What character has the GOP shown us? Stick with Alan Hevesi in the NY State Comptrollers race

What character has the GOP shown us? Stick with Alan Hevesi in the NY State Comptrollers race
By Mary MacElveen
November 2, 2006

In his latest column, Lawrence C. Levy of Newsday calls upon the Democrats to show character when it comes to whom they shall vote for in the NY State Comptroller race.

In his column, he writes “But Democrats must show character and courage. Character, to look beyond party labels and cut loose a guy they have supported for years. And courage, because a vote against Hevesi may mean losing an important state office to a Republican” Yes it is an important seat since Hevesi has protected the $140 billion state pension fund and if he thinks I will abandon my candidate, Hevesi to any candidate coming from the Republican Party he has another thing coming to him.

Newsday has continued in their slaughtering of Alan Hevesi since it came out that he had used a chauffer to drive his ill wife around in which he made restitution to the tax payers of New York State in the amount of $83,000. To me that does show character.

I want to ask, Levy why would anyone vote for a Republican candidate and will speak of that later in this piece.

So, let us talk of how our tax dollars have been used and one wonders if Newsday will rip into Selden fire department officials as they have spent hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars. As you will read Suffolk prosecutors are looking into this matter and have rightfully undertaken a criminal investigation which these fire officials from Selden have spent the tax payer’s money in out-of-state conventions.

This column reports that prosecutors have been looking into this matter since August and are “scrutinizing how five elected commissioners are accounting for hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars they reported spending at dozens of conferences in Las Vegas and other cities over the past 10 years.” These elected officials were certainly having a ten year party at the expense of those that live in Selden.

Selden residents pay $371 for yearly fire taxes in which these un-named elected officials have spent their tax money on items such as, “airfare, hotel and conference fees usually are prepaid by the department.” These tax payers even support through their tax dollars for items such as alcohol and in one case a “$106 steak dinner for one person, for example.” What infuriates me is that these elected fire officials are un-named in this piece as Newsday chooses to rake, Hevesi over the coals.

When this story broke on, Hevesi, George Pataki was in Hungary and I wrote in a previous column asking if we the tax payers paid for his trip there. I do not see Newsday asking that question. Are we paying for his trips to Iowa and New Hampshire? That was also asked by me, but I have not read in any column where Newsday has asked that question.

In 2004 the Republican Party held their convention in New York City and at that convention we the tax payers provided security in the use of New York City law enforcement. Meanwhile this same Republican Party’s leader George W. Bush has failed at capturing the man responsible for the terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001.

If you truly want to get angry at the misuse of tax payer dollars, one only has to read this article as published in The Nation which reports how we the tax payers are paying for an embassy that is being built in Iraq. Do you wish to know how much this is costing the American tax payer? It is costing us $592 million dollars. This article reports of this embassy that it is “Surrounded by fifteen-foot-thick walls, almost as large as the Vatican on a scale comparable to the Mall of America,” Now this happened under a Republican leadership in this country. Just think how we in New York State could have used these funds to provide health care for those still uninsured. As our taxes in this state continue to rise, it is heartening to see how it is being spent overseas.

Do you truly wish to see how your tax dollars which is paying for this war of lies in Iraq can be best spent right here in NY State? Your jaw will drop open to see how much this war is costing us as a nation. But, more importantly, it will show exactly how those funds could have been used to fund items such as education, kid’s health, pre-school and affordable housing. Now that is what I call a true misuse of tax payer dollars since Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks that befell us on September 11th. We were lied to by the Republican Party period!

If Lawrence C. Levy thinks that I will abandon, Alan Hevesi, he has another thing coming. Senator Hillary Rodham-Clinton had this to say of Hevesi, “I don’t desert my friends” and to those whose pensions are being protected by Alan Hevesi, he is your friend too. I refuse to let our state pension fund be Enroned by the Republican Party. The Republican Party has done nothing to win over my trust in them and their candidates in these past six years. They have lied to all of us on so many occasions and on Election Day we tell them “We have had enough!”

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