The next edition of our continuing series of monthly retrospectives: July 2007. The presidential primary season was heating up, and so were the local elections. Starting nationally and working down to Monroe County…

It is long but worth it.  As you read this  ask yourself how far we have come.

Federal Stories

Rule of Law?  not here.  President Bush stooped to a new low and commuted “Scooter” Libby’s jail sentence because he said it was “excessive.” The courts threw out the lawsuit brought against the Bush administration’s unconstitutional spying program. Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” was just released, and while several local theaters were showing the movie, theaters in eastern upstate New York decided not to. Cheney became the president for a few hours while Bush underwent a colonoscopy.

Mayor Bloomberg was basking in the press speculation about a possible independent bid for the White House. The IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) blasted presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for his lack of leadership post-9/11. His leads in the polls in the early primary states started to crumble as Thompson and Romney were gaining. The Washington Post decided Hillary’s cleavage was fair game. CNN had their famous YouTube Democratic debate (remember the guy who asked about negotiating with our enemies? The negative campaigning started the next day and continued for nearly a year). Mayor Duffy joined the Clinton campaign’s Mayors Council.

Congress

Eric Massa did some live blogging on DailyKos, while Jon Powers was doing the same over at FireDogLake. David Nachbar was running for the 29th congressional district and might have been looking for endorsements even though he said he wasn’t. There was a growing chorus of progressives asking for him to drop out and make way for Massa to be the Democratic candidate. Meanwhile, Massa got the endorsement of the the Ontario County Dems and started to rack up the union endorsements. Then, Nachbar explained in his own words why he’s running for Congress.

Kuhl’s spokesman got it completely wrong about the 2006 turnout numbers. Jim Walsh was still talking up his chances for re-election while Randy Kuhl was thinking about retiring. Jon Powers filed his first quarterly fund raising report to the FEC after declaring himself a candidate in NY-26. Massa far outraised Kuhl in that quarter of 2007.

Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona testified before the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee about political interference (remember that guy?). Harry Reid pulled an all-nighter in the Senate on the Republican filibuster of the Levin-Reed Amendment. Rep. Tom Reynolds, the same congressman who passed the buck on the Mark Foley scandal, tried to redeem himself by co-sponsoring a bill to monitor social networking sites like MySpace. Kuhl and Reynolds voted against the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007. Jim Walsh increased funding for disabilities education at the expense of disadvantaged youths looking for jobs. Louise Slaughter wrote a guest essay for the D&C about the progress made since Democrats took over Congress, despite the dozens of vetoes and filibusters. She also introduced a bill with Sen. Obama to protect kids from lead poisoning.

State Stories

The Republican-controlled State Senate left early for summer break without working on important pending legislation. Then, they buckled under the pressure and went back to work for a day. 1199 SEIU gave too much money to Joe Robach. Spitzer was being pressured to support the Brodsky Bill on Net Neutrality. Bruno was using tax dollars to fly to fund raisers. Ticket reselling (scalping) became legal across New York. Spitzer, Bruno, Bloomberg, and Silver cut a deal. There was renewed uncertainty over the possible changes with the voting equipment in New York. There was an attempt at campaign finance reform in Albany.

Local (Monroe County) Stories

The Henrietta GOP was looking around for the next Town Supervisor candidate. Brighton sets up the Green Brighton Task Force as the environmental agency for the town. The city’s ambulance contract was up for renewal. Mayor Duffy attended the 75th annual United States Conference of Mayors. The libraries capitulated to Brooks’ demands on censorship, or else they would have been denied funding. Only Republicans showed up to the 4th of July celebrations in Henrietta. The county’s credit rating fell. 376 to 261: voters approved the North East Joint Fire District plan to build and renovate stations in Penfield and Webster.  Mayor Duffy marched in the Gay Pride Parade while Brooks was less than enthusiastic. The Greece Town Board and the ACLU were fighting over religious intolerance.

Parma Town Councilman Joseph Reinschmidt switched from the GOP to the Dems. County Legislator Richard Yolevich (R-Parma, Ogden, Sweden) did a favor and got free food in return. Democrats continued to scramble to find a candidate to run against Maggie Brooks. The Monroe County GOP clobbered the MCDC in fund raising.

Andrew Stainton launched his independent bid to unseat Maggie Brooks and RT got an in-depth interview with him. The MCDC put up Adam Bello as its candidate placeholder, then they chose not to run any candidate against Maggie Brooks. Democrats in the County Legislature started up their own website. Conflict of interest arose at the Water Authority. The Working Families Party put up their own candidate for County Exec: Patrick Christopher.

Miscellaneous

Workers at the Crowne Plaza Hotel rallied for the right to unionize. The Storefront Anti-War Crisis Center opened on Monroe Ave. The D&C editorial page launched Upstate Focus with seven other upstate papers to focus on common issues of concern. People started to catch on to the Wegmans reusable bags instead of plastic bags.