Monday, August 08, 2011

Jerry Costello

Have you ever tried to get an actual answer from your Congressmen? I have and its really not possible, unless you know them in their personnel life or are a hefty campaign contributor. I had attempted to contact Congressmen Costello back in August of '09 with general questions regarding the then hot topic of government health care. I received back an email from "Jerry" that contained in Jerry's words, "a brief summary of questions and suggestions I have received."

Number six was my least favorite.

6.Why are you not holding town meetings?
I have held over 400 town meetings since I have been in Congress. In the beginning, the town meeting forum was productive. Unfortunately, they became unproductive for almost everyone in attendance when a few people traveled from meeting to meeting in order to dominate the time with their one issue; therefore I stopped holding town hall meetings a few years ago.


The issue I have is that Costello had been in Congress for just over twenty years when this email was sent out. That works out to about twenty meetings a year. It is important to note that he sent this email out when the "Tea Party" was forming and town hall meetings that showed political figures giving no answer or bad answers to questions were the news story of the day, I could understand his hesitation to these meetings then but its time to stop hiding.

I can't think of another word to use other than hiding. Its time to come home, stand for your actions, and listen to people who may or may not agree with you. I'd have to think that a congressmen would want to come back to their district and gain as much information as they could. At $175,000/year we should get a couple of meetings while he's not in Washington.

Try not to pigeon hole me into a political party when you read this post. I have voted for people in both political parties. I have voted both Democrat and Republican in primary elections. I am losing my faith in both parties and fully understand that neither truly reflects my beliefs. This is not a slam towards Congressmen Costello on the basis of his party but due to his reluctance to face his constituents. I'd like to see what he's planning for us since so far the only person I can see that is planning on running against him is good ole' Terri Davis Newman........,on that note I'm done for the day.

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