County GOP Goes Hard Negative Against Eckel
After a reader sent these in to me, I felt like I needed a shower. Steve Eckel is running for re-election to the county leg this fall He represents the 26th district:
And his constituents have been among the lucky recipients of the forest-gutting flood of GOP attack mailers. I thought I’d seen the worst with Dave Malta’s sleazy attack mailer going after disabled kids, but this is a whole different level of crap. They’ve put out no less than 4 attack mailers against Steve in the last couple weeks, and they’re all very, very negative.
The GOP must be very freaked out about this race– going hard negative is kind of like using a tourniquet to stop bleeding, it’s a last resort. (At least that’s what I learned in Boy Scouts. About first aid, not campaigning.)
Anyway, put on your hazmat suit, and let’s take a look at the first one:
They’re being cute here. The legislature has passed about 2 or 3 “laws ” in the last couple of years. The rest are “resolutions”, etc.
But this has been the GOP strategy all along– kill any Dem-sponsored legislation as quickly as possible to ensure they don’t get to a vote, because then they would have to spin even harder to create campaign mailers like the one above.
I think the City paper said it best with their image of an elephant crushing a donkey.
More anti-Eckel negative mailer dissection soon.
Related posts:
I want to see our attack pieces! We need to be pounding these guys because Minarik is not going to stop doing this.
The advantage of being Democrats is that we don’t even have to make charges up! Just hit them with the facts and hit them hard.
Diraddo’s new ad with the Monroe County Sheriff…which is funny given the fact that Greece a) has it’s OWN police department and b) violent crime in Greece rose 45%!
http://img105.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/diraddo1-48cjofldd.jpg
Rochester, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and Greece, for example, reported 2,666, 219 and 97 violent crimes, respectively, in 2006. The figures represent a 35 percent increase in Rochester, a 45 percent increase in Greece, and a 1 percent increase for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, which serves areas without police departments.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS01/709250337
Here’s his second ad:
http://img108.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/diraddo2-f8gdg8f5.jpg
Here are Beebe’s responses:
http://img105.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/beebe1-48cjragog.jpg
http://img108.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/beebe2-48cjs4s9f.jpg
Diraddo’s new ad with the Monroe County Sheriff…which is certifiable given the fact that Greece:
a) has it’s OWN police department and
b) violent crime in Greece rose 45%!
http://img105.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/diraddo1-48cjofldd.jpg
Rochester, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and Greece, for example, reported 2,666, 219 and 97 violent crimes, respectively, in 2006. The figures represent a 35 percent increase in Rochester, a 45 percent increase in Greece, and a 1 percent increase for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, which serves areas without police departments.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS01/709250337
Here’s his second ad:
http://img108.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/diraddo2-f8gdg8f5.jpg
Here are Beebe’s responses:
http://img105.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/beebe1-48cjragog.jpg
http://img108.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/beebe2-48cjs4s9f.jpg
Sorry for the delay Jiminy. Your post went into the moderation cue since it had more than two links. I just took it out.
Thanks Ex - I thought Maggie had intercepted RT too!
I commented on this mailer back on Oct. 24.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/blogs/gates/2007/10/speaking-of-unfair-tillett-and-eckel.html
Nasty, and unfair.
Here’s an eye opener they DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE. This image is from the TAX ROLL from the TOWN OF GREECE.
You will see the total_av - which is the assessed value of the home for computation of taxes for schools.
In the sch_taxable column, you will see the amount the house is TAXED AT!
In the ex_pct column you’ll see the percentage of discount the property owner gets on the value of the home (i.e. 45%, 50%, etc.)
In the Ex_amt_sch column, you’ll see the amount REMOVED FROM THE ASSESSED VALUE.
There are THREE homes valued at 300K plus that 2 receive a 50% reduction!
7 homes valued at 200K plus where 2 receive a 50% reduction!
54 at 150K plus where 15 receive a 50% reduction!
520 PAY NO SCHOOL TAX AT ALL - AT A LOSS OF 3.9 MILLION.
Here’s the kicker - EVEN THOUGH THEY PAID NO SCHOOL TAX, THEY STILL GOT A STAR REBATE CHECK AT A LOSS OF 85K FOR JUST THIS PAGE!
Want to know why they got such big reductions?
When the lovely GOP drafted the law, they exempted persons who receive pension payments from declaring them as INCOME.
SO THE RICH WITH THE BIG FAT PENSION PAYMENTS PAY NOTHING - AND THE POOR SLOB WORKING HIS BUTT OFF PAYS IT ALL.
YEAH MAGGIE - Uncover the REAL “fair” part of this!
…and this is JUST Greece, NY.
Beebe’s pieces in the comment above. They are from the working familes party. Is there any support for Beebe in terms of pieces via MCDC?
Sorry…here is the image:
http://img106.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/uppercrustpayoff-48clpg6s9.jpg
Heres more:
Update on Low Income Senior Exemption dated 4/24/07:
Number of parcels receiving low income reduction:
2006 = 1614
2007 = 2028 (an increase of over 25%)
Amount of exemptions in millions:
2006 = $ 59,239,875
2007 = $ 85,324,532 (an increase of 44% over the previous year)
These figures are for Greece Central taxes only. The income figures used for town and county tax reductions are EVEN HIGHER!
These tax reductions are “made up” by the other taxpayers under 65, businesses and employers.
The number of exemptions are destined to continue to grow as more “baby boomers” come of age.
Confirmation has been received that confirms that IRA distributions are NOT counted as income to qualify for this “low income” program. What this means is anyone who retired with a “lump sum” retirement and rolled it over into an IRA in all likelihood will qualify for this “low income” reduction at the expense of others.
This now makes it easier to understand how the owners of $200 - $300 thousand dollar properties can qualify for this “low income” reduction.
Last year there were 738 properties paying NO school taxes to Greece Central via this program and STAR.
Last year those paying NO school taxes also received a check from the state for over $300.00 - this year those checks were estimated to be over $1000.00
Get it now? See why Maggie Minarik wants to pass it off to the schools? To preserve the weathly plain and simple.
1 was sponsored by the WFP who has endorsed him - there are about 7 others paid for by the Beebe Committee.
Sorry - had to make a change and remove the name to protect the innocent - here is the file:
http://img106.mytextgraphics.com/photolava/2007/10/31/greecefoil2-48cm582lz.jpg
Just so I understand your “logic”, why do you consider STAR a “GOP law”. Are you suggesting that the Sheldon Silver and the Democrat controlled State Assembly fought the program?
Frankly, the STAR program is one of the reasons I believe Brooks is correct in one of her central assumptions; to wit: that school spending has been out of control for many years. STAR is really a “shell game”. STAR has allowed School Districts to continue to raise taxes and spending because many who would likely oppose such increases (e.g., senior citizens) have been “bought off” by the exemption.
I just don’t get your point about Brooks, Greece, and the GOP, in relation to STAR exemptions.
Let me know if I’m correct.
So, basically what you’re saying is that by pushing the county debt onto the schools, these elderly rich folks who have their income tied up in IRAs and pensions (and therefore receive STAR reductions for their school taxes, because their income is kept artificially low) end up bearing less of the burden of the county’s debt than they would if the county had to raise property taxes (for which they would receive no reductions).
If this is the case, than what you’re saying makes perfect sense to me. Oh, and I love how John seems to assume that the elderly don’t want their grandchildren to receive the same quality education that their children want for their own kids.
I have not sent out attack peices against Chris Tillit. Rather I have sent peices that show my record in the Legislature as well as the republican record.
Steve Eckel
Not just that - it carries over to the COUNTY and TOWN taxes as well.