Could we get Beyonce back for one more chorus of “At Last” now that Gov. Paterson has finally selected Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton? This process has had more back stories than a Liza Minnelli comeback tour. The nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State in December set off a furious non campaign for the job. The electorate was an audience of one as state law dictates the Governor appoint someone prior to a special election in 2010.
At first blush it was assumed the Governor would be sifting through the resumes of all the usual suspects. They included the likes of Rep. Carolyn Maloney from New York, Teacher’s Union President Randi Weingarten, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, Long Island Democrat Steve Israel and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo appeared to be the logical pick because by appointing him, Paterson also removed him as a possible opponent for Governor in 2010.
Then along came Caroline. As if awakening from a 35 year slumber, the daughter of John F. Kennedy suddenly discovered a taste for electoral politics by announcing her intention to seek the appointment. She further stated she intended to pursue the seat in 2010 if she weren’t picked by Paterson. All of a sudden, she was the frontrunner and inevitable selection. The name alone and her perceived fundraising skills made her unbeatable and would help Paterson in 2010. Even the conservative New York Post came out and endorsed her in a breathless editorial.
No one seemed particularly bothered by her absolute lack of experience or involvement in New York politics. It was reported she rarely bothered to vote and gave almost no money to support state democrats. She was a Kennedy and that was enough…until she opened her mouth.
She sounded like a 51 year-old valley girl talking to Lou Dobbs. It was all down hill from there. The blood was in the water and the sharks were suddenly emboldened to challenge the Princess of Camelot. Even Fran Drescher from “The Nanny” tossed her hat in the ring.
It all ended last week as Ms. Kennedy withdrew for “personal reasons”, a cliché that covers a multitude of sins. Everything from tax and nanny problems has been reported as well as trouble in her marriage. My experience is none of those things sneak up on you so I suspect she found out Paterson had soured on her and she is doing a little face saving.
Which brings me to the winners and losers in all this. The one obvious beneficiary is Kirsten Gillibrand. I can still see her stumbling around the Dutchess County Fair in 2006 hoping someone would talk to her and now she’s a U.S. Senator. Hillary Clinton is loving Caroline’s demise as Caroline famously endorsed Obama during the primaries. Andrew Cuomo is a loser as he must now pick between being Attorney General forever or taking on Paterson and reminding people of his 2003 campaign against another prominent African-American, Carl McCall. Carolyn Maloney is a huge loser given how hard and how nasty she has been in talking down Kennedy and Gillibrand.
Then there’s the who gets Gillibrand’s seat in Congress. Republicans still hold a registration edge so does Sandy Treadwell give it another shot? Does recently defeated Assembly candidate and Hyde Park resident Jonathan Smith go for the gusto? He did manage Doris Kelly’s congressional bid in the same district so he knows his way around. Given Obama’s incredible popularity, the democratic nomination for this seat should be worth its weight in gold. Stay tuned.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Kudos To Gov. Paterson
Word that Caroline Kennedy has "withdrawn for personal reasons" from her bizarre quest to be appointed U.S. Senator shows she wasn't remotely ready for prime time. The disingenuous excuse only underscores the flighty nature of her bid. Apparently she thought it would be handed to her because of her name. Wrong! People saw it for what is was and the long reach of the Kennedy's appears to be over. So it's back to parties at the Met for Princess Caroline.
Tough Times Ahead Locally
This may come as a shock to all of you but the inauguration of Barack Obama will have almost no impact on our daily lives. Sure, it’s great to see a quarterback change in Washington but it will take more than charisma and speechmaking to make a dent in the problems facing Americans on so many levels. The foremost obstacle is, of course, the economy. The U.S. economy is in absolute free fall and thousands of Americans are losing their homes and jobs daily.
What has been somewhat overlooked in the run-up to the inauguration has been the local aspect of all this. For some time we have been focusing on the headlines and what felt like other people’s problems. Bank failures and mortgage meltdowns followed by bold government intervention were unnerving but didn’t feel real for a long time. Well, they do now. Just look around you here in the Hudson Valley. Businesses are closing left and right, construction and real estate activity have ground to a halt putting many people out of work. Banks, after years of making questionable loans, have virtually closed the lending window now that the horse is over the horizon.
At the State level, Gov. David Paterson has made it clear the budget will have to be slashed dramatically and many services curtailed or eliminated. That means many agencies will have to do more with less and municipalities will be getting less from the State. The simple explanation is the foundering economy generates less tax revenues and unless we raise taxes, that’s all she wrote. But even the looniest of lefties in Albany realize you can’t raise taxes in a cratering economy.
Hyde Park is a good example of how things are playing out across the area. Tax revenue is down substantially because the real estate market has all but ceased to exist along with all those sales and mortgage taxes. Businesses are dropping like flies and the few that actually open seem to close in a few months. There’s more economic activity in Fallujah than Route 9 these days. The fact that the Town actually raised taxes in the face of all this economic pain is one of the reasons we see so many For Sale signs around town. Taxes are driving people up the wall and out of town.
Locally, tensions appear to be intensifying on what was four years ago a unified, congenial Town Board. In the last weeks skirmishes have broken out over the reappointment of the town engineer and a proposed cell tower. Much of the angst seems focused on Supervisor Pompey Delafield.
This brings me to the political scuttlebutt in Hyde Park; given this is an election year. I hear more than a few democrats are increasingly frustrated with Mr. Delafield and want to nominate someone else this year. The common complaint is he hasn’t really accomplished anything of substance and just keeps pushing legislatives proposals around his plate. The failure of the St. Andrews project and the police facility hasn’t helped staunch the political bleeding although FDR himself wasn’t going to get the St. Andrews dog to hunt. Board member Valerie Hale is said not to be seeking a second term, opening the door for the woman who almost beat her, Sue Serino. Bob Linville is rumored to be mulling retirement. Independent turned democrat Rich Perkins is making some friends and noise for Supervisor and freshman Board member Hannah Black looks vulnerable to a decent republican candidate. Then again, that would require the presence of an organized republican party in Hyde Park. If you find one, drop me a note.
What has been somewhat overlooked in the run-up to the inauguration has been the local aspect of all this. For some time we have been focusing on the headlines and what felt like other people’s problems. Bank failures and mortgage meltdowns followed by bold government intervention were unnerving but didn’t feel real for a long time. Well, they do now. Just look around you here in the Hudson Valley. Businesses are closing left and right, construction and real estate activity have ground to a halt putting many people out of work. Banks, after years of making questionable loans, have virtually closed the lending window now that the horse is over the horizon.
At the State level, Gov. David Paterson has made it clear the budget will have to be slashed dramatically and many services curtailed or eliminated. That means many agencies will have to do more with less and municipalities will be getting less from the State. The simple explanation is the foundering economy generates less tax revenues and unless we raise taxes, that’s all she wrote. But even the looniest of lefties in Albany realize you can’t raise taxes in a cratering economy.
Hyde Park is a good example of how things are playing out across the area. Tax revenue is down substantially because the real estate market has all but ceased to exist along with all those sales and mortgage taxes. Businesses are dropping like flies and the few that actually open seem to close in a few months. There’s more economic activity in Fallujah than Route 9 these days. The fact that the Town actually raised taxes in the face of all this economic pain is one of the reasons we see so many For Sale signs around town. Taxes are driving people up the wall and out of town.
Locally, tensions appear to be intensifying on what was four years ago a unified, congenial Town Board. In the last weeks skirmishes have broken out over the reappointment of the town engineer and a proposed cell tower. Much of the angst seems focused on Supervisor Pompey Delafield.
This brings me to the political scuttlebutt in Hyde Park; given this is an election year. I hear more than a few democrats are increasingly frustrated with Mr. Delafield and want to nominate someone else this year. The common complaint is he hasn’t really accomplished anything of substance and just keeps pushing legislatives proposals around his plate. The failure of the St. Andrews project and the police facility hasn’t helped staunch the political bleeding although FDR himself wasn’t going to get the St. Andrews dog to hunt. Board member Valerie Hale is said not to be seeking a second term, opening the door for the woman who almost beat her, Sue Serino. Bob Linville is rumored to be mulling retirement. Independent turned democrat Rich Perkins is making some friends and noise for Supervisor and freshman Board member Hannah Black looks vulnerable to a decent republican candidate. Then again, that would require the presence of an organized republican party in Hyde Park. If you find one, drop me a note.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Democrats Need To Produce Now
We all know the expression “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Well the democrats got “it” with the 2008 election. They now control all three branches of government and enter the New Year riding a wave of good will and enthusiasm. Democrats chair every committee and control the legislative agenda and calendar. Republicans are now decidedly in the minority and reporters will be queuing up outside the doors of the democratic leadership.
Sounds great if you’ve been a liberal in the wilderness waiting for the Bush era to end, right? Yes and no. On one hand the prospect of having a blank check from the American people is very empowering. The thought of actually implementing all those social and fiscal wish lists has to be intoxicating. Here’s the thinking.
Obama & Co. have run those nasty, Neanderthal republicans out of town and we’re going to do it our way from now on! We’re going to tax the hell out of those rotten fat cats who’ve had the nerve to make all that money while the rest of us have been waiting tables at The Groovy Blueberry. We’re going to have a national amnesty for SUV’s. Turn them in or we’ll take them.
Everyone will drive a hybrid fueled by goose droppings and ethanol. SAT’s will be outlawed, school vouchers declared illegal and teacher pensions doubled. Families will be deemed progressive and receive a generous tax credit if they can prove at least one child is transgendered or thinking about it. The military will be disbanded and the Ronald Reagan Library designated a subversive destination.
OK, I exaggerate a little bit but hear me out. Any time you get near unanimity of thought or opinion, you run the risk of exceeding your authority. Look at what Newt Gingrich and the republicans did with their 1994 election mandate. Remember the Taxpayer Bill of Rights? They overreached and the voter backlash gave us four more years of Bill Clinton and bye-bye Newt.
Oddly the democrats are in something of a tight spot. It’s one thing to criticize the opposition; it’s quite another thing to do it yourself. Take tax cuts for instance. Democrats are always howling about the ineffectiveness and unfair nature of corporate and personal tax cuts. They have demonized republicans for tax breaks for the wealthy blah, blah, blah. Then it would stand to reason President Obama and Congress deep six tax cuts and raise the capital gains tax. Let’s see how that works out. The same is true for foreign policy and national security. It’s easy to talk about reaching out to terrorist countries but what happens when they resume killing innocent Americans.
Democrats are now leaving the laboratory and taking their formula to the real world. We will soon find out what works and what doesn’t. Democrats won’t be able to blame republicans this time if things go south. Sure democrats can rightfully claim they need time to clean up the previous administration’s mess but that tune will get old pretty fast. The American people voted for change and they better get it or the Obama honeymoon could be a brief one.
I wouldn’t be surprised if democrats aren’t waxing sentimental for Dick Cheney and the gang somewhere down the road. Sometimes you need real villains to tell a good story. While liberals love preaching to the converted, a little conflict goes a long way in politics.
Sounds great if you’ve been a liberal in the wilderness waiting for the Bush era to end, right? Yes and no. On one hand the prospect of having a blank check from the American people is very empowering. The thought of actually implementing all those social and fiscal wish lists has to be intoxicating. Here’s the thinking.
Obama & Co. have run those nasty, Neanderthal republicans out of town and we’re going to do it our way from now on! We’re going to tax the hell out of those rotten fat cats who’ve had the nerve to make all that money while the rest of us have been waiting tables at The Groovy Blueberry. We’re going to have a national amnesty for SUV’s. Turn them in or we’ll take them.
Everyone will drive a hybrid fueled by goose droppings and ethanol. SAT’s will be outlawed, school vouchers declared illegal and teacher pensions doubled. Families will be deemed progressive and receive a generous tax credit if they can prove at least one child is transgendered or thinking about it. The military will be disbanded and the Ronald Reagan Library designated a subversive destination.
OK, I exaggerate a little bit but hear me out. Any time you get near unanimity of thought or opinion, you run the risk of exceeding your authority. Look at what Newt Gingrich and the republicans did with their 1994 election mandate. Remember the Taxpayer Bill of Rights? They overreached and the voter backlash gave us four more years of Bill Clinton and bye-bye Newt.
Oddly the democrats are in something of a tight spot. It’s one thing to criticize the opposition; it’s quite another thing to do it yourself. Take tax cuts for instance. Democrats are always howling about the ineffectiveness and unfair nature of corporate and personal tax cuts. They have demonized republicans for tax breaks for the wealthy blah, blah, blah. Then it would stand to reason President Obama and Congress deep six tax cuts and raise the capital gains tax. Let’s see how that works out. The same is true for foreign policy and national security. It’s easy to talk about reaching out to terrorist countries but what happens when they resume killing innocent Americans.
Democrats are now leaving the laboratory and taking their formula to the real world. We will soon find out what works and what doesn’t. Democrats won’t be able to blame republicans this time if things go south. Sure democrats can rightfully claim they need time to clean up the previous administration’s mess but that tune will get old pretty fast. The American people voted for change and they better get it or the Obama honeymoon could be a brief one.
I wouldn’t be surprised if democrats aren’t waxing sentimental for Dick Cheney and the gang somewhere down the road. Sometimes you need real villains to tell a good story. While liberals love preaching to the converted, a little conflict goes a long way in politics.
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