A Teacher and Police Officer from Yorktown Harassed for Supporting SALT Deduction Increases
By Dan Murphy
With Congress now on summer recess, Rep. Mike Lawler has returned to his NY-17 district (Northern Westchester, Putnam, Rockland) to discuss the details of the Federal Budget Bill that was passed and signed into law by President Trump.
Among those details is a quadrupling of the SALT deduction, the amount of State and Local Taxes, including property taxes, that homeowners can deduct from their federal income tax returns.
The SALT deduction was reduced and capped in 2018 at $10,000. For most Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland homeowners, that meant that if their property taxes are $20,000, they could only deduct $10k.
Now the SALT deduction is $40,000, a 4x increase for those earning less than $500,000. As you head further south in Westchester, many homes have property taxes north of $40,000.
This is good news for homeowners across the region, whether they support of hate Trump. And for those protestors who want to tax the rich, the SALT cap was not lifted for any millionaires in Westchester.
U.S. Senate leader Chuck Schumer couldn’t get the SALT deduction increased, nor could House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Nor could Senator Gillibrand or any elected NY democrat, who asked for and even demanded the SALT cap be increased, but didn’t get it done, under a Democratic trifecta government of President Biden, the Senate, and the House.
President Trump did get the SALT Cap raised fourfold, thanks in part to Congressman Lawler, who Trump called “Mr. SALT,” for his work in getting the cap lifted, and delivered tax relief to thousands of Westchester homeowners.
Last week, Lawler planned an event at a family’s home in Yorktown to tout the SALT increase and for the homeowners to thank Lawler and President Trump and explain what it will mean to them in tax savings.
The homeowners are a teacher and a police officer. Somehow, the address was leaked to the public. A “Media Advisory” was sent out only to members of the press in advance, for planning purposes only.
Nobody else had access to the address of the home, which meant that some member of the media leaked the address to anti-Lawler protest groups, the most notable being Fight Lawler. Who that journalist is, nobody knows, but most have the same guess.
Once Fight Lawler got the address, they sent out an alert to their members to show up and protest Lawler. According to Lawler’s staff, the family who was hosting the event got Doxxed (the intentional revelation of a person’s private information online without their consent).
After concerns about the family’s safety were discussed with law enforcement, the event was changed to another location. And the Fight Lawler crowd did everything in their power to find out where the new location was so they could show up and do their thing.
Free speech is a constitutionally protected right, but does that right extend to releasing the names and addresses of a teacher and police officer who live in Yorktown? And harassing that couple to the point where they didn’t want to be involved for fear of their children?
Congressman Lawler and his family have also faced threats of violence and, yes, even death threats as a result of his votes in support of the Trump agenda.
On the National Stage, they call this Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), which describes negative reactions all the time to Trump, with little regard to his actual policy positions.
Here in Westchester, we now call it Lawler Derangement Syndrome, which is the same theory, only on a local, congressional level.
SALT is the best example of Lawler derangement syndrome. Nobody worked harder than Lawler to get the SALT tax deduction increased, and he succeeded.
Now every Westchester homeowner will benefit from its passage. But nobody on the opposite side of the aisle will even acknowledge his practical work to get its passage.
And to make it worse, the Fight Lawler crowd made a point to Doxx the couple that wanted to say thanks for increasing SALT Mike!
“Doxxing the home address of a police officer and a teacher, two public servants committed to protecting and educating our community, is despicable,” stated Congressman Lawler.
“What’s more despicable is making them targets simply for supporting the lifting of the SALT cap, a measure broadly supported by Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Far-left activists and their allies in local media should be ashamed for engaging in this targeted harassment,” concluded Congressman Lawler.
Several middle-of-the-road journalists have come out against Trump Derangement syndrome, six months into Trump’s second term. You can insert the name Lawler into every place they say Trump.
Mark Halperin said, “This is not to be nice to Trump -this is to be living on planet earth. Voters have eyes, and plenty don’t like Trump, but they like the policies, and Democrats, to their detriment, are treating everything Trump does as a criminal offense.”
Michael Smerconish said on CNN, “Not everything that Trump does is bad. To the extent there’s a common thread among Democrats thus far, it has been to strenuously object to any and everything that Trump does.
“It might sound counterintuitive, but maybe what’s in the party’s best interest is to, dare I say, agree with Trump from time to time.
“Americans will listen to Democrats when they propose better solutions to common problems, not when they openly root for the administration to fail.”
Brett Stephens, a rabid Never Trumper, wrote in the NY Times, “Widespread fears of a recession haven’t materialized…But if Trump’s opponents want to be someday effective — and let’s face it, we haven’t been — then we have to come to grips with realities that have so far eluded us. Such as: Not everything Trump does is bad.”
Even Bill Maher said on his Club Random podcast, “Just to take an example. Tariffs. Now, I remember that, along with most people, I was saying at the beginning, “Oh, you know, by the 4th of July, somebody had to think about how the country was.” The economy was going to be tanked by then. And I was like, well, that seems right to me. But that didn’t happen.
“So let’s work first from the reality of that, not from I just hate Donald Trump because that’s boring and doesn’t get us anywhere and leads you to dishonesty.”
Among the more prominent members of Fight Lawler at this event was a woman whom we will call Judy. This is not her real name. We will not print her real name or her profession, because we will not stoop to their level and Dox her.
Outside of the event, Judy wore an outfit that featured the words “Epstein Files” near her private parts. Inside, Judy let the chants against Trump and Lawler while banging a drum. Everyone else in attendance who was not from Fight Lawler said they “were horrified by their behavior during the event.”
After the event, she came up to Lawler, and he spoke with her for 5 minutes. Instead of slipping out the back door, Lawler listened while Judy called all Trump voters “stupid.” When Lawler responded with, “So half the country is stupid?” Judy said yes.
Kevin Byrnes, candidate for Westchester County Legislator District 1, said, “Congressman Lawler has been dealing with radical protestors for months, even years now, but he understands that it comes with the territory of being an elected official. Now, these protesters have crossed a line by attempting to disrupt an entire residential neighborhood and doxxing a private citizen’s home. Due to many recent violent events, particularly the most recent shooting in New York City, the local family (whose only motivation was to share how the SALT deduction increase is offering significant financial relief to their family) was left fearing for their safety, no longer wanting to participate in the press conference. Despite moving the event to Yorktown Town Hall, several protesters still showed up right outside of their home, causing unnecessary suffering for the family and their neighbors.
“Once the press conference began at town hall, the protesters exhibited their usual disruptive behavior, repeatedly interrupting the congressman and denying those who wanted to hear him speak the opportunity to do so. Voters are growing tired of this abhorrent behavior. I would urge those who organized the protest and shared the address of a private citizen to stop and think of the unnecessary pain and suffering their actions cause.”
Realtors in Westchester also welcomed the SALT deduction increase. Crystal Hawkins-Syska, from Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR), joined with Lawler and said, “Here in Westchester, the average property tax bill exceeds $17,000. We already pay our local taxes, and we were being forced to pay them again on our Federal tax returns. This affected middle-class homeowners and people who work in real estate. This is a big win for our communities and could mean thousands of dollars in the pockets of homeowners. HGAR has consistently advocated for the benefits of equitable home ownership and the long-term health of our housing market. So we thank Congressman Lawler for his leadership and commitment to this critical issue.”
I repeat what I have said to many of my progressive friends who, like me, live in NY-17. The nasty attacks against Lawler do not help achieve your goal of defeating Lawler next year. And just opposing anything Trump, or anything Lawler does, isn’t going to work again. Certainly, doxxing a school teacher and police officer for wanting to say thanks for the SALT deduction quadrupling will have the opposite effect.
