Robocall representation

Over the past several weeks, constituents of Illinois Congressional District 14 have been on the receiving end of what Congressman Randy Hultgren considers outreach. It has to be one of the most cynical efforts ever employed, just to be able to say that a representative is "talking" to their constituency.

He held no public town halls during his break this spring. Instead, a few nights a week at about 6:30, many of us have gotten a robocall informing us that there is a "live discussion" going on "right now" that we can join to talk to Rep. Hultgren. If you are not available at that moment, you get a voicemail letting you know you missed your chance and if you are available, you get to hear him give scripted answers to screened questions.

Rep. Hultgren has given no notice of when these calls will happen. When constituents have called his office to inquire about when he will be talking to us, we are told there is nothing scheduled. And then the robocalls come anyway.

Rep. Hultgren is polling lower than Donald Trump in his district and apparently thinks that isolating himself against in-depth questions and playing games with outreach numbers is a path to reelection. Seems like a poor strategy, but he has proved to be a poor representative of our district, so I guess it fits.

John Spaw

Lake in the Hills