Rep. Newhouse absent from East Wenatchee event as staff holds mobile office hours

EAST WENATCHEE — There was no rally planned this time like last week in Yakima, nor was U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse (R, 4th District) invited to a town hall forum the way constituents in Twisp arranged last week. But one staff member for Rep. Newhouse’s office did show up at a planned “mobile office hours” event at Pangborn Memorial Airport on Tuesday morning.

Deputy District Director Vicki Holleman-Perez from Newhouse’s Yakima headquarters was on hand at 10 a.m. to answer constituent questions and lend assistance with federal issues. Holleman-Perez declined to answer press questions regarding a future town hall, saying, “I don’t speak to the press.” She referred reporters first to the Congressman’s federal office, then stated that no town halls were planned in the next 30 days.

However, she did tell Ward Media exclusively that any future official public town halls would be held in “more secure” locations than, for example, the Grange Hall in Twisp, where constituents held an “empty chair” town hall in Rep. Newhouse’s absence. She noted the presence of members of the group “Indivisible,” for which there are chapters in the 4th District’s Benton, Douglas, Grant, Okanogan and Yakima counties, as well as around the state and more than 3,800 across the country.

Holleman-Perez said that the Indivisible members had, in her words, “infiltrated” the Congressman’s town halls in the past. When asked if she meant that Indivisible members had posed as supporters in order to gain access to Rep. Newhouse, she clarified that she only meant they had shown up and been vocally disruptive.

Ward Media reached out to an Indivisible group that covers Washington’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Congressional Districts. One member, Jayne Tracey from Richland, said that many of the people who voted for Newhouse were voting specifically to keep his opponent, Jarrod Sessler, from winning in the last election.

“It was the ‘infiltrators’ that reelected Newhouse! She needs to remember that. The others voted for Sessler,” Tracey said, referencing the fact that Newhouse’s campaign had run a coordinated text campaign courting known far-right voters to support Sessler during the primary in order to eliminate the more moderate candidate, Tiffany Smiley, leaving Newhouse to face the Trump-endorsed Sessler in the general election.

In that way, many of the people who are members of Indivisible — who are largely Democratic-leaning voters — were responsible for Newhouse’s reelection, as the vote in November was influenced heavily by Democratic voters who wanted to prevent Sessler from winning.

Voters have been clamoring to meet with Rep. Newhouse since efforts at the federal level began affecting the local area over the last two months. Another Indivisible member, Allison Murphy Dabler, complained that Newhouse was “out of touch” and that constituents just wanted a forum to express concerns and ask questions.

“They were federal workers, scientists, educators, healthcare providers, engineers, veterans, seniors, young people and more. It’s disheartening to hear that Newhouse’s staff is characterizing his constituents, who have legitimate concerns, in such a dismissive way,” she said.

In particular, many have shown concern about cuts to Medicaid, which serves a higher proportion of residents in the 4th District than in any other Washington district, according to an interactive map from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The map shows that WA04 has 278,000 Medicaid enrollees, just under half of whom are children.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at a news conference on March 4 that he’d advised Republican members of Congress not to hold town hall events, saying “They’re professional protesters. So why would we give them a forum to do that right now?”

Ward Media reached out to Congressman Newhouse’s Washington, D.C. office for comment as to how much the Speaker’s suggestion has guided his decision not to hold town halls recently, but has not yet heard back.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media