Ballots being recounted an NYC BOE facility in the Bronx on Wednesday,
July 8, 2020. Photo | Alex Mitchell
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F BTR FEB. 11-17, 2022 13
letters & comments
To the Editor,
This week’s conservative
follies include alleging
the Biden administration’s
criminalization of opposition,
with, of course, no evidence
or explanation to support the
charge.
Perhaps the hard-right columnist
was referring to steps
taken to protect school board
members from the threats issued
by members of astroturf
groups like FreedomWorks
and the National Parents
Union, groups bankrolled by
big money conservative outfi
ts bent on eroding confi dence
in public education as a prelude
to privatization.
Right wingers are attacking
school systems and educators
who believe that history
should not be whitewashed or
sanitized to avoid the possibility
of making some individuals
“uncomfortable.” Historical
truths can be unsettling,
but they remain truths.
The right wing’s attempt to
police thought and learning
has frightening antecedents
in authoritarian regimes like
Russia and China. How far
are we from what Orwell described
in 1984, a nightmarish
society where, “Who controls
the past controls the future.
Who controls the present controls
the past.”
The columnist also condemned
attempts to “federalize
election practices,”
apparently unaware of the
Constitution’s Article I, section
4, which grants states the
power to decide “The times,
place and manner of holding
elections” but also states “the
Congress may at any time by
law make or alter such regulations…”
So to be charitable, it
is a mistake to claim that such
federal actions are a violation
of the Constitution.
Recent congressional efforts
to make voting more
accessible and empower citizens
disenfranchised by artifi
cial barriers created to
prevent their participation
in the electoral process were
thwarted by Republican politicians.
Their belief is that a
smaller electorate favors their
chances to gain and retain
power, as minority rulers of
our country.
Meanwhile Republican offi
cials are busy erecting new
barriers designed to make
voting more diffi cult and intimidating
for constituencies
unlikely to support their reactionary
agenda. For example,
Florida’s governor has
proposed creating an Offi ce
of Election Crimes and Security,
with a budget of nearly $6
million, in what amounts to a
solution looking for a non-existent
problem and a colossal
waste of taxpayer funds. As
Paul Keisling, Oregon’s former
secretary of state notes,
“Voters don’t cast fraudulent
ballots for the same reason
that counterfeiters don’t manufacture
pennies — it doesn’t
pay.”
Voter fraud is fake. Voter
suppression is real.
Pasqual Pelosi
To the Editor,
New boundaries for the 3rd
Congressional District is the
most egregious case of gerrymandering.
Up until the 1962
reapportionment, congressional
boundaries usually
attempted to keep villages,
towns, cities and counties
within the same district.
The 3rd CD is currently
represented by Democrat Congressman
Tom Suozzi. This
district has been previously
gerrymandered with the
help of Democratic Assembly
speakers under several reapportionments.
Boundaries
were extended beyond Nassau
County west to Queens and
east into Suffolk County.
Adding the Bronx and
Westchester County to the
district under the latest reapportionment
represents the
very worst in gerrymandering.
Placing Larchmont, Mamaroneck,
Pelham, Pelham
Manor, Port Chester, New Rochelle
and Rye, which could
have been placed in Congressman
Jamaal Bowman’s 16th
district; the eastern most
Bronx waterfront neighborhoods,
which could have
been within Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez’s 14th district; the
northeast corner of Queens,
which could have been part
of Grace Meng’s 6th district,
with North Hempstead, Oyster
Bay and Glen Cove in Nassau
County, along with Suffolk
County’s Huntington and
Smithtown in the same congressional
district makes no
sense.
The next member of Congress
will need a speed boat to
travel across and around the
Long Island Sound to visit all
his or her new constituents. It
illustrates the pitfalls of reapportionment,
when you have
a veto proof one party control
of both the state Assembly
and Senate. State Senate Majority
Leader Andrea Stewart
Cousins, Assembly Speaker
Carl Heastie and Gov. Kathy
Hochul should be ashamed of
this travesty.
Larry Penner
To the Editor,
Re: Larry Penner’s letter to
the editor in the Feb. 4 issue of
this newspaper.
In opinion pieces making
the rounds after the appointment
of Pete Buttigieg
as transportation secretary,
Larry Penner alternately lamented
that Buttigieg was not
a Republican, not experienced
running a large agency, and
DOT functioned well in his absence.
In his frequent criticism
of former Gov. Cuomo, the
author lamented that Cuomo
was no good for the state’s
transportation infrastructure
because Cuomo had no background
in transportation and
had never built a business.
The author feels that in
order to push Mayor Adams’
transportation projects, the
city transportation commissioner,
Ydanis Rodriguez,
should sit on the MTA Board.
The author doesn’t give us
even an elementary idea of
what those projects are or
does he explain how the MTA
Board can help Rodriguez accomplish
transportation projects
in NYC, most of which are
presumably above ground and
out of the MTA’s purview.
The author continues by
concluding City Council Member
Selvena Brooks-Powers
should also sit on the MTA
Board. No justifi cation is provided
for this statement.
Rodriguez and Brooks-
Powers are Democrats; Rodriguez
has a degree in Political
Science, while Brooks-Powers
one in International Law.
Brooks-Powers has been involved
with community organizing
and women and minority
issues.
I’m sure each is capable of
performing admirable work.
I am making no statement
myself as to whether these
two are or are not qualifi ed
to sit on the MTA Board. But
I’m not following what about
Brooks-Powers’ background
makes her qualifi ed to do
transportation work. Neither
Rodriguez or Brooks-Powers,
as far as I can tell, have ever
built a business. Neither has a
background in transportation
(college degree or paid experience).
Rodriguez was chair of
the council’s Transportation
Committee.
Why is it that the author’s
logic regarding Buttigieg and
Cuomo do not apply to Rodriguez
and Brooks-Powers?
Doesn’t the author pay attention
to his other opinion
pieces? Doesn’t the author
care about the quality of his
opinion pieces?
Nat Weiner
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers. They should be addressed
care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter,
3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com.
All letters, including those submitted via e-mail, MUST be signed and with a
verifi able address and telephone number included.
Note that the address and telephone number will NOT be published and the
name will be published or withheld upon request.
No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves the
right to edit all submissions.
Pockets of Westchester and The Bronx are now lumped in to the same
congressional district as communities across the Long Island Sound.
File photo
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo provides
a coronavirus update during
a press conference in the Red
Room at the State Capitol. Photo by
(Mike Groll/Offi ce of Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo
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