ICYMI: Times Union Editorial Board: Lee Zeldin’s Election Hypocrisy
“We Would Find the Hypocrisy Astonishing, if it Weren’t so Depressingly Predictable.”
NEW YORK – The Times Union Editorial Board today highlighted Lee Zeldin’s “wholly inadequate response” to allegations of voter fraud and glaring inconsistencies in his rhetoric surrounding electoral integrity following his campaign’s attempt to submit 11,000 fraudulent signatures to secure the Independent Party line.
Zeldin’s hypocrisy is especially shameful given his lengthy record of embracing baseless conspiracy theories — most notably, spreading Trump’s Big Lie and voting to overturn the 2020 election results.
Highlights from the story below.
Times Union: Lee Zeldin’s election hypocrisy
By Times Union Editorial Board, 8/11/22
U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, was among the many GOP members of Congress who on Jan. 6, 2021, refused to certify presidential election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania. When asked to explain those votes, the congressman from Long Island usually cites his deep concern for election integrity. […]
We know the reason for the inconsistency, of course. Mr. Zeldin’s objections had little to do with genuine concerns about election rules. Instead, they were about pleasing former President Donald J. Trump, who — what a coincidence — was focusing his efforts to overturn the election by contesting the results in Arizona, Pennsylvania and two other states. They were, in other words, votes made in support of Mr. Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election.
Still, you might think that in the name of consistency, Mr. Zeldin would at least pretend to care about election integrity in his own race. That hasn’t been the case. […]
“Republicans talk a lot about election integrity,” said Andrew Kolstee, secretary of the Libertarian Party, “but the Zeldin campaign attempted to fly under the radar and submit over 11,000 fraudulent signatures in an attempt to get a third line on the ballot.“
The point is boosted by Mr. Zeldin’s wholly inadequate response to the cheating allegation. While his campaign says it wasn’t aware of photocopied signatures and had no role in this breach, it has otherwise treated the matter as unworthy of concern or even a full explanation.
In other words, Mr. Zeldin purports to be a stickler for the integrity of other elections but seems rather unconcerned about apparent violations that stand to benefit his own campaign. We would find the hypocrisy astonishing, if it weren’t so depressingly predictable.