What is Palazzo avoiding?

In response to public criticism, Congressman Steven Palazzo used angry anti-Trump Democrats as the excuse for not hosting town hall meetings.

Palazzo said, “They’ve joined together after losing the presidential election to demand ‘town halls’ from Republican members so they can ridicule them and pack rooms full of activists waving signs and yelling.” The problem is, 2012 was the last time Palazzo held a Mississippi town hall meeting, five years before anyone was upset over the Trump election.

Other Republican lawmakers are not afraid of the angry mobs Palazzo describes. In fact, many spent their recent “District Work Week” holding town hall meetings at various district locations.

Perhaps it is not actually the Democrats he is running away from. Perhaps he is afraid to face fellow Republicans. After all, many of us are unhappy he spent the last several years leading the charge to fund Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, amnesty programs and more gun control.

While he touts dozens of votes to repeal and defund the Affordable Care Act, the only votes that matter are those that write the checks.

He tells us he funded the Obama-Pelosi agenda because Mississippians didn’t elect him to shut down the government. Well, we sure didn’t elect him to double our insurance premiums, pay for abortions, raise taxes and stomp on our Second Amendment rights — but he did.

Palazzo says he is avoiding angry Democrats, but what he’s really avoiding is being held accountable for his own voting record.

Editor’s note: Rose has declared his candidacy to run for U.S. Congress, serving Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District, the seat now held by Palazzo.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 4:45 AM with the headline "What is Palazzo avoiding?."