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

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Negative Ad?

You decide.

This is a campaign ad for recycled Democrat State Senate candidate, who is also a former State Senator, Richard Dollinger running against current State Senator Joseph Robach in Monroe County.



Does it sound familiar, similar themes as Darrel's ad in the special election? If you said yes, you are correct. Same ad guy - Jimmy Siegel.

Recycling candidates? Are the Democrats that desperate to win the majority. 

Rhetorical Train Wreck

Danger Democrat was proud to bring you the count down clock on when Sarah Palin would speak next to the press.

Here is the GOP equivalent on Joe Biden who is a rhetorical train wreck.


Clinton Is Not A Fan

Clinton clearly is not a personal fan of Barack Obama


Read More Here

While Bubba will offer up the words that McCain is a great man, he can not seem to get the same words out of his mouth for Obama.

Rove's Take

Where were Pelosi's leadership people on the vote? A large number of them were a nay and considering it would have only taken 12 votes to swing it the other way has to make a person wonder. 

This is about four and a half minutes, but worth the listen.I am sure all the hyper-liberal types like Danger Democrat will take issue with his take, but have it.

Monday, September 29, 2008

New York City to Albany

Most lawmakers drive back and forth from their home districts to their legislative office in Albany, some in New York City may take the train. Sheldon Silver, well, he flies.

Yes, at a cost generally 4 times greater than the cost of taking the train. This is paid for by the taxpayer, while he racks up personal frequent flier miles. Ground alternatives are less expensive, they are also less time consuming than his flight travel route of New York to Washington DC to Albany.
The speaker has accumulated so many miles — from his public, political, and personal travels — that he is an elite-level member of an exclusive frequent flier program, which rewards him with first-class upgrades.
Reform?

Hardly, if someone wants to be as wasteful as the speaker then reimbursement should be limited to the equivalent of mileage cost. If he chooses a more expensive form of travel, then he should pay anything above the normal and reasonable cost of mileage reimbursement.
The Assembly's employee information guide, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Sun, states: "Air travel should be used only when it is clearly in the Assembly's best interest to do so. When air travel is used, the most economical rate should be obtained, including super-saver fares whenever they are available."

Bracelet Battles

The "I've got a bracelet too," battle continues. It was a point during the debate where John McCain point to a bracelet given to him by a mother of a fallen solider, who told McCain that she did not want her son's death to be in vain. Barack Obama quickly retorted with "I've got a bracelet too," although he had to awkwardly look down and stumbled over the soldier's name.

The problem is, the family of Ryan Jopek, the fallen soldier for whom Obama was wearing a bracelet does not want their son used a campaign prop and Obama knew the family did not want his name used.

Read more from ABC's Jake Tapper here and Newsbusters here



Who Is Responsible?

Many of you, especially Democrats, would like to blame the issue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on President Bush, while in fact he warned of the troubles back in 2002 and 2004 and was met with resistance from Democrats such as Barney Frank.

Barney Frank and fellow lawmakers are heading us toward socialism and if you watch to the end Bill Clinton blames the Democrats.

Here is an interesting video, 8 minutes, but it is worth the watch.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Bailout

Danger Democat and Political IV Redstate Update on the bailout.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Interesting Correlation

In reviewing a news release yesterday from Darrel Aubertine's campaign, it was quite noticeable their use of strong language in what can be perceived as a personal attack. Drew Mangione refers to a Renzi challenge on an issue by using the word 'lie' in the news release 4 times.

First thoughts is that it is a very strong word which generally means you are directly referring to someone as a liar which is distinctly different from debating and disagreeing with someone on issues and it reaches the point of personally attacking your opponent.

Then watching the Presidential debate last night while at the same time following ABC's Jake Tapper live blogging of the debate pops up this comment by Jake
10:34 - I really don't care for the sudden acceptability of the word "lie" by campaigns.
Jake, you nailed it!

Drew and any other campaign spokespeople do not let politics overcome your decency, refrain from using language that personally attacks someone's character and stick to disagreeing on the issues. The whole concept behind poltical competition is the advancing of competing ideas and subsequent discourse.

Contrasting and compaing ideas or policy positions is not negative, just be respectful.

Presidential Debate Tidbits

The Presidential debate last night, by definition of some local Democrats, could be categorized as negative. They believe any time you say anything about your opponent's record it is negative.

The conclusion is their guy, Obama, was extremely negative last night because he was on the attack all night at the same he tried to appear in command of foreign policy issues. McCain was just as feisty while he was striving to appear more connected to voters than Obama.

When Obama was not on the attack, he agreed with John McCain, 6 times to be exact. Obama almost appeared childish at one point, after McCain described how the mother of a fallen solider gave him a bracelet to wear and he told the story of the encounter, Obama quickly responded like that of a 10 year in a playground, "I've got a bracelet too."

Asked what of the spending proposals they would cut in order to the accommodate the amount of the bailout, McCain displayed his maverick style by suggesting he would look at a spending freeze while Obama was elusive on any specifics.

McCain was out to get under Obama's skin and show his inexperience and McCain did by drilling home the point of Obama's inexperience by frequently saying Obama "doesn't seem to understand" or that he is "naive." (9 times combined)

Obama was defending his position to meet with Iran leader Ahmadinejad without preconditions and he attempted to buoy his position by misstating Henry Kissinger's position about meeting with leaders without preconditions, read here or here.

The Democrats strategy consists of speaking a noun, verb and George Bush in every sentence and it showed in the debate.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Breaking News

Breaking News

Nancy Martin is elected Chairperson of the St. Lawrence County Republican Party defeating Janet Kelly by approximately 200 weighted votes.

The attendance of the meeting was approximately 80 people.

It Is All About Liquidity

The financial issue is about liquidity; yours, the government's and Wall Street's liquidity. You want to keep your liquidity or be able obtain it, you want safe investments, Wall Street firms do not have any liquidity and the government is the only entity who has the liquidity to assist Wall St.

Many will say let the free market enterprise system run its course and the wheat will be separated from the chaff. The President said it best last night, "to step in with dramatic government action, or to stand back and allow the irresponsible actions of some to undermine the financial security of all."  This sums up the necessity of government action for the greater good.

The housing market was a house of cards with large amounts of capital from firms to invest in mortgages, cheap money for borrowers, demand for houses outstripping supply, and the public willing to take on personal debt without regard of ability to pay. This was all supported by politicians, like Chuck Schumer, who were clamoring that everyone should own their own home again without regard to ability and lender's willingness to participate, but, eventually the situation overheated and tumbled.

Supply of housing is up, prices are down, major investment firms have no liquidity, homeowners are upside down and over extended in mortgages, and now the politicians who championed home ownership are struggling with a bail out package.  The government is the only entity at this point who can invest in bad paper with time to wait out the storm for an increase in the value of mortgage backed securities as mortgages are paid off. 

President Bush was wise to invite Obama and McCain back to be included in the solution; this must be a bi-partisan effort for the greater good, politics aside.

Government will likely succeed with pulling us out of this mess by restoring liquidity which will restore lending to consumers with the ability to borrow, but, on the back side of the bail out there will be the price we all will pay; consumers, lending and investment firms will be subjected to more stringent regulations.

Excellent Resource

The New York State Comptroller's Open Book New York is an excellent new resource introduced by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

The site contains detailed revenue and expense information for cities, towns, villages, schools, and fire districts.

For instance, a search of local government data comparison for Jefferson County in the years 2005 and 2006 reveals the following;

Revenue increased approximately 3%, specifically federal aid decreased by approximately 7% while other revenue areas made up the difference including an increase in state aid.

On the expense side, expenditures went up by over 5%, but specifically the increases are in the areas of debt service 16%, employee benefits 10% and the largest increases were in public safety (Sheriff's Dept) 25% and education a.k.a. JCC which saw a 49% increase.

Browse any location and compare any number of years. Transparency in government is good government.


Click Here

Conflicts In Opinion: Coattail or No Coattail

This various commenters in the press on the SRI poll released yesterday. 

Siena's Steve Greenburg essentially points out there is little to no coattail effect. 
While the numbers are just a snapshot of one point in time in what's been a volatile election year, one conclusion can be drawn. Voters pick their state representatives on the perceived merits of the individual, not on their party affiliation.

"Voters are sophisticated enough in New York, and they've shown it over the years, that they will vote for one candidate on Row A and another candidate on Row B."
In Rochester, in a district that heavily favors Barack Obama for President, more voters said they wanted Democrats to gain control of the Senate, yet they favored Republican incumbent Senator Robach.
And then, yes a coattail effect.
 One observer speculates that the presidential race may be having a trickle-down effect on state races.
"There seems to be kind of an Obama coattail effect here," said Grant Reeher, professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

But then again, no coattail effect.
Mr. McGuire said because "most people vote locally," a McCain-Palin ticket campaigning on reforming Washington may not have much impact in local races.

"The Coal Miner"

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bubba Being Bubba

You have to watch this video of Bubba, he really does not want Obama to win!

He is with the women of The View (no cigars or blue dresses) and he explains rationale of selecting who you are voting for and someone cannot be critical of another because of who they support.

Objectivity? Hard To Believe

It is hard to believe the Watertown Daily Times remains objective in their reporting when one of the editors on staff who writes Northern New York Follies pens a piece like this one here.

There is very little question that Political IV comes down on the right side of the political equation and Danger Democrat comes down on the left of politics, but neither of us write, edit or oversee broadcast or print reporting. There is no desire for the Watertown Daily Times to favor the left or right in politics, but when writing like that of Northern New York Follies comes from the high ranking staff it is hard to believe objectivity exist at the paper.

So here is the question to Mr. NNY Folly and others;

Given the fiscal crisis our state is facing, do you prefer taxpayer money be spent for campaign material like the one below for Aubertine? Or should campaigns and committees whether local or state raise money separately and pay for their campaign material like the one for Renzi? Mr. Aubertine is using taxpayer's money while Mr. Renzi is using campaign money.

This is taxpayer paid for.











This is campaign paid.

Negative Campaigning - Democrat Style

Darrel Aubertine and the Democrats have a way of running a negative campaign and not leaving any dirt on their hands to show it.

The very astute reporter, Jude Seymour and staff at the Watertown Daily Times caught them at their little dirty tricks.

The strategy used by their campaign of shadow written negative and phony letter campaigns and the whisper campaigns that they run is not well known. The campaign people write letters to have other people sign or they use a campaign worker to sign them on behalf of someone to submit to the paper. They have not been caught yet, until recently when the paper received two identical letters only two days apart. Their whisper campaigns are usually started by them in order to pass negative information around the community on their opponents. 

The Watertown Daily Times has the proof of their negative tactics. The record is clear, Darrel has gone negative.
 
Update: Renzi campaign responds to the Democrats negative attacks. Eric Swartz speaks on behalf of his friend and candidate David Renzi. 

Chris Rock On Politics

This is good.

"He Has A Way Of Bending The Truth"

That is the comment from an ATV enthusiast in the Oswego County newspaper Valley News.

Darrel Aubertine and staff are frantically attempting to win back the supporters of the ATV clubs in a letter dump to the clubs and their members. He is seeking to atone for his "no fan of ATV's" position that was laid out last week to club members in a confidential memo by DEC Regional Director Judy Drabicki, who is the wife of Aubertine staff member Lee Willbanks.

Making the comments in the memo even more inferior, Drabicki said to the media last "the memo was never intended to be made public." Really!

Aubertine is not having much luck making his case and winning their support back. Steve Cronk, president of the 1,200 member Oswego County ATV club told the Valley News that club members are not 'buying into' Aubertine's claims and further went on to say "He (Aubertine) has a way of bending the truth."

Cronk, last week described a meeting he had scheduled with Aubertine, similar to the guy from Carthage who blasted Aubertine for missing his meeting, but this time Aubertine's staff at the last minute, unknown to Cronk, shoved him into a meeting with another group of people and Cronk was never able to get his club's views out.

Cronk believes Aubertine is just pandering to club members now and it is reported in the Valley News the Oswego Club has endorsed Renzi for Senate.

Visitors

Big traffic day yesterday, P-IV was just shy of 1,000 visiting readers at 978 and had 1,802 page views for the day and before 8:00 AM today there has already been 230 plus readers.

No Golisano in 118th

Three time failed Gubernatorial candidate Tom Golisano is keeping his grubby paws out of the 118th Assembly race between Cantwell and Russell. No endorsement of either candidate.

That will make it one step closer to a cleaner race than the 48th Senate race where Golisano is trying to cast his shadow over the North Country.

Golisano, who is owner of the Buffalo Sabres, can stick to hockey and stay the puck out of the North Country political races, the North Country understands its own values we don't need a billionaire telling what is best for us. 

Read more here and the spreadsheet on all his meddling is here

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I'm Joe Biden and I Do Not Approve This Message

Joe Biden contradicts his boss, not once but twice. They ought to get together on the issues sometime, it would help. 

Biden did not like the ad by Barack Obama criticizing John McCain's inability to use a keyboard due to his war injuries.
/param>

And he disagrees with part of Obama's energy policy. No clean coal plants in the United States.
Hat Tip of appreciation to Adirondack Trailhead for the link to the post He's No Fan of ATVs which, was about DEC Director and wife of Aubertine staff member who describes Darrel Aubertine as "he's no fan of ATVs" and this post continues to attract a lot of visitors. 

And Yet More on the Addie Tax Site and Their Work

This is more work from the mysterious new site "The Addie Tax"


He's Not A Fan: Part II

An avid outdoor enthusiast sent me this piece of work, there is a major movement from clubs to organize this group for Renzi. 

Independence Party

Independence Party of New York Officially Endorses John McCain.

"Today, an overwhelming number -- 85 percent -- of the state's Independence Party members voted to nominate John McCain to be our candidate for President of the United States. While this is the first time we have ever put a major party candidate for President on our ballot, the consensus among independents is that this is the first time a major party has put a true reformer on the top of their ticket. Senator John McCain is one of our own."
Frank MacKay, Chairman of the Independence Party in New York State. 
 

Independence Party website here 




Monday, September 22, 2008

Interesting Website

No idea who developed this site or where it came from, this is just a link as it was sent to P-IV. There is no responsibility of P-IV for this site.

Update: Contrary to Danger Democrat's claim, no one knows who produced this site and it cannot be linked to Cantwell. Further research of the site shows the domain registration has been blocked.    


Slow going today on the postings, experiencing some technical difficulties today with the internet connection through RoadRunner, but it appears to be fixed now.

Johnny Favors Andy

John McCain stated on 60 Minutes that he would like Andrew Cuomo for SEC Chairman.


Pelley: You have called for the firing of the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal government organization that oversees the markets. 

McCain: Yes. You know, and by the way, that technically he can’t be, quote, fired. But I’ll tell you, when I’m president, if I want somebody to resign, they resign. 

Pelley: I’m curious. If you wanna fire Chris Cox, the chairman of the SEC, who would you replace him with?

McCain: This may sound a little unusual, but I’ve admired Andrew Cuomo. I think he is somebody who could restore some credibility, lend some bipartisanship to this effort. 

Pelley: He’s a Democrat. 

McCain: Oh, yes. 

Pelley: He served in the cabinet of President Clinton. 

McCain: Yes. And he did a good job. And he has respect. And he has prestige.

Battleground States

As the presidential race draws closer a variety of battleground states will be shown, here are the first couple of states and these are perhaps the most critical for Obama to win. 

Florida
McCain holds a slight edge in the Sunshine State with a 47% to 45% and 7% undecided.
Read more here

Ohio
Another critical state for McCain where he has a lead 48% to Obama's 42%
Read more here

Pennsylvania
NBC News Mason Dixon Poll reports Obama with a slight lead 46% to 44% with a error margin of 4 points.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

He's No Fan Of ATVs

(UPDATED) Darrel and Dave attended a ride yesterday in Lewis County and someone commented on this post about Dave not being able to start his ATV while Darrel started and took right off on his, then I received pictures of the two on the ride, Dave is driving his ATV, while Darrel is riding in a side by side. 


 
As long as Darrel Aubertine keeps dishing up the issues, there will be no shortage of servings.

"He is no fan of ATVs," is how Region 6 Director of the DEC, Judy Drabicki, characterizes Darrel Aubertine's view of ATVs in an internal memo that she thought would never see sunshine.

You can be quite certain that she would not incorrectly characterize his position because her husband, Lee Willbanks, works for Senator Aubertine, so they have a very cozy relationship between offices and the safe assumption can be made they work closely together on this policy as well as others.

The DEC under the Direction of upper west side Manhattan Democrat Commissioner Pete Grannis has become less than friendly to outdoor enthusiast.

This memo is arrogant, condescending and demeaning to people. In it she first writes that she just finished a conversation with Darrel Aubertine, then an assemblyman, and depicts him as no fan of ATVs. She continues; these are not yahoos I am hearing from, they are a National Grid Executive, Jefferson County Clerk JoAnn Wilder, as if to imply that every other rider is a yahoo and describes a scenario where "if nothing else, that could be the bone we throw" like she was referring to a bunch of dogs. Further, she describes them as "opponents" a clear signal she is working against them rather than working with them.

Senator Aubertine has done little in the way of pressuring the DEC to change their policies toward land use and the truck trails (now called administrative access roads) and this memo clearly displays his attitude. He is not serving as an effective advocate for Northern and Central New York, but just more pandering to them.

Read the memo below, Drabicki can claim it is taken out of context by people, but there is no mistaken the attitude and arrogance of this memo. Aubertine and Drabicki have a close relationship with Drabicki's husband working in Aubertine's office and that should produce more favorable results, but Aubertine is following DEC and Drabicki's lead instead of the other way around.

Aubertine and Drabicki owe the ATV community of riders a public apology for insulting them. Click on the memo below to enlarge and read.
 

Also, the Valley News has covered this topic also, click here.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Aubertine Rally Breaches Company Policy

In a post early this week it was mentioned that an Aubertine political event violated Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant company policy.

Here is news coverage from the Valley News in Fulton and the company who owns the plant are even critical of newspaper Pall Times for their coverage. This is not a good situation for Aubertine and when confronted about the issue, spokesman Drew Mangione avoids answering whether or not they had permission.

Darrel Aubertine experiences some serious lapses in judgment, enough so, voters should ask if he is really qualified and capable of this job.

Here is the entire article (h/t Valley News)

Entergy claims no permission was given for political rally
by Carol Thompson

A recent political rally for Senator Darrel Aubertine at the Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant was done without the permission of Entergy, according to a company spokesperson.

“Once they were recognized as being on site they were asked to leave,” Tammy Holden, communications specialist at Entergy, said Wednesday.

A rally organized by Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 73 was held Sept. 12 under a tent at the plant, and a news article and photo were published in The Palladium-Times. Ms. Holden said the story gave the wrong impression.

“Unfortunately, the article in the Pall Times was a little misleading,” she said. “It gave the perception that Entergy was endorsing, and that’s not the case.”

The perception of an endorsement for the Democrat senator came at a time when the nuclear plants are in the preliminary stages of negotiating their PILOT agreements with county legislators, whose majority membership is comprised of 20 Republicans.

“We’ve reached out to those individuals,” Ms. Holden said. “We don’t endorse political candidates. There were phone calls made. With our rapport, we don’t foresee any problems.”

Ms. Holden did not have available of the names of those legislators who were contacted, but she said she is confident that contact had been made with more than one county official. Legislature Chairman Barry Leemann said late Wednesday that someone from Entergy had telephoned his office that same day; however, he was not available to take the call.

Legislator Fred Beardsley said Wednesday that he has not received a call from Entergy but was aware of the rally. “I don’t know if Entergy is riding the fence because of the negotiations,” he said, adding that, in his view, the company has been fair with the legislature. He said that until all the facts are revealed, he is inclined to believe that Entergy did not grant permission for the rally to be held on its site.

According to Ms. Holden, the union was expecting to hold the rally at another location. “For whatever reason they brought him (Aubertine) to a location here,” she said. “What I’ve been told is that the rally was to be held at a location away from here.”

A media advisory sent from Aubertine indicated that the rally was to be held at the plant. It states, “State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine will be joined Friday at 11:30 a.m. by the Plumber & Steamfitters, Local 73, at the Oswego County James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant for a rally and announcement.”

When asked about the media advisory and if he was aware that permission was needed to hold the rally on site, Sen. Aubertine’s Communications Director Drew Mangione responded, “Senator Aubertine was invited to Scriba by the Plumbers and Steamfitters union to receive their endorsement and talk to members who are currently working there.

“The event went very well and Darrel received an enthusiastic endorsement from these hard-working men and women who work in the region’s energy industry,” he added. “In his comments, Darrel talked about the importance of nuclear power and his support for a fourth nuclear plant and the jobs it would bring to Oswego.”

Ms. Holden said she knew nothing of the media advisory sent from Sen. Aubertine’s office. She said she was advised by security that the rally was to be held on the corner of County Route 29 and County Route 1—property that is not owned by Entergy; however, Aubertine’s media advisory gives directions to the plant’s parking lot.

Ms. Holden said she has no idea who made the change of plans and noted that it likely wasn’t an employee of Entergy. “Our employees know what the process is,” she said.

Ms. Holden also stressed that the employees involved are working under contract and are not regular employees of the plant. The endorsement was actually that of the Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 73, she added.

“The employees were coming in to be trained and badged. They are not regular employees of Fitzpatrick,” she said of the union members. “They are working a shut-down.”

Ms. Holden said that those present did not breach security, but the rally did breach company policy. Asked if they would have been given permission to have the rally on site had they asked, Ms. Holden responded, “Absolutely not.”

A spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirmed that in order to hold a political rally on the property, company permission would have been required.

Ms. Holden said the incident continues to be under investigation.

“We are definitely looking into it so that it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate. The article in The Palladium Times led others to believe Entergy was endorsing, and that they didn’t have the authority’s permission is disappointing, as well.”

Local 73 Business Agent Tim Rice said Wednesday that the local union has formally endorsed Aubertine but denied that the group was asked to leave the Entergy premises. “I was out there and they didn’t ask any of us to leave,” he said. “They were more than accommodating.”

Rice said he could not speak for what Entergy is claiming. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” he said. “There was a misunderstanding.”

Friday, September 19, 2008

Obama Ties To Fannie Mae

Obama has a strong supporter who is intimately familiar with Fannie Mae.

Meet Jim Johnson; adviser to Obama, the former VP vetter who had to step down while he was under fire from the media and former CEO of Fannie Mae forced out by an accounting scandal.

New York State Senate Democrats In The News

These people want us to put our faith in them as voters so they can lead New York State on issues of reforming our government and fiscal policy.

This is regarding Senator Jeff Klein, who is deputy minority leader in the Senate.

From Colin Beavan at NoImpactMan click to read the entire letter.

Parts of the letter that is posted
Though you may not know my name, you may recall that you and I met today under rather unpleasant circumstances on New York City's Broadway, just north of City Hall. You were driving your black Mercedes. I was riding a small folding bicycle and wearing a purple helmet.
You rolled down your window and said, "Get your hands off my car, you fucking asshole."
I said, "You were veering into me and going to crush me." You said, "You better not touch other people's cars. You might find that touching other people's cars is more dangerous than traffic."
-------------------------
And from always fodder dependable Senator Kevin Parker in the New York Times.

He is facing charges for pushing a campaign worker while in an argument with her and for knocking her glasses off and stepping on them.  This is not the first time he has been accused of assaulting someone.

You may recall Senator Wright's smackdown of Senator Parker.

Inside Politics

St. Lawrence County Republican party, politely speaking, is a split group and the warring factions are going at it head to head again.

The battle for the County chairmanship is on between Janet Kelly, who is the current chair and Nancy Martin who is the aspiring chair.

Nancy has been a party faithful in St. Lawrence County for years and a person that a candidate could always count on for support and work. The committee members have dwindled in recent years to the point where there are not that many party soldiers left. Nancy's goal is the bring the committee membership back to robust levels.

Janet Kelly, sister of Ogdensburg newspaper editor Chuck Kelly and local pol and Elks big wig Tim Kelly, is the only member of the Kelly family who is a Republican and she has learned to stand her ground with her brothers and that has provided her training to become the attack chieftain for the party as well.

The voting process for party chair in St. Lawrence County is rather quirky with weighted voting in each town according the last Governor's race, therefore, running for chair of the party in St. Lawrence County is not for the faint of heart. 

Memo to Candidates: Steer clear of this issue, you are running to serve everyone, Republican, Democrats, Independence, et al. You are not running to get involved in intermural activities.

Memo to Party: Do not let party reorganization prevent you from fulfilling your mission of working collectively for the candidates.

Boat Cruise For GOP

Danger Democrat may think it is old and shop worn as he used to call it, but Bob Nortz and River District Legislator Phil Reed rallied the faithful and let the GOP candidates know the river and is alive, well and behind Renzi and Cantwell.

A large turnout from Clayton, Alex Bay, as well several from around the rest of Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties were on hand for Senate candidate Dave Renzi and Assembly candidate Bobby Cantwell. Supporters numbered in the neighborhood of 150+, most likely the best crowd in many years for this event, kudos to Legislator Phil Reed. 

The supporters for Renzi and Cantwell on board tonight included area developer Phil Randazzo, Former Clayton Mayor Dale Kenyon, T. Urling Walker, Dr George Sturtz, Town of Clayton Supervisor Justin Taylor, local business Doug Dier, and Dr and Mrs George Mesires, and NYSUT representative Mike Montigelli, just to name a few.

Old and shop worn?

Not so fast, the energy is alive and refreshed in the North Country GOP.

DD may have a difficult time matching Phil Reed's accomplishments when Addie Jenne Russell has her boat trip. Phil delivered a great trip, great support for Renzi and Cantwell and great weather.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Patriotism = Pay More In Taxes

If you view the world from the left, it seems this is what everyone thinks; paying more in taxes is patriotic.

New York Senate Democrats,
New York Assembly Democrats,
Working Families Party,
and now Joe Biden.

Here's Your Sign

Public Service Announcement From DANC

The next time a school district, a town, village, county or any other entity wants to raise your taxes, ask them to have a chicken barbecue before in order to ease the pain.

That is just what the Development Authority of the North Country is doing, they are being magnanimous with their your money. The landfill is operating at such large profits that they can pay for their future expansion in cash! They have created a landfill gas to energy project that will reap them millions in new revenue and they want that revenue shielded from benefiting the public with lower tipping fees.

But, fear not, they will give you a free chicken dinner just for your effort to visit their vast money making machine in Rodman this weekend.

Bob Juravich, and his faithful follower Tom Sauter, (who wants to succeed Juravich in their wayward practices) at DANC must have short memories. The New York State comptroller's audit was critical of the Authority for treating their staff to free lunches and pizza parties with taxpayer's money. Now, the Authority wants everyone to benefit from their largess with a free chicken barbecue party open house.

Below is the link for the prospectus for their new executive director.


New Executive Director

In it they mention:
Ideal candidate will possess:

  • General knowledge in business, finance, engineering, telecommunications, water/wastewater, solid waste and have a community development background.
  • Proven ability to achieve results and drive toward long-term goals; experience supervising staff and business units, and strong relationship building and communication skills.
  • Superior leadership and public relations skills necessary.
They forgot to mention: public accountability attitude.

A Man Of Many Positions

Depending on the time, depending on the voters, and depending on the race Darrel Aubertine may just have the answer you want.

The Oswego portion of the 48th Senate district is very favorable to nuclear power with the nuclear plants and jobs in that part of the district.

When Aubertine launched his bid for the Senate seat a week ago one of his stops was the Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego County and he told the workers that he is a strong proponent of nuclear power and supports a fourth nuclear facility coming to Oswego County.
“I think it’s a terrific opportunity. It’s about jobs,” 
Here is his statement on Nuclear Power and his view on energy use in general to reporter Drew Mangione, now spokesman for Aubertine, during the 2000 race against H Robert Nortz for Assembly.
Jefferson County Legislator Darrel J. Aubertine on other issues:
Nuclear power plants: I would support a bill that would phase these plants out. One of the things you have to look at is energy conservation, try and cut down the need to use so much electricity and make business more aware of how to be energy conscious.
His change of heart is for special interest only - unions! Patrick Carroll, the business manager of the plumbers and steamfitters, was pleased to endorse Aubertine, noting that he is working for the union.

And.

Sources say company officials are upset that Darrel Aubertine was on site without proper clearance. The political event was held on a secure site and this violated their security. Security officials are concerned they were not contacted and no one authorized, including the press.

Maybe just another case of an error in judgment.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Powerful Messenger

A new 527 group called Born Alive Truth is formed and they have a powerful messenger. She is not a celebrity, she is a survivor of a failed abortion.

North Country Public Radio On Online Debate

David Sommerstein, a good, fair and objective reporter and an all around good guy reports on Political IV and Danger Democrat's attempt to offer the candidates for the 48th Senate and 118th Assembly seats an online forum for their campaign messages and in-depth interviews that enable people to get to know the candidates. 

The Candidates Defined Project has heard favorably from Addie Jenne Russell and David Renzi, while not a word from Bobby Cantwell and thus far a disappointing refusal from Aubertine.  

Sommerstein, refers to P-IV and DD as the point, counter point, Hannity and Colmes of the North Country and must reads.

The accolades from David are appreciated.

Click here to listen 

SD 48: Ogdensburg Debate

It was a night that started well for everyone with members of the Ogdensburg Free Academy Key Club asking the candidates some questions before turning it over to the audience to ask questions.

The debate was held in Ogdensburg where Darrel Aubertine has been serving the area for 6 years and is heavily populated with his base of union supporters therefore, expectations were for this to be his home turf and a good showing. Although, it was anything but that, it was a pure smack down by the audience who took issue with several of Aubertine's positions. David Renzi drew sharp contrast between his positions and Aubertine's positions. If this were a boxing match, it would have been called early in the second round.

The students started the questioning of the candidates in the area of legal drinking age, enhanced driver's license, education and jobs, followed by an open session of questions from the audience and that is when people challenged Aubertine right from the start.

The first question of the night was regarding Aubertine hiring his sister after he passed the ethics law that prohibited it and whether or not he returned the money she earned after it was discovered by others he violated the ethics law. He described the hiring as an "error in judgment" and as soon as he recognized it she tendered her resignation and she did not return the money earned.

Then the lights went out, figuratively speaking. A parent of a special needs student from Carthage attended the debate and pointedly put Aubertine on the spot for his staff scheduling a meeting between the person and Aubertine at Aubertine's office and then Aubertine was a no show. The person was emotional and visibly upset and for the right reason, he was ultimately defending his child. He proceeded to call upon Aubertine's staff to respond when Aubertine had no answer on why he missed the meeting. The person would continue to heckle Aubertine throughout the night before leaving the debate while continuing to express his frustrations at Aubertine on his way out the door for Aubertine's lack of constituent services.

The next hot button issue came when someone asked Aubertine and Renzi if elected officials should be voting for windmills when they will benefit financially. Aubertine unequivocally said they should be allowed to vote just as if they were voting on their local budget. This drew a sharp response from Renzi when he correctly pointed out the difference between certain individual's financial gain and everyone paying taxes.

The standard reform topic hit the runway for the candidates with Darrel Aubertine giving an answer by speaking of non-partisan politics in one sense and then telling people if they want change it needs to be a Democratic controlled Senate. Again, it is necessary to remind people, a Democratically controlled Assembly that he was a member of for 5 years is anything but functioning properly. Renzi again drew a sharp response by saying this is not about political power, special interests or Albany bosses that he was a strong minded individual and for him it is about the people and being effective.     

The real head scratcher for the night came when Ogdensburg Mayor Bill Nelson spoke about the importance of the Empire Zone and the proposal of the Empire Zone reform to eliminate housing and asked for the candidates' positions. Darrel Aubertine cleared danced on this issue and blatantly was not forthright to the public. This is the legislation where not too long ago spokesman Drew Mangione commented about hoping that after it passed both houses (with Aubertine's support) it would not make it to the Governor's desk, like it would disappear on the way or something. In the end, the Governor saved the day and vetoed the legislation.

The night clearly belonged to Renzi.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

They're Baaacck!

Or possibly coming back.

Governor David Paterson is looking to possibly return the State Legislature for another special session, presumably to take a bite out of the budget.

The state is faced with a round of job losses as a result of happenings on Wall St and the result of the job losses could mean loss of state revenue in the millions maybe even $1 billion. The loss of revenue will reopen and widen the deficit for this fiscal year. 

This poses a problem for the incumbent lawmakers, on one hand they have the issue of fiscal responsibility for the state taxpayers and they do not want to be viewed as inactive, on the other hand, this will require tough decisions prior to their re-election, which puts them into an unsettling position of more budget cuts and grappling with more bad news for their districts while they are running.

But, dealing with the disgruntled constituents is their problem, they supported this budget by voting for it and they need to be held accountable. 

In an interesting twist, Democrats want to increase spending by pushing the home heating assistance even higher than that proposed by the Governor.

Democrats have had a desire to raise taxes to address the fiscal issues facing the state, but that is not the answer and would be a disastrous move considering the downturn on Wall St.  

Give the Governor credit where credit is due, he saw this coming during budget negotiations in the spring. This should be a lesson moving forward, they are borrowing and spending beyond the means of the taxpayers in this state and it is disruptive to the taxpayers and the agencies serving the taxpayers.

This should have been planned and prepared for during the budget, When the finances of the state are so thin they are unable to weather situations like this, then incumbent lawmakers are not being fiscally responsible.

Check This Out

Hockey moms for McCain-Palin has a new website.

Check it out, click here

Political Humor

 

Monday, September 15, 2008

Is New York Purple Again?

Siena Research Institute released a new poll today and it shows Obama's lead diminishing. Obama had a lead in the Empire State as high as 18 points and now it is just 5 points.

Michael Bloomberg still tops Paterson in a horse race match up for Guv and he has a higher favorable rating than Paterson.

Obama's signs of trouble are the same signs for the New York State Senate Democrats. Voters by an overwhelming margin favored Democratic control of the Senate in May of this year, 48% favored Dems and 39% favored GOP. Now, the voters, who once favored control to be flipped to the Democrats, are split at 44% each.

Siena New York Poll

Obama Goes Over The Top

An ad portraying McCain as old and out of touch by not being able to use email probably ranks up there with as the dumbest ad.

Do the Obama people who made this ad realize the reason John McCain doesn't send e-mails or use a computer is because it aggravates his injuries he suffered while he was beaten and tortured as a POW in Vietnam?

How stupid are they to claim that John McCain is not qualified to be President because he can't send email due to a disability as a result of service to our country.

The Obama campaign has run the age issue out there before, and it has not worked, they appear desperate to revert back to a failed strategy.

Do you wonder if they believe in this ad so much that they are running it in a state like Florida?

Out With The Old, In With The New

Obama did not have a great month of August despite his grandiose and pompous convention. 

Obama and his campaign are in need of change, in typical Obama fashion, he changes his slogan, which  explains everything that is important to Obama - a slogan.

So, out with the old campaign slogan.














And, in with the new slogan.

Friday, September 12, 2008

There He Goes Again

They just can not help themselves from going negative.

I think Darrel, Drew and Cort missed another memo; people want you to talk about the issues and leave the negative connotations out, including these subtle negative hints in your press releases. Aubertine's campaign manager, Cortney Ruddy,  is infamous for his negative nuances in campaign material, he was the architect of the negative campaign for special election and he is doing it again.

There are reports coming from Oswego County (from Democrats no less) that calls are being made and they contain negative messages against Dave Renzi while simultaneously Darrel Aubertine kicks off his campaign in Oswego County.

Follow that up with a press release that carries the same tone of a recently past election and bingo, you have a repeat of that nasty plot.

In the press release they refer to Dave Renzi as "David Renzi, Esq," as if to draw some distinction between Dave and Darrel and as if to make Dave appear as an elitist.
Esquire (abbreviated Esq.) is a term of British origin, originally used to denote social status. Ultimately deriving from the medieval squires who assisted knights, the term came to be used automatically by men of gentle birth. The social rank of Esquire is that above gentleman. More specifically, though, a distinction was made between men of the upper and lower gentry, who were "esquires" and "gentlemen"
Later in the press release Mr. Ruddy and Drew Mangione plant one more zinger with a negative message of inferred income levels.
"Maybe, Mr. Renzi's real problem with this plan is that people making more than $250,000 a year will only benefit from the tax cap and the mandate relief portion, and will not receive targeted relief beyond their existing basic STAR reduction,” said Mr. Ruddy.
If they are attempting to make a point with this statement it is irrelevant, people with that level of income do not get any benefit now and Renzi has not proposed it. It is inserted into the press release for only one reason, a feeble attempt at class warfare.

And in reality the circuit breaker plan with the elimination of the STAR rebate relief proposed by Aubertine would negatively effects middle income households.

Earlier today a post about going after opponents position is acceptable and it is, without the negative nuances.

People are smart and see through this type of activity and the media should too. The public has spoken loud and clear on negative campaigns, but again this campaign team has missed the memo.

Bad Decision-Don't Do It

The media is reporting the Republican Election Commissioner is supportive of a ban on the media inside polling sites. Sources say it was discussed and agreed by GOP and Democratic Commissioners that this is permissible by law, but it is simply a BAD IDEA!

The objective is to make government and elected officials more open, accountable, and the process more transparent.  Banning cameras may be within the Democratic and Republican Election Commissioner's rights and it maybe the letter of the law that allows them to do it, but use common sense.

Renzi Mailer In 48th

Dave Renzi is working hard for the support of voters in the 48th Senate district and is communicating his message through personal campaigning, candidate forums and advertising. Here is another mailer from the Renzi campaign.

 
 

There Is No Prize For Second Place

Reading on the 118th Assembly race today provides evidence from the candidates that there is a hypersensitivity to what is perceived to be negative campaigning.

The issues in a campaign are fair game and that involves laying out candidates positions and sometimes simultaneously going after or contrasting your opponent's positions. This is politics folks and that is what it is about, competing ideas, for pete's sake get over the false perception that mentioning your opponent's position is negative and let us hear and read how candidates oppose each other's thoughts.

On the other hand, if a campaign digresses to the point where they are mentioning the opponent in the personal context then they are running a negative campaign, and that includes showing a candidate's house in an attempt to begin a class warfare fight.
-------------------------
Addie Jenne made some interesting comments today.
"That's how I'm going to be campaigning."
"...going to be..." The 118th Assembly district is a large district, which cannot be covered in less than 60 days when you decide to start campaigning. Voters want to meet the candidates and be asked for their support, taking voters for granted because it has been a Democratic seat and you have union support is a losing strategy.
Mrs. Russell said she has not received funds from DACC "at this point," but said her relationship with the Albany group was "pretty preliminary."
The reality is that it is not preliminary now. Money follows poll numbers, it is that simple. Organizations decide their strategic races, count heads by polling and invest money, so the conclusion is either DACC is not interested in this race or her polls numbers are not good enough. She would have had photos shoot and commercials cut at this point and just like Cantwell approving or disapproving mailers. In the scenario of an Addie Jenne Russell win, she will be a marginal member by Sheldon Silver's standards.

DACC invested in Darrel Aubertine because they wanted the seat, which was when Silver had his sights on a veto proof majority, which is 100+ members, he has that and some now.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Some Days You're Just Catnip

Some days you are the cat and other days just the catnip. It seems lately that I am the catnip and driving a few of the cats crazy.

Senator Aubertine is refusing to participate in the on line forum sponsored by Political IV and Danger Democrat, which allows each candidate to bring their message to the public. The basis of his refusal is the anonymity of Political IV; he will consent to an interview if the identity of the author of this blog is revealed.

Senator Aubertine's stance on this issue is unfortunate. This is not about me, it is not about this blog, it is about the candidates, the voters and the public discourse of the issues for the benefit of the public. As the old saying goes, the Senator is having a difficult time seeing the forest through the trees.

Danger Democrat and Political IV have employed a reputable, intelligent interviewer who was given guidelines and asked to develop his own questions and to be consistent and non-partisan with each candidate. Danger Democrat and Political IV are of opposite political ideology and are simply facilitating the forum in a bi-partisan manner and ensuring that it is fair to all involved while providing a venue to disseminate the information. This is not about either of us as individuals.

If tomorrow I decided to reveal my identity, as I have considered doing for some time now, what difference would it make in the forum? What difference would there be in the questions or answer of the candidates? What difference would there be in anything that is written on this blog? The answer to all the above is none!

As of this writing, Addie Jenne Russell and David Renzi have signed up to participate, we have not heard from Bobby Cantwell and Senator Aubertine has refused. Respectfully, I request Bobby Cantwell to respond and the Senator to reconsider.

New McCain Ad

Claptrap

Poor Joe Biden is just not getting the attention he deserves, so remarks that he makes go essentially unnoticed. You knew it would be just a matter of time before Biden stepped on his own...tongue.

Biden attended a fundraiser Tuesday night and made the following comment. He was talking about the tough questions he would like to ask Sarah Palin and said he would ask her about this,  
"the superhighway of terror between Pakistan and Afghanistan where my helicopter was forced down...John McCain wants to know where Bin Ladin and the gates of Hell are? I can tell him where. That's where Al Quaida is. That's where Bin Ladin is. It's not in the country of Iraq."
Sounds scary and like he made quite the sacrifice.

Here is the account as reported by USA Today following CNN's lead at the moment in time that it was occurring.
Update at 3:33 p.m. ET: CNN says a Kerry spokesman has told the network that the helicopter landed because of impending bad weather, that none of the three are hurt — and that all three now are out of Afghanistan.
Update at 3:43 p.m. ET: A Biden spokesperson also is characterizing the landing to CNN as more of an "unscheduled," instead of "emergency," event because of unexpected bad weather.

Joe Biden has a reputation as a claptrap and he earned it the easy way with these type of remarks.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Palin Has The Democrats In A Frenzy

The Democrats are having a difficult time saying or doing anything without stepping in a pile of...

Here is South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler, told a Politico reporter Wednesday that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had chosen a running mate "whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion."


Are they losing their collective minds out there making comments like this?

Medicaid #s

New York has the second highest health care coverage enrollment through Medicaid of all the states.

The Top:
California claims the #1 spot with 5,809,000 enrollments while New York has 3,755,000 on the rolls followed by Texas at 3,015,000, Florida at 1,745,000 and Illinois at 1,530,000.

The Bottom:
North Dakota has just 53,000 enrolled, Wyoming at 50,000 then South Dakota at 72,000, Alaska at 77,000 and New Hampshire at 79,000.

The Odd Couple!


Local Blogs Sponsor Online Candidate Forum
Danger Democrat and Political IV to Sponsor Online Candidate in Depth Interview Profiles.
Two NNY political blogs representing opposite sides of the political spectrum have joined together to record online profiles of the candidates for the 48th State Senate and 118th State Assembly races.

Political IV and Danger Democrat will co-sponsor the effort called
‘The Candidates Defined Project.’

The online presentation of these profiles will allow voters to get to know the candidates better through in-depth conversations conducted by local radio personality Joe Brosk. Letters and emails have been sent to each of the campaigns asking the various candidates to please make available time to sit for an extended ‘one on one’ interview. The interview will be conducted in a casual conversational setting with in depth dialogue on the candidate and their views. The presentation and format will allow voters to view the candidates at their leisure and make an informed decision with their vote.

The interviewer will develop questions independently and the broad topic areas for the questions will include; the candidates views and philosophy on politics, views and philosophy on the role of government, description of personal characteristics, attributes, weaknesses, activities, and what people can expect from them as an office holder both locally and governing at the state level.

The interviews will be presented online beginning October 1st and will be available on Danger Democrat and Political IV, along with other media outlets. They will be archived for playback at any time convenient to voters between October 1st and Election Day.

Both Political IV and Danger Democrat blogs sincerely hope these interviews will be useful in helping voters gain greater in depth insight into the character, personality, style and intellect of the various candidates.

We are pleased to partner for such an important and worthwhile project for the public’s benefit with the assistance of candidate’s campaigns and sincerely hope the public agrees with the projects usefulness.

New Army Deployed, Palin Captivates Obama's Attention

Well, he may not be experienced at governing, but he is showing his experience at campaigning, which he has done more than anything else.

Obama's "new kind of politics" include deploying an army of lawyers to Alaska in an attempt to figure out how to attack Palin.

From the WSJ 
"It's no surprise, then, that Democrats have airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Anchorage, the state capital Juneau and Mrs. Palin's hometown of Wasilla to dig into her record and background. My sources report the first wave arrived in Anchorage less than 24 hours after John McCain selected her on August 29."
Sarah Palin has put the Republicans in a favorable spotlight with white woman according to polls. One poll, the Washington Post / ABC News poll showed Obama with a post convention lead among this group by 8% only to lose it to the McCain / Palin ticket one week later by 12% margin. The 20% swing in a group that has traditionally favored Democratic candidates is cause of concern for Democrats.

Sorry Barack, looks like Hillary would have helped you instead of that old male stereotypical curmudgeon politician Biden who is not even being mentioned in the media.

Not A Great Primary Night For Senate Dems

Malcolm Smith, minority leader of the Senate Democrats did not have a great primary night. A couple of the incumbent horses he bet on and put money behind lost and these losses may have a lasting effect on the leadership.

Senator Efrain Gonzalez lost in a primary to Pedro Espada, who is a former Senator also and Senator Marty Connor, who is a former minority leader and important to the Democrats with his in-depth institutional knowledge, lost to Dan Squadron. Malcolm Smith had his money behind Gonzalez and Connor. 

While Squadron will remain true to his party leadership (he is a former Schumer aid) Espada is a wild card for the Democrats. The last time Espada was in the Senate he aligned himself with the Republicans, Espada along with Senators Ruben Diaz and Carl Kruger will make for some tough sledding for the Senate Democrats.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Bridge To Nowhere Vote

While Sarah Palin may have supported the bridge to nowhere before she opposed it, Barack Obama supported and voted for it.

And voted for it over giving the money to New Orleans to rebuild bridges from Hurricane Katrina.

The Democrats appear ready to take a bath on the bridge issue.

If Obama does not support the bridge to nowhere now, than he is in the same position as Palin and if does support, well then he supports something people see as wasteful government spending.

Can Obama say quagmire?


Read here

Palinmania

The righty blogees are calling this Palinmania! That is a bit over the top this soon considering the lefty bloggees (and media) are focused and hoping (actually trying to create it) for her demise.

Congressional candidates are drooling (minds out of the gutters please) for the 'Cuda to campaign in their districts with them, they are even willing to take Todd for an appearance.

The Palinmania will subside some and she will undoubtedly make a mistake, everyone does, it is bound to happen. It is just a matter of how bad and how quick the she recovers.

She is widely popular as someone who can relate to the average person and she is a breath of fresh air. Keep rockin' Sarah!

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