Blum has built a reputation of spreading misinformation & leading all of Congress for burning taxpayer money on campaign style mailers
Blum has earned the embarrassing distinction for being the biggest spender on taxpayer funded mailers in Congress:
“During his first nine months in office, U.S. Rep. Rod Blum has spent more on taxpayer- funded mass mailings than any other U.S. House member…”
But Blum’s latest waste of taxpayer money on glossy misinformation stoops to a new low. Why? Because it blatantly relies on information that a Fact Checker has found to be false.
This is just the latest Fact Check to expose Congressman Blum’s serial misinformation. Last year Blum received an ‘F’ for his comments about the First Amendment Defense Act and was found to have made blatantly inaccurate claims about his participation in the Congressional pension system.
“Congressman Blum playing fast and loose with the facts has become a troubling pattern,” said DCCC Spokesman Tyler Law.
Key Sections:
Blum’s communications director, Keegan Conway, declined to provide schedule information about the congressman’s town hall meetings, but reiterated the claim:
To get an audience that is not prescreened, an event must be announced to the public in some way. So by these definitions, we will define town hall meetings as events that are announced to the public and open to all.
By this measure, most of Blum’s meetups in 2015 don’t appear to be town halls.
But it does not appear from reviewing Blum’s Twitter feed and news releases from Jan. 6, 2015, through Dec. 31 that he held 40 town halls, using the definition that events must be announced to the public and open to the public. It looks to be more in the 10 to 20 range.
Fact Checker: Has Blum held 40 town halls?
The Gazette
By Erin Jordan
Introduction
“Back here in the district, where I live and return home every chance I get, one of the top highlights has been getting to know so many of you in my travels. I’ve held over 40 town halls …”
Source of claim: U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, a Republican representing Iowa’s 1st District, in an Op-Ed piece published Dec. 31 on the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald’s website.
Analysis
Blum’s communications director, Keegan Conway, declined to provide schedule information about the congressman’s town hall meetings, but reiterated the claim:
“We are proud to have held over 40 townhalls in 2015,” Conway wrote in an email. “These events last usually about one hour in which Congressman Blum will give an update for 15 minutes and then open the floor to constituents for questions, comments and concerns. These events have been held at businesses, community centers, coffee shops, civic groups and other organizations throughout the district.”
Blum’s Twitter feed, @RepRodBlum, is chock-full of photos of the congressman with school groups, trade associations, veterans, Kiwanis clubs, Rotary groups and business owners and employees.
Last month alone, Blum toured Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, XL Specialized Trailers in Manchester, FarmTek in Dyersville, Paramount Oncology Group in Cedar Rapids and Grinnell Regional Medical Center. He also held a job fair and met with veterans in Dubuque and spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Waterloo, according to Twitter.
By our count, Blum met with small to large groups of people in Iowa at least 90 times in his first year in office.
But were those meetings town halls? The definition is subjective.
As politicians started to adopt this type of gathering “‘town hall meeting’ came to refer to a forum for community participation on any topic,” Time reported.
Tim Hagle, a University of Iowa associate political science professor, said the audience at a town-hall meeting shouldn’t be prescreened.
“The idea of a town hall is that you take whatever questions are thrown at you,” he said.
To get an audience that is not prescreened, an event must be announced to the public in some way. So by these definitions, we will define town hall meetings as events that are announced to the public and open to all.
By this measure, most of Blum’s meetups in 2015 don’t appear to be town halls.
For example, Blum held what he called an “employee town hall” at Toyota Financial Services in Cedar Rapids June 19. That sort of event allows employees to talk with their congressman, but since Blum didn’t announce the event in advance through a news release or on Twitter, the public wouldn’t have known to come — if they were invited.
Conclusion
Blum met with a lot of people in 2015. The guy did ride-alongs with police departments, delivered packages for UPS and bagged groceries for Hy-Vee.
But it does not appear from reviewing Blum’s Twitter feed and news releases from Jan. 6, 2015, through Dec. 31 that he held 40 town halls, using the definition that events must be announced to the public and open to the public. It looks to be more in the 10 to 20 range.
But since there’s no formal definition for town halls, we give Blum a B for his claim.