Two Long Island congressmen, Tom Suozzi, a Huntington Democrat, and Andrew Garbarino, a Massapequa Republican, are pitching the value of bipartisanship, starting with their feet.
The two congressmen toured the John’s Crazy Socks warehouse in Melville on Tuesday and checked out unity-themed crew socks with John Cronin, the company’s co-founder and happiness executive. John and his father, Mark, decided to produce the socks, which are being shipped to every member of Congress and President Joe Biden. Navy blue with heels and toes of red, the socks bear images of the American flag and the all-caps word “Unity.”
The company has scores of themed socks, from holidays to sports teams to occupations, hobbies, food, animals and the advocacy of autism and Down Syndrome awareness.
“We want to encourage our elected leaders to build upon our common bonds, to find the paths that bring us together, to celebrate our unity in purpose and belief in the ideal of the United States of America. We hope that when the members of Congress wear these socks, the socks inspire them and make them smile,” Mark Cronin said.
The two members of Congress are part of the Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress, a bipartisan group which attempts to reach across party lines to find answers to national problems. They and Vita Scaturro, chair of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, toured the warehouse, checking out boxes of socks stacked high on shelves.
In the early months of the Covid-19 epidemic, the company also produced masks bearing a happiness theme.