In June, the City Council, at the behest of Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, (inset photo, bottom left) passed a resolution calling on the Obama administration to release Oscar Lopez-Rivera (photo center), a terrorist serving a 55-year federal prison sentence for conspiring to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property and other crimes. Lopez-Rivera was involved with the FALN, which murdered 6 people in the 1970s, including NYC police officers. When offered clemency by the Clinton administration in 1999 on the condition that he renounce the use of terrorism to achieve Puerto Rico independence, he refused.

“The FALN Conducted over 115 bombings from 1974 -1983 including the January 24, 1975 lunchtime bombing of New York’s historic Fraunces Tavern (the site of General George Washington’s emotional farewell to his officers after the Revolutionary War) that killed four innocent people. Among those murdered at Fraunces was my 33 year old father, Frank Connor,” said Joe O'Connor. (see photos above)

Why the City Council is asking for a pardon for someone who helped kill New Yorkers is a good question. A better question is why they are bothering when he doesn’t want to leave prison.

But the best question is why our Council Member, Elizabeth Crowley (photo, right) voted with the majority in asking for clemency, especially considering that NYPD officers were targeted and she enjoys support from police unions.