NIGHTWATCH
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Anyone care to respond? His e-mail is below the article. 
With a friend like this . . .
Bloomberg ally Fossella cozies up to gun lobby, undermining mayor’s crusade Originally published on April 28, 2006
Mayor Bloomberg, convening a summit of big-city mayors this week to fight the tide of firearms - many of them illegal - that kill more than 30,000 people nationwide every year, did a rare and wonderful thing by speaking bluntly about the link between death, violence and misery on our streets and the politicians who block sensible efforts to stem the illegal guns that flood New York and other cities.
Bloomberg spoke plainly - with an unmistakable touch of bitterness and frustration - about the recent death of David Pacheco, the 2-year-old boy who was shot to death on his way to church Easter morning.
"The only thing that would have helped that child is if we had the courage to stand up and get the guns off the street," Bloomberg told reporters at the conclusion of the gun summit. "And those who vote against getting guns off the street really are the ones as much responsible as the shooter, because if the shooter didn't have a gun, that child would still be alive."
With that statement, Bloomberg broke with politics as usual, where favors, policies and cash get traded. Curbing gun violence, he signaled, will be a battle over values.
That's a welcome change. Up to now, Bloomberg has been playing footsie with pro-gun politicians, knowing full well that the number of horrendous deaths of children in our city would drop if grinning pols, their campaign accounts flush with gun-lobby cash, would stop voting against restrictions on the sale of firearms.
That brings us to the case of Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island, who co-chaired Bloomberg's reelection committee last year. Fossella, who has a B-plus rating from the National Rifle Association, along with $9,000 in contributions from the group since 1999, has a long record of battling the reforms Bloomberg now champions.
In 1999, Fossella voted to cut the waiting period for buying weapons at gun shows from three days to one. In 2003 and 2005, he voted for laws making it harder to sue gun manufacturers for the misuse of their products.
Fossella voted to loosen gun restrictions in Washington, which is under congressional control. And he was part of the majority in Congress that let the federal ban on assault weapons lapse, clearing the way for the sale of armor-piercing .50-caliber rifles.
Bloomberg, whose administration is pressing a lawsuit against gunmakers, is fully aware of Fossella's atrocious record. But when Fernando Ferrer, the mayor's Democratic rival last year, brought up the matter during debates, Bloomberg simply pointed out that he disagreed with the Staten Island Republican on some issues.
That was the politics-as-usual approach. Bloomberg needed conservative votes on Staten Island, so he cozied up to Fossella and kept mum about his campaign co-chair's pro-gun votes. It's clear that such shameful compromises simply don't work.
Leaders like Bloomberg have to keep pushing Fossella and other politicians out of their comfort zone and into the hospitals and funeral homes where the body counts keep rising. And the rest of us should help Bloomberg do it. Every time a cop, a child or bystander gets shot with an illegal gun in New York City, a pol like Fossella should get a wave of citizen phone calls and press inquiries, reminding him of his past votes and asking when he'll come to his senses.
Other excursions outside the comfort zone should include protests - complete with a roll call of those killed and injured with illegal guns - outside Fossella's office and/or churches where he is speaking.
Above all, Fossella and other pro-gun politicians need to be pressed to oppose a bill, currently before Congress, that would make it harder for local law-enforcement agencies to share data about the 1.2% of dealers who the federal government estimates sell the weapons used in more than 57% of America's gun crimes.
All of us need to learn what Bloomberg belatedly discovered: We won't get rid of illegal guns by playing nice with the gun lobby and its political marionettes.
[email protected]
With a friend like this . . .
Bloomberg ally Fossella cozies up to gun lobby, undermining mayor’s crusade Originally published on April 28, 2006
Mayor Bloomberg, convening a summit of big-city mayors this week to fight the tide of firearms - many of them illegal - that kill more than 30,000 people nationwide every year, did a rare and wonderful thing by speaking bluntly about the link between death, violence and misery on our streets and the politicians who block sensible efforts to stem the illegal guns that flood New York and other cities.
Bloomberg spoke plainly - with an unmistakable touch of bitterness and frustration - about the recent death of David Pacheco, the 2-year-old boy who was shot to death on his way to church Easter morning.
"The only thing that would have helped that child is if we had the courage to stand up and get the guns off the street," Bloomberg told reporters at the conclusion of the gun summit. "And those who vote against getting guns off the street really are the ones as much responsible as the shooter, because if the shooter didn't have a gun, that child would still be alive."
With that statement, Bloomberg broke with politics as usual, where favors, policies and cash get traded. Curbing gun violence, he signaled, will be a battle over values.
That's a welcome change. Up to now, Bloomberg has been playing footsie with pro-gun politicians, knowing full well that the number of horrendous deaths of children in our city would drop if grinning pols, their campaign accounts flush with gun-lobby cash, would stop voting against restrictions on the sale of firearms.
That brings us to the case of Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island, who co-chaired Bloomberg's reelection committee last year. Fossella, who has a B-plus rating from the National Rifle Association, along with $9,000 in contributions from the group since 1999, has a long record of battling the reforms Bloomberg now champions.
In 1999, Fossella voted to cut the waiting period for buying weapons at gun shows from three days to one. In 2003 and 2005, he voted for laws making it harder to sue gun manufacturers for the misuse of their products.
Fossella voted to loosen gun restrictions in Washington, which is under congressional control. And he was part of the majority in Congress that let the federal ban on assault weapons lapse, clearing the way for the sale of armor-piercing .50-caliber rifles.
Bloomberg, whose administration is pressing a lawsuit against gunmakers, is fully aware of Fossella's atrocious record. But when Fernando Ferrer, the mayor's Democratic rival last year, brought up the matter during debates, Bloomberg simply pointed out that he disagreed with the Staten Island Republican on some issues.
That was the politics-as-usual approach. Bloomberg needed conservative votes on Staten Island, so he cozied up to Fossella and kept mum about his campaign co-chair's pro-gun votes. It's clear that such shameful compromises simply don't work.
Leaders like Bloomberg have to keep pushing Fossella and other politicians out of their comfort zone and into the hospitals and funeral homes where the body counts keep rising. And the rest of us should help Bloomberg do it. Every time a cop, a child or bystander gets shot with an illegal gun in New York City, a pol like Fossella should get a wave of citizen phone calls and press inquiries, reminding him of his past votes and asking when he'll come to his senses.
Other excursions outside the comfort zone should include protests - complete with a roll call of those killed and injured with illegal guns - outside Fossella's office and/or churches where he is speaking.
Above all, Fossella and other pro-gun politicians need to be pressed to oppose a bill, currently before Congress, that would make it harder for local law-enforcement agencies to share data about the 1.2% of dealers who the federal government estimates sell the weapons used in more than 57% of America's gun crimes.
All of us need to learn what Bloomberg belatedly discovered: We won't get rid of illegal guns by playing nice with the gun lobby and its political marionettes.
[email protected]
