LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin got an earful Thursday from both sides of the political divide in the 2nd Congressional District during town-hall meetings in Conway and Little Rock.
At the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Griffin, a Little Rock Republican,started with “cool” slides and a “fun” questionnaire about the deficit.
That format was quickly shot down by Tea Party activists.
“We are your employers, and you need to spend time listening to us,” said Curtis Rose, a Faulkner County Tea Party member.
“I’d like you to turn the slides off,” Rose said to applause from the 60 or so audience members in the Reynolds Performance Hall.
Griffin said he had the slides because “they have facts on them,” but he quickly ditched them and the questionnaire and spent more than an hour answering questions about tax changes, eliminating the IRS, increased oil drilling and limited government.
The Republican-controlled House has passed tax-policy changes and spending-cut legislation only to see those measures die in the Senate, Griffin said repeatedly.
He said that he didn’t think any meaningful conservative legislation had much of a chance as long as President Barack Obama is in the White House.
“It’s a constant battle. You can never retreat,” Griffin said.
The Constitution and the Founding Fathers were mentioned a dozen times, and several people in the crowd held their pocket copies of the Constitution aloft.
At Philander Smith Col-lege in Little Rock a few hours later, many of the same questions about entitlement program changes and reducing government spending arose, but so did several questions from the other end of the political spectrum.
This time, it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal that were invoked by some in the audience.
“What about bringing in revenue to alleviate the problem?” asked Cornelius Roberts of Little Rock. “The House wastes time sending stuff to the Senate, no way in the world it’s going to pass.”
Griffin said he had some deficit slides he wanted to show Roberts.
“I want to see them,” Roberts said.
Others in the audience urged more stimulus spending and big cuts in defense spending.
Griffin said that some cuts in defense spending were needed, but balked at another round of stimulus spending.
“See, it’s an addiction to spending money because it helps them get elected,” he said.
Higher taxes might generate more revenue, but spending on entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security will outpace any tax increases unless they are overhauled, he said.
He compared some in Congress to problem gamblers who say, “I don’t have a gambling problem, I just don’t have enough money.”
One man in Little Rock chided Griffin for not talking enough about jobs, but Griffin said he had covered his ideas for creating jobs, including lowering corporate tax rates, more free-trade agreements and increased energy production.
Several people at both events thanked Griffin for his work, especially a vote earlier this week to support a debt ceiling agreement.
Griffin said he didn’t want to “roll the dice” on what might happen if Congress had let the country miss a Tuesday deadline to avoid possible default.
Griffin, elected in 2010, said he plans at least another 10 town-hall meetings during the current congressional work period that ends Sept. 6.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 08/05/2011