Here We Go...Again - Myths and Reality

The Democrats are pretty quick to wail about political campaign tactics while failing to see any of their actions as anything but glamorous, including their class warfare attack they employed the last campaign in the 48th Senate district.

It is well documented that their state party chair, June O'Neill, is one of the most ruthless aggressive attack dogs who is able to sling mud as good as anyone and her minions at the local level fall right into line with her actions.

Attack #1:

Danger Democrat attempts to put the Renzi campaign on the defensive regarding some supposed poll in which Danger Democrat labels as a push poll. Typical tactic, anytime a poll is in the field and it mentions issues which may not favor Aubertine they will attempt to blame it on Renzi and call it a negative push poll.

Reality:

Whether or not a poll was done, PIV has no proof of it, but polls are reality in the business and discussing issues in polls whether they favor your candidate or not is also reality.

Attack #2:

Letters to the editor written by shadow campaign writers and signed by local residents friendly to the campaign are a tactic that was widely used by the Aubertine campaign in the last election to attack Barclay and start a negative buzz in the campaign. See the mythical letter in today's paper. It is nothing less than their campaign message and what they have been saying for over a month now. Pretty soon the letters will begin appearing with a negative tone toward Renzi.

Reality:
Dear Mrs Burrows, please enlighten the readers on why Darrel Aubertine did not sponsor legislation during his 5 years in the New York State Assembly to provide equal treatment to the Republican members of the New York State Assembly?

Ahhh the answer! Because it did not benefit him politcally, such as having Dede Scozzafava near him with equal powers, it did not concern him that consitituents in the 122nd were treated differently than neighbors in the 118th.

The very structure you so carefully pointed out that exists in the New York State Senate, exists in the Assembly and ten fold, kindly ask Dede or Bob Nortz. Mention the ice storm; Speaker Silver would not even entertain a discussion with Bob Nortz, how is that for partisan dysfunction.

You mention; "level the playing field and hone his skills." Mr. Aubertine has had 5 years in the majority of the Assembly to level the playing field and hone his skills, if he has not produce results yet then time is up.

The letter in today's paper is simply bogus and Danger Democrat's claim of some push poll is bunk!

Thank you to the campaign worker who wrote the letter and thank you Mrs Burrows for signing a letter.

Another Poll - Another ... McCain Lead??

Yes, John McCain has taken a 5 point lead in Reuters/Zogby Poll released less than an hour ago.

McCain 46% to Obama 41%, which erases a 7 point Obama lead in July.

See the full Reuters article here.

Another Poll - Another Deadheat Reported

 

In a race that by all accounts should have been, and was predicted to be a blow out, John McCain shows his tenacity and remains close to the Messiah. This race is the "chosen one's" race to lose and as of now the more he becomes known the more difficult it is for him to hang on to the lead. 

LA Times/Bloomberg poll results show the race is a statistical dead heat with the Messiah at 45% and John McCain at 43% which for Barry is down 12 points from June.

Read the LA Times story here

The survey highlights Obama's vulnerability on the question of his readiness to lead the nation. Less than half of the registered voters polled think the first-term Illinois senator has the "right" experience to be president, while 80% believe McCain, a four-term senator, does.

McCain seems to be charging up his base, but this could be deflated with a pro-choice running mate. Barry, on the other hand, is having a difficult time firing up his base and this will not get any easier with Clinton's desire to be nominated next week, this is only going to continue to cause the Messiah more problems.

McCain's ads are working perfectly, the ads are moving Obama's numbers and McCain's numbers remain intact.

Special Session Results

Here is the scorecard for today's special "economic summitt" of the state legislature.

The Assembly passes a circuit breaker and higher income earners tax increase combo bill. This measure does not match the Senate school tax cap, so both are one house wonders, unless a compromise is worked out. 

No school tax cap passed by the Assembly means any home heating assistance measure is being held hostage.

$50 million in member item "pork" money is being swept away from lawmakers.

The Senate talk is about a 6% reduction across the board in state spending; legislative programs, certain aid to municipalities, excluding education, HCRA.

Paterson's mistake - proposing $1 billion in cuts and saying he would accept $600 million, which was the first signal to the legislature he would take less than that, so they may hit $400-500 million. He should have left it at $1 billion period!

Mr Responsible Is A Facade

Tom Golisano, Mr. Responsible for a better New York, who claims his start up $5 million for his political action committee was a non-partisan effort for better government, is merely a facade.

Golisano has now committed $1 million to the Democratic Party's convention.

This guy is artificial, his point guy in Responsible New York is Steve Pigeon and he is a former Democratic party chair and now a member of Obama's finance committee.

Mr. Pigeon is the former chairman of the Democratic Party in Erie County and joined the Obama campaign’s finance committee a few weeks ago; he subsequently played a key role in soliciting the donation from Mr. Golisano.    

If anyone in their right mind believes Golisano's efforts are non-partisan, then you probably believe Karl Rove is non-partisan also.

Special Session

It was mentioned yesterday in a post here that it is likely the legislature will not accomplish the Governor's intended budget cuts.

Today, the New York Post is reporting the legislature is at about $200 million in cuts, which is $400 million short on the goal. The Governor rightfully points out they are not cutting spending at all, they are cutting growth in spending, therefore $200 million should be absolutely unacceptable.

Meanwhile, according to Newsday, the Assembly is positioned to pass a school tax cap with a circuit breaker paid for by an increase in taxes on higher income earners. This is a gimmick, nothing more than a tax shift by the Assembly.

The circuit breaker in the Senate, which was supported by Senator Darrel Aubertine, was defeated because it eliminated the STAR rebates. The Assembly version does not eliminate STAR, but it does raise taxes. 

A bipartisan coalition of senators defeated a circuit-breaker amendment put forward by their Democratic colleagues because it would have eliminated STAR rebate checks for many homeowners. The Assembly bill doesn't touch STAR, instead raising the necessary $2.6 billion with more tax on people...

Shifting the tax burden does not solve problems, it simply disguises them and reduces private sector capital available to be invested in New York for jobs. Funding government with a different revenue stream is not the answer to the economic woes the state faces.

Siena Poll results from their August poll clearly points out the public's opposition to raising taxes to pay for budget gaps.

“While voters are divided over what the Legislature and Governor should do this week, they are nearly unanimous in opposing tax increases to close the budget gap, with 80 percent wanting to see spending cut and only 10 percent saying raise taxes,” Greenberg said.

 

The possibility of very little happening today is real. The desire and will to make cuts is not the nature of the beast, even if it is just slowing their spending habits.

Here is a quote from Governor Paterson and directed at legislators like Senator Aubertine and others in the event very little is accomplished today. 

"Let those who left Albany today explain to the public why we had to come back."

Barry Losing His Luster, Tumbling In New York

Barack Obama is losing his appeal in the Empire State, he lead McCain in June by 18 points, his lead has shrunk to 8 points according to a newly released Siena NY Poll.

Date                Obama  McCain  Don’t Know/No Opinion
August 2008     47          39               14
July 2008          50          37              13
June 2008         51          33              17


His national lead overall is following the same trend, a steady decline.

If John McCain continues to answer questions as precisely and passionately like he did during the Saddleback Civil Forum interview and Barack Obama continues his evasive answers to specific questions, this trend is likely to continue.

All of this is not particularly good news for Darrel Aubertine and the rest of the New York State Senate Democrats who need to ride the coattails of Barack Obama.

If you are interested in playing out different scenarios for the electoral college try it here, this interactive calculator lets you try your political skills for predicting elections results.

Brass B@lls

Does this guy have brass ones or what?

Malcolm Smith, Senate Majority Leader In Wanting, has the audacity to stand up in front of lobbyist and tell them to buck up or no deals next year for their clients. You can say anything you want about Joe Bruno, but he did not even do things like this.

The arrogance of leaders in Albany like this is disgusting at best, and if people think for a minute this guy or his conference of Democratic Senators will clean up and reform Albany, they better think again. NOT A CHANCE!

His actions are illegal.

Here is a quote from a lobbyist at the event, read the rest here.

"He said we should get in early because then it doesn't cost as much. The longer you wait to get in, he said, the more it will cost you and if you don't get in at all, then it will be painful after November, after the Democrats win the majority," the lobbyist continued.

If Senator Aubertine wants to be viewed as independent and reform minded then he should denounce Smith and his actions.

Special State Legislature Session: Deal or No Deal

A quick run down of who wants what in tomorrow's special session of the state legislature. The deal making is taking place in the back rooms of Albany, shielded from the public's glare until it becomes a done deal.

Governor:

• He wants budget cuts. He has given the legislature $1 billion in choices, he wants $600 million in results.

• He wants the school tax cap already passed by the Senate to be passed by the Assembly.

Senate:

• They want the school tax cap passed.

• They want taxes collected on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations worth $400 million in revenue.

Assembly:

• They want home heating assistance for low to moderate income families, it will cost $550 million, paid for by oil companies, potentially creating a platform for higher prices form oil companies to the public. Essentially it is a tax increase, that they are not passing but forcing someone (oil companies) else to do the lift for them.
  

• They want to pass a tax for higher income earning people. 

This session has potential to be a big bust, although there seems to be a will to get something done and to work with Governor Paterson who is likable by all sides and becoming increasingly popular among the people of the state.

Here is the potential:
The Governor get some budget cuts, not as deep as he wanted.
The school tax cap, the cigarette tax and home heating assistance for lower to moderate income all get passed in some version.

The bust:
Income tax on high income wage earners.
Some of the Governor's budget cuts, they will fall short of $600 million in cuts.

The centerpiece of the session is the school tax cap, this is the anchor for all deals. If the Assembly succumbs to the pressure of New York State Teacher's union and Working Families Polical Party and does not pass the tax cap, then watch for the Senate to return the favor on the home heating assistance. Potentially lost in all this negotiatiing will be the budget cuts.

McHugh To Pelosi - Do The People's Business, Not Your Own

Congressman John McHugh gave a passionate speech the other day on the floor of the adjourned House of Representatives to demand Speaker Nancy Pelosi end her book tour and return the House back into session to resolve issues that plague the public, energy cost and all the associated price increases that go along with high fuel cost.

Excerpts of the speech:

"In my 24 years of elected office, I have never before been to more townhalls, more places – where everyone is more concerned about one issue.  And, it's not just the price of gas, it's the associated rise in prices across the board – the price of a loaf of bread, the price of a gallon of milk.  People in my neck of the woods have already cut back as much as they can – they're carpooling, not taking that summer vacation, cutting out the unnecessary car trips. 

"I cannot for the life of me figure out what the motivation is of the majority to not be here dealing with this issue.  We might not come to a resolution.  But, when the Founding Fathers envisioned this House, they at least expected us to talk about the issues that were most important to this nation.  Yet, the Honorable Speaker has decided that the most pressing issue for her, for her Majority, is to go on vacation…what we ought to be doing is being here right now, meeting the charge of the American people, and debating how to solve this energy crunch and bring relief to Americans across the country.

"I would say to the Honorable Speaker, who is out on a book tour, I understand the responsibilities to your publisher, but you have a responsibility to the people of this nation that, as Speaker, you should be the first, not the last, to help when they are hurting, when they are frightened, when they are challenged.

The Congressman offered to buy 100 of the Speaker's book if she would end her self serving book tour and come back to work to discuss the issue effecting every American.

Ouch, Congressman, bad investment but a noble reason behind the offer, please don't send them out as Christmas presents. Hey, you could donate them as fireplace starters!

The Congressman has been working on important legislation to mitigate energy prices, the HEATR Act has bi-partisan support from Charlie Rangel, several others from the House and Senator Hillary Clinton.