Failed Alabama Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James made national news with series of goofy campaign ads, most notably a commercial in which he suggested that providing the driving tests in multiple languages was serious fiscal burden on the state and gravely intoned, "this is Alabama, we speak English," as part of his doomed campaign for Governor.
Sadly, New York Republican tea-bagger Greg Ball is mimicking the demagogic style of someone who proved to be too conservative for Alabama Republican primary voters as part of his all to active campaign to become the next State Senator for New York's 40th Senate District, just north of New York City in the Hudson Valley. A friend and resident of the 40th district recently wrote me that, "Assemblyman Ball has just released a new TV Ad where he gives Jesse Helms a run for his money when it comes to subliminal racist messaging in television advertising. Assemblyman Ball starts off the ad by driving to a day laborer station in Brewster where there are day laborers hanging around his car while he talks about 'Illegal Criminal Immigration'."
This is nothing new for Greg Ball. Back in 2006 when he ran for State Assembly, his first elected office, he started a vigilante campaign of posting pictures of license plates of cars he suspected were picking up illegal immigrants workers. Seriously. Greg Ball was teabagging all the way back in 2006.
When not bashing immigrants, Ball touts his support for "traditional marriage" and opposition to marriage equality while simultaneously embracing the likes of infamous adulterer Dick Morris and, allegedly, stalking his former girlfriends and current political opponents.
Greg Ball's quest for a seat in the New York State Senate may seem like a matter of local concern, but it is in fact a matter of importance for the future of New York and the country. First, as in most states, New York's redistricting is handled by the state legislature and the State Senate has only a slim Democratic majority and the balance of power could rest on the outcome of this race. Second, Ball is incredibly ambitious. Prior to running for State Senate, he ran an aborted campaign for Congress against Rep. John Hall. Ball actually admitted to an Indian newspaper that his ultimate political ambition is to become the Governor of New York State. These dreams should not be dismissed lightly as the delusions of a Republican back-bencher. After all, George Pataki went right from this State Senate seat to the Governor's Mansion.
Though it may seem like a local race in a small corner of a large state, the fight for Senate District 40 is of tremendous strategic and symbolic relevance. Ball, in his own words, has been tea-partier before there was a tea party. If the most virulent incarnation of the New Right can triumph in New York, the literal birthplace of Rockefeller Republicanism, it will represent a dramatic shift towards the conservative fringe for the state and nation.