As a registered Republican for many years, who is crossing party lines to vote for Adam Haber for state senate, I feel compelled to write this letter regarding the current negative smear campaign that Senator Jack Martins (R-Mineola) seems to be running against Haber as it has contributed to my decision to cross party lines and vote for Haber.
For those unfamiliar with it, Martins is engaged in a sordid smear campaign consisting of over-sized mailers and TV commercials. The mailers play on emotions showing Haber’s head photo-shopped onto a fake image with false claims that Haber is bad for your bottom line, even though the fact is that Haber has released plans to lower taxes and Martins hasn’t. Another mailer shows children in gas masks, because Martins has to twist the facts on the environment as well. If we ignore the actual content of the absurd claims being made in these ads, and instead concentrate on why this type of campaigning is deemed necessary by Martins and his campaign staff, several things come to mind.
First, anyone who feels it necessary to promote the base, primitive, and blatantly false ideas being promoted by Martins against Haber, probably has little in the way of concrete facts and statements to refute Haber’s platform. As a lawyer, I’m sure Martins is familiar with the concept of ‘collateral attack’ used by trial lawyers to discredit credible witnesses who are against their client. Basically, the cross-examining attorney attacks the witness on completely unrelated, often inflated, and sometimes manufactured, ‘facts’ in order to draw attention away from the real issues before the jury. The thing about ‘collateral attack’ is that it is always used when a direct attack cannot be made or refuted.
It seems clear that Martins is using these ridiculous ads as a collateral attack to draw attention away from the real issue at hand. So what’s the ‘real’ issue? Quite simply, Adam Haber is much more fiscally efficient than his Republican counterpart. As a fiscally conservative Republican, this is of great importance to me, and should be to others as well. Voters whose priorities are taxes, jobs, and economy are attracted to Haber’s business experience, and his successful record of bringing fiscal transparency and efficiency to the once broken Roslyn school district. His recent interview on FIOS1 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbc4rmm9CjE) provides an accurate view of his qualifications.
Soon there will be a debate between Haber and Martins on local TV. I strongly encourage all voters to watch. An election is basically a public job interview. When it comes to issues of jobs, taxes, schools, women’s equality, and women’s freedom to choose, Haber has the superior resume, and is far more deserving of the job of being our next State Senator.
In the meantime, I hope Martins stops insulting the intelligence of his voting constituency with these yellow journalistic negative campaign techniques. If he does not, then I certainly hope Haber responds in kind.
Allen Rothpearl, MD
