Boner, Pelosi skip healthcare town halls

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, the face of Republican opposition to Democrats' health care reform plans, has yet to face voters in a traditional town-hall meeting this summer, instead spending his time bolstering his party's chances in the 2010 midterm elections.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also skipped the face-to-face interaction with constituents at town halls, instead spending her public time in August visiting clinics and holding roundtables tailored to "stakeholders" in the health care debate.

In avoiding the town halls, the two top leaders of the House have both missed out on the kinds of questions that have been asked -- or in some cases shouted -- at their colleagues during hundreds of events nationwide, as voters grapple with Democrats' proposed 1,000-plus-page rewrite of the nation's health care system.

Boehner spokesman Don Seymour defended the Ohio Republican's summer schedule as an investment in good government.

"As leader, Boehner is leading the fight both in Congress and on the campaign trail against [Democrats' health care reform plans], helping to raise the resources Republicans need to win next year and offer real reforms that curb government spending, create new jobs, and lower health care costs without a massive government takeover," he said.

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