Letters

for our educational institutions.

I was lucky. The U.S. Navy took me to dozens of foreign nations. If you were born here, count your blessings. There are many tougher places to grow up in. Our most precious resource is America’s children. If we give them our honest best, freedom will reign.

JOHN SCHULTz Oceanside

It’s Santos, for better or worse

To the Editor:

At a news event on Jan. 11, a parade of Nassau County Republicans took the extraordinarily courageous step of calling on their colleague, U.S. Rep. George Santos, to resign. They suggested that he was not welcome at either their headquarters or their events. They indicated that their other congressional representatives would take it upon themselves to provide representation to the people of the 3rd District — the people Santos was elected to represent.

On Jan. 18, I received an email from my old friend Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who represents the 2nd District, in Suffolk County, advising me that I was one of his “new constituents” and assuring me that I could rely on his office’s resources. Along with everyone else in northern Nassau and Queens, I live in Santos’s district. I am not officially a constituent of Garbarino’s.

In response, I emailed Andy Garbarino, “While I appreciate you reaching out, you are not my Congressional representative and I am not your ‘new constituent.’ George Santos, with whom and for whom you campaigned, is my Congressional representative. That fact is truly shameful. Thanks again and wishing you well.”

So, to Congressman Garbarino, with whom I worked in the Assembly before he was elected to the House of Representatives, I simply say, “Thanks but no thanks.” For better or worse, Santos is our congressman, and I expect him, perhaps unrealistically, to make some effort to try to live up to his responsibilities.

I am not inclined to reach out to the same Republican politicians who offer assistance but are simply attempting to shield themselves from criticism. As the old saying goes, once bitten, twice shy.

Should Santos be unresponsive to any requests I may have for assistance to the people I represent, I will reach out to Senators Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand, or to any number of Democratic congressional representatives.

CHARLES LAvINE Assemblyman, 13th District

ahead.

The Homeland Security Committee was created in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to coordinate federal, state and local counterterrorism efforts, and to provide necessary funding to areas at highest risk. Every threat analysis showed the New York City-Long Island region as the highestranked terrorist target in the country. Yet we had to fight off other states, which had zero threat levels, for every penny. As a former New York City police detective and Island Park fire chief, D’Esposito has the credentials and the gravitas to win those funding fights, and also to ensure that the committee’s legitimate concern about border control and illegal immigration doesn’t distract attention from the still very serious terrorist threat.

He will have similar struggles on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, to get fair and necessary funding for Long Island’s roads, highways, beaches and waterways.

Over the years, New York has been consistently shortchanged in federal funding, sending far more money to Washington than we get back. My short- hand political analysis for this inequity was that Democrats took New York for granted and Republicans felt they couldn’t win it, so our hard-earned tax dollars were disbursed elsewhere — most notably, and disproportionately, to southern states. This shortfall in turn increased our state and local tax burden, which was exacerbated when a Republican Congress voted to dramatically reduce our SALT income tax deduction. D’Esposito has pledged to fight hard to restore that deduction.

Besides Homeland Security, infrastructure funding and restoring the SALT deduction, he will have to deal with countless other issues, including senior citizen and veterans benefits, 9/11 health care, tax relief for hardworking middle-income families and supporting law enforcement.

Being a member of Congress, and representing the people of Long Island and addressing their needs and challenges, was the experience of a lifetime for me. No one is more connected to his constituents than Anthony D’Esposito, and I know he will take their thoughts and concerns to the halls of Congress and get the job done. Good luck, Congressman.

Peter King is a former congressman, and a former chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Framework by Tim Baker