Something was missing from current House Majority Leader John Boehner's (R- Ohio) constituent outreach meeting Thursday afternoon - constituents.
No one attended Oxford's 8th District Open Door program, an open meeting held the first Thursday of every month in the Oxford Municipal Building. At these meetings, community members can ask questions or voice concerns to a representative from Boehner's district office.
Mike Jackson, the field representative for Boehner's office who facilitated the Thursday's meeting, said the low turnout is common.
"This is my fourth stop today, and I think I've had three people come in," Jackson said.
According to Miami University political science professor Clyde Brown, public meetings such as these are popular with members of Congress.
"This is a very common practice," Brown said. "Many, many congressmen engage in these office hour type sessions. All different formats are common."
Brown said that since the practice of holding meetings is so common among members of Congress, from his previous experience working for a congressman he believes they are generally successful and that Boehner's meetings might not be the norm.
"It sounds like something is short-circuiting here in the 8th District if they're holding these hours and they aren't being utilized by citizens," Brown said.
He said the lack of attendance at Boehner's meetings leads him to believe the congressman and his office are not publicizing the events enough.
"There's little reason to have these sessions if people don't attend the sessions," Brown said. "But I think I would not blame citizens until I knew how much the congressman engaged in publicity."
Donna Heck works as the human resources director and clerk of council at the Oxford Municipal Building, where the meetings are held. She said she doesn't think many people know about the meetings.
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"I don't know if people really are aware of it that much," she said. "You'd think there would be a little more information around."
She said most of the time the room remains empty for the visits and agreed with Brown that the meeting should be better publicized.
Brown said publicity is one of two components vital to making the meetings successful.
"The second is whether the public sees the congressman as being responsive to their input," he said.
Representatives from Boehner's office travel to cities and villages across the district every Tuesday and Thursday, visiting each of the different sites the same day once a month.
Brown said some congressmen choose to travel to these meetings themselves while others send representatives. Overall, though, he said they hope for two things.
"What representatives are hoping for is that two kinds of visits might occur with constituents, he said." First, people come in and give their views... and opinions of the day. And secondly, they're hoping for what is known as case work."
Case work, Brown said, comes about when constituents have problems or concerns about the government or need their representative's help, such as in looking for federal grants for a project.
Jackson said some people feel more comfortable talking about their concerns in this manner than by contacting their representatives in other ways.
"This gives people a way, if they are more comfortable, to talk to someone face to face," he said.
According to Jackson, Boehner has been doing the community programs for most of the 16 years he has been in office. Jackson said he thinks a lot of people don't come to the meetings because they are busy during the day.
However, if a group wanted to schedule a meeting with him at a more opportune time, they are welcome to contact him at the district office, Jackson said.
"It's important that one of John's guys are out there speaking to the people," he said.
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