I’m sorry I just think that headline is funny.   It was from the D&C on-line edition. the Print Edition says “Minarik sounds drumbeat over races”

Apparently there was local GOP convention where the party faithful heard about the important local races.

County Chairman Stephen Minarik warned that Democrats are spending resources and organizing in an attempt to oust state Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece.

“The Democrats are harnessing all of their power, all of their money,” Minarik said.

Robach responded

“The idea of them controlling every house, every policy, would be horrible,” Robach said.

Yeah Joe - we’re coming for you.  The big bad Democratic storm clouds are forming and  going to rain on your parade.  boo freaking hoo.

No,  Joe - it is like this - Your record will be allowed to speak for itself.  In fact your conservative voting record and you being a critical enabler of a dysfunctional state government are the stuff that storm clounds are made of.

I wish the article spoke more of the all the GOP red meat that was spewed to the GOP minions.   Business  knows better than  government,  governments job is to help our business’ survive the perils of the free market.  blah blah blah.

The article touched a little bit with quotes by The guys running for Congress provided some quotes by the GOP Congressional candidates.

“I have no problem telling people no new taxes and no new regulation,” said Lee, who lives in Clarence, Erie County, and is running in the 26th District being vacated by Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-Clarence.

“I am fiercely pro-business,” Sweetland [running for Walsh’s set] told the committee members gathered at the Clarion Riverside Hotel. “I also believe in individual rights.”

But local red meat quotes were strangely absent.

Don’t worry, nothing will come of this cheap political stunt. It will die in the Assembly - rightfully so.

The D&C has an AP article about it (sorry our link widget thingy doesn’t appear to be working correctly)

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/NEWS01/805080380

But here are the salient points which prove once again like oil and water - Republicans and Economic knowledge simply don’t mix. As we have been saying in previous posts about the Gax Tax - prices won’t be passed on to consumers. Here is an example

Indiana and Illinois suspended 5 percent sales taxes on gas in 2000, but a report from the National Bureau of Economic Research found only a 3 percent reduction in prices.

But this paragraph struck out

Still, any increase in demand for gasoline that resulted from lower prices would tend to drive prices back up.

Yep - ever notice how an announced rise in oil IMMEDIATELY raises prices at the pump? Of course, the gasoline in the ground at the gas statation was purchased at a lower price but prices rise.

The Gax Tax is DOA - but the State Senate knew this. This is simply prepping the electorial battlefield as the State Republicans struggle to maintain their narrow majority in the Senate. Can’t you see those mailers now? I mean remember the ones about the Drivers License? Sorry this isn’t about Democrats - this is about Republicans who are using a cheap political stunt in an attempt to win an election. Oh, Dem Senate Candidates - make sure you have a budget for the necessary counter mailers

(ed note when we get the link thingy back on line I’ll add some additional links)

Where does all that earmark money go?

You can check out the 9 Meg New York State Senate file here.

The Assembly is here. 

Let’s play a game.  Find your favorite earmark.  Write about it in the comments

I haven’t looked in great detail at both files and I will when I have time but.. Look at what our state elected officials

From the Senate PDF do a search on Churches.  Notice the Church in Church of God Central Newburgh

for costs associated with furnishing their new building which will house
four meeting rooms and a conference room which will be open for public
use

I wonder who maintains that schedule?  Who have priority.  Like they say possession is 9/10 of the law.  Something just strike me odd about this one done by Senator Larkin.

But have fun.  Highlight your favorite earmark in the comments.

Here’s a report from MetroJustice on how their trip to Albany went. Fundamentally, reforming NY will not take root until we get full public financing of elections. Otherwise, votes on legislation go to the highest bidder. And that ain’t you and me.

Perhaps you heard Governor Paterson saying on WXXI 1370am that he doesn’t think NY State can’t afford full publicly financed campaigns right now.

Argh!!!

He said that right after our press conference in which we announced the results of the Zogby poll (79% support for Clean Elections).

Of course, the Governor is being disingenuous. The reality is that New Yorkers will save money by taking big money out of politics (if politicians aren’t beholden to special interests they are less likely to support costly boondoggles and tax breaks for special interests). In fact the poll showed that New Yorkers think that Clean Elections will save them money.

On Tuesday activists gathered from around the state in Albany for Reform NY Day. We heard advocates talk about various necessary good government reforms (including Clean Elections) and split up into groups to lobby our legislators.

After lobbying, the Metro Justice crew joined the Citizen Action crowd on the second floor of the Capital to confront the Governor about his announcement.

We read a letter to the Governor explaining how clean elections will create savings and pointed out that the costs wouldn’t be incurred until 2012 anyway (and we don’t know what the state’s budget situation will be then).

The Governor said that he still supports the goal of full publicly financed elections (he didn’t mince his words either). But what he went on to say that he was going to ask the Legislature to go back and trim the budget and he’d be undermining himself by asking for new spending on elections (Clean Elections would cost $30 million a year- that’s $1.50 per New Yorker).

We got him to agree to “talk to Speaker Silver” about it. I think he budged several steps toward us on this issue. I think it was a good action, with a good outcome.

Pic courtesy of MetroJustice.

I appreciate Gov. Patterson’s situation. He knows better, but he’s in the thick of a bunch of bad stuff economically, etc. But I expect a lot from my electeds, since I’m paying their salary. $1.50/New Yorker seems a small price to pay for having unbought, unbossed
representation that actually represents me and the rest of us ordinary people.

Yep - I’m one of ‘em. From the D&C.

Metro Justice Member Steve Davis speaking about the Zogby poll. Pic courtesy of MetroJustice.

A new poll released today shows that three out of four New York voters prefer publicly financed political campaigns.

The poll was commissioned by the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, an affiliate of Citizen Action New York, a social justice organization, and performed by Zogby International.

Performed by Zogby, not a fly-by-night pollster.

3 of 4 New Yorkers. Check out our graphic on the right- It doesn’t look like 3 of 4 local State Assembly folks are for it. Wonder why?

Though the proposal would mean taxpayers would finance campaigns, it would save taxpayers in the long run because influence wielded by special interests, which drives up the cost of government, would be reversed, Greenbaum said.

He cited the results in Maine, which adopted Clean Money, Clean Elections, as the legislation is known. Maine lawmakers quickly approved bulk prescription drug purchasing, which has not been passed in New York state.

How exactly is this a bad idea?

Update: btp here. We’ve got a poll to back us up, now help the good folks from MetroJustice and other reform groups get CMCE enacted. As you’ve seen from our banner up top, tomorrow they’re road-tripping to Albany to talk to legislators about this and get them on board.

You can help by joining them tomorrow. From MetroJustice:

7am, Tuesday, April 29
Metro Justice parking lot
We’ll caravan to Albany and return by 7pm the same night

We’ll be rallying for reform in Albany and meeting with our Assemblymembers. If you haven’t ever done a lobby visit before this is a good opportunity. We’ll show you everything you need to know.

I can’t wait until my personal situation allows me to join in stuff like this. It sounds really cool.

We recently commented on Joe Robach’s election-year PR move, getting taxpayer money to help start up a law school at St. John Fisher, a local private school.  We’re not the only ones who see it as an inefficient use of taxpayer money.  The head of SUNY Buffalo feels the same way:

…some New York officials are pushing for creating new law schools. But the head of the State University of New York’s only law school isn’t among them.

“There’s no question that we simply have a glut of law schools,” said Makau Mutua, interim dean of the University at Buffalo Law School. “There’s no shortage of access to legal education for New Yorkers who want to go to law school.”

He also makes the good point that NY State isn’t even funding our own SUNY-based law schools adequately, so what are we doing funding a private school?

Mutua said the state hasn’t done enough to support UB’s law school and doesn’t need to spend taxpayer dollars studying whether to establish more state-run law schools, let alone one that would be affiliated with a private college.

“It’s mind-boggling for the state to contemplate giving money to start up a private law school,” said Mutua, a UB law faculty member for nearly a dozen years before being named interim dean in December.

The state would be better off investing in UB to hire more faculty members and recruit students for its law school, where about 800 students must share a 35-year-old building with undergraduates, Mutua said.

“We need a completely new building,” he said. “We’re squeezed for space.”

And guess what? Even the state Bar Association doesn’t think a new law school is necessary:

Building more law schools isn’t on the state Bar Association’s to-do list. A spokeswoman for the organization said its legal education and admission committee hasn’t been called on to study whether New York needs more law schools.

“I have no idea why the state would consider three more law schools,” said Thomas Guernsey, dean of Albany Law School. “There’s no evidence in the job market that we need more than those 15 schools.”

No idea?  Ooh–Dean Guernsey– call on me, I have an idea or two.  How about: Are endangered Senate incumbents in the 3 districts where these schools are being considered?

This looks more and more like business as usual for the NY Senate– using taxpayer-filled slush funds to buy PR for Senate incumbents in an election year.

Spend our money responsibly on infrastructure and things the state actually needs, please.

This is kinda funny– SEIU 1199 just sent out a mailer with a pro-populist/middle class message:

It’s funny because up till just a little bit ago, Assemblymember Koon was a possible challenger to Sen. Alesi. Now, they’re sharing a mailer.

Here’s the back:

It’s also interesting given that, historically, Alesi’s voted against middle class issues, according to the Drum Major Institute’s rankings from 2001-2005:

Data from DMI Middle Class issue vote ranking, 2006.

So, has Alesi come into the light? Or is it just window dressing? Regardless, this mailer makes Bonnacci’s revenge run against Koon a little bit harder.

The video is fixed - stlo7

When David Cay Johnston spoke on Feb 16th he was asked a bunch of questions. I’m reviewing the video, but my favorite so far is one on Government subsidies in the form of COMIDA, IDAs and such. Eventually Joe Robach built upon that question and asked about subsidies from the viewpoint of a State Legislator.

You see, it seems poor Joe is in a pickle, as he claims in the question - he gets flak from both sides. Corporate Welfare or Job Creation.

Let’s have a look,

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/EdJblZB5tK8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

What does David Cay Johnston say? Where do you get the most bang for government Subsidy?

• Education
• R&D
• Infrastructure
• Manufacturing
• Definitely NOT retail

So I’ll be looking through our local COMIDA records for following that order. While I’m at it, let’s look at Robach’s record for IDA reform as well.

An excellent catch by Joe Spector in the D&C political blogs:

Record Spending On State Lobbying

The state Commission on Public Integrity released its annual report today that shows record spending within the lobbying industry.

A record $171 million was spent on lobbying in 2007, up from $151 million in 2006, according to the commission. The money covers 3,271 clients, represented by 5,357 lobbyists and 57 public corporations.

For the 11th straight year, the firm of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker reported the highest lobbying compensation at $9.6 million. That is followed by Patricia Lynch and Associates at $6.7 million, then Bolton St. Johns, Inc. at $5.7 million.

The highest expenditure was by Verizon at $3.2 million, followed by the Trustees of Columbia University of the City of New York at $2.2 million and the New York State United Teachers at $2.1 million.

It’s curious, though, that the highly criticized commission handed its annual report today — when most of the media is focused on the state budget and the report, which usually garners headlines, will be overshadowed.

Not all lobbying is bad. But when you’ve got lobbyists for poor defenseless corporations like Verizon shouting in your ear, it would sure be nice to have the support of publicly financed elections so you can vote your conscience and not for whomever fills your re-election coffers the fastest.

From everything I’ve heard & read, the budget came together similar to how sausage is made, and like Paul McCartney once sang in “Ebony and Ivory”, “There is good and bad, in every [budget]”.

From the perspective of a movement progressive like myself, most efforts are going to be too little, too late for our crumbling infrastructure and struggling middle class.  The right wing has been too influential too long to change things overnight.

I think the Working Families Party put it best in their analysis of the budget:

The Working Families Party said the state needs to tax the rich, “Next year,

Holy crap! David Cay Johnson was right! We're getting fleeced by the wealthy!

we simply won’t be able to reduce the property tax burden that’s squeezing middle class families and make badly needed public investments in healthcare, education, and public transportation if we don’t repeal part of the excessive tax giveaways that New York’s super-rich have enjoyed for the last 15 years. This isn’t about punishing the wealthy. It’s a question of fairness and priorities.”

As we reported, NY-ers agree 4-1 with that sentiment.  Check out WFP’s site on the subject of fair taxation for more pretty graphs and analysis.

From the D&C political blog:

Senate Dems lay trap for Robach

State Senate Democrats plan next week to try to force a discussion on the Senate floor about a bill that would require companies to pay men and women the same for comparable work.

The idea is to try to embarrass Senate Labor Committee Chairman Joseph Robach, R-Greece, whose likely challenger in the November election is former Democratic Sen. Richard Dollinger of Brighton. Dollinger quit in 2002 after Robach announced he was running for the seat but now wants it back.

Robach told a rally of pay-equity supporters earlier this month that he was in favor of the concept of the bill, but later demurred when asked if he would try to get the bill out of his committee.

The measure is opposed by a majority of the Republican senators who hold a narrow 32-20 edge in the house, and who decide what bills come to the floor. Democrats hope to make pay equity an issue in the likely Robach-Dollinger race.

Because, you know, that’s what it’s really all about. It’s not about crazy stuff like women actually being paid the same as men for the same work.

I can’t understand what the opposition would be. It’s not the Dems laying a trap, it’s called “doing the right thing”. Robach talking a good show about it then not acting on it is consistent with other things I’ve heard about him, where he shows up and wows everyone with his smoothness then fails to act.

Flipping the New York State Senate just got a little more difficult. This is really yesterday’s news but here you go…

Assemblyman David Koon, D-Perinton, said this morning that he will not run for the state Senate against Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton.

Koon was initially thought to be a tough challenger to Alesi as Democrats seek to win the majority in the state Senate for the first time since 1965. Koon has won re-election in an Assembly seat in the eastern Monroe County suburbs that has a Republican majority.

But Koon said today that he will take a pass.

Gee, Any other ideas?

While I’m at it - how is our search for a Democratic Monore County Clerk candidate coming?

Welcome to the,”We are having so much fun, it hurts “, edition. As always, there is much going on. Here is a round up of last week’s news.

NY-29th

Randy Kuhl changes the format of his vaulted Town Hall meetings - less interaction per constituent. We are reminded of the stem cell veto, one of the ways Kuhl is superglued to Bush. D&C editorial board even misses the mark on Tax breaks for Oil companies and, by default, Randy Kuhl.

Meanwhile, here is a nice writeup on Massa and the Responsible Plan, and just before April 1st, we asked if Kuhl was a moderate.

April 1st

There was lots of breaking news on April 1st. RT received a COMIDA grant - a well earned COMIDA grant, we might add. Rottenchester gets demoted, James Lawrence saves the day, skeletons are unearthed in Greece, and Kevin Williams talks about Global Warming. Of course as April 1st funnies go, a little tongue in cheek of what we hope for MCDC. Come on MCDC - we are pulling for you.

But back to our regular programing.

Monroe Community College Selection Process

Let’s start with a timeline, then move to Parinnello’s lofty voice singing : I’ve been working on the railroad - that is rightfully derailed. Bill Smith stands to receive a wonderful MCC pension in a job for which he is not qualified . Of course, the D&C misses an opportunity as well. So does MCC to keep the process open.

Meanwhile, we know the selection process is ugly up close - even people far away and without interest can see it for the ugliness it is.

btp writes two powerful pieces summarizing the ugliness it is. Patronage gone wrong,  and the results.

Misc

Metro government? Ladkiddos’ take one and Take two. Robach get a mailer with his name on it. Prisons or Prison Break? Grievous Angel has the details on jobs, population and analysis and talks about how the subprime mess hits home.

Republicans in WNY are desperately seeking candidates, but found one when David Dunning steps out of character and into the Republican party.

There was a big article on Jon Powers. D&C looks back at LBJ.

Apple Inc. hopefully bites off more than they can chew as they go looking for trouble - where there isn’t any.
Finally - root cause anyone? Read and ask if we really want to solve the problems with our society.

All along we’ve been talking about folks who have yet to connect the dots between government services and paying for them. And folks who feel like, since they’re all set at the moment, they’ll never need any help. And other folks don’t deserve that help, regardless of the reason. (Hi, all you conservatives out there!)

Apparently this short-sighted and, frankly, selfish perspective isn’t shared by a large majority of New Yorker state residents, who, by a 4-1 margin, favor a temporary bump in the tax rate for people earning over $1 Million. From a recent Quinnipac University poll:

New York State voters also support 77 - 19 percent a plan to raise state income taxes by 1 percent on people making more than one million dollars a year. Even Republicans back the so- called “Millionaire’s Tax” 65 - 31 percent, while Democrats back it 83 - 13 percent and independent voters back it 81 - 16 percent.

“Remember that old verse: ‘Don’t tax you; don’t tax me; tax the guy behind the tree?’ If the guy behind the tree is a millionaire, New Yorkers overwhelmingly like the idea of raising his taxes,” Carroll said.

“Could the 19 percent opposed to the idea be millionaires?

Shouldn’t the people who’ve benefited most from all our infrastructure, pitch in a little more?

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.