Senator on the wrong side of proposed legislation

To the editor:

Once again, State Senator Daphne Jordan has come out on the wrong side of proposed legislation that will benefit everyday working families. Her latest newsletter concerning rent control legislation is nothing more than a series of unsubstantiated sound bites designed to create fear among average New Yorkers. She uses standard reactionary rhetoric in statements like, “rent control will create…more neighborhood blight and reduce property values for entire communities.”

Then there’s the old reliable Republican mantra that this legislation will “increase taxes and expand the reach of government.” The fact that real estate developers’ main concern is their bottom line and not the availability of affordable housing for the all New Yorkers is beyond the Senator’s reasoning. When she refers to the latest legislative session as a “radical, socialist agenda” she retreats to the Fox News McCarthyite script that wants to revive the old “Red Scare” to its viewers.

Her latest fear mongering diatribe is just another example of the “Secession” Senator’s lack of concern for the real issues important to the working class and poor residents of New York State. While she rails against issues like rent control and drivers’ licenses for undocumented workers, she neglects to explain her negative votes on voter reforms, campaign finance reform, gender identity and climate action. The Senator is, simply put, a scapegoat politician; attacking legislation that will help the neediest New Yorkers while downplaying and outright hiding her positions on issues that impact her special interest backers.

William Mancini

Kinderhook