While more than 100 people were waiting to meet with him, Mike Coffman sneaks out early from his own community event. #9News pic.twitter.com/NAZlXTKgQm
— Nelson Garcia (@9Storytellers) January 14, 2017
A regularly scheduled meeting for U.S. representative Mike Coffman to meet one-on-one with constituents ended Saturday with many unhappy people who didn’t get a chance to meet him.
The congressman, who serves the state’s sixth Congressional district, had booked a room at the main Aurora Public Library for 2 p.m. But according to many users posting on social media, Coffman limited the meeting to four people at a time.
“Rep. Mike Coffman routinely hosts constituent one on one meetings across the district,” reads a statement published by 9NEWS from Ben Stein, Coffman’s chief of staff. “Constituents are invited to meet individually with the congressman to express their opinions, seek help with a range of issues, and discuss legislation. Given the volume of people who came, the Congressman met with four people at a time for five minutes each for a total of more than 70 constituents.”
Stein said that the campaign had reserved the room only for 90 minutes, “which is usually plenty of time to see everyone.”
“For those who were unable to see the Congressman today, we apologize,” the statement reads. “These constituents are invited to attend upcoming meeting opportunities and we will block more time so that he can hear from more of his constituents.”
A message left by The Denver Post for Coffman’s office was not returned. Attempts to reach his office line were unsuccessful and his voicemail box full.
On Friday, Coffman joined three other Republican U.S. representatives from Colorado in Denver Post opinion page piece about why they would vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Some people who showed up for the event were there to talk about the act, according to their social media posts.
According to Coffman’s events page, the Congressman held monthly meetings with constituents at area libraries during the first half of 2016. Saturday’s event was the first since June.
The crowd appeared to be “frustrated” because many didn’t get to meet with Coffman, according to 9NEWS. And before time ran out on the 90 minute meeting, Coffman left. “While more than 100 people were waiting to meet with him, Mike Coffman sneaks out early from his own community event,” Garcia tweeted.
https://twitter.com/SteveKrizman/status/820387015241924608
CORRECTION: This story was corrected at 10:28 p.m. Jan. 17 to show that Rep. Mike Coffman left his 90 minute constituent meeting early. The meeting was scheduled for 2 to 3:30 p.m.
