It has been a while since we wrote about our old pal David Gantt, but he’s in the news again. This time a grieving father is critical of Assemblyman Gantt because of his refusal to pass tougher legislation designed to protect youthful drivers.
Our friends over at mustardstreet.blogsot.com have developed the “Tobin Challenge” in response to out of touch liberal editorialist Tom Tobin’s (of the Democrat and Chronicle) challenge to point out cases of liberal bias in the media. I’d like to submit this, because despite the fact that Gannet writer Joe Spector wrote it and it involves the senior member of the Monroe County state legislative delegation — it didn’t appear in the Democrat and Chronicle.
According to the story:
A Staten Island father whose daughter was killed in a drag-racing accident is criticizing Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt for not enacting tougher laws to protect teen-age drivers.
“He just doesn’t even want to discuss it,” John Arout said of Gantt, D-Rochester.
Arout’s 17-year-old daughter, Michelle, was killed in a high-speed crash last year when the driver of her car was racing another teen driver.
Arout is pushing Gantt to support a package of driving laws supported by the Republican-led Senate that includes increasing the penalty for street racing from a misdemeanor offense to a felony for repeat offenders.
It would also limit the number of passengers under the age of 21 who can ride in a car with a driver who has a learner’s permit.
Lawmakers have yet to agree on legislation that would ban sending text messages while driving – a measure that has gained interest after the deaths of five Monroe County teens in a car crash last year. Police found that text messages were sent and received by the driver’s cell phone just before the accident.
(snip)
Gantt has faced increased criticism as the long-standing chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee. In particular, he was knocked earlier this year for not supporting efforts to install red-light cameras at intersections, including in Yonkers and Buffalo, and to expand them in New York City.
His opposition led The New York Times in an editorial in July to write: “Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his Democratic majority should replace committee chairmen like Mr. Gantt who have clearly been there too long. If he won’t, the voters should.”
Gantt, who has served in the Assembly for 25 years, is seeking re-election in November. He is running unopposed.
This is incredible. I think this is the strongest case yet for the “Tobin Challenge.” The Democrat and Chronicle never reported on the New York Times editorial calling for Gantt’s removal, they failed to report on NYC Mayor Bloomberg saying Gantt undermines the democratic process, not to mention the didn’t report on his “that’s for me to know and you to find out,” comment to a television reporter when she asked him why he would introduce a bill he doesn’t support, and we’ve documented the warped opinion they had of his role in the public defender fiasco when he commented about why some guy “went and shot some damn body,” shortly before he was arrested.
Nice work guys. Hopefully this will shame them into putting this article in the D&C tomorrow. We’ll be watching.