Editor: I eagerly read your story on Tom Sullivan being part of the group holding a virtual Townhall meeting regarding gun control. I fully support his advocacy of raising the age at which a person may buy an automatic gun from 18 to 21. I looked forward to being part of that Townhall meeting until I read it required a level of donation! Since when are Townhall meetings exclusive to those who can only afford to pay for their opinions to be heard?? I believe a Townhall meeting includes all of those who live in a town. I would have understood better had it been a story which indicated that contributors only were going to be part of this meeting. To call a donors only meeting a “town hall” meeting is deceptive.

7 replies on “LETTERS: Town hall or fundraiser? Advocating for gun violence solutions deserves real conversation”

  2. Sharon is right to be pissed. This is gross. Sullivan, Crow, and Bennet should all be fined for lying to the public and calling this fundraiser a community event – since they press released this as a community event instead of a high-dollar donor party, they should be required to let the community join for free now and actually hold a REAL town hall. Have any of these money-grubbing politicos had even had a REAL open townhall or community meeting in Aurora at all this year?? Probably no time left in their busy schedules for listening to their constituents without $400 to drop on a glorified campaign commercial.

    1. I can’t think of a more accessible elected official that Jason Crow. Sign up for his newsletter to find out the ongoing schedule of virtual and in-person Town Halls. High-dollar donors? I contributed $5.00 because I believe in the aim of the event – reducing gun violence – and in Tom also. The wording of the publicity for the event is clumsy, but I support the intent.

    2. I looked into this.

      Yes, they are trying to raise money, but can you blame them? They are up against a multibillion dollar industry that bankrolls candidates of the other side, and that’s just the gun lobby, not including the other corporations.

      As far as being disingenuous, they have a free community interest ticket and it would be my guess that they are going to the record the event and put it on social media the next day.

      As far as being gross, is it gross for a victim of gun violence to try to get elected so that he can make sure what happened to his family doesn’t happen to someone else’s? Getting elected takes money and I don’t think the guy made millions working for the postal service for 30 years. And I personally think we need more working class, front line community member in office. Those people only raise money from grassroots donations.

      I can understand getting mad at politicians trying to fundraise off an issue that they really could care less about solving, but that doesn’t really track for a guy who ‘s son was literally murdered in one of the most horrific mass shootings in America history? I’m sure plenty of people have fundraised off of his story. Why can’t he invite leaders and other elected officials to raise some money so that he has the resources to win a race he might very well lose. This paper I believe has said his race is one of the most competitive in the state and could decide which party controls the Senate.

      I say let him raise money, and if you really care about the issue you should donate to his campaign and go to the event. You might learn something and actually contribute to solving the problem of gun violence.

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