Senators need to step forward

It appears Montana’s two senators have joined a national trend in Democrats avoiding wide-open town hall meetings in recent months.

The New York Times reported this week that to avoid angry voters, “many Democrats heeded the advice of party leaders and tried to avoid unscripted question-and-answer sessions. The recommendations were clear: Hold events in controlled settings — a bank or a credit union, for example — or tour local businesses or participate in community service projects.”

Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, both Democrats, have been doing all the above in their recent visits to the state. But in Northwest Montana, they have conspicuously avoided holding wide-open forums with the public in recent months.

The Baucus and Tester camps can certainly and fairly argue that the senators have had busy schedules, interacting with constituents in a variety of ways.

Tester, for instance, distributed an e-mail update on his activities this week, which included playing “Taps” on a trumpet at Fort Harrison cemetery, attending a recent gathering of top officials on conservation issues in Ovando, and attending an export seminar in Billings.

But the largest gatherings the two senators have held in Northwest Montana recently have been visits with select groups and invitation-only roundtable discussions.

By obvious contrast, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg has held scores of open forums over the last year, inviting friend and foe alike to attend.

The Times story reports multiple examples of Democrats changing the way they interact with the public after encounters with voters last summer.

Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md., openly explained why.

“It’s dramatically different this break than it was in August of last year,” he said. “At town halls, there was a group of people who were there to disrupt, purely politically driven, not there because they wanted to get answers or discuss the issues.”

But apparently, critics of Democrats are not limited to cranky right-wingers.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a champion of liberal causes, was actually heckled at a progressive conference this week. People on both sides of the political spectrum apparently want their elected representatives to, well, actually represent them.

Tester is not up for election for two years and Baucus not for four, but someday they will probably have to face the heat from their critics in Montana. They can’t lie low forever.