To the Editor:
Congressman Erik Paulsen is fond of talking about how he connects to his constituents through a method called a “town call.” Paulsen has not had an in-person town hall meeting since 2011, so this is his preferred and main method of connecting with his constituents. I am not sure the “town call” method is connecting as robustly with his constituents as he thinks he is. His preferred method of contact looks a lot like hiding.
I called Paulsen’s Eden Prairie office to learn more about these “town calls,” since I have never received one. According to Paulsen’s staff, they make about one phone call a month to about 40,000 numbers. The calls are each targeted to a certain geography. Out of the 40,000 people called, there are between 2,000 and 8,000 people on the call. Usually, closer to 2,000. There is no advance announcement of when the calls are coming. When I asked why the calls are not announced ahead of time, the staff person told me: “There is no reason. We just don’t.”
If you are not lucky enough to be one of the 2,000 people on the call, there is no way to find out what the congressman said. This seems to be intentional. There is no transcript. There is no recording. No transparency. We don’t know if he states the same position from one call to the next and we can’t check his answers for accuracy. There is no way to hold him accountable, and I believe that is the job of constituents in a democracy – to hold their elected representatives accountable. He can say he has “reached out” to approximately a half million people a year, when, in reality, he only chats with about 24,000 in a district of 710,000 people.
Paulsen has a reputation for being a nice guy, and I think he is. But I believe that he is actually too meek to represent this congressional district. His main way of connecting with his constituents is by a controlled, unannounced, un-recorded, un-transcribed monthly “town call,” which leaves most of the district deliberately in the dark.
Gail Anderson, Minnetonka
Minnetonka Sun-Sailor, March 5, 2018