Local Weasel Plans To Duck Constituents

Some years ago the people of Illinois' 13th congressional district unwisely elected a Republican named Rodney Davis to the United States House of Representatives.  This came as a surprise to exactly no one for two reasons:  First, before running he was a political operative and errand boy for Illinois' odious climate-denying "Congressman from Coal" John Shimkus and, two, despite frequent redistricting efforts, the Illinois 13th has sent a Republican to congress in every election since 1894.

Yes, the last Democrat from the Illinois 13th  was "...appointed by President Grover Cleveland as a United States judge for the northern district of Indian Territory and chief justice of the United States Court of Appeals of Indian Territory."  The last Democrat before that was the original Adlai Stevenson.  

Hey, here's a fun fact:  before he became famous for simultaneously wrecking the United States military and the United States treasury and King's English, Don Rumsfeld was a congressman from the Illinois 13th.

Very Republican, the 13th.

Still, I kinda wonder if maybe we can't change that.  Or at least force the Party of Trump to spend serious money to hang onto this seat.  Because as of right now, Rodney Davis is opting to hide out from his own constituents who have serious concerns about the fact that he and his party just elected an unhinged racist halfwit to the most powerful office on Earth.

Representative Davis appears to have run for Congress for a lot of the same reasons that Stuart Best ran for Congress: because people gave him money and Congress has a great dental plan.

And for three terms, Representative Davis was able to basically sit on his ass, do little beyond pontificating about the Horrors of Obamacare and cash a paycheck safe in the knowledge that, like the rest of his depraved party, he would never have to actually do any of the things he gassed on and on about.

He could warm a spot on the back bench forever and quietly help his party ruin the country and the bell would never toll for Rodney Davis.

But then his party's unhinged, racist candidate actually won, promising that he would deliver unto us "great health care at a fraction of the cost" and, as the kids say...

...shit just got real.

And that's when outspoken Obamacare Critic and Fix-It Man, Representative Rodney Davis, decided that discretion was suddenly the better part of valor and that his constituent's interests were best served by hiding under his desk and praying that somehow this will all blow over:

From the Champaign Urbana News-Gazette:

Rodney Davis: No plans for C-U meeting

Tom’s Mailbag goes live at 2 p.m. Fridays (submit questions here). A hot topic this week: Rodney Davis, who appeared on WDWS 1400-AM on Friday morning. A sample ..

“There’s been a lot of chatter about trying to get (U.S. Rep.) Rodney Davis to host a town hall meeting somewhere in the district. When was his last one in the district, and when was his last one in the C-U area? Also, as a point of comparison, how often did Tim Johnson host town halls? I recall that one of his hallmarks was being very accessible to constituents.”

Based on a review of stories in our News-Gazette archives, Davis has never done a town hall meeting in Champaign-Urbana.

And it doesn’t sound like he’s going to do one this spring, despite calls from a number of local constituents.

He said during an interview this morning on WDWS that the request for town hall meetings is stirred by Democrats and Democrat-backed groups.

“Those are the things that are happening across the nation. My colleagues, we kind of joke, it’s happening in districts across the nation,” the three-term Republican congressman said. “Everyone, regardless of whether it’s a Democrat district or a Republican district or a 50-50 district like mine, that’s exactly what we thought they would do. That’s what the opposition does when they don’t have control over any levers of government.

“We did the same thing when the Democrats took over in 2008.”

...

Asked by WDWS’ Elizabeth Hess if there are any plans to have a town hall meeting, he said: “I don’t like grandstanding events. I’ve never done those. We continue to meet with people on a regular basis. I can’t be in two places at once when I’m out here in Washington and I’m asked to do something on someone else’s schedule back home.”...

Honestly, given how many Republican lawmakers are now sticking their heads out of their bolt holes to find angry crowds of patriots demanding to know just exactly how they plan to make good on their bullshit promises, I can't blame Representative Davis for taking French leave from his congressional duties now that the shit has gotten real.

He is, after all, a Republican.  And talking out of one's ass when it costs you nothing and then ducking out when the bill comes due is the most Republican thing there is.