GOP Candidate Russell Gallo missed his chance to do a Clint Eastwood on the chair left vacant by incumbent Democrat Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz and the rest of his performance went down from that
According to Ned Burke’s post on the Sheepshead Bay Bites blog, sans Cymbrowitz, the Manhattan Beach Community Group’s town hall forum with Ben Akselrod and Russ Gallo was a debate where it appeared that everyone agreed on everything. Almost but not quite !!!
The whole affair lacked both heat and light, possibly that was because there was almost no life in the room. Not only was the “debate” missing its key player, Steve Cymbrowitz, the room seldom burst with applause, other than the shallow enthusiasm coming from the few supporters of the other two candidates. It was illustrative that one of the most animated moments of the discussion was when both of the candidates who were present in the room did give serious and honest reasons why the other didn’t have an actual path to victory over the missing incumbent, Steven Cymbrowitz. They probably were both right.
It’s shocking that a candidate like Russell Gallo, who has run in several elections, did not have a bigger and better stage presence, especially when confronted by an empty chair to his left and a live body to his right, who had to deal with a thick accent and English as a second language. Too often during the questioning which lasted just over an hour, Mr. Gallo seemed annoyed that he had to answer certain questions; and two or three times he even seemed to be a scold who was blaming the electorate as a whole for not being more aware of what was going on in the campaign or that the citizenry was responsible because the New York State Legislature was ethically challenged and subject to lax standards with little effective oversight.
On the whole, Ben Akselrod did a better job answering the questions as a person who had worked in and for the community in various jobs prior to running for the assembly. Gallo more or less repeated what he always says about his background, that he was a veteran of the war in Iraq and that he’s been a DOT police officer. Akselrod’s answers were down to earth and real. Gallo’s were a combination of simplistic and generalized GOP talking points, with an occasional remark that showed how he is a nerd whose hobby is listening to AM talk radio in his spare time.
Perhaps the most disappointing moments for me were when Russell Gallo gave rote answers as to why he, as a Republican, could be effective as a minority legislator in Albany. Two or three times he showed that he was drunk on some real bizarre Jonestown Juice — saying that he would be part of a Republican team that included Congressman Bob Turner, State Senators Golden and Storobin and Member of the Assembly Nicole Malliotakis, apparently unaware that half of those probably would not be in office by the time that Gallo would be sworn in, if he should by some stroke of magic win. He even made up a whopper that Nicole Malliotakis had sponsored many bills that had been passed by the Assembly.
Why did Russell Gallo refer to these few, these very few, as the team that would be working with for his district and his community? Doesn’t Gallo know that the Republican team includes more than the few elected GOP officials endorsed by the Brooklyn GOP organization of Republican Chairman Craig Eaton?
Mr. Gallo showed that he was just like too many of the candidates being run by the Brooklyn GOP Establishment lately — a mere place holder — somebody with no real background for the position, and with no plan and no hope of winning. Akselrod showed that he had a background for the job of assemblyman, a connection to the community, and that even though he was a candidate on the Independence line, he really is a Democrat and that maybe he will beat Cymbrowitz — in 2014 not 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment