Boo-hoo.
Unfurl a crying towel for the thin-skinned incumbent of New York’s 7th State Senate District, the Hon. Jack Martins.
Smilin’ Jack is sobbing because the publisher of this paper had the temerity — the temerity! — to look at public campaign finance documents, and then — oh, the horror! — to actually publish information about who is contributing to Sen. Martins’ re-election campaign.
But senator, that’s the way the world works when you’re a candidate for public office: You raise money — great gobs of it — from quasi-anonymous businesses which you know will sooner or later come knocking at your door to ask for favors; and newspapers print this information to let readers and voters get an idea of who the candidate is likely to pay attention to, if and when you are re-elected.
Fortunately, civic-minded readers in our neck of Long Island have a civic-minded newspaper that reports about what our elected officials are up to, rather than simply reprinting their press releases.
There’s an old rule of thumb, senator, that applies to everyone in public life: Before you do anything — such as accept a whole bunch of campaign contributions from a bundle of LLCs — think about how it will look when it’s reported in a newspaper.
And then, if you decide to take those contributions — man up and hold your tears, because you, not the newspaper’s publisher, are the author of your own deeds.
Adam Simms
Mineola
