New Congressman holds town hall in Bellevue

Bellevue's new congressman hit the road last week, introducing himself to his constituents in the freshly-drawn 9th U.S. Congressional District. Rep. Adam Smith stopped in at Bellevue City Hall for a town hall meeting Thursday night. The meeting was sparsely attended, with the crowd full of primarily democratic supporters. The line of questioning during the meeting was diverse, as Smith touched on topics from the national economy, to transportation needs, to the battles over gay marriage and access to birth control for women.

By Nat Levy • February 24, 2012 3:27 pm
9th District Rep. Adam Smith introduced himself to new constituents at a series of town halls this week
9th District Rep. Adam Smith introduced himself to new constituents at a series of town halls this week

Bellevue’s new congressman hit the road last week, introducing himself to his constituents in the freshly-drawn 9th U.S. Congressional District.

Rep. Adam Smith stopped in at Bellevue City Hall for a town hall meeting Feb. 23. The meeting was sparsely attended and made up primarily of democratic supporters. The line of questioning during the meeting was diverse, as Smith touched on topics from the national economy, to transportation needs, to the battles over gay marriage and access to birth control for women.

For Smith, going for his ninth term as U.S. congressman, the tour was about letting his constituents know that he is there for them.

“Whatever the issue is, whatever the problem is, I want my office to be one of the places you can go to start the process of having to solve it,” he said.

Beginning next year, Bellevue will be officially part of the 9th, along with Mercer Island, many South Seattle communities and a small portion of north Tacoma.

The district will be the most diverse in the state, with more than 50 percent of the constituents identifying as non-white. Bellevue was previously represented by Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn), whose district moved east, and will now take in many Central and Eastern Washington residents.

Smith’s only declared challenger to date in the congressional race is Parkland Republican Jim Postma. Though redistricting doesn’t take effect until 2013, candidates will run in their new districts in this year’s Primary and General election.

At the town hall, Smith said he and his colleagues have a big job to do: regain the trust of the American people. Battles over minor issues such as the debt ceiling last year turned off much of the public, leaving Congress with an approval rating below 10 percent at some points. Smith, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said the lack of certainty in budgets and political discussions is handicapping the country’s ability to recover from recession.

“We have too much uncertainty, given the size of our debt, that we cannot decide what is going to be our tax plan for the next 10 years and what is going to be our spending plan for the next 10 years,” he said.

The crowd applauded Smith several times during his speeches related to fights over birth control for women and defense spending. Smith said he is one of few representatives who wants to look at the defense budget and find savings. This was welcome news to several members in the crowd.

“I think we’ve spent a lot of unnecessary money on these wars, and we need to back off that, and in general save money in defense,” said Hal Mozer, a more than 50-year Bellevue resident.