Southern Minnesotans looking to have a face-to-face conversation with their congressman have found it to be an easier task in recent months.

Freshman Congressman Tim Walz has made a priority of holding meetings open to the general public and seeking out individual input from people not inclined to attend meetings. The trend continues today with a “listening session” at the Summit Center from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

“It’s just a core part of the job as far as I can tell,” said Walz, a former West High School geography teacher who won an upset victory in the Nov. 7 election. “And I don’t think I’ll ever change that.”

Since Walz took office in early January, he’s held 18 meetings in the 1st District where the public could attend to ask questions or offer comments about government policy or Walz’s performance. There will be four more today and tomorrow.

In addition, Walz has spent Saturday mornings hitting grocery stores and farmers markets in an attempt to reach people who don’t go to government meetings.

Finally, he holds open office hours where people can have brief meetings with the congressman and work with his staff on difficulties they might be experiencing with federal agencies. The fourth of those is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. on July 21 in his district office at 227 E. Main St. in Mankato

Walz’s approach stands in contrast to his predecessor. Former Congressman Gil Gutknecht rarely held open forums in the latter years of his 12-year tenure in Washington, although he met with civic groups and often appeared on district radio stations where he took calls from listeners.

The wide-open format employed by Walz allows for vocal opposition, but that hasn’t happened yet, he said. Instead, he’s gotten valuable ideas that have resulted in legislation being introduced in Washington, along with a sense of how his constituents feel about farm policy, health care, veterans issues and more.

With congressional approval ratings as low as 25 percent, according to a recent Newsweek poll, Walz said he hasn’t faced three opponents for every supporter in his forums or grocery store visits.

“I don’t feel the anger toward me,” he said. “But I do feel the frustration toward Congress.”

Look for a follow-up story on Walz' public forum in Friday's Free Press.