State Senate race should be the Rockland Dems priority

Good news came across the transom today. The Rockland County Democratic Party has fielded a full slate of candidates and two of those candidates, State Assembly member Kenneth Zebrowski, Jr., and one of either Assembly member Ellen Jaffee or Chris Sampson, her primary challenger, will run unopposed by the Rockland County Republican Party.

The failure of the Republicans to field candidates for the assembly seats and to again field some weak candidates in some other races shows just how strong the Democratic Party has become in the area, especially in the eastern part of Rockland County.

That's why, in addition to getting Sen. Barack Obama elected President, the Rockland Democrats have got to give their all in defeating one of the big stalwarts of the Republican controlled State Senate.

I worked on Nancy Low-Hogan's State Senate campaign two years ago and I'm giving advice, when I can, to Greg Julian. Nancy was a great candidate in 2006: Spending very little money, she ran a very scrappy campaign and nearly got 40 percent of the vote against State Sen. Thomas P. Morahan. While I wouldn't say Nancy gave Sen. Morahan a scare, he spent six figures defending his seat and Nancy's campaign cost less than a new roof on a house.

But I don't think it was money that kept Low-Hogan from Albany; I believe it was the lack of support from the County's Democratic leaders, most notably from Alex Gromack, the Supervisor of Clarkstown. Gromack even went so far as to financially contribute to Sen. Morahan's campaign and to publicly endorse him. I feel this was party disloyalty on Gromack's part.

There are other Rockland Democrats, who have been less vocal, but have still had Morahan's back in past elections. They did not back their own party's candidate because they were waiting for the Morahan "Gravy Train" to make a stop in their village. One Democratic river-village mayor even displayed an obscenely large simulacrum of a six-figure check from Morahan's slush fund in his village's hall...this supposedly Democratic mayor, in turn, gave Morahan a fat campaign contribution.

Quid pro quo. There is nothing sleazier in politics.

And then there are the Democrats who think that Morahan is a "moderate" or almost a Democrat, let me remind them about who Tom Morahan really is:

Morahan is anti-choice. If Rowe v. Wade is ever reversed and the matter of choice ever goes to the states, Morahan would be part of a majority that can potentially block women's health initiatives, which could make it difficult or impossible for women to get the proper care and to make the proper choice. Remember, this is the same Morahan who, as a member of the Senate health committee, has worked to block the poor from receiving access to pregnancy testing.

Morahan is against the best interests of women. A few years ago, Tom Morahan had the power to move a women’s health initiative out of committee that would have provided access to emergency contraception, instead he chose to let the legislation die and without explanation. Morahan is no friend of women.

Thomas Morahan also did not support the Healthy Teens Act, which would have provided a needed, comprehensive sex education program for New York Teenagers. This act, if passed, it would have taken New York a great step forward in preventing venereal disease and unwanted pregnancies. It would have helped mitigate the instance of abortion and prevent potentially life-threatening health problems for teenagers.

Thomas Morhan stood against the State False Claims Act. It would have put the brakes on corporate Medicaid fraud, which had been bleeding New York taxpayers by billions a year. It's no wonder: his candidacy is always strongly supported by big pharmaceutical companies like Wyeth and Pfizer. New York spends a third more per Medicaid enrollee than any other state, and much of this goes right to the corporations that funded Morahan’s campaign without any oversight by the State Senate Health Committee.

Again, is this the candidate some of the Democratic leaders in Rockland County want to support? I'm looking forward to every one of our county's Democratic leaders to get behind Greg Julian...and mark my words, I'll make a big stink about it if they don't.