Lobbying visit to Representative Paul Tonko on March 7, 2014.

On Friday, March 7, 2014 a delegation of four members of the Beyond Afghanistan/No Drones Project met with Representative Paul Tonko [NY district 20] for an hour long session dealing with drone policies. Some of the things that we discussed included civilian deaths, the need for increased transparency and accountability,  ongoing  violations of human rights and International and Constitutional law in the current deployment of weaponized and surveillance drones and drone assassinations and the role that the military, industrial, Congressional complex plays in drone acquisition, procurement and use.

We were joined by Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence who provided first hand,  passionate witness from her many extended visits to Afghanistan.

In addition to Representative Tonko himself we were joined in Albany by Sean Shortell, District Director for Congressman Tonko. Brendan Larkin, Paul Tonko’s legislative aide for foreign and military policy issues participated from Washington, DC via Skype.

For the use of others who might want to lobby, write Op-eds, letters to the editor or blogs we wanted to share our Talking Points and links to background information for each point.  Feel free to use these in your own work.