SPRINGFIELD, OH — Congressman Dale Hutchins, 58, arrived at his own town hall meeting Thursday evening wearing a baseball cap and a fleece vest, reportedly to “get a real feel for constituent concerns,” and spent the next hour and a half not being recognized by a single person in the room, including his own district director.

Hutchins, who has represented Ohio’s 12th Congressional District for eleven years, asked three questions from the audience microphone, was twice reminded to “keep it brief,” and was handed a printed FAQ pamphlet by a staffer who recognized him from a recent mailer and assumed he was a senior citizen with a Medicare question.

The district director, Pamela Forsythe, 44, moderated the event for its full duration without incident. “We had a very engaged crowd,” she said in a statement Friday. “One gentleman in particular had a lot of follow-up questions. We appreciated his passion.” Forsythe confirmed she has worked for Hutchins since 2016.

“I thought it would humanize me. It did. Just not in the direction I was hoping.”

Rep. Hutchins told reporters the experience was “genuinely illuminating” and said he planned to incorporate constituent feedback into his legislative priorities, specifically the feedback he himself submitted on his comment card under the name “Dale H.”

His office confirmed the comment card has been entered into the official constituent correspondence database and will receive a form letter response within six to eight weeks.

At press time, Hutchins had been placed on hold by his own constituent services hotline for thirty-four minutes and was still waiting.