FLTimes LTE: Kuhl’s Phelps town meeting
Our intrepid Finger Lakes correspondant, pystew, mentioned in a comment a letter to the editor he saw in the Finger Lakes Times. I found a copy of it on their sample on-line edition (normally subsciption only):
Kuhl’s ‘town hall’ meetings can be better
To the Editor:I recently attended one of congressman Randy Kuhl’s town hall†meetings in Phelps.
Mr. Kuhl touts these forums in mailers and ads implying he is willing to meet and discuss issues with concerned citizens.
In this meeting, Mr. Kuhl was asked about his support for the troop surge in Iraq, about the closing of the Canandaigua VA, about the upstate economy, and about the lack of health insurance for many residents in Ontario County.
Mr. Kuhl became increasingly annoyed with each question, seeming to feel many of the questions were politically motivated. He repeatedly stated that he was not here to discuss or debate issues, but only to listen. What?
Honestly, what a missed opportunity to discuss issues with concerned citizens.
In fact, at another town meeting in Rochester, Mr. Kuhl was videotaped calling someone who’d attended a “political degenerate.â€Mr. Kuhl, I hope you are listening now.
The voters of this district want a forum to discuss issues with their elected officials.
The voters do not want a hollow half-hour stop at each town just so you can later say you visited.
Our community and country are faced with some difficult and complex issues. We need to discuss them. We will not always agree. Just because someone does not agree with you does not make them a “political degenerate.â€
I hope in the future you will allow for real town hall meetings for discussion about some of the issues that concern the residents of the 29th congressional district.
ARUN NAGPAUL
Clifton Springs
D’oh! “Politically motivated”? In freakin’ Phelps? Funny, I haven’t heard much previously from the massive Clifton Springs chapter of MoveOn. Bunch of crazy liberals out there!
Or are people just waking up all over?
[...] seen Randy’s previous support of the Canandaigua VA here and here. Maybe it’s time to put your money where your mouth is [...]
[...] Medicare, the Middle East and the Employee Free Choice Act (which is just a communist ploy). The Finger Lakes Times publishes an excellent letter in regards to Randy’s Phelps Town Hall meeting. An excerpt from that for your reading [...]