Fran Powers Rejects Father’s Negative Tactics

Prospective Libertarian congressional candidate Fran Powers isn’t going to let his Republican opponent talk smack about him, even when — especially when — that opponent is his dad. Today’s Staten Island Advance has a followup on yesterday’s story:

[H]is father, an MTA board member and retired Wall Street executive, said that over the years he’d tried to help his son “live a healthy lifestyle,” and said he stood ready to help his son “move his life in a positive direction.”

The elder Powers’ remarks came via a written statement and he did not elaborate on them. A GOP source said the comments were a reference to Fran Powers’ “carefree” life in the music business.

“I’m not out here doing heroin,” said Fran Powers, who fronts the Staten Island band Box of Crayons and runs an indie record label, Penny for the Guy Records. “I have a regular life. Do I have a beer? Yes. I’m having one now.”

Fran Powers said his father’s remarks were a “typical Republican tactic” to bring negativity into the campaign.

“That’s one of the things I’m trying to stop,” he said, pointing out that he’d said nothing derogatory about his father in announcing his own run for Congress.

The younger Powers, for his part, prefers to keep his campaign focused on the issues:

Powers supports the Libertarian Party’s call for smaller government, lower taxes, and greater personal and economic liberty.

“The only thing I don’t like about my father is that he’s a straight-line Republican,” Powers said.