I made an effort to get into Congressman Paul Tonko’s Town Hall meeting tonight — no luck! The auditorium had filled to capacity before I got there. (Tonko had gotten out an email earlier in the day warning that they were expecting a lot of people.) The parking lot at Schenectady County Community College was filling up when I got there around 5:00pm and people were still arriving. There was at least one protestor when I was walking in…
The lobby was full of people when I got inside; Tonko’s staff was briefing people on how to follow the live feed on Facebook, since the hall was already at capacity.
There was a table where people could pick up contact information for the Congressman and leave questions.
As it happens, Schenectady County Community College was making efforts to cope. They were setting up overflow rooms that had TVs to allow people watch what was going on in the auditorium. Congressman Tonko was checking to make sure people were being accommodated — and greeting people he knew.
I was able to see a lot of the town hall via the live stream. The crowd was largely friendly and progressive. NY-20 is in upstate, including Albany, Schenectady, and Troy.
Questions ranged from Russia to Climate Change, Infrastructure, Healthcare, the Environment….
People seemed to have done their research, referring to specific bills and policies. Congressman Tonko fielded the questions and got frequent applause. The crowd was varied, from high school students (one headed for the Naval Academy) to senior citizens, men and women.
These are a couple of screen grabs from the live feed.
Overall, the tone of the meeting from what I could gather was one of a lot of people really unhappy with what is happening in Washington. Although there have been reports of efforts by the GOP to organize Tea Party/Trump Supporters to show up and give Democratic Congresspeople a hard time, there were none I was aware of from the live feed at the meeting — although there were several obnoxious trolls making comments online while it was going on.
There was at least one person there from a local Indivisible group; some of the people in the crowd were wearing pink pussy hats. People wanted to hear a firm commitment from Tonko to oppose what is happening, with some specific questions. The reality is there is little Tonko can do — but I’d say he seems determined to do what he can.
There are no magic answers at this point. It’s going to be a long slog and the key is going to be keeping people motivated.
Judging by what comes out of the White House every day, that should not be a problem IF Democrats can give people a way to feel they’re being heard and making a difference.
If you were at the Town Hall with Tonko, please add your comments. If you went to a town hall with another Congressman, add comments on how that went as well.