Yesterday, I traveled to Forsyth County and attended my first Thom Tillis town hall meeting and let me tell you: it was more of an eye opener than a 16-ounce can of Red Bull. Not only were the Tillis true believers clearly of the belief that the rest of North Carolina was out to get them, 95% of them were old enough to have voted for Harry Truman and 99.9% were whiter than Pat Boone. Why the rest of us are letting this tiny slice of NC's population reverse decades of progress in our state because they fear change is beyond me. But, as this meeting made clear, we are letting them get away with it.
The introductory speech was given by a woman who had no compunctions about using a public town hall meeting to deliver a partisan paean to her party, saying how delighted she was that our state was finally in the hands of people who truly loved their country (as opposed to the rest of us, who clearly must hate North Carolina because we eschew beehive hairdos and believe that all citizens should get the same rights, regardless of age, skin color or country of origin.) She ended her praise of Tillis by thanking him, in particular, for his work with ALEC - and if you don't know what the American Legislative Council is yet, I suggest you learn fast. Tillis and crew are downright proud that far right outsiders are deciding North Carolina's future instead of the people who live here.
Once the questioning began, it became apparent that not everyone there agreed with the Tillis world view. There was a swath of progressives in the center of the room and another row across the back. As soon as Tillis gauged the mood in the room, he did two things because, say what you will about the Speaker, he is a very good politician: he set a limit of one question per issue, and called almost exclusively on people he already knew, including many whom he knew by name. This one-question-per-issue policy was instigated after Tillis called on one woman in her 80's (translation = "it's safe to assume she's on my side") who asked a question about higher education graduation rates. After delivering a thoughtful answer (most of his answers were thoughtful, to give the Speaker credit, and his answer to an illegal immigration question was downright compassionate), Tillis cut off all additional questions on education, leaving several attendees -- including a Forsyth County School Board member -- out in the cold. This, I thought, negated the entire point of the town hall, which was billed as a way for Tillis to learn about the concerns of the people.
Note to the Speaker: if you are putting a limit on the number of times "the people" can express their thoughts on an issue, and limiting that number to one, then you aren't going to find out a whole lot about what the people think.
Tillis was good at spotting the non-conservatives and only called on one of them, at the very end. She was a tall, graceful woman who asked the Speaker whether anyone was standing up for protecting employees amid all the talk of employer incentives in the General Assembly this year. She was young, which may be why Tillis seemed a little surprised when she gave it right back to him after he tried to answer her question about employee rights with his standard anti-union speech. Her question had nothing to do with unions, the woman interrupted quickly, again explaining that she wanted to know who was representing employee interests in Raleigh, given that pro-employer advocates walked the halls of the General Assembly daily. I was impressed by her firm but polite demeanor. She did not take the Speaker's answers at face value, she recognized that he worked for her, and she insisted that he answer her question. She was not cowed into letting Tillis set the agenda.
There weren't enough of her there.
Why do the audiences at these town halls put up with Tillis limiting the number and topic of the questions and why do they let him cherry pick the people he responds to? I am all for politeness, that's why I love the South, but I am not in favor of taking advantage of people's unwillingness to rock the boat in order to duck responsibility. I was under strict orders not to participate, simply to observe -- after all, the hearing was for the people of Forsyth County and they deserved the floor. But how I wish that more people would claim their right to drive the content of these town halls. It is our right as constituents to question our leaders and to demand straight answers.
The inability of anyone to ask another question about education was particularly frustrating to me. Progress North Carolina takes its Pink Slip Truth Tour to these meetings to educate people on promises made by Tillis and other lawmakers in Raleigh to protect the classroom. We are now 4,800 lost classroom positions down the road and it is clear they lied when they made those promises. Yet no one is holding them accountable for the budget they passed -- not the media and not constituents.
The truth is that GOP lawmakers will likely get away with blatantly lying to the people of NC about what their budget did to education -- unless citizens start coming to these town hall meetings with the nerve and determination to stand up and say, "I insist that you answer my question: why did you lay off 1,800 teachers and teaching assistants after promising their jobs would be protected? Why did you eliminate 4,800 classroom positions after promising to fully fund our classrooms? Why have you not made it right?"
Protecting public education is protecting the future of North Carolina. This issue deserves attention. Please, let's stop worrying about being polite and stop letting Tillis use these town halls as a re-election whistle stop. Stand up. Demand answers. Insist on accountability. No politician and no party should be allowed to get away with saying one thing to the people of North Carolina and then doing the opposite. Surely we have not fallen that far? At least, not yet.