BUFFALO, N.Y. — In what many journalists and pundits are labeling “political porn,” a flyer has been circulated via e-mail that attacks New York State Sen. Mark Grisanti, one of four Republicans who voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the Empire State a year ago.
The flyer, which has yet to appear in any voter’s mailboxes in Grisanti’s Erie County Senatorial district, accuses him of being a “political whore,” and asks “how far will a politician go to get in your pants?”
On the reverse (below), the mailer states: “Make sure your Son [sic] says, ‘Thank you, Mark Grisanti.’”
The flyer appears to be a direct mail piece, and claims it was paid for by the “Committee to Save the Erie County Republican Party.” A Google search Monday revealed nothing about the committee, and it wasn’t immediately clear who is sponsoring the group.
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Buzzfeed political reporter Chris Geidner said he is chasing down rumors that it may have come from a failed Buffalo mayoral candidate, and labeled the flyer “the most anti-gay piece of political mail this year.”
Grisanti has been the subject of relentless attacks by the National Organization For Marriage for switching his vote to support same-sex marriage at the last minute.
“I cannot legally come up with an argument against same-sex marriage,” Grisanti, as the bill was being debated in Albany in June 2011. “Who am I to say that someone does not have the same rights that I have with my wife, who I love, or to have the 1,300-plus rights that I share with her.”
Grisanti, along with the three other Republican senators who backed the New York’s same-sex marriage legislation, were expected to face challenges over their votes, as are other candidates who have supported same-sex marriage elsewhere in the nation.
