By SALLY DUNCAN
I attended what I believed to be a town hall hosted for Sen. Dan Sullivan last week, based on a flyer I saw circulating. As a conservative, I was curious to hear from my senator and engage in a productive conversation with fellow constituents. However, what I walked into was not a town hall, but rather a protest against the very man I came to hear from.
It looked like a standard town hall event: It was advertised at theNoel Wien Public Library’s auditorium in Fairbanks, the location and time seemed to line up. But upon arrival, the scene was anything but what I had expected. Instead of a discussion about policy or the senator’s actions, there was a palpable energy of frustration and dissent.
An empty chair was placed at the front, a symbol of Sen. Sullivan’s absence, though no one took ownership of the event. A young lady approached me, holding a piece of paper with a QR code, asking if I wanted to stay updated on similar events. When I asked her who was organizing the event, she replied with a cryptic response: “There is a different person that takes that responsibility each time so that we don’t get targeted.” I
couldn’t help but find the irony striking. A group of about 125-150 people, gathered in what seemed to be a safe space for free speech, were apparently so fearful of backlash that they couldn’t even publicly claim responsibility for hosting the event?
The flyer in question, which I later discovered had been posted on the Native Movement website and their recent newsletter, described the event as an “Empty Chair Town Hall.”
In this instance, the event was framed as a way to hold Senator Sullivan accountable for declining the invitation to attend the meeting. Did he really decline, was he really asked/invited or demanded of?
This “Empty Chair” event was a missed opportunity, a chance for people to vent their frustrations (real or imagined or made up) without offering real solutions. This event, far from facilitating a thoughtful exchange of ideas, seemed more like a performance aimed at making a point rather than fostering understanding.
Do we get to hold them accountable for a “fake” townhall?
Sally Duncan is from Two Rivers, Alaska.
