Outing Joe Robach
I keep hearing in politics that perception is reality. That’s why progressives get so frustrated with traditional media who refuse to dig beneath the glossy surface of Bush’s PR machine and reveal that the emperor has no clothes. It’s easy to feel powerless about that in the face of the vast right-wing noise machine.
But it’s even more disturbing to find this glossy PR being applied to one of our local politicians. Ask anyone what they think of Joe Robach, running for re-election as a state senator for District 56 (which includes Rochester and Brighton). Invariably you hear “he’s a nice guy”, or, similar to the language Bush’s supporters use, “he’s a good man.” His ads show him bringing home the bacon for the Rochester area. He recently called himself “a raging moderate.”
He’s a fresh-faced fellow, and does appear to be “a good man.” But it doesn’t take much digging to slip off the mask, and find Robach’s true identity underneath.
Rochester and Brighton voters might want to take another look at the record of a man who is tied for last place (27%– an “F”) in terms of the worst voting record over 2001-2005 for middle class issues. These key votes affected middle class families’ heath insurance, day care, and environment quality, as well as other areas. Even Joe Bruno has a better record at 50%.
More startling, the Conservative party has given him a higher rating every year for the last 3 years.
Scary. But how does he rate compared to the rest of the state Senate?
So, he’s not only getting even more conservative than he already was, he’s in a tie for the 3rd most conservative rating in the NY Senate.
Molly Clifford, recent Monroe County Dem chair, said this about Robach in 2004: “while he may try to convince Democrats that he’s ‘one of us’, one look at his voting history - anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-gun control - demonstrates otherwise.”
“But what about all the stuff he funds?” How can he pull all those funding rabbits out of the hat? Well, the state senate has something called “Member Items”– basically a slush fund of taxpayer money that the Senate Majority Leader (Bruno), doles out to senators. In the last election year for state senators, 2004, Gov. Pataki de-funded libraries, with the understanding that senators would fund them out of their Member Items. Pataki looks like he’s cutting spending, and selected senators look like heroes. Taxpayers say, “Look at the pretty colors!”, and re-elect senators who vote to the far-right of the people they’re supposed to be representing.
Even if you’re ok with looking past how your senator votes in hopes of a Member Item kickback, it’s worth noting that Democrats are 4 seats away from a majority in the state senate. In a year where anti-incumbent (and anti-Bush) sentiment runs high, there’s a good chance the state senate will flip to Democratic control, and all of a sudden Robach’s Member Item slush fund will get a lot smaller. Robach’s Democratic challenger, Willa Powell is officially opposed to member items and memoranda of understandings that provide member item spending. She’s said, “Budgets are moral documents. If it is worth spending taxpayer money on, it deserves to appear as a line item in the budget, it deserves a debate on its merits, and it deserves a veto override if necessary.”
Transparent government isn’t just a progressive value, it’s a good idea. And it shouldn’t just be a good idea, it should be the law. Progressives like Willa will help make transparent government in Albany a reality instead of business as usual.
Related posts:
Same Republican strategy across the board… Duck, Dodge, & Distort. Walsh, Kuhl, Robach… these three names all fall in the same category of extremely conservative Republicans who slip into office under the guise of being moderates. This is the year, if there ever was one, to send these illusionists packing.
Can you explain why Powell is not endorced by Planned Parenthood?
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[...] of state-level elections will help do that, for cheap.ÂÂ It’s not fair that State Senator Joe Robach (R)ÂÂ should be able to outspend his most recent challenger, $750,000 to $6,000.ÂÂ Yeah, you read [...]
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[...] Joes, if you will. We’ve told you about Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s slush fund to help fellow Republicans dole out the dough. Heck, Senator Joe Robach will tell you himself here. [...]
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