Common Sense: Conservatives Gather

The New York State Conservative Party’s annual dinner at the Sheraton Manhattan was a great success. The 53^rd annual event once again attracted a presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina, as well as six of New York State’s eight Conservative Party-endorsed members of Congress including Dan Donovan as well as countless dignitaries. The state legislature was still in session, so the members — many of whom attend each year — were not able to get down from Albany.

David Keene, the former longtime head of the American Conservative Union and National Rifle Association, introduced Fiorina after remarks from State Chairperson Mike Long. Fiorina, who served as the chief executive of Hewlett Packard, and who started her career as a secretary in a nine-employee real estate firm, gave remarks that brought repeated applause from the sizable audience.

She spoke of her qualifications, political beliefs, philosophy of governing and the distinct views she as a woman in the race holds vs. those of Hillary Clinton. She comes across as intelligent, aggressive, outspoken and quite capable of leading. Considering Hewlett Packard, from a financial perspective, has a budget larger than the budgets of 45 states, I think one can conclude that she has been tested.

Oh, and everyone knows how she earned her money.

The current process for allocating spots for candidates to appear in primary debates is based on the average strength of three national polls. Fiorina is right on the edge of being included. It would be an absolute shame if a candidate such as Donald Trump is able to knock someone as talented as Fiorina out of the debates by spewing any and all things on his mind in hopes that he can create and harvest anger.  He is no more than a live political caricature of a cartoon character.

I constantly hear of concerns about the direction of America. I always remind those who express their concerns that America is the greatest nation on Earth because we have a process that peaceably allows for major change every four years. All you need to do is pay attention and then cast an informed vote. We are now once at the beginning of that process. America, for your own good – pay attention!

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As I mentioned last week, I did catch up with Joe Connor — the son of Frank Connor who was killed by the FALN and its terrorist leader Oscar Lopez-Rivera during the Fraunces Tavern bombing in the 1970s. This is the same Oscar Lopez-Rivera that the City Council by a 41-to-8 vote with three abstentions called upon President Obama to grant clemency to.

Needless to say Joe has been busy the last week appearing on Fox, writing in the Daily News and other newspapers, and appearing on many radio shows telling the story of his father and the untold story of the terrorist who destroyed the lives of Joe and his family.

He fills in missing details that Speaker Viverito and the Councilmembers like David Greenfield, Mark Treyger and Carlos Menchaca fail to mention: Details like the violent prison breaks that Lopez- Rivera attempted that resulted in 15 years being added to his 55-year sentence.

These 41 councilmembers voted to request that the president grant clemency to a terrorist. We should be thankful that the governor has not appointed any of them to a parole board.

Joe was pleased that I was telling his story. I was happy that I could do something, even in the smallest way, to help ease the pain of an individual who has suffered far too much in his life.

Once again, I call on these councilmembers to explain their vote. The public and, more importantly, the Connor family deserve an explanation.