I continue to be both amazed and disgusted by Sen. Elaine Phillips’ dishonest attempt to paint herself as an advocate for LIRR riders.
For those who need a refresher, Phillips made her opposition to the LIRR’s third track project the centerpiece of her 2016 Senate campaign.
In the months leading up to and following her electoral victory, she made it clear that she did not consider the substantially improved service the project would bring important to the 7th District.
In fact, in a 2017 statement to Newsday, Phillips dismissed such improved service as “regional benefits” not worth the temporary inconvenience to those living or working near the LIRR’s Main Line.
Phillips was so staunchly opposed to the project, she unsuccessfully lobbied Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Sen. Martin Golden to block the MTA from enacting its most recent capital plan.
Once the capital plan was finalized and the project’s opponents abandoned her en masse, Phillips cynically assumed she could replace their support with that of the very LIRR riders she had just thrown under the bus.
Phillips started sporadically sharing LIRR service alerts on her Senate Facebook page and making unrealistic and counterproductive demands for fare freezes and refunds.
She even held up the fact that she rode the LIRR to work decades ago as supposed proof that she empathized with constituents fed up with service disruptions. (Of course, she didn’t seem to be so empathetic until she needed our votes.)
LIRR riders in the 7th District need a real advocate in the Senate. Phillips never has been and never will be that advocate. That’s why I’m voting for her Democratic opponent, Anna Kaplan, on Tuesday, Nov. 6, and encourage my fellow commuters to do the same.
Matthew Zeidman
New Hyde Park
