Growing calls for a Faso town hall

Posted 2/15/17

The election of Donald Trump as president has sparked the formation of many activist groups around the country. The organization that wrote the Indivisible Guide, which is a primer on best practices …

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Growing calls for a Faso town hall

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The election of Donald Trump as president has sparked the formation of many activist groups around the country. The organization that wrote the Indivisible Guide, which is a primer on best practices for resisting the Trump agenda, says 4,500 groups across the country have registered with their website.

The opposition to the Trump agenda is also growing in New York’s 19th Congressional District, which is now represented by Congressman John Faso. Several newly-established groups in the district have criticized the fact that Faso has thus far declined to hold public town-hall style meetings when he is back in the district. The groups, such as Indivisible CD19 NY (ICD19NY) and Citizens Action of New York, have been pushing for such an event.

Faso did meet with the Affordable Care Task Force of the Columbia County Democratic Committee, and according to a website post by one of the committee members, “Faso expressed his concern for live meetings, with their risk of major disruptions and distorted coverage. The Task Force offered to help organize and control such meetings in Columbia County. Faso said he would give it serious consideration.”

It’s true that there have been congressional town halls in recent weeks that have featured boisterous and disruptive speech. In one case, Congressman Tom McClintock of California felt sufficiently threatened at a town hall meeting on February 4 that he was escorted to his car by police officers.

But this is the exception rather than the rule. Most times, while public meetings can become heated and loud, violence does not break out. When the issue of hydraulic fracturing was being debated in New York, there were hundreds of angry meetings with people on opposite sides of the issue shouting at each other, but the only violence that we can recall occurred at one gathering where a woman threw water into another woman’s face. And surely the threat of violence can easily be countered with advance security planning.

As to the issue of distorted coverage, if people are expressing anger and outrage at a meeting, and that is reported in a newspaper or shown on television or social media, that is not distortion. It is reality. Many people are angry and frightened these days. They are worried about losing their health care, about leaving a planet to their grandchildren so damaged it will be unable to support the people who inhabit it, and some people who have lived here nearly their entire lives are concerned about being deported.

In his first weeks in office, Faso, a Republican, has expressed moderate views on some important issues. He has expressed the view that some of the most important parts of the Affordable Care Act should remain in place, and he has questioned whether Trump’s executive order banning visitors from seven Mulsim-majority countries respected the rights of lawful permanent residents. But his lack of a commitment to holding town hall public meetings is a bit troubling.

The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow residents to speak directly to their elected officials about their views on various issues. Another purpose is for the elected official to truly absorb his constituents’ thoughts and feelings on the issues. If people are fearful of losing things that matter to them, such as health insurance, then those meetings are probably going to be uncomfortable for the elected official. But isn’t it the duty of the official to face that discomfort head on?

Rep. Faso keeps a fairly busy schedule and constantly meets with various people. He is, for instance, planning to attend a fundraising event in Albany on February 22. It is easy to meet with people who are planning to give you money, and who agree with your positions. It is harder, but arguably more important, to meet with people who disagree with some of your positions and who are angry about what’s happening in Washington, DC. Faso should commit to a town hall meeting to get a real feel for the genuine concern a great many constituents in his district are feeling these days.

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