A scheduled Tulsa lunch with Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District was cancelled Friday due to “more than 100 activists” signing up to attend.
The public event was offered by Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by oil and gas billionaires Charles and David Koch. AFP is involved in advocating for tax cuts and rolling back federal regulations.
The Guardian reports AFP has played "a significant role in shifting the Republican Party to the right in recent years."
Those who signed up on AFP's website via a public form to attend Hern's lunch received an email Thursday apologizing for the late cancellation.
“More than 100 AFP activists signed up, and while we’d love to accommodate everyone, our current venue simply can’t hold that many of our friends,” reads the email.
AFP labels people in its "community for concerned citizens" activists. It's unclear how many people signed up were affiliated with AFP prior to Hern's event.
A spokesperson for AFP wrote to KWGS that the event “was rescheduled and reworked,” and will not be open to press.
This week, GOP lawmakers were instructed by national leadership to skip town halls due to “paid protestors” flooding the venues with complaints about President Donald Trump’s campaign to reduce the federal government.
In February at a Glenpool town hall, Hern faced a raft of angry questions about the firings of thousands of federal workers.
