Mike Lawler’s fourth and last scheduled town hall for 2025, which took place on Saturday night in Hopewell Junction, NY, was more of the same at lower volume. But it had a few notable moments.

Another night, another high school auditorium. The usual protest out front. The usual heavy security screening — empty your pockets, full body scan with wand, no bags allowed, not even small purse (my partner solved this with multi-pocketed cargo pants, which she was prepared to remove if demanded). I did get to bring my disposable pen in this time (it was confiscated at the Putnam County event). The usual lengthy ground rules and accompanying verbal oath to comply:

This being 6PM on a Saturday night, during Shabbat, in the northernmost county in the district, turnout was modest. About 200+ versus 500-1000 at prior town halls. Little media presence. The auditorium was also bigger, so crowd unrest tended to dissipate in the space.

Photo credit: KELLY MARSH / Special To The Poughkeepsie Journal

There was the usual local Republican official to man the mic as moderator, in this case the Town Supervisor of East Fishkill, Nick D’Alessandro. Whose job it was to interject an overly amplified “OK, folks, please” and move on to the next question any time the crowd got a bit rowdy.

Photo credit: KELLY MARSH / Special To The Poughkeepsie Journal

Like the prior town hall, this one started late and ended early. Scheduled for 2 hours but went about 90 minutes. There were 20 questions, including two from the moderator and 3 “attaboys” that weren’t really questions, but still inspired Mike to talk.

Moments of note:

SALT victory speech: Lawler of course started with news that he had prevailed in lifting the cap on State and Local Tax Deductions (SALT) from $10K to $40K in the Senate’s version of the tax bill (the BBB, use your own B’s), though it got scaled back to 5 years. While touting it as a victory for his middle class constituents, this was clearly a win for the wealthier among us. As highlighted by the Tax Policy Center yesterday, the Senate increased the tax cuts that were in the House bill, “with most of those additional tax cuts to the highest-income households. The main reason: the way it treats the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.” Making the BBB more regressive, digging a deeper hole in the deficit, paid for with $1T in Medicaid cuts. Thanks, Mike.

Walkout: The couple sitting behind us were first-time town hall attendees from Westchester County. One of them self-deported before Lawler finished his answer to the first question, she was so disturbed by what she was witnessing.

The BBB: The first question was on the tax bill, and it produced his standard talking points. If you haven’t heard them, you can watch his spots yesterday on CNBC and Newsmax. It’s hard to sit through, filled with pandering moments and misinformation. Lawler’s answer brought the crowd to life, with lots of shouting throughout his 9-minute answer, punctuated by Nickie D on the mic reminding us that we had all agreed to the ground rules, and we needed to behave.

Mic control: One of the ground rules was to limit questions to 30 seconds. Of course, most questioners want to establish context for their question. As was the case with questioner number 2, who took about 40 seconds with her lead-in, and as she started her question (“Do you believe elected officials have a moral obligation to tell the truth about and to their constituents or ….”) the mic was taken away. And the crowd booed lustily, so Mike let her finish. And then he responded by talking about the “radicals” from Indivisible. “Where do you think they get their funds from?” The mic was not taken away from any of the subsequent questioners, though.

Tax cuts for billionaires: One question, why not limit tax cuts to those under $400K, and then there would be no need to cut Medicaid and SNAP? This generated some Lawlerisms, like: these are just extensions, there are no new tax cuts for billionaires. But interestingly, he suggested his support for letting the top tax rate go back up to 39.6% from 37%. That would only bring in $100B-$250B over 10 years, not enough to cover the massive cuts to healthcare, or even Lawler’s SALT provision. But even so, why didn’t you fight for that, Mike?

“It is about getting to 218 in the House and 50 plus one in the Senate.” Our “fourth most bipartisan” representative never considered a path where those numbers might be achieved with a less radical bill, with support across the aisle. Because, well, Trump. Which is why they got to 50 plus one in the Senate today, and will likely get to 218 in the House this week — but I still encourage all of you to call Lawler’s office and register your opposition, remembering that he was the deciding vote last time.

“Shut up, Lady!”: Lawler was asked what he’s doing to push back on Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders. He went off on a meandering trip through both parties being responsible for expanding executive powers, the executive orders of prior administrations, the extraordinary number of nationwide injunctions imposed against Trump. After 6 minutes of this, people started to push back a bit, which led to this:

“Shut up, lady! Let him answer the question, will ya?” The silent minority in the room (by my estimate 20% versus the noisier 80%, the unhappy constituents), well behaved to that point, had had enough of the majority pushback. They just wanted to listen to the smooth vocal stylings of Lawler without challenge or interruption.

This same constituent was called on later to ask a question. He asked it of the audience: “How many of you can vote in this district?” Obviously forgetting the strict vetting and ID checks to ensure that everybody in the auditorium was a voter in the district. And buying into Lawler’s innuendo that the Democratic Party is sending in agitators from outside the district. Who are somehow getting into these town hall lockdowns? The questioner’s voice built to a crescendo, asking if Donald Trump was backstage. Not sure what that was about.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Mike says food insecurity is a major concern, but the federal government can’t afford to continue paying for 100% of SNAP. The BBB simply imposes a 5% cost-share on states, says he.

Social Security: Lawler is against raising the retirement age or reducing benefits. He believes people who have paid in should be able to rely on those benefits. He is focused in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus on identifying new revenue streams to bolster the trust fund and make it solvent.

Pushing back on Trump: Concern was expressed about the rule of law and threats to democracy. Lawler gave a sanguine response that Trump won the election by talking about many of the things that he is now doing, and that Lawler chooses to engage constructively. In other words, if he raises his voice too much, he’ll lose his job.

Student loans: One constituent asked about endowment funds at Harvard being used for foreign nationals, to the disadvantage of U.S. citizens. This triggered Lawler’s longest answer of the night, which lulled the crowd into submission as he wandered through a forest of education topics and acronyms. Hardest to reconcile was his focus on affordability, talking up his bill to put a cap of 2% on college interest rates. Meanwhile, the BBB passed in the Senate today contains some of the biggest changes to the student loan system in recent times, which many say will result in higher monthly payments for most borrowers.

Other topics covered: clean drinking water & infrastructure, ICE agents with masks, Iran, political violence, Trump’s attacks on the judiciary, taxes on tips & overtime, safety in our communities, and cuts at local VA facilities.

In summary, these town halls with Mike Lawler can never satisfy. Especially if, like me, your ticket isn’t drawn to ask a question. As you watch the moderator and supporters ask friendly questions, or none at all; and watch Mike Lawler filibuster through his time with stock answers, misinformation and bromides for the hard questions. Attempts to follow up met with “shut up and let him answer” from the unquestioning.

Fortunately, we were able to roll into Sloop Brewing Company next door afterwards to wash out the aftertaste. Somehow a song drifted into my head. “Feel so broke up, I wanna go home . . . . “