When it comes to political king-making, I'm batting a big, fat
zero.
My first choices this year withdrew from the races for governor,
senator, and attorney general. It has become a foregone
conclusion that we'll see Eliot Spitzer elected governor, Senator
Clinton re-elected, and Andrew Cuomo as the next attorney
general. Because New Yorkers have a reputation for ignoring
scandalous facts and incompetence and sticking to the party line,
one can't argue with that prediction. The only hope for the GOP
is that grassroots Republicans get out of their easy chairs and
vote en masse. How likely is that to happen?
Randy Daniels would have made an innovative, inspiring governor,
one who thinks outside the box. Edward Cox would have given New
York a senator that actually knows New York and could deliver the
best for us. Dan Donovan is that rarest of all prosecutors:
incorruptible, with no baggage, and a very decent human being.
Unfortunately, the GOP in Albany couldn't care less about
anything other than making deals with the Democrats to maintain
power, and so they give minimum support to credible candidates.
The Republican National Committee has written off New York and
the feisty GOP candidates for these important seats, John Faso,
John Spencer, and Jeanine Pirro, are battling tremendous odds
aided by the bias of journalists who refuse to air the
peccadilloes of their Democrat opponents.
Right now, they are focusing on the private life saga of
Mrs.Pirro and portraying her as a woebegone candidate. Whatever
one may think of Mrs. Pirro, digging into her troubled marriage
should be off-limits. If it isn't, then at least balance that
with gossip about Mr. Cuomo's failed marriage to Kerry Kennedy.
The decent thing to do, of course, would be to report on the
qualifications of the candidate. This would require an in-depth
look at Mr. Cuomo's record at what is regarded as one of the most
corrupt government agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
While Mr. Cuomo was in charge of HUD, $59 million mysteriously
disappeared in an audit that was never fully accounted for. In
August, a New York-based investigative reporter, Lucy Komisar,
wrote a scathing examination of Mr. Cuomo's record at HUD. It
appeared on her Web site, thekomisarscoop.com, but was it in the
New York Times? No.
Shouldn't someone in charge of enforcing the laws of the state
have extensive prosecutorial experience in that area? Mrs. Pirro
certainly has, and that should be what she is critiqued on, not
her spousal battles. Mrs. Clinton certainly was absolved of her
husband's disgrace while in public office, and rightly so.
However, not much was made of the first lady's shady history with
the Rose Law Firm or her magically transforming a $1,000
investment in cattle futures into $100,000 in a little over a
year.
This lack of balanced investigative reporting is not just a New
York phenomenon, but rather indicative of routine journalistic
bias. Consider the hoopla about Rep. Mark Foley, who rightly
resigned after his disgraceful correspondence with a former male
page was disclosed. There are already calls for an FBI
investigation, although Mr. Foley's behavior, while unsavory, may
very well be found to be legal. Meanwhile, Rep. Barney Frank, a
Democrat of Massachusetts, has been in office since 1981 and is
currently running unopposed despite going through a scandal few
Republicans could survive. The openly gay congressman refused to
leave in 1990 after it was discovered that his household
employee, Steve Gobie, was a male prostitute operating an illegal
gay escort service from Mr. Frank's home. Mr. Frank also used his
congressional influence to fix 33 of Gobie's parking tickets. Mr.
Foley obviously belongs to the wrong political party.
Rep. John Murtha has served 16 terms in Congress even though he
was an unindicted co-conspirator in Abscam, the biggest
corruption scandal to ever stain Congress. Although Mr. Murtha
denied ever accepting money, an FBI videotape that can be seen at
youdontknowjack.org shows Mr. Murtha at the scene of highly
questionable negotiations with an undercover agent. You can be
the judge, but let's face it: This video surely would have been
making the rounds on CNN if Mr. Murtha was a Republican.
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts
absolutely," the 19th-century historian Lord Acton said, and
truer words were never spoken to describe our political stage. I
fault ordinary citizens for abdicating their responsibility to
elect worthy nominees instead of just the most high-profile
candidates. I mean, how on earth could the citizens of
Massachusetts forget Chappaquiddick, much less Gobie? Here in New
York, the name Tawana Brawley is notorious, yet in 1987 the
Reverend Al Sharpton received 32% of the vote in a Democratic
primary for mayor.
Republican and Conservative candidates deserve medals of valor
for even attempting to get the public's attention.
The least we can do is listen.