Town hall abruptly ended when Lungren tires of answering hard questions

The town hall meeting Wednesday night with Congressman Dan Lungren (CA-3) was not his typical town hall gathering, especially for Folsom. Lungren usually has plenty of supporters in attendance making sure he gets what must be a predetermined number of softball questions for which he has what seem to be canned answers. It is always interesting to watch as he keeps his eyes on the thick binder he has at the podium. Rarely does he make any direct eye contact with the audience. He maintains contact with his binder like a small child reaching for his security blanket, and stares at the walls as if he will find his answers scratched into them somewhere.

Lungren's supporters seemed to be a rare commodity at this particular town hall. This became evident when most of the questions were off the predetermined topics Lungren presented at the beginning of his show. He flashed slides on a screen of what his chosen topics; the Folsom Dam road, "working to prevent another terroist attack," and illegal immigration were to be. These were things that he said constituents were interested in, and they probably are, but there is more, much more that he would rather avoid. He doesn't like to be confronted with hard questions, tough real life questions.

After brief mention of these three points he opened it up for questions. In attendance sitting front and center, was Dr. Bill Durston, the Democratic candidate for the 3rd district. Durston was one of the first to seek recognition, but Lungren avoided calling on him. Durston's hand went up at least seven times throughout the evening — I was counting, knowing that the good doctor would never get called on

During a question about Iran and exaggerated claims regarding their nuclear capabilities, Lungren tried to cut a questioner off. Durston came to the questioner's defense by asking Lungen to "let him finish the question." Lungren looked coldly at Durston and said, "Why don't you just let me control things."

Is that what this is all about? Losing control? That's a big part of the problem with Lungren. He has lost sight of who he works for and looks at his constituents needing to be controlled. He stands in front of an audience, looking bored, staring at the walls, avoiding eye contact, hovering over his binder. Anyplace but with his constituents is where he would rather be. He criticizes the workweek in Washington that allows lawmakers to come home and spend time with their constituents, and glosses over important issues saying they're for local authorities to do something about. It isn't his or congress' problem. Lungren has lost touch with the 3rd Congressional District and it is time to elect someone new — Bill Durston.

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