Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa) ended an interview with a reporter on Monday in which he was questioned about requiring identification for people taking part in his town hall meetings. Left-wing activists across the country have systematically disrupted these events — sometimes people who are not constituents.
Josh Scheinblum, a reporter with the ABC-affiliate TV9 in Cedar Rapids, asked Blum “why the decision was made” to require identification.
“Because we want people from the first district to be at our town halls,” Blum said. “We don’t want people from outside of the first district.”
“We don’t need people from Chicago there or Des Moines there or Minneapolis there,” Blum said. “I don’t represent them.
“They should go talk to their representatives at their town hall meetings,” Blum said. “I don’t know why they would want to be at my town hall meetings to start with.”
Instead of moving on to issues that face Iowans in Blum’s first district, the reporter said the Congressman “represents all Iowans” and shouldn’t they have a “voice at the table?”
After Blum explained that, like voting, people should participate in town halls based on where they live, the reporter asked him if he would take a donation from a Republican in Iowa City, which is not in Blum’s district.
At that point, Blum ended the interview, calling the questions “ridiculous” and saying that the he wouldn’t stand by and let the reporter “badger” him.
As Blum left the room, children who accompanied him seemed to punctuate his departure with funny moves as the reporter tried to continue the interview.
“Let’s talk about the issues here,” the reporter said to the empty chair.
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