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"Indivisible" Town Hall Set for Feb Won't Include Congressional Rep

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Political participation in Virginia has taken a leap in the past year.  Whatever your persuasion, there’s no lack of opportunity to dialogue and debate the issues – and a lot of people say, ‘that’s a good thing.’ But a town hall meeting planned for February 22nd to discuss the political issues of the day is shaping up to be a standoff between its organizers and its congressional representative. 

Last spring a grassroots movement called ‘Indivisible’ took hold across the country. Taking a page from the group known as the Tea Party, its goal is to help communicate the voices of voters to public officials.  An Indivisible group soon formed in the New River Valley and organized a town hall meeting that drew some 200-people. Sandy Toensing of Blacksburg was there. She later became chairperson for the organization’s town hall events.

“I heard many diff viewpoints on the issues, things that I hadn’t known.  So I think it’s also a really valuable tool, not only to hear – if Morgan Griffith would have come –to hear how he stands on things, but also learn what my community is talking about.  What are people excited about?  What are they upset about?”

Indivisible describes itself as non-partisan, still many Republicans in congress across the country, declined invitations to their town halls, just as Virginia’s ninth congressional representative, Morgan Griffith has done.

He says he sees Indivisible as a group that is actively working to unseat him.

“I don’t know how anybody with common sense would interpret it differently, when there’s campaign buttons, campaign T- shirts, slogans and their stated purpose is to get me out; ‘Morgan out.’  Now, that’s their right and that’s why we dealt with it as a campaign issue because we knew this, as opposed to an official issue.”

The congressman and members of Indivisible acknowledged that they met together several times in small groups. Griffith says he has no plans to walk into, what he says, would be a political ambush.

“So. it’s not that I won’t meet with them.  It’s not that I won’t discuss the issues with them. It’s that I don’t want to do it in a setting where it’s clearly set up to be some sort of an ambush and really, it’s just to generate publicity, which is why they invited me this time.  They already knew the answer.”

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Congressman Morgan Griffith

Susan Olivier, who is also active in Indivisible, says “Morgan Griffith, has, from the beginning, refused to hold any town. And as a congressman he is supposed to represent his constituents, all of them.”

John Leehman is involved in planning Indivisibles’ Town Hall meeting. He maintains that the meeting is meant to be a respectful and honest dialogue, not a debate.  

"I can’t say we expected him to say yes 11 Because he has said ‘no’ every time.  He seems to call a ‘tele-town hall he has, a substitute for doing town hall events. That’ wasn’t our idea. We wanted a regular town hall, where yes, people might get emotional about issues, but that it would be controlled. We would have a moderator and we would make sure that people got their passion and their issues on to the table, but not that anyone was rude in any way to Morgan Griffith. 

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John Leehman

Three candidates who have announced they’re running for Griffith’s congressional seat in November say they’ll be at Indivisible’s town hall meeting next month in Blacksburg.  Organizers say, the candidates won’t be speaking at the event, but will be given a chance to introduce themselves and respond briefly at the end of the meeting, to what they hear from community members who attend.

Robbie Harris is based in Blacksburg, covering the New River Valley and southwestern Virginia.
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