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Editor, The North Country Gazette:
The New York Post story http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/68676.htm reveals NY State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver probably receives a seven figure annual salary from a NYC Law firm that benefits from his pro-trial lawyer stance on legislation Speaker Silver blocks from a floor vote in the State Assembly, at the expense of the rest of New York state.
The two NY Post articles http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/68592.htm by Ken Lovett and http://www.nypost.com/commentary/68583.htm by Andrea Peyser argue Speaker Silver's actions are driven by the interests of New York's trial lawyers.
But these articles do not explain why year after year NY's feminists particularly New York NOW has never demonstrated or even held a press conference in protest of the Assembly Speaker's obstruction of tougher sex offender legislation.
Roughly five years ago NOW sponsored a survey that demonstrated the vast majority of American women placed issues of safety (i.e. violent crime and domestic violence) of far greater concern than abortion rights or other pet issues of sheltered, professional, well-to-do feminists.
One would think promoting legislation to protect NY's women and girls, and even the young sons of NY's women from sexual predators (especially in this the age of HIV/AIDS), would be a primary mission of groups like NOW.
Would it be the Speaker, or the trial attorneys that possess the power to order all these feminists to be quiet over the annual obstruction of longer confinement for convicted predators? They make these women watch this corruption silently year after year without protest?
What do the Democrat majority of the Assembly get out of re-electing Sheldon Silver to the power of Speaker year after year, knowing he has obstructed tougher penalties for predators in the past, does so every year they give him the power to do so, and can be relied on to do so every year they re-elect him?
What do Speaker Silver's supporters gain from re-electing him, other than a straw man to hide behind? What justifies facilitating the predation of pedophiles and rapists by blocking longer sentences and civil confinement that keep the worst of our worst predators locked away longer?
Why do New York's most powerful feminists and the Assembly majority accommodate this agenda, and why does so much of the media turn a blind eye to all of the above, year after year, when they have the ability to expose and bring public sentiment to bear on this corruption?.
Fred Dicker and Ken Lovett of the NY Post lead the media exposure that demonstrated the pressure exposure could exert on Speaker Silver during the Micheal Boxley scandal, when the Speaker first relented on some legislation he had obstructed for years.
Bill O'Reilly lead the media in pressuring Speaker Silver to propose his own version of tougher predator legislation after years of blocking the tougher legislation that has passed the State Senate with near unanimous bipartisan support for six consecutive years.
Bill O'Reilly used exposure and public pressure to advance Jessica's law in state after state across the nation, and found resistance from public policy makers and public opinion shapers in probably every state. This is a national problem most media and activists shy away from.
Most recently Bill O'Reilly lead the exposure of Ted Kennedy's two year obstruction of a Federal Sex Offender Registry to force hate crime legislation for activists who must have known and approved of the obstructing Kennedy had done and was doing for their agenda.
A week or so of mounting public pressure after exposure and Kennedy relents, probably with the blessings of his backers who did not want this exposure either. Nearly two years of obstruction, less than two weeks of exposure, women and children across the nation are safer because exposure and public sentiment keep reaping results!
Focus attention on Silver's Assembly backers who elect him the power of speaker to abuse year after year! If nothing else, put a political price on this behavior so that whether or not they re-elect him again they know that with the new media they will be held accountable before their constituents.
It is important for voters and the public to appreciate the character of their elected representatives, and the public opinion shapers involved when these legislators and opinion shapers are willing to turn a blind eye to and facilitate such a cruel exploitation of women and children, (especially in this era of HIV/AIDS.)
God bless all of you who have taken a stand before those who trust you for information, and used your talents and resources to help them make their representatives and your media competition do their share of making this a better, safer state. Most will remember they learned from and were inspired by you.
Tom Chandler
Guilderland, NY
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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