The campaign of Westchester County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz, a Democrat who is running for state Senate against Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball, released the following commercial today titled “What is Greg Ball’s Issue with Women.”
The video mentions an allegation made this summer that Ball groped a waitress at an Albany restaurant. Ball has always vehemently denied the incident occurred and it was not reported to the police.
Ball told The Journal News in July that his opponents are “resorting to the politics of personal destruction. I read this morning of an account that never occurred, alleged by a person I could not identify if they were in a 1-person lineup. Only Albany could manufacture garbage like this and feed it to a reporter, and the public, as fact.”
The spot also mentions Ball’s former girlfriend getting a restraining order against him in 2008.
Both candidates have lined up women supporters by organizing groups called Women for Ball and Women for Kaplowitz.
Kaplowitz spokesman Josh Luger released the following statement with the commercial, which on YouTube is part of a page that links to the New York Senate Democrats. The Senate Republican spokesman’s comment was made this summer after the groping report, when Ball was challenging Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy, who was the endorsed candidate, in the GOP primary.
“Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif said it best himself: Assemblyman Greg Ball has a ‘pattern of sexual misconduct towards women,’ and the ‘facts are the facts.’ And we agree. This week alone, Assemblyman Ball refused to attend a forum on women’s health and reproductive rights – and he missed a debate sponsored by The League of Women Voters. Not only does he have an extreme and alarming record when it comes to his treatment of women, he’s too chicken to even debate women’s issues. The question isn’t where Assemblyman Ball stands on women’s issues – the question is why does Assemblyman Ball have an issue with women,” Luger said.
The campaign of Westchester County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz, a Democrat who is running for state Senate against Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball, released the following commercial today titled “What is Greg Ball’s Issue with Women.”