Zeldin To Host Telephone Town Hall, Residents Demand Live Town Hall Meeting

Rep. Lee Zeldin has scheduled a Telephone Town Hall live Thursday night — but outraged residents continue to demand a face-to-face meeting.

Zeldin said his next Town Hall will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.

"Telephone Town Halls allow me the opportunity to speak directly with thousands of Suffolk County residents, to hear your concerns and discuss the best path forward for our community and country. If you reside in New York’s First Congressional District, and would like to opt-in to receive Telephone Town Halls from my office, please fill out this form," he said.

A reporter clicking on the link to that form Wednesday morning, and reaching the "opt-in request" page found a message stating, "The web form is not available."

"As soon as our office noticed it, we reached out to tech support to get this fixed. It is working now," Zeldin's office said.

When asked for comment on why Zeldin was hosting a Telephone Town Hall, rather than a live Town Hall, as requested by his residents, who have been rallying outside his office for weeks and asking for meetings, Jennifer DiSiena, media representative for Zeldin, sent a response via email.

"Telephone Town Hall is a perfect example of an outreach effort with the public that has proven to be extremely effective. For years, Telephone Town Halls have allowed the Congressman to productively reach the maximum amount of constituents who are interested in constructive dialogue. This is a modern way to bring a town hall directly to the constituents’ home. It is true that liberal obstructionists cannot disrupt the call; such claims reinforce their true intention," she said.

"Way too many of the people at the moment requesting Town Halls across the country are doing so with the purpose of disrupting the Town Hall without any interest at all in decorum. It's impossible to take a request like that seriously.

"A large majority of the people saying that Congressman Zeldin won't meet with them haven't even requested a meeting. For those who are interested in having a good discussion on an array of issues, Congressman Zeldin and our staff are meeting with them individually and in small groups; these meetings include people who have been involved in protests. These individual meetings take more time, but have proven to be much more productive.

"Congressman Zeldin has had two straight years of public forums, telephone town halls, and mobile office hours. These outreach efforts with the public have proven to be extremely effective and allow him to productively reach the maximum amount of constituents who are interested in constructive dialogue.

"Since 2015, our office has hosted mobile offices hours across the district, including in Southampton, Bridgehampton, Riverhead, Southold, Smithtown, Mount Sinai and Mastic, just to list a few of the towns. Our office also conducts many Telephone Town Halls and distributes a monthly e-newsletter as well as other direct outreach. Every single constituent who contacts our office receives a response from the Congressman or staff by either phone, email or letter. Staff is always on hand to take immediate concerns and get them to him and the legislative team. We already have several mobile office hours and telephone town halls being planned for the year, including the telephone town hall this week and mobile office hours next week."

But the proposed tele town hall meeting has left residents who belong to the Let's Visit Lee Zeldin Facebook page group furious.

"Rep. Lee Zeldin's constituency is protesting for a town hall where he will stand in front of the people and fearlessly lead a discussion with a respectful crowd," Eileen Duffy said. "One-on-one meetings and tele town halls allow the congressman to vet who can ask a question, or indeed who can participate. In fact, the opt-in form for Thursday's tele town hall was taken down after eight hours. Very few voters were able to sign up. In addition, many of those asking for a town hall have put in requests to meet one on one and have yet to hear back from Rep. Zeldin or his staff. We at LVLZ will continue to ask for a visit where all are invited and allowed to speak. It's the least our representative can do."

A petition has also been created, "Rep. Lee Zeldin needs to hold an open and accessible town hall."

The issue became heated when Zeldin canceled an April event scheduled for Southampton after he said there was harassment and violence at a Rotary Man of the Year event in East Patchogue. Protestors claimed their gathering was a peaceful one, while others who attended the event told Patch they were verbally harassed. To read that prior report, click here.