Letter To The Editor: Murphy Doesn't Meet With Constituents

February 26, 2018

To the Editor,

The essence of democracy is the free and open interaction between the citizenry and its representatives. At Town Hall meetings, citizens express their concerns and hopes for the future and officeholders explain their positions and plans.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

But, in NY’s 40 th Senate District, it’s not that simple at all. Senator Terrence Murphy has not held such a Town Hall in living memory, and none has been scheduled for the foreseeable future. When asked, his staff can shed no light on when Mr. Murphy might meet with his constituents.

Even worse, when questioned about his positions on various issues, his staffers, paid by us taxpayers, either claim ignorance or provide only vague generalizations. Either the staff is hopelessly uninformed about Mr. Murphy’s positions or they have been instructed not to provide any information to his constituents.

By contrast, Assemblywoman Sandy Galef held five Town Halls in her district over the recent recess, and Robert Kesten, who is challenging Mr. Murphy in SD40, has held four such sessions, with more on the schedule.

One can only conclude that either Mr. Murphy feels disdain for his constituents and doesn’t care what they think, or he lives in dread of meeting with them. Is he hiding something? Does he fear that there is something untoward that will be unearthed in the record that he flaunts in his slick mailings (many paid for by the taxpayers)?

C’mon Mr. Murphy. Sit down and talk with us. Really, your constituents are good people. And, if you meet us, you might actually like us. And we promise not to bite.

Sincerely,

Joel E. Gingold