A-144: Buffalo News Endorses Sam Hoyt?
by Matt at Sep 9th, 2008
I’m sorry, but I just can’t get my head around this. Sam Hoyt has affairs with interns in Albany, and yet, the Buffalo News, in their endorsement of Hoyt, is telling Democrats to ignore the scandal, and vote for the guy anyway.
Democratic Party voters in the Buffalo Assembly district now represented by veteran lawmaker Sam Hoyt have a difficult decision to make in Tuesday’s primary, and it has not been made any easier by a last-minute influx of ads supported by a high-sounding independent organization — an organization with eyebrow-raising ties to a political influence committee co-directed by an old political enemy of the assemblyman. This race has become a mess. Our recommendation — stay with Hoyt.
Beyond Hoyt’s deplorable personal conduct, there remains a solid record of service to Buffalo and of strong efforts to pass legislation of benefit to this region. Character is a key issue, but it is even more critical to choose candidates who can champion and accomplish important things for their districts, and Hoyt has proven he can do that for Buffalo.
No, the Buffalo News, in endorsing Hoyt, are saying that character is not an issue. Instead of giving him the criticism he deserves, they paint him as the victim of a smear campaign, and he just merely provided the ammunition.
Whatever. If the Democrats want Sam Hoyt, they can have him. It speaks volumes about their hypocrisy.
Now, Buffalo Pundit, who has repeatedly attacked Tom Reynolds (with left-wing blogger talking points) saying he “covered up” the Mark Foley scandal, has also endorsed the intern hunting Sam Hoyt.
Go figure.
As I’ve already pointed out, the Democratic Party has a long history of elected and reelecting Democrats who have violated the public’s trust. Whining that Sam Hoyt, who has admitted to his affairs with interns, is the victim of a smear campaign, after spending the last two years smearing Tom Reynolds is just classic Democrat hypocrisy.
I guess for liberals, being a member of the Democratic Party is like having a Get Out Of Jail Free card… you can accept bribes like William Jefferson (D-LA), have affairs with underage congressional pages like Gerry Studds (D-MA), or be a pedophile like Mel Reynolds (D-IL) and get a free pass.
If the Democrats have a moral compass, it’s leading them straight toward Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Mark Foley issue was a scandal because the interns targeted complained to higher-ups about it. Reynolds covered it up and tied it up with a bow involving a whole bunch of kids surrounding him at Daemen College.
I don’t know why Republicans go on defending Reynolds, because he diverted a lot of RNCC cash to his own race in 2006 in order to beat Jack Davis, and left a lot of other Republicans in the dust.
As bad as Hoyt’s conduct may have been 5 years ago, it was consensual and the interns didn’t complain.
I’m not sure I see how Hoyt’s sex life violated the public’s trust. To be sure, he violated his wife’s trust, but that is something quite different, and not really any of my business. Violating the public’s trust, to me, would be more like the sort of sleazy campaign that’s being run against him. Where’d the money come from for this stuff? How come Barbara Kavanaugh didn’t call off the hounds, instead of merely shrugging and saying what a shame it is?
I think we should be storming Albany with pitchforks and torches, but I can’t say that Hoyt has ever cast a vote I disagreed with. Although I think it is terribly wrong that state money is distributed by way of member items, the organizations that Hoyt has secured funding for have all been worthy ones. He has, in other words, done his job capably. Although in general I think it is a bad idea to vote for someone if the job they are running for is likely to be the best job they have had or will have, I also think that if someone does a decent job they should be allowed to continue to do so.
Hoyt is also, for whatever it is worth, the most responsive elected official I have ever dealt with. That counts for a lot to me.