Thank you, Tom Wrobleski, for finally saying out loud what you actually think of the 198,000 Democrats on Staten Island, whom you dismiss as “greedy losers.” One can only hope the Staten Island Advance and your colleagues do not share your enthusiasm for such divisive and small-minded name calling.
If by “greedy” you mean demanding an end to the open corruption on display at the White House, where Donald Trump and his family enrich themselves while failing to serve the public, then yes, we plead guilty. If we are greedy for insisting that Congress represent the will of the people rather than bow to a morally vacant president who unleashes federal agents to intimidate communities and undermine the rule of law, then the label may fit.
You are correct that Democratic candidates, myself included, have lost congressional races on Staten Island. But that history cannot be separated from years of partisan redistricting that tied Staten Island to the most conservative parts of Brooklyn, to the benefit of Republicans and some Democrats who were handed safer seats. It took years of effort to finally link Staten Island with Manhattan, and during that decade our borough thrived and was, dare I say, not forgotten. Once we were again paired with Brooklyn, Staten Island lost its voice and reclaimed its old title as the “forgotten borough”— a phrase coined, if memory serves, by a Republican frustrated by our lack of fair representation.
You call Democrats “losers” because we stand with the people you and your MAGA fanboys disdain: working families, seniors, women, minorities, the LGBTQ community. We stand for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, clean air and water, education funding, and food assistance for those who are hungry. We do not worship billionaires, oligarchs, or corporate interests who insist the problem is the low-wage worker rather than the hyper-wealthy demanding yet another tax break for another yacht. And for the record, according to Forbes, none of those “winners” you admire actually live in Staten Island.
Perhaps the real fear here is not the greedy loser Democrats, but the possibility that Staten Island might one day elect a Democrat to Congress, and our voices will be heard and we won’t be forgotten any longer.
(Mark Murphy is a West Brighton resident.)