Lieu talks Congress, Russia and upcoming races
U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu, speaking at an event hosted by Indivisible South Bay. Photo
U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu was greeted with a standing ovation when he was introduced to at Torrance’s Toyota Meeting Hall last Wednesday night.
“I don’t get that kind of applause in Washington D.C.,” he said.
The event was held jointly by Indivisible South Bay, as well as Indivisible groups from San Pedro and the Beach Cities.
Indivisible groups urge their local politicians to “resist” the proposals of the current Republican-led Federal Government.
“The political spectrum for the organization is left of center…about a third of the people call themselves ‘progressive,’ a third ‘liberal,’ and a third ‘moderate’ or Democrat,” said Umesh Ketkar, founder of Indivisible South Bay. “People find their own home where people who believe like them are around.”
Lieu was, indeed, home among this group, which greeted many of his statements and responses to questions with cheers.
The event was a town hall. Lieu began by addressing the recent federal government shutdown and explained why he voted against the Continuing Resolution to fund the government.
“It’s not only harmful to the military, there was no fix for DREAMers, it did nothing to address community health centers – it was missing a lot of different things,” Lieu said.
He also addressed the ongoing investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election, and President Donald Trump’s actions surrounding the investigation, including the firing of former FBI director James Comey.
“We have confirmation that the Special Council is looking into obstruction of justice…if you remember Watergate, Nixon ended up resigning for obstruction of justice and obstruction of the investigation. That was the first Article of Impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee passed out,” Lieu said. “Here’s a fun fact: I sit on the House Judiciary Committee.”
Lieu also spoke about the upcoming 2018 elections, including targeted districts that Democrats hope to win from Republicans, including those of retiring Republican Congressmen Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. He also cautioned activists to not look too far down the road.
“I think the time to look toward 2020 isn’t now, but in December 2018,” Lieu said.
Security was tight for the night’s private event, which sold free tickets online, and endeavored to keep out disruptors and “trolls.”
However, the night wasn’t completely incident-free. A liberal activist confronted a conservative activist in the front row for recording Lieu.
“We’re just wanted to see what was going on. We think Ted Lieu is a liar,” said the conservative activist, a woman who identified herself as Dura while recording the interview with a camera. “He’s trying to get to run for 2020, and this is what he’s doing.”
Another, John MacIntosh of El Segundo, responded to Lieu’s comments on recently-announced federal tariffs on foreign-made solar panels. When asked by an audience member, Lieu said the tariffs were “a stupid thing to do” that would negatively affect small businesses that purchase and install solar panels.
“I think it’s a good thing to talk tariffs…we want California companies to be building solar panels and selling them to California customers,” MacIntosh said. “Everyone is going to suffer if we don’t create enough jobs in California; we’re losing jobs and have too many people on welfare and not enough people creating wealth.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Naui Huitzilopochtli was upset that organizers didn’t pull his submitted question, regarding Democratic tactics against Republican agitation.
“I look at live feeds when Ted is doing town halls, and Trump supporters show up and interrupt him; they cut him off, call him a liar, and no one kicks them out,” Huitzilopochtli said. “When people see weakness, people don’t want to vote for weakness. That’s why Donald Trump won – even though he’s fake, people say ‘I want a powerful guy.’”
The event, Ketkar said, seemed to be a success, though not one that he imagines Indivisible South Bay will continue as a “normal, monthly thing.”
“We’ll have to decide. We don’t endorse candidates,” Ketkar said. “But after the primaries, we may invite both candidates in a race to talk or answer questions