Voters have clear choice heading to the ballot box

There is a hotly contested Democratic primary for the congressional seat representing the 16th District in the Bronx and Westchester County. And the choice is clear.

Incumbent congressman Eliot Engel spent the first three months of the pandemic socially distancing himself at his home in Maryland while the people in our district lost jobs and lives. In the midst of the worst racial crisis in a generation, he finally came to the district for a racial justice rally, and admitted on a hot mic, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”

Simply put, he only cares if and when it helps him get votes.

Then there’s the Justice Democrats’ hand-picked candidate, Jamaal Bowman, who paints himself as an alternative to the failed leadership of Eliot Engel. Bowman’s positions and rhetoric are a cut-and-paste of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s agenda.

She even pledged $500,000 from her nationwide donor network — which is no different than any special interest group in Washington buying a politician.

Bowman doesn’t have an economic recovery plan or any ideas of his own. We can’t afford to have our government further paralyzed by a disruptive force that divides our party and causes it to languish in inaction.

Fortunately, voters don’t have to choose between a disengaged representative whose home base is in Maryland and a radical puppet of the Justice Democrats.

I am Chris Fink. I’ve spent 35 years working with more than 700 local and state governments across the country building green energy plants and municipal infrastructure projects. I don’t just talk about a Green New Deal, I actually know how to get it done. I know the economic incentives needed, the investments in battery technology required, and the way to create good-paying jobs while developing a green economy.

My work building major infrastructure projects gives me the actual know-how to fix our crumbling roads, bridges, hospitals and schools that have been neglected for too long by our incumbent, who is focused on international affairs at the expense of our community affairs.

I know how to build our country back and build bridges we can all walk across. But the future has to start now. I released a comprehensive plan, SEE Forward, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, which offers tangible solutions for our social challenges, our environmental opportunities, and our economic recovery.

We are at a historic time. The threats to the American people are so great that the voices of special interests must be drowned out by our collective cry for action. Now is the time to fix the tax code so that money flows from where it is most abundant to where it is most needed.

As a former tax lawyer, I will close every loophole and expose every trick used to protect oil and gas companies, and those like Amazon who don’t pay taxes at all.

Finally, Donald Trump has stoked lethal hatred across our country. He is a disgusting, heartless racist. Our response must be swift by first demanding that federal prosecutors apply hate crime charges in cases like Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. Trump’s racist gangs are not going away, but let me put them on notice: Their intolerance will no longer stand.

I want to earn your vote. Visit my website at ChrisFinkForCongress.com. See my plans to propose legislation that can actually pass to build a green energy grid. See my COVID-19 response plans to get us all back to work.

You have a choice: An out-of-touch incumbent, an AOC hand-picked radical, or Chris Fink.

I have experience and the commitment to see a way forward.

The author is a candidate for New York’s 16th Congressional District.

Have an opinion? Share your thoughts as a letter to the editor. Make your submission to letters@riverdalepress.com. Please include your full name, phone number (for verification purposes only), and home address (which will not be published).