suffolk – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Where Were You Lee Zeldin?

David Posnett — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 19:20:54 +0000

In the March 19 issue of the Western Edition of The Southampton Press, the A section is devoted to articles about the coronavirus pandemic and the impact on Suffolk County and Southampton Town. There are quotes and statements from Governor Andrew Cuomo, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, mayors, school superintendents and hospital administrators. Conspicuously missing is any statement from Congressman Lee Zeldin.

On the congressman’s Facebook page and in his appearances on Fox News, from January through early March of this year, his comments included supporting President Trump against impeachment, criticizing New York for bail reform, insinuating that Democrats want to enable voting by undocumented residents, and the highlighting the danger of MS-13. But not one word about the growing epidemic.

Now that the pandemic has been declared a national emergency, his website has information for the public about the virus and his office has issued a series of press releases. But we know that Congress was informed by our intelligence services in January that the novel coronavirus that began in China at the end of 2019 had the potential to be a global pandemic. China released the genetic code for the virus at the beginning of January to help scientists in other countries prepare test kits and institute procedures to contain the virus. We did neither.

Instead, President Trump called it a Democratic hoax, Fox News repeated this misinformation campaign, and Zeldin focused on spreading lies about bail reform. Countries like Australia and South Korea that immediately implemented policies to test and contain the virus are in far better shape today.

No resident of the district should be surprised. Zeldin has not stood with protecting the public health of his constituents at any time in his tenure in Congress. He voted repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act, voted for the GOP deficient replacement bill in 2017, and lied about that vote in the 2018 midterm election, pretending he supported protections for pre-existing conditions.

The constituents of the 1st District are now facing a grave danger to both the public health and economic health of our district. Our hospitals in Suffolk County are facing overwhelming numbers of emergencies. And our shuttered businesses and their employees are facing ruin.

We, the taxpayers of this district have the right to know why we are on a COVID-19 case accrual curve closer to Italy than to South Korea. Where was Congressman Zeldin when this threat was building? Why was he busy spouting right-wing talking points and propping up a president who was calling this a hoax rather than raising the alarm about the threat to our district and getting us the necessary resources?

We need answers.

By Barbara Weber-Floyd

Westhampton Beach

Flavored e-cigs and Vaping

David Posnett — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 05:13:42 +0000

Photo Credit Janet Cannon

From: Eve Krief MD

65% of teens who vape don’t even know that they are vaping nicotine! One Juul vape pod has the nicotine equivalent of 20 cigarettes.

As some of you may know I’m on the local American Academy of Pediatrics legislative advocacy committee and we are currently advocating for county legislation (res # 2128-2018, Local Law to Limit the Flavoring of Liquid Nicotine and E-cigarettes in Suffolk County). This will ban the sale of flavored e-cigs and flavored nicotine (except menthol) in Suffolk County. If any of you have teens, you know it’s a huge problem and it is addicting a whole new generation of kids to nicotine after 50 years of progress in tobacco control! It is a proven gateway to cigarette smoking. Furthermore, there are potentially damaging chemicals and heavy metals being inhaled with these products as well.

So when we pitched the bill to the legislature last week they were very positive and voted on it in Committee 12/13! HOWEVER, Philip Morris got wind of this and has sent there attack dogs to fight this any way they can. While this is overwhelmingly popular legislation, we don’t want the legislators to be influenced by the tobacco lobby. We are in the planning stages of twin protests on 12/13 and 12/18 and a phonecall campaign to get people to call their Suffolk County legislators to support the bill (res # 2128-2018). We can make a big difference in the life and future health of our kids here. We can stop an estimated 50 kids from starting to vape every day in Suffolk.

Here is some background:

44 Percent of Kids Experiment with E-Cigs Due to Flavors efforts toward youth should include limiting e-cigarette flavors, communicating messages emphasizing the health risks of use, and changing social norms surrounding the use of e-cigarettes.
E Cigs and Youth Appeal Flavor and Ads
Flavored E-Cig Pop Data
full_report FLAVOR TRAP AAP ALA TOBACCO FREE KIDS
MMWR Flavors and youth use of e-cigs
pods tobacco control 9.2108 (002) (003)
Suffolk County E-Cig Flavoring Statement

“Roundtable” on Gangs and Immigration

David Posnett — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 03:10:45 +0000

Lee Zeldin and Bob Goodlatte held a “roundtable” on the topic of gangs and immigration at Suffolk County College of Riverhead. With little notice and no invites to relevant local leaders or concerned citizen’s groups, those that did show up (about 60 people) were shut out of the meeting! A roundtable usually implies that all concerned are invited to participate. Not in Zeldin’s world. Like his mentor, he doesn’t like dissent.

I have a copy of the printed agenda of the meeting (see below) and pictures of the protestors outside the building that we were not allowed to enter. Students on campus were interested in all the commotion and we got to register some of them to vote!

The press was present – I am sure we will hear more about this. It sounds like another Photo-op for ZELDIN. Not a serious effort to help improve anyone’s life. Here is a press report: http://www.fios1news.com/longisland/local-suffolk-roundtable-on-immigration-gang-violence-met-with-protests#.W6Bt0VJRfOS

The Trumpist from Suffolk County

David Posnett — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 13:44:49 +0000

Perry Gershon, Democratic Candidate for New York’s First Congressional District

Published by Medium.com March 7th 2018

Traveling across Suffolk County, I’ve seen how disappointed and frustrated people are with Congressman Lee Zeldin. I’m hearing how they want someone in Washington who fights to grow the middle class on Long Island, make our communities safer, and ensure everyone has access to affordable health care — someone who fights for what’s right. But that’s not what Rep. Zeldin is focused on. He’s backing an agenda that’s out of touch with of Suffolk county, beyond that of even a “regular” Republican representative.

Zeldin’s 9% grade from the League of Conservation Voters, his opposition to consumer protection, and his radical anti-choice views are not representative of our community. But Zeldin’s frightening extremism, however, is on display in his politicized attacks on the Mueller Investigation, the DOJ, and FBI, and his unconditional alliance with the NRA. And he bears responsibility for the Trump tax plan and its destructive effects on Long Islanders. Luckily, we can defeat him in November.

The Mueller Probe:

Zeldin has led the effort to delegitimize the country’s law enforcement — simply because Mueller’s investigation is going after the truth. Zeldin has joined with Rep. Devin Nunes leading the criticism of the FISA warrant process and even holds the absurd position that we need a special counsel to investigate the special counsel. Mueller’s probe is doing the job and has already led to 22 indictments against Russians and other conspirators for meddling in the US elections in 2016. And the investigation is nowhere close to finished!

In the face of these indictments, Zeldin has not called for congressional efforts to combat the threat Russia poses to our elections. He has not taken any affirmative steps to protect the 2018 and future elections. And he fails to even recognize that Russian hacking was an effort to discredit US elections and played a role in Donald Trump’s victory. Simply put, our Congressman has refused to acknowledge that our democracy is under attack because he is putting Party over Country.

Zeldin’s crusade culminated on Feb. 28 when he issued a formal letter to Attorney General Sessions requesting appointment of a new Special Counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ. Co-signed by 12 other far-right congressmen, the letter was so extreme that even Devin Nunes, himself, did not co-sign it. A week later, he even claimed that: “Donald Trump & family being investigated for winning election w/no evidence they committed any crime to win the election. Sick, crazy & wrong!” Seriously? Zeldin has become a conspiracy theorist, using the words “transparency” and “accountability” to describe an effort to politicize law enforcement and undermine the rule of law in the defense of a potentially corrupt president.

The Tax Plan:

Republicans in Congress pushed a tax plan that’s good for corporations and special interests and devastating for Long Island families. Their plan benefits the richest one percent of Americans, at the expense of Brookhaven, Smithtown, Westhampton, and all our other communities. The tax plan eliminated the State and Local Tax deduction(SALT), which will hit Long Islanders hard by raising taxes and causing property values to decline.

Zeldin’s claim that he stood up for Long Island by opposing the final version of the tax plan simply is not good enough. He voted to empower Paul Ryan, who, in his role as Speaker of the House, led the tax fight. He hasdoing nothing to restore the SALT deduction that Suffolk County relies on. He has repeatedly supported and defended Donald Trump, who has prided himself on the bill. Worse yet, Zeldin stated that his objection to the bill was not its elimination of SALT, but to the limits being imposed all at once. Zeldin even claimed he would fully support a phase in of all of the injurious provisions if they occurred over 3–4 years. It’s clear that for Zeldin, it is ideology first and Long Island last.

Gun Control and the NRA:

Zeldin’s reaction to the Parkland shooting is shameful. He has resisted all calls for common sense gun safety laws, has refused to back a ban on weapons of war, and even thinks its smart to arm teachers.

Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. He is not only proud of his A rating from the NRA but has taken more money from the NRA than any other congressperson from New York. He has a long history of supporting fringe positions that threaten New York residents’ safety. In 2015, he co-sponsored a bill that allows the transportation of firearms in locked containers across state lines, effectively facilitating gun-trafficking into New York State. Just last year, he co-sponsored another bill that would allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines. Both bills would essentially render New York State’s gun safety laws null and void.

We deserve a Congressman who will protect the Mueller probe and support our law enforcement agencies, do everything in his or her power to restore the full deductibility of state and local income taxes, and fight for effective and commonsense gun safety. Long Islanders are fed up with Donald Trump and his enablers in Congress like Rep. Zeldin. People are looking for bold ideas and real solutions. It’s time Long Island had a strong voice to fight for high-paying jobs, affordable health care, and safer communities. If we’re going to change Washington, we’ve got to change the people we send there. Come November, let’s fight, together, and make sure Rep. Zeldin doesn’t have another term in Congress.

Perry Gershon

New Registrations favor Dems in CD-1

David Posnett — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 20:08:00 +0000

Released by the Suffolk County Board of Elections: new registrants for the last month by party and by political subdivision. This is a measure of how well we are doing with efforts to register voters.

	Total	Dem (%)	Rep (%)	Blank (%)	other (%)	Total (%)	diff D%-R%
Babylon	320	39.7	15.9	35.6	8.8	100	23.8
Brookhaven	537	38.5	18.1	36.5	6.9	100	20.5
East Hampton	41	51.2	9.8	34.1	4.9	100	41.5
Huntington	321	34.6	23.4	33.6	8.4	100	11.2
Islip	338	38.2	17.8	37.6	6.5	100	20.4
Riverhead	32	31.3	25.0	40.6	3.1	100	6.3
Shelter Island	9	66.7	0.0	22.2	11.1	100	66.7
Smithtown	163	27.6	31.3	31.9	9.2	100	-3.7
Southampton	100	50.0	16.0	30.0	4.0	100	34.0
Southold	23	30.4	34.8	30.4	4.3	100	-4.3
Total	1884	37.8	19.6	35.2	7.3	100	18.2
CD-1	866	38.7	19.3	35.5	6.6	100	19.4
CD-2	640	39.1	16.9	36.3	7.8	100	22.2
CD-3	378	33.9	25.1	32.8	8.2	100	8.7

Other than in Smithtown and Southold, new registrants most frequently chose the Dem. Party. For the 866 new voters in CD-1, 38.7% chose the Dem party, 19.3% chose the Rep. party and 35.5% chose no party.

Ofcourse new registrations over the last month are a drop in the bucket, but it seems these drops are of different sizes. The percentage of new registrations/total numbers of registered voters is captured here. Note that Shelter Island, Southampton, Babylon and East Hampton, did best in terms of adding new voters.

	*total new*	*total*	% new/total
	*registrations*	*registrations*	registrations
Babylon	320	129889	0.25
Brookhaven	537	308719	0.17
East Hampton	41	16956	0.24
Huntington	321	141901	0.23
Islip	338	199128	0.17
Riverhead	32	21884	0.15
Shelter Island	9	2391	0.38
Smithtown	163	84877	0.19
Southampton	100	38998	0.26
Southold	23	16666	0.14
Total	*1884*	961409	*0.20*
CD-1	866	472989	0.18
CD-2	640	320104	0.20
CD-3	378	168316	0.22