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While many more State legislators lost in Tuesday’s Primaries – 4, it’s still true that incumbent Senators & Assembly members are still extremely difficult to beat.
Except in the 22nd Assembly District!
The 22nd AD was created in the 2002 Legislative re-districting and in centered in Flushing.
The New York Times in reporting on Tuesday’s Primary results claims that it might forecast good news for the Republicans in the State Senate –
All Republican senators running for re-election won their primaries, suggesting that the G.O.P. may be more tightly unified going into the November election.
There are a few black electeds in this naked city who are courageous souls: Eric Adams is one of them. But then I have known this of Eric long before he got into elected office. I knew it back when he was tackling police-brutality issues, with one of the organizations he helped build: “100 Black Men in Law Enforcement”. In fact I knew it even before then; but that’s another story for another time.
Last Sunday, State Senator Eric Adams, stood up with a few dozen people from various organizations that are committed to fight against the reversal of term limits -being contemplated by the city council and the current mayor: Michael Bloomberg. Adams went farther than this present imbroglio, to announce that he supported term limits for legislators in Albany also (both Senate and Assembly). It was not the first time he showed courage under fire since being elected to office in 2006.
I ‘d like to congratulate Congressional candidate Kevin Powell; few candidates for any office have been as explicit in making clear their policy views as Powell has in his magnum opus: “THE PLAN: A New Agenda for the 21st Century.
Unfortunately, “THE PLAN” arrived on line a little late in the campaign, at a point when we’d already stopped taking Kevin seriously. This is sad, because its 58 pages contain a potential goldmine of material for the political private eye, and come tonight at 9:00 PM, it will surely be cast upon the dustbin of his history along with its “author”.
State Senate (Queens):
SD 10: Two years ago, voters in the District did the State a favor by ousting the deeply disturbed Ada Smith for the adequate Shirley Huntley, significantly raising the State Senate’s level of mental health. This year, Huntley is being challenged by former Councilman Allen Jennings (who managed the miracle of making Tom White look preferable to something). Compared to Jennings, Ada Smith looks like Dr. Phil. Despite the fact that my specialty is writing humor, I beg voters here to return Huntley.
SD 15: This is a crucial pick-up target for Senate Dems; Republican Serf Maltese must go. Albert Baldeo has spared us the agony of a primary by dropping out, but he did so too late to get his name off the ballot. Vote for Joe Addabbo now, and again in November.
“Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’”– Literary lioness Mary McCarthy commenting on the highly overrated Lillian Hellman
I’m taking the day off, so I decided to compile a partial list of the lies spread by State Senate candidate Dan Squadron. I apologize that the list is incomplete, but a day has only 24 hours.
As has been previously documented, State Senate Candidate Dan Squadron has lied, amongst other things about:
1) His opponent, State Senator Marty Connor’s position on Congestion Pricing (http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/decongestant.html)
2) His own position on Congestion Pricing (See Above)
This November, for the first time since 1965, the Democrats are set to take control of the New York State Senate, and Democrats are set to take undivided control of the New York state government for the first time since the 1930s. For some it’s a scary process. Republicans and pillars of the establishment fear social change; Democrats fear accountability.
I’ve spent my political life on and off since 1982 working towards that goal. My fear is different; I fear they will fuck it up.
As reported in the New York Post, Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith recently got up at a Senate Democratic golf outing and told the assembled lobbyists they should think of his fund-raising event as being like an IPO, an initial public offering, telling them they should get in early because then it doesn't cost as much, and the longer you wait to get in, the more it will cost, and if you don't get in at all, it would be painful after November.
The State Senate race in the 21st Senatorial District presents an interesting question.
What do you want from your elected official?
A recent forum held by Councilman Lew Fidler at his 41st AD Democartic Club put this issue into stark relief.
If the question is "Which candidate is the most thoughtful, has the best character and will likely be the best at bringing resources to the district and delivering constituent services?", then the answer is undoubtedly Simcha Felder.
Nonetheless, if I lived in the district, I’d be voting for incumbent Kevin Parker.
At 2:00p.m today (Sunday, 7th September, 2008), there will be a rally by those who support term limits, at City Hall in Manhattan. One of the organizers is Kevin Wardally of Bill Lynch Associates. Kevin is a well known political consultant and political operative/technician. He is also a Vice-President at Bill Lynch Associates -one of the top political consulting firms in New York. This firm counts Senator Hillary Clinton as one of their major clients. Another organizer is Ydanis Rodriguez -a possible city council candidate (upper-Manhattan/Washington Heights) next year.
Recently, word has been received by media sources that the mayor, the speaker and other city council members, were conspiring to overturn term limits by fiat. Many political activists have already filed their protests, with both Mayor Bloomberg and also with many council members -including the Speaker. This issue has been broiling for years; despite the fact that the people of New York City have twice voted for term limits through referendum; we the people need to settle this once and for all.
I missed watching McCain’s speech, but I’m told that not seeing it improved things immensely. Pretty good text though. But every once in a while I close my eyes and see WC Fields selling patent medicine.
“She knows where she comes from and she knows who she works for. She stands up for what’s right, and she doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down. I’m very proud to have introduced our next Vice President to the country. But I can’t wait until I introduce her to Washington. And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second Washington crowd: change is coming.”