McLaughlin Responds to Dinowitz's Puzzling Comments About His Campaign
We received this e-mail from the Joe Mclaughlin campaign, and we have several questions about some of the claims by the Mclaughlin campaign. We must also disclose that I (Robert Press) ran against Assemblyman Dinowitz in the 1996 general election.
We are very concerned that the Mclaughlin campaign was for building an outdated oversized water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park, blaming Assemblyman Dinowitz for things that Mayor Bloomberg has done, while Assemblyman Dinowitz opposed those projects. Fails to know the name of the current State Senate Majority leader Pedro Espada Jr. calling him Jose Espada. Thinks that Ed Koch who was the only person in his administration as mayor of the City of New York that could not be bought (as per FBI tapes) is the person to end corruption in Albany. Finally while attacking Assemblyman Dinowitz for allowing New Jersey trade unions at the NYC DEP Water Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park, The Mclaughlin campaign uses New Jersey as a base of operations by its 201-320-7850 phone number.
Yesterday, the Norwood News printed a story on Joe McLaughlin’s assembly campaign in the 81st district of the Bronx. Joe is running a grassroots campaign throughout the district to give voters a choice for real reform this November against Jeffrey Dinowitz.
Dinowitz was also interviewed for the story and had a few puzzling statements we would like to address.
Dinowitz: "[Voters] know I work hard for the neighborhood."
His record says otherwise.
- He voted against a water filtration plant that has provided jobs in construction and plumbing.
- Dinowitz allowed NJ trade unions to lock out Woodlawn plumbers when 80% of the jobs to build the plant were designated to be filled by neighborhood laborers and tradesmen.
- Allowed the Firehouse to close in Woodlawn
- Hit seniors on a fixed income with taxes on clothing and footwear
- Did nothing while lifeline buses the BX34 and BX 1 were put on reduced schedules while fattening pensions for MTA employees
- Siphoned money from a payroll tax designed to fund the MTA.
- Killed student MetroCards
- Voted to get rid of 10 of the 30 insurance companies that insure seniors in NY
- Allowed Mayor Bloomberg to shove every drug center and homeless shelter in Wakefield
- All while NYPD reduced about 100 officers from local precincts
- Voted against giving New Yorkers temporary relief from gas taxes, at a time when gas was $4
- Voted against nearly $2 billion in property tax relief
- Voted to kill a bill that excluded Social Security income when determining eligibility for real property tax exemptions on property owned by senior citizens
- Said he wanted to "slightly increase" corporate taxes, have no cap on property tax hikes and institute even more fees and sales taxes.
- While NY went broke, Dinowitz demanded a pay raise for himself. Last year he made $95,000
- Decided against ousting Jose Espada from the Democratic Party before the Sept 14 primary
While the people of the 81st district are looking for a leader, Dinowitz has continued to play Albany partisan politics. Dinowitz has cast blame on anyone but himself and Speaker Silver when the Democrats have had total control of the Senate, Assembly and Governor’s mansion for 2 years.
On his statement against Mayor Koch (“Who died and made Ed Koch an expert on reform?”) –
Joe is appalled that he would attack one of the greatest Jewish Politicians of our time who is advocating for real reform against corruption. Koch has pushed for reform as early as the 1963 when he took on party boss Carmine Desapio. To get further information from Mayor Koch please contact Adam Riff at 212-616-5815.
Jeffrey Dinowitz: “I’m sure I’ll get at least 75 percent of the votes. I don’t want to be cocky” –
We are not shocked by this comment. Joe has known for a long time that Jeffrey Dinowitz is out of touch with the people of the 81st district.
Joe has been through every neighborhood in the district. He knows the people are fed up with business as usual. They are looking for common sense reform to get the Bronx and New York back on track.
Joe may be the underdog in this race but he is not alone when he says "we cannot trust those who helped create the mess in Albany to go back this November and fix it."
Thanks,
Bill Murphy