Morano acknowledges colleagues and praises co-chair Caban

Now, I want to acknowledge my colleagues on both committees who are here today.

The man who I believe still has perfect committee attendance or pretty close to it, the distinguished council member from Queens, Phil Wong, is here, as well as council member Al DeBall from the Boogie Down Bronx is here as well.

Before I conclude, I would like to acknowledge Councilmember Caban, the chair of the Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, for working with me on this oversight hearing.

She recognizes as much as I do how crucial it is to address the mental health issues veterans face and the barriers to treatment that many still experience.

I want to just reiterate how genuinely privileged and fortunate I am to be able to co-chair this hearing with Councilmember Caban.

If you were to try to find the two council members that probably have the least similar voting records in our council, it would probably be Councilmember Caban and me.

At yesterday's hearing and I think at the one that we were just at, the C's

on the far right facing the witness table was occupied by me, and the seat on the far left facing the witness table was occupied by her.

And I don't know that that was an accident.

I will tell you, one of the reasons I was so eager to co-chair this hearing with Councilmember Caban is I think by the two of us

co-chairing this hearing together, not only do I think we usually ask the best questions in all the hearings, but I think it sends such a powerful message about mental health and substance abuse and veterans issues specifically, that

not only is this not a partisan issue, but you could take the people representing the folks in the city that are furthest to the right and furthest to the left

and show that their representatives care about this issue just as deeply, even if we end up having somewhat different solutions in terms of how to address it.

I think addressing it to begin with is really the first hurdle that we as New Yorkers need to overcome.

You know, in the pro-wrestling world that politics and government often seems, a lot of times you're cautioned, oh, you don't want to be seen with this person.

You don't want to be seen working with this person.

Not only do I find Councilmember Caban to be one of the most intelligent and hardworking members of this body, but I think the mentality that I just described is...

is exactly the problem in politics and government these days.

And I want to find the people that I disagree with the most, and those are the folks that I want to work with the most on the issues that we both care about.

And I was warned that Councilmember Caban was the nicest member of this council when I was elected, and those warnings have turned out to be true.

And I'm excited that she is able to co-chair this hearing with me.