Joseph Zambon
A recent mailer to voters in the NYS 147th Assembly District (a cropped version of the heavily photoshopped image on the flier is shown below) refers to Republican primary candidate Mitch Martin’s past two bankruptcies and asks if he should be trusted with public funds. That’s a question for the Republican primary voters to answer.
But, it should be remembered that a member of the New York State Assembly has one vote in a 150-member chamber. Not only must the Assembly approve spending bills, but they also must be approved by the 60-member New York State Senate and by the governor. A single member of the NYS Assembly has limited influence on the state budget and state spending.
Between 2012 and 2021 there were 7,796,184 total bankruptcies in the U. S. (Chapters 7, 11, and 13). Assuming the information on the mailer is correct (and the references are listed so its easy enough to check) Mitch Martin has a lot of company.
And it is a little mean-spirited to single out people who have gone bankrupt. It is usually through no fault of their own. The most common cause of bankruptcy is loss of income, and the second most common cause is medical debt.
It’s worth noting that bankruptcy is not exclusive to any particular individual. Even former President Donald Trump has experienced bankruptcy several times, a fact that many can find surprising and relatable.
Former President Trump filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his companies six times—three casino bankruptcies, a Manhattan hotel bankruptcy, and two casino holding company bankruptcy. Former President Trump has never filed personal bankruptcy, only for his companies. He views business bankruptcy as a tool. “I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, my employees, myself and my family.”
So, if former President Trump views bankruptcy so favorably and has used it so many times in the past, why would the DiPietro campaign malign Mitch Martin for doing the same??
DiPietro is a MAGA Republican and a strong Trump supporter. By disparaging Mitch Martin for his two bankruptcies in this mailer from “DiPietro For You,” DiPietro is, by extension, disparaging former President Trump, who has filed more bankruptcies than Mitch Martin.
Why would DiPietro malign Martin for doing the same thing as former President Trump? The mailer from “DiPietro For You” comes out during early voting and just a few days before the June 25th Republican primary for the 147th Assembly seat. Is this mailer a response to polling showing DiPietro is in trouble in this primary? It’s hard to believe since incumbents like DiPietro have a 90% success rate for re-election. Tuesday night, we’ll know.