Claudia Tenney

To the Editor:

Rep. Claudia Tenney likes to tell her constituents that she is fighting for them. She repeats it in campaign ads, in speeches on Fox, and in the carefully crafted lines her staff sends out in her newsletter. But when you look at her actions, her public behavior and the bills she actually sponsors, a very different picture emerges, one that shows unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump’s national agenda and almost no attention to the daily realities facing the people who live here in Oswego County.

Tenney has refused, year after year, to meet with residents in any open public forum. Not one town hall. Not one listening session. Not one opportunity for the people she represents to speak directly to her. Instead, constituents receive canned form letters. Responses so disconnected from the issues raised that they read like automated replies. Residents write to her about healthcare, housing, county staffing shortages, and what comes back is a generic paragraph that could have been sent to anyone in any district in America. That is not representation. It is avoidance, pure and simple.

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Worse, when she does speak publicly about her constituents, it is often to make outrageous accusations or childish, inflammatory remarks (name-calling), insinuations, and dismissive comments about the very people she is supposed to serve. This behavior is beneath the dignity of the office she holds, and it sends a clear message: Tenney does not see the people of Oswego County as partners. She sees them as obstacles to her political loyalties.

And those loyalties are unmistakable. Tenney’s legislative record reads like a checklist of Trump’s priorities. Bills targeting birthright citizenship. Bills restricting federal voter registration efforts. Bills attacking public broadcasting. Bills blocking electric vehicle mandates. Bills advancing symbolic foreign policy positions that have nothing to do with Oswego County’s economy, infrastructure or families. These bills may earn applause in partisan circles, but they do nothing to improve life here at home.

While Oswego County faces real, measurable challenges, Tenney has not sponsored a single bill addressing our infrastructure needs. Not one bill supporting SUNY Oswego’s research capacity or workforce pipeline. Not one bill addressing homelessness all around us. Not one bill expanding rural broadband. Not one bill supporting our hospitals, mental health services or senior care. Not one bill tackling the staffing crisis in county agencies. Her silence is not accidental. It is a choice she makes all the time.

Instead, she has chosen to spend her time pushing legislation that divides Americans, restricts voting access, weakens environmental protections and fuels national culture war battles that do nothing to help families afford groceries or stabilize our healthcare system. These bills may serve Trump’s political project, but they do not serve Oswego County.

Tenney’s representation is not about loyalty to Donald Trump. It is about loyalty to all the people in the 24th Congressional District. It is about showing up, listening and legislating for the community she represents, not hiding behind form letters, refusing public dialogue and attacking constituents who dare to disagree.

Tenney’s record makes one thing painfully clear: She is not legislating for Oswego County. She is legislating for Donald Trump. And the cost of that choice is borne by every resident here at home.

Debbie Chambers

Fulton