On September 12, Congressman Udall held his first town meeting on the Front Range in over a year and a half. Substantial numbers of people from the Denver metro area, Boulder, Longmont, Louisville and Lafayette went to the Thornton meeting to speak about their dissatisfaction with Udall's position on the war. Just before the meeting people held signs calling for the end of the war and handed out flyers urging the attendees to call on Udall to vote against the Iraq War funding bill scheduled for early October (except for funding necessary to bring the troops home). The meeting was scheduled from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. At the beginning of the meeting, Udall said he would not take any questions or comments on the U.S. war against Iraq until 5:15 p.m. In spite of this, many people made short comments about the war before they asked their questions or made a comment on another topic.

At 5:15 p.m., Udall brought forward three lost boys of Sudan, which took approximately another ten minutes. He then said he would extend the meeting to talk about the war. At that point, a handful of people were able to make comments or ask questions about Udall's position on the war. Most of the people who came to express their views on the war were unable to do so. There was a general feeling that the meeting was set up in such a way as to prevent the large number of people who were there from expressing their opposition to Udall's position on the war. Many people were frustrated by this, as they had taken time off from work and driven substantial distances to go to the meeting.

Congressman Udall repeated his position, which is that he intends to vote for funding because he wants to support the troops and end the violence in Iraq.

One suggestion that was made to RMPJC after the meeting was that Udall adopt what the Boulder City Council does-give anyone who wants to speak 2-3 minutes to express their views, with time for Udall to reply. And that Udall increase the time of the meetings so more people can speak. This suggestion was passed on to Udall's chief of staff via email. People who attended may want to let Udall know how they felt about the meeting - and ask him to have longer and more frequent town meetings. - CB