Congressman Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, will hold a ‘telephone town hall’ Tuesday, during which Lewis County residents will be able to listen in on a discussion of health care and other issues, according to a release.

    The conference call, which will reach out to all land lines registered in the Lewis County boundaries, will start at 11:30 a.m. and last for one hour.

    The phone call will automatically reach out to all residents but constituents who want to be certain they are in on the call can register at online at www.baird.house.gov and clicking the “telephone town hall” button at the top of the page.

    The “telephone town hall” will take place just a week before a live town hall scheduled for Sept. 2 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Centralia College Corbet Theatre.

    Baird announced plans to hold only telephone meetings earlier this month. He initially said he would not hold any live town halls due to a “lynch mob mentality” that permeated similar health care debates throughout the country. He said some were practicing “close to brown shirt tactics” and said he and his colleagues had received death threats.

    Baird later apologized for his comments, and agreed to hold town halls.

    His most recent telephone town hall to Clark County had more than 6,000 constituents on the call, according to a release. His in-person town hall in Clark County drew 2,800 people.