Open Letter to Carl Paladino Re His School Board Bid

Dear Carl:

One issue you might consider is assurance of learning.   The median writing ability in American schools has deteriorated to the point where the median entering college student is functionally illiterate; college does not teach them basic skills, and they graduate illiterate. There are simple writing measurements that can be done to determine the quality of writing education at the school level, but these need to be graded by an objective, outside source such as ETS, not by the school system itself.  Cheating on objective tests is endemic in school systems across the country. The tests cannot be available to the schools.   

My mother was a New York City school teacher, and she described this to me in the 1970s in her school district in Spanish Harlem (District Four),  which was overseen by Anthony Alvarado, who was later made chancellor of New York City’s schools because of his supposed improvement in test scores. I vividly recall my mom describing the cheating in his administration in the 1970s.   The scoring of the tests must be done by outside agencies, and the tests cannot be administered by the school system, especially by the teachers or principals of the local schools.

 The conceptual issue in teaching writing is simple. It is like teaching a kid to ride a bicycle.  You teach them the rules, then they write, then you improve what they wrote, then they rewrite the same essay.  You teach them again, they try it again, you correct it again, and you have them rewrite it again.  The process is time consuming, so teachers avoid it.  They need to be forced or encouraged to spend the time on it.  The same is with basic math. The students must be given problems; they must be forced to redo problem they don’t get.  The teachers don’t like doing the grading, which is grueling.  They need incentives, and they need to be taught the importance of teaching basic writing and math.  One alternative way to teach writing might be programmed instruction.  

Diane Ravitch wrote Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform, which I recommend. In most schools progressive education is malarkey.  The students need to be taught the multiplication tables, multiplying fractions and the like by rote, not by the new math.  As well, they need to be taught writing by practice, like learning to ride a bicycle, not by “creativity.”   Other issues may be important too, but unless the students are taught the basics they will continue to graduate as illiterates.  I have 100 college students 80 or 90 of whom will graduate unable to write clearly. One student was promoted to district manager of a fast food chain, and she told me that she goes to the  College Learning Center to have them write memos she needs to write for her job.

I have spent 40 hours per week working on this for the past three years. I get results, but one class and one professor can’t undo 16 years of neglect of basic skills.  I stopped having them write term papers because they are unable to write English.  I have them write one-page papers that I grade and have them rewrite.  Then I grade them again.  This is time consuming, and most college professors do not have the grammar training or the willingness to do this.  It should be done at the elementary school level.  Currently, resources are massively squandered.  America graduates college seniors who cannot write at the level of third graders.  It is a scandal.

Sincerely

Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Brooklyn College

845-657-8460

mlangbert@hvc.rr.com

From: Carl Paladino [mailto:carl@carlpaladino.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 6:33 PM
To: Carl@carlpaladino.com
Subject: Open Memo to the People of the City of Buffalo from Carl Paladino

Carl Paladino on Sheldon Silver

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Paladino
To: Carl Paladino
Sent: Wed, Sep 5, 2012 7:36 pm
Subject: Sheldon Silver and the New York State Press a/k/a Wimps

Obviously you are not disposed to call for Sheldon 

Silver's resignation or even a Federal investigation 

of his corruption.  After all, he only embezzled 

$103,000 from the State treasury and in the context 

of his other high crimes and misdemeanors, what's the 

big deal?   Silver was only doing what he has always 

done.  He was bailing out his buddy Vito Lopez.  After 

all he is Sheldon Silver, the guy who wrote the book on 

intimidating the press with the denial of access.  Just 

ask Liz Benjamin and Jim Vielkind.  Is there no one in 

the spineless press who has the cohunes to stand up to 

this diabolic scoundrel?

Considering Silver's past, the press should be asking 

if it was quiet money to keep Vito's mouth shut about 

other topics?  We'll probably never know the answer to 

that because the press will let the good old Albany 

establishment boys bury the issue with a Special 

Prosecutor investigation that will go on forever 

and result in nothing.  Whenever politicians want 

to bury an issue they appoint a Special  Committee or 

Prosecutor.  

Silver acknowledged  "a mistake was made."  Was it an 

intentional mistake?  The confidentiality clause, his 

long history of making such "mistakes" and the BS that 

other elected officials knew lead one to believe that 

it was an intentional and unforgivable mistake.   

What more do you need to demand his resignation?   

Silver is a poster child for term limits.  18 years 

of intimidation, arrogance, illusion and theatrics 

that the establishment boys call "skill."  He rules 

the entire State government with an iron fist.  We'll 

never see Tort, Malpractice or Workers Comp reform 

while he's there.  He gets a load of 

money from his personal injury law firm, and under 

the rules he has written, he is not required to 

disclose it.  We'll never see reform of the Wick's law, 

Taylor Law or Tri-borough Amendment which punish the 

taxpayers with mind boggling costs.  We'll also 

never see initiative and referendum which would 

give the taxpayers a real voice in their government.   

Silver thinks that three men in a room with one 

alpha dog works good for him. 

Mike Gormley's expert from someplace else tells us that 

Silver is out of the weeds because all his actions were 

known to the Comptroller and Attorney General.  What 

Mike didn't say is that both of them owe their jobs to 

Sheldon Silver and have been his puppets for years.  That 

doesn't work for the people Mike.   The "Joint Commission 

on Public Ethics" was personally picked by Silver.  That 

also doesn't work for the people Mike.

We know the press is just peachy with things as they are.  

The status quo suits you so well because it keeps the 

taxpayers dumbed down and cheap brainless staff keep your 

profit margins up.  You can sell the people of New York just 

about any garbage.  They eat it up.  They accept mediocrity 

and failure because the press has told them that they can't 

do anything about it.  Those who can get out.  Meanwhile 

guys like Silver keep the entitlements rich to bring more 

dregs to New York to enhance the effort for a permanent 

democratic majority.  Silver recently showed just how 

far he has gone off the reservation by proposing that New 

York State taxpayers give financial aid to educate any 

illegal in America.  Who wants to stick around to pay 

for that burden?

Corruption is rampant in Albany because Shelly Silver is 

not only involved and complicit but he also protects the 

criminality of his followers when one of his bottom fish 

gets caught with dirty hands.  

Silver's attitude has now evolved to the absurd.  He 

alone can violate the rules of the Assembly and disburse 

taxpayer money with impunity and without prior consultation 

or approval.  He uses taxpayer money to ensure loyalty.  What 

possible theory could justify the use of taxpayer money to 

resolve a sexual harassment allegation?  What other actions 

of this man will raise the red flag?  Why is a downstate 

District Attorney, who associates with the good old boy 

establishment RINO's, selected as the Special Prosecutor 

instead of a more objective upstate DA who would be less 

inclined to belabor the proper dissection of an 18 year 

career of arrogant larceny and intimidation.  If anyone 

else embezzled $103,000 the press would be calling for 

the construction of a gallows prior to giving him or her 

a fair trial.

The question is why is this particular government 

official above the law.  For anyone else in government 

it would be embezzlement.  For Shelly it's just another 

day of taking care of his friends and family club.   

The press could get by its cowardly image if it followed 

its role model,NY Times, and jumped at this opportunity 

to take down the man that even his friends refer to as the 

demon. 

Silver is vengeful and his retaliation is unmerciful.  For 

me, as the greater fool, it's a call to arms. For spineless 

cowards like the editors and reporters (and publishers) of 

the New York State press it would be an earth-shattering 

bold change of policy.  It would require actual research and 

a major effort to connect the dots and we all know the 

reluctance of the Albany press corps [Tom Precious of the 

Buffalo News included.]   They don't like controversy and 

are only capable of tweaking up feel good press releases.   

Here in Buffalo there would probably be a big problem for 

Stan Lipsey who's friends and family club members Jordan 

Levy and Howard Zemsky may be found on Silver's dance 

card when the Feds start following the money.  Do they do 

each other big favors?  Are investment tips the quid pro 

quo for handsome multi-million dollar subsidies from the 

taxpayers for their projects?  The money comes from one 

of Shelly's "off the books" vehicles like his private 

stash of taxpayer cash which some refer to as the 

Dormitory Authority.  

He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.

If you agree with the above, forward it to your 

friends and family.

Incoherence, Hate Characterize Democrats' Response to Carl Paladino

Carl Paladino is spending a considerable sum of money to run for governor. The reason is that the government of New York is broken.  The rate of emigration from the state is greater than the rate of emigration from Russia during the years leading up to the Bolshevik revolution, when my paternal grandparents fled to come here in 1904. 

Once the world's capital of innovation, New York is now a center of failed government programs, waste and economic illiteracy, spearheaded by its now-irrelevant, less-than-mass media.  The readership of the state's flagship newspaper, the New York Times, is less than the viewership of most cable television programs.  Once the "Empire State", thanks to Rockefeller Republicanism, left-wing extremism, the Ochs Sulzbergers, Keynesian economists and Wall Street, New York has led the nation in the march toward a rigid two-tiered economy and economic desperation.  Statist Democrats have shut down factories and taxed out productive New Yorkers, leaving special interests to fight among themselves for a pie that routinely decreases in size just as it routinely increased in size during the days of laissez faire capitalism.

Paladino is the first major candidate in my lifetime to seriously address a fraction of the many failures of Progressivism and the loot-and-spend system that has benefited college professors, school teachers, government contractors and social workers by manipulating a hoi polloi indoctrinated in ideological schools and institutions of higher indoctrination.  This includes CUNY, my employer, whose faculty includes a ratio of Democrats to Republicans of about 40 to 1 and whose administrators such as the former provost of Brooklyn College have advocated politicization of education. 

The Democrats' response to Paladino, who is calling for a meager 20 percent cut in government,  combines hate with ignorance. In particular, Paladino has committed several politically incorrect faux pas including distasteful e-mails and remarks concerning homosexuals.  All of us have our prejudices, including a distasteful anti-Christian prejudice I have detected in the less-than-mass media and among academics.  Unlike Obama, who refused to criticize Reverend Farrakhan for anti-Semitic remarks, Paladino has emphasized that he does not hate gays and has apologized to gays.  At no point did Paladino suggest that government enforcement of sodomy or related laws should be exercised. Hence, the entire issue is irrelevant to the gubernatorial race. 

Since the entire issue is irrelevant to the serious problems facing New York State, it raises questions in my mind as to how seriously one may take Andrew Cuomo, the Democrats and the less-than-mass media.  My conclusion is that the Democrats have no arguments against Paladino's, which chiefly concern the state's excessive government, its declining industrial base, its taxes, its massively overpriced Medicaid plan, the exodus of productive labor from the state and its overall economic decline.  Instead, the Democrats, assuming that the hoi polloi, educated in Democratic-run schools, are idiots, emphasize filth and do not respond to Paladino's arguments. Much as the Obama campaign signaled the end of the mass media as we knew it, this election signals the end of political debate as it ought to be.  The Democrats simply lack the intellectual tools to discuss issues that confront New York.

Paladino Campaign: Andrew Cuomo Took Payoffs from Slumlord--Cuomo a True Leftist

I just received the following press release from Mike Caputo, Carl Paladino's campaign manager:

PALADINO: "ANDREW CUOMO TOOK A PAYOFF"
Cuomo has a cozy, big money relationship with a "con artist"

(BUFFALO, NY) - Carl Paladino, the Republican and Taxpayers candidate for Governor, today charged Andrew Cuomo with taking payoffs from notorious slumlord Andrew Farkas. In return, Cuomo allowed Farkas to avoid prosecution for kickbacks in HUD programs and permitted Farkas to go on milking taxpayer dollars while Cuomo was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

"When HUD official Cuomo first visited the Sierra Nevada Arms housing project managed by Farkas' company Insignia Financial Services, he called the conditions "horrendous," Paladino said. "It was later revealed that Insignia had paid $7.6 million in kickbacks to the pockets of the owners of several abysmal housing projects, using money that HUD had earmarked for maintenance of these projects - as Cuomo put it, providing "lives of luxury for con artists stealing from our programs."

Cuomo called the case against Farkas "the largest ever brought by HUD" and denounced "the abysmal conditions" that he said tenants were forced to live with in the "poorly maintained" projects then managed by Farkas.

Paladino said Cuomo's behavior raises serious questions. "When faced with this rampant corruption, why did Cuomo authorize an out-of-court settlement allowing Farkas to pay back $7.4 million - less than he stole? Why did Cuomo authorize a settlement in which Farkas didn't admit any wrongdoing or pay any penalties for stealing from taxpayers?" Paladino asked. "Why was Farkas' company not blacklisted by HUD, while others who participated in the kickback scam were barred from doing business with HUD?"

"More disturbing, why did Andrew Cuomo take $1.2 million from Farkas after leaving as HUD secretary?" asked Paladino. "Why has Andrew Cuomo accepted at least $800,000 in campaign contributions from a man he called a "con-artist?"

"By allowing slum lord Andrew Farkas to avoid prosecution, Cuomo's decision permitted Farkas' companies to sell their entire rental residential portfolio for $910 million. In 2003, after flaming out in his first run for governor, Andrew Cuomo "went to work" for Andrew Farkas, collecting more than $1.2 million in compensation, and even more in undisclosed payments for consulting to Abu Dhabi's version of Fannie Mae, helping them make their mortgage business Sharia Law-compliant, an arrangement set up by Farkas," Paladino said.

"How much was Andrew Cuomo paid for his alleged work in Dubai?" asked Paladino. "Why won't he answer the question?"

"In this campaign, Farkas has personally given $50,000 to Cuomo and currently serves as Cuomo's campaign Finance Chairman. Why would Andrew Cuomo have such a cozy relationship with a man he once said was "using HUD like a personal ATM?" asked Paladino. "There is a clear quid pro quo at play here, the worst kind of insider politics and exactly what we've come to expect from Andrew Cuomo."

RAW VIDEO FEED FOR TELEVISION MEDIA:
www.paladinoforthepeople.com/cuomoforsale.

Carl Paladino, a successful Western New York real estate developer and attorney, is a Republican candidate for Governor of New York. He petitioned his way into the Republican Primary and canvassed to create a new Taxpayers ballot line. On September 14th, Paladino beat his Republican Primary opponent by a record 62 to 38 in one of the highest-turnout primaries in New York history.

For more information on where Carl Paladino stands on the issues, please visit www.PaladinoForThePeople.com

New York's Conservative Party Belongs in Yesterday's Trash

I dislike the label "conservative" when applied to people who believe in freedom and in life. The debate between laissez faire liberals and mercantilists goes back to the 18th century. Advocated by Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, and David Hume, mercantilism was an earlier doctrine than laissez faire. Adam Smith wrote in response to Shaftesbury just as Locke wrote in response to Filmer, who advocated the divine right of kings.  David Hume was the source of Alexander Hamilton's belief in a central bank and in government intervention in the economy. Hence, state activism with respect to the economy is an older doctrine than laisser faire, which has always been a radical response to the failure of traditional (i.e., conservative) doctrines like monarchy, state intervention in the economy and central banking.

More important with respect to today's Conservative Party in New York is that the purpose for its very existence has been obviated.  The Conservative Party was founded for two conceivable reasons: (1) the dominance of corporatist, big government Republicans, so-called "Rockefeller Republicans," in New York's Republican Party and (2) the pro-choice platform of many Republicans.  Some Republicans are pro-choice and some are pro-life.  The Conservatives were presumably aiming to define themselves as "social" as well as economic "conservatives" and so offer a position consistent with the Catholic Church's and the various Protestant denominations' that are pro-life.

In 2010 the Conservative Party, led by Mike Long, chose to nominate Rick Lazio over at least two superior alternatives (there were likely more; virtually anyone I know would have been a superior alternative to Rick Lazio): Steve Levy and Carl Paladino.  The Conservatives' and GOP's backing of Lazio removed Levy, who lacked the resources for an independent bid.  The Conservative Party and the Republican Party memberships had the opportunity yesterday to redeem their parties from, respectively, the Rockefeller Conservatives and the Rockefeller Republicans, who are eager for jobs and corrupt bonuses from big government.  The GOP membership showed that it is fundamentally "conservative" in the sense that I don't like using the word.  The Conservative Party members showed that it is less "conservative" than the GOP.

Although much press has been given to "Rockefeller Republicans" much less has been given to "Rockefeller Conservatives."  Yet, it is clear that under Mike Long's leadership the Conservatives have veered to the left and are now more "liberal" (another inappropriate term) than the GOP.   So who needs a Conservative Party?

The Conservative Party is creating a serious problem.  The "conservative" candidate, who is pro-life and for small government, is running on the GOP line but not on the conservative line.  The Conservative Party has reserved their line for a pro-choice, big government advocate, Rick Lazio.  The Conservatives are proving that corrupt motivations rather than an interest in liberty or in life is are enough to determine their nominations.   Conservative Party members might consider that by belonging to it they are harming the cause of "conservatism."

Yesterday's election proved that the GOP is more conservative than the Conservative Party.  It was enough to consign Mike Long and the Conservative Party to the trash bin of history.

Paladino Routs Lazio

New York One reports that with 69% of the precincts reporting Carl Paladino has defeated Rick Lazio in the GOP by 64% to 36%. Now, Paladino says, he aims to defeat the "status Cuomo".

This is the message that I hoped the voters would send to the dysfunctional GOP.  But it is not enough.  To truly redirect New York's corrupt, New York Times dominated "progressive" decline, Paladino will need to similarly cream Cuomo.

Pretty much the only people supporting Lazio were pseudo libertarians and corrupt party hacks.

Republican Decision 2010

The interesting primary this September 14 is the GOP's race between Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino even though Democratic candidate-designate Andrew Cuomo leads both.  A September 11 Siena poll finds that Lazio leads Paladino by one percent, 43 to 42. Paladino leads with 53 percent among Upstate New Yorkers while Lazio leads with a similar margin downstate.  Paladino leads among Tea Partiers 47 to 42 percent.  This slim margin suggests that the appellation Tea Party is amorphous. The Tea Party is neither small government- nor Rockefeller- Republican.  For while Paladino advocates a twenty percent cut in New York's budget, Lazio's record does not put him in the small government camp.

Carl Paladino

 Paladino is a Buffalo-based real estate developer who attended St. Bonaventure University and Syracuse Law.  He is a tough, inspiring speaker who befriends but challenges his audience.

Paladino built a real estate empire from scratch. His current net worth is about $150 million.  While overseeing 15 office buildings is not an executive responsibility with as much latitude as the governor's, Paladino has had more at risk personally than any governor. As a result, he has developed management skills that would be more likely to benefit the public than those of a lifelong politician.

Paladino is accused of forwarding racist and sexist e-mails to friends. The New York Times has endorsed Rick Lazio over Paladino saying that the e-mails alone are grounds for rejecting Paladino. However, writing of Jesse Jackson's having called New York City "Hymietown", Times reporter Jodi Kantor implied on May 22, 2008 that Jews should not hold the epithet against Jackson because he has apologized.  Although Paladino has similarly apologized for forwarding e-mails the Times applies a different standard to him. 

Like Lazio, Paladino opposes construction of the Ground Zero mosque.  He has run advertisements saying that as governor he would use eminent domain to foreclose the mosque.  I questioned him on this point because many conservatives oppose eminent domain.  At an Ulster County Republican appearance in late August Paladino insisted that he is opposed to private use eminent domain and that he would like to see less use of eminent domain more generally.

Paladino is running on a specific platform of 20 percent budget cuts.  Although Lazio also states that he would like to reduce government, his promises are not so specific.  The chief targets for Paladino's cuts are welfare and Medicaid, whose per capita costs in New York are double those in California.  There are in fact many areas where Medicaid and other aspects of New York's budget could be cut without loss in public welfare.

Rick Lazio 

Lazio grew up in West Islip on Long Island.  He attended Vassar College and American University Law School.  He worked as a Suffolk County prosecutor. He was elected to the Suffolk County legislature in 1989 and to Congress in 1992. He resigned his congressional post to oppose Hillary Clinton for Senate in 2000.  His website states that he expanded public housing for seniors and the disabled.  He also boasts of having increased the number of welfare-related Section 8 housing vouchers. In other words, Lazio's track record includes winning votes by expanding welfare benefits. He also has endorsements from the Sierra Club.

According to his Website Lazio favors three chief positions. The first, "getting our financial house in order," involves a property tax cap of 2.5% and instituting regional control of Medicaid. Also, Lazio aims to reduce public sector pension benefits for new employees and to reform Medicaid.  Second, Lazio aims at job creation. He favors lower taxes, but unlike Paladino does not offer a specific target for tax or budget relief. Nor does he offer targets for Medicaid cuts. Lazio's third position is improvement of ethics in government.

This last position is puzzling given evidence that the Village Voice has uncovered about Lazio's dealings at JPMorgan, for whom Lazio has worked as a lobbyist. During his eight-year congressional tenure Lazio collected more in contributions from financial service firms than any other Congressman. He was chair of the House housing subcommittee and through Louis Ranieri, his campaign manager, linked to the real estate bubble of the Bush administration.  On March, 18 2008, six months prior to the financial crisis of 2008, the New York Times reported that JPMorgan’s stock had increased ten percent, roughly equal to a $12 billion handout it had received in part from the Federal Reserve Bank. JP Morgan also received $25 billion in TARP funds during the crisis, which it repaid in 2009.   The Albany Times Union reported that Lazio's 2008 JPMorgan Chase salary was $325,000, with a bonus of $1.3 million.

According to the Village Voice, both Congressman Lazio and Democrat Andrew Cuomo as head of HUD worked on rules that legalized bonuses paid to real estate brokers who steered customers to more expensive real estate and higher-end mortgages.  This marked the inception of the sub-prime crisis.  The Voice also reports that in 2007 Lazio used his influence with Charles Millard, head of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, to secure a $900 million PBGC investment in JPMorgan's real estate management division.  The PBGC insures private pension plans. The untimely 2008 investment led to significant losses.  Moreover, in dealing with Millard, Lazio violated laws concerning communication during the bid process.  The PBGC's Inspector General has investigated the case and has referred it to a prosecutor.

Analysis

Liberals dislike Paladino's style, which I would describe as Jacksonian.  Andrew Jackson was a people's candidate who infuriated upper class Whigs, the 1820s' and 1830s' equivalent of today's Rockefeller Republicans and Soros Democrats.  Jackson, like today's libertarians, advocated elimination of the biggest government program of then and now: the central bank. Like Lazio, Jackson's opponent, Henry Clay, supported big government and was friendly to banking interests.  Jackson was an unabashed racist who was responsible for the Trail of Tears and whose Supreme Court appointee, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, wrote the Dred Scott decision.  But unlike the Jackson of 1828 and like the Jackson of 1984, Paladino has apologized for forwarding the e-mails.

Paladino's opponent, Rick Lazio, has been involved in marginally illegal activity in his role as JPMorgan lobbyist, and was very much associated with the bailout. Yet, he aims to get the state's fiscal house in order and clean up the state ethically.  Paladino appeals to non-racist Jacksonians in the Tea Party who are righteously indignant about the Bush and Obama administrations' massive transfer of wealth to Wall Street.  What is most puzzling about Lazio is his appeal to self-described Tea Party activists.

Mitchell Langbert is associate professor, Brooklyn College and is a member of the Ulster County Republican Committee. This essay was presented to the Kingston-Rhinebeck Tea Party on September 12, 2010.

Think Global, Act Local

I mailed about 650 Town of Olive Republican newsletters. As I mailed the newsletter, which announces a Town Republican Committee meeting, I have increasing concerns about the future of my involvement with the GOP, especially with respect to state-level and national-level candidates, i.e., for Senate, Governor and President.  I have been happy to support NY 22nd CD George Phillips, who is having a very nice $500 per plate fund raising dinner the same night as our Town meeting. 

I took myself off blog impresario Larwyn's mailing list, telling Larwyn that I do not want to associate further with GOP activists. I do not think that the GOP is different from the Democratic Party, and the American public continues to resist transformation of either or creation of a third and fourth party. 

I also told Raquel Okyay that I would not support her projected candidacy for state assembly further.  Besides being a Lazio supporter Okyay continues to support the policies of George W. Bush.  I consider Bush to be a fascist and a crook, and Lazio is no better.  Hence, I do not see the point of supporting Okyay in her strategizing about a candidacy.  I suggested that Okyay familiarize herself with basic books on freedom such as John Locke and Friedrich Hayek, but unsurprisingly she took no interest in doing so.  Rather she wrote the following response to my e-mail, which comes after hers:

 

Raquel: Mitchell -- You want to put all your eggs in the Paladino basket - go for it - You are no friend of mine.  You watched a man you don't know give two speeches and you are prepared to not just throw our friendship under the bus, but also do damage to my carreer!  What the f*ck is wrong with you Mitchell?  Wake up out of your dream - you just lost one of the best allies you had.    

Me: Sorry, Raquel.  I do not support Progressives.  I've already let Mike Marnell know my opinion that the Lincoln Eagle ought to oppose you if you run for office in this district.  George Bush is sc*m.  I cannot support someone who likes him, which you do.  You're a nice person, but that does not change the underlying issues.   George Bush has done tremendous harm to this country, and I put his supporters in the same category as Obama's supporters.  To me, you are equivalent to Rahm Emanuel. That you do not see the difference between Paladino and Lazio only adds further support for my assessment that your political views are opposed to freedom.  If you don't know what I'm talking about you need to do some reading, because you are not educated about freedom.  And I don't mean the New York Times, which agrees with you about Lazio.  I mean John Locke, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich von Hayek, Bertrand de Jouvenal and the Federalist Papers.

Raquel: Mitchell I'm shocked!! We can disagree in a primary race, can't we?  Why does Paladino do this to people, I don't get it?  Did we even support the same GOP candidate for President in 08, Mitchell?  Did it matter?  You may have saw Paladino speak a couple of times, but you know me for years.  I expect this from amateurs, not from old friends like you.

Me: I have heard Carl speak twice and he has emphasized the following issues: excessive welfare spending and cutting the state budget by 20%. No Republican has such a focus, certainly not Rick Lazio who was involved in the biggest expansion of government in the past 25 years, the corrupt bailout of Wall Street conceptualized by the Republican Party and George W. Bush.

I think it is clear, Raquel, that we have little common ground. You continue to support big government advocates like George Bush and Rick Lazio and, like your fellow Progressives in the Republican Party, are troubled by Mr. Paladino's focus on 20% budget cuts, which you attempt to deflect with an out of context quote about welfare recipients in jail. Afraid of going to jail, are you? In any case, please do not consider me a supporter of anything you have in mind for the future. I do not like Progressives.

Republican Paradox

Several of my friends support Rick Lazio for Governor of New York State.  Lazio had worked as a lobbyist for JP Morgan and had helped arrange Morgan's $25 billion bailout. No greater expansion of government power has occurred in the past two decades.  In exchange for his help in facilitating the expansion of government, JP Morgan paid Lazio a one million dollar bonus.  In addition, Lazio is on record in support of abortion.  As well, Lazio is entrenched in the same self destructive New York GOP that has allowed Alfonse D'Amato to play the GOP against itself in favor of the Democrats.  It is the same GOP  that continues to support Governor George Pataki, whose last term in office involved expansion of state government, an alliance with the state's Service Employees International Union boss Dennis Rivera and corrupt indifference to extensive Medicaid fraud.  These patterns cannot be excused by the State Assembly's Democratic majority or the state's liberal ideology, as even the left-wing New York Times took issue with the criminality in Medicaid that flourished during the Pataki administration.

It is thus puzzling that so many Republicans continue to favor Rick Lazio for governor, the GOP establishment's choice. These Republicans seek an outsider with considerable establishment experience.  That is, someone who supports less government but has spent his life earning a living through big government.   I would support Paladino if only to keep Lazio out of office, and a candidate who makes a 20% budget cut the centerpiece of his platform is certainly preferable to a paid lobbyist for JP Morgan. Another Pataki-like fraud would simply be too discrediting to the GOP.

The Republicans have grown used to dissonance between words and deeds.  The dissonance has become so sharp that the party's image has deteriorated and will not recover until new personnel are introduced at the highest levels.  Mr. Pataki and Mr. D'Amato are relics and do not belong in any leadership role.  Likewise, candidates such as Michael Bloomberg and Rick Lazio with big government track records need to be purged.  There is nothing moderate about the the bailout that Mr. Lazio facilitated. It is not mainstream; it is not "conservative".  The bailout was an extreme, self-indulgent, radical expansion of government, a violent taking of money by the powerful from those less powerful, and those participating in it lack the moral fiber to play any prominent role in government.

Paladino Campaign Submits Petitions, Asks for Support

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2010
Contact: Michael Caputo
716-863-0806
mc@paladinoforthepeople.com


PALADINO FORCES REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR PRIMARY
WITH LOBBYIST LAZIO
Paladino Files Double Legal Requirement of GOP Signatures for Governor Race

(BUFFALO, NY) - Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for Governor of New York, today announced that his campaign, after the hard work of thousands of volunteers across the state, will this afternoon file 28,000 Republican signatures on petitions with triple the requirement spread across 21 Congressional districts and 62 counties. This petition submission will successfully place businessman Carl Paladino in a Republican primary for New York State Governor against lobbyist Rick Lazio.

"Today we will file a bullet proof package of 28,000 Republican petitions to place Carl Paladino on the Republican primary ballot," said Michael R. Caputo, campaign manager, Paladino for the People. "With tens of thousands of Republicans calling for Carl Paladino to be in the Republican primary, only one thing could explain why Rick Lazio would decide to challenge our petitions; fear. Rick Lazio can not beat Carl Paladino in a primary so he wants to knock him out of the process."

Carl Paladino, a successful Western New York real estate developer and attorney, declared his candidacy for Governor of New York in Buffalo in April. He and Tom Ognibene have submitted for approval enough petitions for the Republican primary and are now collecting petitions for the Taxpayer line. For more information on where Carl Paladino stands on the issues, please visit www.paladinoforthepeople.com.

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Dear Friend,

I just had one of the most incredible experiences of my life- and I want to share it with you.

For weeks I had been promised that I would be allowed to speak as a candidate for Governor at the New York State Republican Convention in New York City.

When I arrived at the convention I learned that the Republican leadership had slipped in a convention rule that said candidates for Governor would be allowed to speak after the voting to select the Republican candidate and only those candidates who received 25% would be allowed to speak!

Have you ever heard of anything so backwards and undemocratic?

This so typical of the New York political situation where both parties have contributed to the dysfunction in Albany.

After a motion to move candidate speeches before the voting failed, and some quick thinking by Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy who was my convention floor manager, I was given a proxy so I could address the convention- by nominating myself! I had ten minutes to lay out our agenda for radical reform in Albany.

I never expected to be the choice of the Republican party bosses who have so much invested in the current system in Albany. I have always vowed to take my fight to the voters in the Republican Party primary. I know I will win the Republican Primary against former liberal Republican Congressman Rick Lazio whose days in Washington were marked by his strong support for the big-government style, sub-prime mortgage program push by Andrew Cuomo when he was the Secretary of Housing. Together Lazio and Cuomo cost US taxpayers $2.4 Billion in failed mortgages.

I have no illusions- just getting my name on the ballot will take a super-human effort to collect more than the 15,000 valid Republican voter signatures- which could cost our campaign more than $500,000. I have no choice.

If you want to volunteer to collect valid Republican voter signatures in your community please contact me by clicking here. Unless we press our people's campaign to clean up Albany- I am convinced that nothing will change under political insiders Rick Lazio or Andrew Cuomo. When I see the lobbyists and other special interests shoveling money into Cuomo and covering their bet with token contributions to Lazio you can see they are both members of the political elite that are destroying this state.

The political establishment will stop at nothing to stop real reform that erodes their power and riches.

I have a very specific and comprehensive plan to revive New York's economy to:

• cut taxes 10%.
  
  
• cut spending by 20% by eliminating waste, fraud and government programs that aren't working.
  
  
• cancel pension benefits and free health care for state legislators.
  
  
• impose 8 year term limits for all state elected offices including the legislature.
  
  
• institute a one-year residency requirement before anyone can receive welfare payments.
  
  
• re-negotiate the fat public employee pension deals that have literally driven us to the brink of bankruptcy.
  
  
• appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute corruption in the State Legislature and give him the subpoena power to get at the facts.

I have no illusions about how difficult it will be to force this package of reforms through the famously dysfunctional and corrupt New York State legislature. The people of New York must demand these reforms so that our legislators understand that there will be consequences for their inaction.

I can't do it alone. Democrat Andrew Cuomo has $20 Million dollars in special interest campaign contributions filling his war chest. Observers expect him to raise another $30 Million from the lobbyist, bankers, investment houses, Wall Street insiders, law firms, insurance companies and all those interested in maintaining the status quo in Albany.

While I have pledged to spend up to $10 Million of my own money, it will take far more if we are going to defeat the entrenched liberal special interests who have a stranglehold on our government.

That's why I am asking you to make a contribution to Paladino For the People today. I wish I could do it alone and while I have been blessed by my success in business, I cannot compete with the multi-Billion dollar special interests and public employees unions who like dysfunctional New York government just the way it is.

Together you and I can rally those New Yorkers who are fed-up and ready for radical reform. My campaign must raise an additional $200,000 in the next two weeks to keep our campaign plan on schedule.

Won't you send a contribution today?

I did not expect to be a candidate of the Republican Party bosses when they meet at their convention the first week of June. As I said, I intend to take my case directly to the Republican primary voters by collecting the 30,000 signatures that would ensure that my name appears on the September Republican Primary ballot. This effort alone could cost my campaign as much as $500,000.

If you want to help my campaign gather valid voter signatures as a volunteer please e-mail me by clicking here.

Because the New York State Conservative Party has also been co-opted by deal making, patronage hungry career politicians, I will also petition my way onto the November ballot on a Tea Party-oriented line. I believe this will create a vehicle to attract the votes of conservative Democrats and Independents who agree with us on the issues but are not comfortable voting Republican.

I'm doing my part, will you do yours? Will you help me save New York State?

You can use your Visa or Mastercard to make a contribution now. Won't you send $200, $100, $75 or $50? Even a contribution of $25 would be a big help.

Together we can defeat the bosses of the Republican establishment in their attempt to saddle our party with a weak nominee and defeat Andrew Cuomo and the liberal special interests who hope to make him Governor.

I would not be running and spending my own money if I didn't think I could win- but I cannot do it alone. Please help our campaign with a contribution today.

I will be checking for your response online. Thank you. Please let me hear from you today.

Carl P. Paladino

Candidate for Governor

PS - Don't let the attacks on me by the liberal media and political insiders distract you. The real obscenity is Albany and what they are doing with our money, not to mention the succession of corrupt politicians representing us. It seems like a new one is arrested every day. We can turn Albany upside down and take out the trash. Please go to https://www.paladinoforthepeople.com/donate.php and rush me your answer today.

PSS- If you want to volunteer to circulate petitions in your neighborhood to get my name on the ballot go to http://paladinoforthepeople.com/petition. Our campaign is a people's campaign and we need your help. If you want a Paladino for the people yard sign go to http://paladinoforthepeople.com/volunteer