NY-13 daily paper columnist: "Throw the bums out"

A regular columnist for the Staten Island Advance, the daily paper for most of NY-13, had this take on the Foley scandal and the power-blind enablers who allowed it to go undetected for so long (10/9/2006):

Politicians had a worse week than the Yankees, wouldn't you say?

Of course, they deserved it.

Can you believe -- with the Mark Foley scandal growing instead of shrinking -- some of these folks are still arguing over who leaked the story and what their political motives were?

As if who spoke to the press matters when you have a sitting congressmen literally chasing teenage pages around Capitol Hill.

It's enough to make you wonder why we don't elect real, live regular citizens to public office, isn't it?

Sorry, but I'm not sure how to create a link.  In the column at www.silive.com, Corman Gordon continues:

Just for a change.

Let's give the neighborhood nurse or schoolteacher a chance.

They couldn't do any worse.

My guess is you'd be able to find 100 folks within five blocks of where you live right now who would be able to look this Mark Foley scandal in the eye.

They'd be able to stand up and publicly call it exactly what it is.

After all, unless you're trying to hide something it's not that difficult.

There's nothing subtle about some creep instant-messaging teenage boys from the well of the House of Representatives suggesting private parties and asking for good-night kisses.

Foley was a serious pervert, apparently.

Most responsible people without something to protect would have no problem saying just that.

They wouldn't make excuses.

They'd treat Foley and anyone trying to cover for him the way they'd like to see anything like that handled if their own kids were at risk.

They'd get rid of them all.

Problem is there don't seem to be a whole lot of those types of stand-up folks in Congress.

When I first read this, it made me think of regular people candidates like Larry Kissell (NC-8), but it could also apply to a host of other Democratic candidates for the House in 2006, including Steve Harrison.  Perhaps the Harrison campaign is gaining some peripheral support?

The columnist also had some choice words for Foley's "alcohol rehab" smokescreen and the folks who looked the other way, instead of looking out for our children:

But drinkers don't turn from basically decent, honest people into genuine sleazebags and pedophiles. That's not the way it works.

And the public knows that.

Just look at the polls. I wouldn't want to be a Republican member of Congress standing for reelection, would you?

I mean, whether you had anything to do with the Foley affair or not. Even someone like Island representative Vito Fossella, whose seat is considered safer than safe and who has no part in the current mess, will lose five percentage points to his challenger Stephen Harrison because of the way the Foley mess has been handled.

Maybe even more than that.

People don't like child abusers, is the bottom line.

They don't care for people who don't have the courage to stand up, either.

Because of these types of recurring moments, it's getting to the point where they also have very little use for the professional political class.

Many of last week's Yankees are going to be gone by next spring.

My guess is that it's probably going to work the same way for some of last week's politicians.

As I diaried last week, incumbent Repub Vito Fosella does not feel that Speaker Hastert should resign.  Apparently, the columnist doesn't think Vito is a "stand up guy" - and he's right.

Steve and Vito debated twice yesterday, and there is another debate scheduled for tonight in Brooklyn.  With two MORE debates scheduled for Oct 20 (Staten Island) and Oct 24 (Brooklyn), there is still a chance for Steve's message to get badly needed media exposure.

I sent Steve $100.00 through ActBlue today - do what you can to help pull off a big upset on November 7.