Peter Roskam, Republican Representative of IL-06, ditched another opportunity to meet with his constituents and participate in meaningful discussion on gun violence this past Saturday. After all, that’s what Roskam does. Roskam is a Republican who hasn’t held a public town hall in his district in over 10 years, so it was a pretty safe bet that he wouldn’t grace his constituents with his presence at the second stop of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students’“Road to Change” tour held at the DuPage Unitarian Universalist Churchin Naperville this past Saturday.
You know who was there: Sean Casten, and just about every other Democrat from the area:
While originally aimed at students and young adults, the event became a campaign stop for Democratic candidates all up and down the ballot. In the audience were 11th District U.S. Rep. Bill Foster; Democratic candidates for congressional seats including Sean Casten in the 6th District and Lauren Underwood in the 14th; and several other Democrats seeking seats as state representatives or county board members.
This isn’t anything new for Roskam. In fact, it’s pretty much a pattern of Roskam ditching these student-driven events to discuss gun violence.
Back on March 24th, the nation wide March for Our Lives saw over 1,000 people turn out in Downers Grove in freezing cold weather to demand an end to gun violence. Who spoke at this important student organized event:
The event, organized by area students, will feature speeches from prominent politicians, including Rep. Bill Foster (D) and Sean Casten, the Democratic nominee for Illinois's 6th Congressional District.
Roskam, the prominent Republican politician who actually represents Illinois’ 6th District, was missing in action. Maybe Roskam didn’t want to discuss things like this:
Casten, who faces Rep. Pete Roskam (R) in November, brought up Roskam's opposition to a ban on armor-piercing bullets.
After Shimkus and Davis, the top recipient of NRA funds in Illinois is U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton, with $32,216 in overall support.
In April, a March for our Lives Town Hall was set up and all local politicians were invited. Sean Casten was there. Roskam again was not:
Roskam, whose campaign said he had a scheduling conflict, missed the town hall, where his Democratic challenger Sean Casten fielded questions from residents who packed the pews at First United Methodist Church in Glen Ellyn.
In response to the boos directed at Roskam, Jeromel Lara, one of the students leading the town hall said, "Don't boo; vote."
Casten added, "We all had a chuckle at the fact that Roskam wasn't here, but be sad about the fact there was a story in the press this morning that in these town halls that are going on all across the country today not a single Republican has agreed to show up."
Perhaps Roskam didn’t want to discuss his exceptional 93% rating from the Nation Rifle Association.
But Roskam did agree to meet with students after the event. At his office. Behind closed doors. With nine whole students:
Roskam agreed to the hourlong closed-door meeting after he missed a student-sponsored public "Town Hall for Our Lives" that attracted upward of 600 people April 7 at First United Methodist Church in Glen Ellyn.
[...]
While many of the students were glad that Roskam agreed to the Saturday meeting, they still wished he would have done so in a more public forum.
"It's an issue that affects the whole community," Lara said. "Not just students going to school, but all of us."
So it was really no surprise that, yet again, Peter Roskam was missing in action at a very important discussion on gun violence this past Saturday:
"A lot of people that I've talked to throughout our time in Illinois have said that Naperville's very similar to Parkland, demographically," said Matthew Deitsch, a 2016 graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who said he feared for his younger siblings on the day of the shooting. "And I think that by connecting through what we have experienced, we know that we can rise up together to make sure no one feels helpless, like I did that day."
Unfortunately, Peter Roskam doesn’t seem to believe in connecting with his constituents. He’d rather take money from the NRA, then meet with a handful of students behind closed doors.
If only there was a scientist with degrees in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Biochemical Engineering that could unseat a Republican like Roskam who votes with Trump 93.5% of the time.
Oh wait, there is. The guy's name is Sean Casten and he's running to unseat Roskam in IL-06. Sean and I could use your help retire Republicans like Roskam who take money from the NRA while repeatedly refusing to attend important public forums in his district like the one held to discuss gun violence this past Saturday.