Letters: Rep. Hamadeh fails to show to town hall with constituents

On March 17, I attended a peaceful gathering of approximately 190 people at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Surprise.

Since Rep. Abe Hamadeh, who represents Congressional District 8, was not present to answer questions at this prearranged Town Hall meeting for his constituents, an empty chair with Rep. Hamadeh’s picture was available as a sounding board. Participants could either place their questions into a basket to be forwarded to our representative, or they could come to the microphone and speak to the empty chair representing Rep. Hamadeh.

There were a wide variety of concerns and questions addressed to our Rep. Hamadeh, ranging from our national parks, veteran affairs, DEI, including our Navajo Nation, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These concerns and information will be forwarded to Rep. Hamadeh for comment or answers.

The past president of the Navajo Nation, Jonathan Nez (2019-2023), was the featured speaker of the CD8 people’s town hall. He thanked the many veterans in attendance for their service and said that we need warriors, such as the Navajo Code Talkers, who helped us win World War II.

He advised the constituents to “warrior up” to fight against the lies, lies and more lies threating our democracy. Lies like were being told that we were getting $400 each to attend this town hall meeting. This is a lie as we came together out of our concern for current events.

Mr. Nez said that he has warned his Navajo people about the danger of letting the current administration offer affordable housing on their reservation properties. This is a ploy to gain access to our national park and uranium mining. He received a standing ovation for presence.