The Archbishop of New York says he is 'disappointed' in the vice president's decision.

Vice President Kamala Harris should reverse her decision to skip the biggest Catholic-sponsored fund-raiser for the poor and the vulnerable in the country’s biggest city and not just for her own political benefit. She should do so stat. The event is October 17, so there is plenty of time to change her mind but it should not be a poll-driven choice. It’s the right thing to do.

Cardinal Francis Spellman founded and hosted the the first Al Smith dinner honoring New York’s legendary political figure, the first ever Catholic nominated to be president by either major party. Smith was nominated by Democrats to become president in 1928 and lost in spectacular fashion to Herbert Hoover. Hoover garnered 444 Electoral College votes by winning 40 states to Smith’s 87 votes and 8 states.

Smith had been elected governor of New York four times before his second presidential run in 1928 which got him the Democratic nomination that year. Smith had been turned back in 1924 in his first run for the nomination and his quest for a second Democratic nomination was blunted by FDR who got the Democratic nod in 1932 and blew out Hoover as Hoover had blown out Smith four years earlier. After leaving politics, Smith oversaw the construction of the Empire State Building, helped lead the early anti-Nazi movement in the states, and overcame his personal enmity for FDR to help with the war effort. This great figure in American political history died in 1944.

Cardinal Spellman inaugurated a dinner honoring Smith in 1946 as a fundraiser to benefit New York’s most vulnerable women and children. Since 1960, the nominees of both major parties have attended the dinner with one exception: Walter Mondale skipped the dinner in 1984. The dinners are jovial, light-hearted affairs and, during the presidential campaigns, both major party candidates gently mock themselves and their opponents. Is it a surprise that Mondale declined to try and entertain opposite President Ronald........

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