Great post to kick off special election coverage for the NY 20th between Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco.  With 100% reporting - Here is the deal -

Murphy - 77344

Tedisco - 77279

Murphy goes to bed tonight with a 65 vote lead.  Tedisco tries to call Norm Coleman’s election lawyers who look like they are winding down in MN.

Anyway - machines will be impounded, NY has an automatic recount provision so all the votes will be recounted.  The Affidavit ballots processed - Absentee ballots counted.  I saw somewhere that there is an extension on receiving absentee ballots so that has to be considered if correct.

It will be an interesting couple of weeks to be sure.

Thanks everyone

According to PolitickerNY, 110,000 voters are predicted to come out for this election, while 59,000 absentee ballots have already been received. This is an unusually high number for a special election and high voter turnout usually is good news for Democrats. Let’s hope that plays out for us tonight:

Larry Bulman, a union leader who chairs the Saratoga County Democratic Party, said, “I’d like to see higher numbers, but a lot of people don’t turn out until later.”

Bulman said he thinking the race is “too close to call” and is predicting 110,000 voters. He said representatives from the DCCC were predicting roughly seventy-five to eighty thousand voters. An independent observer told me last night that 91,000 is average for special elections.

As Irene Liu pointed out earlier, about 5,900 absentee ballots have been received so far by the State Board of Elections, and more will be accepted in coming days. That means if the race is truly close, it may not be decided tonight.

“Hopefully we’ll know tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes longer,” Bulman said.

As the polls close, we hope to hear more from our trusty airbare.

(Update, as we wait for the returns, this from Firedoglake, earlier today:

The Dutchess County Clerk’s Office has confirmed to FDL that Tedisco’s people have filed an ex parte motion in order, the effect of which would be to investigate and overturn today’s election results, should the outcome not be to Republicans’ liking.

It would seem that our opponent is taking no chances)

Check this out.

NEW YORK — Drugstore operator Walgreen will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics _ though patients will still pay for prescriptions.

[snip]

The program is expected to last through the end of 2009. Walgreen runs 341 Take Care clinics in 35 markets around the country, including Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Cleveland.

I’m not sure we have one of these Take Care clinics here in Rochester, but what do you think? Shape of things to come?

(h/t Simon)

Anyone ever heard of the Dormitory Authority? Me either until last Thursday night when I went to the Federal Stimulus Town Hall meeting. The Dormitory Authority has a long history and provides financing to, well, via their web site here is their mission statement.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York provides financing and construction services to public and private universities, not-for-profit healthcare facilities and other institutions which serve the public good.

In fact - I have to say Louie Tobias’ presentation actually brought life to the presentations by the various New York State departments and Authorities.

You can click on their web site, view various reports, recently approved projects, - discover they issued 3.6 billion dollars in Tax free bonds, managed 700 projects valued at $6.3 billion dollars.

Sounds like they do good, necessary work.

What I took away from this was that New York government is complex - this is but a single Authority.  I have a lot more to learn.

City News says

Rochester Schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard is proposing a $686.9-million budget for the 2009-2010 school year; it is a $4.5-million decrease from the current year. It also reflects a $13.4-million reduction in proposed state aid to city schools.

Well, - progress right? - smaller budget etc - but Rnews says

The proposed $687 million budget calls for 287 fewer positions; 251 of those are teachers.

251 teachers cut.  That means larger classes - increased likelihood that students can get lost in the classes.

Looks like in the end the students suffer.

What is a little collusion among friends?  Remember when insurance companies like our local health insurer Excellus,  undercompensated  patients by using a rigged database. That went on for years - millions of dollars.

Check out this McClatchy article - from the Miami Herald.

Trying to buy health insurance on your own and have gallstones? You’ll automatically be denied coverage. Rheumatoid arthritis? Automatic denial. Severe acne? Probably denied. Do you take metformin, a popular drug for diabetes? Denied. Use the anti-clotting drug Plavix or Seroquel, prescribed for anti-psychotic or sleep problems? Forget about it.

This confidential information on some insurers’ practices is available on the Web — if you know where to look.

Blacklisted for a preexisting condition.  Denied coverage based on meds you take.  Like I said what is a little collusion among companies -

Let’s not forget insurance companies make their money by denying coverage so they can take that money and invest it.

Ultimately, the question is are they in the health business or the death business.

The search committees for a new MCC President presented their three finalists today.    Two independent committees, one appointed by the MCC Board and the other appointed by faculty, agree on the finalists:

“While the two committees’ work was on independent but parallel tracks, their outcomes were remarkably similar,” said Richard Guon, MCC chairman.

If the above sounds familiar… almost exactly one year ago, there were two parallel search committees at MCC (emphasis added) :

The Monroe Community College Board of Trustees Monday night added two additional names to a short list of finalists for the college’s next president — despite objections from dozens of faculty and staff who fear the additions are politically motivated. Three hundred people packed into a meeting room at the college, many wearing buttons urging the trustees to “do the right thing.” By that, they meant to approve the recommendations of two independent search committees without change. Both those panels recommended the same two finalists: President Laurence Spraggs of Broom Community College in Binghamton, and President Kenneth Ender of Cumberland County, New Jersey College.

We’ve been down this road before.  Last year’s process was a disaster. Two political favorites were added to the mix at the last minute, and the “finalists” carefully selected by the two search committees disappeared into oblivion. When the MCC Board couldn’t agree between the two local Republican insiders, they decided to hell with it, we won’t pick anybody! Comedy ensued. Stay tuned for a whole new season of laughs and surprises.

Three men in a room got it done. The state budget is finished on schedule. Voting today and tomorrow. 

Despite the funding crisis, spending is up 8.9% but plenty is still unknown.

Because details remained murky, it could not be determined last night whether the 2009-10 budget reduces spending to a sustainable level once the stimulus cash is gone in two years and with diminished revenue from Wall Street. In December, Paterson warned that school aid and the Medicaid program, which account for more than half of state expenditures, must be pared back. Yet, many of his proposed cuts aren’t in the new budget.

WHAT’S IN:

• Millionaires Tax
• Increased taxes on alcohol, utility bills, higher DMV fees
• STAR property tax exemptions for homeowners, no change
• Public employee contracts remain  intact
• Bigger Better Bottle Bill
• Pork. Governor & legislators retain every dime of their “member item” money, $170 million
• Education funding is flat, health funding is down, but we don’t know the specifics yet

WHAT’S OUT:

• 8900 state employees who are being laid off
• Most of the “nuisance taxes” didn’t happen 
• No wine sales in supermarkets. Sorry about that, Danny
• STAR rebate checks won’t be mailed this year
• Rockefeller Drug Laws — its long awaited repeal was tucked into the budget deal

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET:

          Plenty! There is always lots that is buried below the surface in these huge budget bills. If you remember, it took months for us to understand some of what was included in the Governor’s original proposal.

AP, and others (CNN) are reporting that GM CEO Rick Wagoner will resign at the behest of the White House as a condition for additional bailout money.   Now before you dance on the grave of the soon to be former CEO, the overall troubled auto industry, the all the rest of the drama that falls under the umbrella of loaning money to the Auto Industry ask yourself this.

Why not Financial CEOs? Wall Street CEOs?

Sirota over at openleft makes his usual spot on points -

In fact, not only is the president not demanding the resignation of bank CEOs, he’s actually hosting them for photo ops at the White House. Sure, I know some bank CEOs resigned a few months ago under shareholder pressure, but the Obama administration has never publicly demanded such resignations of the current management that is making the problems worse, nor the resignation of management at the biggest firms (Goldman Sachs, BofA, etc.) that are still in place.

I mean GM currently has received less that 18 billion dollars.   How does that compare to the various financial institutions?

Fair is fair - in for a penny, in for a pound and all that?

One more thing.  I’m guessing that part of this soon to be announced financial package to GM and Chrysler will include concessions from the labor unions.   If it does, ask yourself weren’t those labor CONTRACTS legally binding?  You see where I am going here right?  Then ask, what is the difference between the union contracts and the contracts AIG executives cited to justify paying bonuses to various executives because of legal contracts.

Fair is Fair right?  or are all contracts are equal, some more equal than others?

I was at the Town Hall meeting - Thursday evening.  The place was packed, News crews, reporters (D&C had a write-up, City News, ),  Most elected officials, all where there to learn about the stimulus package, how it affects New York and ultimately, how to apply for funds.  Congresswomen Louise Slaughter kicked it off.

So here are some not so random thoughts.

While I firmly believe that a Federal Stimulus package is the right thing to do (I’m not so convinced about the TARP I and TARP II in their current form) it is clear that there is a lot of money on the table.  I mean tons of money.

There was a 50 page PPT presentation detailing the available funds to New York.  I’ll be damned if I can find it online - I did tape the presentation with the intent that you could follow along at home - still listen to this clip and you will get the idea.  If I can find the link I’ll add it later. It wasn’t in the Press Packet - (well http://senate.state.ny.us is where it is supposed to be).  Still listen to the audio.

One think I found disturbing was that there were not any questions.  Well, that isn’t entirely accurate - there were lots of questions - about 50 or so but because we listened to presentations of various New York State agencies and authorities (14 of them) there was not time for open questions.  That is a missed opportunity.

The other thing was the use it or lose it mentality.  Time and time again the theme was spend the money because if you don’t, the funds are gone.  There was a common theme that NY wants to be in a position to access monies allocated to other states in case they aren’t able to use it.

Overall an interesting evening to be sure.

WHEC has a request for funds as of March 25th.

Just to piggy-back on Stlo7’s previous post, here is the newest Scott Murphy ad-in case you need some inspiration for calling:

via a Dkos post by Congressman Massa, the DCCC has created a very cool tool to phone bank from the comfort of your home.  Check out this video of Congressman Massa making a couple of calls for the Democratic Candidate in the NY-20 Scott Murphy.

We could use another Democrat in Congress.  Need some additional information on Scott Murphy?  Check out his website.

The special election is March 31 - Tuesday - make some calls.

Welcome to this week’s edition of In Case you Missed it.  Toxic assets,  good interviews in City News, sudden resignations, ROBUTRAD, Health Care all made the cut.  Let’s get to it shall we?

Toxic Assets and the economy.

Treasury Security Geithner and Fed Chairman Bernanke testify before Congress and Congressman Dan Maffei.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo forces AIG executives to return at least some of their bonus’

Well, remember the whole team of rivals thing the administration was portrayed as doing?  Well - things aren’t going so well because the rivals seem to be on the outside.   First off Nobel Economist Paul Krugman rips the Obama economic plan and his plan to purchase “toxic assets”.  Frank Rich says Obama’s approach to the economic crisis is not all that it can be,   read about both and a short summary of how we have been proceeding.

Meanwhile what’s coming? Paul Krugman shows up on the cover of  Newsweek, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz rips the toxic asset plan as well - calling it robbery, and from the insult to injury department, a member of the AIG Board of Directors is appointed to the President Obama’s  Task Force on Tax Reform.

State

The Governor seems to be moving towards adopting a towards a FAIR tax proposal which is good because there is “surprisingly little evidence” that people will leave New York if such a tax is enacted.  Where are they going to go New Jersey?  Jersey and other states are looking to do the same thing.  These folks say Tax us - we can handle it and it’s fair.  Looks like they got what they wished for - A deal was announced on the FAIR tax early Sunday morning.

As the Governor’s ratings fall seems he makes it difficult to rebound.

Local

We posted this review of a City News article about the Gates Supervisor Race.  An article  that raises a few questions about the GOP camp.  Meanwhile, Dem Candidate Mark McIntee stopped by in the comments.

Whatever happened to the ROBUTRAD scandal?  Why isn’t anyone talking?  Too much to hide perhaps?

Speaking of Supervisors - what’s up in Sweden?  Their Supervisor apparently pulls a Wesley Snipes without the action hero bit and resigns as the Supervisor for allegedly not paying his taxes.   Oh, 5 others in Sweden are accused as well.   Still, the Supervisor found time to make campaign contributions twice per year but supposedly could not remember to pay his taxes.  Priorities I suppose.

The Rochester Jazz Festival announces its line up, SBR points out the that the jazz festival gives donations to our top local elected officials.  BTP reminds us we have been there before.

Westside public access TV?  More drama.

Even more drama with RenSquare.  This time - a property owner says there is a actually an alternative.  Maggie doesn’t want to hear it.

City News also interviewed Sandy Parker.  Ugh. Check out her take on the FAIR tax,  a swipe at the FAIR proposal, and this ill-informed take on Healthcare reform.

Then there is the sick puppy dog poster boy picture COMIDA is using to say they are actually effective - they aren’t.  The lower taxes gained by moving 5 miles down the road didn’t help Constellation brands from cutting some jobs but I’ll bet that some IDA got credit for “job creation”.    Yeah, this time it isn’t different.

Quick Clicks

Howard Dean calls for Health Care reform.  Meanwhile Senator Bernie Sanders introduces a Single Payer health care reform bill in the Senate.

True Colors dinner.  Anyone go?  Senator  Schumer comes out of the political wilderness and announced his support for marriage equality for same sex couples as well as repeal of misnamed Defense of  Marriage Act.

Violence in Rochester?  Filmmaker Nicholle LaVann director of the Movie Homicidez is interviewed on Bob Smith’s 1370 Connection.

Is peace bad for business?  Apparently, per some  stock analyst ,  Harris Corp stock is downgraded.  I disagree.

Wednesday Wingnuts is back -

Shut off the lights as part of Earth hour.

CSX offers to help with High Speed Rail.  Oh boy, careful what you wish for.

Chinese courts address Melamine.

There is a special election in New York on Tuesday. Obama supports Scott Murphy running to fill the NY-20th seat. Murphy takes a lead.

See you next week.

While reading the City Paper interview with Unshackle Upstate’s Sandy Parker, I was struck by her casual dismissal of universal health care:

 

But if we had health-care reform in this country, the auto industry might be more competitive. The Japanese and the Ontario, Canada employers don’t have to carry that burden, so they can produce a less expensive product.

You know I am not a proponent of universal health care. And I know that everyone likes to point out the Canadian model as the one the US should follow. But tell me why when it comes to elective surgery, so many Canadians come across the border to get the care that they want? It’s because they can’t get it there, and if they can, they have to wait so darn long to get it.

I do think we need to reform the health-care system to make it more efficient. I think employers genuinely want to provide their employees with that benefit. But a national health care system is going to be a very expensive system. We need to realize that we have to pay for it if that were to happen. And the only way to pay for it would be to increase our taxes, which I don’t think is a good way to go.

OMG. Where. To. Start?

Lessee…

1. She’s not a proponent of “universal health care”.  Get that? We’re not even talking “single payer”, or “national” healthcare.  Being against “universal” health care implies that she believes that not everyone deserves to have healthcare in this country. Maybe she misspoke.
2. She uses “elective surgery” as the canard to argue against the Canadian system.  So, in her opinion, the needs of people getting elective plastic surgery outweigh the needs of the vast majority of the rest of us just wanting plain old affordable vanilla healthcare?
3. Oh, and who here has not had to wait “so darn long” for a specialist right here in the US?  For some of my son’s doctors, you better call at least 6 months to a year in advance.
4. Sure. A national health care system is going to be expensive.  But the system we have right now is expensive, it’s just that the expense is carried by you and me, and funneled into the record profits seen by the insurance industry these last several years.
5. Why not take healthcare out of the hands of people whose overriding goal is to maximize profit, and put it into the hands of people whose overriding goal (at least on paper) is to maximize the common good?

Is it just me, or do her arguments,  does her whole attitude, sound like she’s coming from a rarefied, elitist place?

Healthcare is not just a right, it’s a key pillar in a sound economy and society.

If not, turn ‘em out!

Update 3/29/09: Ok, you can turn ‘em back on now.