Congressman’s Meet and Greet Was Informative and Not Well Attended

A small group of voters got a rare treat Monday night, October 15 at the Benicia Veterans Hall when Congressman Mike Thompson came to town to meet voters, listen to their concerns and answer their questions during an unscripted question and answer session. 

Those who attended got the opportunity to hear a sitting congressman talk about an array of issues from water policy and how it affects the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to agriculture, from the federal budget to the difference between working in the state legislature and working in Congress. 

Updates from the San Francisco Giants game were given periodically by Thompson’s campaign manager and were often underscored by the cheering from patrons in the Veterans Hall bar. 

Thompson currently represents California Congressional District One and is running for the newly drawn Congressional District Five that includes Benicia and Vallejo in southern Solano County, an area Thompson represented when he was in the State Senate in the 1990’s. 

Over the next two weeks Patch will highlight Thompson’s answers to some of the questions he was asked.   Today’s question deals with the difference between Sacramento and Washington, D.C. 

“The difference between Sacramento and Washington is size,” said Thompson.  “In just about every instance in Sacramento people were on the same page.  In Washington, it’s such a diverse are that’s represented, from California to the eastern seaboard, I don’t think voters have a full appreciation or a full grasp of how different these areas are.”

“I get asked all the time in my current district, ‘How is it that congress can’t understand how important this issue is?’” said Thompson.  “Sometimes we just don’t have a clear understanding of how different congressional districts are across the country."

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If there’s something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor JB Davis at 707-628-0051 or email him at benicia@patch.com.