Government & Politics

Mike Lawler: In the Limelight? Or Caught in the Headlights?

Published 11 months ago11m ago • Bookmarks: 95 • Comments: 5

May 11, 2023

By Barrett Seaman—

Twin political storms rolled into the Hudson Valley this past week. First came the latest surge in the culture war over immigration, starting from the U.S. southern border and working its way to New York City and on into Rockland and Orange Counties, where New York Mayor Eric Adams is sending immigrants to be housed in hotel and motels.

Then came President Joe Biden, carrying his campaign to get Congress to separate their demands for steep budget cuts from the looming deadline for raising the national debt ceiling. The President chose Westchester Community College (WCC) in Valhalla, where he touted all the potential benefits of his domestic policies and warned against the disaster that would ensue if the country runs out of money in a few weeks because “MAGA Republicans” in Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling.

Support our Sponsors

Biden chose WCC for several reasons, not the least of which is that it is in New York’s 17^thCongressional District, once a predictably blue seat until Mike Lawler, a one-term state assemblyman from Rockland County, beat Sean Patrick Maloney, a member of the Democratic leadership in Washington.

District 17 straddles a political fault line that roughly coincides with the Hudson River. Lawler won in 2022 by feeding his conservative base on the west bank with tough rhetoric on crime, reckless government spending and border security, while deftly steering clear of positions that would alienate the progressive voters who dominate the Westchester side of the river. On gun control, he supported red flag laws, banning ghost guns and the sale of weapons to anyone with an outstanding warrant but would not support banning assault weapons. While declaring himself personally pro-life, he opposed a federal ban on abortion and supported legal abortion in cases of rape, incest or endangerment of a mother’s life. And while it’s possible that in the course of the campaign he might have uttered the words “Donald Trump,” very few people heard him.

Fast forward to the current inflection point on immigration, marked by the expiration of Title 42, ending the government’s ability to deport illegals coming across the border. On this issue, the freshman Congressman is comfortable joining with Rockland and Orange County Republicans in resisting efforts by New York City Mayor Eric Adams to house immigrants in hotels and motels in Rockland and Orange Counties. Lawler stood alongside Rockland County Executive Ed Day as he ordered the county’s sheriff deputies to stand guard at Thruway exits watching for unusual traffic (like buses). Whether the law allows it or not, Day also issued a 30-day ban on housing migrants in local hotels and motels, threatening to fine any that agreed to take them in. His counterpart in Orange County, Steven Neuhaus, issued a similar ban.

The trickier issue for Lawler is how to position himself on the linkage his party bosses in Washington have made between the looming debt ceiling deadline and their demand for deep cuts in the federal budget. In recent ads, President Biden has thrown Lawler in with what he calls the “MAGA Republicans” who appear willing to take down the economy unless their spending cut demands are met. Lawler, along with the rest of the GOP caucus, had voted in favor of the “Limit, Save and Grow Act” that House Speaker McCarthy has said must be part of any deal on the debt ceiling.
Lawler was there in the audience at WCC Wednesday, when the spotlight turned on him. His stated position on the issue was a clever (perhaps too clever by half) attempt to straddle the issue. “I have long said that I have three parameters in the debt ceiling that must be met,” he stated. “One, the President and Senator Schumer must negotiate with Speaker McCarthy in good faith, two, we must enact long-term spending reforms and reduce overall spending, and three, we must not default,”

Depending on one’s political perspective, that third point can be construed as inextricably linked to the first two. Or it could be read by itself, in which case it would be more or less in line with Biden’s current stance. That is to say, Congress must vote to raise the debt ceiling (full stop) AND the White House will agree to enter separate negotiations over the budget.

In Valhalla, Biden chose the second interpretation: Lawler, he pronounced from the podium, “is not one of those MAGA Republicans,” but rather one of those old-fashioned Republicans who are open to negotiation and compromise. Whether or not Biden’s public exoneration was scripted, it had the potential to drive a wedge between the young Congressman and his party. That would mesh with the Democrats’ strategy of trying to convince a handful of Republicans to abandon their leadership and pass a clean debt ceiling bill.

Lawler was diplomatic in his reply. “In meeting with President Biden today,” he said in a statement after the event, “I conveyed my thoughts on the debt ceiling discussion and encouraged him to continue meeting with Speaker McCarthy to find common ground. We both agreed on the need to avoid default and the importance of working together.”

“Unto the Least of These”

Lawler and Biden also touched on the other current dispute: the border. “I was heartened to hear he [Biden] recognizes it’s an issue that must be addressed as well,” said Lawler. “With the expiration of Title 42 happening tonight at midnight, it is imperative that the President work with House Republicans to identify a solution to this immediately.”

No one in Washington, Westchester or elsewhere believes that an immediate solution is even available. And political rhetoric impeding a solution is in no short supply. But underlying the hardline positions taken by Republicans in Rockland and Orange is a misinterpretation of how immigrants from New York City are ending up in those counties, said Westchester County Executive George Latimer in a phone interview with The Hudson Independent.

Out of available rooms within the city’s boundaries, Mayor Adams is using his authority to reach out to hotels and motels in neighboring municipalities, asking if they have space to house immigrants and then contracting with those that do. New York has no obligation to involve local governments in those negotiations. Latimer says he does not know whether the city has reached out to hotels and motels in his county or not but surmises that the Adams administration has had better luck finding vacancies across the river than in Westchester, which lost more than a thousand rooms because of the pandemic, leaving the county short on hotel rooms.

“This is not Eric Adams calling George Latimer or Ed Day or Steve Neuhaus,” said the County Executive. But if New York were to find a hotel or motel in Westchester willing to take in immigrants, Latimer said, the county would like a heads-up. “We want that hotel to contact us, so we can plan for it,” he said. There might be translation services or county facilities that could be made available for recreation. “We want to help.” Based on legal advice, Latimer has concluded that, unless it is faced with civil unrest, the county has no right to declare a state of emergency, as Rockland and Orange threatened to impose.

In his May 8 Weekly Update, Latimer also noted that if there was an influx, it would not be the first time large groups of immigrants have been placed in Westchester. He cited the 1,000 children deposited in four Westchester facilities (including Abbott House and Children’s Village) by the Trump Administration in 2017. “We were told to butt out,” said Latimer, paraphrasing the position taken by the Department of Homeland Security at the time.

Avoiding any overtly political statement, Latimer instead cited at length a passage from the New Testament (Matthew 25:40) that he said reflects his own philosophy and, as a practicing Roman Catholic, his beliefs. In it, he quoted Jesus as saying, “…Truthfully, I say unto you: inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my brothers, you have done it unto me.”

Perhaps the President and the young Representative from New York’s 17^th District can find a passage in Scripture that will break the current impasse on the debt ceiling and federal spending.

Read or leave a comment on this story...

Support our Sponsors