Mike Nickerson
Congressman Tom O’Halleran was the featured speaker at our monthly meeting on Jan. 11. The meeting was held over Zoom because of the recent Omicron spike. Because SaddleBrooke has been moved from Congressional District 1 to Congressional District 6 due to the redistricting commission, he will be our representative for only one more year. The congressman emphasized, however, that in his final year as our representative, he will do everything possible to continue representing us well in Congress.
He stressed that Congress and the president have helped our economy and provided the resources needed for healthcare. The American Rescue Plan and the infrastructure bills both were major accomplishments to keep our American jobs and our economy on the right path. We have the lowest unemployment in 50 years, quite an accomplishment given where we were just two years ago. While we continue to face challenges, our government is responding well.
He also emphasized the need for our country to come together rather than lining up on opposing sides. The division makes it harder to find suitable solutions to today’s problems. He emphasized that, together, Americans can successfully confront any situation if we will quit trying to score political points on every issue. Together, we need to find ways to make our country stronger and our people healthier.
Following Congressman O’Halleran’s remarks, Kristin Engel spoke a few minutes about her campaign to be our new Congressional representative. After having served in both the Arizona House and Senate, she is running to represent the new Congressional District 6, which will be SaddleBrooke’s new district after this year.
Finally, we took a few moments to clarify our postponement of the annual Democratic Gala from Jan. 30 to March 1, because of the spike in COVID, and specified some of the steps we have taken to make it more protective of everyone’s health. We appreciate the flexibility of our speaker, Frank Figliuzzi, who has reworked his schedule to accommodate this change.
For more information, you may visit our website at saddlebrookedemocrats.org.