U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney met some of his younger constituents on Oct. 6. He chatted with students in Highland Falls, where Impact Aid is an issue. And on the way back to his district office, he stopped in Cornwall-on-Hudson.
It wasn’t a chance visit. Mike Limperopulos, a member of the Congressman’s staff, arranged it a day in advance. His son Tiernan is a Cornwall-on-Hudson third-grader.
Rep. Maloney didn’t have a set agenda. After arriving at noon, he tried to explain what a Congressman is. It’s not an easy concept to share with third-graders. The representative used a map to show why big states (like California) send more people to Congress than smaller states (such as Delaware or Rhode Island).
He found some common ground with the kids when he mentioned the Middle East. “How come girls in Afghanistan don’t get to go to school?” one of the students asked him.
The Congressman suggested that was starting to change. “I was in Afghanistan,” he told the class, “and met some girls who are going to school now.”
Other youngsters pieced together a story about a girl who risked her life to save books. She brought them home from the library a few days before the building was bombed.
At the end of the visit, Mr. Maloney told the class that his office had helped 3,000 people over the last two years. He mentioned that he would be flying to Washington, D.C. in the afternoon, and would be attending a legislative meeting in the evening. He showed the card with a microchip that he uses to vote.
The Congressman’s staff eventually pried him loose so he could return to his office and then leave for the airport. We knew why he had chosen Cornwall-on-Hudson for his visit, but we didn’t know why he had come.
“I speak at a lot of events,” he said as we left the building, “but I don’t get many chances to listen. Subjects like aid and education are much more meaningful after you’ve spent time in a classroom.”
