Dec 24
2016
Carl Paladino should be shunned
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by Jim Heaney, editor of Investigative Post
There’s been the racist, pornographic emails – women having sex with barnyard animals, anyone?
The threat to take out newspaper columnist Fred Dicker.
The mocking of African American colleagues on the School Board and, most recently, “damn Asian” students.
So when I say Carl Paladino has reached a new low, you know I’m talking low. Really low. Even the Trump transition team took exception, calling the remarks “absolutely reprehensible.”
Paladino, in his latest cry for attention, responded to an Artvoice survey about his hopes and desires, said he wanted President Barack Obama to die of mad cow disease and for First Lady Michelle to return to life as as a man, in the company of an ape in an African cave.
Really.
I responded to the same Artvoice survey and replied to the question about what I would like to see go away in the coming year, I said: “Carl Paladino. Enough already.”
When Paladino’s comments made news Friday, my partners at WGRZ asked me to weigh in. You can catch my comments on the video above or in the slightly revised text below.
My bottom line: Carl Paladino should be shunned.
I also responded to the Artvoice survey.
My response to the question “What I would like to see go away in 2017” was, and I quote, “Carl Paladino. Enough already.”
Paladino, in his responses, proved my point.
He is not going to change. What needs to change is this community’s response to him. Those who have legitimized him, those who have enabled him, need to instead shun him.
That begins with Nick Langworthy and the Erie County Republican Party, which has given Paladino and his cronies wide berth. For that matter, the Erie County Democratic Party has been all too happy to take Paladino’s money, as well.
The shunning should extend to politicians who accept campaign donations from Paladino and his businesses.
Let me name names:
- Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
- State Senator Elect Chris Jacobs.
- State Assemblyman Mickey Kearns.
And that’s just for starters. Paladino has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to scores of politicians over the years, some of them in a position to steer lucrative government contracts or award tax breaks to his businesses. They need to stop taking his money – and his phone calls.
And to my colleagues in the media, I say, don’t quote him, ignore him, except when he really makes news. He lives for the limelight that too many in my profession are all too happy to give it to him.
