One of the latest electeds to have a rally held outside their office, in protest of the actions of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, is U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (Congressional District 17).
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, around 11 a.m., a group of about 100 “concerned individuals” staged a rally outside Carmel Town Hall in the Putnam County hamlet of Mahopac, where the Republican’s regional office is located.
Rallygoers called for Lawler to join Democrats in denouncing Trump’s and Musks’s actions, which they say are disregarding the laws of the land and designed to dismantle the Federal government and compromise the confidentiality of government records.
Ann Starer, one of two organizers of the Lawler protest, said they were rallying partly due to Musk’s — and his Department of Government Efficiency team’s — access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
Starer, an attorney, noted that Lawler received $1.4 million from Musk’s America PAC for his election campaign. She said if he is concerned with constituents’ well-being, Lawler should say that “he will not let Elon Musk take away their hard-earned social security benefits, their Medicare and Medicaid benefits.”
“There’s a coup going on, our rights are being taken away, the Constitution is being ignored and the government is being dismantled,” Starer said. “(Yet) we hear radio silence from Mike Lawler.”
Maureen Morrissey, a retired educator, said she wanted Lawler to remember his oath and to put the country over his party.
“I’m just very concerned that what’s been happening in the last three weeks since the inauguration is showing how little respect that Donald Trump, his partner Elon Musk and his minions have for the law, for separation and checks and balances, for following through with policy and tradition,” Morrissey said.
Candice Deglon, a rally participant, told the Peekskill Herald she felt that MAGA was almost gone and that it was really the technocrats who are taking over the country, adding that they could have audited the country responsibly on an ongoing basis rather than firing everyone and closing down contracts.
“It’s kind of like living in a parallel universe,” Deglon said. “I think that this new administration has discarded the law. I think that people are kind of taking this like a reality show and it’s real. I think they’re terrorizing government workers. I think they’re throwing out the rule of law.”
Protesters denied entry to place messages on Congressman Lawler’s door
Rallygoers initially planned on sticking messages on Lawler’s office door, but were prohibited from doing that by Town of Carmel Police. Both Lawler’s constituent liaison Erin Crowley and police said the reason for blocking entry was because even though Town Hall is a public building, Lawler’s constituent office is a federal space.
Constituents were also prohibited entry for bathroom use because they were told the restrooms were out of order, said police. Organizer Starer claimed she arrived early and was directed to the bathroom with no problem before the rally started.
A police officer told the Herald that they could not allow the large group in to post things at Lawler’s door and that they needed to have an appointment to all come in at once. Organizers said Lawler’s Mahopac staffers did not respond to repeated requests for an appointment about a week prior to the rally.
An officer also told the Herald that the rallygoers set up a contact person to drop off whatever letters they had, but Starer said that wasn’t the case.
Organizers ultimately settled on several people at a time placing letters and note cards on tables set up outside Lawler’s office by police.
Nate Soule, spokesperson for Congressman Lawler, sent the following statement to the Herald about Tuesday’s rally.
“We’re glad to see residents of the 17th District exercising their First Amendment rights,” Soule said. “The Congressman will continue his important work on securing the border, lifting the cap on SALT, tackling the cost-of-living. And fighting antisemitism.”
He continued, “Our office looks forward to meeting with residents across the district at our Mobile Office Hours and Town Halls in the coming months.”
Schumer constituents who protested meet with his local staff
One week after more than 100 protesters gathered outside his regional office at 1 Park Place in Peekskill to demand that Senator Chuck Schumer protect democracy from Trump and Musk, a private meeting took place with constituents and representatives of Schumer.
The meeting, which barred press, took place at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, inside Schumer’s Peekskill office. Participants included a group calling itself Peekskill Progressives and Schumer’s Hudson Valley Regional Director, Roberto Williams.
An agenda obtained by the Herald showed several requests of Schumer by the Peekskill Progressives, including emergency briefings by Democrats, educating citizens about Musk’s access to the Treasury’s payment system, accountability at the highest level, and for Schumer to lead and advocate a national strike.
Peekskill resident Tina Volz-Bongar, a tenant advocate and a speaker at the Feb. 4 Schumer rally, told the Herald she felt they didn’t hear any idea of a plan at the meeting. She questioned what plan is there to help people if Medicaid is slashed and to help those whose children are scared to go to school in fear of deportation.
“We were kind of asking him what are we going to do here, what should we do,” said Volz-Bongar, adding that the response from Schumer’s representative was, ‘We’re writing it down and we’re going to get back to you.’ That was really it. And we were really saying, ‘No, we want you to organize a national strike where we don’t go to work or anything. [What we do is] we call up these billionaires and we don’t spend [our own] money.’”
Rally attendee Rochelle Bonner’s son’s disability funds were frozen but never restored when the federal freeze was lifted. According to Volz-Bongar, Bonner is due to be issued a check this week.
“Are you going to stand up for the people of Peekskill? Are you going to stand up for the people in general?” questioned Bonner. “My concern is Social Security. What are they going to do if they stop funding? How is housing going to get funding? It’s going to be a national eviction.”
Senator Schumer’s office did not respond to Peekskill Herald for a comment as of this writing.
