Kruger Caricature

In the discussions of the three amigos challenging the senate leadership of Malcolm Smith, one senator, Carl Kruger of Brooklyn, as been caricatured as a neanderthal right winger. Now, however, comes this from Spin Cycle: "Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn...is one of the three Democrats counted by the camp of GOP Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) as potentially putting him back in power in January despite having lost the majority on Election Day. But at least on one hot-button issue, the commuter tax, Kruger is probably no ally of Long Island, which is purported to lose clout under the transition to a Democratic Senate. The GOP-friendly Kruger has released a statement calling for the tax's "long-overdue disinterment."

So all of the character assassination probably should stop; and the question of who should lead the senate needs to be addressed honestly-and not through the invidious lens of the politics of personal destruction. Here's a clip from Kruger's press statement: "The .45 percent commuter tax was established in 1966 and repealed in1999 amid a hotly contested special Senate race in Rockland County. Sen.Kruger was one of the few legislators who did not support the repeal of thetax. While the repeal may have wooed suburban voters, it was a“shortsighted and fiscally unsound move that failed to acknowledge future economic downturns, which – surprise of surprises -- is exactly where we are now,” Sen. Kruger said."