Dirty campaigning is a gas

It’s dirty campaigning at its lowest, but exactly who is to blame isn’t clear.

In the wake of a gas shortage thanks to Hurricane Sandy, someone put flyers on dozens of cars parked around St. Dominic’s Church claiming they were “Free priority gas line vouchers, for friends, family and associates of Marty Golden.”

The flyer further states that the voucher is only valid until November 6, which is Election Day.

“Reminder: get out the vote,” it reads, claiming it was made possible by, “Dollars working for Marty.”

John Quaglione, deputy chief of staff for State Senator Marty Golden, blamed the actions on insurgent candidate Andrew Gounardes’ campaign.

“It is absolutely disgraceful that at a time when all New Yorkers are suffering, Andrew Gounardes and his supporters would take a cheap, deplorable shot at Senator Golden,” he stated in an email to this paper. “He, along with his staff, have put in 16 hours days, attempting to address the multitude of problems affecting to address the multitude of problems affecting this community and our city.

“In fact, this unwarranted political attack during a time of emergency shows that Andrew Gounardes is unfit to lead, or hold public office,” Quaglione concluded.

However, Gounardes’ camp sent out a release denouncing the flyers hours before the Quaglione email arrived.

“This morning residents of Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst have been calling our office complaining about a flyer that alleges that State Senator Martin Golden is giving out vouchers for free gas to Bay Ridge residents only and reminding them to vote. We have been telling callers that we do not believe these flyers are real and that we do not know who is behind them,” said Chris McCreight, Gounardes’ campaign manager.

“We are concerned that these flyers could cause people to panic and/or pit neighborhood against neighborhood at a time when we all need to work together to recover from Hurricane Sandy,” McCreight went on. “Whoever is distributing these flyers, we urge them to stop now.