Why is it that when former Mayor Ed Koch and state Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) endorse a woefully unqualified, radical right-wing, Tea Bag Republican for the umpteenth time, Dee Richard and the media all go gaga, but when a Republican like Flushing City Councilman Peter Koo crosses party lines to support a highly qualified and progressive candidate like Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck), it is at best ignored or at worse castigated by the hopelessly biased Dee Richard?
Could it be that media types fall over backward for Bob Turner, just as they did for eight long years with King Mike because they all want one of their own in charge? Is that why they turned a blind eye to the inherent racism and Islamophobia of Turner and his buddies? I am a proud Jew who is finishing his service as vice president of the recently dearly departed Rosedale Jewish Center.
And by the way, when will the same Lame Street right-wingers like Dee report that on the first day of what we can all hope is a short 13 months, Turner’s first congressional vote was to take organizing rights away from workers trying to hold on to a shred of the middle class that the Koch brothers and the rest of the plutocracy of the top 1 percent keep trying to take away?
Finally, will you hold Turner’s feet to the fire unless and until he supports our kids, police officers, firefighters and teachers and the millions of people who U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has failed to put forth one job-creating bill for? Will you call upon him and the aptly named reactionary Rep. Mike Grimm (R-Staten Island) to put the people before his party by supporting President Barack Obama’s jobs bill, which is fully paid for as part of the president’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan?
Will you urge him to support previously bipartisan tax cuts to help America’s small businesses hire and grow — tax reductions that will cut the payroll tax in half for 98 percent of businesses? Can you call upon Bob and Mike to agree to a complete payroll tax holiday for added workers or increased wages? Can you ask these fairweather “patriots” to support a “returning heroes” hiring tax credit for veterans? Can you ask these supposed “pro-lifers” to prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs while keeping cops and firefighters on the job?
Can you ask them to find it in their hearts to support an extension of unemployment insurance to prevent 5 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits? Could you please ask Bob and Mike to join the president in approving a $4,000 tax credit to employers for hiring long-term unemployed workers as well as prohibiting employers from discriminating against unemployed workers when hiring? Could you help get more money into the pockets of hardworking Americans by having Bob and Mike support cutting payroll taxes in half for 160 million workers next year by giving a $1,500 tax cut to the typical American family, without negatively affecting the Social Security trust fund?
It is time to choose. Do you, Dee, Bob and Mike, stand with the Koch brothers and the other 1 percent who made out like bandits during the Bush years, or do you stand with the other 99 percent of us?
David Pecoraro
UFT Chapter Leader
Beach Channel High School
Beach Channel
