From: Mary Kohen

Columbus

According to his letter to the editor (“Rep. Pence: Open the people’s House to the American people,” Feb. 9), Rep. Greg Pence is apparently deeply troubled by our U.S. Capitol building being closed to most of the public (due to COVID and the insurrection of January 6) since spring of 2020. Putting aside the blatant partisan sniping in his recent letter to the editor, it is interesting that he feels the closure of our nation’s Capitol “has only served to further isolate the American people from their representatives in government and the very people members of Congress serve.”

During the 2018 race for the 6th District congressional seat, Rep. Pence did not debate his opponent, Jeannine Lake, and was unavailable for many press interviews. Since his swearing-in on January 3, 2019, there have been no attempts by him to meet with his constituents in a public forum such as a Town Hall meeting, etc. A quick scan of his website and Facebook page revealed at least 29 appearances in his district since he began serving in that seat; these appearances do not appear to have been open to the general public. He recently was in attendance at our Indiana Statehouse as recently as two weeks ago and the visit included “coffee with constituents”; it would be helpful to know how those constituents were chosen to meet with Rep. Pence and if the general public was given advance notice in order to attend.

If Rep. Pence feels the people’s House should be “more transparent” and “more accessible,” he may want to begin with being more accessible to his constituency right here at home. I hope he changes his tactics this time during upcoming reelection campaign and is more accessible to a wider range of voters, attends debates and gives interviews. We Hoosiers here in his district deserve at least that much.