Big-government Republicans like Rudolph Giuliani and corrupt ones like Chris Christie have chosen to either support Andrew Cuomo or avoid supporting the small-government GOP candidate, Rob Astorino.
The New York Daily News reports that on July 24 Christie gave Astorino the brushoff because he doesn't think Astorino can win. Unlike Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who is facing a corruption investigation concerning the Moreland commission, Astorino probably isn't corrupt enough for Christie. Like Cuomo, Christie is under a corruption investigation: Christie's close aides have admitted to closing lanes at the George Washington Bridge because the mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, didn't endorse Christie in 2013. Christie has allowed his aides to take the blame, but why on earth would anyone believe that he didn't know? The Newark Star Ledger adds that Christie's private attorneys have billed New Jersey taxpayers $6.5 million for legal services in his private defense.
At the same time, New York City's Mayor Giuliani, a guy who claimed to be for less government but never cut government, has been quietly supporting Andrew Cuomo. There are so many things that Giuliani might see in Cuomo: the exodus of 400,000 New Yorkers during Cuomo's three years as governor, his attack on the Second Amendment, his failed Common Core school reform, or his narcissistic plan to rejuvenate New York's economy by appointing eight SUNY campuses to house a few well-connected tech firms, then spending $200 million dollars in TV ads around the country that use the dumb plan as a pretext to promote Cuomo himself.
I rejoined the GOP out of desperation to get Cuomo out, but the GOP's bankrupt leadership is truly a gang that can't shoot straight. Perhaps Astorino would be best off disowning the GOP and using the GOP ticket to run a Libertarian campaign.
Showing posts with label governor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label governor. Show all posts
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Donald Trump Says "Yes" to the Second Amendment
New York is too far gone for it to matter much, but it's nice to hear Mr. Donald Trump tell New York's politicians that they're bad guys and to tell Andy Cuomo, "You're fired!" H/t Mert Melfa.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Lazio Should Step Down
PO Box 130
West Shokan, NY 12494
June 12, 2010
Rick Lazio
Lazio 2010 Inc.
PO Box 4818
New York, New York 10185
Dear Mr. Lazio:
I am writing as a registered Republican and a member of my Town’s Republican Committee.
Your opponent, Carl Paladino, has publicly stated that during your tenure as a full-time employee and lobbyist for JP Morgan Chase you lobbied for and arranged a payment of $25 billion from the US Treasury to your employer. In other words, Mr. Paladino has publicly alleged that you participated in the “bailout." In return you received a $1.3 million bonus.
If Mr. Paladino’s allegations are inaccurate, please respond to this inquiry publicly.
If Mr. Paladino’s allegations are accurate then you are morally unfit to serve in public office. I am posting this letter on my blog and stating explicitly that if Mr. Paladino’s allegations are accurate you are morally equivalent to a common criminal and belong in jail. Consequently, I would urge you to step down from the gubernatorial candidacy and allow the better man to run.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
West Shokan, NY 12494
June 12, 2010
Rick Lazio
Lazio 2010 Inc.
PO Box 4818
New York, New York 10185
Dear Mr. Lazio:
I am writing as a registered Republican and a member of my Town’s Republican Committee.
Your opponent, Carl Paladino, has publicly stated that during your tenure as a full-time employee and lobbyist for JP Morgan Chase you lobbied for and arranged a payment of $25 billion from the US Treasury to your employer. In other words, Mr. Paladino has publicly alleged that you participated in the “bailout." In return you received a $1.3 million bonus.
If Mr. Paladino’s allegations are inaccurate, please respond to this inquiry publicly.
If Mr. Paladino’s allegations are accurate then you are morally unfit to serve in public office. I am posting this letter on my blog and stating explicitly that if Mr. Paladino’s allegations are accurate you are morally equivalent to a common criminal and belong in jail. Consequently, I would urge you to step down from the gubernatorial candidacy and allow the better man to run.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Steve Levy for Governor
Phil Orenstein of Democracy Project has blogged in support of Steve Levy's candidacy for governor. According to the video below, Mr. Levy has a strong record in Nassau County. He is a Democrat who aims to run as a "post partisan" candidate. Academics coined the term "post modern" a generation ago and "post partisan" is indubitably a corollary. Indubitably.
I am not yet convinced that Mr. Levy is the candidate of choice. We need to ask more questions.
Mr. Levy's candidacy is controversial. Mike Long, the head of the Conservative Party, suggested in the New York Post yesterday that given the massive failure of the Democratic Party to manage the state's economy competently, the Republicans ought not nominate a Democrat. This is the very sort of thing I had previously feared from Republicrat Edward F. Cox. Also, the article reports allegations that there is a corrupt deal involving Edward F. Cox's son, Chris Cox, who like his father desires a nepotism deal, and Suffolk Republican Chair John Lavalle:
"There has long been a rumor that Cox, Levy and Suffolk Republican chair John LaValle have a domino-style deal going, with the main goal being to get Chris Cox nominated in his own seven-way primary in Suffolk. Ed Cox has strenuously denied it."
If so, this is not the sort of candidacy the Tea Party ought to support. We need clarification of Mr. Levy's relationship to Ed Cox and John Lavalle.
Which is not to detract from Levy's record. Levy's website says that he has delivered "six consecutive operating budgets, each with a General Fund tax freeze or tax cut." He says in the video that he has cut spending for two consecutive years. His website adds that he "has delivered three operating budgets with spending lower than the previous year's adopted levels -- a record that is unprecedented in Suffolk County and extraordinarily rare in any level of government anywhere."
In his blog, Orenstein points out that in his Op Ed in the New York Post Levy said "no" to:
"the exorbitant pay and pensions of the County police officers, who are the highest paid police force in the world, (which) shows he is one of the rare politicians with backbone. We need a courageous figure to govern a state with the nation’s most dysfunctional legislature. Could Levy be a ray of light for our troubled state on the verge of fiscal disaster?"
We'll see. So far, the jury is out.
Despite the allegations of insider shenanigans, according to the Daily News Levy has already taken the initiative to develop a relationship with the Tea Party. The Daily News writes that Levy will hold an informational video conference with New York's Tea Parties.
According to his site, Levy has called for a state of emergency because of New York's incompetently managed budget. In a year when there was deflation, the state increased spending by nine percent, according to Levy. New York voters are undoubtedly to blame, electing the same tax-and-spend Democrats like Ulster County's Kevin Cahill year after year. New Yorkers never saw a wasteful or corrupt Democratic Party scheme that they could not support. Newspapers like the Kingston Freeman in my county are also to blame, refusing to take any initiative in demanding fiscal responsibility and providing ongoing propaganda for the massive waste in Albany. Millions have left this state, and the remaining population is mostly on the dole, but what do the editors of the Freeman care? When Wall Street crumbles, which it will, there is going to be a serious problem, with greedy unions and corrupt contractors clawing at each other for state handouts that are no longer available. New Yorkers will, undoubtedly, blame everyone but their greedy selves.
I am concerned that I did not see a prominent statement on Mr. Levy's site of the two chief fiscal issues facing the state: (a) the badly mismanaged Medicaid system, whose waste likely amounts to in excess of 15% of the entire state budget (yes, it is fair to say that 15% of the entire New York State budget is attributable to Medicaid waste) and (b) the egregious handling of the state's unions, specifically the Service Employees International Union and the New York State Union of Teachers in facilitating massive waste. I can blame Democrats like Ulster County's Kevin Cahill for the waste, but the fact is that during 12 years of the Pataki administration things only got worse. Governor Pataki failed to live up to his mandate, failed to curtail Medicaid waste, failed to rein in the bloat associated with the SEIU and failed to rein in administrative waste in the schools. What plan does Mr. Levy have to offer?
I am not yet convinced that Mr. Levy is the candidate of choice. We need to ask more questions.
Mr. Levy's candidacy is controversial. Mike Long, the head of the Conservative Party, suggested in the New York Post yesterday that given the massive failure of the Democratic Party to manage the state's economy competently, the Republicans ought not nominate a Democrat. This is the very sort of thing I had previously feared from Republicrat Edward F. Cox. Also, the article reports allegations that there is a corrupt deal involving Edward F. Cox's son, Chris Cox, who like his father desires a nepotism deal, and Suffolk Republican Chair John Lavalle:
"There has long been a rumor that Cox, Levy and Suffolk Republican chair John LaValle have a domino-style deal going, with the main goal being to get Chris Cox nominated in his own seven-way primary in Suffolk. Ed Cox has strenuously denied it."
If so, this is not the sort of candidacy the Tea Party ought to support. We need clarification of Mr. Levy's relationship to Ed Cox and John Lavalle.
Which is not to detract from Levy's record. Levy's website says that he has delivered "six consecutive operating budgets, each with a General Fund tax freeze or tax cut." He says in the video that he has cut spending for two consecutive years. His website adds that he "has delivered three operating budgets with spending lower than the previous year's adopted levels -- a record that is unprecedented in Suffolk County and extraordinarily rare in any level of government anywhere."
In his blog, Orenstein points out that in his Op Ed in the New York Post Levy said "no" to:
"the exorbitant pay and pensions of the County police officers, who are the highest paid police force in the world, (which) shows he is one of the rare politicians with backbone. We need a courageous figure to govern a state with the nation’s most dysfunctional legislature. Could Levy be a ray of light for our troubled state on the verge of fiscal disaster?"
We'll see. So far, the jury is out.
Despite the allegations of insider shenanigans, according to the Daily News Levy has already taken the initiative to develop a relationship with the Tea Party. The Daily News writes that Levy will hold an informational video conference with New York's Tea Parties.
According to his site, Levy has called for a state of emergency because of New York's incompetently managed budget. In a year when there was deflation, the state increased spending by nine percent, according to Levy. New York voters are undoubtedly to blame, electing the same tax-and-spend Democrats like Ulster County's Kevin Cahill year after year. New Yorkers never saw a wasteful or corrupt Democratic Party scheme that they could not support. Newspapers like the Kingston Freeman in my county are also to blame, refusing to take any initiative in demanding fiscal responsibility and providing ongoing propaganda for the massive waste in Albany. Millions have left this state, and the remaining population is mostly on the dole, but what do the editors of the Freeman care? When Wall Street crumbles, which it will, there is going to be a serious problem, with greedy unions and corrupt contractors clawing at each other for state handouts that are no longer available. New Yorkers will, undoubtedly, blame everyone but their greedy selves.
I am concerned that I did not see a prominent statement on Mr. Levy's site of the two chief fiscal issues facing the state: (a) the badly mismanaged Medicaid system, whose waste likely amounts to in excess of 15% of the entire state budget (yes, it is fair to say that 15% of the entire New York State budget is attributable to Medicaid waste) and (b) the egregious handling of the state's unions, specifically the Service Employees International Union and the New York State Union of Teachers in facilitating massive waste. I can blame Democrats like Ulster County's Kevin Cahill for the waste, but the fact is that during 12 years of the Pataki administration things only got worse. Governor Pataki failed to live up to his mandate, failed to curtail Medicaid waste, failed to rein in the bloat associated with the SEIU and failed to rein in administrative waste in the schools. What plan does Mr. Levy have to offer?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
