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NY Gov. Candidate and Teabagger Sends Porn and Racist Emails Apparently
Paladino draws derision from left and right
Firestorm on e-mails intensifies: 'Tea party' split is evident as candidate reels in uproar
By Robert J. McCarthy, Jerry Zremski and Tom Precious
News Staff Reporters
Updated: April 13, 2010, 11:00 pm /
Published: April 14, 2010, 6:54 am
Carl Paladino's mad-as-hell campaign for governor of New York took on a madcap feel Tuesday, as his penchant for forwarding racist and pornographic e-mails spawned a split in the "tea party" movement, derision from left and right in the national media and a bomb scare in his downtown Buffalo office.
Paladino promised an unconventional campaign, but even by unconventional standards, Tuesday's events surrounding the Buffalo developer's candidacy bordered on the surreal.
It all occurred a day after WNYMedia.net reported that Paladino's taste in e-mails ranged from one showing the president dressed like a pimp to another showing a woman engaging in bestiality. Another labeled photos of dancing African tribesmen as a "Rehearsal for Obama Inauguration," and one used a well-worn epithet for blacks.
In response Tuesday:
• The national "Tea Party Express" disowned the Paladino candidacy, as Mark Williams, the group's chairman, said in Albany: "You've seen the e-mails, ... so what makes you think we would support him?"
• Buffalo-area tea party organizers stood by the man they talked into running for governor, with Rus Thompson, a key leader of the group, saying: "I've known Carl for too long a time to even begin to fathom that he's a racist."
• Left-leaning bloggers were giddy that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Monday named Paladino "today's worst person in the world."
• The conservative New York Post ran an editorial on Paladino headlined "Bigot from Buffalo."
• Ellicott Square was evacuated after Paladino's campaign said that it received a bomb threat from what it characterized as "a black militant group."
• Paladino's spokesman blamed Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, Rep. Brian Higgins and the state Democratic Party for orchestrating a campaign against him.
• Outrages & Insights blog: The 'liberal elites' behind the Paladino e-mail story
• Earlier: Paladino under fire for e-mails
Not surprisingly, by the end of the day, political pros were asking questions not only about whether the Paladino candidacy could survive — but about how badly his suddenly infamous e-mails had damaged the fast-growing tea party movement.
"He's not going to be governor of New York," said Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, who added: "It's a calamity every time something like this happens to the tea party. It's confirming a stereotype that has built up through the rallies, through the demonstrations at the Capitol."
Denounced in media
Clear divisions within the movement were evident Tuesday as the leaders of the national Tea Party Express that stopped in Buffalo on Monday distanced themselves from Paladino the next day in Albany.
Paladino's e-mails are "absolutely incompatible with anything we stand for," said Williams, the group's chairman.
"Pornographic, racist e-mails," he added. "How do you think that we would ever support something like that?"
Signs of the split could be seen Monday as Tea Party Express organizers never once recognized Paladino during the Buffalo event, though they allowed a fellow Republican contender for governor — Warren Redlich — to speak. They ended their program, never introduced him and were packing up when Paladino went on stage.
But in Western New York, tea partyers remained strongly behind Paladino, who has emerged as the face and the voice of the local movement. Leaders here say that they don't condone his dissemination of pornographic and racially denigrating e-mails, but that they rally around the conservative principles at the core of their movement.
Thompson said of the e-mails: "I think a lot of it is disgusting." But he added: "I absolutely have confidence in Carl because I know him as a human being and how passionate he really is."
Other tea party leaders agreed. Former East Aurora Mayor David J. DiPietro, a State Senate hopeful who with Thompson persuaded Paladino to run for governor, called the e-mail controversy "much ado about nothing."
And former Amherst Council Member Shelly D. Schratz, another tea party leader, said: "I'm disappointed in what has happened in the last 24 hours, but that's not going to change my mind about whether I support Carl Paladino."
The Paladino e-mails have ignited a firestorm of media attention.
Olbermann — the left-leaning MSNBC host — called Paladino "the tea party candidate for the clearly jinxed office of governor of New York State" and noted that Paladino's e-mails "contain racist jokes, porn and bestiality."
"Carl "My E-Mails May Contain Bestiality' Paladino, tea party candidate for governor in New York: today's worst person in the world," Olbermann said to the usual backdrop of horror-movie organ music.
Elsewhere, New York magazine's Daily Intel blog featured an item headlined "Carl Paladino watches bestiality videos."
"Whatever you think of the merits of bestiality porn, this is a really, really, really bad image for a political candidate," Daily Intel said. "And for someone who, we recently found out, fathered a love child with one of his employees, you might say this is the 9/11 of publicity."
Meanwhile, the New York Post slammed Paladino in an editorial labeled "Bigot from Buffalo."
"Late yesterday, Paladino's campaign issued a statement denouncing disclosure of the e-mails as a "liberal Democrat blog smear,' " the Post editorialized. "That is, it's all somebody else's fault. And we thought Carl Paladino was supposed to be a stand-up guy. Guess not."
The Root, a blog with commentary "from a variety of black perspectives," offered a succinct analysis: "Suddenly, David Paterson doesn't seem so bad."
Amid all the mockery, Paladino campaign workers were forced to cope with a reported bomb threat.
Campaign on defensive
Paladino's campaign headquarters in Ellicott Square reported receiving the threat at about 12:35 p.m. Tuesday from a male claiming to be with a "black militant group" and threatening to "bomb all of you." The building was evacuated, but tenants were allowed to return after 40 minutes when nothing was found.
In wake of all the chaos, Paladino campaign manager Michael R. Caputo contended that none of the last two days' events were coincidences. He noted that WNYMedia.net chose to post the e-mails on the day of the Tea Party Express visit.
He also said that an "emissary who is a mutual friend of Carl and Higgins" warned the campaign several weeks ago "to expect attacks."
" "If you get in this race, this is how I will hurt you,' " Caputo quoted the friend, blaming Higgins for leaking the e-mails.
"He will squirm and hide under a rock and deny it," Caputo said. "But this is a state Democratic Party hit delivered by Brian Higgins and a liberal Democratic blogger. The timing of it was measured very carefully."
Caputo said he now views the situation as "war, and believe me, we are heavily armed."
"My message to them is that two can play at this game," he said, adding that he wears Olbermann's "scorn as a badge of honor."
"[Paladino] isn't scared of these threats against his life and reputation and this politics as usual," Caputo said. "It's something he will eat for breakfast."
Higgins spokeswoman Theresa Kennedy was succinct in her reply to the blame Caputo assigned to the congressman for the uproar, saying: "That's ridiculous."
rmccarthy@buffnews.com; jzremski@buffnews.com; tprecious@buffnews.comComment
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Paladino must be getting high with Karzai...
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