Letters

Trump, operating with his usual disdain for his constitutionally defined role, and unable to force a Democratic House of Representatives to fund his wall, poached nearly half of this year’s military construction budget –– a full $3.6 billion –– and redirected it to erect 174 miles of border “fencing.”

On the whole, Puerto Rico, still rebuilding from Hurricane Maria, is set to lose a total of $372 million to the border, while New York is due to be deprived of $160 million — the greatest quantity of any individual state.

Most egregious of all is Trump’s decision to put the lives and education of our servicemen’s children at risk. Eight schools for dependents of military personnel, scattered across three continents, will no longer be renovated or replaced. Children at Spangdahlem Elementary School in Germany will continue to spend five days a week in a building with faulty electrical equipment. No Long Island parent would feel safe sending a kid to a school with “missing exit lighting, aging fire alarm systems, doors without closers leading to corridors, and missing visual alarms.” Why are we willing to tolerate forcing the students of Stuttgart Army Base to contend with the same?

Can anyone in good conscious claim that a few miles of fence is more important to the comfort, dignity and safety of our troops than schools for their kids? It is an utter betrayal of our men and women in uniform.

And this has meaning to me, personally. Fort Campbell middle school in Kentucky is losing $62 million earmarked to relieve classroom overcrowding. My mom attended eighth grade at Fort Campbell while my grandfather was on active service, and the quality and notably integrated education she received helped her on her way to medical school.

So I ask Lee Zeldin — not as a Democrat, nor as a congressional candidate, but as a father, and a member of a family with a long, proud history of military service — for the sake of your fellow Americans in uniform and their children, stand up to Trump. Speak out against theft from the projects. Work across the aisle, with veterans from across the political spectrum, to assemble a veto-proof majority.

You asked Long Island to send a vet to Congress. Will you ensure that our tax dollars are restored to the people who deserve them, and not thrown away senselessly in the desert?

Perry GershonEast HamptonMr. Gershon is a Democratic challenger to Mr. Zeldin in the 1st Congressional District race in 2020 — Ed.