It’s a case of policy over politics

Mayor Stephanie Miner of Syracuse, New York, is my new hero. Not only is she an articulate, brilliant and courageous mayor, she is Andrew Cuomo’s handpicked co-chair of the New York State Democratic Party. She makes a powerful case that the cities and counties of New York are in a precarious and difficult place due to some of Cuomo’s policies. While we know that she is not alone in this position, she is singular in her taking the fight directly to Governor Cuomo. I suspect that Cuomo has learned that this is a woman not to be messed with. While Mayor Miner says that she strongly supports Cuomo, she acknowledges that she has a major policy disagreement with the governor (she doesn’t like the word “fight”) and has even taken to the pages of the New York Times to make her case. Knowing Cuomo as I do, I can assure you that he had kittens when he saw her op-ed.

The issue has to do with the cost of the employee pensions the cities and counties have to bear. Mayor Miner contends that the Legislature-mandated pensions are virtually breaking the cities. The governor’s office said she should borrow the money to pay the pensions. According to his office, the governor is working hard to hold down the cost of pensions and if the municipalities borrow money now, they will be able to back the loan once his program to bring pensions down works. Mayor Miner’s fiscal people say, “Not so,” and they are joined by the very smart New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, who agrees that the borrowing idea ain’t so hot.

Let’s face it — cities and towns have problems because of the tax cap that prevents them from raising the money necessary to pay for services their citizens need. Stephanie Miner knows better than to criticize the governor for his tax cap gimmick. On the other hand, she knows full well that if she borrows now to pay the pensions, she will be held responsible by her constituents years after she leaves office (Syracuse has term limits.) Right now, everything Mayor Miner is hearing from her constituents about her policy disagreement with the governor has been quite favorable.

The Cuomo people have tried to turn her around on this. Cuomo’s Lieutenant Governor, Bob Duffy, dispatched himself to Miner to make the requisite arguments and I am sure there were others. In her New York Times op-ed, Miner calls the Cuomo borrowing plan “an accounting gimmick.” She says that Cuomo ought to convene everyone in sight including the Legislature, the unions and the comptroller, to work this out.

Many cynics thought that Mayor Miner would be relived of her responsibilities as co-chair of the Democratic Party. Cuomo may not like to take prisoners but that would make him look like a bully and not surprisingly, it was announced that she would remain in place. Good call. As a woman mayor, Miner is in a very distinct minority. My bet is that whoever in the Cuomo machine made the call to appoint her Democratic co-chair may have taken a little heat. “But boss, you said you wanted women in your administration.”

In her op-ed, Mayor Miner says, “When Mr. Cuomo took office the state faced a budget crisis.” She acknowledges that he made some difficult but wise choices, but then goes on to say that “… he has left the cities strapped.” Good for Stephanie Miner. She speaks truth to power in spite of potential consequences. If she runs for higher office, I hope she wins. She’s just what we need. It’s a case of policy over politics.

Originally published in the Legislative Gazette, 2/25/13

Leave chief choice up to the mayor

Here we go again. The Pittsfield Firefighters union wants one of the three top scorers on the chief’s civil service exam to get the hiring nod from his honor, Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi. We have seen this happen time and again. If your mayor has integrity and is good at the job, wouldn’t it make sense for that mayor to choose his or her own police and fire chiefs? That way, the nominees are more accountable to the mayor and are part of the leadership team. The commonwealth’s civil service laws make it impossible for a mayor to control an overly difficult or ineffective police chief. Think of the business that you run. You want your people and you don’t want your hands tied by some rule.

Here we go again. The Pittsfield Firefighters union wants one of the three top scorers on the chief’s civil service exam to get the hiring nod from his honor, Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi. We have seen this happen time and again. If your mayor has integrity and is good at the job, wouldn’t it make sense for that mayor to choose his or her own police and fire chiefs? That way, the nominees are more accountable to the mayor and are part of the leadership team. The commonwealth’s civil service laws make it impossible for a mayor to control an overly difficult or ineffective police chief. Think of the business that you run. You want your people and you don’t want your hands tied by some rule.

It is no surprise that when asked, the police and fire people inevitably want the person who passed the civil service test to get the job. Unfortunately, as Mayor Bianchi puts it, test results are only one of the criteria used when making the selection. Sometimes the best person for the job isn’t necessarily the best test taker. What’s more, everyone should have a boss. When you are protected by civil service you are, as the old joke goes, like an Atlas missile. You may not work and you can’t be fired. The down side of not having a civil service chief is that the mayor may choose to appoint a politically connected nincompoop.

In order to get around Pittsfield’s civil service laws, mayors have been appointing “acting” chiefs. This ticks off the unions who are now bringing the issue to a head. I say that if the mayor appoints a jerk, the people have the ability to throw him out in the next election. Neither way is perfect but on balance, I believe the mayor should appoint his choice and be held responsible. Of course, you might want to build in some minimal standards for the job.

Rep. Ed Markey, the eastern part of the state’s liberal congressman, recently came to Pittsfield. Some of the most progressive Democratic types in the Berkshires are supporting Markey against his more conservative primary opponent, Stephen J. Lynch. We hear that this is going to be a very close race. While Massachusetts is bathed in Democratic blue, history proves that its citizens are clearly capable of electing Republicans and conservative Democrats.

When Lynch showed up, he seemed to be avoiding the “Berkshire Brigades” while Markey gave a strong speech centering on the environment, women’s rights, and the stuff that good progressive Democrats should be for. Assuming that Markey wins, he may actually end up getting a free ride with little or no Republican opposition. Many of the potential Republican candidates got faked out, assuming as I did that Scott Brown would get the nomination. When Brown said he didn’t want it, I said that he would run for governor. I still think that he will.

Massachusetts Democrats don’t really want a guy who, no matter what he says, will still go to Washington and vote for Mitch McConnell, one of the most despicable politicians in this country. But those same Massachusetts voters have no problem voting for a Republican governor. In any case, it looks like Markey will take home the turkey.

Finally this week, a group of folks on the Great Barrington finance committee do not believe that the town’s selectmen deserve pay. Part of this was brought on by personality differences with members of the select board but it makes a lot of sense to me. As a former Alford selectman, I assure you that this can be very hard work. But there is something about serving on town boards and committees that makes for good citizenship. I really don’t believe that people run for office because of the pay or even the health insurance that some of them get. No matter what their motives, I believe that the finance committee has a point.

Originally published in the Berkshire Eagle, 2/23/13

A tale of three governors on the rise

Three governors: Chris Christie, Deval Patrick and Andrew Cuomo. Each has a different character, a different history and a different way of running things. Each has a different degree of control and ambition.

Republican Chris Christie lives in an increasingly Democratic state but has endeared himself to many independent and Democratic voters. The course he has charted for himself suggests to his constituents that he is fiercely committed to thinking each decision through and not being held prisoner to Republican Party orthodoxy. A big man, he has been unfairly targeted with fat jokes. Like so many Americans who carry too much weight, he has struggled with this problem and lots of people like him precisely because he is so human. When the president came to New Jersey after Super Storm Sandy, he and Christie embraced. I personally think that hug went a long way toward assuring the president’s reelection. Christie won his governorship in part because the Democrats had presented one scandal after another. It didn’t hurt that Christie had been the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. He seems to be a “what you see is what you get” kind of guy. When Obama arrived in New Jersey, the governor said he wished his mother could have seen him riding in the presidential helicopter. Forget about the pomposity of so many politicians. This guy is down-to-earth and the real deal. When he had an opportunity to get into the presidential sweepstakes, he declined. As the next round approaches, he would have a very good chance to turn things around for a Republican Party that all of a sudden can’t seem to get out of its own way.

Governor number two is Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. Patrick, the first black governor of the state, is a brilliant, articulate and modest man whose real strength is policy. As a former Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights, a major corporate lawyer and a close friend of President Obama, one can assume that this guy is going places. He is often mentioned as a potential U.S. Attorney General or as Obama’s next Supreme Court appointment. While he is not given to hyperbole or outward political diatribes, he can be a top-notch speaker as evidenced by his superb speech at the Democratic convention. He so inspired delegates that he had them rising to their feet again and again and not a few of them were wiping away tears as he painted a poignant portrait of an America that could do better. Patrick said that he would run for two terms only and he is intent on keeping his word. I’ve gotten to know this gentle man and to appreciate his decency and honesty. In politics, perceived character is everything

Then there is Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York. Of these three governors, I have been watching him the longest. Once a fierce front man and tough guy for his own father, he now argues that he has changed. While Freud tells us that character is set at an early age, one hopes that Cuomo knows what he is about. We do know that he is a man who likes to control his political environment. He is immensely popular in New York, having come to office at a time when voters thought Albany was completely out of control. Like Governor Christie, he came into office calling for fiscal austerity but in his third year of office, he demonstrated a liberal streak when he passed the nation’s toughest gun laws. He has not always kept his word on issues, like his campaign promise to veto any reapportionment bill that didn’t allow an outside group of experts to redistrict the state in a fair and impartial way. He has alienated a lot of voters on the hydrofracking question, both pro and con. He denies that he is running for president but a lot of people are quite sure that he is. I’m one of them.

Originally published in the Legislative Gazette, 2/18/13

Alan Chartock: It’s time for some sensible gun controls

uns are on a lot of minds these days. Years ago, my friend Glenn Doty, the then-editor of the Legislative Gazette, convinced me to get a shotgun.

I lived way out in the country in Alford and since I was a bit of a lightning rod and had a wife and young children, he thought I should be prepared in case some crazy person came at me.

After a lot of back and forth with my friend, I authorized the acquisition of a shotgun. However, when I told Roselle what I had done, she made it very plain that there would be no guns in the Chartock house. She could have used a lot of very persuasive arguments including, but not limited to: no guns around children; crooks steal guns when they break in your house; the perp might rip the gun right out of my hands and try to shoot me with it.

But she didn’t use those arguments. She just gave me the look that we husbands have come to fear.

I called Glenn back and told him to sell the gun that I had never even seen. He did and I have always considered that to be a very important moment. Roselle was right on that one.

Years later, a guy rolled his car through our gardens, knocked down our Eagle box, and left me a present. It was a green towel filled with some interesting stuff. Let’s see, there were two mugs filled with a mustard-like substance, large garden shears and other assorted stuff.

I called the Great Barrington Police who quickly found the man and when they asked him why he did what he did, he responded, “Well, you know, Alan Chartock.”

Roselle got a little impatient with my anxiety over this incident and sternly told me that the guy was harmless. Apparently, he had a mental illness. When he went off his meds, he sometimes got into trouble — witness his tour of our garden.

Roselle had coffee at Fuel every morning and the same guy, well-dressed and quite nice, was sitting just seats away. He lived almost across the street from us and there was never any problem. There was a problem, however, when he tried to burn down certain sections of Great Barrington. The poor guy has now been temporarily segregated from the rest of us. There was not one thing a gun would have done to help me.

Another time, a stalker decided to sit in his car outside my house. That’s when we got our surveillance system that we recently upgraded with Alarms of Berkshire County. Not that long ago, this guy went on the Internet and warned people to stay off our property because we had a surveillance system. Why would he have done that? Would a gun have helped me? Fugetaboutit.

It’s this simple. Too many people have guns. We are experiencing too many tragedies like the shootings at Sandy Hook and we have to put a stop to the carnage. There ought to be a background check on anyone who gets a gun.

The New York State attorney general told me that he sent his agents into so-called “gun shows” and no matter what the undercover agents said that should have set off a giant red flag — “My wife has an order of protection against me” — no one was denied.

Of course, the violence-prone mentally ill should not have guns, but we should be providing a lot more services for those who are afflicted with mental illness. If people have guns, they will use them against lovers and bosses and children. The polls are all showing by a wide margin that people want more gun control. The president and the governors are pushing for sensible regulation and I say that it’s about time.

Originally published in the Berkshire Eagle, 2/16/13

When does the Cecilia Tkaczyk movie come out?

Someone should make a movie, either big screen or made-for-TV, about the real life adventures of Cecilia Tkaczyk, the woman who just overcame the most herculean odds to become New York’s newest state senator. As you probably know, New York state has some very strange rules that cause one to wonder whether the Empire State actually operates as a democracy at all.

Even as we are sending the youth of America across the great oceans to fight wars that help other countries preserve democracy, we are perverting democracy right here at home. It is almost incomprehensible, but New York has rules in place which allow the leaders of both houses of the Legislature to draw the districts of their respective houses. As the young people say, “That ain’t right.” It’s like letting Steinbrenner umpire the Yankee games. Put another way, “The fix is in.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo ran for office promising to put a stop to that practice. He said he would veto any reapportionment bill that did not stipulate that an outside group (maybe judges, maybe professors, maybe a mix) would draw the constitutionally mandated districts. However, lo and behold, once the young governor won his election, based in part on that pledge, he went back on his word.

The late Mayor Ed Koch insisted that legislators sign a pledge to do the process fairly and most agreed to sign. I asked the mayor what he would do if the governor and others went back on their word, and he said in his characteristic ebullient fashion that he would yell, “Liar, liar pants on fire!” Well, predictably, they double-crossed him.

That’s where Cecilia (CeCe) Tkaczyk (pronounced “CAT-chick”) comes in. I first met her when Liz “The Good” Krueger (the bad one is in jail) brought CeCe to public radio. She was running for the state Senate from her upstate New York district, one that was designed for a particular Republican Assemblyman, George Amedore, to win. The Republicans who drew the lines actually thought he couldn’t lose.

So there was CeCe sitting next to me getting interviewed. She raises a rare breed of sheep for a living! She sat on the local Board of Education and her name had so many consonants and so few vowels that nobody could pronounce it. I really liked her but I thought that this was a kamikaze mission if ever I saw one.

She made great sense. She was quietly articulate and she did not engage in political double talk. She talked about how the children of New York were being short changed. She talked about the dirty politics of New York state and her absolute commitment to a campaign finance bill that would even up the playing field. In fact, two liberal funders put some big money into her campaign once the numbers looked like she might actually pull it off.

So we had the election and the results were very close. The way I see it, the Republicans tried to steal it. They brought the contested ballots to a Republican judge who told the Democrats that they had fallen short by a handful of votes. But our CeCe brought it to the Appellate Division who reversed the local Republican judge and ordered that many more ballots get counted. Once all was said and done, CeCe Tkaczyk was elected but not before the Republican Senate declared the Republican Amedore seated. So in the end, the lady who no one (including me) thought could win prevailed.

Every once in a while, despite terrible inside political deals, the right thing happens. One courageous woman said she could win and damned if she didn’t. Like I say, “When does the movie come out?” Inspirational, I tell you.

Originally published in the Legislative Gazette, 2/11/13

Alan Chartock: A farewell to my friend McKearnan

David McKearnan died last week after a tough illness. David worked on the Street (Wall) and once he retired, he and his wonderful wife, Betsy, both worked tirelessly for Berkshire County causes like the Berkshire Garden Center.

You get to know a man by how he treats you, and David was always very kind to me — although, I admit, he liked to get to the heart of things with anyone he engaged in serious conversation.

Our talks inevitably took place at the Saturday morning farmers market in Great Barrington where all the good folks of the town come together to buy groceries, vegetables and baked goods. David would be sitting at his table, often in great pain but always willing to talk.

Another way you can tell about a man is by the way his wife treats him and David’s Betsy treated him like royalty. She was protective yet always gave him his dignity. She encouraged others to interact with him even when he was suffering in the worst throes of his cancer.

He saw both big city medical people and those who treated him with kindness in the Berkshires. He didn’t complain, but he was certainly able to share his experiences with you.

Through it all, he was always interested in what you were doing. As a Harvard graduate and a business whiz, there were times he could cut straight to your issues. It sometimes hurt, but it was often on target.

He was an incredibly effective fundraiser, understanding hat when your cause was good, there was no reason to shy away from asking for money. He served on the Board of the Berkshire Taconic Foundation and did things like fly to New Orleans to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was unceasing in calling on his friends and acquaintances for help.

From a personal perspective, I am going to miss those Saturday morning talks with this very honest and decent man. I know how proud David was of his wife and kids. I will never forget when Betsy was being honored by the Berkshire Theatre Group. I think he was the proudest man in the Berkshires as he worked tirelessly to make sure that the event was done right.

When there’s a death in your community, it’s like seeing a piece of fabric with a thread missing. David will be missed.

This newspaper ran an article last week about a dramatic rise in the price of gas — 14 cents in a single week. Appropriately, the reporter called the usual sources and received the usual answers.

It seems that the rise in prices was due to “a number of causes.” We are told that “tensions in the Middle East” are right up there. There are the continued ramifications of Hurricane Sandy. There is fear that enough oil won’t be produced and on and on. That’s why the prices are going up.

It has absolutely nothing to do with greed. Nothing, I tell you.

On a different but related front, I have a bridge to sell you that spans the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

I have kept this bridge in pristine condition, personally polishing every portion of the edifice. The bridge comes with my personal guarantee that I will quickly come to make any adjustments it may need after you take possession.

The bridge comes with a new coat of paint and, if you like, I would be willing to add several toll booths which will help offset your original investment. If you have trouble financing the deal.

I have a business associate in Nigeria with whom you can do business. He assures me that with a slight down payment on your part, millions of dollars of financing will be forthcoming. That’s why the gas prices are going up.

Originally published in the Berkshire Eagle, 2/12/13

Individual lawmakers can make a positive difference

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, was once the youngest member of the New York state legislature. His home base is the upper West Side of Manhattan and that helped make him into an űber- liberal. He is in favor of a comprehensive health care system that treats everyone regardless of ability to pay and he would like to see a tuition-free state and city university system. He knows, as I do, that there will never be true equality until the same educational opportunities are available to everyone.

But it is in the area of health care that Gottfried has developed special expertise. He has developed modesty during his over forty-year incumbency in the Legislature, but he still says he keeps learning of things “…that I didn’t know I didn’t know.” Other members of the Legislature keep moving from one committee to another but Gottfried’s commitment to his committee has given him unprecedented expertise in the health field.

When he was elected, his rhetoric was decidedly to the left and there were probably a lot of nervous legislative leaders awaiting his arrival. When he got to the “bigs,” however, Gottfried proved to be a team player and is now regarded by his leaders as a dependable citizen. Nevertheless, make no mistake about it — the man has guts. Take the case of so-called “fracking.” Despite the fact that New York City voters, whose water supply has been deemed inviolable, are evenly split on the advisability of hydrofracking, Gottfried has been right up there leading the charge against the potentially dangerous process. He has been critical of Governor Cuomo and his Department of Environmental Conservation. He more than hints that he smells a rat in the way in which Cuomo’s Health Department is studying the potential dangers of fracking. He says that while they have commissioned a study by three outside experts, these experts have been granted only 25 hours to study the thousands of pages of En Con data that has been assembled. Sounds to me like he is saying that the “fix is in” for fracking. He does say that the whole deal has been constructed so that after the health study has concluded, the so-called “comment” period on fracking will be over. When you are up against the oil and gas companies that are capable of spending millions of dollars to spread their views on the subject of fracking, having the top health expert in the Assembly leading the way for the anti-frackers is very important.

Also of great concern to Gottfried is the sepsis crisis that is such a scourge in our hospitals. Sepsis or SIRS is a severe blood infection that is killing a lot of people. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of death In New York’s hospitals. Gottfried tells us that 10 to 20 people a day die from this disease. In his travels to hospital emergency rooms around the state, he has seen huge signs that urge everyone to “Stop Sepsis.”

Gottfried is one of those rare politicians who is willing to take on the insurance companies. These powerful entities handle much of the so-called “managed care” that is supposed to curb the waste in our heath care system. Many of us in Medicare, a government program that has proven highly successful, understand all too well that including the insurance giants in the health care equation will ensure that a percentage of every health care dollar goes to these behemoths. That, Gottfried says, would be a disadvantage. He envisions a system in which health care providers themselves do the management.

We tend to downplay the contribution of individual legislators and their ability to make a positive difference but when you look at a man like Gottfried, you get a pretty good idea of the potential for experts in the Legislature and what they can mean to our policy making.

Originally published in the Legislative Gazette, 2/4/13

Let us judge people on their accomplishments and character

For years, I have asked my journalism students whether it matters where information comes from, as long as that information is good. Let’s say, for example, a bitter fifty-year-old woman is furious that her husband dropped her for a newer model. She then tells a reporter that her husband is a crook and offers substantiating information that could put the guy in prison. Should the reporter reject the information because she doesn’t like the woman who is offering it up? The answer, of course, is no. If the information is good, it’s good despite the fact that we may not personally like the source.

It’s the same thing in politics. Take the case of Governor Andrew Cuomo. There are many insiders who don’t like the guy. There are way too many war stories about past offenses and hurts. Andrew says that he’s a different guy than he was back in the old days when he worked for his father. Sigmund Freud tells us that character is set by the time an individual is four or five years old. But people mature and may come to understand that some parts of their core character are not productive. If they find themselves about to do the same old nonproductive thing, they may hit themselves on the side of the head with realization and do what does not come naturally. Might that be going on in Andrew’s case?

The political onlookers have to make choices. They must decide whether this is the old Andrew or the wiser, more mature fellow. What’s more, like the journalist who has to evaluate where her information is coming from, we have to consider Cuomo’s political decisions. Is Cuomo making decisions to ensure his reelection as governor or to get to the White House? Should it matter? If Cuomo wants a series of laws asserting women’s rights, or gun control, or a raise in the minimum wage, or furtherance of gay rights, is the root of his ambition a fair question? If his State of the State message is preceded by unseemly and gratuitous adulation, either by himself or his appointees, should that matter? If Cuomo decides to allow fracking with the consequence that some child may end up drinking chemically tainted water so that profits can be made and jobs created, is that a matter of character?

I would submit to you that the job of governor is very different than that of president. In the Oval Office, character counts for much more. The White House is now allowed massive leeway, much of it in secret. The president can make secret troop deployments, order assassinations and do some very dirty tricks. So, while a governor has some very real limitations on power, a president has far fewer. That’s when the character of the person calling the shots really matters.

Andrew Cuomo certainly acknowledges that he has made mistakes in the past. He argues that he is not the same guy he was in his early adult years but if you talk to political insiders, they will tell you that he hasn’t changed a bit. Freud asserts that character is character. Cuomo is doing some very important things that are worthy of praise, but the question remains, is he doing them because they are the means to an end or because he really thinks these things are a matter of principle?

There are institutional demands and then there are personal convictions. Jimmy Carter may have failed as president because he had personal convictions and stuck to them, no matter what the political cost. One thing is for sure — let us judge people on their character as well as their accomplishments.

Originally published in the Legislative Gazette, 1/28/13

Mental health provisions in new gun law need fixing…fast

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his legislative colleagues recently pushed through gun control legislation under a so-called “message of necessity” that allows both houses to pass the bill without the normal, required three-day comment period. The NY SAFE Act will accomplish a great deal: among other things, it will reinforce New York’s existing ban on the sale of assault rifles; it will require background checks on all private gun sales; it will restrict any ammunition magazines that can hold more than seven rounds (bullets); it will strengthen the tracking of ammunition purchases and alert law enforcement personnel to high volume ammunition sales; and it will require regular recertification of pistol permit holders. In addition, the law will impose tougher criminal penalties on those who use illegal guns.

Good for Andrew Cuomo. This makes New York the first state in the country to pass this type of tough legislation. Needless to say, the NRA and other pro-gun groups are not happy, but the slaughter of innocent Americans has to be stopped. While Cuomo’s NY SAFE Act may not have all the answers, it sure as hell can’t hurt.

Politics is the art of compromise and there are two compromises in this bill that I really don’t like. The first of these is that our precious New York Freedom of Information laws have been tampered with so that newspapers will not be able to publish lists of gun permit holders. Hey, I sure as heck would want to know if my kids were playing with someone who had guns in their house. I’ve heard too many horror stories where a kid takes out dad’s gun and jokingly points it at a friend who ends up dead. But there are some nasty people in the Legislature who insisted on this provision in order to get the bill through. Unfortunately, they had their way.

Another really bad part of the bill involves a provision that would require mental health professionals to inform the state if they believe a client might pose a threat to himself or to another person. Some of the top minds in the mental health profession have expressed great concern about this provision and with good reason. They feel this might prevent potentially dangerous people from seeking the help they need. You can just imagine the dilemma this creates for a therapist who is trying to establish a bond of trust with a client. The therapist is now between a rock and a hard place: does she risk ruining the therapeutic relationship by alerting the police or does she risk having the full weight of the law come down on her should the patient actually commit a crime? Just think about it — someone tells the therapist that she could just murder her father because he took her car keys away. Does the therapist have to call the police?

The typical three-day aging process for new legislation is there so that everyone has time to study and comment on it. I expect Andrew Cuomo thought that by pushing the bill through in the middle of the night, he would do what has always been thought to be impossible – pass an ambitious gun control program through both houses. I would hope that he gave in on the terrible mental health provisions because the Republicans, who have been resistant to gun control, have always pointed to the shooters in these terrible mass killings as being mentally ill. Cuomo had to give them some cover with their gun-owning constituents. The problem is that the consequences are awful.

The state of New York has never delivered on its promise to help the mentally ill find proper services. Money for that might have well been included in the legislation. In total, it is better to get what we got from the governor and the Legislature but the mental health provisions will need fixing…and fast.

Originally published in the Legislative Gazette, 1/22/13

Alan Chartock: My first pedicure, but not my last

GREAT BARRINGTON –Look, let’s get this out of the way. I admit it: I went to the Lucky Nails at the Kmart Plaza in Great Barrington to have the first pedicure of my life.

This is pretty big, since I have enough trouble just getting to the barber every three weeks or so. But the Lovely Roselle insists that my nails are lethal instruments and says she has suffered through our 42-year marriage with scars on her feet and legs to prove it. Can I help it that in the middle of the night, her legs and my toes meet by accident?

Anyway, she’d had it. And one day, fed up and in one of her fits of independence, she scheduled me with her favorite nail professional, Kelly Le.

She not only told me that I was going but added that she was going with me to make sure that I showed up. Now, I don’t like anyone touching my feet. I’m ticklish and maybe I just harbor too many immature masculine stereotypes.

But I went and it was really good. They stick your feet in swirling hot water solution and they trim and file and use a sort of sandpaper to smooth out your skin. There’s even a little massage. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Kelly is a very pretty woman. Vietnamese by birth, she reads and studies and admires other people who do the same things. Roselle says that my feet have never looked better. I’m going back.

Last week I wrote a column in which I referred to the fiercely anti-Semitic Richard Wagner in a bit about those people who think they should be let off the hook because “they were all doing it.”

It concerned baseball players who were excluded from the Hall of Fame because they took steroids. Now I referred to Wagner by his last name only but somewhere between me and The Eagle or who knows what or where, a gremlin changed Wagner to “Honus” Wagner.

An alert reader and frequent Eagle letter writer, Michael Simons, shot me an email that began, “Oy, Honus Wagner an anti-Semite?” I cracked up, especially when he wrote, “Is this substantiated or just out of my father’s playbook in which almost everyone with the exception of FDR was an anti-Semite?” He followed that insightful comment with, “I shall give up my pursuit for that most valuable and most elusive of all baseball cards. (Honus Wagner.)”

The first thing I did was look up Honus Wagner and there is absolutely no evidence that the guy was an anti-Semite, even though he was of German heritage as are many other Americans who are not anti-Semites. Of course, there have never been many Jewish players in the major leagues. Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, and Kevin Youkilis are the greatest of them.

I have no idea why so few Jews made it to the bigs. I don’t know if it’s a question of aptitude or attitude but it’s tough to imagine that all those big-leaguers who were so anti-black didn’t have something left over for the Jews. Anyway, there is not one piece of proof that I can find that Honus Wagner was an anti-Semite. On the other hand, Richard Wagner, the opera composer, was, and I have no patience for those who seem to think he should be forgiven because “they were all doing it.”

Finally, Murray the Westie, world’s cutest dog, asked me to tell you that the folks at the Pink Truck Wash and Wag are opening a store in Great Barrington opposite the Kmart. They have rented space on a huge billboard behind Bunnell’s Auto Parts on State Road.

Murray, who is to be featured with their other clients, cruelly said to me the other day, “Now I’ll be more famous than you.”

Originally published in the Berkshire Eagle, 1/19/13