Coalition of Concerned Citizens Converse with Empty Chair in Rep. Kat Cammack’s Absence at Town Hall Meeting
Edited April 28: Corrected name spellings
Friday evening, local advocacy group the Coalition of Concerned Citizens attempted to hold a town hall meeting at Upper Room Ministries with congressional representative Kat Cammack.
Chair of the Alachua County Democratic Party Ebonie Bryant told GnvInfo, “We sent [Kat Cammack] a letter and we did give her a chance to respond.”
Cammack did not respond.
Bryant went on to say, “I hear that she has a town hall every week with certain constituents…. I know she is forgetting about a lot of people who live in [District 3]. I am very concerned about what's going on. We have a lot of elected officials doing what they want to instead of what the people who elected them would like. There’s no better way than to go to those constituents to hear their concerns. If you’re gonna ignore them and not do a town hall, how do you know how they feel?”
Released Reentry Director Leigh Scott moderated the event, calling up dozens of people who asked Cammack their questions despite her absence.
Jeannie Necessary said “Good evening, empty chair Cammack.... I have reached out to your office several times, and I've had some wonderful conversations with your staff, but they've all lied to me. I was told in April that you would have a town hall in Alachua County.... Here I am tonight, talking to an empty chair, which seems a bit ridiculous considering you're our representative."
Necessary went on to ask, "How will recent cuts to programs like the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program affect local food banks, schools, and farmers? What are you going to support, as part of the [agriculture] committee, to make sure farmers are able to grow food for their local community, including farm-to-school programs? My second question is what are your reasons for why you support cuts to SNAP and Medicaid programs when you represent the area with the greatest amount of need in Florida? Why would you allow NIH funding to be cut, when it is the lifeblood of Gainesville — a city central to providing health services to rural communities?”
Helen Warren said “My concern is your lack of engagement with the budget and funding process with our country that is affecting the [Veterans Affairs] (VA) administration…. The veterans that are coming back after their service deserve to get the medical care that they deserve as well as education and housing assistance. Will you stand up for our veterans and enable them to get the health care that they deserve?”
Tiffany Cole said “At the beginning of the second Trump administration, Republicans said they would protect women whether they liked it or not. The SAVE Act would require most eligible voters to provide a passport or birth certificate in order to register to vote. Approximately 146 million American citizens do not possess a valid passport, and it can be a lengthy and expensive process. 84% of women change their last names after marriage, so as many as 69 million American women do not have a birth certificate with their legal name. The SAVE Act would add inconveniences and obstacles that will disproportionately impact women and their right to vote. My question for you, Kat Cammack, how can the Republican Party claim to protect women if you allow them to take our voice?”
Retired family therapist Tom Erney said “I’d like to know what it is going to take for you and your MAGA minions in congress to finally acknowledge that President Trump is a sociopath…. I have sat with a number of sociopaths over the decades. President Trump is way beyond meeting the minimum criteria in the DSM for sociopathology…. All of the concerns that we list on our wall, all the concerns our audience has here today, and all of the concerns around the country mean nothing to sociopath.”
A man who made an anonymous statement read by someone else wrote, “The Holocaust did not begin with the gas chambers. The very first concentration camps were established to incarcerate political dissidents on the flimsiest of pretexts. The scope of eligibility for interment was quickly expanded to include a great number of supposed undesirable categories. As an autistic man, I am well aware of the Aktion T4 program, responsible for the murder of 300,000 disabled people. It was through this program that the gas chambers were first devised as instruments of industrialized mass murder. Knowing this, I have been highly appalled by the recent comments from our alleged Health Secretary, RFK Jr., and the smearing of the autistic community as a bunch of incompetent, overgrown children who will serve no purpose but to destroy families and act as a drain on our systems. Now, he has announced his intent to create a registry of autistics.”
According to the Washington Post, the U.S. government has walked back their plans to create a national registry of people with autism after receiving widespread pushback.
The anonymous man went on to say, “I know exactly where this is going, HIPAA be damned. If I fall victim to whatever scheme is being cooked up, I will do everything in my power to haunt your miserable [lives], as well as every other coward in government from beyond the grave. Assuming instead that I make it out alive, I will ensure that your name is present in the history books for generations to come. I promise you it will not be in a positive context unless you somehow manage to grow a spine between now and then, assuming we — your bosses — haven’t long since fired you for your pathetic underperformance.”
Other topics included concerns about social security, quality of drinking water, the Russia–Ukraine war, the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), tariffs, FEMA funding, poverty induced death, and compliance with the constitution and rule of law.
All of the attendee’s questions were sent to Cammack’s office.
