Reflecting on the Tucson Tragedy
The January 8 murder of six Tucson, Arizona residents and the wounding of more than a dozen others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was an event that shocked the nation. In the wake of this tragedy, President Barack Obama and others have eloquently called for a restoration of civility in our country's partisan politics.
The events of January 8 have raised a number of issues in my mind. I was in Tucson just two months ago for a conference. I have thought of the beauty of that city and the liveliness of the University of Arizona juxtaposed with the infamous, heinous crime that was committed. I have heard, and agree with, the calls for stricter gun control laws on a federal level to raise the floor of what states are required to do to try and keep guns out of the wrong hands. I have recalled that we are not immune in New York to rhetoric that goes beyond decent conversation, with candidates for high office threatening to 'take out" members of the press and appeals for votes that attempt to prey on fears that people may have of those who may look or believe differently. I have also thought about my own personal safety and that of my staff as we try to make ourselves accessible to my constituents.
Yet, more than anything else, I have focused on President Obama's words regarding the youngest victim of the tragedy, nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. The connections between Christina and New York are stark; she was the granddaughter of a former Yankees and Mets manager and was born on September 11, 2001. Christina was attending Congresswoman Giffords's public event because she had just been elected to her school's student council and was interested in a future political career. At the January 12 memorial service, President Obama challenged Americans to live up to Christina's expectations to make our democracy as good as she imagined it to be.
New York's democracy at this time in our history is not as good as Christina or any nine-year old would want it to be nor as good as New Yorkers deserve. Scandals involving current and former legislative colleagues of mine and years of quick fixes rather than long-term solutions to our state's structural problems have made New Yorkers distrustful of government. Despite this malaise, and often without press coverage, our state government sometimes does what is right and I'm proud to have been involved in some of these successes over the past eight years.
As we approach how to close a $10 billion deficit in next year's budget, the rhetoric on television and in print media has already began to ratchet up. We are just at the beginning of a cycle of months of commercials and e-mails which will advise you to "tell Albany" what to do. I hope that New Yorkers continue to recommend what I and my colleagues should do to get us through these difficult economic times. I also hope that the tone and the words of the discussions remain civil. We must be able to disagree on the issues of the day without letting it spill over into name calling or even violence. That is the world any nine year-old -- and my own three-year old daughter -- should expect and what all New Yorkers deserve.