As a Yonkers resident, my representative has long been Eliot Engel, who has served in the U.S. Congress since 1989. Generally speaking, I have considered him a decent representative. Yonkers may be a hardscrabble city, but it functions... my garbage gets picked up, the snow on the streets gets removed, and the buses tend to run on time. Yep, I always saw Engel as a decent man, and an effective public servant, but I now have to question whether or not he can sincerely represent the district.
At a news conference regarding the civil unrest which has ravaged the city for the past week, Representative Engel showed his ass. Speaking to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Engel was picked up by a hot mic: "If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care."
Iesu Christi, filius Mariae, this is a bad take. The Bronx has been especially hard hit this past week, with agressive police crackdowns on peaceful protestors and the trashing of the Fordham Road commercial district. If Eliot Engel only cares about his re-election prospects, he really needs to get the hell out of the House. The primary is coming up in two and a half weeks, and Jamaal Bowman's idealism looks like a welcome alternative to Engel's long term encumbent's cynicism.
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4 comments:
"served in the U.S. Congress since 1989"
There's your problem. If he ever had any decency, looks like it's been drowned in the addiction to congressional salary and benefits. Now it's just a job to him, and the people don't matter.
Kick him loose, and get someone hungry and angry into the job. Comfortable complacency does not a good servant of the people make.
Meh. The benefits you listed are all local, state or county functions. As a federal representative, look at his voting record. He's reliably liberal, so you might want to consider keeping him around anyway...
It's a familiar scenario: reliable old school liberal, uncritical supporter of Israel, over time has become a demographic anomaly. It's time to move on.
There's your problem. If he ever had any decency, looks like it's been drowned in the addiction to congressional salary and benefits. Now it's just a job to him, and the people don't matter.
Even a couple of days ago, I would have been behind the guy.
As a federal representative, look at his voting record. He's reliably liberal, so you might want to consider keeping him around anyway...
I dunno, I think we can do better for our district. The zeitgeist has left him behind.
It's a familiar scenario: reliable old school liberal, uncritical supporter of Israel, over time has become a demographic anomaly. It's time to move on.
It's stagnation, new approaches are needed.
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