To the Editor:
Rep. John Katko, R-NY24, held another no-advance-notice "telephone town hall" at dinnertime on Tuesday, June 13, 2017. An apparently random group of constituents suddenly got the call, including members of the CNY Solidarity Coalition. Since late last year, CNY Solidarity has been urging Katko to hold in-person interactive public town halls scheduled in advance, but he continues to make excuses for why he won't.
All questioners on June 13 were screened by Katko staffers. Almost all of the questions the staff accepted led smoothly into Katko's standard talking points. From the experience of those signing this letter, his staff screened out our honestly critical calls. We did not get to ask challenging questions regarding his support for President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, his vote June 8 to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, his vote against internet privacy, his support for an FCC proposal to kill internet neutrality, his co-sponsoring the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (HR 38) against the interests of New York state residents, and his procedural votes against requiring Trump to release his tax returns (despite publicly promising to vote for their release).
Katko showed again that he only wishes to "answer" questions on his own terms. He will not engage with detailed and informed criticism of his record, which is most often reactionary and not, as he claims in his never-ending campaign, moderate.
We all hope Katko will finally participate in real, unscripted communication with his constituents at a public town hall, accepting the CNY Solidarity Coalition's pledge of courteous engagement to address the difficult issues our congressional representative so ably dodges.
Paul Weichselbaum, Syracuse
Barry and Barbara Gordon, Baldwinsville
Thomas Gokey, Syracuse
Thomas M. Keck, Syracuse
Becky Howard, Syracuse
Marthe Reed, Syracuse
Sarah B. Pralle, Fayetteville
Deborah Rose, Syracuse
Judy Tarrants, Fabius
Jennifer Blusk, Syracuse
Blame treaty with Canada for Lake Ontario flooding (Your letters)
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