Statewide and Congressional Endorsements

I thought I’d be done with endorsements by now, but twice during my weekend writing marathon, things got out of control and two articles emerged where there should have been one. I tried to save time on the first Amigo article by just stringing together everything I wrote before, and the damn thing ran 20 pages.

Anyway, the goal here is to quickly bang out the rest of my endorsements, or as many as I can before I go to work, and then pick up the slack after five. I’ve written about most of these races before, and I’ll try to provide some (but not all) appropriate links, but I’m in a rush.

US SENATE: The unseemly muscle flexing of Wall Street Democrats and the emergence of Harold Ford’s attempt at a Wall Street 125th Street Coalition, which put to shame all of us real centrist Democrats, made us forget our doubts about Kirsten Gillibrand and our outrage at Chuck Schumer for denying us a real choice.

But Ford is gone, and it’s time for us to express our reservation before voting for Gillibrand in the fall against the cute Beatle’s cuckold or one of the other losers in their primary.

Gail Goode, a lawyer with a pretty impressive record of public service is smart, says all the right things, and if she won, would add a black face to the ticket, which might have the added virtue of making Chuck Barron’s head explode.

Gatemouth endorses Gail Goode now and Gillibrand on Wednesday.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: Time is short and rather than cobbling together my thoughts about Tradd Schneiderman, I recommend a glance at the last two months of Gateway columns. Then read these Wayne Barrett columns.

Now, Republican Dan Donovan is not a bad guy; he’s shown himself to be more of a mensch on Park 51 than half the Democrats in NY. But, as Barrett shows, he’ll surrender to Wall Street on Day One. Further, and I say this from a lengthy personal observation of his office, Donovan does not seem to know how to run a good shop.

Lord knows how much money Bloomy is gonna funnel to operations on Donovan’s behalf between now and election day. As Barrett shows, Donovan will peel Schneiderman like a grape.

The issue is stopping Donovan, but first, we must stop Schneiderman, a guy who lacks the integrity to even leave a note after an accident. A guy who promises to let Al Sharpton build an annex in the AG’s office (can‘t wait for that Donovan commercial).

If we had instant run-off voting, Kathleen Rice would probably be my fourth choice here, but she is the only one who can prevent the Schneiderman-Donovan hat trick.

Gatemouth endorses Rice.

CONGRESS (10th CD): 1000 channels and they offer us this lame rerun. Two years later and Kevin Powell is still Kevin Powell. The only differences are that he no longer says he favors a Two State Solution ”For the time Being” (Kevin seems to prefer a “Final Solution”), and that he’s been revealed as a major league tax scofflaw. If I wanted to support a tax scofflaw, I’d endorse Charlie Rangel.

I know it’s asking a lot to urge people to vote for Ed Towns again, but I’m asking.

Gatemouth endorses Towns.

CONGRESS (14th CD): I’ve written countless Gateway items about this race, and they are worth searching out, for they thoroughly document Reshma Saujani’s fundamental dishonesty, Wall Street leanings, and grossly enlarged sense of entitlement. Her own attempts to have it all ways on Wall Street Reform, Health Care Reform and Park 51, among other things, presupposes a world in which video tape, audio tape and print archives do not exist.

And she claims to be the Hi-Tech candidate!

I am not in love with Carolyn Maloney; in fact, I can’t stand the woman, but she’s a pretty effective member of Congress and has been pretty good for New York. She’s even been good for Wall Street (which, given her district, is her job). For those who need more, search my Gateway and other columns, but start here and here.

CONGRESS (15th CD): Charlie Rangel has served his country well–let’s give him a gold watch and a nice retirement party. This time, Aretha should make it her business to come.

But, Charlie Rangel has become a national embarrassment and it’s time for triage. I hold out no hope for beating him, but a nice low vote total, hopefully under a majority, would send an effective message.

There is however the matter of how to send it.

Rangel’s main opponent, Adam Clayton Powell, is a disgrace; in a head to head between him and Rangel, I’d endorse Charlie. But there are four other choices. Jonathan Tasini is a leftie loon, while another candidate may actually be certifiable. However, either Vince Morgan or Joyce Johnson would do the trick. Still, one best sends a message by depositing the most votes one can in one place. Between the two, Johnson seems more up to this task; she’s the only woman in the field and has been endorsed by the Times.

Gatemouth endorses Johnson.

Well, the clock has run out; back in early evening.