Posted by
strikemepinkifidontthink.com on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 9:58:19 PM
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As I keep saying in this space , Long Island never lets you down. No matter
how smooth everything appears on the surface of its daily life, in a corner
somewhere some hugger-mugger is going on that would make the angels weep if
only they knew about it. The latest secret scandal involves none other than
New York's senior Senator, the honorable Charles Schumer.
The senator's little intrigue blew up on him this week when ten Filipino
contract nurses were upheld in a lawsuit filed against them by their former
employer for walking off their jobs in Smithtown in April 2006. In addition to
the lawsuit the District Attorney had filed a criminal case against them for
supposedly endangering the patients in the nursing home involved.
The nurses charged that all this came from their employer, SentosaCare,
using its influence with Schumer and the D.A. to stack the deck against them for
rebelling against illegal working conditions imposed on them in violation of
the contracts they had made with Sentosa in the Philippines prior to being
shipped to Long Island to work.
The case is now over with the nurses being fully vindicated civilly and
criminally by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court. The court
ordered the sitting judge and the district attorney to terminate their
connection with the case and close it down. The court found that no patients were
endangered by the walk-off, since other care providers were on the spot and
also that prosecution of their lawyer for his part in it was a violation of the
First Amendment and the whole system of American justice.
The abuse of the nurses is not exactly a surprise on Long Island, where
there have been a number of incidents of workers imported from Asia and in some
cases used literally as slaves for the people who arranged their immigration.
The nurses weren't that badly off, but they were still victimized and
probably would have continued to be if it were left to Senator Schumer, the alleged
friend of the working man. He wrote no less than four letters to the
president of the Philippines to get him to lift his government's suspension of
Sentosa's license to recruit nurses there. Eventually it was lifted. What part
Schumer played in getting D.A. Spota of Suffolk County to pile on with
criminal charges against the nurses is not known.
What is known is that Schumer, the chairman of the Democrats' Senatorial
election committee, collected $75,000 in campaign contributions from people
associated with Sentosa. The newspaper reports don't mention anything about
anyone suing Sentosa, Spota or Schumer for their actions in the case, but no one
would be surprised if it happened. Especially President-elect Obama wouldn't
be surprised. He's getting used to his party comrades getting themselves
into trouble. His choice for Treasury secretary is a chap who admits he
underpaid his taxes for several years, but it was all just an "honest mistake." It
's certainly a relief to hear that. I mean, suppose he had said it was a "
dishonest mistake." Maybe the nominee for Health and Human Services
Secretary will astonish the world by saying this. He's got tax troubles too. Unlike
Mr. Geithner, the Treasury hopeful, he doesn't appear to have nanny-tax
problems as well.
After them we come to the name of Gov. Richardson of New Mexico who was to
be nominated for Commerce Secretary but has now disqualified himself because of
an investigation into his relations with financial companies doing business
with his state. The only remaining controversy is over the nominee for
Attorney General, Mr. Eric Holder, who was key in the last-minute pardon given to
Marc Rich, the international swindler, and Democratic contributor, by the
Clinton White House when leaving office in 2001.
That's four Cabinet jobs out of a possible fourteen where the nominees are
jammed up for one reason or another. Things don't generally improve as an
Administration matures and settles into office. Revelations occur and the
tendency is for them to reflect on Cabinet officers who have actually survived the
nomination and confirmation process and were thought to be safe from
allegations of impropriety, but who turn out not to be and in some cases wind up
resigning on the grounds that the charges against them are a distraction
interfering with their job performance and reflecting unfairly on the
administration they have been proud to serve, so they are leaving in order to devote their
full time to refuting these unfounded accusations and removing any stain
from his/her good name. This is the formula that is generally used. The author
then usually gets a letter from the President thanking him for his loyal
services and accepting his resignation with regret, but with understanding of
his need to vindicate himself by fully answering the allegations that have been
brought against him/her.
Previous to this correspondence the President will usually have issued a
statement that he has full confidence in his subordinate and has no plans to
replace him/her based on unfounded allegations made from political motives. The
martyr will continue with his task of improving the life of the average
American citizen. This is similar to the statements made by baseball clubs when
they are getting ready to fire a manager whose team has been losing since
Opening Day. It is known as the Kiss of Death letter.
Will there be such cases in the Obama Administration? There have been in
every other one since the first one. Enough said. |
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