The incompetent, self-destructive behavior of the Democratic Party in Chautauqua County is stunning in its unrivaled stupidity.

Luz Torres has been the deputy commissioner at the Chautauqua County Board of Elections for two years. She has performed admirably. We are fortunate to have such a competent bi-lingual person to promote.

Why is her confirmation running into trouble? Is it for the same reason Councilman Don Williams is openly rude to Mayor Wilfred Rosas?

The debacle at the County Legislature’s October session was embarrassing. There are ways for the party to work things out among themselves. I’ve talked to a few people in the Democratic Party about the situation.

I gather there was a vote and some point of order was omitted, or maybe not omitted. In essence there was a vote among the Democrats. Luz won. Loren Kent’s allies claim the election was fraudulent. Their strategy is to have the five Democrats in the Legislature decide. Honestly the details of this fight are too complex to go into here and beside the point which is: don’t fight in public.

We need the Democratic Party to stop fighting with each other and start fighting for us! The party’s disarray keeps it from being an effective counterweight to the Republicans. We need the Democrats to stand up for ordinary people and be a voice of common sense. Right now the Republicans are failing to be the leaders we need.

A great example of incompetent leadership is the fact that Brooks-TLC Hospital has an entire empty floor and they set up an ICU tent in the parking lot. I like to camp, but November is not the right time. Real leadership would have acted in March to repair the third floor at Brooks and get it ready for ICU patients.

Our Republican County Executive PJ Wendel could have joined forces with our Republican state Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Goodell to help us.

It’s not too late to repair the third floor at Brooks. The sooner we start the sooner it will be ready.

In Washington, the Democratic-led House created a stimulus bill with money for hospitals, local government and ordinary people.

The Republican Senate has refused to so much as give it a hearing. They want more money for airlines and other corporations.

No one will die if the airlines go bankrupt. The same cannot be said about hospitals. Locally, hospitals have been struggling financially for decades. Look around we have two empty ones. It isn’t because we don’t need them. It’s because they couldn’t turn a profit. We are going to need them much more as this epidemic progresses.

COVID-19 is not a hoax. It was reported that on Nov. 2, we had over 1,200 cases in Chautauqua County. Of that 1,200 people 15 had died. An average of 12 people were in the hospital on any given day. We are detecting new cases every day.

When 10,000 people are infected we will need 120 hospital beds and 50 coffins. When we have 20,000 people infected we will need 250 hospital beds and 100 coffins.

How many empty beds does Brooks have? How many at UPMC Chautauqua?

Hospitals are running out of money. The ER has to treat everyone whether they can pay or not. Millions of people lost their insurance this year. Insurance companies have made billions of dollars. That money could have gone into our hospitals instead of the shareholders portfolio.

We must find some way to cover the hospital’s expenses. The employer based system of financing healthcare can not work when so many companies are going bankrupt.

Our Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are pushing to get the House’s Stimulus Bill to the floor. Republican Mitch McConnell will not allow it. Call our Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Reed. His Jamestown office. Tell him to put pressure on Mitch McConnell to do his job. We need money for hospitals, not airlines.

The Republican leadership in this county has made no effort to prepare our hospitals. The Democratic party is too busy fighting with itself to force the issue.

Without effective leadership we are in a canoe without a paddle. Hold on the waterfall is coming fast.

Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com