Rep. Bill Flores takes questions during tele-town hall
Amid discussing topics ranging from immigration to climate change to Russian involvement in the presidential election, one of the easier questions U.S. Rep. Bill Flores fielded during his tele-town hall Tuesday came from a caller who asked, "Why aren't you here?"
Cheers were audible in the background of the call from the Texas A&M Hillel Center, where members of the TX-17 Indivisible Bryan/College Station group had gathered. The problem with the Republican congressman's decision to hold a town hall via telephone, the caller said, is that Flores wouldn't get a good idea of where constituents stand without being in the room with them. Flores, taking questions from callers and Facebook from behind a desk, replied that 2,348 people were on the line at that moment. He found the new format for a series of town hall meetings this week --- a call-in radio town hall will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday on WTAW-AM -- to be the best way to "reach across the breadth" of his 17th Congressional District.
On Facebook Live, where the town hall was broadcast, a flurry of angry response emojis floated across the screen. But in one of the poll questions typical of Flores' public meetings, 53 percent of those who participated said they prefer tele-town halls to in-person meetings.
Flores said he answered both "layup" questions and tougher ones, even occasionally reading negative comments -- "Somebody says I'm lying. Sorry, I'm not" -- that peppered Facebook during the live broadcast.
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