Letter: Ball Fights for Women's Issues

To the editor:

It must be election time, since I have received three anonymous mailers in the past week attacking Sen. Greg Ball as somehow being “anti-women." As a senior citizen, a former chief financial officer and the mother of a young, professional, woman, I find the nature of these attacks and the demeaning  "1950s style" of the mailers to be disgraceful.

Sen. Ball has a well established record of fighting for issues important to women, most notably for equal pay, combating domestic violence and supporting children and families through initiatives that extend health coverage for out-of-network costs.  And he has been a key leader in ending the dysfunction in State government.

These anonymous attacks confirm for me that the reforms he has helped accomplish working with Gov. Cuomo are a threat to the many entrenched interests in Albany.

The Senator‘s opponent, Manhattan lawyer Justin Wagner, whose photo and information appears in one of the mailers, should disavow them. But that's unlikely, as Mr. Wagner has remained silent throughout the recent scandal which saw Albany Democratic leader Sheldon Silver pay over $100,000 of taxpayer funds as "hush money" to cover up sexual-harassment claims against one of his fellow Democratic legislators.

Unemployment and property taxes are still unacceptably high, and our housing prices are still declining as overburdened taxpayers continue to flee our state. With so many important issues affecting our families, I find this anonymous, underhanded form of attack to be both shameful and counterproductive. Voters deserve better!

Sincerely,

Grea J. Kulhanek