Wisconsin Working Families Party executive director Marina Dimitrijevic made the following statement in response to the announcement of Paul Ryan’s first town hall in nearly two years. It is scheduled to be televised by CNN on Monday, August 21. For more information, contact Marina Dimitrijevic at (414)255-4009 or at mdimitrijevic@workingfamilies.org.
Apparently it takes fear and the bright lights of CNN to force Paul Ryan to face his constituents. Despite clamoring from First District residents, it has been more than 650 days since he’s had a public town hall. Randy Bryce, who is challenging the House Speaker for his seat, has Ryan scared because he knows Bryce, a union ironworker recruited and endorsed by the Wisconsin Working Families Party, can win in 2018.
Ryan is finally facing the people he was elected to represent because Randy Bryce’s message of taking care of Main Street first is resonating through the First District. Paul Ryan may have power in Washington but it’s meaningless if the people back home in Southeastern Wisconsin know he’s working against their interests.
The people of Wisconsin’s First District have questions that need to be answered. They want to know why Paul Ryan is supporting the corrupt, racist Trump administration. They want to know why Paul Ryan was the architect of the failed plan to take away health care from millions of Americans to give tax breaks to billionaires. They want to know how giving $3 billion in taxpayer money to Foxconn will create family sustaining jobs. And they want to know why Paul Ryan spends more time on Wall Street than Main Street.
Paul Ryan claims that he’s held town halls but they’ve been closed sessions with hand-picked participants. We hope the CNN town hall is an open and frank discussion where we can get real answers to our real questions.
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