- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
Print 
The worst is the assault of the Fucillo Auto Mall commercials. They are loud, they are obnoxious, and they are not fun to watch. And they are everywhere, on every channel. However, now that election season is upon us, campaign commercials are giving Fucillo a run for his money. To the point where I almost long for a Fucillo commercial to break up the onslaught of negative campaigning.
These negative campaign commercials are depressing, and they don't help. They don't tell me anything about the candidates or what they stand for. They just pound on what their opponents want me to think they stand for. Do they think I am so stupid that I'm going to believe this slander? Well, evidently they do, because I can't imagine they would spend all that money if it didn't work.
Tivo the Sunday talking heads shows and you will find an endless parade of how Michael Arcuri accepted money from felons and Ray Meier never votes independently. The Meier haters have a slight edge, because as a state senator Meier has a legislative voting record, while as a District Attorney Arcuri has a clean slate on that account. That's why the Arcuri haters have to focus on campaign contributions, by now an old story by the way.
As a reporter I've had a an advantage over most people. I've had the opportunity to talk to both candidates at length. To look them in the eye and ask questions about what they believe in and how they would govern if we give them chance to represent us in Washington. And you know what? While I agree politically more with one of them than the other, I have found both to be thoughtful intelligent men with good independent ideas. They agree on some points and disagree on others.
Why can't the commercials tell us about that so we know which one we agree with more? On the issues?
Is that so hard? Or is it just hard for campaign professionals and TV people? The candidates themselves are quite articulate about what they believe, and on strategies they would use to implement it. Silly me, I'd bet that if the folks who make these commercials actually talked to the candidates they might be able to make commercials that -- gasp! -- would help voters make informed decisions, instead of the abominations that twist the candidates views and hope for an idiotic and entirely emotional response.
Unfortunately for our time it's a novel concept. No doubt Fucillo would call it HUGE!
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