the albany project - Recent Comments

So, ummmmmm....

janed — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:20:40 GMT

Where WAS he working?
jane

Whoa

IrishDeb — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:11:31 GMT

Sort of like there are "good" strip club owners?

Barack Obama doesn't distinguish between "good" lobbyists and PACs and "bad" lobbyists and PACs. He simply rejects all of their money.

i seriously doubt

phillip anderson — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:24:05 GMT

he'll be their minority leader. giving him the majority leader gig was that conference's way of tossing him the anvil when he gets caught holding the bag after november. there are already power struggles within that caucus for minority leader and dean had better enjoy his time in the limelight. it will be over soon enough.

This is why I laugh at downstate politicians

robert.harding — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:21:08 GMT

(1) Don't come to upstate when you are from New York City and Long Island and act like you know upstate. I get it - we have less people than you do. But we ARE people too. We have concerns (namely property taxes, a lackluster economy and heating our homes, to name a few) and we would like those concerns addressed. I am all for "One New York" but "One New York" is a two-way street.

(2) All of the downstate politicians could take a lesson from Chuck Schumer. Pull up your pants, shut your mouths, and open your ears. Schumer attended the DRC convention for good reason. He has gotten to know upstate and the rural counties pretty well. He will be the first to admit that he knew nothing about farming and some other upstate concerns.

(3) It seems to me Dean Skelos "listening tour" is a more of a self-congratulations for Dean Skelos to show off the fact that he is the new majority leader. I hope he plans on doing another listening tour when he comes minority leader.

Potential Dem voters

Jrathman — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:10:44 GMT

learned the hazard of voting for Nader 8 years ago. He'll pull a few votes, but as Roatti said, probably less than what Barr's going to pull from McCain. I'm not worried about Nader.

Dean's real message to Chemung:

robinia — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:02:25 GMT

"We Republicans are all one happy family. Now, shut up, sit down, don't you dare talk back to your betters, and gimmee all your school's tax money for my suburban NY constituents who are RICH and therefore deserving, you peons."

and not so different, really, from this:

robinia — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:03:53 GMT

http://www.thealbanyproject.co...

or the reception the Barber campaign got during the kickoff event in Oneonta, where some Seward supporters gathered to "protest" Don's speech in the public square announcing his candidacy-- holding printed signs reading "This is Seward Country."

Basically, the Republican aristocracy thinks that they own rural upstate NY, and that any residents who dare to exercise their rights to vote, support a challenging candidate or run for elected office themselves are uppity serfs who should be scolded and punished. "I want to talk to your mother!" indeed.

Take it back, people. These are precisely the kind of parasitic despots that our forefathers invented democracy to rid us of. They have no god-given right to rule, despite thinking they do.

Absolutely

robinia — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:51:38 GMT

But, Devtob, you forgot one of the things that the security theater also does: the long lines that form to submit ourselves to unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant also routinely make citizens late for their scheduled citizen-lobbyist appointments.... often late enough to miss them entirely. Some of the most powerful legislators have their offices in the Capitol building.... and security theater in the LOB is as bad or worse.

The arrangement hampers democracy. And, remind me, how many would-be bombers have we apprehended? None I ever heard about.

That's a threat, actually

robinia — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:39:01 GMT

Skelos is basically telling the people of Elmira, who overwhelmingly support their Mayor, that he will punish them for daring to try to exert their rights to vote for the candidate of their choosing. One of Tonello's main reasons for running was that he saw that once a Democrat was elected Mayor, Winner stopped responding in any way, shape or form to the problems and issues the city encountered. Oh, sure, he would get pork-barrel funds for a nonprofit theatre located in Elmira, but when their Police Station was confronted with an emergency situation with the building, he was completely disinterested.

Tonello is, by nature, not a very partisan kind of politician-- he is a Communications specialist by trade, and works for a business school, so, he is all about how we can communicate and negotiate and find common ground across differences. Which is great in theory, and useful in running in this conservative district.

But, Skelos and the Gang are hardball thugs. As this clearly shows. The best that we can hope for is that they lose leadership of their party when they lose the majority. Skelos and Winner are not the kind of Republicans that you want in a democracy.

Very similar encounter at the GC Fair

starrynight — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:12:35 GMT

He came into the Democratic booth and pretty much pulled the same thing with one of our committee people. He asked why she supported Jon Powers. Our committee person replied politely with a few of her personal reasons. She described him as being somewhat annoyed and irritated with her answers and her uncompromising support of Jon Powers. He went on a mini rant on the economy and his business experience then said that he would like to talk to her and other Democrats sometime. She again told him it was nice to meet him, but she was 100% with Jon.

I find this interesting that these two random encounters, in two different counties, were so similar.

Nader annoys me

Roatti — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:55:28 GMT

But I think Bob Barr is gonna damage McCain far worse than anything Nader does to Obama.

I don't trust the AARP

Roatti — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:06:28 GMT

But I generally trust the national leadership of SEIU- I need to know more about this

75 people versus 15

Socrates — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:34:55 GMT

75 people circulated Foley's petitions and only 15 carried poor Jimmy's. Is Jimmy trying to claim that Foley hired 75 people? Even in Jimmy's home town of Islip Foley got more signatures than Jimmy.
As for a website you will see that soon enough or you can go right now to the Town of Brookhaven website and see the kind of things that Brian has been doing while Jimmy was spending his time as an assistant in the County probation department after he was exiled from the County Executive's office.

Agree

robinia — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:28:46 GMT

Getting petition signatures is not all that hard. I often do twenty or so, just myself... and that would be a year where I was only going out a couple of times and, basically, not working at it much-- taking 3 or 4 hours max. In a rural area-- it's faster in a more densely populated place. Somebody who only got 1,400 signatures total just isn't trying. And $190 on ActBlue! Looks like nobody's doing much calling of voters, either (as well as not going to their doors).

News flash: campaigning is hard work. Be ready to do it, or be ready to step aside for somebody who is. If Dahroug wanted to further his progressive agenda, I'd think he would be mighty careful about a lot of namecalling toward somebody who is looking like a probable primary winner from here. Might need to avoid burning bridges.

Dollinger is well informed

Jerri S. Kaiser — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:21:55 GMT

We'd be so fortunate if Dollinger wins this election. He's informed, experienced and effective. Nice interview.