To the editor:
Claudia Tenney has done it again. On Wednesday, March 14, at 3 p.m., she held another tele-town hall call. Like the previous one (that I know of), it was pre-announced by less than 24 hours in a post on her Facebook page. She scheduled it for mid-afternoon on a weekday when working people were least likely to participate, ensuring a mostly elderly audience.
The call was limited to 60 minutes. Ms. Tenney came on a few minutes late and then took up 13 minutes extolling her own virtues as our representative. During those opening remarks, she claimed to have held “20 public meetings” since she took office.
I doubt we have the same definition of “public meeting,” i.e., pre-announced broadly and by a week or more, open to the public, and questions unscreened. I follow her on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to her webpage and newsletter, yet I have seen her live only twice and neither event met those criteria. Her typical appearances are with small select groups such as a chamber of commerce or a scout troop, not pre-announced to the public.
In the 42 minutes left, she took only eight questions screened by her staff. A staff member also interrupted early on to ask participants to vote yes or no if we approved of the job she is doing, leaving many with the impression it was part of screening questioners.
Seven of the questions were softballs, the first from a gentleman who wanted to know why millions of illegal aliens were allowed to vote. Instead of politely disabusing him of his mistaken belief, Tenney spent several minutes quasi-affirming his concern, milking the fake news story better than a Fox News host. The one “tough” question concerned Tenney going along with limiting the state and local tax deduction under the new tax plan and voting 97 percent for Trump’s agenda, to which her incredible response was, essentially, “I’m not following Trump. He is following my agenda.”
Tenney seemed to drag out her answers for five minutes or more, once even noting that she should probably shorten her answers, but then didn’t. Several questioners, myself included, were left to hang up after the call ended at 4 p.m. sharp. There were no questions about key timely topics like gun control, lack of any meaningful response to Russian interference in our elections and troubling turmoil in the Trump administration.
Opposition to Tenney is firming up and she does little to discourage it. Perhaps the best thing she could do is have a real town hall, hear out her critics and prove she can hold her own. If she can’t handle that, she probably does not deserve to represent the diverse 22nd district. If she can, she might actually earn some respect and maybe some votes. No one respects a coward. Maybe in DC, but certainly not around here.
Vince Taylor
Cazenovia
