I live in Williston Park, in the 5th Congressional District. The House of Representative member for my district is Gary Ackerman, a 30-year veteran of Congress. Last week Ackerman released a statement of why he did not vote for the Debt Ceiling Agreement. In his letter he identified the members of Congress who voted for the agreement as “Thugs” who were intent on destroying the government. The agreement is surely not perfect, but it at least forestalled a government shutdown and, hopefully points the way to better government in the future. Ackerman says the agreement protects loopholes, billionaires and greedy elements in our society. But I didn’t see or hear anything in the news that said he contributed one idea to an alternate plan that he could vote for. He claims that in contrast to the thugs that he is intent on helping those who really need help. Those people, he defines as “…more concerned about having a roof than they are the national debt ceiling.” That is a fine motive in a glib phrase; pity Ackerman has not always had it! When speaking about greed and helping those who need help, I am still waiting for Ackerman’s explanation of how it came to pass that he was given an interest free loan of $14,000 in 2002 by Selig Zises, a friend, and he used that money to purchase stock in a company where Zises was a large shareholder. Years later, when the company went public, Ackerman sold the stock and made an $86,000 profit, as reported by the Daily News in a series of stories in January 2010. Also, contrary to Congressional Ethics rules, Ackerman arranged a meeting for the company in his Washington office with a representative from Israel regarding the sale of company products to the Israeli military. That was a fine example of Ackerman helping those in need. And, in an effort to help the downtrodden again, Ackerman tried to get legislation passed that would have allowed Seymour Zises, another friend and brother of Zelig, to write off taxes he paid on monies he earned from Bernie Madoff investments in 1994 before that Ponzi scandal broke. Based upon those January 2010 Daily News reports, Ackerman should not really call others “Thugs” until he is ready to explain his past actions.
Alan J. Reardon
Williston Park
