Although Special Elections often don't get much attention paid to them, it seems the Assembly Special Election in Queens for the 24th AD just got moved onto the front-page - yet for all the WRONG reasons. From Liz Benjamin's blog at the Daily News...
Several readers have now forwarded this rather stunning piece of mail that slams Bob Friedrich, who will face off Tuesday against David Weprin in a special election to fill the Queens Assembly seat vacated by Weprin's now-councilman brother, Mark.
The mail features a Swastika superimposed over a generic photo of police tape. It arrived in mailboxes in Glen Oaks, a 10,000-person co-op on the Nassau/Queens line that is heavily Jewish.
As you can see from the mailer that appears in full after the jump, Friedrich himself was on the mailing list.
The piece accuses Friedrich, who, like Weprin, is Jewish, of being an "extremist" who is "out of touch with our community's values." According to Friedrich's campaign manager, Jay Golub, this stems from comments Friedrich made that murder should carry a heavier penalty than hate crimes.
The mailer - at least the one I've got - doesn't indicate who paid for it. But Golub sounds certain it was Weprin's campaign.
"This was so haphazardly done that he didn't even take Bob's name off the list," Golub told me. "We're offended by this and the community is offended by this. I'm not even certain what the message is supposed to be...A guy with a German last name is anti-Jewish? It's so over-the-top that I'm dumbfounded. I don't know what to say."
Last fall, Mark Weprin easily defeated Friedrich in a Democratic primary for the Council seat David Weprin gave up to run a failed bid for comptroller. Friedrich stayed in the general election on the GOP line and lost that, too.
This latest Friedrich-Weprin match-up isn't nearly so cut-and-dried, however. Friedrich, while still a registered Democrat, is running on the GOP and Conservative lines and says he'll conference with the Republican minority if he wins.
Turnout is expected to be very low, and clearly David Weprin's campaign in nervous about the electorate in the post-Scott Brown era. The two candidates are also fighting about gay marriage.
UPDATE: Friedrich himself e-mailed me to say he will hold a press conference Sunday with civic and religious leaders to "stand together to denounce this type of hate-inspired campaign tactic."
Also: Weprin was endorsed by The Jewish Press earlier this week.
UPDATE: Weprin's campaign manager Corey Bearak confirmed the mailer is indeed from his side of the fence. He sent the following statement:
"It's not offensive to make sure people know just home extreme Republican-Conservative Bob Friedrich is; this extremist opposes hate crimes legislation - it's offensive that Republican Bob Friedrich actually opposes hate crimes legislation."
"Crimes driven by anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and other prejudices deserve special attention and warrant extra-tough penalties. As a Jewish community leader who speaks out against anti-Semitism and other hate and it’s outrageous that an extremist like Friedrich, who is also anti-gun control and against Roe v. Wade, would run for office in our community. He will be rejected on February 9th."
...Queens Crap puts it this way...
Ok, well then I guess I must be a Nazi, too, because I don't think hate crimes deserve special punishment, either. If you got your head bashed in by a mugger, who took your wallet, he'd get a few months in jail at most. If you got your head bashed in by a mugger who took your wallet and then called you a derogatory name, he'd get years behind bars - for doing the exact same thing to you. What the hell is the difference? A word that was said? You're still injured and lost whatever he stole from you.
Hate crime prosecution is usually politically motivated and used to protect specific populations but not others. Even if we continually expand the designated special classes of people that are to be protected by hate crimes legislation, it will never apply to all people and we are supposed to have equal protection under the law.
For example, rape is a crime motivated by hate, and committed mainly against women. A rapist goes out specifically looking for a woman to rape. However, women are not a covered class under hate crime legislation.
Bob Friedrich is Jewish. It appears that Weprin therefore committed a hate crime by sending out a flier mentioning Bob's name and putting a swastika on it.
See how stupid this legislation is? Just stiffen the penalties for all crimes and cut down on the plea bargains that end up insulting victims.
This flier actually makes me want to vote for Friedrich, and I would if I lived in that district. Big time backfire, here. One thing's certain - Someone with a dynastic name must be quaking in his boots if he felt it necessary to resort to this.
...I think the last line sums it up and the voters of the 24th AD really need to consider why they would elect a man to office who possesses such little judgment to put out a piece as hateful as this.
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written by Behold a Pale Horse , February 05, 2010
Last fall, Dan Halloran was accused of anti-Semitism and having "ties" to "hate groups" around the country, only because of his religious beliefs. This backfired, and Halloran won.
Weprin is obviously desperate.
written by Raquel Okyay , February 05, 2010
You took the words right out of my mouth!
This election will be all about turn out, if Friedrich has a good on the ground operation, he's got a reasonable chance to win.
Polls must be tightening otherwise the Democrats wouldn't have pulled in the heavy guns. Good news for Bob!
written by Daniel Peterson , February 05, 2010
Friedrich was criticized during his council run last year because he apparently waffled on gay marriage. When we are looking at a bankrupt state, would it really matter?
As a financial person, and NOT a career pol, Friedrich is a better choice here.
written by Daniel Peterson , February 05, 2010
- The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word svastika (in Devanagari स्वस्तिक), meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote good luck. It is composed of su- meaning "good, well" and asti "to be" svasti thus means "well-being." The suffix -ka either forms a diminutive or intensifies the verbal meaning, and svastika might thus be translated literally as "that which is associated with well-being," corresponding to "lucky charm" or "thing that is auspicious."[1] The word in this sense is first used in the Harivamsa.[2] As noted by Monier-Williams in his Sanskrit–English dictionary, according to Alexander Cunningham its shape represents a monogram formed by interlacing of the letters of the auspicious words su-astí (svasti) written in Ashokan characters.
Weprin is using a symbol that corresponds with good luck to south asian. Guess what? The district has a substantial south asian population. To see their symbol being used in an ad in the Western derogatory way is going to be offensive.
So did the Weprin campaign just stupidly offend jews AND south asians? Aren't these two large voting groups in the district? Are dogs and cats voting for this guy? Cause how many unaffected groups remain?
written by Frank Ammendolea , February 05, 2010
This is the classic example of why I chose to become a Republican even before I was old enough to vote.
As a Queens County native, I am not a bit surprised that the Democrat machine is behind this. Corey Bearak - Weprin's campaign manager - is a sad and bitter man whose biggest claim to fame in politics is that he was soundly beaten by Doug Prescott when he ran for Assembly in 1988, and that he worked for a City Councilman who was disbarred for violating some of the campaign finance laws that HE authored!
This cabal of out of touch lefties has been trying to destroy eastern Queens literally since before I was born. Now they are trying to destroy Bob Friedrich by calling him an anti-Semite and an "extremist". It's the same sad song from the same sad people. If there is any justice, Bob Friedrich will make them eat their libelous words on Election Day.
written by LizBerneyforCongress , February 05, 2010
Wow. What a hateful mailer! Hate crimes laws are a topic for reasoned, thoughtful debate, not vicious, incendiary mailers. Moreover, labeling certain views on this topic as "extremist conservative" makes no sense. Views on whether prison sentences should be enhanced for bias-motivated crimes have crossed party lines in both directions. In fact, one of the Supreme Court's best-known conservatives, Justice William Rehnquist, wrote the decision which upheld the constitutionality of hate crimes laws, over a "liberal" first amendment challenge. In the Wisconsin v. Mitchell case (1993), Rehnquist held that a race-motivated physical assault was not protected First Amendment expressive conduct, and that a defendant's motive in committing an offense is a long-established criminal sentencing practice. The most recent debate over hate crimes legislation concerned the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act enacted in October 2009. Some Republics raised the reasonable concern that allocating additional resources to prosecuting hate crimes could detract from the pursuit of other crimes. Other Republicans voted for the bill. People of any political persuasion can certainly differ on these issues.
The bottom line is that people are sick of the dysfunction in Albany, and simply want legislators who will thoughtfully consider and debate issues like this. As several astute bloggers noted here, throwing extremist labels at people will probably backfire.
written by David S. Levine , February 05, 2010
This is why I spell the word "democ-rat" as i do. They are the lowest form of political life in the United States of America and possibly in the Western World. They will stop at nothing to destroy those who oppose them because defeat is not enough.
They MUST be stopped and relegated to the dark corners of American political life--a fate they so richly deserve!
written by Jay Golub , February 06, 2010
from a friend via email....
"I am speechless. I cannot believe that David Weprin, son of Saul Weprin would authorize this kind of political hit. To brand a fellow Jewish-American in this manner, even impliedly associating a good man like Bob Friedrich with the Nazi’s and their evil symbol when these animals killed six million Jews and systematically murdered millions of people in other groups, including ethnic Poles, the Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, gay men, and political and religious opponents is simply beyond the pale. Moreover the Shoah (the Holocaust) should not be invoked in such a blithy fashion to score cheap political points and to demonize a good community leader like Bob Friedrich just because he is a constitutional conservative. This is highly offensive and wrong. Constutional conservatives have and continue to play integral roles in the civil rights movement! I don’t agree with Bob on everything but he is a good well meaning man who can be counted on to defend the weak and stand up for the innocent and to suggest otherwise is false. Bob like a broad cross section of voters is conservative on some issues, moderate on others and decidedly liberal on still others. He is by no means an extremist. This caricature they have painted of him is not right. Weprin’s campaign team should be ashamed of themselves. This smacks of desperation and suggested deep seated character flaws. Weprin should be running on his record unless he just can’t defend it. I hope voters reject these tawdry tactics, inform themselves and come out in droves for Bob!"
written by evannyny , February 06, 2010
This is why I spell the word "democ-rat" as i do.
______________________________________
You are OUT of the spelling bee, David.
The correct speliing is:
DemoRat!
written by evannyny , February 07, 2010
The whole concept behind hate crimes is that such a crime is NOT an attack on just an individual but on a whole group, or a whole class of people.
When you attack someone because you hate him because he is BLACK, it is an attack on all BLACKS.
If this is true, then the ultimate hate crime is the burning of an American flag. It is an attack on an entire class of citizens: Americans.
But the realy crazy aspect of hate crimes legislation is that it is the idea of DEMOCRATS.
For years it was the Democrats who were correctly called 'soft on crime.' They were often more supportive of the criminal than the victim. You know, 'crime is the fault of society' so we have to understand why someone does it.
But then they came up with this idea of hate crimes legislation, and becuase it has become so politically correct, the Democrats want us to believe that because they support hate crimes laws, they are the ones who are tough on crime and Republicans and others who don't support such laws are not just soft on crime, but bigots too.
written by Frank Ammendolea , February 07, 2010
Evan is right - it is a charade that most of the public has fallen for.
If someone kills a man because he wants his wallet and then kills another man because he's gay - is either one of them any less dead?
When we begin assigning more worth to a victim because of the criminal's motive, we start going down a dangerous road. Who are we to say whose lives are worth more in society? Isn't justice supposed to be blind?
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