Campaign Spot reader Rick sends on word of a member of Congress in upstate New York who wanted to hold appointment-only one-on-one meetings with constituents . . . and got a town hall anyway.
Over 100 people packed a conference room at DeWitt Community Library to talk about health care reform this morning in an impromptu town hall meeting organized by Rep. Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt.
The event was originally planned to be one-on-one by-appointment-only sessions between constituents and Maffei. Because many people did not reserve a spot, the public forum was held after the two-hour block set aside for those who made reservations.
Many people expressed concerns about government-run health care, raising questions about whether current employer-provided health care would be lost, how the bill would impact taxpayers and why Congress was trying to rush the bill through.
No fights, no disruption, just lots of folks wanting to make their voices heard. I can’t help but wonder if many Americans will look at the “Chaos! Rage! Insanity!” tone of the cable network coverage and roll their eyes, having had much more “normal” experiences in their local town halls . . .