Ball, Wagner Trade Barbs in Chaotic Senate Race
State Sen. Greg Ball (R-Patterson) and Democratic challenger Justin Wagner (D-Croton-on-Hudson) sparred last week over hydraulic fracturing, alleged illegal Internet impersonation and conflicts of interest.
More accurately, though, it was the campaign spokesmen of both camps that did most of the verbal spewing as Ball held two press conferences questioning Wagner’s law firm clients and their interests, but the senator did not appear at either.
On Friday, outside Wagner’s campaign headquarters on South Street in Peekskill, Jim Coleman, Ball’s campaign manager, duked it out with some of Wagner’s staffers while waving a document supposedly signed by Ball that promises not to accept “any bribes, fees, campaign contributions or personal income from Big Oil or Big Gas or from anyone legally representing Big Oil or Big Gas!”
Coleman, who attempted to enter Wagner’s locked headquarters to seek out Wagner’s signature on the pledge, claimed Wagner had accepted a $4,500 contribution from an employee of Enron.
“The people of the 40th District don’t need another Vinny Leibell,” remarked Coleman about Ball’s predecessor who is currently serving a 21-month prison sentence for kickbacks he received in connection with two non-profit agencies he controlled.
“Extremist Wacky Wagner is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, positioned to be the well paid shill for a host of large, well-heeled corporate raiders,” Coleman said. “The last thing we need in Albany is another attorney, ripe with conflicts, representing big oil, big insurance, fracking polluters and corporate outsourcers, all making billions while working people are hurt by legislation crafted to protect their lawmaker’s clients. This makes Vinny Leibell look like a Girl Scout.”
Coleman also called for Wagner, a Croton resident, to disclose the client list for his law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges L.L.P. and those clients who have been or are currently conducting business in New York State.
Wagner’s spokesman, Steve Napier, said the challenger was an associate of the law firm and had “no say” over its client list. He also said Ball’s political stunt was “the kind of dirty politics the people of the Hudson Valley are sick of.”
“I see this as a desperate move from a career politician who feels he has real competition for once,” said Napier, who noted Wagner was endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters. “The truth is Greg Ball has done nothing to further legislation in the state Senate to prevent fracking. Greg Ball has an abysmal environmental record.”
Earlier in the week, Wagner called on Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore to investigate what he termed a “blatant and willful violation of the law” when Ball sent an email impersonating Wagner and directed recipients to a website Ball registered in April that attacks Wagner, which Wagner stated was a Class A misdemeanor.
Wagner also asked DiFiore in his Aug. 13 letter to investigate the resources Ball used in sending out the emails since utilizing data through his Senate duties for political purposes is also illegal.
“The claims made at said website are false and inaccurate,” Napier wrote on behalf of Wagner to DiFiore. “Mr. Wagner is running for public office because he believes our political discourse has become too extreme and partisan. This attack is just further evidence of the truth of that belief.”
Coleman blamed the email on a mistake by an intern and said it had already been corrected.
“It’s not a big deal. He wants to get you off track. Wagner runs away from public disclosure like a scolded dog,” Coleman said. “He’s earned his title Wacky Wagner because he says one thing to the public and behind the scene he’s a different person. That’s why he’s very dangerous. He’s the Joker. He’s all over the place. He does that to cloud the issue.”
The 40th Senate District now includes the towns of New Castle and Mount Pleasant following redistricting earlier this year.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
