Vern Buchanan shows he is afraid of his constituents. Why is that? | Opinion

This week the Bradenton Herald ran an excellent article about U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s private event with the Manatee and Sarasota chambers of commerce. Rep. Buchanan is quoted as saying that he didn’t like the last district-wide town hall he had over two years ago because the response to him was “organized” and “crazy.” As one of the organizers of the boisterous response at the town hall, I am here to tell my side of the story.

I am a professor of political science and a concerned citizen who organized in advance pointed but polite questions to ask Rep. Buchanan at the town hall held at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota on March 18, 2017. I distributed questions on social media to fellow activists with Indivisible Bradenton Progressive, one of many Indivisible groups across the country modeled after the Tea Party to facilitate constituent contact with Congressional representatives. Unfortunately, I could not attend the town hall myself due to a prior commitment out of town.

Because I organized questions, on the morning of the town hall I found my handiwork spread on the front page of Breitbart, the alt-right hate web site, under the title “Progressive Activists Plan to Storm Trump-like GOP Congressman’s Town Hall by the Thousands to Disrupt President’s Agenda.” Sarasota County Commissioner and Florida GOP Vice-Chair Christian Ziegler was quoted in the article.

While I sat in my hotel room in Toronto, my friends, fellow Manatee and Sarasota citizens concerned about Donald Trump’s misrule, got harassing phone calls and death threats because of their connection to our activism. Breitbart readers came to our Indivisible social media pages and left threatening messages. The comments section of the article on the Breitbart web page featured respondents who threatened “civil war” and advocated readers take the fight to liberals with weapons.

Breitbart alums filmed progressives outside the town hall at the Van Wezel. The Atlantic online characterized the America First Project as a “Trump enforcement posse” of ideological enforcement from the right to keep Republican officeholders in line with the Trump agenda. The strategy includes whipping support for Trump among constituents, along with organizing town-hall confrontations for members of Congress who might not toe the line.

Apparently the strategy has worked, as Rep. Buchanan has voted nearly 100% in line with President Trump’s agenda. Moreover, Buchanan has not held another district-wide town hall since that time, despite the release of the Mueller report. The report detailed numerous examples of obstruction of justice which members of Congress should evaluate. Congress should uphold its constitutional obligation to provide oversight over the executive branch, as well as investigate President Trump’s violations of the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Most local residents who attended the town hall did not know who I was, nor had ever seen the document of town hall questions I produced. Most of them had their own concerns with President Trump’s misconduct. The sorry reality for Rep. Buchanan is that he is increasingly out-of-step with his district. His own constituent surveys have shown majority disapproval for President Trump.

It’s becoming much clearer that Rep. Vern Buchanan knows that his political support relies on tactics of fear and intimidation, just like the president. However, if Rep. Buchanan believes his support can survive the scrutiny of sunlight and democratic deliberation, then he should be hosting district-wide town halls … starting now.

We can’t bring people together across our political divide if Rep. Buchanan won’t even sit in the same room with everyone. All voices should be heard at a town hall, not just Donald Trump partisans.

Yes, there was “crazy” on the day of the town hall -- but worst were the threats, hate, and online abuse Manatee and Sarasota citizens got from out-of-town alt-right agitators.

Why is Vern so afraid of his own constituents anyway?

Liv Coleman of Manatee County is an associate professor of political science at the University of Tampa and a former Democratic candidate for the Florida House of Representatives. On Twitter: @LivColemanFL

This story was originally published June 19, 2019 at 10:26 AM.