Rotten links a very interesting article from the Watertown Times about how Randy Kuhl is one of the last of the moderates? It highlights in particular his onetime support from organized labor, which is mostly gone now, and was really a relic of his time in the New York State Senate.

While I disagree that Kuhl is a moderate — he almost always votes with the Republican caucus, which is very far to the right, the piece makes several interesting points:

• * Upstate Republicans have traditionally been moderate, but under the Bush/DeLay reign of terror, they often marched in lockstep with the southern loonies who run the Republican party (the paper didn’t phrase it this way, of course).
• * While more moderate northeastern Republicans got massacred in 2006, there is a some debate over whether they were being punished for their (relative) moderation or because they were part of a far right-wing party but represented center to left-center districts.

It is not clear what the future holds for upstate Republicans, especially in Congress (at the state level, they are more independent of Bush, DeLay, et al.).  Will they successfully disassociate themselves from their extremist brethren in the south and midwest or will they be stuck promoting far right policies that their constituents dislike?  If it’s the latter, they may not have any constituents much longer.

While reading about the state budget in The Buffalo News today, I kept thinking of the show “Green Acres” with the struggle between Upstate and Downstate, the rustic vs. the city life and all its glitter. This line in the article especially reminded me of the show:

One tax idea killed was an Assembly Democratic plan to raise income taxes on millionaires.

Cue “Green Acres’” theme song:

I just adore a penthouse view. Darlin’, I love ya, but give me Park Avenue…(dada—dadada)…The chores! (dada—dadada) The stores! (dada-dadada) Fresh air! (dada—dadada) Times Square!

Think the leaders aren’t that tied to the city? Check out this line from the article:

Talks were also stalled as officials awaited the arrival of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, who had transportation problems getting up to Albany.

Maybe he thought “New York is where I’d rather stay. I get allergic smelling hay!”

Here’s what really highlights the priorities our leaders have (emphasis mine):

Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties, pointed to a plan by the governor to end the state’s payments of half of welfare costs in counties — started during the Great Depression. The deal now calls for counties to pay 51 percent, or about $20 million more.

Meanwhile, Paterson has ordered cuts in state operations and local assistance of 2 percent, with the exception of education, Medicaid and welfare. The 2 percent reduction will affect everything from not-for-profits, homeless shelters, foster care programs and housing projects and will total more than $250 million in cuts.

Got that? No way will they raise income tax on millionaires, but they will cut funding for the homeless, foster kids and the poor.

Where’s Eddie Albert when you need him?

(Stlo7 here: as we continue our series on where we were a year ago. Here is Ladkiddo’s take.)

Ah, March, in like a lion, out like a lion. This was the month when I first met the “RT Guys”. I knew a couple, but the others took me by surprise. I began to comment on the Randy Kuhl posts, of which there were many.

Randy’s Town Hall Meetings began: Awesome, I’m invited to go to Randy Kuhl’s Town Hall Meeting. Then the fun begins. Randy’s Town Hall meetings prove to be nothing but PR shams and Randy “loses his cool” when confronted by a citizen photographer. Kuhl refuses to answer questions or debate issues (why, exactly are we here?). Congressman Kuhl talks about Medicare, the Middle East and the Employee Free Choice Act (which is just a communist ploy). The Finger Lakes Times publishes an excellent letter in regards to Randy’s Phelps Town Hall meeting. An excerpt from that for your reading enjoyment:

In this meeting, Mr. Kuhl was asked about his support for the troop surge in Iraq, about the closing of the Canandaigua VA, about the upstate economy, and about the lack of health insurance for many residents in Ontario County.

Mr. Kuhl became increasingly annoyed with each question, seeming to feel many of the questions were politically motivated. He repeatedly stated that he was not here to discuss or debate issues, but only to listen. What?

Honestly, what a missed opportunity to discuss issues with concerned citizens.
In fact, at another town meeting in Rochester, Mr. Kuhl was videotaped calling someone who’d attended a “political degenerate.”

So, now you’re getting an idea of how these Town Hall meetings went down. Kuhl then moves on to other towns in Monroe County and we all receive a schedule here. We are reminded of the Mendon Town Hall meeting and are given some suggestions about ways to confront discuss things with Randy (by the way-that’s Congressman Kuhl to you!) . Notes on the Mendon meeting, by Exile can be found here. He quotes Ghandi-nice touch! We learn that Randy is listening to the Ambassadors and then we learn, on closer inspection, that he’s a little confused (but he does get some of the vowels right). Maybe he should have been listening to the King of Saudi.

Now, to give credit where it’s due, let me make mention of the fact that Randy occasionally gets something right. In this scene, Tom Reynolds is the bad guy, as well he should be.

My big news for the month was “Massa Announces“. I had been working closely with this campaign and was very excited to see it up on RT. Eric’s response to the Mast Family situation goes up on RT, Kuhl’s response arrives 6 days later. Eric shows us his true colors with, Massa on what kind of Dem he is. Dan Maffei also gives us the “heads-up“.

Stlo7 takes on Religion (which I had totally forgotten about) I love this line:

I don’t want my public officials using religion as a basis of policy. Whose religion? What about the people who are not “brothers in Christ”. Vote them off the island?

Queen Maggie is off on a tirade about the pornographic library situation and King Stevie is addressing the pledge of allegiance issue It’s all so much noise, and as per their usual, “Much ado about nothing“.

Pittsford Village elections are in full swing and the first ever Democratly supported candidate is elected to the Village Board. The Repos are not happy.

Exile exudes a strange fascination for Rudy here, here, here and here. Which, if anyone’s been paying attention they would have noticed that, it persists to this day, unabated. So, Exile, what’s up with that?

btp gives us WAYAP and “It’s the Right Wing World, Folks“

Admittedly, my favorite post was “Meet DFA Rochester“. This is the local activist organization where I got my start. It’s no secret to anyone who reads this blog regularly that I adore Howard Dean. His passion and his compassion are the powers that moved me to take action and become the political animal that I am today.

There is so much more in March, keep reading, but I just want to say:

Thank you DFA, and thank you Rochester Turning. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time!

Many of the people I talk to about the New York State legislature seem to think it’s a done deal that Democrats will take the State Senate in November.  Not so fast:

The Democrats‘ dream of taking control of the state Senate this fall is getting cloudier by the day.

To start with, they risk being abandoned by a key ally, the Working Families Party. The outfit’s top players are furious with the Senate Dems’ refusal to back up Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on the so-called millionaires tax.

[....]

“There are going to be some very, very tough endorsement decisions this year. We don’t want to change parties and not have a change of politics,” said Working Families Party Co-Chairman Bob Master, political director of the Communications Workers of America.

“There will be races where Republican incumbents have been very friendly with our local affiliates. In some ways, what seemed like an automatic no-brainer [to support Democrats] doesn’t seem so automatic right now,” he added.

Let’s hope state progressives can get their act together and depose Joe Bruno.  But let’s also remember: it won’t be easy.

This, from a friend of mine, is one of the best reasons I’ve seen for why we need Clean Money Clean Elections.   It came in response to an objection that publicly financed elections would mean that your tax dollars are supporting someone who’s views you don’t agree with.

We already finance politicians we don’t agree with. We pay their salaries, benefits, pensions and their staffs. And we do this because our nation considers elected representatives a public good. Just like roads, and parks and schools, we acknowledge that our society needs elected representatives and that we can’t leave it up to the market to sponsor the representatives. It would be unacceptable for a private business to pay the salary and staff of politician. Why does it make more sense to let them pay for their campaigns?

Indeed.  Especially when campaigns frequently cost much more money than our electeds’ salaries. The voters should be the ones saying “Who’s your daddy?” to our politicians, not wealthy special interests.

I suppose somewhere in the the GOP mindset, political connections more than make up for the lack of College Administrative experience.

The MCC President Selection process a mess.  Bill Smith,  in the eyes - new GOP front man John Parrinello, is so highly qualified that the entire selection process should start over.  it is a selection process that the public is told doesn’t have a right to see. A process that faculty screeners say Smith and Kessler aren’t minimally qualified.

Remember, there are four people in contention for the MCC presidency job. Two are current Community College Presidents (Spraggs and Ender) and were identified by 2 independent search committees. Oh, the other finalists? A Restaurateur (Kessler) and a well-connected GOP ex-county legislator (Smith) - well, these two were added after the search committees delivered their recommendations.

So, let’s look at a future MCC President Smith’s pension.  Rachel Barnhart over at WHAM did the financial analysis and her article is worth an entire read.

Retiring MCC president R. Thomas Flynn earns more than $215,000, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

Smith’s pension right now would be $4,200. Using a conservative salary of $150,000, his pension would jump to more than $35,000, if he were to stay at MCC for three years. If he stays at MCC for nine years, his pension goes up to $60,000.

Got that? It certainly isn’t chump change for the pension. Nice bump after only 3 years.

A pension that probably can be used to support other activities down the road. Like what, you ask?

Heck - what elections are coming up in 3 years from now?

Well - County Executive.

The endorsement race for the Dem challenger to Joe Robach in SD-56 has some folks scratching their heads over how the voting is weighted. A reader in the know helpfully wrote up something to explain it:

Weighting votes, unraveling the mystery.

There are a lot of details behind how votes are weighted that are quite extraneous, but let me try to give the highlights.

Within each town or city legislative district (LD), there are election districts (EDs). These election districts are given a weighted vote based on the number of votes cast in the Gubernatorial election on the Democratic line. When someone passes petitions to join a Democratic Committee, they represent one of these election districts and bring that weighted vote to their committee. The total weighted vote for a town of city Legislative District Committee is the total of these weighted votes. (Heavily Democratic areas like the city, tend to have higher weighted votes per ED since they vote in higher percentages for the Democratic Governor candidate. That is why some city LDs have less people, but higher weighted votes)

EX: Demtown Committee members:
Jim represents ED 1 worth 30 weighted vote
Jill represents ED 7 worth 20 weighted votes
Jorge represents ED 8 worth 50 weighted vote
Jerry represents ED 10 worth 20 weighted vote
Joanne represents ED 11 worth 30 weighted vote
Jessica represents ED 15 worth 50 weighted vote
Total Demtown weighted vote: 200

OK, so that’s how weighted vote is calculated …. now, here is how the caucus effects that:

At the caucus, it is one person one vote. So, the weighted vote is awarded to each candidate based on the percentage of votes cast in their favor.

EX: Demtown Committee Caucus
Candidate Anita N. Dorsement - receives 3 votes (50%)
Candidate Justin O. Fiss - receives 2 votes (~33%)
Candidate Flo R. Child - receives 1 vote (~17%)

So, their respective percentages of the total 200 weighted vote means each candidate will walk away with:
Candidate Anita N. Dorsement - receives 100 weighted votes
Candidate Justin O. Fiss - receives 66 weighted votes
Candidate Flo R. Child - receives 34 weighted votes

These votes are collected throughout the County Committee and are cast at the County Designating caucus in May.

So there you go. Any questions??

Update: You can also see the weights assigned to the various parts of the district and how these are calculated in documents provided by MCDC as part of an earlier post here.

Done reading Grievous Angel’s post about closed door selection @ MCC? Well - this one is even more troubling. Check out the City News article outlining a letter from John Parrinello to Richard Guon. Where he argues in favor of scrapping the current selection process and starting a new one because of the unfavorable publicity.

Asked if he wants the current finalists notified that they are no longer finalists, Parrinello said, “No, no, no.” The board should meet and vote either to discontinue the current process or continue considering the current four finalists.

“Unfortunately,” Parrinello said, “the process has been flawed. And the publicity has not been favorable to MCC.”

Gee, I wonder where that unfavorable publicity came from?

Just go over and read the entire article.

John Parrinello, the new GOP front man.

So, do you ever get the feeling that we would have done so much better with Bill Johnson for county executive? We were all so scared of those “Pac Man” commercials. OOOH-metro government-I’m frightened, I could loose my little fiefdom. Pac Man’s gonna eat it allll up!!

Bill Johnson’s ideas for metro-government were met with scorn and ridicule. But, was he crazy, or just extremely foresighted? Now that we’re facing massive deficits at city and county level-it’s not looking so crazy, is it? Today, the D&C writes this (emphasis mine) :

Faced with gaping holes in their budgets, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and Mayor Duffy are having to make some unexpected adjustments. Amid the current fiscal crisis, they must not tip-toe around possible long-term solutions that require exceptional leadership and political courage.

[snip]

Brooks’ budget was in the clear until the state appeals court struck down her F.A.I.R plan nine days ago. Now she may have to give suburban schools the $29 million she took away from them to help balance the county’s budget.

Brooks, who blames the state for pushing costs onto counties, is wisely working on a “Plan B” budget. Duffy, too, isn’t just going after the low-hanging fruit such as cell phone expenses. He’s targeting city services and layoffs.

To Duffy’s credit, he’s also talking about finding ways to achieve future savings from major government consolidations. Brooks, who rode into office in 2004 on the promise of collaboration and a willingness to seek viable consolidations, needs to join Duffy’s conversation with a new openness to government restructuring.

Hmmmm, where have I heard this idea before???? (here’s a hint, April 24, 2004):

I came into office 10 1/2 years ago as a supporter of metro government. I proposed merging the City of Rochester with the County of Monroe and creating what I call ‘voluntary service districts.’

[snip]

When people ask me the value of a consolidated government for Rochester and Monroe County, I mention such benefits as:

Broadening our vision (we know in our hearts that we’re more than a little parochial).

Following a single agenda instead of the often competing agendas of the mayor and county executive.

Eliminating a lot of the hoops citizens and businesses have to jump through.

Having more clout to lobby the state.

Projecting a strong, confident image to the wider world, as Louisville and Jefferson County did when they merged.

And, saving tax dollars by streamlining services. In Monroe County, for example, we have 31 highway departments with 31 highway garages and 31 highway superintendents. Does this make any sense?

In order for this to happen, we need strong, competent visionaries. We need honest communication and cooperation between all levels of government. We have an opportunity here to make history and a responsibility to the people of these communities to make it so. I see Duffy as having this potential. I question Ms Brooks ability to adapt to this kind of change. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding.

Now, let’s talk about the villages and towns….

The Buffalo News is reporting that the race for NY-26th may be “the most expensive congressional contest in local history.”  You can read the entire story here.  This is what jumped out on first glance:

At least eight wealthy aspirants for Reynolds’ seat plan to contribute substantial amounts of their own money to their campaigns

(snip)

Four others — Democrat Jonathan P. Powers and Republicans David Bellavia, Nick Sinatra, Stephen Hawley and Henry F. Wojtaszek — also are potential candidates, but they do not have the wealth of the others. So they face the prospect of raising the $2 million to $3 million most experts believe is needed to compete in the 26th Congressional District and its two media markets of Buffalo and Rochester.

But Jon Powers had this to say about self-financing:

[any candidate who writes a check to pay for a campaign] “is out of touch with the struggles of working families in the district.”

“I don’t think this is what the Founding Fathers intended,” he said.

Powers’ campaign has more grassroots support, emphasized by the fact that 65 percent of his donations are $50 or less.  This is an important point because often self-financed candidates are not adept at getting out and resonating with voters.

Check this nugget out (bold mine):

The concept of self-financing campaigns prompted Jennifer A. Steen, assistant professor of political science at Boston College, to write a book, “Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections.” She said self-financing often is a waste of money because it is spent by “amateur politicians.”

“You’ve got these people who say ‘Hey, I want to run for Congress,’ but they don’t know what they’re doing,” she said. “They don’t realize their intelligence and business experience does not make up for the political experience of the political candidates.”

Self-financed candidates typically overspend on the best of everything, she said. But few get elected, and for those who do succeed, even fewer self-finance their reelection campaigns.

This is going to be a very interesting race to watch.  It’s like good vs. evil, the haves vs. the have-nots.  I hope democracy is not for sale but the fact that not one but eight wealthy candidates are throwing in their own money is ominous…

The D&C had this well-written story by Bennett J. Loudon today about the closed door plans for the MCC finalist forum:

Only students and employees of Monroe Community College will be allowed to attend meetings with the four finalists for the president’s job.

A 30-minute news conference has been set for each candidate, but the press and the public won’t be admitted to any of the finalists’ meetings with small groups of students, faculty, administrators and the school’s board of trustees.

Under state law, the board can vote to go into a private executive session to meet with the finalists.

What does their director of public affairs think?

“Those are intended to be opportunities for the college community to interview the candidates, not for the general public,” said Cynthia Cooper, MCC’s director of public affairs. She said that’s been the practice for hiring presidents, vice presidents and sometimes deans.

Oh, well, if that’s been the practice then who are we to ask for a change? I mean, it’s not like we pay taxes or anything to help fund the school…

Democrat Harry Bronson, assistant minority leader of the Monroe County Legislature, said there should be a public forum with the finalists because the school is funded partly with state and local tax dollars.

The Faculty Senate President then weighed in:

Faculty Senate President Terrill Tugel said she will weigh the pros and cons of opening the Faculty Senate “campus community” forum to the public and make a final decision Monday.

If the candidates don’t have a problem with admitting the press, Tugel said, “I don’t have a problem with it.”

But the president of the MCC student government had an interesting take on why openness might be a bad thing:

Dan Elliott, president of the MCC student government, favors the closed meetings. “This is the student and faculty opportunity for us to interview the candidates, and it is a job interview,” he said.

“We want to see what their answers are going to be like when nobody’s writing down quotes or videotaping them or anything. Hopefully it’ll be a little more gritty,” he said.

I’m trying to imagine what a job interview with the press present would be like. Is this reasonable? Does Mr. Elliott have a valid point?

With opponents of Albany reform dancing on Spitzer’s political grave, and tossing in hand grenades while they’re at it, there’s a hope among conservatives that the progressive reform that Spitzer championed will be buried along with his career.

There was cheering on Wall Street when Spitzer went down, even as the financial institutions that he targeted for bad behavior threaten to push our economy over the edge due to continued bad behavior.

Meanwhile, our state budget is facing big reductions due to revenue losses. People in favor of small government are cheering, especially if they don’t connect the dots between services they take for granted and the need to actually pay for those services. Many also assume that hey, if I don’t need a service right now, I’ll never need the service.

Progressives believe, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Ok, progressive religious nuts like me believe that. The others believe “There but for fortune go I.”

I’m not saying that the state government lawn couldn’t use a good de-thatching. I’ve heard horror stories of departments still packed with Pataki cronies who have no-show or low-show jobs. (Spitzer, why didn’t you just clean house while you were pissing everyone off ANYWAY?) But when budget cuts come, are the cronies gonna get the boot, or everything but them?

Don’t you just love people who believe that the rules don’t apply to them?

Ex-Governor Spitzer, meet President Wannabe McCain. No, not  the sex part, but the above the law part. Toss in the, “I can’t get caught part”, and you end up replacing “Kristen” with “Maverick”. Or more to the point - “I was busting Prostitution rings” with “I wrote Campaign finance laws”.

See, John McCain doesn’t believe that the campaign finance laws he helped pass apply to him. So, via Americablog, check out the links and a WashPo article about it.

Now, what you can do is sign an on-line petition that is being delivered next week which  asks the FEC to uphold the law.

While reading this Washington Post piece about Bush’s Mortgage Aid Plan, I couldn’t help but think how this problem in the mortgage crisis is analogous to the failed Republican ideology we see all over the country. Specifically, Bush’s “strategery,” or lack thereof, in Iraq has led the country’s economy “under water” and we now have “negative equity,” both in the U.S. and in Iraq.

Too early for economics? Let me explain. “Under water” is a financial term meaning the asset is worth less than what you will pay for it. With mortgages, the term “Under water” means falling home prices leave borrowers with “negative equity.” “Negative equity” means the value of an asset used to secure a loan is less than what is still owed on the loan.

So, Bush asked the American people to “stay the course” in Iraq and we would see a return on our investment. We keep fighting and he keeps saying it will work. He says we cannot “cut and run.” He keeps dragging out what “winning” means and so the expenses mount.

We now have a recession in the U.S. and turmoil in Iraq. The asset of a free and stable Iraq has not been attained and the costs, both in human life and in dollars, is an expenditure that is nowhere close to being repaid.

Negative equity is causing homeowners across the country to walk away from their mortgages, and negative equity in Iraq is causing the majority of Americans to walk away from the war.

The difference is that lives lost are not loans—they can never come back…

I have a dear friend who reminds me of that phrase when we discuss bipolar politics or politics that are suppose to help but actually hurt.

Well, we have discussed the concept of Brooks legacy, albeit we nibbled around the edges. She was silent in her inappropriately named FAIR plan court reversal. Silence on the Public defender and so on. Well - Denise-Marie Santiago pens a column, and you be the judge. I’ll give you a hint - it is a solid, pointed column.

Just some background: In 2003, Maggie Brooks trounced Mayor Bill Johnson in the County Executive race. Maggie Brooks was elected the first time in a race that featured some subtle racial undertones. We know the second time she was elected by default but in 2003 there was a campaign which features, as the D&C’s Mr. Lawrence says, racially divisive PAC Man Ads and Bob Lonsberry making, what were interpreted as, racial remarks. An electoral race that basically put “race” subtly front and center.

At the end of that election Brooks hugged Mayor Johnson. Fast forward to 2008. Clips of Santiago’s column below.

Brooks’ legacy not standing up to her hug, promise

Start with the last-minute, backdoor way she shoved her F.A.I.R. plan — which some see as her attempt to take from the kids to pay for the sick — onto the public last fall. An appeals court decision struck down the plan last week. She’s appealing.

Brooks has also had to defend her controversial decision to appeal another court decision last month that ruled same-sex marriages performed out of state should be recognized like other out-of-state marriages.

Last month, too, she was rightly blasted for hiding out in a side room while her Republican brethren on the Monroe County Legislature named their handpicked candidate as public defender, despite grave concerns about the selection process.

And now Brooks seems to be taking the same hide-and-seek tack with the scheme Republicans have cooked up to install one of their own as president of Monroe Community College.

Meanwhile, she’s taking heat for not being open enough about the Renaissance Square project she announced with much fanfare in 2004. The county has spent $16 million already just trying to figure out whether it’s even viable, and still no one’s sure.

So, 5 years into County Executive Maggie Brooks - here we are. Does Maggie have any comment?

“You can’t confuse different points of views with lack of cooperation,” she says. “That is the nature of different policies and politics.”

Referring to the partisan squabbling that could cloud her legacy, Brooks says: “You’re dealing with years and years of history. It’s not as easy as why can’t we all just sit around the table and come up with a solution.”

Why this Denise-Marie Santiago’s column rocks.

That’s where Brooks is wrong. Because it’s always been this way is no reason that it can’t be different in the future.

Why is Santiago correct? Well - Did you see the word compromise used or implied in the column? I missed that until Grievous Angel pointed it out in a side conversation. Yeah - keep going Maggie -

Like my dear friend says - I’m hugging ya but I’m hitting ya.