This is upsetting on a couple of levels – the mayoral race for Binghamton, NY, just lost its lone Democratic candidate. Syracuse.com reports:
Michael Treiman, the only Democratic candidate for Binghamton mayor, pulled out of the race on Tuesday after receiving threats.
WNBF reports that Treiman quit one week after he announced his campaign for public office. Treiman made his announcement on Facebook, saying that he was “officially dropping out of the race as of this moment.” …
Treiman returned home at 8 p.m. after picking up his two-year-old and eleven-month-old children from a sitter. That’s when an unidentified person in a pickup truck threw a full soda container at him. Treiman said he was hit in the back as he turned to shield the child he was holding.
Treiman said the man who threw the can yelled “liberal scumbag” before driving away from the scene.
- Reportedly, Treiman failed to report this to police immediately. This is clearly assault and battery. He doesn’t take it seriously? Then why drop out? So it’s clearly a serious incident that frightened him. He should have reported it to have a chance to catch and jail the cretin who did it.
- The local Democratic Party has failed to adequately train their candidates to handle jabs from opponents. Sure, we think we have a civilized system – until we get crap like this. Or remember the burning of the local GOP HQ in North Carolina?
- By leaving the race, he’s encouraged similar activities elsewhere. And then it may escalate. This, again, is a problem of the local Democratic Party not training their candidates properly.
- And, of course, the fact that the incident happened at all is unacceptable. Intimidation is not part of our political culture – or at least it shouldn’t be. The long term consequences will be severe if this sort of thing gets out of control.
