Congressman Lamar Smith, Twenty First Congressional
District of Texas
(WASHINGTON) – Congressman Lamar Smith Wednesday night held a telephone town meeting with his Bexar County constituents. He uses the new technology, also known as a “tele-town hall”, to stay connected with constituents when he is in Washington for votes.
“The response from constituents has been tremendous,” said Smith. “This technology enables me to reach out to people in the comfort of their own homes, get their opinions on issues before Congress and answer their questions. It’s one of the ways I try to stay in touch and it helps me to do my job better.”
The automated call went out to Smith’s constituents in Bexar County asking them to participate in a live telephone town meeting. After some opening remarks, Smith randomly took questions from participants throughout the county. The call peaked with nearly 900 participants on the call during the 45-minute telephone meeting.
He also asked three poll questions, the results of which were tabulated by the tele-town meeting technology:
1) Do you favor or oppose the health care plan proposed by President Obama and the Congressional Democrats?
80% opposed.
15% favored.
5% no opinion.
2) Do you like the health care coverage you have?
88% said yes.
9% said no.
3% said no opinion.
3) Do you think that the country is heading in the right direction or down the wrong track?
81% said the wrong track.
16% said the right direction.
3% said no opinion.
Smith said that he plans to conduct another Bexar County tele-town hall in the coming weeks.
