Controversy arises over Tom Garrett town hall seating

Cavalier Daily

NEWSUDems offers larger space, congressman yet to respond



by Spencer Culbertson
| Mar 14 2017 | 03/14/17 12:47am

















An upcoming town hall with Fifth District Congressman Tom Garrett (R-Va.) scheduled for March 31 is currently set to take place in Garrett Hall, a venue that is part of the University’s Batten School and seats 135 people. After some constituents complained that restricting seating limits who can attend the town hall, the University Democrats responded by tagging Garrett in a Facebook post and offering him a larger venue — the Chemistry Building auditorium. “We took the liberty of booking a much larger room on Grounds that seats three times as many people for the same day at the same time,” the post, date March 2, read. “Please let us know if you'd like to accept this offer of an additional 360 seats.”The University Democrats say they haven’t received a response from Garrett’s office.“Despite Mr. Garrett and his team using social media to reach out to others, we have received no response from his office,” third-year Curry student and University Democrats President Brett Curtis said in an email to the Cavalier Daily. “It remains cowardly and undemocratic to exclude so many from hearing directly from our congressional representative.” Curtis said he thinks it’s part of Garrett’s job to hear from all of his constituents — something that a limited seating event would not allow.“The political climate today and Mr. Garrett’s job description demand that he listen, understand and consider all of his constituents’ voices, not just those he wants to hear,” Curtis said.The original distribution plan for town hall tickets was to give 45 to Batten School students, with priority for those who live in the 5th District, 45 to the local Republican committee and 45 to the local Democratic committee, according to a press release. However, tickets will now be distributed through a lottery, the ...

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