Remember Who Elected You
All politics is local.
One of the most perfunctory things that a person can do is watch a state legislative session. Yet if you watched a particular New York State (NYS) legislative session on June 17, 2019, it was anything but boring.
For years, NYS Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda had been working on this certain bill - S1747 “AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the issuance of non-commercial drivers' licenses and learners' permits; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating to driver's license applications”. This is fancy jargon for NYS granting undocumented immigrants the right to apply for driver’s licenses. It was also known as the Greenlight Bill.
It never ceases to amaze me how legislators don’t give up when it comes to passing a bill they fervently believe in. It takes guts and resilience. It took Senator Sepúlveda years to get this bill passed but his attempts never gained any traction.
Finally, the 2019 NYS Legislative Session calendar was full of promise. The blue wave was gaining momentum in the 2018 local elections throughout New York. Many new senate candidates from the Democrat Party emerged victorious. Gaining the majority in the Assembly was one thing, but the Democrats hadn’t gained the majority since 2009. Prior to this, Republicans controlled the Senate for four decades.
Democrat incumbents felt confident that prior bills could now be resuscitated back to life. The Greenlight Bill was one of them.
(Photo Credit: Maria Piedrabuena)
If you see the text of this bill, you will notice that all of the co-sponsors are from the NYC borough areas. None of them were from Long Island.
NYS Senators from Long Island have traditionally been Republican. But when the 2018 elections came along, 6 democratic candidates won. This was historic because such an occurrence never happened before. They were called the “LI6” for short:
John E. Brooks (incumbent, white)
James Gaughran (1st time, white)
Todd Kaminsky (incumbent, white)
Anna M. Kaplan (1st time, Iranian, Jewish)
Monica R. Martinez (1st time, Salvadoran-American)
Kevin Thomas (1st time, Indian-American)
Senators Kaplan, Martinez, and Thomas also made history by being the first people of color to represent their senate districts. This is also a remarkable feat.
Yet all of them were very quiet when it came to their stance towards the Greenlight Bill. You would think that with such a bill backed by the blue wave, all Democrats would be vocal about it - but this bill was the exception.
The Long Island region has only 2 counties - Nassau and Suffolk. In 2016, the majority of Suffolk County voted for former President Donald Trump into office. One could argue that none of the Long Island Senators were being vocal because they didn’t want to upset the base they represented, especially with the 2020 elections just around the corner.
Despite Suffolk County being red, there are some exceptions. One in particular is a town called Brentwood. Like many diverse neighborhoods, Brentwood was the product of white flight. More than half of the population identify as Hispanic/Latinx. Many residents knew of or were related to immigrants; they were familiar with the plight of leaving their homes to secure a better future for themselves and their families. I am a child of immigrants whose parents fled the civil war in El Salvador in order to secure a better life for themselves. Many Brentwood residents would benefit from the passage of the Greenlight Bill. I believe this bill was one way to stop immigrants from remaining invisible and inconsequential.
When Monica R. Martinez was elected to represent the 3rd Senate District in the NYS legislature, I was elated. Until her, only white men were elected to that district. Her family was also from El Salvador, and she came to the United States when she was 3 years old. She graduated college, obtained her Master’s degree, and became a teacher at the school district in Brentwood. She would become an assistant principal and came into office after beating incumbent Suffolk County Legislator Ricardo Montano. With this county legislator position, she still represented Brentwood. However, she would only represent half of Brentwood as State Senator since the other half is under the 4th Senate District jurisdiction (#stopgerrymandering).
It was noted in Newsday how she won because of a huge voter turnout from diverse neighborhoods like Brentwood and Central Islip. Yet like her LI6 colleagues, she would also keep quiet about the bill.
Constituents on the west side of her district were for it. On the east side of her district, where constituents are mostly white and Republican, they were against it. Many organizations like S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, Bend the Arc, Make the Road, and Long Island Jobs with Justice were knocking at her door demanding her to listen to them and to hear her stance on the Greenlight bill. Constituents called Senator Martinez’s office in both English and Spanish expressing their support for the bill.
By springtime, the commotion over the bill was oddly quiet. I bet even the Long Island Senators thought they were out of the woods, but it was not meant to be. On Monday, June 17, 2019, two days before the last day of the NYS Legislative session, the S1747 Greenlight Bill was brought to the floor. All of the Senators from Long Island, including Senator Martinez voted no. Only Senator Kaplan provided an explanation for her vote against the bill.
When Senator Thomas O’Mara (Republican) had the floor, he said. “I applaud Senator Kaplan to stand up and explain her no vote, when all the rest of those that were chastised by the Democratic state chairman -- "Don't vote for this bill, or you won't be reelected." And we have seen every elected Senator in this room from Long Island vote no to this legislation today.”
I hate to admit it, but O’Hara was right.
In the end, the Greenlight Bill was passed (33 yes, 29 no). The observers of the floor exploded with cheer, and many Democratic senators embraced each other. I did notice that Senator Martinez’ chair was vacant in the midst of all this.
After the November election, 5 out of six Long Island Democratic Senators were able to keep their seat. Out
Martinez was the only one who lost and conceded.
All politics is local.
That is what former Senator Martinez told me when she was a teacher.
And she was right.