Dead Soldiers and Indecency

On June 6th, which was the 70th anniversary of D-Day, supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino used images from D-Day and images of the graves of dead US soldiers to raise money towards tossing Governor Cuomo out of office. If I was Astorino, I would have denounced the ad, calling it inappropriate. I am not aware if he came out against the ad. On the other hand, veterans came out against the stunt.

Iraq War veteran Jon Gensler, who was an Army lietuenant and then captain while serving in Iraq in 2003-04, said he was "disgusted" that Astorino forces would seek to raise money for a gubernatorial election on the backs of dead soldiers.

I agree with Cuomo's critics. He's been cheerleading Common Core and the SAFE Act, legislation that has harmed New York. But the group promoting Rob Astorino is worse, promoting hate and not honoring those who made that sacrifice in France. The stunt was undignified behavior. Regardless, I worry that Governor Cuomo's confrontational leadership style is detrimental to New York's well-being. And Rob Astorino is right on some issues: taxes are still too high, there's too much backrooming in Albany and Upstate is still in a downward spiral. But Cuomo's also taking a stand on financial issues. I just wish he'd get to the root causes, part of it being a revenue and overregulatory issue. The men and women who serve our country in uniform should not be political pawns. It's as indecent as can be.