RUTHFULLY YOURS

Governor Andrew Cuomo began his 2018 State of the State address 19 years to the day—and hour—that Kendra Webdale was pushed to her death in front of a subway train by Andrew Goldstein, a man with untreated serious mental illness. Before Cuomo finished his speech, something similar had happened again: mentally ill Andrew Cordero pushed Jacinto Suarez onto the subway tracks in Brooklyn. Suarez, too, died. Kendra’s death led to the adoption of Kendra’s Law, which empowers judges to mandate treatment for the mentally ill who are a danger to themselves or to the community. The death of Jacinto Suarez should lead to further reforms.

While Cuomo didn’t mention Webdale or Kendra’s Law, he did talk about mental illness and the homeless. “Homelessness is on the rise in our cities and worse than ever before,” the governor said. “It pains me personally to acknowledge this reality.” As well it should: Cuomo’s unapologetic embrace of the long-standing bipartisan policy of closing state psychiatric hospitals is increasing both homelessness and incarceration.

The governor recounted his own history on the issue, recalling that he headed Mayor Dinkins’s homeless commission in 1992. I arranged for parents of the seriously mentally ill to testify before that commission. The parents wanted New York to adopt policies that would allow them to get care for their seriously mentally ill children before they became a danger to themselves or others. Cuomo rejected their pleas, siding with the mental health establishment, which has never been willing to take responsibility for the most seriously ill. As Cuomo wrote in the commission’s report, “The Commission considered and rejected a lowering of the standard for involuntary institutionalization as . . . inappropriate and unnecessary.” He noted that sick people could be sent to state hospitals “for months” to be stabilized. But during his tenure as governor, he has closed state psychiatric hospitals, effectively taking that option off the table.

The governor spoke eloquently about the plight of people incapable of taking care of themselves. “While we aggressively protect an individual’s civil liberties, we believe in helping people in need.” Leaving the sick to “fend for themselves is not progressive, charitable or ethical or legal.” Cuomo emphasized the need for more outreach, proclaiming that “some jurisdictions say case law prevents them from helping mentally ill street homeless. If that is their excuse, they should tell us what law stops them from helping sick homeless people and we will change the law this session.” But the governor is being disingenuous: the changes needed are the same ones that Democrats have refused to support in the past, and that he blocked when he headed the mayor’s homeless commission. These proposals have been made multiple times in recent years by State Senator Catharine Young, and more recently were included in the campaign platform of Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis when she ran for mayor of New York City.

The United States sits on more than a decade’s worth of oil and natural gas offshore. In another reversal of President Obama’s policies, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposed Thursday to open up more than 90% of America’s Outer Continental Shelf for potential energy development.

The Interior Department’s plan would expand the areas under consideration for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. It would also open up the Pacific Coast from Washington to California, the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and nearly all of the waters surrounding Alaska. The proposal will go through two more rounds of public comment, and no doubt some revisions, but when finalized the expanded lease sales could begin as early as 2019.

The proposal would enhance U.S. energy security while raising billions in federal revenue. In the past decade, thanks to the fracking revolution, the U.S. has surpassed Saudi Arabia in oil production and Russia in natural gas. America and its allies are now far less dependent on energy from international disruptors and despots.

The Justice Department has launched a new inquiry into whether the Clinton Foundation engaged in any pay-to-play politics or other illegal activities while Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State, law enforcement officials and a witness tells The Hill.
FBI agents from Little Rock, Ark., where the Foundation was started, have taken the lead in the investigation and have interviewed at least one witness in the last month, and law enforcement officials said additional activities are expected in coming weeks.
The officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the probe is examining whether the Clintons promised or performed any policy favors in return for largesse to their charitable efforts or whether donors made commitments of donations in hopes of securing government outcomes.
The probe may also examine whether any tax-exempt assets were converted for personal or political use and whether the Foundation complied with applicable tax laws, the officials said.
One witness recently interviewed by the FBI described the session to The Hill as “extremely professional and unquestionably thorough” and focused on questions about whether donors to Clinton charitable efforts received any favorable treatment from the Obama administration on a policy decision previously highlighted in media reports.