By Dan Murphy
After two of Westchester’s longstanding members of Congress, Rep. Nita Lowey and Rep. Eliot Engel, came out earlier this month to support an inquiry of impeachment against President Donald Trump, all eyes were upon Westchester’s third member of Congress, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.
For the past six months, while Engel and Lowey were quiet about impeachment and waiting for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to figure out the best course of action, Maloney has consistently stated that it is best to let the investigation play out and not to play into republican hands of trying to impeach the president when the U.S. Senate will not vote to remove Trump and, in many parts of the country, Americans support Trump and do not support impeachment.
Earlier this year, we reported on a television confrontation that Maloney had with MSNBC Host Joy Reid over impeaching Trump. Maloney debated the pros and cons of moving forward with impeachment in the House of Representatives, with the underlying theme being “beat Trump in 2020 and don’t worry about impeaching Trump.” That comment was unacceptable to Reid, who wanted Maloney to say that he supports moving forward with impeachment immediately after Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren called for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings.
“Here’s what matters to me: We want accountability from the president, that could come in different forms,” said Maloney. “Impeachment is one way, though that is likely to fail in the end. Another way is to beat him in 2020. I don’t want to play Checkers, I want to play Chess, and I don’t think setting out a course of action that is counterproductive is the best way. Does he deserve to get impeached? Yes. I’m appalled by what is in this (Mueller) report, but the big picture is to beat him and replace him.”
Reid continued to push, asking Maloney if he thought Trump committed impeachable offenses. “Why are republicans so eager for us to impeach the president?” asked Maloney. “The republicans did it when I was in the White House with President Clinton and it didn’t work out for them. Impeachment is not an exercise that the American people are ready for. When a republican senator agrees to vote for impeachment, let me know.”
On July 17, Maloney voted against impeachment on the House floor. More recently, on Aug. 5, Maloney gave an interview with WAMC radio in which he said, “I think the president’s actions merit removal from office… I’m not mincing words about it. I believe the president deserves to be impeached… If you forced me to vote on impeachment, I’d press the green button.”
Maloney’s opponent next year, Republican Chele Farley, said: “Sean Patrick Maloney has once again demonstrated that he is out of touch with the values and priorities of Hudson Valley residents by publicly indicating that he would ‘press the green button’ on any impeachment proceedings initiated by the Judiciary Committee against the president.
“Impeachment is a drastic step that is not supported by the American people; nevertheless, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler told CNN’s Erin Burnett last week that his committee’s investigation will move forward and should be considered ‘formal impeachment proceedings.’ Instead of partisan politics, Congressman Sean Maloney should be focused on the priorities of local families, including investing in our deteriorating roads and bridges, protecting our local lakes and drinking water supply, and helping local farms and small businesses create new jobs.
“By embracing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist Green New Deal, and announcing his support for impeaching the president, Congressman Sean Maloney has again embraced the radical left wing of his party and shown that he no longer represents the mainstream views of the people of this district,” said Farley.
Maloney’s district, which runs from northern Westchester up to Putnam, Dutchess and Orange counties, is more moderate and republican than Lowey or Engel’s districts. And while Maloney has won election and re-election to Congress four times, he continues to have a republican opponent, while republicans have given up on defeating Lowey or Engel. Maloney first defeated republican Congresswoman Nan Hayworth by a 52 to 48 percent margin, and since then has defeated each of his different republican opponents by 10 points.
In 2018 Maloney defeated republican James O’Donnell by a 55 to 45 percent margin. O’Donnell was not funded by the National Republican Committee, and was relatively ignored by Maloney and the media.
Farley ran and lost to New York’s Junior U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2018.
A spokesperson for the Maloney campaign said: “After listening to the full interview, it’s clear the candidate (Farley) is running a dishonest campaign. As she’ll soon discover, Hudson Valley voters don’t like being misled.”
