You’re sitting in your New York City hotel room trying to make a phone call to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. You screw up the prefix and the next thing you know you are connected to a phone sex line. Chuckling to yourself, you hang up the phone, check the number, and dial it correctly. So, what’s the problem?
The problem is that you are the district attorney in Oneida County, New York, and you were using a government calling card. Now, two years later, the National Republican Congressional Committee is running commercials in your race for Congress that portray you as a sex-fiend pervert.
The ad that began airing Friday shows Democrat Michael Arcuri leering at the silhouette of a dancing woman who says, “Hi, sexy. You’ve reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line.”
So, what do you do?
Arcuri’s campaign released records showing the call two years ago from his New York City hotel room to the 800-number sex line was followed the next minute by a call to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. The last seven digits of the two numbers are the same.
Arcuri’s opponent says the commercial is way over the line and seven different television stations throughout the district have refused to air it. In spite of this, the NRCC is unapolgetic.
The ad’s sponsor, the National Republican Congressional Committee, stood by the 30-second message. Spokesman Ed Patru insisted it was “totally true” and said Meier was not consulted.
I’d say the ad has a certain element of truthiness, but calling it true is horsecrap.
Arcuri said he had “never seen such an unfair commercial. I have a 12-year-old daughter. She’s going to have to go to school and hear other kids talk about this.”
Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, called the ad “an egregiously stupid accusation.”
There is a big difference between misdialing your phone and choking your mistress, hitting on underage boys, taking bribes, or obstructing justice and committing perjury. Maybe the NRCC can’t tell the difference, but I am hoping the voters will.
