Canceled office hours for Davidson rep cause frustration; team cites scheduling conflict
Constituents who showed up for office hours with a staffer of Congressman Warren Davidson in Oxford last week were disappointed to learn the event was canceled.
More than two dozen Oxford constituents made their way to the Oxford Lane Library on March 19 for office hours with a staffer for Representative Warren Davidson. One person was absent, though: the staffer.
Davidson, a Republican, represents Ohio’s 8th District, which includes Butler County, in the U.S. House of Representatives. According to his congressional website, Davidson’s staff meets with constituents for mobile office hours across the district each month. Oxford’s office hours are set for 11:45 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, while Reily Township holds office hours in its administrative building at 10:15 a.m. on the same days.
Just as Republican leadership in Congress has advised representatives against holding town halls for fear of protests, though, Davidson’s senior field representative Zachary Bohannon canceled the March office hours in Oxford.
Connor White, chief of staff for Davidson, wrote in a statement to the Oxford Free Press that “mobile office hours are a vital part of how we stay connected to every corner of the district and ensure constituents have easy access to our team.” Two of the five mobile office hour visits were canceled March 19 due to “staffing needs for several important events in the district,” White wrote.
Davidson’s staff will continue to hold mobile office hours, and White wrote that they “apologize for the inconvenience.”
“The sense in the room was, ‘You’re our representative. You work for us. You need to hear from us about what you need to do,’” said Genevieve O’Malley Knight, an Oxford constituent. “It’s not a representative democracy if you’re not representing your constituents.” She went to some office hours prior to the pandemic and also went this February, when she said just three constituents showed up.
Many of those who still showed up March 19 were unaware that the event had been canceled, O’Malley Knight said. They decided to hold a constituent meeting anyway and sent a list of concerns to Bohannon and Davidson.
Among those concerns, the constituents opposed a number of potential funding cuts and rollbacks of legislation enacted under former President Joe Biden, including the CHIPS Act, Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Act. “We must maintain Medicare and Medicaid funding,” the summary sent to Bohannon and Davidson read. “One of the constituents here today is in renal failure and on dialysis. If their Medicaid coverage is lost, they are going to lose access to dialysis, and lose their life.”
Tom Cooke, a military veteran and Oxford constituent, ran as a Democrat for a state senate seat last November and attended the constituent meeting. He previously met Bohannon last month and asked him to pass along a message to Davidson asking him to protect the interest of American troops. Bohannon said Davidson would reply, Cooke recalled, but Cooke never heard back.
At the March 20 office hours, Cooke had hoped to talk more about his concerns regarding staffing cuts at Veterans Affairs (VA). Davidson previously voted in favor of bipartisan legislation to establish a toxic exposures fund (TEF) meant to help veterans cover costs related to chemical exposures. This year, though, he voted for a federal spending bill that would cut the $22.8 billion set to go into the TEF starting in October, according to reporting from The Hill.
“I was very disappointed,” Cooke said, referring to Bohannon’s cancellation. “I wanted an opportunity to talk about how he is not speaking out for veterans, and I will be speaking at the April meeting.”
Davidson maintains a mobile office hours schedule on his website at davidson.house.gov. The next local office hours are set for 11:45 a.m. April 16 in Oxford Lane Library.
