Guest Commentary: Greg Ball

My independence has forced me to step on some very powerful toes, even in my own party. And it seems like every two years, the powerful Albany insiders that I have taken on in the legislature and beyond, unite to run a disgusting and negative campaign against me. 

In recent weeks, several letters to the editor have been published that I would like to respond to. I have been going door to door for months, running as an outsider without party backing, and I am focused on the issues and concerns of the voters, not the insiders. 

I support capping property taxes, freezing school taxes for seniors, term limits, ethics and campaign finance reform, capping state spending and cracking down on illegal alien employers and slumlords. 

With your support, and as your next State Senator, I will fight to bring thorough and lasting change to the culture of corruption and dysfunction that pervades Albany, on both sides of the aisle. Therefore, I represent a great threat to the status quo. 

As an Assemblyman I have stood firm in Albany and I have promoted a pro-second amendment, anti-tax, anti-illegal alien and limited government platform. Sticking to my convictions, and even against enormous pressure, I have voted against over $300 billion dollars in bloated state budgets and voted against over 183 tax increases. 

I took on Spitzer's illegal driver's license plan for illegal aliens and won; exposed large multinational corporations, friendly with my own party, for outsourcing; championed and delivered free tuition for New York's veterans; delivered a statewide autism insurance coverage bill and established bipartisan support to close the loophole protecting women from human trafficking. And, always a champion for ethics and campaign finance reform, I was the only Republican in New York State to ask Joe Bruno to step down two years before his indictment. 

It is exactly because of my effectiveness, even in the super-minority of the New York State Assembly, that Albany insiders have now spent over $1 million to defeat me; for a job that pays $79,500. 

My Albany based opponents fight against my grassroots efforts not by debating the issues that matter most to you or your family, but by running a vicious and negative campaign against me, via surrogates. 

Indeed, my well-funded Republican Primary and Conservative 'Write-In' opponent is now going "nuclear" and throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, in my direction. Her backers, entrenched Albany insiders, are desperate. 

As a candidate for State Senate, without the support of the insiders, I am asking you to send me to Albany to fight against the dysfunction, not become part of it! Let's send a huge message to Albany and beyond on September 14th and let's take this once great state back!