About two months ago, Ed Towns stood before a congregation of about three hundred people to deliver a Sunday morning sermon. Ed is also an ordained minister beyond his day job as congressman for the 10th Congressional district (Brooklyn). The pastor of the congregation had spoken before Ed, telling the congregants that they would be let out early that morning, since another major event was planned for later that afternoon. The congregation met that news with obvious elation. Ed seized on that glee when he said (as a preface): “I am going to tell you the same thing that Elizabeth Taylor told her eight husbands: I won’t keep you long”. The crowd went wild.
In making this case for Ed’s re-election I won’t stay long either. It is that simple. You see elections are nothing but contests between competing candidates. In this race for the 10th congressional district there really isn’t an option to Ed Towns. It is that simple. His opponent (Kevin Powell) is neither fit nor qualified for this seat. But I will get to that in a minute.
Ed Towns has been in office for 26 years, and he has sponsored or co-sponsored legislation in each of the 13 congressional sessions since he first got elected. In this current session he has secured more of his bills than any other member of the Brooklyn delegation. Over his congressional career, Ed Towns has authored bills in the areas of finance, housing, the environment, financial services, banking, health care, social work, human services, public health, telecommunications, et al. You name the area of human political endeavor, and you will find that Ed has tackled the issue during his tenure in the House of Representatives.
Go look up these bills: HR.4137, 2694, 694, 5669, 5734, and 4251. In HR. 4137, Congressman Ed Towns secured 250million dollars for Higher Education in New York. In HR.2694, he protected motor vehicle consumers from unscrupulous mechanics and the like. He has done many things without fanfare since he is a relatively low key guy. He needs to toot his horn more often. He has brought in billions of dollars to Brooklyn over the past 26 years. A freshman like Kevin Powell will bring squat, if we were foolish enough to elect him now.
Ed holds membership on two committees (1. Energy and Commerce. 2. Oversight and Government Reform). He also holds four sub-committee positions, plus he chairs the sub-committee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement. On the central issue of this decade so far (the War in Iraq), Ed Towns was one of few who voted correctly. He voted against authorizing the president to go to war, and he has consistently voted against funding the war in its existence.
You would think that his votes against this tragic Iraq-debacle would endear him to Brooklyn progressives: but they haven’t. Many are still angry at his vote for CAFTA (Caribbean Free Trade Area); and yet this (to me) was again the correct vote. You can’t talk free trade, while inserting isolationist or protectionist policies. The beefs that some of those on the left have with Ed Towns, come from some votes he took, with which they disagreed. It is understandable that after 26 years, there will be many votes from a congressman with which you can disagree. Despite these disagreements, it is still hard to find any reputable leftist, making a case for the challenger in this race. And that’s because the challenger is a very flawed candidate.
Kevin Powell is a college drop-out. He was expelled from one (Rutgers) for threatening and menacing a female fellow-student. He has a record of female abuse. He has admitted in his speeches and in his writings that he has been a serial woman abuser. He has used and abused women for most of his adult life. He has also chronicled a past of drug use, drug abuse, drinking and partying; beyond this, he has no track record of involvement in Brooklyn’s politics. He is nothing but a shallow camera-chasing celebrity-wanabee. He has no substance, and offers nothing new to the political dialogue. He has run a disappointingly horrid campaign. I refuse to discuss him further, since he refused to be interviewed by me or any others who asked from my main blogsite. And less than four years ago, he was fighting in some club with a co-worker, whose leg he bit like a rabid dog. What a non-candidate!
In contrast we can clearly see how Ed Towns functions in this district. Here is an example. Recently the largest housing complex (Starrett City) in his district (and in the nation) was placed in a precarious position: the owners were looking to cash in and sell out to developers. Ed Towns showed tremendous leadership by working with many other electeds to keep Starrett city affordable for renters. Last month, President George Bush signed into law, legislation sponsored by the congressman, which protects the residents of Starrett City and keeps it affordable.
Between this past July and August alone, Ed saw four of his bills signed into law. And he continues to work on legislation beneficial to seniors, in not only the area of health care, but also in other areas pertinent to their quality of life issues.
Ed Towns was born in Chadbourn, North Carolina, and went to college on a basketball scholarship. He attained his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from North Carolina A&T State University. He later obtained a Master’s degree in Social Work from Adelphi University. He also served -for a little over two years- in the US army.
Prior to getting elected to Congress in 1983, Ed Towns was a teacher within NYC’s public school system. He also lectured at both Medgar Evers College and Fordham University. He was Brooklyn’s Deputy Borough president for many years, and worked as the Deputy Hospital Administrator for Beth Israel Medical Center hospital for ten years.
Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns should be re-elected to Congress if for no other reason than he has a no-quality opponent. The bible says (Ecclesiastes 3; 1-8) that “to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to reap; a time to kill and a time to heal…. Etc.” A part of this scripture also says that there is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; this is no time for voters to embrace this newcomer (Powell). We need to refrain.
In the next congress we need the veteran leadership of Ed Towns, as we deal with bringing our troops home and pulling out of Iraq. We don’t need to chance some rookie legislator like Kevin Powell feeding off his pomposity at our expense. Congress is no MTV show; Congress is the REAL WORLD.
We need to re-elect Ed Towns. When the time comes for Ed to retire, and it will come -just as it says in the bible- we will all get together to find a suitable replacement. Now isn’t the time. Ed’s opponent isn’t the person.
Stay tuned-in folks.