Voters in Connecticut and New York are taking to their local papers to underscore the importance of making sure Democrats like Congresswoman Jahana Hayes and New York Democratic congressional candidates win critical elections in November.
Meanwhile, George Logan, Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, and Brandon Williams are pushing an extreme agenda that restricts abortion rights, fails to deliver results on local issues, and props up Donald Trump.
For Mike Johnson and the Republicans with a slim margin in the U.S. House, the Fifth District seat is just another vote in Congress. For us who live here, it’s our voice. For five years, longtime resident and Representative Jahana Hayes has proven that she is our voice. Eversource lobbyist George Logan is a Donald Trump echo chamber. Do we want to give up the voice who works tirelessly to get funding for our district and let MAGA lobby away all our interests? No, we want a megaphone, not a MAGA-drone.
Elected officials, including many in Nassau County, regularly say they’re committed to bipartisanship — to “reaching across the aisle.” That is, of course, a worthy sentiment, especially in these hyperpolarized times.
But in order for politics to function in this way, politicians of differing views need to show respect for one another, and for the standards of civil discourse. Comity isn’t possible when extremism prevails. Threats of violence and attacks on people’s religious beliefs must be repudiated, regardless of where they originate on the ideological spectrum.
Calls for cooperation thus sound hypocritical when incendiary rhetoric is allowed to take the place of reasoned debate. Worse, politicians who lack the courage to condemn dangerous rantings by their own side’s leaders can be judged complicit when unhinged speech results in criminal acts.
That’s why Long Island Republicans have a moral, as well as political, obligation to publicly condemn inflammatory remarks made by their party’s leader, Donald Trump.
What will Congressman Anthony D’Esposito, County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin do? Will they follow the lead of former Vice President Mike Pence, who has termed Trump unsuited to hold the nation’s highest office? Or will they stand by silently and allow political exigency to take precedence over government of, by and for the people?
I will vote for Mondaire Jones, candidate for the 17th Congressional District seat, in part due to his pro-choice position on women’s reproductive rights. His opponent, incumbent Mike Lawler, must understand that a solid majority of his constituents are pro-choice, since he has announced that he would “never vote for a national abortion ban.”
Well, in one of his first votes in Congress, Lawler voted to block consideration of the Women’s Health Protection Act. This critical bill would have prevented states from passing extreme bans on abortion, including bans without exceptions for rape or incest. Moreover, he has even denied that many of the state laws passed since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade lack exceptions for rape or incest.
Mike Lawler’s positions might reflect public opinion in Alabama, where even IVF is on the ropes, but his constituents in the 17th Congressional District of New York deserve a representative whose votes reflect their concerns. That would be Mondaire Jones.
I am troubled by the absence of representation from Rep. Brandon Williams, R-22, Sennett, regarding local issues and concerns.
Since taking office, he has passed no meaningful legislation for our district. Williams is an absentee representative who does not meet regularly with local officials to serve our district. Oneida County Executive and fellow Republican colleague, Anthony J. Picente Jr. recently shared his concern regarding the lack of engagement from Williams in local issues.
I hope that my neighbors here in New York’s 22nd Congressional District will learn more about the three Democrats running in the upcoming June 25 primary to replace him.
