Illinois lawmakers opt against health-care forums

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois congressional members familiar with the jeering and taunting that have peppered many colleagues' town hall meetings on health-care reform say they've got no plans to host such forums, preferring to get feedback from constituents privately.

"I won't be doing sucker-punch town hall meetings," said Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. "They can do all the political theater they want, but I don't have to supply the stage for them."

The bitter sessions convened by many federal lawmakers on recess underscored the challenge for President Barack Obama's administration as it tries to win over an increasingly skeptical public on the costly and far-reaching task of revamping the nation's health-care system.

Desperate to stop a hardening opposition, the White House created a website to dispel what it says are smears, and House Democrats set up a health-care "war room" in Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office to help lawmakers handle questions.

On Tuesday, Durbin's spokeswoman Christina Angarola said the senator "has long preferred smaller settings that allow for in-depth conversations," and "the events we've held thus far fit that mold," drawing feedback from constituents, small business owners, doctors and others.

In southwestern Illinois, Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, have opted not to host town hall meetings about health care, preferring to hear from constituents by appointment or in small groups.

Both lawmakers opposed the health-care reform measures that have been voted out of the Democrat-led committees. Costello doesn't like the bills' complexities, while Shimkus objects to the absence of market-based solutions, including tax breaks, to soaring health-care costs.

Costello figures he's hosted hundreds of town hall meetings since he was first elected to Congress in 1988, but he stopped the practice several years ago when special interest group members began monopolizing the gatherings.

A Shimkus spokesman, Steve Tomaszewski, said the congressman was not against town halls but uses media interviews to weigh in on Obama's plans.

"Hopefully, his responses help explain his positions and reflect that of the majority of his constituents," Tomaszewski said.