Thread by @ashtonpittman

I've received more end-of-year press releases from porn sites (who added me to their press list for some reason) in the past day than there have been town hall meetings held by my congressman, @StevenPalazzo, in the past 10 years.

And that's far more obscene than any porn, imo.

To be clear: I've received 2 end-year-press releases from porn sites in the past day.

Rep. Gene Taylor, the Democrat Palazzo defeated in 2010, regularly held town halls seven times a year when he was a congressman.

And no, exclusive tele-townhalls where callers are screened is no substitute for coming to your district & engaging with your constituents in person.

Palazzo has good reason not to hold in-person town halls in 2020. But 2011-2019? Nope.

If you're in MS, let me know if your member of Congress has held any town halls in recent years and which member it is (Reps. Guest, Kelly, Thompson).

And while Mississippians cannot directly ask their congressman questions (Palazzo also has not debated an opponent since he debated Gene Taylor, who was the incumbent, in 2010), he will be taking questions from a friendly Alabama radio host this morning:

https://twitter.com/jeff_poor/status/1337405033743339520

When he was challenging 20-yr incumbent Democratic House Rep. Gene Taylor in 2010, Palazzo attended one debate.

I attended another debate that year where Palazzo did not show up. But Rep. Taylor did & vigorously debated the libertarian candidate as if he were of equal stature.

As a 19-yr-old college reporter who'd never interviewed a politician, I called Rep. Taylor's office & asked to speak, expecting nothing. He called back 20 mins later & took questions for 30 mins.

Palazzo hasn't responded to a request from me in 10 years since he unseated Taylor.

As a gay man, I wasn't Rep. Gene Taylor's biggest fan back then (he opposed ending DADT). But he showed up for town halls and debates, he respected the role of journalists, faced citizens, didn't hide from tough questions.

And Rep. Taylor wasn't just accessible at town halls or to the press. I've had countless constituents tell me they called about problems they had or issues they were dealing with (things not directly in his job descriptions), and he went to work & made calls to help them out.

I could disagree strongly with Rep. Taylor's stances on issues (and his stance on DADT in 2010 WAS a bigoted stance) but also acknowledge that he did perform the role that people ought to expect of a public servant.

Sadly, I think we're forgetting to expect that at all.

I think Mississippi journalists need to figure out how we can communicate the colossal failure of alleged public servants in all levels of power in Mississippi (and not just in one party) to act as such.

Right now, many alleged "public servants" in Mississippi act like entitled kings and queens who are too good to grace us with their presence. They act as if it is *we* owe them something.

It's supposed to be exactly the other way around.

To his credit, Gov. @TateReeves has proven more accessible than the last 2 Mississippi governors. Even before the #COVID19 pandemic, he began holding press conferences & taking questions from a variety of press (not just favorable partisans). Gov. Bryant avoided that for 8 years.

That doesn't mean Reeves is going above & beyond. There are plenty of areas he could be more accessible & more transparent.

But the fact that he holds press conferences at all and isn't handpicking partisan outlets for questions sadly exceeds expectations for recent MS govs.

But holding press conferences should be a bare minimum. No state leader or public servant should get special praise or brownie points for doing the most basic thing by holding press conferences.

The fact that it's notable illustrates how far down the rabbit hole we are.

Case in point re: Rep. Gene Taylor's constituents' stories:

https://twitter.com/JayFunktastic/status/1337429303257165825?s=20