(Quin Hillyer, Liberty Headlines) Angry crowds can be tamed.

That’s what some Republican lawmakers are finding out as leftist critics create hostile atmospheres at congressional “town hall” meetings around the country.

In Mobile, Ala. Monday night, third-term U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne faced a crowd described by the local paper as “raucous,” but maintained enough order for what even some of his detractors described as a useful exchange of views. The approach he took mirrored some of the advice Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, a veteran of extremely vociferous opposition, offered in an interview published the next day by the conservative-reform site Opportunity Lives.

Elsewhere, Byrne’s fellow third-termer David Valadao of California is taking an entirely different approach that might be described as “town hall lite.”

Sheffield_town_hall_occupation

The discussions about crowd control come as numerous speakers at congressional town halls have been shouted down, and as some House or Senate members have cancelled or refused to hold their accustomed meetings, due to organized leftist fervor against conservatives and against President Trump. In at least one town meeting, protesters even tried to shout down the opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

California’s Valadao has replaced the large-forum town halls with small-group information sessions, as has Ohio’s U.S. Sen. Rob Portman….

The whole story, including a much longer discussion of Bradley Byrne’s town hall, is here.

 

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