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Looking for 'Common Ground' on immigration

commongroundsolutions.org

A non-profit, non-partisan organization which is dedicated to helping Americans stay informed about issues and get involved in their communities is getting ready for another session in Rochester.

The group is called Common Ground Solutions, and it was founded by local developer Howard Konar who wrote a book several years ago about an effort to get people to move beyond partisan politics.

Last year, Konar held a session at the Democrat and Chronicle about debt and taxation policy. This year, the focus is on immigration. Common Ground Solutions along with a partner organization, Voice of the People, have designed a survey for residents in the 25th congressional district, asking them how they would make decisions on specific issues concerning America’s immigration policy.

“It makes you realize, at least it made me realize that there are tradeoffs, you can’t have everything; we’re so used to talking about one side versus the other, but even for one person who would like to see the ideal immigration policy, it’s very hard to come up with that," Konar said.

Konar says the results of that survey will be discussed at the D&C  this coming Saturday, with 25th district Congressman Joe Morelle there to listen. 

If you are interested in taking the survey, you can do so here. After you complete it, you will receive an invitation to attend the Citizen Panel event.

Konar says the hope is that more of these types of public forums can be held with members of Congress around the country, to help the representatives get a better idea of how their constituents feel about certain hot button issues.  

"Hopefully it benefits the representative as well, because he or she can say when people come to their office and wave polls in their faces or say, you know, you must do this or you must do that about immigration or debt or any other issue, they can say, ‘yeah, you know, you believe that, and I know you believe that, but here’s what the people in my district actually think, and I have to take that into account," Konar said.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.