Jason Chaffetz is in the minority of House members who held a town hall in August. Most of House passes on town halls

Nearly 60 percent of House lawmakers are not holding free, open-to-the-public town halls during the August break, according to a survey released Monday from the nonpartisan group No Labels.

The organization’s members dialed every House member’s office and found that 174 – or about 40.5 percent – were holding public events, while 256 – or about 59.5 percent – were not. Democrats were more likely to shun town halls, with 68 percent of them not holding any, compared to about 51 percent of House GOP who were avoiding them.


“Our concern is that elected officials are only hearing from their respective partisan bases and will not expose themselves to criticism,” said No Labels co-founder William Galston, who is a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. “Politics is about competing ideas, and everyone should have a seat at the table.”

The numbers don’t account for House seats that are currently vacant – including that of resigned Reps. Anthony Weiner and David Wu, and now-Sen. Dean Heller – nor for members who can’t hold in-person town halls for health reasons, such as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering from a January assassination attempt, and Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), who was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year but delayed treatment until August so he wouldn’t miss votes, spokesman Christopher Cashman said.

Whether to hold town halls – and how much access constituents should be granted – has been a prickly issue this August. POLITICO reported earlier this month that several congressmen, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) were forgoing free forums for events that required attendees to pay.

Members of House leadership – both Democrats and Republicans – were split on whether they were holding town halls, according to No Labels’s research. GOP leaders including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) weren’t holding events, according to the group. Meanwhile, House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) had events planned, as did the conference’s vice chair, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.).

As for Democratic leaders, neither House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) nor House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) were listed as holding events, according to the group. Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) was hosting events, as was Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), the House Democratic Caucus’s vice-chairman, the group reported.

But some congressional offices dispute the findings. For instance, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was also listed as a “no,” although she appeared at a jobs forum last week in Oakland, Calif., hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And Larson spokesman Ellis Brachman said the Connecticut Democrat has three health care-oriented public meetings and two more on jobs and the economy scheduled in the next two weeks, “all of which would meet their definition of town halls.”

No Labels press secretary Dustin Carnevale acknowledged that the group’s methods were “rudimentary” but said information obtained by the organization would be the “same inaccurate information that a constituent getting information could’ve gotten as well.”