The following is an open letter to U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing), state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone), state Assemblymen Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) and Ron Kim (D-Flushing), City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and the five Democratic 19th Council District seat candidates:
During the course of the District 19 Council race, Jobs for New York has sent a series of “hit pieces” against three of the candidates for the benefit of Paul Vallone. The mailers are paid for by Jobs for New York, and upon information and belief were designed, printed and distributed by Parkside. All legally done and done in the name of politics for the good of the county machine and to promote and theoretically ensure the election of a candidate who will serve the interests of his benefactors, the Real Estate Board of New York.
That legally a candidate can have no connection to the sponsor of such correspondence is a convenient legal fiction enacted into law by the people it serves to protect. Such politics benefit no one but the county machine and candidates who are willing to sell their offices to the highest bidder at the expense of their communities.
Jobs for New York has thrown down the gauntlet of negative campaigning with a level of vengeance that is beyond comprehension in a local race. The lies, innuendo, out-of-context quotes and literally inflammatory graphics should be as deplorable to any sitting politician or candidate as they are to me and members of the 19th Council District. They should especially be deplorable to a candidate who continually touts integrity, family values and his Christian church as his hallmarks.
That you all endorsed and continue to support the Vallone candidacy without reservation speaks volumes about your desire to remain in the good graces of the county machine and uncontrolled future benefactors and little about your actual support of this or any other endorsed candidate. There comes a time in human events, including political campaigns, when courage, integrity, decency and standing up against what is wrong separates the public servants from the hacks.
This campaign tactic is one of those watershed events. All of you are current office holders who have either the power to introduce legislation to take back control of your campaigns, disallow such spending and return the political process to the constituents you claim to serve or to influence colleagues who have such power.
The “poor little candidate” who cannot stop a big bad entity from spewing unwanted campaign literature throughout your districts does not play well. It is time to take responsibility for your campaigns and be accountable to your constituents for what is put out in your names.
This may turn out to be one of those issues which empowers voters to say no at the polls to candidates who support negative independent expenditures, who refuse to take accountability for their campaigns and who are willing by extension to sell their offices. The beginning of such a movement in District 19 may have been the joining of five civic associations in common voice against the practice, though civics associations support different candidates.
It is unfortunate for the political process, the integrity of your offices and your standing in the community that none of you have publicly repudiated this practice.
Rhea O’Gorman
Station Road Civic Association
Auburndale
