RICHARD: CLINTON’S TALL TALE AND WHY IT MATTERS

Hillary Clinton has made New Bedford out to be an example of how her leadership has changed the world. Only problem is she is not telling the whole the truth. Again.

Democrat Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton spent some time in New Bedford back in 1973 with the Children's Defense Fund investigating why some children were not regularly attending school. Her work was part of a much larger national effort to bring kids all across the country into the education system. It was a noble cause. But somewhere along the way Clinton felt it necessary to embellish the truth just a bit by suggesting that disabled children in New Bedford were being “denied” access to public schools. She even wrote about it in her book, “Living History.” There is no proof to back up Clinton's claim and in fact people in power at the time, including former Mayor Jack Markey reject Clinton's claim outright.

Some are wondering why all of this matters. It matters because Clinton's claim paints an ugly picture of New Bedford, a city that would refuse to allow disabled children to attend school. Many children were kept at home as a result of their physical challenges but that was a decision made by family members and not public policy. The Children's Defense Fund actually determined that New Bedford and Massachusetts as a whole were ahead of the curve in providing services to disabled school kids before it was required by law.

Mrs. Clinton also made reference in her book to New Bedford as a city of “Portuguese-American neighborhoods of fishing families.” Well, we happen to be proud of our Portuguese- American heritage and our fishing families. The last time such verbiage was used to describe New Bedford was when the national media felt compelled to define us for the Big Dan's gang rape story. It's as if we are expected to be ashamed of who we are.

This is not about whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is the best choice for president. Clinton threw New Bedford under the bus for no other reason than to  advance her political career. New Bedford is not a perfect community but it is a proud, hard working community that takes care of it's own...including it's disabled children. Mrs. Clinton did do good work on behalf of children with disabilities but would be better served to find another community's history to re-write in the future.