Manhattan democrats. I cant shake that the link that some people here are pulling for me. [applause] i am delighted to see you here tonight. I was thrilled to get this invitation. I feel right at home here because it is often said i share the politics of alfred e. Smith and the ears of alfred newman. It is an honor to be here with al smith. I never knew your great grandfather. Everything senator mccain told me, the two of them had a great time before prohibition. [laughter] i am not surprised by the final repeal of the 18th amendment. When this matter was submitted, they would readily see it had no place in our constitution. It would be very difficult if not impossible to explain to those who come to this country to make it their business to seek that no such matter as this is ever againthey found all yous go to brooklyn. This was the neighborhood where all smith grew up. He raised his children here. He went to school right around the block. His father died, and he had to go off to work and support his mother and sister. This is where al smiths action accent came from. This is where it all began for him. It was all irish and italian. They came from over off speaker. S island we talk with speaker Sheldon Silver about all smith. Here is what he had to say. I think he was a man ahead of his time. Putting in legislation to deal with child labor, with labor generally. Providing rights. We today commemorate that triangle factory fire. We come up commemorate the 100 anniversary of it. All of the legislation protecting workers are things that we in the assembly due today. Paul smith when he was that the governor of the state al smith when he was governor of the state, he talked about having the wealthier pay a little bit more. He had some great hopes about it. I remember i wrote one down because it was as appropriate today as it was in 1913. He said, what do we say about our colleagues to reject an income tax amendment . They reject it. Why . They are unwilling to say that great wall ought to share its share of the burden of government. They are unwilling to subscribe to the indisputable principle that he who benefits the most should pay the most. That was al smit 1932. Here say news reel about the elections. Then the great political battle of 1924 where with alfred e. Smith and john davis, he stood out as a leader. There never was a Political Convention to match the Democratic National gathering of 1924 leading to the 1936 election where 58 smith blew the whistle on the new deal . I think prohibition is something heavily identified with al smith. He never favored prohibition. It was not an issue he championed. He didnt like how new york state ratified it anyway. They did it by simple resolution through the legislateure. He thought it should be a referendum. 29 i believe about . Its most famous as a place the president ial candidates show up every four years. They show up, democrats and republicans. Its really a Memorial Dinner for smith and at this i think its smith thing that if anyones heard al smiths name at this point in time that thats where you probably heard about al smith unless you hang around these hallowed halls. In general its probably his most lasting public legacy, the its a Catholic Charity dinner and a place where people get together and try to assess the legacy be al smith and president ial candidates alwa