Rep. Tom MacArthur, already facing criticism that he has been hiding from his constituents, hosted a closed-door event with Rep. Devin Nunes on Saturday in Toms River, N.J., where a reporter was kicked out before the congressmen spoke.
The event with Nunes, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and one of Trumpâs most vociferous defenders in Congress, was an illustration of the New Jersey Republicanâs self-imposed isolation since he last faced his constituents in a town hall meeting 17 months ago.
A reporter from a New Jersey political blog, Ocean County Politics, wrote that when he arrived, he was âimmediately confrontedâ by Tom Bonfonti, the executive director of the Ocean County GOP and a former MacArthur campaign aide, and was forced to leave.
Democrats have criticized MacArthur for being unresponsive to his district while working on behalf of special interests.
Last month, MacArthurâs opponent, Andy Kim, a Democrat, held an event focused on âdark moneyâ in politics downstairs from the congressmanâs district office in Evesham. During the event, MacArthurâs staff roped off his office with a sign reading, âConsultations by appointment only.â
In May 2017, MacArthurâs constituents confronted him at a town hall over his leading role in passing the American Health Care Act, a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act through the House. The Atlanticâs report was headlined âA Republican Congressman Meets His Angry Constituency.â
He reportedly hasnât held a town hall since.
MacArthurâs appearance with Nunes — whom Trump has called a âGreat American Heroâ for using his powerful position to push back on investigations into whether Trumpâs campaign colluded with Russia — was also noteworthy because MacArthur has criticized Trump over his deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While shying from his constituents, MacArthur this year pushed that would accomplish a long-term goal of his former boss Maurice Greenberg, former chairman and CEO at AIG, where MacArthur served as an executive: gutting the New York law that was the basis for the stateâs case against the insurance giant.
AIG and Greenbergâs current company, C.V. Starr, have all contributed thousands of dollars to MacArthurâs re-election campaign.
Last year, MacArthur also voted in favor of legislation to pare back the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law Congress passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis in order to guard against another one.