Hospitalized Josh Riley Struggles To Communicate With Constituents
When I conceived of Josh Riley Watch, I expected to cover the new congressman’s legislative actions: His votes on legislation, cosponsorships of bills, and actions in committee hearings. I wanted to focus on the concrete aspects of Congressman Riley’s work on Capitol Hill in order to avoid confusing what Riley says for what his actual political accomplishments are.
I didn’t expect that I would have to discuss Josh Riley’s communications with constituents. I took it for granted that Representative Riley’s office would do what every other member of Congress does - set up a professional office that would quickly establish routine procedures for providing information about his activities as a public servant. I’ve watched many other new U.S. Representatives set up shop in Congress over the years, but there is something different about Josh Riley’s emerging political presence. What stands out most is Josh Riley’s absence.
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 Congress has convened, that Josh Riley was 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 what was going on. 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 open, above-board kind of 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, even through his family, although Riley went to an emergency room and was kept 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.
This is what is passing for communication with constituents from the office of Congressman Josh Riley.
How many constituents are on Elon Musk’s social network?
That social media post was made two days ago, on X and Facebook. There have been no updates, even on social media, about Josh Riley’s medical condition. We don’t even know what hospital he has been admitted to, much less when he might be able to leave the hospital to resume work in the United States Congress.
Anybody who has been to a hospital lately know that it’s not at all typical for a young and generally healthy person to have to stay in a hospital for more than one night for something like pneumonia. We know for a fact that Congressman Riley has been kept in hospital Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday night. That’s quite a long hospital stay, and for all we know, Riley could still be in the hospital today. There have not been any more social media posts from Riley over the last two days.
For a member of Congress to release this information on the social media platforms X and Facebook is problematic, because many constituents in New York’s 19th district don’t have memberships on X or Facebook. Twitter never had ubiquitous membership, but lost huge numbers of members when it was taken over by Elon Musk, and was transformed into the right wing extremist platform X. Facebook membership has been declining for years, and its membership numbers have declined even more rapidly since its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, made a million dollar bribe to Donald Trump and declared that racism and misinformation would be available on Facebook, with an end to fact-checking. Both X and Facebook have taken on a distinctly Republican, rightwing slant. Neither platform can claim to be a neutral town square for public communication any longer.
If Josh Riley is going to issue official statements on social media platforms, he should at least cover the full spectrum of social media, including BlueSky, the rapidly growing alternative to X that is increasingly popular among Democrats and other progressive Americans. Other members of Congress have accounts on BlueSky, but Josh Riley does not. Why?
The professional thing for a member of Congress is to issue press releases on their official congressional web site. That’s a neutral public place online that all constituents will be aware of and can access without having to sign up for a membership on a corporate social media network. Communication with newspapers and local radio and television stations should also be part of an elected official’s outreach, but Josh Riley’s office appears to be in consistent contact with these journalistic outlets.
Of course, if Josh Riley is ill enough to be kept in the hospital for several days, he may not be able to communicate effectively himself. That’s understandable. However, Congressman Riley doesn’t do all the work himself. He has, or he should have, professional aides working in his office on Capitol Hill. They should be handling communication during their boss’s hospitalization, keeping constituents informed about what’s going on. That isn’t happening.
The communications problems in Congressman Josh Riley’s office can’t simply be blamed on his bout of pneumonia. Ever since Election Day, communication from Josh Riley has been thin, and it hasn’t gotten much better since he was sworn in as a member of Congress.
A couple of weeks ago, when I called Josh Riley’s Washington DC office to express displeasure about his vote for H.R. 23, legislation that helps Republicans protect war criminals by undermining the International Criminal Court, the person who answered the phone was dealt with me appropriately. He noted my comments, and then offered to send me a statement by Congressman Riley explaining his vote for the bill. He took my contact information to make sure that it would get to me.
That statement by Josh Riley never arrived.
I see no signs that Josh Riley ever wrote such a statement. As far as I can tell, there is no press release on the subject from his office. For that matter, Josh Riley has not issued any statements about any legislation at all.
This silence from Josh Riley comes after his votes in favor of extremist MAGA legislation H.R. 23 and H.R. 29, bills that reflect exactly the kind of fascist, nationalist ideology that voters in New York’s 19th district expected Josh Riley to oppose. At the very time when Josh Riley should be explaining his sudden swerve to the right, he has been avoiding public communications with constituents. Even on the right-leaning platforms X and Facebook, Riley and his congressional aides have not offered any response to constituents’ comments complaining about his votes.
What’s more, there is no place in the district for constituents to interface with Josh Riley and his staff. It’s typical for members of Congress to establish several in-person offices throughout their congressional districts. Josh Riley appears to have failed to set up even one office outside of Washington D.C.
Yes, it’s still early in the 119th Congress. However, Josh Riley has been running for Congress for years, and it’s been over two months since he won the 2024 election. He has had ample time to prepare, but his congressional office appears to have been in shambles long before Riley came down with pneumonia.
Ideology aside, the residents of New York’s 19th district deserve more competent representation than this.
Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson are aggressively pushing forward with a package of well-prepared legislation and executive orders that are transforming the United States from a democracy into a fascist state. This is no time for our new member of Congress to be taking it easy.
If Congressman Riley needs to take multiple days in the hospital, that’s a serious health problem, and his constituents need to be informed about what’s going on. As an individual human being, of course Josh Riley should have all the time to recuperate that he needs. In the meantime, however, his congressional staff should have been prepared to communicate and keep up with the business of his office in the meantime.
That’s not happening.
To Josh Riley’s office, I offer an open invitation from Josh Riley Watch. Get in touch! Tell us what’s going on!
Josh Riley Watch is not in opposition to Josh Riley. Our mission is to keep the people of Ithaca, Tompkins County, and all of New York’s 19th congressional district informed about what Josh Riley is doing.
Remember what they used to say at the Washington Post? Democracy dies in darkness. Shed some light for us, please.
