DENNIS MYERS Against the Grain Advertisement

It was in the Elko Free Press that I found a story on U.S. Rep. Dean Heller and his efforts against cap and trade. I keep an eye out for stories on Heller in the outlying newspapers because of his habit of avoiding the urban areas in the district where most people live.

This is what Adella Harding wrote in the Elko newspaper: "U.S. Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said Wednesday his constituents are overwhelmingly against President Barack Obama's 'cap and trade' proposal, which he said would cost the average family of four about $3,200 more a year on their electric bills. Heller said that during one of his town hall teleconferences earlier this week, 400 people polled were opposed to the cap and trade proposal and 32 supported it, and results from other polls at his town hall meetings quadruple that number. Faxes, e-mails and letters also oppose the proposal. 'They are not happy about it,' he said."

Hm. This level of informed discourse was a new notion to me. So I went to a Nevada post office (I made it the one in Heller's home town of Carson City) and asked the first thirty people I encountered how they felt about cap and trade. Not one of them was familiar with the term.

How did Dean Heller find 400 people on one conference call who recognized the term?

Well, it turns out the story is a little more complicated. In the Hill, a newspaper that covers intramural congressional politics, I found this: "Republicans in Congress will spend the Memorial Day recess attacking Democrats for pushing a cap-and-trade bill that could raise Americans' transportation and energy costs. House Republicans have already begun calling the legislation a 'cap-and-tax bill' because it could force consumers and companies to pay more for energy." (Note the term "could.")

The GOP reps fanned out across the nation obediently following their instructions to demonize cap and trade. I ran searches and there they were -- all those GOP representatives scurrying around their districts dissing cap and trade -- Republican Reps. Robert Latta of Ohio, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Dean Heller of Nevada, Steve Buyer of Indiana, Rep. William Shuster of Pennsylvania. On and on in state after state, minor House members, suddenly expert on cap and trade, took aim at the concept.

At the same time, editorials assailing cap and trade began appearing in newspapers around the nation and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (designated by the GOP to give the response to President Obama's weekly radio speech) attacked cap and trade.

Then I called a friend of mine who I knew participated in one of Heller's previous teleconferences. She told me that she has since participated in two more. I asked for a description of the format.

It appears to her -- she's been involved in Republican politics -- that those who participate are screened to be "like minded" (to Heller). Certainly, she says, they do not resemble anything like the random samples normally demanded by survey research to get valid results from polls or focus groups. While a number of issues may come up from participants or Heller, there does seem to be a principal issue for each call and is the subject of a "poll." She said poll questions are asked of citizens in language that seems designed to elicit certain responses. (I asked Heller's office for the wording of the language of the "cap and trade" question that was asked but got no response.)

There is, my friend said firmly, nothing like an open discussion in which both sides of the polled issue of the day are presented and discussed so the participants can make an informed judgment. Heller tends to announce his positions, not seek input. And she said, "It interests me that he's announcing these results this way, because I can't imagine that any of the calls I've participated in are representative of this [congressional] district."

I found other online descriptions of Heller's teleconferences by other participants that tend to support my friend's account. One posting claimed the teleconferences are paid for by taxpayers, which if true should make them open to the public just like any other meeting or hearing. I would guess, though, that Heller cautiously pays for them out of campaign funds in order to keep them clean.

Heller has never released recordings or independent transcripts of the "town hall" teleconferences he has held, so it's difficult to substantiate the claims he makes for them. But to use them to justify public policy positions is nonsense.