With only 1-2 days notice ‘Slippery Lee’ held town hall meetings at 3 different locations on Sunday April 23rd.  I attended the meeting in Riverhead at the Eastern Campus of Suffolk County Community College.  There were over 200 in attendance.

I call him Slippery Lee because he professes to be pro-environment, pro- social security,  pro-medicare/medicaid, pro-science, even pro-investigating Russian hacking of the election, etc., while voting the other way.  The format of the meeting I attended was ‘written questions only’, and all questions read by the moderator, John Kennedy.  There was no opportunity to ask a follow-up question or point out that Zeldin’s position often does not match up with his votes on many of the issues discussed.  Very frustrating.

My friend Marge Debowy from Brookhaven town took careful notes.  She was at the Town Hall meeting in Farmingville:

Ted & I went to Lee Zeldin’s Town Hall meeting yesterday.  It was very well attended and very tightly controlled in regard to getting into the venue (they had us show our driver’s licenses!)  We could not ask him questions directly.  We had to fill out a card with the question.  Only some of the questions were answered.  What he had to say was mostly predictable.  He spoke about Cabinet vacancies, and that Trump needs to fill them.

Zeldin believes that Putin is a meddler.  Zeldin said that he will work with anyone in Congress.  He said Trump wants to cut funding to the L.I. Sound, Sea Grants, and make more environmental monetary cuts as well.  Zeldin said that he doesn’t like the current plan for ACA because businesses must pay ACA taxes and carry insurance.  He said that he supports public schools and does not like Betsy DeVos.  He spoke about Veterans Affairs, particularly the Northport VA. He said that he tried to get a project request for Northport VA, but it was not available.

Zeldin supports Trump in regard to “The Dreamers”

Zeldin said that Trump should divulge his tax returns.

Zeldin said that he is concerned about our waterways (Mastic Peninsula) and sewers there.

Zeldin addressed Planned Parenthood, saying that there is a proposal to work on it this week, but we don’t know what the plan is.

Zeldin spoke about Medicare .  He wants to protect the commitment that must be kept for those of us who are part of it now.  He believes that a reintroduction of a 6 month extension for Medicare, Homecare and healthcare throughout the U.S. should be done.

Zeldin said that he believes that gun control is important but he opposes the “Safe Act”.

Zeldin said that he wants funding for scientific research particularly at Stony Brook U. and Brookhaven Labs. He also supports STEM programs in K – 12 classrooms.

Zeldin believes that climate change is real.

Zeldin spoke about the MacArthur Amendment that has not yet been filed.  This is more of an issue to other States than ours. The amendment would allow States to make their own decision about what must be included in a Health Care policy.

Last but not least…Zeldin doesn’t support the building of a Mexican/U.S wall.

The topics overlapped with those discussed in Riverhead.  But perhaps the answers were a bit different?  In regard to the Mexican wall, Zeldin discussed a more detailed approach claiming that both natural and man-made barriers already existed in many places and did not need further fortification, but in other places, there might be a need for a wall.

Read more about these town halls in the news media:

Newsday