Congressman on the corner

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Murphy visits Naugatuck to talk with constituents

Naugatuck Mayor Robert Mezzo, left, with his son Jack talks with U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) outside of the Stop and Shop on Rubber Avenue Feb. 28. –LUKE MARSHALL
Naugatuck Mayor Robert Mezzo, left, with his son Jack talks with U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) outside of the Stop and Shop on Rubber Avenue Feb. 28. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) stood outside the Stop and Shop on Rubber Avenue last Friday afternoon in freezing temperatures to pick the brains of his constituents.

“I’ve been doing office hours outside of supermarkets since I’ve first been elected to the House of Representatives. I don’t think you can do this job by sitting in your office waiting for people to call you; you’ve got to go out and see them where they are. I get some of my best ideas by just meeting people when I go door to door or standing outside of shopping plazas.” Murphy said.

The event was part of Murphy’s Senator on Your Corner Campaign.

Murphy said people are not always ready to have a conversation with their senator when they go grocery shopping. Sometimes people will line up to speak to him, however.

“I just want people to know I’m really accessible. If anybody has any problem, any complaint, or any idea, I’m not hard to find,” Murphy said.

Murphy said he is usually asked questions about whatever the large, national issues are being discussed at that time.

“During the debate over Syria everyone wanted to talk about Syria obviously. During the days of the health care debate these Congress on Your Corner events would be filled with talk about health care reform,” Murphy said.

Sometimes people come to him with personal issues, such as a social security check not arriving or problems with Medicare.

Naugatuck Mayor Robert Mezzo stopped by to speak with Murphy about downtown development and the future of the Metro-North Railroad that runs through the borough.

Naugatuck resident Josh Dobbin also took Murphy up on his offer of accessibility to ask him questions about what it was like to work in the Senate and his view on state and national issues.

“It’s a really great idea,” Dobbins said about the campaign. “I’m really glad he is out here doing it.”