From Bryan Erwin
Founder, Taking Action for Suffolk County

I started Taking Action for Suffolk County to rebuild what we once had, the ability to elect progressives up and down the ballot in Suffolk County.

In truth, given the outcome of the 2016 national election, I would have founded TASC even if we had calm, common sense elected representatives who were in the community engaging us.

We have no such luck.

Instead, we have two Congressmen who, in my opinion, have embraced the worst of the Trump agenda and rhetoric.  Not only with a voting record in lockstep with President Trump, but with reprehensible words and actions that are further dividing us.  But with your support we can make a change!

For Peter King:

• Voted for the Republican healthcare repeal bill when it was in the House, and then railed against it in the Senate. The bill he voted for would have cut $14 million from 3 hospitals in his district, and left 2.7 million NY residents without healthcare.
• Urged President Trump to put Muslims and community and student groups with Muslim members under strict surveillance based on a failed NYPD program. The NYPD dismantled that practice due to its encroachment on civil liberties, potential unconstitutionality and its utter ineffectiveness.
• In Peter King’s district, the opioid crisis has impacted families and communities of all backgrounds.  Peter King has done nothing to help solve this crisis, and has ignored it.  He has done nothing to lobby Trump to do more to address this.  Indeed, Trump’s recent declaration of an “emergency” did nothing to provide support for communities facing this epidemic.

For Lee Zeldin:

• Said Trump was right to call out liberals for being as violent as those on the “alt right” protesting in Charlotesville and in 2016 called President Obama “racist”.
• Took $10,000 of NRA money.  His only response or legislative action to the tragedy in Las Vegas was a tweet mourning the “senseless loss;” and voted to allow the severely mentally ill to purchase firearms.
• Appears with President Trump to claim leadership in the fight on MS-13, yet voted against funding for our police to buy cameras to collect license plate data, a proven tool to fight terrorists and gangs.
• Has consistently voted for draconian GOP budgets that cut federally subsidized student loans, a necessary component to afford college from high cost Long Island.
• Not only voted for, but co-sponsored the so-called First Amendment Defense Act which allows for businesses to discriminate based on perceived sexual orientation.

Forget sharing our progressive values, the above actions, votes and statements demonstrate that Representatives Zeldin and King are not even mainstream Republicans, but are part and parcel of the ethno-nationalist radicalization of the Republican party.

The truth is they only vote and act this way, because they can.  They are counting on your being too busy to notice and to fed up to do anything about it.  Zeldin and King are serving their extremist masters in the White House and the right-wing donor base.

But TASC knows.  And TASC is keeping score.  And we are motivating our neighbors to register to vote, to engage our neighbors on issues they care about now and not waiting until election season.  But we need your help to keep it up!

They have gone too far.  Fight back now with TASC.

Bryan