The data is out for the employment phase of the 2007 Census of Governments (the finance phase will not arrive until next summer), and I have thus far tabulated the information for selected state governments: the State of New York, the U.S. average for all states, some other states around the Northeast — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — and some other states carried by President-elect Obama in 2008 — California, Colorado, Virginia, and North Carolina. One might expect people in those states, as opposed to (say) Tennessee, to have similar public service expectations to those of New York. The data show that New York had less state employment per 100,000 residents in March of 2007 than the U.S. average and all of the states listed save Pennsylvania and California, and that while New York State’s per capita income was 19.9% above the national average in 2006, it’s March 2007 payroll per full time equivalent worker was only 17.3% above average. A more detailed analysis, however, shows this is somewhat misleading — low New York employment and pay in higher education, and the shift of some functions to the local level, offsets above average employment and pay in other categories. The data is attached (set to print in two pages), and discussed below.
The Latest
Carl and the Passions: So Tough
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In recognition of the recent departure from the ranks of the Doghouse Democrats (Pedro Espada, Carl Kruger and Ruben Diaz) of Senator-Elect Hiram Monserrate, I’ve marked them down from “The Four Horsemen of the Preposterous," and renamed them "Carl and the Passions" (in memory of what is arguably the worst album ever issued by the Beach Boys while they were still trying). When it comes to loyalty to their political party, the theme song of the Passions is not “Be True to Your School,” but rather “I Get Around.”
I hold no particular brief for Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, and can rattle off the names of several members I think would make a better Party Leader, but, for whatever reasons, Smith was the choice of his Conference by an overwhelming margin, and therefore, he deserves the support of all Senate Democrats when the Senate organizes in January.
Al Vann, Lew Fidler and Leroy Comrie: Birds of a Feather?
|It seems like Al Vann has been around Brooklyn’s politics since George Washington was president of the USA; no joke. In politics, his name has been discussed more times than the daily weather report on any television station. I have been told that over the years he has been a teacher, unionist, political activist and elected official. He was an assembly member in the Albany legislature for 27 years (1974-2001). He won election to the New York city council in 2001. Some of his detractors have suggested that he came here on pre-retirement leave.
I know that there are some good things that Al Vann has done -in terms of public service- and I believe that one of these days a street in Bed-Stuy will be named after him. After all, he has held public office for about 35 years. Fine.
Democratic Trickle Down
|The domestic U.S. auto industry and state and local governments face a crisis. Sales for the former and tax revenues for the latter are collapsing, at the same time each face soaring health care costs for employees and (because of the rich pensions after early careers their employees receive) retirees. General Motors has said that absent assistance it will have to shut down by the end of the year; public services are about to collapse, and state and local taxes are about to soar, particularly in New York. The federal government could prevent the disaster by enacting a universal health care financing system at the federal level, providing a choice of a public program such as a less extravagant version of Medicare and a similar subsidy for the purchase of private insurance. Such a system would lift an enormous weight off both older corporations with many retirees and state and local governments, more than enough to offset the taxes that would be required to fund it, and federal aid in other categories that states and localities could thereafter fund themselves. But there is a political party, and powerful interests backing that party, that stand in the way, because they have such a sweet deal under the existing system. I refer, of course, to the Democratic Party, the auto industry, and public employee, auto industry and health care unions and lobbyists.
The Biggest Endorsements In American Political History to Date
|Before Barack Obama formally announced his candidacy for the US presidency last year, I did a three part series outlining why I thought he should run (1/25, 2/10 and 7/8/07); it wasn’t received nearly as well as it should have been on these supposedly high-quality NY blogs. And that’s because some of those who troll these sites, can’t see the nose on their faces even if standing directly in front of a mirror. I must admit that I was a bit saddened, perturbed and disappointed, at some of the responses elicited in the comment-sections; go see for yourselves. Thus Barack Obama’s victory last Tuesday is a vindication of sorts for me, since I was subject to some slight racial abuse in more than a few of those comments; especially in my finale, where I made a qualified prediction of this victory, when I said that only an “assassination” could stop him from winning.
Bloomberg and The Council Agree: New Yorkers are Morons
|Most people who were paying attention saw this fiscal disaster coming from a long way off. Lots of interests affiliated with the public sector decided they had as much right to exploit the rest of us, in exchange for next to nothing, as the Wall Street Robber Barons, since while the money was rolling in they could pretend those Robber Barons would pay for it all. Now, predictably, the money is rolling out. Yet for the Mayor and Council, representing the private and public overlords respectivley, the problem seems to have arisen over the past 24 hours. Remember that a year from now, before the 2009 election.
Exit Poll Tidbits
|While most people who examine exit polls focus on what percentage of each group votes for which candidate, I’m more interested in what the polls tell us who voted not who they voted for.
Here’s some of what can be gleamed from this year’s exit poll in New York State.
54% of the voters were women.
71% were White, 17% Black, 6% Hispanic, 3% Asian.
Broken down by age, under 25 = 12%, 25-29 = 10%, 30-39 = 17%, 40-49 = 22%, 50-64 = 27% and 65+ = 11%.
Annual income breaks this way – under $15,000 = 6%, $15-$30,000 = 10%, $30-$50,000 = 16%, $50-$75,000 = 22%, $75-$100,000 = 13%, $100-$150,000 = 17%, $150-$200,000 = 8% and $200,000 or more = 9%.
Not So Important, After All
|Now that the Presidential Election is over, I thought it would be a good idea to recall some things that will soon vanish in the media memory hole.
In no particular order, here are some stories that the pundits and pols thought were really, really important at some time in the last two years. I doubt even Chris Mathews would now claim that these affected many voters at all.
Moveon.org’s ad about General Betrayus
Hispanics refusal to vote for a Black candidate
The growing number of independent voters who want to vote for a Third Party candidate
Barack Obama’s bowling score
Fred Dicker And Those Very Private Polls
|August 25, 2008 Newly completed Re publican polls show John McCain running "neck and neck" with Barack Obama in several Democrat-leaning legislative districts on Long Island, in Westchester and upstate, according to surprised GOP operatives. Republicans aren't at a point of predicting that McCain will win heavily Democratic New York, but they say his better-than-expected showing means a higher GOP vote in November, and thus extra help in the crucial battle for control of the state Senate. "McCain is doing much better in several areas than a lot of people expected, and that's obviously good for us," said one of the operatives. "There seems to be a reluctance on the part of a lot of voters to back Obama, and that's benefiting McCain and our legislative candidates as well."
You Read It Here First
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On October 14th, I posted a predictive column titled –
Coming Next – No Term Limits At All
At the time, I wrote:
When Mayor Bloomberg and his billionaire buddies announced their decision to extend term limits, they said they were still in support of limits but simply wanted to extend them from two terms to three. In fact, taxpayer subsidized billionaire Mort Zuckerman’s Daily News insists that there is no argument about the concept of term limits.
However, reading what Mike and those he recruited to support term limits extension are now saying, they are making arguments against any term limits.