Although it is the middle of summer and Laura Curran still faces a fight for the Democratic nomination, Jack Martins brought the campaign for Nassau County executive to an end-of-race boil last week when he questioned whether Curran would oppose the MS-13 street gang or “stand with her radical supporters?”
Martins called on Curran to reject the support of the four groups, who he said opposed “aggressive federal action to arrest the violent criminals responsible for killing children with machetes, knives and clubs, rout out MS-13 and disrupt its criminal enterprise and remove gang members from Long Island communities.”
This is both strange and troubling on several counts.
First is the identity of the supposed “radical special interest groups” as Martins also called them — Make the Road NY, SEIU 32BJ, the Working Families Party and the Long Island Progressive Coalition — that called on Curran to speak out against.
Make the Road NY is an immigration advocacy group, SEIU 32 BJ is the largest property services workers union, the Working Families Party is a liberal political group backing most Democrats running on Long Island, and the Long Island Progressive Coalition is a community-based organization dedicated to, in its own words, promoting sustainable development, revitalizing local communities, enhancing human dignity, creating effective democracy, and achieving economic, racial and social justice.
Liberal, yes, but hardly “radical special interest groups.” This is the type of partisan name-calling that is the enemy of constructive debate.
Second, the charge that the four groups — and by inference, Curran — opposed action against MS-13, a genuinely dangerous gang made up of native-born Americans and immigrants that has committed 17 murders over 18 months on Long Island.
Martins did not spell out the basis of his claim that the four groups were soft on stopping MS-13, but it was hard to mistake the timing of his statement, which came the day President Trump visited Brentwood to tout his immigration enforcement and anti-gang efforts.
That was the speech in which Trump urged police to be less “nice” in arresting immigrant criminal suspects and gang members — sparking applause from police attending the speech and widespread protests from law enforcement officials across the country, including the Suffolk County police chief and the head of Trump’s own Drug Enforcement Agency.
The day before Trump’s visit 26 community organizations including the four cited by Martins as “radicals” issued a press release saying that in his visit Trump was seeking to use local tragedies for political gain — “and particularly to fuel his hateful, anti-immigrant agenda.”
The group said that “rather than criminalizing, demonizing and using repressive measures against immigrant communities” the government should be investing in young people and their communities.
This is hardly an unreasonable approach.
A parent of one of the 18 people murdered by MS-13 said the same thing in an op-ed piece in The New York Times. The mother also called for tough law enforcement and harsh sentences for gang members. Aggressive but not excessive policing and programs to offer opportunity to youth susceptible to joining gangs are not mutually exclusive.
Martins did not mention Trump by name in his comments, but his press release tracked very closely in parts with Trump’s speech.
All of this raises the question of where Martins stands on both immigration policy and combatting gang violence beyond the tough rhetoric in his release.
Martins said in his release that “we cannot and will not stay silent or resort to political correctness when faced with violent gangs in our communities. And we certainly won’t play politics with the issue” — a rather incongruent comment in a press release attacking a prospective opponent.
He went on to say, “As County Executive, I will work with law enforcement at all levels of government and welcome their support to make sure Nassau County is free from gang violence.”
Does this mean that Martins supports Trump’s promise to build a wall between the United States and Mexico? Or to oppose “sanctuary” cities such as New York? Or to target all 11 million undocumented people said to living in this country for deportation? Or to cut legal immigration into this county in half and favor skilled workers who speak English, as Trump recently proposed?
The campaign for county executive is still in its early stages but given Martins’ comments it would seem that this would be a good time for him to answer these questions.
During his unsuccessful race for Congress last year, Martins appeared intent on walking a fine line on where he stood with Trump.
Initially, he said would support the party’s standard-bearer no matter who it was, and after Trump became the party nominee he said he would vote for Trump, but did not endorse him.
It appears that Martins has come around in supporting Trump — at least on the issue of immigration and gang violence.
Martins said in his release that “Laura Curran and the radical organizations that support her are out of touch with the values shared by Nassau County families.”
It is time for Martins to stop the divisive rhetoric and make clear what he stands for. And then let Nassau County families decide who best represents their values.
