Room Eight | Gatemouth’s Voter’s Guide (Part One- Intro; Statewide and Congressional Races; Notes)

"The Dean, and the premier source of legitimate information"
– Maurice Gumbs

As a public service to the perplexed I am providing links to the posts of mine most relevant to each of the contested races in this year’s primary. I’ve also written something resembling commentary concerning each of those races I’ve not already given any attention on Room 8 (although some comments are adapted from posts I’ve made elsewhere). This article is intended to be comprehensive, and covers every race for public office where a contested primary is taking place in the City of New York (as per the Board of Elections Website on September 1, 2006).

If there is an overlying worldview here, it is “New York Politics: Funhouse or Theme Park?” The comments on each race are not necessarily endorsements (though these may sometimes occur), and some of them are based upon sketchy knowledge (which, in many cases, actually proves advantageous). Caveat Democrator!

STATEWIDE RACES:

Governor (Tom Suozzi is given a decent burial, and a two-night shiva fully stocked with Slivovitz and smoked fish): http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/tom_pain_why_im_voting_for_tom_suozzi_and_why_i_wish_he_wasnt_running_the_curtain_raiser_in_a_two_act_tragedy.htm

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/tommyrot_tom_suozzi_does_the_holy_sacrament_of_extreme_disf_unction_the_mournful_coda_in_a_two_act_tragedy.html

US Senate (I meander from Lieberman/Lamont to Hilary/Tasini to the 2008 Presidential race, with an entire half sentence concerning the Republican primary): http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/a_problem_of_perception.html

Attorney General (A Three Part Series; Executive Summary: “Hold your nose and vote for Green”; it’s more important to spend this time with your loved ones than to read this): http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/kidney_punch_the_ag_s_race_part_one_of_three.html

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_homophobe_v_the_racist_the_ag_s_race_part_two_of_three.html

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/consolation_prize_the_ag_race_third_of_three_parts.html

CONGRESS:

10^th CD (Brooklyn): It’s painful enough for people to read that they have to vote for Ed Towns, but I stretch it out to three parts; my kingdom for a cup of tea! http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/curse_you_chuck_barron.html

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/edolphus_towns_and_the_limits_of_pork.html

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/no_clean_hands_available_here.html

11^th CD (Brooklyn): Some complain that it seems as if every piece I’ve written on Room 8 (this is number 53, although there are those who say that others exist as well) contains at least one gratuitous swipe at Chris Owens, which, if true, would clearly be unfair (it would be fair if each piece contained at least one gratuitous swipe at Charles Barron). In the interests of brevity (never a big priority on this blog), I will only cite the four (four?!?) posts mentioning this race which I consider to be the most relevant. This includes a three part series done in April. In part one, I examine all the candidates, find only Yassky and Owens passable, and express a slight preference for Yassky, provided he changes his color. In parts two and three, I keep whining about it, but keep coming back to Yassky. By the fourth post, from a few months later, Owens’ supporters have convinced me that not only Yassky, but even Clarke and Andrews, are preferable to Chris (and there are those who say I’m incapable of growth and reflection).

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_11th_cd_a_guide_for_the_perplexed_the_first_in_a_series_of_at_least_three_parts.html

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/does_yassky_fail_the_paper_bag_test_2nd_part_in_a_series_of_at_least_three.html http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/five_candidates_in_search_of_some_character_perhaps_the_final_part_in_a_series_of_at_least_three.html

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_origins_of_the_liberal_species_some_musings_concerning_political_evolution_part_one.html

13^th CD (Staten Island, Brooklyn): This is an Independence Party Primary, meaning that anyone actually eligible to vote probably doesn’t even realize it. I heartily recommend that anyone who can vote in this primary make sure that they will not be so eligible in the future (for the reasons why, see http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_independence_party_is_neither.html and http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_lunatics_are_back_running_the_asylum_or_the_lonesome_discomfort_of_frank_mckay.html); however, in this case, whichever IP faction has forced this primary has done a public service. The egregious incumbent, Vito Fossella, combines everything wrong with the national Republican Party, with the very different vices of the local Staten Island Republicans. Fossella faces a real (albeit longshot) challenge this year from Democrat Steve Harrison. Fossella’s obtaining the Independence nomination would allow him to receive the down ballot votes of those using the IP line to support Eliot Spitzer for Governor. I have no doubt that Fossella’s opponent for the IP nod, Anita Lerman, is some sort of lunatic, but depriving Fossella of this line would be a worthy public service.

17^th CD (Bronx, Westchester Rockland): I've dedicated an awful lot of prose (see, http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_origins_of_the_liberal_species_some_musings_concerning_political_evolution_part_one.html, which links to many of the other examples) to the war for the soul of the Party between the “Michael Moore” and "Peter Beinart” Democrats. Because I believe in thinking globally and acting locally, I've put my principles into practice, and, being a Brooklyn guy, that meant going after Chris Owens, but I’ve not ignored Jonathan Tasini either (see above). However, the race between incumbent Eliot Engel (of the Beinart breed) and insurgent Jessica Flagg (a Moore Democrat who makes Owens look like a neo-lib, if not a neo-con) has barely registered on my radar screen; I am, after all, a Brooklyn guy, and frankly, her ridiculous campaign would likely barely register on my radar screen even if I lived in Riverdale. Like Tasini, Flagg barely has even a theoretical chance of winning, and may not even be worth the effort it takes to write this, but in service to the cause of vanquishing “Michael Moore Democrats” wherever they raise their heads (unless they are, or are pretty certain of being, our nominees in November), I’d like to give Engel a high five, even though he is famously a bit of a doofus (what else do you call a guy who always stakes out an aisle seat for the State of the Union so he can get his smiling mug on national television?).