Tell Me When It's Over

Oh, it’s so hard not to be cynical about politicians. Especially local politicians. The teeny little corner of my heart that can’t get Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” out of my head wants to believe that there’s good in everyone. That the people we elect to represent us are motivated solely by the desire to serve their constituents, and not just in the game for the goodies. You know. The power. The glory. The free postage stamps. But when news like this smacks me in the face, I just can’t help myself.

Two local Republicans, Marc Molinaro and Patrick Manning, are squaring off in primary election for the 103rd district state assembly seat. I normally lean libertarian, but as far as Republicans go, and as far as I’d heard them speak and heard of them, these guys seemed like the best of the bunch. Molinaro, a Dutchess county legislator, is also the mayor of Tivoli, a small town near Bard College (and was the youngest mayor in the United States when he was elected at 19) and always seemed like an earnest and well-intentioned guy. Pat Manning has been a fixture in our district (and from my home town) for years, a 5-term State Assemblyman, always the go-to guy for charity events, and was even allowed to speak on (gasp) WAMC, our local NPR affiliate.

But Pat Manning’s karma has been going from bad to worse.

First, he’d announced that he was going to challenge Elliot Spitzer in the governor’s race. I know Spitzer has done some good things, and he’s probably going to win, because New York is the Bluest of Blue States. But as Attorney General he went after my friend’s husband and his business partner (who’d done no wrong), made it look like they’d lost, through poor investments, the life savings of a bunch of elderly people, and Spitzer basically ruined these two mens’ lives (and got my friend fired). So I have a personal reason not to want Spitzer in that seat. And I liked what I’d heard from Manning, so I was psyched to see him throw his hat into the ring, so to speak.

Then it was leaked that Manning, who’d been in the process of divorcing his wife, was seeing another woman, and he withdrew from the race. Probably the decision had more to do with the fact that he didn’t stand a chance of winning rather than the “scandal” of the extramarital affair that wasn’t, but whatever. He was out.

Now, running for his sixth term, he finds himself in a tough primary battle against Molinaro. And earlier this week, another scandal was in the making: the Molinaro camp had accused Manning of impersonating one of Molinaro’s political consultants in an attempt to discover if Molinaro had been conducting push-polls against Manning’s campaign. Manning admitted the impersonation, because he believed that Molinaro had been push-polling. This is where pollsters ask leading questions to try to spread rumors about the opposition.

Manning claimed that the complaints against him had no legal ground. "I don't know what is the big issue," Manning said to a reporter from the Poughkeepsie Journal. "I've already told the press that I did this."

I’ve seen no comment from Molinaro’s camp except outrage about the impersonation, but I think Manning knows he’s in big trouble. Suddenly, he announces today (with Newsday scooping our local papers, yet) that he’s having surgery later on September 19th to donate blood marrow to a 50-year-old man with leukemia. And then will be leading a drive for other people to become marrow donors. Supposedly, he’s been on the national donor list for the past nine years.

The primary is on Tuesday.

Well, like Bette Davis said in “All About Eve,” “Fasten your seatbelts. I think it’s going to be a bumpy night.”