March 20, 2008

Schoesler's telephone town hall 'a great success'

OLYMPIA – More than 1,800 people listened in as Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, held his first-ever telephone town hall meeting Monday night for residents of the 9^th Legislative District.

"The telephone town hall meeting was a great success," Schoesler said. "I was optimistic that many people would choose to take part, but it exceeded my expectations. I received a lot of positive comments from constituents about it. I'm very pleased with how it went, and I hope that's the consensus for people who called in and participated."

During the one-hour town hall meeting, 1,838 people "attended" by listening for a period of time through their telephones. At one point, 408 people listened to the discussion as Schoesler answered callers' questions and talked about the recently concluded 2008 legislative session.

"When you consider how large our district is and spread out the towns are from each other, it would have been impossible to get this many people to turn out for a town hall meeting at any certain location. That's why I'm so pleased with this terrific turnout. I think doing a telephone town hall meeting is an effective, cost-effective way to connect with people in our district," Schoesler said.

During the event, 36 people asked their questions live and direct to the senator. Another 90 were able to leave recorded voice mails in which they asked their questions of Schoesler.

"I'm pleased I was able to talk directly to so many people during our one-hour meeting. While I regret that I wasn't able to talk directly with everyone who had a question, I'm glad they had the option to ask their question through a recording that I'm able to hear," Schoesler said.      

During the telephone town hall meeting, listeners were invited to respond to two questions in a brief survey. The first question was: "In the past four years state spending is up by 33 percent, and spending growth is 2 1/2 times higher than revenue growth for the state. Do you think this approach is appropriate, or do you think the state should keep spending within its means?" Only nine percent said that approach was appropriate, while 91 percent said the state should keep spending within its means.

The other question was, "You may have heard that there was a Democrat-sponsored proposal in Olympia this year to tax people based on the size of their car engine or emissions. The cost could be up to $1,200 a year, with the fees dedicated to transportation. Do you like this approach?" Of those who responded, 89 percent said no.    

Schoesler hopes he will be able to hold another telephone town hall meeting someday.

"It was nice to use this new technology to stay in touch with my constituents, and I think it was a very worthwhile event all around," he added.

Schoesler praised 9^th Legislative District newspapers and radio stations for publicizing the telephone town hall meeting so well in advance.

"Our local media really did a good job of letting people know about this special event. That was a key factor in the high number of participants," Schoesler said.