Home -> Law Blog Directory -> New York Blogs -> Albany Lawyer Blog

New York

: Albany Lawyer Blog

Guilderland: Personal attacks in politics

By Albany Lawyer

Here they go again. The Mike Ricard and Dave Bosworth team have attacked me personally, along with my running mate Mark Grimm. The latest salvo is in the August 4 edition of the Altamont Enterprise. These are letters to the editor, and do not appear in the online edition. Attributed to Ken Runion, who is running uncontested, and Don Csaposs, who is not an elected official, they are of course really doing this on behalf of Ricard and Bosworth.

Runion has been accusing us of engaging in personal attacks. Wikipedia defines personal attack as follows: Generally, a personal attack is committed when a person substitutes abusive remarks for evidence when examining another person's claims or comments.

I can't deny that we have criticized our opponents, but our criticisms have been focused on relevant issues and supported by evidence. We are not engaging in name-calling or attacking anyone's character.

In sharp contrast, Csaposs refers to us as "the twin peaks of mindless self-promotion," and our views as "the Grimm/Redlich Kool-Aid." Runion calls us "attack dogs," and "very negative individuals."

Gentlemen please ... flattery will get you nowhere. :-)

You can't run for local office without somehow criticizing the incumbents. Maybe at the federal or state level you can run on an issue, like abortion or gun rights. Local politics is mainly about how the local government is managed. If it's run well, you pretty much can't win. It so happens that a number of things are wrong with Guilderland government. They need to be fixed and that's why we're running. Find out more on the Guilderland NY page.

Full post as published by Albany Lawyer Blog on October 08, 2007 (boomark / email).