Police union launches anti-Newsday campaign
The Nassau County Police Benevolent Association opened an advertising offensive yesterday with 240,000 telephone calls, television commercials and mailings to rail against what it calls the Newsday editorial board's suppression of the union's point of view.
Leaders of the county's patrol officers' union say Newsday refuses to print their responses to editorials critical of their salaries, benefits and stances on county policing.
Carol Shapiro of Valley Stream, who was among the thousands to receive the PBA's recorded message, said she could not tell until the middle of the call what it was about. She complained that, as a nonprofit group, the PBA reached her though she's on the state's do-not-call list for telephone marketing.
Editorial page editor James Klurfeld said the paper is waiting for space to run a DelaRaba submission. He said editors invited DelaRaba to rewrite pieces that were inaccurate.
"It was kind of a scary thing at the beginning," Shapiro said. "Then I went from being scared to being angry."
The message and commercial say the board operates "in total secrecy, in the shadows." The phone calls were for yesterday only, but the commercial is continuing on cable stations. Elnatan Rudolph, the PBA's media consultant, said "there was no intention to scare anyone. Those are just the facts, if the facts are scary."
The union, which represents 1,900 patrol officers, has been the subject of editorials in Newsday that have called police salaries and benefits burdensome to taxpayers.
"You can't keep telling me I can't have my positions heard," PBA President Gary DelaRaba said. He said a woman called to thank him for the taped call.
Editorial page editor James Klurfeld said the paper is waiting for space to run a DelaRaba submission. He said editors invited DelaRaba to rewrite pieces that were inaccurate.
Klurfeld said he has received a variety of e-mail messages about the PBA campaign. "I've got a couple of letters saying people don't like Newsday generally," he said. "And I've got a bunch of letters saying don't let DelaRaba be a bully."
Posted Tuesday, May 23, 2006
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