
It may sound trite, but "back in the day" our political news media focused primarily on serious and substantive domestic and international issues. Today there is certainly no shortage of such issues such as the fluctuating stock market, our economy, North Korea, Russia, China, Syria and Iran to name a few. Notwithstanding, the political news media today seems obsessed with sex, lies and video in the never ending quest for high ratings. Perhaps part of the problem is that this type of low level news reporting is being fueled by our politicians, most of whom are lawyers.
In particular, recently New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo claimed publicly that he is in fact undocumented and that if anyone who is undocumented/illegal is to be deported, then he should be among the first. The Governor angrily justified his claim by stating that his family came over from Italy and were labelled as WOPs, which he stated meant "without papers."
Although the term WOP has a popular connotative meaning of "without papers," the most common denotation of the word states that it is derived from the Spanish word "guapo" which means handsome. In addition, from Ellis Island's inception as an immigrant inspection center in 1892 up until 1924, immigrants were not even required to have papers. Governor Cuomo's great grandfather Donato was the first Cuomo to come to America and did so in 1896. In addition of course is the fact that that Andrew Cuomo, like his parents, was born in New York.
Both Governor Andrew Cuomo and his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, were attorneys that turned into politicians. But does that create the right to be fast and loose with facts and the truth? Ostensibly, barring some type of mental lapse or breakdown, Governor Cuomo is well aware that he is no more undocumented/illegal than President Donald Trump. So why do our politicians resort to what appears to be nothing more than cheap theatrics at best? Our news media today is compromised enough without our politicians augmenting the media's rapid departure form integrity. It would appear that law degrees and political careers combine for very curious bedfellows.
Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
www.liattorney.com