Lee Zeldin: Meet the Man Behind the Mask

By David Friedman, October 22, 2020 —

As Halloween approaches, no one has more disguises than Rep. Lee Zeldin.

He masquerades as a moderate. He’s not. How could he be when Sebastian Gorka headlined one of his big money fund raisers, a man who flaunts a medal from Vitezi Rend, the Hungarian fascist organization which collaborated with Hitler in the murder of over 400,000 Hungarian Jews. One of the very first groups addressed by Rep. Zeldin after his election to Congress was the Oath Keepers, a heavily armed vigilante group termed a “right-wing fringe organization” by the Anti-Defamation League. He was one of the few voting against a resolution explicitly condemning anti-Semitism just because it also condemned bigotry in general. The resolution passed 407-23 anyhow.

Sometimes Zeldin dons environment green. His votes tell a different story. He’s voted multiple times to enable venting the powerful greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. Great for oil & gas industry profits —but there’s no oil & gas industry on Long Island. Instead it’s surrounded by water and stands to be devastated by the sea level rise and powerful storms unleashed by accelerated global warming from all this methane.

Zeldin voted multiple times to end the Clean Power Plan, the single most effective plan to transition from fossil fuel to clean energy power. A real environmentalist doesn’t vote to cut the budget of the EPA by 25% as he has. Nor to cut research funding for renewable energy. Nor to loosen Clean Air Act standards for air pollution even though Suffolk county has the smoggiest air quality in the state.

MILITARY MASQUERADE
Zeldin loves to festoon himself with military credentials so he can parade around as someone who cares about veterans. But actually helping veterans is far down on his list of priorities. After his first term in Congress, he resigned from the Veterans Affairs Committee, having skipped in favor of the Financial Services committee, having skipped . That’s where he can do the most for his big financial industry donors.

Every day an average of 20 veterans commit suicide, two thirds of them with a firearm. But for Zeldin pleasing the NRA, another big donor, takes precedence, at least if we are to judge by his vote to make firearms easier to obtain for veterans diagnosed with PTSD and other serious psychological problems. His mentor, Donald Trump recently referred to fallen and captured U.S. service members as “suckers” and “losers.” Even more recently Trump blamed the Gold Star families he met with at a White House function on Sept. 27th for his COVID-19, stating that some came “within an inch” of his face. Not a peep about any of this from Zeldin.

VOTES DON'T LIE
Maybe Zeldin’s favorite disguise is as somebody who cares about us instead of his own political career. Instead of helping New York and Long Island, he voted against the second pandemic relief package (the HEROES Act), which would bring much needed aid to state and local governments, siding with those who term it a blue state bailout. Maybe it’s also why in February, 2019 he voted to keep the longest government shutdown in history going, unlike any other NY Republican. He’s voted to cut funding for the U.S. Postal Service. He’s voted to cripple the NLRB, tasked with enforcing the nation’s labor laws.

He’s voted against net neutrality. He’s voted against lowering prescription drug prices. He‘s voted for deep cuts to Medicare benefits, as well as to the Food Stamp program and FEMA. He’s voted against increased R&D to protect against pandemics. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, immediately taking away health insurance from 14 million people and ending guaranteed protection for those with pre-existing conditions.

He’s even voted against a tiny appropriation for the Taxpayer Advocate Service to assist parents of a deceased child whose Social Security Number was stolen by tax cheats. Maybe he’s planning on trick-or-treating as Ebenezer Scrooge.

ZELDIN UNMASKED
You would think that as someone who loves to disguise himself, Rep. Zeldin would at least wear a mask to protect against COVID-19. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was seen unmasked, cheek by jowl with others at the Tulsa super-spreader Trump rally that claimed the life of one-time GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain and, even after that, on board a flight (Air Force One?) maskless and grinning with Rep.Elise Stefanik. Once those images went public, of course, Zeldin has been careful to mask up during photo ops.

It’s time for voters to end this charade. It’s time to replace this master of disguise and double talk with Nancy Goroff, a scientist who talks straight, not a politician tricking himself out to be the next talking head star on cable news.