Van De Wege to hold nine town halls in 12 days

November 18, 2007

OLYMPIA – The last round of town halls went so well, Rep. Kevin Van De Wege decided to expand it threefold. From Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, Van De Wege will hold nine town hall meetings in just twelve days. His last round of meetings were held to three, Hoquiam, Port Townsend and Port Angeles.

Van De Wege (D-Sequim) is excited to pursue the aggressive schedule and hear different ideas and concerns in a relatively short time span.

“Beside legislation I’m working on for next session, this is the most important thing I can do for the district,” Van De Wege said. “There are people who don’t have the time to find my office or spend the money to make the trip to Olympia during session.”

“Making the trip to them allows me to skip all the scheduling steps and just show up and listen.”

Van De Wege Town Hall Tour:

Nov. 30

• Quilcene Community Center at 6 p.m.
• Chimacum Tri-Area Center at 8 p.m.

Dec. 1

• Forks West End Business and Technology Center at 9 a.m.
• Sekiu Community Center at 11 a.m.
• Port Angeles Senior Center at 1:30 p.m.
• Sequim Senior Center at 3:30 p.m.

Dec 11

• Ocean Shores Good Neighbors Senior Center 3 p.m.
• Hoquiam Library 5:30 p.m.
• Montesano Library 7:30 p.m.

Since the end of the last legislative session, Van De Wege has given 15 session briefings to community and civic groups.

“Not everyone has an idea for a bill in Olympia, but just hearing from them helps me figure out how to vote. I hear a lot about people struggling with property taxes, wanting better paying jobs in their community, and too many saying our health care system isn’t working for them.”

The last town halls Van De Wege scheduled had great turnouts and he expects similar numbers at the nine coming up. Several people have already expressed interest in the town hall tour.

“I know the district we live in is large, running from Hoquiam out to Port Townsend and all the up to Neah Bay,” said Linda Middleton of Forks. “Being so spread out, people need to remember each community is important and I’m glad Rep. Van De Wege is remembering Forks.”

“It’s always great when our representatives go out of their way to hear from people about what’s going on and what could be done better,” said Shannon Vandenbush of Ocean Shores. Vandenbush plans to air some of the town halls on the local cable television station, North Beach Community TV. “Kevin is doing the kind of listening to his constituency that I find thrilling in this day and age.”

The 24th District includes all of Clallam and Jefferson counties, as well as parts of Grays Harbor County.

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Staff contact: Andrew Dziedzic (360) 786-7218

Radio and TV News Directors: To obtain broadcast-quality audio on this issue, or to arrange for TV or radio interviews, please contact Caucus Broadcast Coordinator Dan Frizzell at frizzell.dan@leg.wa.gov or 360.786.7208.