Beverly Press Park Labrea News: Friedman reaches out to community

Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) is determined to bring her constituents – which includes residents of Hollywood, West Hollywood and Hancock Park – into the conversation. Four months into her first term, the 30th Congressional District representative sat down for an interview, where she highlighted the robust community response she has received at town halls – including one that had 600 people in attendance.

“Every single Democrat is doing numerous town halls and public meetings, unlike our colleagues across the aisle,” Friedman said, adding that the caucus has encouraged its members to hold the events. “The house facilitates any member of Congress doing a town hall in terms of resources, and then many of us are going beyond that.”

Friedman knows, however, that the ideals of her largely Democratic district run distinctly counter with that of the Trump administration and the Republican-led U.S. House and Senate. As such, she has veered into others’ territories, including Rep. Young Kim (R-Orange).

“There were maybe 300 people in attendance, because she’s not doing town halls,” she said, and later added that the “reason why Republicans are not doing town halls [is] because even in Republican districts, people are starting to realize that these deep, deep cuts to government mean that the services that they rely on from government aren’t there for them anymore.”

Friedman said the focus of town halls differs depending on the district.

“What resonates to somebody in Los Angeles may not resonate with someone in Wisconsin. So you’re seeing different messaging going out to different communities, letting people know what’s at stake from the Trump administration,” she said, going on to add that cuts to Medicaid, Veteran’s Affairs and Social Security often resonates with different districts.

She also communicated the minority party’s current limitations.

“[We make] sure people understand what’s realistic in terms of what Democrats in Congress can do, because it is a Republican Congress as well as a Republican administration. So, it’s going to take Republicans standing up. We don’t have the votes if it’s just the Democrats … we also need Republicans to vote ‘no,’ otherwise there’s nothing that we can do,” she said.

Friedman added that “some Republicans are willing to push back on Trump’s agenda,” and pointed to legislative proof.

“I’m proud to have been one of the first Democrats to sign onto a bipartisan bill clawing back Congressional power over tariffs. I’m always willing to have conversations across the aisle, but I won’t sacrifice core values or principles to make a deal,” she said.

Speaking truth to power remains chief among the congresswoman’s goals, particularly in a time that she said media companies are afraid to do so.

“I try to point out that a lot of the things that [Trump’s] doing should be unacceptable to Democrats and Republicans,” Friedman said. “They’re just illegal and they are against the Constitution and they’re contrary to law and order. [For instance], firing all the military generals, so you can put in your own yes men – this should be scary to everybody. If you have got folks out there saying that this is the rise of the dictator, and then that would-be dictator fires the people who could hold him accountable – [those] being military generals en masse, fires law enforcement, pardons people who have committed crimes … We should take that very seriously. No matter whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, that shouldn’t be partisan.”

She also pointed to social media moguls, who she feels have been derelict in their responsibilities.

“You see companies stepping in, you know, snapping into line and doing what [Trump] says. And in some cases, it’s censorship, as we’ve seen with the social media companies who were at his inauguration. His own cabinet wasn’t sitting in those front row seats – it was the heads of the social media companies … who have agreed to … stop the kind of content moderation they were doing with disinformation and far right content.”

She said that the fourth estate is necessary to establish the facts.

“[They’re] making the media afraid to even push back, so that when they get up and they do an interview even on on NBC, and they just flat out lie, and the reporters know they’re lying, instead of calling them on it, they just say, ‘Well, thanks for coming on the show.’ They’re not doing the kind of fact checking and pushing back that they should,” she said. “There needs to be real fact checking. I expect people to hold me accountable if I say something that’s not true.”

She pointed to the importance of local media outlets in helping communities stay informed.

“In L.A. you could have 20 newspapers covering city of L.A. … Beverly Hills, WeHo – these independent cities need someone watching them. Without the press, there’s nobody paying attention,” Friedman said.

The freshman congresswoman said that the judicial branch was paying attention and had thus far held strong during the Trump administration, even as a series of executive orders have tested the strength of the system.

“I’ve been proud to join lawsuits and support critical efforts from folks like [California Attorney General] Rob Bonta to oppose Trump’s ridiculous actions, efforts that have been effective. In Trump’s first 100 days, federal judges have issued at least 131 court orders that block or pause the administration’s lawless and unconstitutional actions,” she said.

Friedman pointed out that many of the orders have come from “very conservative judges.”

“These are not, despite what Trump and [Elon Musk] say, crazy left-wing communists,” she said. “These are Trump-appointed and Bush-appointed conservative judges in places like Texas and in the Midwest, and they are overwhelmingly saying that they are crossing the line.”

To contact Friedman’s office, visit friedman.house.gov.