Editorial Comment: Jack Martins stoops to a new low with campaign mailer

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On Monday, Nassau County voters began receiving a campaign mailer, sent by the State Republican Committee, linking Nassau County executive candidate Laura Curran with the notorious El Salvadoran street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. The flier, with three thuggish, tattooed men front and center, suggests that MS-13 members want Curran in office because, according to the ad, she would make Nassau County a sanctuary county.

Specifically, the ad states, Curran “is MS-13’s choice for county executive.”

We find this mailer despicable and condemn it in the strongest possible terms. It represents the worst form of political opportunism. Clearly, it is playing to people’s fears of a dangerous Central American gang, which have been exacerbated in the past week by police reports that members of MS-13 might have killed and buried South Shore teenagers in local parks.

The state Republican Party should be ashamed of producing such a hate-filled flier, and Martins should be ashamed that he defended it.

To date, Martins and Curran have talked and acted tough, but have not crossed into the despicable. With this flier, the State GOP did, as did Martins. He owes Curran an apology — along with the rest of us.

Martins’s lack of judgment only further confirms our decision to endorse Curran for county executive.