Friends,
Please see below for the New York Daily News' coverage of my new "Spent Time" ad:

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/campaign-clickbait-congress-hopeful-email-reveals-spent-time-prison-blog-entry-1.1985274

The full text is below.  The ad can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d7pSw_DMzg

Best,
Nick Di iorio
Congressional nominee, NY-12

Campaign clickbait: Congress hopeful's ad proclaims, 'I've Spent Time In Prison'

By Celeste Katz.  First published: 10/23/2014

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From pandas to prison.

Nick Di iorio, Rep. Carolyn Maloney's underdog Republican challenger, is trying to get voters to give him a double-take (and maybe some cash) by letting them know he "spent time" in jail -- and a few other places.

"I've spent time in a homeless shelter. I've spent time in Israel. I've spent time in prison," Di iorio narrates over images of him praying in a yarmulke and of a cell block.

Then he clears up why.

"Because I spent six years studying to be a priest before I decided that my true calling was to serve all the people in my community as your representative in Congress," the candidate says in the 30-second ad, "Spent Time."

(The GOP candidate ended up skipping the priesthood.)

Di iorio -- whose odds of defeating Maloney were hot enough to score him a call from a reality show about "unwinnable" elections -- griped in an emailed fundraising appeal that he gets no respect from the press.

"The media is solidly in Rep. Carolyn Maloney's back pocket, refusing to cover this race and helping her to get away with refusing to debate me," wrote Di iorio, who previously went after the congresswoman for trying to relocate pandas from a Chinese zoo to New York.

"I need your help to buy the needed advertising to air one more ad (below) so that the maximum number of voters know about my candidacy, and that there is a solid alternative to the long-time incumbent, Carolyn Maloney, who is not doing her job in Congress."

A Maloney spokesman declined comment.

Here's the full ad script:

"I'm Nick Di iorio and I'm running for Congress.

"I've spent time in a homeless shelter. I've spent time in Israel. I've spent time in prison. Because I spent six years studying to be a priest before I decided that my true calling was to serve all the people in my community as your representative in Congress.

My journey has taught me to put people before politics and how with compromise, courage, and common sense, maybe we can get something done for a change.

I'm asking for your vote November 4th. Let's clean up Washington together. I'm Nick Di iorio and I approve this message.


Paid for by Nick for New York.