Congressman Paul Tonko hosted a press conference with three members of the British Parliament at his Albany District Office Friday.
The three Members of Parliament — Dan Carden, representing Liverpool, Navendu Mishra of Manchester, and Gill Furniss of Sheffield — are visiting the Capital Region this weekend as part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. They were in Washington and visited the Pentagon before heading to Albany. Furniss says that the problems elected officials face are often the same, regardless of location.
“Really our ethos is we are elected to look after the people we represent, and that is a very democratic and important role, really, and should be something that all politicians adhere to when they do seek office, and will go on to actually prove that they are doing that as well. It's been a pleasure to be in Washington. We've had some fantastic meetings with Congressmen. We've been to the Pentagon. We've been to everybody who's anybody, really. And the thing that, I think one of the things I enjoyed most was a lecture where we were explained exactly how your system works, because it's very, very different from our system,” said Furniss.
Mishra says the UK just experienced "election fever" similar to what's happening now in the states.
“We've just had a very exciting time in the UK with our general election, and we've managed to return a Labour government after 14 years," Mishra said. "And in the U.S., there's an election coming up, and I'm sure Congressman Tonko will be re-elected with a larger majority, and we will be following the election closely in terms of his election, but also the presidential election more widely. And just last thing from me that this program by the State Department is very helpful for us to understand how the US Federal system works, how the state government, how the city government, how the national government functions.”
Tonko, a Democrat from the 20th district, was elected to the House in 2008. He faces Republican Kevin Waltz in the November election.
Carden says whatever the outcome of the November elections, the United Kingdom stands ready to work with the United States.
"The relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States is one that goes far beyond politicians and who the name on the top of government is. It's one that is institutionalized between our governments, our civil servants, our secret services, our institutions that we share membership of. And so all of that will continue. And whoever is the next President of the United States, I know that our government will be coming here with a key message that is, we must work together," said Carden.
Tonko affirms the historic alliance remains strong.
“We've had some good chats about some of the recent activities in the UK, and you know, just in general, I believe that the exchange that we do enables us to strengthen our efforts for democracy, for freedom, for promoting peace and allowing for the dignity of the individual. They will make certain that they carry back these messages to Parliament, and after they conclude their work here,” Tonko said.
The members will next travel to Boston for a look at Beantown's role in shaping American politics.
