John F. McMullen is a writer, poet, college professor and radio host. Links to other writings, Podcasts, & Radio Broadcasts at www.johnmac13.com, his books are available on Amazon, and he blogs at http://open.salon.com/blog/johnmac13.
This has been the most annoying political campaign for me ever. I live in upper Westchester County, New York where the most notable elections this go-round are for the New York State Senate where Yorktown Councilman Terrance Murphy (R) and Justin Wagner (D) are contesting for the seat vacated by Greg Ball (R) and for Governor where incumbent Andrew Cuomo (D) is being challenged by Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino (R).
I get something in the mail literally almost every day from Terrance Murphy – four large plastic campaign cards in the last 5 days and have received such for over a month. These cards generally do not contain litanies of the high points of Murphy’s career but, rather, are extremely nasty personal attacks on Wagner (such as “How do we know when Justin Wagner is lying? When his mouth is open!”) as well as references to clients of the law firm tat Wagner works for in an effort to paint him as a hypocrite. For instance, Wagner has come out against “fracking” so the Murphy ad points out the law firm has had as a client a company involved with pipeline construction. The ad, however, does not state Murphy’s position on the issue; it is presented only to cast aspersions on Wagner’s character.
My immediate reaction to all of the Murphy ads, in addition to some revulsion at the tone, was “Boy, these mailings must cost a lot of money. He sure is spending!” That conclusion was brought home in spades last week when I was driving home one evening a little before 7PM and listening to New York’s WFAN radio station (the first all-sports station in the country) and an ad for Terrance Murphy comes on, attacking Wagner as a puppet of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. It was not a one-time ad a I heard another Murphy ad this past Wednesday, also on “The FAN” during Mike Francesa’s afternoon show (1PM – 6:30PM where Francesa has the largest draw in the 18-35 male age group of any show in the New York City area). Not only does such advertising have to be very expensive, it is the first time in 35 years of following elections in this general geographic area that I have ever head an ad for a local election on a New York City radio station.
Bottom line – I would have a hard time voting for Timothy Murphy if he were running against Vladimir Putin!
Now onto Andrew Cuomo – I really liked his father, Governor Mario Cuomo. I also think that it is good to have other political parties on the ballots – the “Conservative Party” on the right holds the Republican Party’s “feet-to-the fire” and the “Working Families Party” on the left does the same to the Democrats while the “fiscally-conservative” and “socially-liberal” Libertarian Party does it to both – but more of this later.
The first time that Andrew Cuomo ran for governor he totally turned me off by giving me the impression that he thought that he was entitled by birth rite to his father’s seat. The second time, however, he seemed to be to have acquired a sense of humility and a real desire to clean up the very real corruption crisis in the New York State Legislature. It took me about three and a half years to disabuse me of those beliefs.
As most know, he empaneled the Moreland Commission to investigate the corruption but then dissolved it before many, if not most, thought it had completed its works; rumors have it that a number of Republican State Senators were under investigation. Whether these rumors have any credence or not, they appeared to a US Attorney to have enough substance to warrant the investigation that is still on-going.
The aura of possible corruption became the focus of a primary challenge by Fordham Law professor and author of the 2014 book “Corruption In America”, Zephyr Teachout (when asked by an interviewer what was the difference between her and Cuomo, she replied “I’m not under investigation”). Although Cuomo won, Teachout’s 35% of the vote was surprisingly high against an incumbent and gave some ray of hope to Astorino’s campaign which had been lagging way behind.
“Even before the primary, Cuomo, who had been ignoring Teachout, refusing to debate her and snubbing her at the Columbus Day Parade, had been attacking Astorino in personal television attacks criticizing him as unethical, if not criminal.”
Now back to the issue of the party lines – a very well written column by Harry Siegel in the New York Daily News of October 20th, “Cuomo vs. N.Y. progressives” (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-cuomo-n-y-progressives-article-1.1981163), lays the story out very well. The Working Families Party, unhappy with the closing of the Moreland Commission and what the party leaders saw as Cuomo’s failure to campaign actively for Democratic candidates for the State Senate, was prepared to nominate Zephyr Teachout on its line – a move that would not only have embarrassed Cuomo but would have cut into his presumed margin of victory and impaired any future chances for higher office (as in “president”). The party would only give the nomination to Cuomo if he agreed to support its platform as his own. Siegel recounts the scenario “At the eleventh hour, he agreed, sending a recorded statement — one he reportedly was made to reshoot so his public words matched up with the behind-the-scenes promises — delivered with all the enthusiasm of a hostage video. The WFP faithful, deeply suspicious of Cuomo’s fiscal moderation and transactional politics, hooted and booed as it played. In exchange for the nomination, the governor made a series of commitments he had previously resisted, including a promise to campaign to help Democrats reclaim the State Senate, which would give them complete control of the state.”
“Not only has Cuomo not lived up to the promises, he and his family (live-in girl friend and daughters) have recently announced, in relentless television ads the formation of the “Women’s Equality Party” (which Siegel points out “perhaps not coincidentally, its initials are just one letter off from those of the WFP”), a party that he says will show a concentration on “women’s issues.”
He has asked citizens to show their support for his positions on these issues by voting for him on this line, a move that could well cost the Working Families Party the 50,000 votes that it needs to stay on the ballot. It’s Cuomo’s “payback time”!
Given the choice between Cuomo, whom I voted for in the last election, and Astorino, I probably would cast my lot with either the Libertarians or the Greens – but, as I said in the beginning of this column, I do wish for the parties of both the left and right to remain on the ballot to exert philosophical pressure on major parties so I am forced to choose between holding my nose and voting for Cuomo on the Working Parties Party or casting that party aside – while voting against Terrance Murphy.
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John F. McMullen is a writer, poet, college professor and radio host. Links to other writings, Podcasts, & Radio Broadcasts at www.johnmac13.com, his books are available on Amazon, and he blogs at http://open.salon.com/blog/johnmac13.
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Comments 1
The Working Families Party (WFP) voluntarily sold its soul to Cuomo. The rank and file members wanted Teachout, but the party’s elite were afraid that the WFP would lose clout by receiving less votes than they would with Cuomo. In fact, they were even worried about reaching the magic number of 50,000 votes. So, they made the WFP a whore, in every sense of the word. No one should vote on that line. Shame on them!