JANESVILLE – Organizers of a congressional listening session announced the state’s senators and the two local House representatives declined invitations to listen to their constituents on Feb. 21.
Even so, the Janesville event will go on as planned, according to a news release.
“Our event was designed from the beginning as a listening session for our legislators to hear from their constituents, so although we would have appreciated their presence, it does not change our focus,” said Coral Swanson of the Janesville-based Town Hall Coalition.
“We want to hear from our neighbors as to what’s on their minds regarding events coming out of Washington, and we want our legislators to hear from us,” Swanson said. “Even though the legislators won’t be in attendance, they will receive written communication about concerns raised and questions asked.
“We are also recording and livestreaming, so we hope our legislators will eventually be able to watch the program. When we held a town hall last year, it was inspiring and enlightening to hear the number of issues people spoke about with such feeling, knowledge, anger and heartache.” Swanson said.
The Town Hall Coalition is organizing the event together with Indivisible Rock County and the Janesville League of Women Voters.
The town hall, titled “We the People Speak,” is set for 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, in the auditorium of Craig High School, 401 S. Randall Ave. Doors open at 1:30. Park in the south lot and use Door 42, the auditorium entrance. Constituents will be allowed up to 90 seconds each to deliver their remarks.
Civil speech is welcome. Shouting, heckling, personal attacks and hate speech will not be tolerated.