

"I don't know why they were turned away," Texas Public Policy Foundation spokesperson Alicia Pierce said during a very brief telephone call with Patch. She said she would get back to Patch with answers, but a more robust response was not received Wednesday. A message left with the congressman's spokesperson, Hanna Allred, was not immediately returned.

Lisa Blackwell, who has lived along East 11th Street in East Austin for about five years, was among those constituents who were turned away. She told Patch she had hoped to gain clarity on the congressman's stance on gun control and immigration reform. Williams hurt his right foot and ankle after diving into the dugout to elude bullets during a June 2017 shooting in Washington, D.C. when a lone gunman targeted Congress members practicing for a charity baseball game. One of his interns was struck by a bullet in the attack that was stopped once the gunman was killed by Capitol police.

Blackwell said she had hoped to discern if Williams's stance on gun control measures had been colored by the incident or had achieved greater nuance.

"I think him seeing us and us seeing him would be great in this political climate," Blackwell said. "I didn't really anticipate being antagonistic, but was expecting to have a respectful exchange with him. I was disappointed that wasn't able to happen."

Blackwell said she was excited about seeing her congressman in person, especially after several futile attempts to reach him via his staffers: "I've gone and made appointments with Roger Williams's office before, but he's not usually there, obviously," Blackwell said. "I was excited that it was actually open to the public."

She described past attempts to connect with her congressman as frustrating: "It's harder to talk with his staff. I've talked to his staff members before, and have tried to ask questions about where he stands, and his staff is not able to answer questions. They're young and — while very kind and professional — not very up to speed. It's unfulfilling."

She joked that after such experiences, she had began to feel as if the congressman was a figment of her imagination, fueling her resolve to actually see him in person: "I thought he didn’t actually exist, or that he is like the Wizard of Oz projected somewhere."

Arthur Simon, a three-year resident of the Springdale neighborhood in East Austin, shared a similar experience. Although he had the issue for which he sought clarification prepared on a note card, at the ready for the town hall. he also was barred entry. His aborted comment to Williams was:

"Roger, you recently voted against the $1.3 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act, promising your constituents that you would "work each and every day on our behalf to drive down the national debt.' And yet the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that last December's tax reform bill you supported — efficiently titled 'H.R.1, An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018' — would clearly add over $1.5 trillion in red ink to the deficit over the coming decade. Even the right-leaning Tax Foundation pegged the cost at half a trillion dollars- even your friends undermine the claim that the cuts 'pay for themselves.' "

Simon added during a telephone interview with Patch: "There’s a discrepancy in his logic I was hoping to clear up."

Both constituents didn't buy the arguments about an overbooked room, either. Blackwell said she often uses Eventbrite to purchase events tickets, and a mechanism in place won't spit out a confirmation code to secure seating once all tickets are sold.

Simon, too, is well-versed in the tactics of Eventbrite. As a proprietor who owns the Coldtown Theater that stages comedy, "We make use professionally of Eventbrite, so I'm pretty familiar with Eventbrite," he said. "In any other universe, if an event is sold out you don’t get a ticket. One thing that doesn’t happen is you don’t get a confirmation number."

Both also were told there was a Friday cut-off to secure tickets, and they had bought theirs on Saturday. But no verbiage exists on the Eventbrite page that would denote such a cutoff. And, again, there's the matter of having successfully secured a ticket — regardless of the claimed cutoff — that also runs counter to that justification for barring them, each said.

A mutual friend of the two who managed to make it inside the building texted them to assure there were still seat available, contradicting organizers' claims of a standing-room only crowd. Simon is now left to wonder if maybe organizers checked would-be participants' voting records from official, publicly available elections records ahead of time to know which people to flag ahead of the event event.

"I was angry," Simon said. "It's kind of mind-blowing."

The large swath of East Austin that is part of the congressman's district is home to many of the city's African American and Hispanic populations. A video has surfaced showing constituents being denied entry to the local town hall, with one event official telling a constituent seating was no longer available — despite the fact the would-be attendants had their tickets in hand. Another official taking tickets at the venue suggested those being turned away watch the event via live stream from an alternate site providing a wi-fi signal.

One of the event's organizers, Americans for Prosperity, is a conservative political advocacy group founded in 2004 that is funded by David H. Koch and Charles Koch — commonly known in the political nomenclature as the Koch Brothers — known for their financial backing of Republican causes. For its part, the Texas Public Policy Foundation bills itself as a non-profit, non-partisan research institute guided by three principles: Liberty, personal responsibility and free enterprise as outlined on its website.

In light of growing partisan divisiveness, many politicians have opted to not hold town hall gathering at all for fear of spirited constituents. Invariably, testy exchanges between politicians and constituents wind up on YouTube, creating awkwardness and embarrassment for some politicians, hence the growing preference not to stage gatherings to meet with their electorates.

It's not the first time Williams has been inaccessible at one of his own town halls. In May 2017, his office alerted to such a gathering while deriding the traditional town hall format: "This event if meant to be civil and educational, not like the much-publicized 'mock' town halls that are being staged for GOP reps around the country," organizers wrote Patch in an emailed pres advisory at the time.

But in the end, Williams was a no-show at that gathering, in his stead a panel of authorities on myriad issues. To their credit, organizers telegraphed this might happen: "We have rented a chapel at Huston-Tillotson University, and have arranged for a panel of policy experts from organizations including the NAACP, Center for Public Policy Priorities, Children's Defense Fund, and the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans to speak to the crowd on issues if Rep. Williams fails to attend," organizers of the event wrote last May.

Related stories:

Staffer For Austin Congressman Shot Outside D.C. During Baseball Batting Practice

Roger Williams A No-Show At 'Town Hall' For His Constituents

On Account Of All The Shouting Elsewhere, Texas Republicans Aren't Staging Austin Town Halls

>>> Photo of Congressman Roger Williams via U.S. House of Representatives