Technical difficulties plague Barrett’s telephone town hall

Many constituents left hanging after signing up to attend

TUESDAY, March 11 — Technical difficulties marred U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett’s first telephone town hall last night.

The Charlotte Republican, whose district includes all of Ingham and Clinton counties and portions of Eaton, opened with a 20-minute speech discussing his work in Washington and addressing common questions his office has received. Afterward, he answered six questions from constituents. His office said more than 1,800 were on the call.

But many were unable to call in at all.

Hours before the meeting, Barrett’s official Facebook page posted that attendees who had signed up on Barrett’s website would receive an email with instructions to join the meeting. Those who called Barrett’s Lansing office were told they would receive a call between 7 p.m. and 7:10 p.m., the town hall’s scheduled starting time.

Many received neither.

“I didn’t receive a confirmation email nor a phone number to call,” said Polly Brainerd, who re-registered 30 minutes before the meeting after receiving no email.

“I was told I would get a call,” said Lansing resident Mike Malott. “No call came.”

This reporter was also not contacted after signing up on Barrett’s website. This reporter was only able to attend because the number was publicly posted on the Clinton County Republicans’ Facebook page at 6:57 p.m.

Because the sign-up form required attendees to disclose the topics of their questions in advance, some have speculated that liberal constituents were deliberately left out.

A representative for the Clinton County Republicans said he received the phone number directly from a member of Barrett’s staff shortly before the event.

The difficulties come on the heels of protesters demanding an in-person town hall with Barrett. Following protests at town halls across the country. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently encouraged Republican representatives not to hold in-person town halls.

The Livingston County Democrats and Indivisible Michigan 7, which organized separate protests for a town hall, were unsatisfied with the telephone format.

Tessa Paneth-Pollak, a coordinator for the Indivisible group, said not one member of the group she knows of received the phone number from Barrett’s office.

Judy Daubenmier, chair of the Livingston County Democrats, echoed this: “I have received comments by dozens and dozens of people saying they never received a number.”

A statement from Barrett’s D.C. office said the office is “aware of an error that prevented some folks from participating,” while also noting that “more than 26,000 outbound calls” were placed.

“We are investigating the cause to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” the statement said. “We will be hosting another event soon and will be sure to share the details when they are finalized.”

Those who were able to enter the call could join a queue to ask their questions. Despite reassurance from Barrett’s D.C. office that questions would not be screened, constituents who joined the queue received a call from a staff member who asked their name and question in advance.

A poll question — “Do you approve of the Department of Government Efficiency’s mission to streamline the federal government and reduce spending?” — received 70% “no” responses.

DOGE was a common thread. In his speech before the town hall, Barrett told constituents that DOGE “is only giving recommendations,” in response to concerns about presidential adviser Elon Musk’s power.

One constituent, George Allen of DeWitt, expressed a hope that DOGE would “use a scalpel and not an axe” in its layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In response, Barrett said he had written a letter to the veterans affairs secretary, Douglas A. Collins, alleging that claims and appeals processes for veterans were “unacceptably long” and that he would work to fix this. He did not specifically address DOGE’s cuts.

One constituent, who identified herself as Eileen from Lansing, criticized Barrett’s support of a controversial budget proposal that Democrats allege will necessitate Medicaid and Medicare cuts.

Barrett denied that the bill would “require cuts to anything,” asserting that it “simply opened the process to see how we are going to move forward in this budget format.” He did acknowledge that eligibility criteria may be altered.

Daubenmier criticized Barrett’s responses, saying the town hall “was mainly a monologue.”

“He would take a comment and talk for 10 minutes,” she said.

While she still believed Barrett should hold an in-person town hall, Daubenmier said the telephone town hall was “an utter failure” on its own merits.

“If he was going to do it by telephone, he should have made sure that people who signed up received the number,” she said.