Congressional District 11 -- Why Donovan Must Be Defeated

 Congressional District 11:  May 5 Special Election-- Why Donovan Must Be Defeated

Thomas Riggins

The people of the newly revised Congressional District 11 covering Staten Island and adjoining parts of Brooklyn have an opportunity on May 5th to send a progressive pro working class politician to the House of Representatives to replace the felonious  Republican Michael Grimm who was forced to resign earlier this year. 

While several candidates will be on the ballot for this special election, only two have a realistic chance of winning. They are the Republican conservative Dan Donovan (currently Staten Island D.A. best known for trying to cover up the police murder of  Erik Garner with a secretive Grand Jury proceeding ) and the Democratic progressive Vincent Gentile (currently a member of the the City Council).

The media predicts a small turnout for this election and a Republican victory. A large turn out of motivated progressive people, however, could upset this prediction and send a progressive Democrat to Washington. I hope this article will help to motivate people to get out the vote as Donovan must be defeated.

He must be defeated because his party, the Republican Party, does not really represent the interests of the people either in his district or the nation as a whole.

It works constantly to undermine all the progressive social legislation enacted since the 1930s including social security, unemployment insurance, laws enacted to enable unionization drives, medicaid, medicare, food stamps, VA benefits, pre-school and infant care, civil rights laws, the Affordable Care Act, environmental protection, fair housing laws, public housing, tax relief for the poor, worker safety and protection laws, anti-pollution laws, immigration reform, voting rights, and by and large any legislation that benefits the masses of American people. But it does support any and all laws enacted to benefit banks, corporations, international conglomerates, CEOs and all members of the 1% of wealthiest Americans, and the military-industrial complex.

We do not need, and can ill afford, another Republican representative in the House to work against our interests and needs. What we need is a representative that will work for us as much as possible and who understands the needs of working people, minorities, children and seniors. The only real alternative to Dan Donovan and his conservative, reactionary party is to vote for the progressive Democrat Vincent Gentile. Not only vote for him but tell your friends and neighbors to vote as well because the Republicans are counting on a low turnout and hope that working people and their allies won't turn out for a special election scheduled for Tuesday, a work day.

Below is a list of some of the projects Vincent Gentile will prioritize if elected:

1. An increase in the minimum wage so working people can live on their earnings.

2. Fight for the maximum insurance payments from FEMA for the victims of  

    Hurricane Sandy.

3. Get funds for North Shore Rapid Transit, the Staten Island West Shore Railway 

     and increase express bus and ferry service in Brooklyn.

4. Close the loopholes created in the federal tax code that gives tax breaks and 

     incentives for corporations to move overseas and to ship jobs overseas as well.

     Gentile will back, instead, giving tax relief to those who create jobs domestically.

5. Gentile supports our efforts to work with our overseas allies to fight ISIS and

    Al-Qaeda but he opposes sending in American troops on the ground.

6. He will fight Republican efforts (or any other efforts) to weaken the Social 

     Security  and Medicare laws and benefits.

It is important to note that Vincent Gentile has also been endorsed by The Working Families Party and such unions as 1199 SEIU United Health Workers East and the

Hotel and Motel Trades Council (HTC).

So we have a clear choice in this election: a progressive Democrat or a reactionary 

Republican. Donovan must be defeated.