Letters: Constituents resort to questioning a cardboard cutout of Colorado Rep. Crank

Questioning a cardboard cutout of Rep. Crank

Re: “Politics of town halls aren’t new,” March 16 news story

After House Speaker Mike Johnson told Republicans to stop in-person meetings, Congressman Jeff Crank of Colorado’s 5th District changed his planned March 5th in-person town hall meeting to an online format.

When Crank’s constituents objected to his decision not to show up, Crank said, “Why do they want to have an in-person town hall meeting? So they can stand there and wave a cane in my face like Al Green did last night and steal the show? I’m not interested in doing that.”

I’ll leave alone the “steal the show” part and point out that the folks to whom Rep. Crank refers as “they” are citizens he supposedly represents. Citizens he supposedly serves. All citizens who reside in Colorado’s 5th District, whether or not we voted for Crank, are his constituents.

But it’s not only our congressman’s dismissive attitude that’s galling. The online meeting was wholly unsatisfactory, with residents frustrated there was no ability to interact or to ask follow-up questions.

The experience was, in fact, so unacceptable that a few local groups —Indivisible-Colorado Springs, Progressive Vets, the Labor Council and El Paso County Democrats — held an empty-chair town hall on March 17 to hear constituent concerns.

While Congressman Crank won’t face his constituents, he was in Colorado Springs on March 20 to address The Winter Night Club, an exclusive organization. He still has a chance to do the right thing, but I won’t be betting on him.

Cyd Chartier, Colorado Springs

Thankful for Reps. Hurd and Evans for standing up for clean energy tax credits

Thanks to Rep. Jeff Hurd and Rep. Gabe Evans for joining 19 of their fellow House Republicans in a letter asking House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith to protect clean energy tax credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act. These credits encourage private sector investment in energy, bringing jobs to our state, increasing economic development, and adding tax revenue.

Business leaders have integrated this tax policy into their strategies and capital spending, and have already started to build.  If Congress takes the energy credits away, not only will it waste capital expenditure funds already invested in the specific projects, but the project failures will trigger a chain reaction — not just in Colorado, but across the United States.

The letter to Chairman Smith emphasizes the risk that repeal poses to our energy supply and power bills: “As energy demand continues to skyrocket, any modifications that inhibit our ability to deploy new energy production risk sparking an energy crisis in our country, resulting in drastically higher power bills for American families.”

If we’re serious about a strong economy, if we’re serious about energy dominance, then we need a stable business development environment. I commend Rep. Hurd and Rep. Evans for their leadership on this issue.

Kathy Fackler, Durango