Lawmakers seemed awed by Zucker’s accomplishment of graduating from medical school, George Washington University, at age 22. He then earned his law degree from Fordham University at age 40 and last year received a postgraduate diploma in global health policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He received his bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal in 1979, majoring in anatomical sciences.
During his two confirmation hearings, Zucker was pressed by lawmakers on legalizing medical marijuana; the only current permitted use in New York is as vapor, food, oils, or pills. Senator Diane Savino (IDC – Staten Island) told Zucker that addiction to marijuana is a bio-psycho-social disease. When it comes to alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana addictions, Savino said, marijuana is the least addictive. Zucker said he did not know whether or not marijuana is addictive or whether it is a gateway drug to more harmful substance abuse.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was another topic of concern for lawmakers querying Zucker for more than an hour. Savino said PTSD is particularly problematic for veterans returning from a war zone.
Zucker, who has served as acting commissioner for a year, sailed through the confirmation process.
EITC Negotiations Continue
Despite the upheaval in the Senate, there is still an important issue that needs to be hammered out before the close of session next month, namely the education investment tax credit, EITC. This is a paramount issue primarily for parents in the Orthodox Jewish community as well as Catholic parochial school parents.
Sources tell me that negotiations are continuing among staff in the Senate and Assembly and will not be tied to any other issue. I’ve been told by many decision makers in both houses that there will be an agreement next month.
Senator Velmanette Montgomery (D – Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn) told The Jewish Press she does not support the EITC but would not give a reason, saying, “That’s above my pay grade.”
Assembly Celebrates Albanian Heroism During WWII
The Assembly hosted a celebration with the president of Albania in Albany commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Albania connection is remarkable and unique in that there were ten times more Jews in Albania at the end of the war than there were at the beginning of the eight-year battle against the Nazi regime.
Also, not a single Jewish life was lost in Albania during the war. This accomplished through the code of honor known as Besa, which means hospitality and protection of one another for unselfish reasons. During World War II Albanians saved more than 2,000 Jews from Nazi persecution. Rather than hiding the Jews in attics or the woods, Albanians gave them clothes, Albanian names, and treated them as part of their families.
Albania is a country in southeastern Europe (fewer than 45 miles from Italy, which once occupied Albania during World War II) bordered by Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Greece. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea.
Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, pronounced Joe-nai (D – Pelham Parkway, Bronx), the only member of Albanian descent, said the stories he heard were so touching to him he had to put together this gathering.
“Albania was a haven in Europe for the Jews as word slowly spread through the underground that this was the place that they could seek protection, shelter, and be out of harm’s way…. The Albanians also took children in and claimed that they were their own to hide them from the Nazis at the peril of their families. The Albanians gave the Nazis falsified documents just so they could protect the Jews,” Gjonaj said.