Seth A. Richardson

srichardson@rgj.com

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller and U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei didn’t mean to have a town hall meeting on Wednesday during a Carson City event, but it quickly turned into one.

What was slated as a routine luncheon in front of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce with the two Republicans quickly turned into an impromptu forum. Protesters, who had to pay the admission price to get in, quickly started yelling, “Town hall meeting!” wanting Heller and Amodei to schedule in-district meetings for constituents. A group could also be heard from outside the event.

Groups have been putting pressure on Heller – as well as other Republicans nationwide – to hold town halls. Several have, often getting shouted out of their own meeting over policies proposed by Republican President Donald Trump.

Wednesday was a perfect display of that in Nevada’s capital.

Barely five minutes into the presentation, people booed Heller loudly when he said he wanted to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, a 2010 banking reform bill.

Both Heller and Amodei fielded more questions pertaining to some policies, but the heart of what those angry in the crowd wanted was a public town hall.

“I think the acrimoniousness in this room and all those folks outside kind of displays something…” said Laura Freed, 42, of Reno, to Amodei. “Your constituents want to talk to you. You like to parry. Would you guys commit to having a public town hall rather than a rather than a Chamber of Commerce luncheon?”

Amodei has held forums for constituents since the election, including one on immigration in Reno and one on veterans’ issues in Winnemucca. He committed to holding one either this recess session, or the next one during April.

Heller has yet to hold one, opting instead for lottery-based telephone town halls. Heller made a soft commitment to hold one in the future, but with conditions.

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“I’ll do a town hall meeting if you promise one thing is that you won’t applaud. No applauding alright? And I tell you what, no booing either,” Heller said. “Just no applauding, no booing and we’ll have a one-on-one dialogue. Is that fair?”

Freed said she didn’t view the statement as a commitment. Several others who asked him after the luncheon to hold one were also denied any sort of commitment.

“I was disappointed,” Freed said. “I would’ve hoped that he would commit to an in-person town hall rather than a tele-town hall.”

Democrats consider Heller one of the most targetable Senate Republicans for the 2018 cycle. Nevada went largely Democratic during the 2016 election, bucking the rest of the nation.

One of the main reasons groups have been targeting Republican town hall meetings is the precarious position of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Protesters have posted up every Tuesday since the inauguration outside of Heller’s office, demanding he not vote to repeal the law.

But “repeal and replace” has been a talking point of the Republican Party for several election cycles since the law – commonly known as “Obamacare” – passed in 2010.

When asked what his plan for a change to Obamacare would be, Heller said, “If you like your health care, you can keep it,” a statement that echoes a promise from Obama that later ended up being false.

Amodei said he would not vote for any plan that resulted in reduced coverage for anyone.

“No, I don’t think you can say forget it, we’re going to let them be uninsured because as a practical solution, that’s not an answer and somebody ends up paying in the end anyhow,” Amodei said.



