Maloney Calls Baloney on Attack Ad

WASHINGTON — Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., is getting an extra serving of silly during political silly season this year.

Republican challenger Christopher Wight released a video Tuesday charging that Maloney's New York City campaign office is uninhabited — just weeks before the elections.

"'Maloney for Congress' is closed," the video says, as the camera pans around an empty stairwell that allegedly leads up to her empty campaign headquarters. (Inexplicably, the name next to the building's buzzer is spelled "Malony," as Roll Call points out.)

"After 20 years, she's taking your vote for granted," the video adds.

Wight, a former investment banker who's taking a leave of absence from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to run for office, said in a written statement that he has been unable to contact Maloney "numerous times."

"By not running a campaign, she is neglecting her responsibility to listen to and engage voters. Votes must be earned, not taken for granted," he said.

But Maloney, the third ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, denies the allegations and says the campaign has been bustling for months.

"He obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. We have a very active campaign," Maloney said in an interview Tuesday night from her campaign headquarters, before abruptly handing the phone over to a college student who described collecting ballot signatures and doing voter outreach work for the congresswoman.

A spokesman says that volunteers typically meet at 204 East 23rd St in New York, at the Uniformed Firefighter Association, the same space Maloney used for her 2010 campaign.

The congresswoman also posted a photo posing with volunteers on her Facebook page later Tuesday evening.

"More than 80 volunteers have worked on my 2012 campaign, collecting almost 9,500 signatures to qualify me for the ballot, believed to be the most of any House candidate in [New York State] this year," according to the photo's caption.

A spokesman for Wight did not respond to a request for further comment.

Meanwhile, The Onion took its own shot at Maloney on Tuesday with an unrelated story.

The fictional article describes a scene with Maloney playing a "stilted rendition of the traditional folk song 'Greensleeves,'" for lawmakers on a recorder, before being dismissed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

"Carolyn, please be a dear and bring out your recorder," Cantor said in the spoof. "There's a good girl! I find a little music helps settle the soul after a long, hard day. Now, Carolyn, play that delightful little tune you've been practicing and show everyone what you've learned — ah, good! Good!"