THE DAILY BLADE: The Revolution Has Begun
Former Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry and five black Dems on the county council have publicly broken with their party to support the senate candidacy of Republican Michael Steele. They also accused the local Dem power elite of repeatedly snubbing black candidates, and of taking black voters for granted. The Washington Times reports:
"The [Democratic] Party acts as though when they want our opinion, they'll give it to us. It's not going to be like that anymore," said Mr. Curry, who in 1994 became the county's first black executive and remains influential in the mostly black and heavily Democratic county.
Mr. Curry and the lawmakers said Democratic leaders repeatedly have snubbed the black community and their county, noting the lack of party support for the Senate campaign of former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chief Kweisi Mfume, who lost the Democratic primary to Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin.
The Democratic ticket lacks black candidates, they said, and candidates from Prince George's County, which is home to more than 320,000 registered Democrats -- the most of any jurisdiction in Maryland.
"We're not puppets. We're not gullible," Mr. Curry said during a press conference at the Infusion Tea Cafe in Largo. "This ain't the first time we've charged up a hill."
It is unlikely that the mutiny will spread to Pennsylvania (Lynn Swann seeking to unseat incumbent Governor Edward G. Rendell) and Ohio (Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell running for governor against Representative Ted Strickland) during this election cycle. But if this is a harbinger of a new willingness of black leaders to punish the Dem political machine for rolling over and flattening their hopes for public office, then the party’s hegemony among black voters may finally come to an end.
Déjà Vu All Over Again: Campaign Ads Are More Negative Than Ever
Every two years, The Stiletto hears the same lament: This year, candidates have hit a new low in negative campaigning. This election is no exception. "Both political parties are functioning in the 2006 House races as factories for attack ads, but the National Republican Campaign Committee's work stands out this year for the sheer volume of assaults on the personal character of Democratic House challengers," claims a report issued by the Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project of media and public policy think tank The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
The report continues:
The ads being aired by both the NRCC and its rival, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are overwhelmingly negative. However, the DCCC ads generally attack Republican candidates on policy issues or their performance in office – accusing them of casting votes favorable to drug or oil companies, or of supporting President Bush's unpopular policies in Iraq or on Social Security. We've recently criticized factual inaccuracies we've seen in some of those, and we'll have more to say in a later article. Here we focus on the NRCC's ads, which are much more likely to demean an opponent's character. That's the very definition of political mudslinging.
The Republican ads variously accuse Democratic candidates of such things as charging an "adult fantasy" phone call to taxpayers, of being a "hypocrite," of being a "greedy trial lawyer," of being a "millionaire know-it-all," or of failing to pay local business taxes on time. One ad describes a Democrat's "ethical judgments" as "bad to bizarre" and claims he favored use of 50,000-volt Taser weapons on seven-year-olds.
The Stiletto hopes that the Annenberg folks will get around to commenting in depth on the negative ads run by Dem candidates before the election next week – but she won’t hold her breath.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal describes (subscription required) a new Web site developed by The Sunlight Network, a non-partisan "good-government group working to increase transparency on Capitol Hill" that lets voters create their own 30-second attack ads in about 10 minutes.
What a great idea! The Stiletto is always going around saying, "If you want an anti-Dem attack ad done right, you gotta do it yourself." Really. Just ask her friends.
Update
ACLU Succeeds In Getting Restraining Order Against Enforcement Of Town’s Anti-Illegal Immigration Laws
Judge James Munley of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued a temporary restraining order against Hazleton City Council to delay the enforcement of its Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance, which would have gone into effect today. The restraining order is valid until Nov. 14.
As expected, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the city of Hazleton, PA, to block the ordinances that levied fines on landlords renting to illegal aliens, denied business permits to companies hiring them, and requiring renters to register and buy a renter's permit at City Hall. The ACLU argues that these local ordinances encroach upon the federal government's exclusive power to regulate immigration, and they violate due process and equal protection rights under the Constitution. Reuters reports:
In a 13-page opinion, Munley said immigrants risked "irreparable injury" by being evicted from their apartments if the law is enforced. He also said he was not convinced by the city council's argument that illegal immigration increases crime and overburdens social services. …
He added that since the plaintiffs - representing the town's Hispanic community - claim the law affects constitutionally protected rights, it is in the public interest to delay enforcement of the ordinance until a court can consider its constitutional implications.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports, "evidence suggests many Hispanics - illegal or otherwise - have already left" the town. AP does not explain why legal immigrants, who are not affected by these ordinances, would feel the necessity to run for the hills.
Hazelton’s population ballooned 35 percent, from 23,000 to 31,000, over the past six years. Hispanics, many of whom speak little English, now comprise 30 percent of the population; by one estimate, about a quarter of them are in the US illegally. Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta insists the new laws are needed to combat the crime, drugs and gangs that came to town along with the illegals. The mayor vows to fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
The ordinances, which were passed by the city council in July and amended in September to make them "bulletproof," as Barletta likes to say, have inspired 10 towns nationwide to pass similar measures. Thirty-two others are considering their own laws.
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