"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

State Senate Obameter

The Capital has produced what they call the Obameter.

Obama is the Democratic nominee in waiting, but just four years ago he was an Illinois State Senator. The Capital was interested to find out; how do New York State Senators compare.

Obama ran his first State Senate campaign on fixing government and restoring voter's trust, a message that can only be delivered by a non-incumbent (not someone part of an Assembly majority for 5 years). During his career in the Illinois State Senate he sponsored more than 800 bills, but many never made it out of the rules committee. Even in his last year, when he had seniority, 99 of 147 of the bills he sponsored died in committee. Yet, today he is the party's nominee for President.

They gathered 10 "experts" from both sides of the aisle to review the Senators and arrived at 15 of the most promising Senators.  The Senators were rated in three categories on a scale of 1-5 for; Style, Substance and Savvy. Top score for each category was 50 points for a total top score of 150.

So who did the panel find some parity with New York State Senators?

The list is here
  • Joseph Griffo, R  made the list with a 98 and had a very good score of 36 on substance. 
  • John Flannagan, R  made the list and did well in all categories scoring 119
  • Eric Adams, D  freshman legislator made the list with a 105, scoring very high in style.
  • Jeff Klein, D  thought by many to overtake Senate Minority leader Malcolm Smith, scored a 108
  • Craig Johnson, D  one of Aubertine's moral caucus partners made it with a 98
  • Catharine Young, R  another good upstate Senator, former Assembly member, made it with a 101
No mention ANYWHERE of Darrel Aubertine, not even a whisper of style, substance or savvy, BUT they do mention David Renzi, under "...and more may be coming, Up and Coming State Senate candidates to watch for." There were 4 Republicans listed and 5 Democrats on that honorable mention list.
• David Renzi, an attorney and member of a prominent North Country family, who is running against freshman Sen. Darrel Aubertine
Not sure whether to offer "Condolences or Congratulations," but it was probably just a "misunderstanding" that Aubertine did not make the cut. 

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