Week of October 11 – October 17, 2019 • EAGLE NEWS MEDIA— A SECTION OF HOME REPORTER AND BROOKLYN SPECTATOR • 11
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SPEAKING UP/ SPEAKING OUT
he Voice of America dropped by the Conservative Party last week to get my take on the new city policy administered by the Human Rights Commission that provides for up to a $250,000 fine for individuals who use the expression “illegal aliens” in a hateful manner. I had no shortage of words. The two words illegal and alien go perfectly together when describing individuals who enter this nation without permission. All one needs to do is look it up in any dictionary. As far as hate speech is concerned, this allows the government to become involved in mind reading and raises First Amendment issues. It does a horrible job right now knowing what we are thinking, based on how our elected officials interpret
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our views before they write new laws. I certainly do not want the government trying to figure out what I am thinking on anything. In any event, I doubt there is a person alive that thinks this fine for hateful speech would survive a federal court review. So, it is just a matter of time before it is knocked down. Interestingly, I did not hear any local Democratic elected officials speak up in protest. They seem to think it is okay in 2019 for our city to be moving in the direction of Orwell’s novel 1984. *** In my capacity as New York State Conservative Party Chairperson, I did a swing through Erie County last Thursday evening and all-day Friday. At a breakfast with a dozen members of the business community
OPINION
and at a lunch with members of the real estate community, I got an earful. The owner of a large wholesale beer and soda distribution company founded in 1960 that now employees 600 people told the group that New York State was driving him out of business. He cited a variety of New York State changes over the past few years that are hurting his ability to remain an ongoing concern. He noted that, including everything from bonuses to matches and profit-sharing, many of his employees have retired with upwards of $1 million in retirement savings. Those savings benefits will be the first to go, followed by cutbacks and who knows what else. His business is not one that you can move to another region, although moving across
COMMON SENSE BY JERRY KASSAR
His business is not one that you can move to another region, although moving across the river to Canada was a possibility.
the river to Canada was a possibility. Most everyone else at the breakfast chimed in with similar horror stories. Lynne Dixon, the Republican-Conservative candidate for Erie County executive who is polling in a dead heat with her Democratic opponent, raised the issue of wasted state spending in Western New York that creates no jobs at great expense. At lunch, the changes enacted this past year through
DUTY BOUND
n Feb. 6, 1974, the House of Representatives held a vote on the floor and passed H.Res.803. Rep. John Murphy, representing Staten Island, voted in favor of the measure, as did Rep. Hugh Carey, whose district covered Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Sunset Park. Rep. Bertram Podell, who represented Bensonhurst, Gravesend, and Coney Island also voted yea. In fact, the entire congressional delegation from New York City, which included representatives such as Ed Koch and Shirley Chisholm, voted in the affirmative. When all votes were tallied, the measure passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, 410-4, granting the House Judiciary Committee full subpoena power for an impeachment inquiry into President Richard Nixon. Republican members of Congress supported the president at that time and
didn’t believe he should be impeached, yet all but four of them agreed that the facts, as they were known at that time, required an inquiry. In 1974, New York’s 10th Congressional District was represented by Mario Biaggi, grandfather of current State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi. The area it covered, including a swath of the Bronx and part of Queens, was similar to the district Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez now represents. Today, New York’s 10th Congressional District is comprised of the west side of Manhattan and various parts of Southern Brooklyn and is repped by Jerry Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which is the committee in which articles of impeachment against President Trump would be drawn up and voted on if the current proceedings progress to that point. Next door, in New York’s 11th Congressional District,
which covers Staten Island and much of Southern Brooklyn, the question of an impeachment inquiry has garnered a great deal of attention recently. Two weeks ago, it was centered around whether Rep. Max Rose would come out in favor, in light of the whistleblower complaint related to presidential dealings with Ukraine. This past week, it has been in response to his declaration of support for the House beginning an inquiry. With Rep. Rose publicly for it, just as in February of 1974, the entire New York City congressional delegation is unified behind the need to begin this process. It is not something any of them take joy in. To the contrary, they have made clear it is a sad time for the nation, yet a time when they are called on to act as required by our Constitution. The latest troubling revelations may seem so
as the “Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act” were the only thing that was discussed. Some attendees had already made the decision to move their activities out of state; others said it would be financially impossible to keep their buildings up to the standards their tenants have grown to expect. Of course, developers will not build if there is not a market for the buildings due to an inability for owners to make a decent return on their investment. It is worth mentioning that, for the most part, the support for the change to the state rent laws was mostly a New York City/Nassau County thing. The new law is statewide and a real shock for many. It will be an even greater shock in the years to come as its effect on the broader
state is felt. Last week, many district attorneys and law enforcement officials raised the red flag over the state’s move to a “cashless” bail system which will allow the overwhelming majority of those arrested to be released almost immediately without bail. You could be involved in an aggravated vehicular homicide or a terrorist threat and you would be released with a promise that you would return to court. I have now traveled to every region of the state meeting with residents and the media, and I can say I hear this everywhere. New York State government ‘s progressive hodgepodge of laws, which do not reflect policy but are an insertion of untested ideas, seems to be backfiring.
MATTER OF FACT BY JAY BROWN seven-month-long impeachment inquiry focused on finding facts. distant from our neighborhoods, as they deal with the president and geopolitical matters 5,000 miles away, but our representatives here in Southern Brooklyn can, and very well may, play pivotal roles in the course of history. The members of the House from New York’s 10th and 11th Congressional Districts have the responsibility of being the stewards of the government the framers of the Constitution gave us. As Benjamin Franklin referred to it, “A republic, if you can keep it.” This is how we keep it, just as in 1974 when Rep. Peter Rodino, from New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District, as chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee, kept a
The latest troubling revelations may seem so distant from our neighborhoods, as they deal with the president and geopolitical matters 5,000 miles away, but our representatives here in Southern Brooklyn can, and very well may, play pivotal roles in the course of history.
Rodino had only just taken over as chair from outgoing Rep. Emanuel Celler, who represented Southern Brooklyn for 50 years in a district that had been known as both the 10th and 11th Congressional District during his tenure. Celler had lost his
Democratic primary to Elizabeth Holtzman, who joined the House Judiciary Committee and participated in the impeachment inquiry into President Nixon. Ultimately, that committee passed three articles of impeachment. Seven Republicans voted in favor of at least one article. Within a week, senior Republican senators informed the president he would be impeached and that there were enough GOP senators who would vote to convict him to exceed the two-thirds threshold required for removal. Nixon announced his resignation the following day. In the past 10 years, Congress has impeached two men, federal Judges charged with corruption and obstruction of justice. The system was used. It worked. As it did in 1974.
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