Local politics

We've been getting a lot of campaign flyers in the mail lately. The most recent batch were decidedly negative: our representative in the state assembly sent out ones saying, in large letters in Spanish and smaller ones in English, that his opponent is a liar. Given that the opponent's flyer in the same day's mail was trying to impress me by showing a picture of him with Ed Koch, I'm voting for the incumbent. And a "vote no on Nora" (again, large unfriendly letters) arguing that the person named is getting all her funding from one rich lawyer.

This level of attention is startling, given that the primary Tuesday in my district is for state assembly and two judgeships. (That's more than many people have; there are districts with no primary, or nothing but, say, within-party jobs for the Independence Party.)

Yes, I know that the photos of Martinez with Koch and Diaz show only that he's spent a minute or two in each man's company; the point is that he wants my vote on the basis that he is somehow connected to an egotist who has moved significantly rightwards and started endorsing Republicans, though I don't know if he has formally changed party affiliation.

Local politics

We've been getting a lot of campaign flyers in the mail lately. The most recent batch were decidedly negative: our representative in the state assembly sent out ones saying, in large letters in Spanish and smaller ones in English, that his opponent is a liar. Given that the opponent's flyer in the same day's mail was trying to impress me by showing a picture of him with Ed Koch, I'm voting for the incumbent. And a "vote no on Nora" (again, large unfriendly letters) arguing that the person named is getting all her funding from one rich lawyer.

This level of attention is startling, given that the primary Tuesday in my district is for state assembly and two judgeships. (That's more than many people have; there are districts with no primary, or nothing but, say, within-party jobs for the Independence Party.)

Yes, I know that the photos of Martinez with Koch and Diaz show only that he's spent a minute or two in each man's company; the point is that he wants my vote on the basis that he is somehow connected to an egotist who has moved significantly rightwards and started endorsing Republicans, though I don't know if he has formally changed party affiliation.