A town hall meeting held in Cheyenne, Wyoming featured three poster displays of Wyoming federal lawmakers who were unable to attend the event. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney were all invited to the meeting, but were unable to make appearances do to prior conflicts.
The event was hosted by a nonpartisan group of Wyoming residents called the “Wyoming Progressives”, who personally invited Enzi, Barrasso and Cheney. Having missed multiple meetings this year, their seats were replaced with large cardboard portraits of the delegates by the citizens.
“It is an emotional time for people in the state and country right now,” said Enzi’s press secretary Max D’Onofrio. “Just because citizens aren’t talking directly to delegates, doesn’t mean their voices aren’t being heard. They really are paying attention.”
The meeting took place in the Laramie Country Library on April 11th. The two-hour event had between 60-100 residents attend at different times during the meeting.
According to the statements sent out by the congressmen and congresswoman and read by moderator Dave Lerner, the delegates were able to send representatives from their offices to attend the meeting in order to take comments and concerns from the public.
The comments are to be forwarded to each senator and representative.
As for Enzi, D’Onofrio explained the situation that the senator is in with hearing out Wyoming citizens.
“There will always be a side that is upset, that is how politics works,” said D’Onofrio. “Mike (Enzi) travels around the state to hear solutions, so peoples voices are getting across. He understands that people want to express their opinions, but he can only be in one place at a time. They (citizens) are being heard.”
Many of the residents feel they are being shorted by not being able to speak with representatives.
Laramie resident Nancy Sindelar attended the meeting in Cheyenne and is one of many who feel they have not had their voices heard.
“I’ve called in for the teleconferences these guys call town halls,” said Sindelar. “I’ve listened for two-hour sessions and they never call on me. I’ve listened to all their propaganda for all this time. I just hang up.”
Along with the portraits was a poster of Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom of Speech”, an infamous painting of a rural man standing to speak during an American town hall meeting.
“This actually tells a little bit about what we’re doing here today,” said Lerner. “We are following a tradition that goes back to the founding of our country.”
According to Lerner, the topics included gender equality, health care, public lands, and concerns about the Republican administration in the White House.
