With primary day only five days away, a mailer from Assembly District 26 candidate Elio Forcina attacking county endorsed candidate Ed Braunstein raised some eyebrows in political circles.
The first page of the mailer depicts Braunstein in front of a confessional and reads: ED BRAUNSTEIN HAS A CONFESSION TO MAKE. Ed Braunstein, like Elio Forcina, was raised in a Roman Catholic Family. Ed Braunstein, a Roman Catholic, takes the same sacraments as Elio Forcina. So what is Ed Braunstein hiding? Ed Braunstein doesn’t want you to know he betrayed his northeast Queens values and turned into a downtown Manhattan radical.
"This piece is about values," Forcina campaign spokesperson Steve Stites said. "Ed Braunstein strayed from his Roman Catholic values, and he strayed from his Queens values."
Stites said that a number of residents, including Rabbis, have told the campaign that Braunstein hasn’t been completely truthful about his religious views.
"One candidate is trying to deceive Jewish voters, and we feel that is wrong," Stites said.
However, when asked for specifics about what the people told the campaign, Stites backtracked a bit saying the mailer is not about religion.
"It’s about values — two guys from Queens. Elio kept his Queens values. Downtown Eddie Braunstein lost his Queens values," Stites wrote in an email.
Meanwhile, the Braunstein campaign shot back calling the mailer "an outrageous attempt to divide this community along religious lines during high holy days."
"It’s despicable," Braunstein spokesperson Joe Reubens said in a statement."The fact is that Elio Forcina should confess to his constituents the real reason he’s running such a shameful, negative, and anti-semitic campaign. He hopes to distract voters from the five years he spent at Tony Seminerio’s side while Seminerio took bribes and disgraced the people of Queens."
Upon receiving word of the Braunstein response, Stites responded back:
"What a surprise, downtown Eddie Braunstein is desperately smearing his opponets. When you don’t have the facts on your side do what Ed Braunstein does — lie."
