I applaud you for doing a masterful job of dealing with an unruly crowd, with patience and respect. You tried to answer their questions but they didn’t give you a chance to talk very much, or really listen to what you had to say. There were many of us there, from Allegany County, who were supporting you.–seen on facebook
Tom Reed needs Tompkins County. It is key to retaining his office. He is lucky the courts included Tompkins County in New NY-23. If not for that Tom might have been defeated years ago.
Tom is very moderate, even liberal, for a Republican. This could be a problem in the predominately Republican, very conservative parts of NY-23. Tom maintains his conservative image there by contrasting himself with Tompkins County. We saw how well that works for him last weekend.
Tom is masterful at manipulating public opinion. He couldn’t have asked for more than to be attacked by outsiders in heavily Republican Towns. He was seen as protecting conservative values from noisy, unruly liberals. It earned him valuable exposure on national news.
Tom has avoided facing a challenge from the right. As long as conservatives see Tom as a bulwark against liberals, they are unlikely to risk backing a primary challenge and have not done so.
As I remember, Tom’s first town hall meeting was in a large auditorium at a Corning High School. Since then he has preferred small rooms in remote locations where he often finds a standing room crowd. Why should he change when this works well for him?
Tom has promised to hold a meeting in Tompkins County this Spring at a time and place to be determined; perhaps he will do so. The most he could ask is to be greeted with jeers and cat-calls.
Tom has repeatedly demonstrated that he doesn’t need Tompkins County votes to survive. Instead he prospers by running against Tompkins County. The one thing that Tompkins County could do to hurt and possibly defeat Tom Reed is to enthusiastically support him.
New NY 23rd 
You might notice that since he’s hitched his wagon to Trump he’s upped his FreedomWorks rating from 50-60% party line to 100%, including hiding evidence of corruption in office in congressional correspondence for all eternity, which, with his record as mayor of Corning probably couldn’t happen too soon for this bozo. For real entertainment find out why NYC hedge fund Blackstone Group was such a big contributor.
Yeah this guy’s a real prize
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The author doesn’t seem to have been at the Fillmore rally. There were 250, maybe 300 people there and about half were closely local. The other half were from numerous places further east, since Fillmore was as far East as Reed visited. Reed did not once say he understood that we the people pay his salary to do the right thing by us in his office. Instead he made it very clear that people losing their health care or trying to pay into a savings account from a yearly take home of 23k wasn’t going to affect his plans to seek political advantage for himself. He did add that he would like to see everyone have the health care he and our other representatives enjoy, but since we can’t afford it, we will all have to settle for what he and Trump are offering.
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No, I wasn’t there. Thanks for your report. How do you know that half were closely local? Did the local people ask Tom about issues which may have been important to them: Trump’s taxes, conflict of interest, and Russian intrigue?
Judy, would you like to write a longer report on your experience at Fillmore for New NY 23rd?
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I walked around asking folks where they were from — unscientific! But the local folks spoke most eloquently of all about the loss of ACA, the hardships they would endure if the Medicaid expansions were cut back, the fear that their local hospital would have to close without ACA, that they were living with multiple sclerosis, that their families included children with Downs Syndrome, that the loss of ACA would lead to higher property taxes, that refugees who had been legally admitted would soon no longer have access to resettlement services and that they, the host familias, would not be able to make up the difference. The two folks there with Trump/Pence signs attacked and bullied me for my tax return sign. “Is he required by law to release them?” they jeered. On the other hand, yes we raised our voices in the hope that Reed would listen to a point of view he had not already been bought and paid to embrace, but he still did not hear us. One of the things I liked best about Fillmore was that because we were outside and there was no sound system, Reed (and the folks who did get to speak) had to borrow a megaphone that one constituent had brought with her — that she had used earlier to lead folks in a chorus of This Land is Your Land. It was decorated with rainbow stickers.
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Mr Reed has been getting a lot of media mileage off his ‘bravery’ for showing up last Saturday. I accidentally caught him on MSNBC again this afternoon. Maybe it’s just coincidental because so many MoCs are hiding during the recess, but it’s certainly more national attention than he gets ordinarily – just sayin’. He didn’t really have much of anything to say, and most of what he did say was still in third person (admittedly, one of my pet peeves…).
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I agree with Judy. I live in Fillmore also walked around in the mud talking to people. Of course there were a lot of people from Hornell, Ithica etc.since they didn’t get a meeting closer to home. If someone wasn’t there I don’t know how they can really characterize the crowd. Also, the Facebook quote at the beginning of the article was obviously a fabrication, since they didn’t even spell Allegany county correctly. I saw one county legislator there, and he didn’t go anywhere near Reed!!!!
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Melissa, thanks for your comment. Sadly, the one who can’t spell Allegany is me. Spurred by spellcheck, I attempted to correct the spelling in the clip. That clip is typical of many.
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Melissa, it is spelled Ithaca, not Ithica.
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It did no good for the Germans who saw through Hitler’s takeover of France and Poland and knew it meant disaster to their countries. Out of fear and overwhelming force, the majority in these counties saluted. Perhaps you were joking when you wrote: “The one thing that Tompkins County could do to hurt and possibly defeat Tom Reed is to enthusiastically support him.”
The town halls where Tom Reed more or less said it would his way ( and Trump’s) or the highway – was also heard nationwide. Building up the hopes of the masses that they are the Greatest, Invincible if they follow, should not bring Reed and Trump more support. It should bring them shame.
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I thought about all the “unruly” crowds in Big Flats during the time I worked as their Town Planner and Tom was the Town’s Attorney (2005-2007). Tom has a lot of experience with “raucous and angry” people in crowds. I thought about how he allowed them to attack the Town’s employee’s who were carrying out the Town Board’s policy. That instead of the questions and comments directed in civil ways when he was facilitating those meetings, he allowed personal attacks without a second thought thereby shielding the Board from having to take responsibility for their policies.
Tom is especially expert at rhetoric making it sound as if he is “listening” when in fact he is thinking about the GOP “talking points” he will respond with that completely and diametrically opposes your point of view. He frames a publically paid program such as the ACA (the correct name is not Obamacare, but “Patient Protection” and Affordable Care Act PPACA)), Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as “Government Run” and those that pay for it as trusting government more than he does. The responses were perfect, “We, the people” are the government. These programs are intended to “protect” the people.
Another twist on their repeal and/or their replace rhetoric to cloak privatizing the PPACA is naming their program “patient centered” and this is just code for “Insurance Company Enrichment.” Their intent is nothing short of the direct transfer of wealth from “the people” to the predatory FIRE Sector (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate), very same FIRE Sector those programs were enacted to protect the people from. And…one needs only to follow the money to see through this GOP Rhetoric. His campaign contributions are primarily from the FIRE Sector. A caveat: You won’t be able to follow the money on Fox News or Brietbart who are subsidized by the very same FIRE Sector.
He frames “regulations” as hurtful to businesses rather than “laws that are intended to protect human health and safety.” He is a lawyer, so he indeed knows the difference. Poisoning the air and water that we need to thrive on as human beings in pursuit of “profit” is not rational or moral.
He is an expert at rhetoric and using “GOP talking points” to discredit your concerns over these programs that actually have immense benefits to the local economy. Even the “caring” framing or the “I care” slogan is a cloak to hide the Authoritarian and Conservative nature of ramming their privatization scheme down our throats whether you like it or not. Privatization of any public program always, always costs more when those programs are delivered through the private sector. This is irrefutable.
The closer the “muckrakers” get in providing solid evidence to support a criminal finding of collusion between Trump and Putin/Russia, do remember how much Tom Reed “cared about your concerns.” Do remember his support for the man who is in character and demeanor…is as about as immoral and sinful as you can get through the eyes of a devout Catholic—something that Tom Reed claims he is.
Nothing changes in the 23rd District, if nothing changes. There is no common ground. There is only “his” ground and tough if you don’t like it. As long as you are framed as “unruly” or “angry” or “raucous” or even resolute, he will do as he pleases for the FIRE Sector.
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It may not have been a practical suggestion, but I didn’t intend it as a joke. If Tom Reed were cheered by a rowdy group of extreme liberals, socialists, and hippies thought by some to be typical inhabitants of Tompkins County, he might face a serious primary challenge at least.
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That would be interesting. But after 3 terms of shenanigans, Reed has yet to be seriously challenged by a Republican candidate. He innately chooses the hottest topics of the year that make Republican challengers seem innocuous and low in experience ( SAFE ACT, gas hydraulic fracturing, repealing anything Obama succeeded in doing). Who would run against Tom Reed now, as he sits at the right hand of god?
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So well said.
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