Aubertine; Nice Man, Wrong Place, Wrong Time.

I mentioned in my opening remarks, that I am an independent voice with political interest and think that I am able to cut through the rhetoric of politicians.

In order to provide full disclosure, I will tell you, I like Mr. Aubertine and I think he has done a good job serving the North Country in the Assembly. Although, I cannot support his candidacy for the Senate and I will share my reasons after which I will begin and continue to post information coming from both candidacies.

Why I cannot support Aubertine:

• I was enthusiastic about the Governorship of Eliot Spitzer; he seemed sincere about reforming the wayward practices of Albany and genuinely appeared to be concern about the “little person” on Main Street versus the egos of Albany. He has not performed to nearly the level of the hype and rhetoric that his campaign produced and in short, for a variety of reasons we are all familiar with, he has failed miserably in his first year in office. I will not support any potential to give him more power in Albany.

• Mr. Aubertine campaigned on being a member of the majority in the Assembly, and you know, he was correct. As much as I dislike the inequities of the minority and majority systems in the Senate and Assembly, we have benefited from Mr Aubertine being a member of the majority. (The system still needs to be fixed so all residents of New York State are represented fairly) I cannot support Mr. Aubertine’s desire to join the minority of the Senate, he drove the majority message home, and it means something to me. You can tell me all day long the Senate will change hands, but no one can prove it, therefore it is merely political speculation, campaign rhetoric and a dangerous gamble on our part. Imagine this scenario for a moment, Mr. Aubertine being in the Senate minority and a Republican winning his Assembly seat and being in the minority.

• On the reform side of the equation, New York State government is badly broken and Mr Aubertine claims to be one of us, but I just do not see the concern. It is not getting better and while I realize one person cannot change it, I do expect him to be a more vocal opponent to what is occurring. Richard Brodsky, a colleague of Mr Aubertine, is a vocal opponent of the status quo and he has not diminished his role as a member of the majority. Mr. Aubertine is too quiet and too “go along, get along” for me.

I like Mr. Aubertine, he is a very nice person, but this is not right for him or the residents of the North Country and that is his message, he is an honest man and I have no reason to doubt him on it.