The Fire House is the key community center to many rural towns in upstate New York. That includes the Schuyler County Town of Tyrone. The meeting room is known for Pancake breakfasts and Harvest Dinners, as well as a community meeting room. Last Saturday (April 1), it was filled with those who traveled to Tyrone to partake Rep. Tom Reed third Town Hall meeting of the day.
The following is a summary of the event from a Facebook entry. I received permission to post it here. (Thanks, Kay).
Congressman Tom Reed – 23rd District NY – held a Town Hall Meeting today in the firehouse of the Town of Tyrone. Approximately 150 people attended and the following issues were addressed:
- environment
- Planned Parenthood
- President Trump’s tax returns, and
- a brief mention of the Russian investigation.
Needless to say he is pretty much supporting this administration’s agenda but he was open to having people ask questions. Everyone was quite respectful but very concerned as to the direction of this country —
He is obviously very supportive of coal, natural gas and oil but did say he supports wind and solar; he feels the EPA needs to relax regulations so more coal jobs can be created;
He is against Planned Parenthood and against invading Trump’s privacy on his tax returns.
The bulk of the crowd were not in agreement and a lady from Corning area spoke very eloquently about the Planned Parenthood issue, scolding him on his stance on this issue.
Cong. Reed is a very smooth talker and one can’t help but wonder if he is getting a subtle message from these town hall meetings — people are coming to these that have never been involved in politics in the past and they are not happy with him and the positions he is taking.
I believe it is safe to say “we will remember how you have voted and what you have said when it comes to 2018. Your re-election won’t be a cakewalk!”
Since Kay posted her summary to Facebook, The (Dundee) Observer, a weekly newspaper, published their take on the meeting. You can read Reed’s comments on the above issues. The reporter ended the article with the following question:
The meeting closed with a man noting Reed is a close friend of Trump who is “making huge dollars” during his presidency “which is totally non-presidential.” The questioner wanted to know if Reed could stand up to Trump in this regard. Reed said he could.”
The follow-up questions could have been: “Will you, and when?”
New NY 23rd 
Thank you, Kay for the update and Dundee Observer for the ending. Shared on my Facebook page, as usual.
Tom is going to repeat the same rhetoric, on a different day pounding his agenda into the ones who vote for him till they believe — much like Fox news.
He will continue to hold these obscure meetings because he figures the “novelty” of coming to these will wear off. We all must persist and resist.
I think we should get together signing up people to vote, if they are elderly, sign them up for absentee ballots so they don’t have to depend on someone to get them to voting booth.
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Good suggestion about absentee ballots.
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Attend every town hall you can and make yourself WELL known to Reed and his staff.
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These Town Hall meetings that Congressman Reed holds are not obscure. He has been holding these meetings since being elected to office. He has promised a set number of meetings per term and there is always good advance notice from teh Reed Congressional office and the local press on the date, time and location of these Town Hall meetings. What I find so interesting is that these meetings are mostly a Progressive backlash against President Trump. When former President Obama was in office very few of these Progressive constituents turned out at Congressman Reed’s Town Hall meetings.
Congressman Reed has actually voted more “Left” since being in office and more “left” than his campaigning would have you believe. Many of teh Constituents who elected Tom Reed to office these past four elections would like a Representative who has a voting record that is more Constitutional, conservative and Libertarian minded.
The Progressive Liberals who I see attending these Town Hall meeting have never voted for Tom Reed and will never vote for a Republican, Conservative or Libertarian candidate over a Democrat candidate.
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It also doubtful that NY-23 primary voters would ever vote for a Conservative or Libertarian candidate over Tom Reed if they ever have that chance. It isn’t because Reed is too liberal, but rather because NY-23 Republicans are too conservative–they prefer the status quo.
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