It’s always important to consider the consequences of a vote, but sometimes it’s more important than others.
This is one of those times.
In our local congressional election, Democrat Bridget Fleming is running against Republican Nick LaLota. Fleming has a long and distinguished career as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, as an elected Southampton Town Council member and now as a Suffolk County legislator.
LaLota, after a short stint on the Amityville Village Board, served exclusively as a political appointee, first with the Suffolk County Board of Elections and now with the administrative staff of the Republican caucus in the County Legislature.
The difference in their backgrounds is striking, as is the difference in their policies, but I won’t detain us with that here. I’m thinking of something else.
I’m thinking of what will happen if Nick LaLota is elected to Congress.
These are very troubled times, as everyone knows. The political scene is infested with all kinds of extreme types, people espousing ideas and doing things the like of which none of us has ever seen. Just take the events of January 6, 2021, for a prime example, but not the only one, by any means.
Nick LaLota may or may not be one of these people, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that there’s a strong chance Republicans will win a majority in the House of Representatives, but it will be very tight. If LaLota wins this election, that gets them one seat closer to that majority.
And who will be in that Republican majority? A whole lot of election deniers, abortion ban fanatics and Q Anon crazies — count on it. So whether or not Nick LaLota is a man of this stripe — and the jury’s very much out on that — a vote for him is a vote for these extremists who will tear down our democracy, strip us of our rights, and lead us down the road to conspiracy madness.
To spare ourselves this disaster, to keep sanity and civility in government, we frankly need for Democrats to control the House. For this reason alone, though I have plenty of others, I’m voting for Bridget Fleming on November 8.
George Lynch
Quiogue
Lynch is the treasurer of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee — Ed.
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