Congressman Fitzpatrick:
Way back in December, 2018, I wrote to you about your duty to conduct regularly scheduled real town halls open to the free press which are announced to the public well in advance. I did not receive a response to that letter so I am including it again below. But sadly some of us did go to your office last week and asked your staff if, during this long summer recess, you would be scheduling town halls. And sadly they were unaware of any such events being planned.
I keep reading in the newspaper and seeing on television that other Congressional representatives across the country have been holding town halls in red, blue and purple districts. Here’s news about one that Representative Andy Kim from New Jersey had just recently: his 8th one so far! Do you know him? Maybe you should give him a call and ask for advice on how to conduct a town hall.
“Congressman Andy Kim to Hold Town Hall in Riverside
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Andy Kim will host a town hall in Riverside on Tuesday, July 30th at 6pm.
“Our town halls are my chance to hear from you, so I can take your priorities back to Congress,” said Kim. “It’s why I’m focused on making life more affordable for working families by lowering the costs of prescription drugs and reinstating the SALT deduction. The ideas I hear in places like Riverside will drive solutions back in Washington.”
Kim added, “I want to thank Mayor Hatcher for inviting us to Riverside and hosting our town hall. I look forward to hearing from our neighbors in Riverside and across Burlington and Ocean Counties.”
This is the eighth town hall held by Congressman Kim during the 116th Congress, and part of a monthly series to allow the Congressman to hear directly from constituents throughout New Jersey’s Third District.”
So I wonder why you still refuse to follow this norm. There are certainly many critical topics that your constituents would like to discuss about this peculiar Republican administration. Here are a few that come to mind (I will omit the subject of the improbable purchase of Greenland for obvious reasons).
Why don’t you support the banning of assault rifles? How many more people need to die in the streets of our country before these dangerous weapons of war are removed from civilized society?
Have you read the Mueller Report in its entirety? Why are you not then wholeheartedly supporting the commencement of impeachment inquiries?
We are very confused about your recent trip to the, in your words, “very overcrowded” or should I then say “concentration” camps at our southern border? Why were you expressing so much more concern for the guards rather than for the innocent detainees who are being subjected to such harsh overcrowded conditions? Why did you focus on the miniscule number (less than 1%) of possible “fraudulent families” in custody instead of the 99% of the families who have not been afforded due process and decent living conditions? Your focus reminds me of a certain speech made after a downward descent on an escalator where all Mexicans were characterized as criminals. And why did you continue to support the president’s fascist characterization of the free press as “fake news” with your continued statements of distrust about the media reports coming from the overcrowded detention camps? And why did you recently vote against providing better medical care to the immigrant children? Perhaps in a town hall setting we could see evidence of some compassion emerging from you after a real dialogue. Perhaps.
I could go on and on with many other questions, but I will save them for your next town hall.
In the meantime, please read my letter number 3 below. Then do your job, find the courage to face your constituents, and have some real town halls.
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/newtown-pa/letters-my-congressman-3a
Congressman Fitzpatrick:
I was just using that new-fangled thing some call the Google Machine and I found out about a great way for you to connect with your constituents! So I thought I'd share it with you because I remember in one of your debates, you said something to the effect that you enjoy the rough and tumble of a debate where your ideas could be challenged. This idea isn't actually a new one, but dates back to our colonial era when our democracy was being born. So I bet you would really be interested in doing something that is so fundamental to our democracy, right?
It's called a town hall. Here is the Wikipedia link where you can read all about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
It seems to me to be a great way to stay in touch with your constituents. It's also a way you can get some feedback from them about what you do down in Washington; namely, your votes on legislation. All your constituents can be invited to attend, far in advance, so they can make plans to come. The free press can be there too so they can report to everyone (including those who couldn't attend) exactly how you respond to the questions so everyone gets the same story. And no one would be excluded from asking questions since all people, no matter what their political party was, would be invited. Sounds like a great idea, eh?
Now that you know about the idea, maybe you should set up a schedule for one every quarter. That way people can plan to attend them and then you can get some real questions and real feedback about your votes from the people you are supposed to represent. You know, no one person has all the answers (despite what our fact-challenged president says). After all, this isn't a dictatorship... yet. If you listen to your constituents, they may help you make better decisions. It's the democratic thing to do.
Here is another benefit of having town halls. When it's election time, everyone would be real familiar with how you have voted and then they can make a better decision as to whether or not to elect you again. That way you won't have to resort to calling your next opponent a friend of cop-killers or a hater of Israel, since everyone would know clearly about your voting record.
So I am looking forward to your town hall schedule. Surely if the patriots in the 18th century had them, so can you. What do you have to be afraid of? You don't have anything to be ashamed of, do you?
