Where’s Lawler? Hundreds Attend in-Person Town Hall in Peekskill to Demand Answers of Absentee Congressman

Hundreds of constituents filed into Dramatic Hall in Peekskill, N.Y. on Saturday, March 22 to demand answers of Republican Representative Mike Lawler. Hundreds more, unable to fit inside the packed-to-capacity venue, lined the street and snaked around the block. After they were turned away from the indoor town hall, the overflow crowd spontaneously held a rally in the street. Congressman Lawler was a no-show.

The town hall was organized by two women who describe themselves as “two ordinary women who are pissed off.” One of the organizers commented, “Lawler's actions affect us all. He was the deciding vote on the budget bill (which, among other things , decimates Medicaid). In addition to the fact that the proposed budget hurts the most marginalized among us, it threatens the rest of us. For example, if Medicaid is decimated, services at hospitals will be impacted (curtailed), premiums for all of us will go up, and rural hospitals may well be forced to close. Lawler is co-sponsoring the SAVE Act, which the League of Women Voters characterizes as a voter suppression bill. And it is no secret that Lawler hopes to run for governor. (He's been out of the district a lot lately, e.g., on Saturday, he was at a parade in Yonkers, making sure that voters around the State know him.) “

Anticipating that Lawler – who has carefully tried to avoid the mounting outrage and alarm being expressed throughout the district for his support of the MAGA Republican agenda – would fail to attend the in-person town hall, organizers mounted a dummy Mike Lawler on the stage.

In addition to posing questions to the dummy, the organizers crafted responses based on the Congressman’s record. (See one example.)

“Dummy Mike” was asked questions about women’s healthcare decisions and his anti-abortion stance, immigration, the SAVE Act (which he is co-sponsoring and is widely regarded as a voter suppression bill), the dismantling of the Board of Education, and his false and misleading claims that he is a moderate and bipartisan.

Members of the audience addressed these as well as other issues, including Veterans’ services, the budget resolution (in support of which Lawler cast the deciding vote and which necessarily guts Medicaid), crime, safety and security. (Here is the voice of one community member, Melitta Corselli.)

At the conclusion of the town hall, participants wrote messages to Mr. Lawler on neon-colored index cards, which they scattered on and around “Dummy Mike.” These messages will be delivered to Lawler’s Pearl River office on Wednesday, March 26 at 11 am. The details are posted here.
Voters had repeatedly asked Congressman Mike Lawler to hold an in-person town hall during the current congressional recess (March 13 through March 23). He declined to do so. After organizers arranged for this town hall and invited Congressman Lawler to attend, he promptly announced that he was holding a tele-town hall last Wednesday, March 19. There, participants were muted, and Lawler seemingly hand-picked constituents to ask a mere eleven, mostly friendly questions. He avoided answering any challenging questions by simply pivoting to a different answer, and those questioning him were prevented from pressing further.