McCarthy Says She Now has Vision: It Must be Election Time

By Francis X. Becker

Like you, I recently received a glossy two sided mailer from Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy.  (If you don’t recall receiving the piece please go to BeckerforCongress.com to see a copy).   It is hard for me to believe that this is the best a seven term congresswoman can provide to educate and inform her constituents as to the important issues facing our nation.

It is hard to imagine a long-time member of Congress would send out such a mailer and at the same time call it “progress report.”  Many have suggested, and I agree, that Congresswoman McCarthy should simply retire and enjoy her home in the Hamptons because she is rarely in the district anymore, anyway.  To me, this mailer is clear evidence that she no longer cares about serving us in Washington and has lost complete interest in fighting for our best interests.  From this mailer is also clear that she has no meaningful ideas on how to solve the serious problems our country is facing, perhaps because she has significant responsibility for creating and compounding them especially over the last two years.  The most dangerous and potentially damaging issue facing our country today is the skyrocketing spending and $15 trillion national debt. Ms. McCarthy hasn’t met a tax or spending bill she hasn’t liked.

The content of her “constituent report” would be laughable if it weren’t so sad.  With our national debt, as stated, at a staggering $15 trillion, I have heard of no meaningful efforts on the part of Ms. McCarthy’s to curb the out of control spending in Washington.  Because of her lack of vision and will to fix this national crisis, we are creating an enormous burden for our nation and our children and their children for generations to come which will surely negatively impact their futures and those of their families.

Instead, in her mailer, she informs us of the legislation she is “proposing” to address gas prices.  Of course, this is a hot button issue and she is trying to show us her concern, and is saying don’t blame her.  Gas prices under Carolyn McCarthy were $1.83 per gallon in 2008 and are more than double today.  But one has to wonder if she really cares because her voting record supported Nancy Pelosi over 90 percent of the time with her energy and job killing rules and regulations.  Is this what Ms. McCarthy calls “Progress?”  I can imagine her talking with her staff, “We have to address gas prices, because the people are angry, even though we have done nothing to increase energy resources in his country to stem the dramatic rise in prices.  Of course, the oil companies are to blame.”   Yes, they must blame big oil and local gas stations for gouging the people, even though they are the ones, because of their own incompetence and lack of vision who have caused this hardship to consumers.

This “Progress Report” is insulting and shows great disrespect for the intellect of her constituents.  She states in the piece she is working on legislation that will “make it illegal to gouge Americans at the gas pump.”  I thought this already was “Illegal?”  It is Carolyn McCarthy and her Democrat Party, because of their ineffective leadership that have caused gas prices to explode the way they have.  This comes right out of the Democrat handbook (blame big oil) which says blame greedy corporate America so people won’t see how it is they who have failed consumers.  The Democrats have done everything possible to deter and dissuade investment in exploration and delivery of domestic energy resources. They’ve been anti-pipeline, anti-drilling, anti-coal and strangely, pro-nuclear. Meanwhile the Democrats don’t want to talk about the high percentage in the cost of every gallon of gas that is paid in sales and other taxes to government.  So who is gouging who?  Has Ms. McCarthy offered to roll back or rebate these onerous taxes? It is the government, of which Congresswoman McCarthy is an entrenched part that continues to gouge the public.

Also, in her “Progress Report” it is even harder to try and understand Ms. McCarthy’s “vision for Long Island.”  Please look at this mailer; it says so much about what Ms. McCarthy thinks of us.  She wants to create the illusion that she is actually doing something.  In reality she has no answers and no vision and has NEVER had a vision for anything let alone for Long Island.  In her report, the segment entitled “Vision for Long Island,” she says she is forming an “economic advisory board” to come up with ideas to make Long Island more economically viable.  Is she kidding?  Forming an economic advisory board is not a “vision.”  And what value would any such board provide for the taxpayers of Long Island?  We have numerous business organizations such as the Long Island Association that we can consult to provide all the ideas we need to move Long Island forward.  But I assure you, lowering property taxes would be their very first recommendation.  Ms. McCarthy is clearly out of touch with the needs of her community which she has supposedly been serving now for almost a decade and a half.

What Ms. McCarthy really needs to do, is undo some of the legislation she hoisted upon our nation such as the onerous job killing albatross of Obamacare and the other legislation she has supported that has shackled business and the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans.  It has been these policies and those of the Democrat Party that have kept us in a recession for years longer than others in our nation’s history.

With all that is facing our nation, this is the kind of silly, ridiculous taxpayer-funded mailer that is more of a campaign piece than a serious effort to discuss the real issues facing us and to provide valuable information to the public.  The reason it is not more informative is that Ms. McCarthy has nothing of substance with which to share with her constituents.  Ms. McCarthy really should retire and let someone else with the passion and desire to make real change go to Washington DC and fight for the American people and the families of the 4^th Congressional District.