I would like to share my impressions of the town hall meeting I attended on Thursday evening, Feb. 23, which was led by Tom Suozzi at the JCC in Plainview.
The auditorium was filled to capacity and many people had to listen to the proceedings in the outside hall. The meeting was focused on five issues: opposition to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); Trump’s possible connection to Putin; current immigration proceedings; deportations of undocumented immigrants; and the impact of Trump’s policies on the environment.
Support for the ACA dominated the evening. Suozzi absolutely supports the ACA and wishes to improve it, has great sympathy and empathy for issues concerning immigrants and feels something may be going on with Trump and Putin and wants an investigation. According to his responses and his past record, he will do what he can to protect the environment. Congressman Suozzi also spoke at a rally for the ACA in Huntington and organized a rally in support of the ACA along with Congresswoman Kathleen Rice at the “Yes We Can” Community Center in Westbury.
At the town hall meeting, Suozzi was honest in stating what he could and could not do. He is a minority Democratic congressional freshman and will be working with a Republican Congress, Senate and President who, for the most part, appear to have diametrically different viewpoints on the above mentioned issues. The congressman is a good listener, obviously very bright and a polished politician. He kept urging the audience to organize and fight in any way they could for their beliefs. That is a good message for all of us. He urged the audience to go to his personal Facebook page for ways of becoming involved and effective. If you are so inclined, there are many groups that you can work with on issues of your choice. I believe we have elected a very good person who will do the best he can for his constituents and will support core democratic values.
—Charlotte Sear
