ITHACA, NY (WSKG) – A member of Congressman Tom Reed’s staff held remote office hours in Ithaca on Tuesday.
The staffer sat in a small conference room in City Hall a few doors from the mayor’s office. He was there to hear concerns and address questions from constituents. They did the same thing two weeks ago but no one came by. This time people showed up.
Theresa Alt was one of two people who stopped by.
On Presidents’ Day, Alt was on the Ithaca Commons with other demonstrators, protesting the president’s declaration of a national emergency. She delivered a similar message to Reed’s people.
Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., right, listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“The message I was here to deliver was really, well it had some of the positive,” Alt said, “we need Medicare for All, we need public housing, we need a Green New Deal. We don’t need a lot of troops abroad. We don’t need a lot of nuclear weapons. We don’t need a border wall. The state of emergency is a fake.”
And what does she need from her congressman?
“Representative Reed,” she said, “will have to get up the courage not to just occasionally criticize something that the president does but to actually vote against him. That’s the bottom line.”
Reed has two town hall meeting schedule this Saturday, February 23, in Groton and Owego.