If you are reading this editorial, chances are the world did not end Tuesday. Despite the overheated election rhetoric that the people of New York City have been subjected to, the world kept spinning on Election Day when neither the Democrats nor the Republicans won all of the races they claimed were essential for the future of the nation and state.
It may be it gets this way every two years, but the tone and the attacks in this year’s campaign season seemed particularly nasty. We are sure we are not the only ones who gave a sigh of relief when the polls closed Tuesday night.
For the sake of the nation and state, we hope that in January the winning candidates can put aside the divisiveness and find ways to cooperate. The state is on the brink of financial disaster. The Democrats and Republicans share the blame for the corruption and inability to pass a budget on time.
In Washington, we hope the new Congress will find a way to work with the president to address problems like unemployment and the ongoing foreclosure crisis.
We congratulate those who won Tuesday and hope they will go beyond partisan bickering and recognize that there are sincere men and women on both sides of the aisle in Albany and Washington.
The Nastiest Campaign
Speaking of nasty campaigns, no one got nastier than Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor. Letter writer Michael Seeley thinks TimesLedger Newspapers was wrong to criticize Paladino for threatening New York Post Albany Editor Fred Dicker, saying, “I’ll take you out.”
“I wish reporters would stick to how the candidates plan to address the issues at hand and not so much if a candidate had an affair way back when,” Mr. Seeley wrote.
We agree, but Paladino suggested that state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo cheated on the woman who was his wife at the time. All Dicker did was ask Paladino to back up his accusation.
Although like Seeley we tire of the personal attacks and gossip in political campaigns, we remind him that it was Paladino who raised the question about his opponent’s personal life. The reporter was right to ask for evidence.
