What happens when in the middle of the night a bill gets rushed to the NY Assembly and Senate and you awaken to find your 2nd Amendment Rights have been infringed upon? Well, most citizens want to speak to their legislators to find out why they voted or did not vote. They would like some answers; some civil conversation that doesn’t include a form letter….that’s what they want. What did they get?
Save Long Island, a non-political, non-partisan group invited all 31 Long Island Assembly and Senators to a Town Hall style meeting at the South Huntington Library –and not one legislator showed.Is this the way to make your constituents happy? Is this the way to get reelected? Well, perhaps some of the Republican and Conservative legislators who voted “with their [mostly Democrat] districts”, stabbing their own party in the back by voting against the 2nd Amendment thought so. Apparently they thought not showing up would save some grief and that they could expect more votes from the other party who actually support the NY SAFE ACT. Well their constituents in the room this blustery spring night –some who had expressed that they actually helped these legislators to get elected by collecting signatures, donating to them or rallying for them didn’t think it was a smart thing and vowed to vote them out.
What happened at this Town Hall Meeting was that a room full of very passionate people turned the tables and stepped up on the stage one by one before a backdrop of empty chairs with the missing legislators names listed and became part of a video filmed by Danny Panzella of truthsquad.tv. This night became a night of impassioned pleas, anger, frustration, examples, reasoning, and justice for some of the 80 plus citizens that took the time from their own lives to find out answers to their questions only to be let down once again by those they voted to legislate with the Constitution. Many agreed that the only way to get justice was to vote these legislators out and run for office themselves. Many candidates who stepped up to the plate to run themselves, stepped up to the stage to inspire others to do the same including Gigi Bowman running against one of the Republican voters of the NY Safe Act, Carl Marcellino. One candidate for Suffolk County Sheriff, Michael Houze, read a form letter sent by Republican and Conservative Assemblyman, Chad Lupinacci which drew moans from the crowd. Also speaking was Congressional Candidate Michael McDermott running against Steve Israel in 2014.
The night wasn’t a total loss in not having the legislators attend. By expressing their dissatisfaction with the current crop in office and vowing themselves to run or support those who run against them, it was a very productive night indeed. There is a new plan for the future of Long Island and it doesn’t include those pictured on the screen below.
Gigi Bowman: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Clean Food 