By Eric Wolf Schoen
Question of the Day. Do you know the difference between a switch on the wall that is clearly marked ‘fire alarm’ or a button you push clearly marked to open a closed door or push bars used for security purposes to let you out of a building and keep strangers from coming into a building?
Well, our Congressman Jamaal Bowman clearly does not. Either that or he pulled the fire alarm switch to evacuate a federal building to delay a House of Representatives bill from being voted on. Like in High School when we would pull the alarm in the middle of a big test to share answers with our fellow students. Or pull the fire alarm at the end of the day to get out of school early.
What we all can agree on is that pulling a fire alarm when there is no fire is dangerous. It scares the people in the building. They may run out of the building and actually hurt each other. People panic. The climate in Washington in the various buildings is tense as it is. A false fire alarm makes an already difficult situation worse. Resources to come investigate what is going on must be used and are very costly. And god forbid there really was a fire in a close by building, resources would be delayed by the investigation of the fire that doesn’t exist.
And don’t you think that a Congressman who was a former High School Principal should know what it means when there is an alarm on the wall that is clearly marked , ‘Fire Alarm.’ Let’s go over the details and see what you think.
Our saga starts in the Cannon Office Building. A building that is used for offices for Congressman. The House of Representatives was having a difficult time passing a government spending bill. Democrats wanted more time than Republicans wanted to give them to review the bill. A vote was called and members of Congress had to report to vote.
Enter Congressman Jamaal Bowman. He wanted to go and vote, was running late and came upon a door to exit the Cannon office building that had specific instructions how to use it if it was closed. Apparently the door is open during most hours but at this time it was closed. Congressman Bowman saw a bright red alarm. Clearly marked with the words Fire Alarm. Right on the doors that were closed were signs that give explicit details on how to open the door if it is closed.
The instructions said, ‘ Emergency Exit only. Push until alarm sounds 3 seconds. Door will unlock in 30 seconds.’ So what do you do if you want to get out and there is no fire in sight. That’s an easy question. That was the situation. But what did Bowman do? He pulled the fire alarm setting all the procedures in motion as if there truly was a fire.
By the way, how did they know it was Bowman who pulled the alarm? There is a sophisticated camera system by the door that snapped Bowman’s picture. House security examined it and knew right away who it was.
Since there was no fire and the Democrats were trying to gain extra time to read the budget resolution, Bowman was accused of pulling the alarm to give them more time. Illegal. Unethical. Beneath the behavior of a Congressman. Or in most of the country a High School Student.
Interfering with the Legislative process. Interrupting official proceedings of the House Republicans to keep the government running. Crimes worthy of everything from censure to expulsion. Doesn’t it remind you of the activities of January 6 when mobs tried to stop the Vice President from certifying the Presidential Election. Many of the folks who participated that day are in jail.
For what he did, should Congressman Jamaal Bowman be jailed? Should he be expelled from the House of Representatives. Lose his committee assignments? Lose his seniority?
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, ‘The House Ethics Committee should look into this as it is serious. This should not go without punishment. This is an embarrassment. You are elected to be a Member of Congress. You pulled a fire alarm hours before a government shut down trying to dictate that the government would shut down. When you think of how other people are treated when they want to come in and change the course of what was happening in Congress. Why should Bowman be treated any differently. ‘
Representative Nicole Maliotakis drafted a resolution to expel Bowman from Congress over this incident. Even former President Trump weighed in. ‘Bowman should be prosecuted and imprisoned for dangerously pulling and setting off a mainframe alarm system.
Bowman’s office said it was an accident. ‘He was trying to get to a door. He thought a fire alarm would open the door and he pulled the fire alarm to open the door by accident. He was just trying to get to his vote and the door that’s usually open wasn’t open it was closed. This was not the Congressman, in any way, trying to delay any vote.’
Enough of the lies Jamaal. But the most serious, disgusting remarks to come out of a press release from Bowman are, ‘Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.” Bowman denied that those were his words. It was on his stationary. Simply disgraceful. The Jewish community, particularly AIPAC is very unhappy with his positions on Israel. His ‘Nazi’ reference didn’t improve his relationship with the Jewish community.
So where does this all go. The House will do their various investigations. A felony was clearly committed here. The Congressman could be censured, disciplined or expelled. I say censured and disciplined at a minimum but expelling the Congressman must seriously be looked at. He should be treated the same way as the January 6 protestors. Because what he did was just as bad even worse than what the protestors did that day.
Bowman does not belong in Congress. With actions like pulling fire alarms He is an embarrassment to the institution. The residents of his district will get screwed when it comes to funding from Washington for projects in the district. There is a rumor that County Executive George Latimer is considering, depending on Congressional lines a run for Bowman’s seat. Latimer would make an excellent candidate.
Congressman Bowman. You’re not in High School anymore!
Briefs: People wrote in such beautiful memories of the Roosevelt Hotel. It’s sad that it is not the elegant hotel it once was.
There is talk of a marijuana dispensary on Yonkers Avenue at the old Duo Tapas Bar location. The neighbors don’t deserve it. We have enough streets in Yonkers that reek of the smell of marijuana. Yonkers doesn’t need one more. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of the smell. Put the dispensary in a place out of the way with parking and away from schools. And the State has to do something to regulate where marijuana can be smoked.
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com, follow him on Twitter (X) @ericyonkers or friend him on Facebook Eric Schoen…just look for him in the picture with Joan Rivers!
