Retired Congressman John LaFalce used a series of photographs with six presidents as a framework to talk Thursday night about life, politics, presidents and policy during a presentation at Daemen College.
The former Tonawanda Democrat was speaking as part of the college's Duns Scotus Lecture Series. For 28 years, he worked his way up in the halls of Congress to a committee chairman and occasional passenger on Air Force One, some times offering political or personal advice to those at the top of the political pyramid.
"There is a constant tension in life between two competing values, freedom and order. And, you have to strike the appropriate balance," explained LaFalce about writing the money-laundering legislation contained in the controversial Patriot Act.
"But, after 9/11, it was my judgement if we are going to err, we have to err on the side of order."
LaFalce told the crowd he had been trying for years to tighten the rules against money laundering and when dealing with terror, Congress decided that was a needed tool only to weaken the rules years later and potentially tighten them again in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
