It is the curse of our age to actually pay attention. Let me set the table for you.
This week, Rep. Tom Suozzi endorsed Josh Lafazan to replace him in Congress in the 3rd CD. As this paper quoted Suozzi as saying:
“We need someone who has a proven record of getting things done, someone who will stand up to people who say they want to defund the police, someone who will use common sense to get things done on behalf of the people they serve.”
I have to say after decades of living with this guy, Tom Suozzi has proven to be a monumental disappointment, and his career trajectory is both familiar and tragic. There’s a time to leave the stage and running for the Governor’s office with no clear reason to replace the incumbent left me wondering why he would even attempt it.
But his consistent use of race baiting using the sham “defund the police” rhetoric, his willingness to work with seditionists in the Koch funded “Problem Solvers Caucus” and his naked threat to derail the Biden Administration’s entire agenda over what is, at bottom, reinstating a tax cut for the wealthiest, was unacceptable behavior. Even the term “common sense Democrat” is a nod and a wink to the worst impulses in our community.
At this moment in our history, a Democrat in the Oval Office is an imperative. By comparison, a Democratic Congressman is expendable.
But one comment stood out. Mr. Suozzi said the “progressive” Democrats should leave and form their own Party. How the irony of this was lost on a man whose policy stance was to the right of a Rockefeller Republican, and made open threats to betray his own Party, is beyond rationalization.
Now let’s get to the crime issue that has all of you delicate little flowers curled up in a fetal position.
As this paper has noted, crime is being used to reverse Lincoln’s urging to appeal to the “better angels of our nature.” Instead, it’s being wielded like a blowtorch. It’s bad enough Republicans do it. They’re animals, anyway. But to see Democrats do it to whip up fear over this is disappointing and is an immediate disqualifier to anyone running in the Democratic primary for the 3rd CD.
Some are still flogging bail reform, even though two modifications have already passed. These people had you rubes thinking that 98% of the crime surge was due to bail reform, while it wasn’t even responsible for 2%. But they knew you would think that. Feeding on your fear and hate is their most potent weapon.
Now it’s time to hold some people to account. I remember a guy by the name of Ed Mangano, who, regardless of his flaws, acted according to his Party’s political principles. Knowing that law enforcement took up almost half of County taxation, Mangano sought to curb costs by closing two precincts. He was a real Republican who actually BELIEVED all that stuff about shrinking the size of government.
The policy worked. Crime rates kept going down despite the closures.
But a coalition of the former Supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead and some over moneyed matrons, along with the PBA, colluded to re-open the Sixth Precinct.
And whaddya know, despite all that extra manpower larded on us, crime still went up. I ask you: how did the manicured and coiffed Ladies Who Lunch, whose expertise in law enforcement logistics remains unchallenged, miss that one?
Not only did no one “Defund the Police,” Laura Curran lavished even more money on them on top of the precinct re-openings, and crime still went up.
Ain’t Democracy grand? When “leaders” can spend your money to get support at your expense, it shows they’re not worth holding office. It also shows they cower in fear over saying no to certain interests. But I expected nothing less from someone who gave a judge’s wife an $80,000 a year job as a tourism director for the town. Her husband is also running as one of those “common sense” Democrats. Ignore his candidacy. He’s looking for a gold watch.
Give Mangano credit. At least he had the courage of his political convictions, and he’s the one going to prison. The others won’t, because THOSE bribes are perfectly legal, while you’re left holding the bag for decades!
You poor chumps. You can be sold anything.