Rep. Tom McClintock’s Modesto office remains closed. Some constituents ask why
No one was at U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock’s District 5 office on Monday morning, raising questions about the status of his office in Modesto as the week wore on and it remained shuttered.
Around 25 constituents had come to speak with McClintock or staff following his endorsement of the SAVE Act, concerns about tariffs and other topics, but found his office locked with the lights out and no note explaining the absence of staff.
Gary Peichoto said he called the U.S. representative’s Washington office, but no one answered, so he called the Modesto office and was forwarded to the El Dorado office.
“The El Dorado people said they were having problems with staffing,” Peichoto said.
Bob Phelan, the listed community representative at the Modesto District office, died from cancer early this year. Alfredo Miranda, the office manager, appears to have left and started a new position as a field representative for a state senator, according to LinkedIn.
Tuesday, the lights were still off and the office was closed. A recorded message on the Modesto phone line said that if no one responded between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., it was due to high call volume from constituents.
Colby Zavala, a protest organizer, and other protesters outside McClintock’s office said previously the representative would at least have someone ready to take comments, but not Monday.
“It’s possible they just happened to be closed today, but it’s also possible that they saw [protesters would be there] and just decided not to open up today,” Zavala said.
No public statement has been released about the Modesto office, and The Bee’s questions about why the office remains closed have not been answered by office staff.
Previous “office hours” scheduled in Modesto, Riverbank and Oakdale for McClintock to meet with constituents in late February were canceled the same day they were announced.
Reporting by CBS confirmed that the reason for the cancellation was due to protests outside of his office in areas that he described as “heated,” and that he would suspend the office hours until “things cooled down.”
“We are still constituents and he has a responsibility – he’s a representative for the entire district, not just the people who voted for him,” Zavala said.
When Peichoto asked why there was no one at the office on Monday, he was told by staff at the El Dorado office, that they could not help him and he would need to go through the representative’s website to make an appointment.
The website has a five-step form that requires a requester to identify whether or not he or she will be speaking, how many people will be in attendance and the topic of conversation.
Zavala said one of the people in the El Dorado office said the reason the office was closed was because no appointment had been made.
An email about the cancellation of the office hours on Feb. 24 reads:
“My staff are available to assist you at both of my District Office locations Monday-Friday 9:00 am-5:00 pm and have a recorded line twenty-four hours a day for any concerns you may have.”
However, this no longer appears to be the case. McClintock is currently in recess from Congress from April 14 to 25. This is often a chance to meet with constituents and gather concerns to bring back to Washington once the House is back in session.
McClintock in the past offered virtual town halls: Constituents put themselves on a list and were called back to provide their comments.
“He doesn’t have true town hall meetings,” Peichoto said. “He has these ones where he calls you up and he’s in the middle of the meeting and he doesn’t tell you when it’s going to start – you have to do it right then or you don’t get to do it.”
Constituents in Modesto gathered at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on March 20 and had an “Empty Chair” town hall. They expressed concerns to a cardboard cutout version of their representative.
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Elaine Wright has lived in Modesto for 25 years and said she was part of the empty chair town hall in March and has been calling McClintock’s office often to try to get a response on issues she’s concerned about.
“I got a person, I got an intern, and I asked if he supported cuts to Medicaid or not, and they wouldn’t answer the question,” she said. “That was really disappointing to me — it’s not hard to answer a yes or no question.”
“They are not closing that office, everything is running as normal. There’s no plans to close the Modesto office,” said Stanislaus County Republican Party chairman Joel Campos. He added that he had no details about the recent closure and deferred to McClintock’s staff.
McClintock’s last known public appearance was at the Black Oak Casino, but it wasn’t publicly posted and appeared to be invitation-only.
In that meeting, and on the House floor recently, McClintock said, “In DOGE we trust,” a phrase that angered some constituents who said they felt DOGE was not living up to expectations of finding fraud and was taking actions they considered unconstitutional.
“You’re just blindly saying ‘In DOGE you trust’ when they’re not living up to the amount of fraud they said they would find, they post a bunch of stuff which was found to be false and then had to take it off of their walls of receipts, just bubbling stuff that they’re doing,” Zavala said.
The Bee’s calls and emails to McClintock’s Modesto, El Dorado and D.C. offices and his public information officer were not answered as of publication of this story.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 12:23 PM.
