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I first met Wayne Barrett 30 years ago at the old Varick Street headquarters of the NYC Board of Elections during my first NYC political campaign, trying to sell him on a southern Brooklyn insurgent trying to make a campaign issue out of Westway.
He told me that that was Joe Conasan’s department.
Former Mayor Ed Koch defended Republican Congressman Peter King by saying:
Peter King is no Johnny-Come-Lately to the cause of protecting America from terrorists.
On Wednesday, the NY State Senate will convene with a 32-30 majority. Numerous explanations have been given and plenty of people have been blamed for this change but one possible reason has not been discussed.
I think if it wasn’t for the new voting machines, the Senate would be in a 31-31 tie.
Some smart folks have emailed me some observations concerning my recent piece on Orthodox Jewish voting behavior. Here are some highlights
1) Assemblyman Peter Abbate, who in the past has used his Orthodox Jewish Election Districts as a bulwark against his often more conservative Italian-American constituents, lost his Orthodox areas this year for the first time
I strongly suggest that those who believe I am onto something, with regard to Generation Greed's long term effects on those coming after, read this article about Europe. While younger generations have become worse off than those who came before for some time in this country, the best off and most articulate had continued to prosper until recently, or so they believed because rising debts papered over many things. That's why, in my view, Generation Greed was followed by Generation Apathy.
But in Europe that is no longer the case — the young educated are suffering too. Next up, Generation Outrage. But the real damage will be felt when those born later become old themselves, and really suffer because their countries were bankrupted by those who came before — somehow even more so in peace in the past 30 years than by two devastating wars in the first half of the 20th Century.
Justin Elliot at Salon.com has become (I think) just the 2nd person in the “big leagues”, joining Ben Smith at Politico.com to notice what I has first pointed out in September –
THE MOSQUE STORY IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED NEWS
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/31/park_51_a_look_back/index.html
We always knew there was never really a Democratic Majority in the NYS Senate, just four (or more) factions in uneasy alliance. Dean Skelos' Minority always controlled more votes in the Senate than anyone else.
Off and running.
The new governor hit some of the right notes during his low-key inaugural address with his number one priority, creating “jobs, jobs, jobs.”
So last week, the state court held that the unqualified Cathie Black can become our next school's chancellor in New York City. Happy New Year!!
Four vehicles have passed over blacktop in the past couple of hours or so. With every pass, I see potholes that won’t be filled and garbage that won’t be picked up in the future, as these costs suck money out of an already diminished future.