Congressman Josh Riley Disappears In A Haze Of Sloppy Communication
This week, I don’t have anything to report about Josh Riley’s votes on legislation. That’s because he hasn’t made any votes.
It isn’t that the U.S. House of Representatives hasn’t been active. Rather, it’s that Representative Josh Riley has been absent from the halls of Congress. The last time Josh Riley was present on the floor of the House was a week ago. Since then, Congressman Riley has been absent for six roll call votes.
What’s going on?
Josh Riley’s office has posted no explanation for his absence. The only press releases from his office so far are boilerplate statements that the 119th Congress has convened, that Josh Riley has been sworn in, and that he has been assigned to the House committees on Agriculture and Science.
I had to log on to Facebook to find out anything about Josh Riley’s unexpected absence from the US House of Representatives. It turns out that Congressman Josh Riley has been admitted to a hospital somewhere for treatment of pneumonia that developed after he became ill with a flu virus.
This happened over last weekend - days ago. Yet, Josh Riley’s office has released no statement on the subject other than social media posts on Facebook and Elon Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter).
New York’s 19th congressional district stretches from Ithaca over in the West, down to Binghamton in the South, almost reaching Poughkeepsie, then curving up to include some of the Eastern suburbs of Albany to touch the border with Massachusetts in the East. So, there are a number of local newspapers in the district, but even on Monday, only one paper had covered the story about Congressman Riley’s hospitalization. The Daily Gazette, a small paper in Hudson, New York, wrote:
“Newly sworn-in U.S. Rep. Josh Riley, D-19, was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia, he announced Sunday on X.”
Yes, the Daily Gazette found out about our Congressman’s hospitalization through a social media posting on X. There was not then, and still has not been, any official announcement from Josh Riley’s office. A disturbing passage in the Daily Gazette’s article reveals that Josh Riley’s own staff was not kept informed of the Congressman’s status.
“Mauranda Evans, a spokesperson for Riley, said Monday that Riley’s X posts Thursday and Sunday were the latest pieces of information she had regarding Riley’s medical condition and where he was hospitalized.”
The timeline of these revelations is troubling on a number or levels. It was Thursday afternoon, January 16, when Congressman Riley announced on Facebook and Twitter that he had the flu and would have to “postpone this weekend’s swearing-in events in Endicott and Walton.” I was surprised to see these references to events in Endicott and Walton, because I’ve been watching Josh Riley’s official congressional web site for news about town hall meetings in the district. These opportunities for constituents to meet with Josh Riley had not been publicly announced on Congressman Riley’s official congressional website, which still has no information about any events on Riley’s calendar at all. It seems that Congressman Riley been holding events in District 19 without making that information available to the general public - but it’s been impossible to tell how many of these events have taken place. This is not the kind of transparent representation that would indicate a member of Congress who is interested in staying in touch with his constituents.
It seems that Josh Riley’s own congressional aides were not made aware of the Congressman’s hospitalization. As of Monday, there was no direct communication between Representative Riley and his own spokesperson, although Riley went to an emergency room and was kept in the hospital overnight.
None of the other newspapers in the district beside the Daily Gazette in Hudson seem to have been made aware of Congressman Riley’s hospitalization until three days after his admission, on Wednesday evening after 8:00 PM, when the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin published a story telling residents of that city that “U.S. Rep. Josh Riley has pneumonia, will remain in hospital 'a bit longer'“. The Press & Sun Bulletin article referenced no source other than a Tuesday social media post Josh Riley made on X, explaining that Riley was feeling better but will be in the hospital “a bit longer”.
There have been no other newspaper articles or mentions by other local media in the 19th district about this health crisis.
We want Josh Riley to get the rest he needs, and to get better soon, but in the meantime, it’s the job of his staff to pick up the slack, and keep his constituents informed. Too much is going on in Washington DC for the people of New York’s 19th congressional district to be unrepresented and uninformed.
A transcript of this podcast will be made available soon.
