Ep. 9: Did Mike Kelly stop holding town halls just to avoid Diane Syphrit?

October Surprise

Episode #9 of October Surprise features Diane Syphrit of Hermitage talking about women’s issues, LGBTQ rights, and Mike Kelly’s in-person town halls, before he stopped holding them: “September 22, 2010, just before the election, Mike Kelly writes – if you want to call it a contract, because he signed it – his personal pledge to the (then) 3rd Congressional District ,” Syphrit says. “I still have one of these documents … that he signed and wrote to the people and he posted this out on his website. He said, ‘I personally pledge to you … that if you will elect me’ – and he had 10 items on there. ‘Number 10: Hold regular town halls.’ He signed that; that happened for one year because in 2011 he stopped doing them.” October Surprise is a podcast created for citizens by citizens in PA’s new 16th Congressional District. Conversations educate listeners in Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Lawrence, and Butler Counties on key issues leading up to Election Day 2018.