....September 14, 5:37 AM
 
 
 
A Visit To The House That Love Built

Councilmembers Jim Gennaro and Leroy Comrie, Trib Publisher Mike Schenkler and Bob Weitzner, Exec. Dir. Ronald McDonald House of LI.
By Michael Schenkler

Last Friday was not a typical day.

It was morning in the office very much as usual – usual type problems, questions, challenges, conversation, phone, work and fun.

Then I headed over to the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island. It was having a “legislative lunch” and its new Executive Director, my friend Bob Weitzner, asked me to join. Bob is not a Queens friend. I do not know him like I do the rest of the borough’s social, political, charitable community. My friendship with Bob was cultivated long before Bob came to Queens and the Ronald McDonald House.

So when, a handful of months ago, Bob told me he was changing careers to do what he felt passionately about, I was thrilled to have him join the Queens not-for-profit community and offered to help when I could.

Bob called last week and asked me to show for lunch. So I did. And I am happy about it.

I got to see some old friends, several electeds, Bob’s assistant who I knew only as a phone voice, and a marvelous, enchanting – perhaps I’d say magical — setting to house the families of seriously ill children undergoing critical medical treatment in area hospitals. A two-minute walk from Schneider Children’s Hospital, the House, built on land donated by LIJ, provides a comfortable and supportive environment, helping families through their most difficult time. When a child is hospitalized and scared, the love and support of family is often as powerful as the strongest medicine a doctor can prescribe. And Ronald McDonald House enables that magic.

I arrived 12:30ish and there was Bob behind a podium flanked by the staff that makes the House so special. The glorious central lobby decorated in life-size dollhouses, child-friendly stuff and heart plaques of love (and obviously contributions) lining the walls. Behind the group was a glass wall displaying the beautiful backyard excitingly equipped for play. The room was filled with house board members, friends, former residents, and Bob acknowledged each of the electeds for their support – translation: funding.

Frank Padavan, and I think he was talking specifically about my column, noted that some journalists criticize the “pork” that is handed out by the legislature and then declared, he was proud of the “pork” he gave to the House.

Jim Gennaro stopped by even though his son was being married the next day – he was able to kvell in Yiddish. David and Mark Weprin – both House supporters – were there. The Beep showed. There were a handful of reps from other electeds.

I got to hang with very old friend Audrey Pheffer – met her more than 20 years ago, and Leroy Comrie, who I just don’t get to see often enough. Bob walked over as I was talking to Audrey and Leroy; I introduced him and noted that he was meeting the next Borough President. It’s nice to see two who are likely to square off in that race, as friendly as they were.

During lunch, I sat with Robbie Donno, the President of Gift of Life, International. I first encountered Robbie – at least his name – more than a quarter of a century ago when Queens philanthropic giant Kurt Weishaupt was telling me of the wonderful work of the Rotary and how they were paying for children throughout the world to come to our hospitals for life-saving surgery. Robbie Donno was the guy who got Kurt involved. Well there was Robbie at the Ronald McDonald House, still doing it.

The house seed money comes from McDonald’s corporate and local franchises contribute, but they have to hustle like any other not-for-profit.

Yes, the visit was magic and without asking, I decided to do what I could to help this wonderful effort.

If you feel the same way, you can help too.

The “House That Love Built” needs your time and your help. To find out what you can do, send e-mail with “volunteer” as the subject or call (718) 343-5683.

Right now, as their annual gala approaches at the end of the month, they could use your financial help. You could participate in the raffle on the back page of this paper or check out their Web site at: www.rmhlongisland.org.

Share in the magic.

Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.

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Sympathy for the Devil: Larry Craig Is Defended As He Roasts on the Spit

By HENRY STERN

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water.

Just when you thought you had heard the last of Senator Larry Craig, we learn that he has reconsidered the matter of his future, and that he did not in fact resign effective Sept. 30, as announced at a press conference last week, but simply expressed his intention to resign. Now he and his new legal team have concluded that he has a defense to the charge of disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis rest room to which he pleaded guilty on Aug. 8, and is asking the Minnesota court for permission to change his plea to not guilty.

The public mood is, at least to a small extent, changing to becoming more sympathetic to the embattled Idaho senator. He is morphing from a toilet pervert to a poor old man being gang-raped by the colleagues he worked with for 28 years, now saying that what he did was disgusting and beneath contempt. President Bush, whom Craig supported on the unpopular immigration bill, said nothing and walked offstage when asked about the Senator. Craig’s old allies now say that his very presence is a blot on the Senate, and that he must be removed like a wart. Perhaps they fear he will approach them in the Senate men’s room, or accidentally or deliberately see their private parts. After all, they have a gym and they shower.

A number of questions arise to an independent observer who is following the case:

1) Would all his Republican colleagues feel the same way about Craig if Idaho had a Democratic governor who would appoint a Democrat to the seat who could then run as an incumbent in 2008?

2) The Republicans lost 32 seats and control of Congress in 2006. The major cause of their defeat was the war in Iraq. But there were secondary causes. One was the corruption issue involving a number of congressmen, notably Duke Cunningham of California, who was convicted and imprisoned for taking $2.7 million in bribes. Another was the scandal which led to the immediate resignation of Mark Foley of Florida, the page-chaser whose inclinations were known for some time to the Republican House leadership.


3) Craig has been a Senator since 1991 and a member of Congress since 1981. This is his 27th year on Capitol Hill. After the men’s room incident became public, the press reported that rumors of his predilections had been heard from time to time. Is it probable that a close colleague could have homosexual inclinations to such an extent that he would prowl through toilets to find a stranger with whom to have sex, and yet no one he worked with would know about it over a period of 27 years?

In Politico, Roger Simon wrote:

“Larry Craig is a hypocrite, a liar and a fool.

“But if we kicked people out of the Senate for that, how many senators would we have left?”

We ask whether a Senator elected by the people of any state should be forced from office for tapping his foot and swiping his hand in a toilet stall? Is intent sufficient for a conviction for lewd behavior, resulting in the loss of a job one has held for 17 years?

We conclude that this is not a moral, but a political issue. The Republicans are trying to extricate themselves from embarrassment by harsh treatment of their ailing brother. Senator Larry Craig did not turn gay at the age of 62 in a Minneapolis rest room. That is not the way it happens.

It is interesting to note that the Senator has apparently no redeeming qualities to earn sympathy or approval. His legislative record is relatively barren for his 17 years as a senator, and he is a down the line conservative. In this country, conservatives have rights too, although his conservative colleagues apparently do not feel that way. His liberal colleagues are silent, probably laughing to themselves. Even Barney Frank, in 1990, had defenders.

To us, Senator Craig was never as appealing as he is in disgrace. It may be what he deserves for his hypocrisy, but expulsion from the United States Senate is not a traditional punishment for that human vice. Let the people of Idaho deal with the man they elected, not the king-makers in his party whose only interest is his seat. Last thought: being a New Yorker, I can’t help thinking: what would Joe Bruno do if this happened to one of his guys?

StarQuest@NYCivic.org

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato
Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.