Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY-20) held her sixteenth town hall this past Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Livingston Town Hall in Columbia County.
In just her first year Congresswoman Gillibrand honored her pledge to hold a town hall meeting in each of the ten counties she represents. This will be her sixteenth town hall since January of 2007. In addition to her town hall meetings, Congresswoman Gillibrand regularly holds Congress At Your Corner events at local hot spots, such as grocery and book stores, to bring her office out in to the community she serves.
Gillibrand added, "I believe accountability and accessibility to the families of our community is very important to being an effective representative and I am committed to both."
The topic of the forum was Rising Costs of Taxes on Upstate Families...
"After years of rising property taxes, increased health care costs, relieving the tax pressures on our families in Upstate New York is a priority of mine," said Gillibrand, a member of the Armed Services Committee. "This is a great opportunity for folks to share their opinions and concerns on the issues that matter to them and we will have experts on hand to help folks save on their health care and prescription drug bills."
At the town hall meeting Congresswoman Gillibrand will discuss a bill she is cosponsoring in Congress to allow families to deduct their property taxes without itemizing their return. "This will simplify the filing process and help families save money on their federal taxes," said Gillibrand.
The New York chapter of PDA has the story.
The hall was packed with about 150 people.
The announced agenda was property taxes, and the congresswoman had brought along two state experts, Geoffrey Gloak, a spokesman for the [New York State] Office of Real Property Services, and Shelly Willett, an education and communication specialist with the Internal Revenue Service. But many other issues affect property taxes, and Saturday's discussion touched on several, including voting machines, the Iraq War, impeachment and tree preservation.
Noting that New York has some of the U.S.'s highest property taxes, Gillibrand said one of the biggest causes of this is unfunded mandates such as No Child Left Behind. To applause, she declared herself against unfunded mandates and in favor of a balanced budget amendment.
Property tax, she said, should not be used to fund schools. Senior citizens, farmers and other citizens are "pitted against schoolchildren," she said. "It's a terrible situation to place communities in."
After some discussion of property tax rates, reassessments, and equilization rates...
A woman from Red Hook who was a retired educator came at Gloak from another angle. "I hear you talking 'cap,'" she said. "That scares me. Everything schools are asking for they need and deserve ... Why not a different kind of tax? - Income."
"Absolutely," Gloak said. "Funding schools differently is on the table as well." Massachusetts 20 years ago limited property tax to 2.5 percent increases, and fell from first or second in the nation in property taxes to 28th.
"You're still talking percentages and property taxes," the woman said. "Kids need books."
But here in the 20th District of New York our thoughts are as focused on Washington, the War in Iraq, and the functioning of our Constitution and government as much as everywhere else in this country today. Taxes are a serious issue here but not to the exclusion of all else (no matter what some would like us to believe).
A gentlemen I've had the pleasure to get to know a little over the last couple years along with his wife then chimed in...
Jim McCabe of Claverack brought up the "astronomical costs" of the Iraq War, the $1.7 trillion bill "that will come due and hit us all in our wallets."
"Will you support publicly a request by 23 members of Congress to bring articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney?" he said.
Rep. Gillibrand then gave her thoughts on impeachment, very similar to what I heard her say on the campaign trail in 2005-2006.
"The American people," she said, "elected a new Congress to do oversight of the administration. There's so much power in the executive branch that we were losing [democracy]."
Such grounds for impeachment as reasons for waging war and wiretapping need to go through the committee on government reform, she said.
"You need a chain of evidence," she said, adding that the hearings on the firings of U.S. attorneys for political reasons could lead to impeachable offenses.
But, she said, "'He lied to us about the war,' - you have to prove it. Do investigations: If the laws are broken there are consequences."
Jim McCabe then pointed out there was an effort underway to start impeachment hearings now.
Kirsten then responded as she has all along, that hearings need to be had so that investigations take place and that this is the way that the truth will come out.
"The administration has stifled all discussion," the congresswoman said. "What has to happen are contempt hearings. Investigations take time. I have no doubt the chairmen will pursue these investigations. Some resolutions are not worded well and I don't support them. There need to be contempt hearings because there's resistance to producing evidence."
The chairmen she was referring to were U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan , chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, chair of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, both Democrats. Neither has allowed H Res 799 or H Res 333, the articles of impeachment against Cheney, to be discussed.
Following the meeting, Gillibrand told McCabe she was "shocked" that Nadler, who she considers "very progressive," was blocking this, and promised to talk to both him and Conyers about the issue.
Not to knock Jerry Nadler who is indeed "very progressive" but she might want to talk with him about the value of her Sunlight Report. I recall that Nadler, when told of this, said that she shouldn't do that and that he would talk with her about it because it would cause a lot of trouble.
Perhaps it is Mr. Nadler that needs a little talking to.
Going back to the cost of the war...
Gillibrand went on to tell the crowd about the financial effects of the war. The $9 trillion debt means that the U.S. is paying $400 million in interest to countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. "Every person is this room [owes $30,000 to the national debt.] How do we keep America safe? I don't think the current course in Iraq is the best way."
She then spoke of evidence supporting her position in favor of a withdrawal timeline:
She cited one positive event, in Anbar Province : Sixty warlords came together and said, "America's leaving soon," she said, so they worked together to eject the terrorist elements from their province.
"Our greatest bargaining chip is to say we're leaving in six, nine months," she said.
And immediately shifted gears to where our attention should be... in Afghanistan... and got to the essence of the way in which the real "War of Terror" needs to be "fought"....
Next, the U.S. should invest small amounts of money with accountability into education, health care and job development in the poorest regions of Pakistan, she explained.
"If people have no hope for the future, it's easy for the Taliban to recruit," she said. "Small amounts of money could prevent the next generation of terrorists."
Not money so much as what she said first... hope. And with hope... opportunity. Economic opportunity, educational opportunity. Hope and real opportunity for a better life are the best weapons against extremism and despair.
Lastly, she stated something that not all will agree with. Something I admire in her a great deal. She is unafraid to hold a position and discuss it openly and honestly even when she knows it might not be a popular one. Along with that, she is also prepared to hold her end of that conversation by listening as well as stating her owns views.
Following the meeting, she that 80 percent of the troops should come home within a year, leaving a certain amount of special operations units to "tackle al Qaeda." She said she'd like to see increased deployment - perhaps 20,000 troops - in Afghanistan as development forces, and that she was also mulling an anti-drug mission there.
If you are a constituent of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand please call her and urge her to have that conversation with Chairman Conyers and Rep. Nadler. Urge her to strongly urge them to move forward with contempt hearings, impeachment consideration, and investigations.
And ask her to come back here and discuss the situation with us.
If you are not a constituent but like what you see and read here please consider showing Rep. Gillibrand some support. She is one of the top targets of the Republicans this year and the local party bosses are trying to clear the way for a self-funding multi-millionaire trust fund baby to challenge her. He has already gone on the air and is pandering to the ultra-conservative by signing onto Grover Norquists bathtub drowning agenda.