City Newspaper Archives - 11/2007
POLITICS: Republicans begin mauling by mail
Published by Jeremy Moule on Nov 02, 2007
Negative campaigning isn't unusual. But the recent Republican mailings have crossed a line, Democrats say.
One mailer features a New York drivers license with a picture of an angry-looking man in Arab clothing. Bold red lettering screams "Democrat county legislators want to make it easier for illegals and terrorists to get driver's licenses."
One prominent Muslim has spoken out against the flier. Muhammad Shafiq, imam at the Islamic Center of Rochester, told Channel 10 news that the piece amounts to racial profiling because it links Arabs and terrorism.
(Democrats say the Republicans' charge isn't true, anyway. Three of them joined Republicans in voting to bar the county clerk's office from following the Spitzer administration's drivers-license policy change.)
Another mailing accuses Democratic County Legislator Steve Eckel of failing to have any laws passed. The reality is that referrals that Eckel submitted were either quashed in committee or rewritten by Republican legislators and submitted in their names.
Another widely publicized piece was aimed at Carmen Gumina, a Webster Democrat running for the County Legislature. Bold lettering on the front said "Nice guys finish last." Text on the back said the State Road Elementary School in Webster, where Gumina is a principal, has the lowest test scores of any elementary school in the district. But it didn't mention that the school is one of two elementary schools in the district that serves special education students.
That mailer might have backfired. Republicans suffered some backlash, particularly from State Road parents.
