Rep. Honda's Failure to Serve

Press Release

Ro Khanna and constituents of the 17th district held a press conference and rally outside of Congressman Honda's San Jose office, featuring powerful firsthand stories from Larry Sacks, Kathy Watanabe, and Julie Kring, all of whom have been negatively affected by the inaccessibility and false promises of Congressman Honda and his office.

Ro opened up the rally with comments about Congressman Honda's lack of transparency, dodging of debates, and refusal to hold any town halls during his five-week Congressional recess.

"We've been met with absolute silence. Voters in this district deserve an honest, open dialogue so they can make an open and informed decision," Ro said. "I hope Congressman Honda will listen to the people in this district."

"These seats don't belong to career politicians," Ro said. "They belong to the people."

Ro was followed at the podium by Larry Sacks, whose father passed away after a three month stay at two local VA facilities, where he repeatedly received substandard care from medical staff. Larry first contacted Congressman Honda's office when a social worker threatened to release his father to the street. The Congressman's Deputy District Director made promises on at least four separate occasions including that "something" would be done and that the VA would be made to provide answers about his father's care. Unacceptably, the Deputy District Director stopped responding to Larry's emails and phone messages and finally just ignored him completely.

Kathy Watanabe spoke next. She's a resident of Santa Clara and sits on the city's Library Board of Trustees, and has been a leading champion for helping to open Santa Clara's Northside Library. During the impasse, Kathy pleaded with Congressman Honda's office to help address the situation, but was repeatedly ignored. Due to sustained advocacy from local community members and leaders, the city and state were able to come to a resolution, and the library opened this month. At the opening celebration, Congressman Honda's office came and eagerly tried to accept credit.

The last speaker was Julie Kring, a high school senior from Sunnyvale. While in Washington, D.C. attending the Running Start program for young women interested in politics, Julie was extremely disappointed to be the only participant who didn't get to meet with her Representative. Instead, she waited an hour to speak with a disengaged staffer for 10 minutes. 


At the rally, voters made it clear that won't accept Congressman Honda's absenteeism and failure to serve. It's time for change in the 17th District.

Source