By Mark David Blum, Esq.

The last minute rush for sliming the airwaves by political candidates has yielded a remarkable trend by Republicans. They do not have an effective economic policy, their foreign policy is a shambles, and they have brought great shame upon their party and this Nation. As we wind down to these last hours and minutes of the campaign, all the local Republicans have run for cover behind the skirts of women and little girls.

Whether it was Jeff Brown or James Walsh that started the trend, I do not specifically recall. Both however have turned toward this cowardly tactic.

One day on my television is the Congressman’s daughter telling me she is not an actress and because she is his daughter, well heck, Mr. Walsh deserves our vote. Yes, we are being told how to vote and for whom by a teenaged daughter of a candidate. We should take her word for it; so she says.

Then there is Jeff Brown hiding behind the skirts of his wife and fluffy young child. She makes the pitch and tells us again that Brown is a “Captain” in the National Guard. This statement makes my skin crawl because it is a great lie. Brown may have achieved the rank of captain but his presentation implies he has the JOB of captain; or pilot. That is a shameful misrepresentation of rank and duty and does a disservice to his colleagues.

But Jeff still cannot make his own case. He has to have his wife sit at his side and tell us what a wonderful man he is. I have yet to hear Brown give me a single reason why he left his job in the Assembly and instead of working WITH Senator Valesky for Upstate, that he Brown instead decided to destroy our political clout.

Mr. Brown concludes his commercial with his Missus telling us how great of a “leader” Jeff is and how we need his “leadership” in Albany. With all due respect to Mrs. Brown and her family, we do not elect LEADERS. We elect representatives. Perhaps she has hit upon the fundamental flaw of Mr. Brown’s lack of understanding of his role. He is not anointed to lead; he is elected to represent all of us. Rather than follow that duty, he throws his loyalty to party over constituency.

Next comes the lovely commercial with Mrs. Todeschini advocating for Jeff Brown. Well of course she is. The speed at which Brown rushed to the fore and passed an insane and irrational law solely to pander to police and police groupies shamed him. As a Legislator, I expect him to be reasoned and dispassionate and to not surrender to the chaos of the moment. No trooper should die on the job. Thanks to Jeff, now the police officer and not the defendant is the focus of the trial. He may have masturbated Mrs. Todeschini’s ego, but Jeff Brown did nothing for the People of the State of New York.

Even one local Democrat is capitalizing on using skirts to sell their candidacy. Judge Kevin Young is using his Father-In-Law in a commercial arguing that since the father trusted his daughter with Judge Young, well then by golly, he must be one heck of a guy. With due respect to Judge Young, I would hope and expect more of an endorsement for a Supreme Court Justice than a father in law. Being a good husband does not qualify you for a 14 year term on the State’s highest level trial court.

Just once, in all this chaos and garbage of the process of campaigning, I wish a candidate would come forward and be honest. The lies, spins, and mudslinging make no impression and just rise up bile against the thrower. Clearly the tactic has been to sicken everybody of the entire process such that they drop out and do not vote at all. This is why we have lived under a tyranny of the minority over the majority for the past 12 years. Republicans came on hard with a slash and burn approach, best proven by the ads by the “Republican Congressional Committee” that you see every 7.4 seconds on the television. This tactic has nauseated voters and disenfranchised them through apathy; while at the same time Republicans fire up their base with threatening laws like drugs, gays, and immigrants.

The Editors of the Syracuse Newspapers have also shown themselves as being a gaggle of fat schoolgirls drooling over a piece of pie. This morning, they endorsed Congressman Walsh (R) for yet another term. As the sole and singular justification for that endorsement, the Editors of the Syracuse Newspapers point to the hundreds of millions of dollars of PORK (read; yours and my tax dollars) as being the qualifying and the concluding criteria for their support. By such criteria, nobody not an incumbent will ever get the newspaper endorsement. Such abhorrent behavior by a so-called bastion of free speech and their influence upon the populace only solidifies the unfair advantage held by incumbents.

Personally, if Pork is the only determinative factor, then I would want the Editors of the local newspaper to be first in line to whip out their checkbooks and pay off their share of the National Debt. They can pay off my share as well. Have they forgotten about life under Republican rule? The religious takeover of the courts, our debt has skyrocketed, our freedoms have disappeared, our international standing has been lost, tens of thousands are dead, billions are missing, and despite all the horrors and illegalities committed by the President and Republicans, the newspaper still stands with Mr. Walsh because he can bring home the bacon.

Once upon a time, it was comforting to be able to think globally but act locally. Because we are now a nation ruled by one party which votes uniformly with itself, the luxury of only thinking globally has evaporated. When votes are cast, we have to take into account the larger impact.

Will we return a minority member to a House that has closed itself off from the world and encourage the minority member to fight to change the system? This is the Dave Valesky.

Will we return a congressman simply because he knows how to grab a monster share of our national treasury? This is James Walsh.

We need more far sighted national representatives than those whose goal is rob from the GDP. Everything for the past 12 years; every problem, fiasco, disaster, and bad policy has Mr. Walsh’s fingerprints all over it. Even in New York, 2/3 of the Men in the Room have been Republicans. Remember the week after the last gubernatorial election and Pataki’s relection – suddenly the State was a fiscal disaster; information withheld by Mr. Brown and company from the electorate until AFTER the election.

Many have mocked Mr. Maffei’s constant citing of the Walsh voting pattern and its consistency with the President. I agree that the argument is boring. The reason why it is annoying however is that Mr. Maffei refuses to get into the real meat and potatoes of Walsh’s voting record. Siding with the President may not be a bad thing. Siding with the President and doing so merely out of Party loyalty is wrong. Mr. Maffei needs to bring this out and show the District Mr. Walsh’s real intentions – Party over Country. This too is Jeff Brown’s true status and single plank of his campaign – Party over Country.

So, to all those candidates hiding behind the skirts of their wives and daughters and to the Syracuse Newspapers who themselves are behaving like fat snobby little schoolgirls, I say this …

Stand on your own two feet. Do what is right; for a change. Spare us the Family Guy routine. Being respected by your family is expected. Show us your real mettle.

Alas if only your wives and children could tell us what you are really like first thing in the morning. Would you still be able to show your face in public?