We have a message for the men and women representing the New York City area in Washington, D.C.: The American people are weary of the partisanship and political bickering that has blocked the way to health care reform. It became clear at the presidential health summit at the Blair House in Washington last week that there are serious problems in the American health care system that need to be addressed.
Although most voters in Queens are registered in one of the major political parties, partisan loyalty means little. They want reform that will at least begin to address the health care crisis. In the last year alone, Queens witnessed the closing of three hospitals. The remaining hospitals are overcrowded and understaffed.
There are too many middle-class people in Queens who cannot afford medical insurance. For them, an accident or serious illness would be devastating. They go without routine dental care.
These are not partisan concerns. We urge our readers to let their legislators know the time for political game-playing is over. America needs health care reform and it needs it now.
From Bad to Worse for Paterson
The resignation of his public safety director, Denise O’Donnell, could be the writing on the wall for the state’s embattled governor. O’Donnell quit last week when she learned from a New York Times story that state police reportedly pressed an alleged victim to drop domestic violence charges against David Johnson, a top aide to the governor.
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an investigation into the charge that state police tried to “improperly influence” Sherr-una Booker, the woman the aide reportedly attacked.Two other Paterson aides may also have contacted the woman.
“The behavior alleged here is the antithesis of what many of us have spent our entire careers working to build, a legal system that protects victims of domestic violence and brings offenders to justice,” O’Donnell wrote in her resignation letter. She claimed she had been misled about events by the state police superintendent.
It is time for Gov. David Paterson, who ended his short-lived election campaign last week, to reconsider his options.
