John Harris of Politico reported on a story by Room 8 co-founder Ben Smith about union leaders pressuring Democratic Congressmen to vote in favor of the health insurance plan.
Harris pointed to the role being played by Andy Stern, President of the SEIU.Zuckerman, in an obvious attempt to imply that Obama is a corrupt as those horrible Clintons, stated said that Stern was #1 on the list of people who had overnight stays at the White House.
John Harris of Politico reported on a story by Room 8 co-founder Ben Smith about union leaders pressuring Democratic Congressmen to vote in favor of the health insurance plan.
Harris pointed to the role being played by Andy Stern, President of the SEIU.Zuckerman, in an obvious attempt to imply that Obama is a corrupt as those horrible Clintons, stated said that Stern was #1 on the list of people who had overnight stays at the White House.
Mort, in order to show that he is influential enough to know the powerful and non-partisan enough to joke with them, then said that Stern was a nice guy and that he had told Stern that the Obama administration were going to name a room after him.
Since, I have not read or heard of anybody complaining about Obama “renting out the Lincoln bedroom” (one of the most ridiculous charges made during the Clinton years), I suspected Mort’s story had a few holes.
I did a Google search and found out that it was true that Stern had visited the White House more than any other non-government official last year. But I found no evidence from even critics of Stern that he had ever spent a single night in the White House. All his visits were for meetings during the day.
http://www.atr.org/seiu-president-andy-stern-visits-white-a4152
What did we learn about Mort Zuckerman from these 2 minutes -
1 - Mort doesn't do so well without his ghostwriters. As Ben Smith pointed out a few weeks ago when Mort was taking his turn among the millions who will be mentioned as an opponent to Senator Gillibrand –
Zuckerman a public voice; his column runs in U.S. News, and he appears regularly on Sunday TV talk shows such as “The McLaughlin Group,” often identified merely as a U.S. News columnist.
The production of his column, in fact, has been the subject of a great deal of lore in the magazine world. The New Yorker reported in 2007 that the process begins when he calls a secretary to dictate his ideas. The secretary sends her rough copy to legendary British editor Harry Evans in New York, and Evans’s copy then appears on the desk of the U.S. News editor of the moment.
2 - Mort was almost certainly lying about his conversation with Stern. If Stern has never stayed over at the White House, a joke about naming a room after him makes no sense.
3 - Mort was smart enough to know running for public office was dumb idea.
Today’s New York Times reports on the latest candidate who thinks he can beat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Today’s New York Times reports on the latest candidate who thinks he can beat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
It’s Dan Senor, whose main claims to fame is his service as the Bush administrator’s chief liar in Iraq and that he is very lucky in love.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/fashion/weddings/09vows.html
I don’t think we have a Senator Senor in our future but one sentence in the story stood out as it either reflects on either how lazy the Times has become in reporting on politicians or gives us a rather loose definition of a social moderate..
He is known as fiscally conservative and socially moderate, a combination that eventually defined Alfonse M. D’Amato’s time in the United States Senate from New York.
If Michael Barbaro, the Times reporter who wrote those words took a minute to Google the words Al D’Amato Right to Life, he could have the following FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES!
Mr. D'Amato has voted with the Right to Life Party 100 percent of the time on abortion-related legislation during his 18 years in the Senate.
The abortion rights league's scorecard shows that in 18 years, Mr. D'Amato opposed the league's position in 92 out of 101 votes, or 91 percent of the time. Those included votes for a constitutional amendment to allow states to ban abortion, for a ban on a procedure that opponents call partial birth abortion, against legislation protecting abortion clinics from blockades and against financing abortion and other family planning services in foreign countries.
Here’s some of what they wrote –
With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century...
The majority is deeply wrong on the law. Most wrongheaded of all is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights.
It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate.
Here’s some of what they wrote –
With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century...
The majority is deeply wrong on the law. Most wrongheaded of all is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights.
It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate.
The Times suggested Congress & President Obama respond in a number of ways, including –
It should also enact a law requiring publicly traded corporations to get the approval of their shareholders before spending on political campaigns.
Today, the Times, which is a corporation and therefore, according to the Times, not entitled to the same First Amendment rights as people, gave away ¼ of their Op-Ed page to Harold Ford to announce he was wasn’t going to run for Senator.
This free advertisement for Ford (worth over $100,000 if he bought an ad) allowed him to explain what a great job he would have done in the Senate and did not include any announcement that he would never run for office in the future.
In case you forgot, last year the Times did the same favor for Congressman Anthony Weiner, who announced that he wasn’t running for Mayor in 2009 and in 2008 for Mike Bloomberg, who used the Times valuable space to say he wasn’t running for President that year.
Everybody I know thinks Weiner is running for Mayor in 2013 and most think Mike is, at least, thinking about running for President in 2012.
To the best of my knowledge, the Times did not get the approval of their shareholders before making these in-kind contributions to Ford, Weiner or Bloomberg.
But since Mr. Sulzberger doesn’t think he’s like a 19th century robber baron, I guess it’s OK.
Assemblyman Jose Peralta has the Democratic & Working Families lines while Hiram is the candidate of the Yes We Can party.
Most observers think the support of Peralta by the Democratic organization, various unions plus Hiram's bad deeds make Peralta the favorite.
But I wouldn't be so sure.
Special Elections are low turnout affairs and they usually come down to which candidate has the best "pulling"operation.
Assemblyman Jose Peralta has the Democratic & Working Families lines while Hiram is the candidate of the Yes We Can party.
Most observers think the support of Peralta by the Democratic organization, various unions plus Hiram's bad deeds make Peralta the favorite.
But I wouldn't be so sure.
Special Elections are low turnout affairs and they usually come down to which candidate has the best "pulling"operation.
And we have visual proof that Hiram has a reall skill at this. Nobody does a better job of dragging voters out of their homes!
The usually astute Elizabeth Benjamin falls for some spin that tries to make the case that the NY Times story about Governor Paterson’s aide is somehow good news for former State Senator Hiram Monserrate (D, R, D, ?)
The usually astute Elizabeth Benjamin falls for some spin that tries to make the case that the NY Times story about Governor Paterson’s aide is somehow good news for former State Senator Hiram Monserrate (D, R, D, ?)
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/02/johnsons-loss-monserrates-gain.html
She writes –
It has now been suggested to me by two different political operatives that the person who most stands to benefit from today's Times story on Gov. David Paterson's body man, David Johnson, is not the governor's likely primary opponent, AG Andrew Cuomo, but expelled Sen. Hiram Monserrate.
….
So, one guy with a YO record of felony offenses rises to a senior administration post and is paid $132,000, while another guy, who was elected by the voters in his district, later charged with felony assault and eventually convicted on a misdemeanor assault charge is deemed unfit to serve and ousted from his seat by his colleagues.
At the very least, this whole uproar over Paterson and the Times, which may or may not be working on additional stories about the governor (it's hard to believe this one thing is all that came of weeks worth of work), has deflected attention from Monserrate
Since the decision about whether Hiram gets his job back will be decided by the Federal Courts and they don’t make decisions based on either allegations of hypocrisy by Governors or whether attention has been deflected, I don’t see how this helps Hiram.
And if Hiram loses in court and runs in the Special Election, it’s hard for me to see how an obscure staffer’s alleged wrongdoings help Monserrate beat the Democratic-WFP candidate.
A man suing to keep Hiram Monserrate in office claims he received an "intimidating" phone call from an assemblyman looking to replace the ousted Queens state senator.
Michael Nardiello told the Daily News he heard from Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Queens) last week after adding his name to a suit fighting Monserrate's historic Senate expulsion.
A man suing to keep Hiram Monserrate in office claims he received an "intimidating" phone call from an assemblyman looking to replace the ousted Queens state senator.
Michael Nardiello told the Daily News he heard from Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Queens) last week after adding his name to a suit fighting Monserrate's historic Senate expulsion.
"He said, 'Hiram is trying to trick you,'" said Nardiello, one of six community members who joined the suit. "He said it wasn't about democracy. He said Hiram didn't want to fight him in a special election."
Webster’s definition of intimidation –
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intimidate
: to make timid or fearful : frighten; especially : to compel or deter by or as if by threats <tried to intimidate a witness>
However one part of the article stands out to me. Writing about what was going on when Paterson had to appoint someone to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate, Smith says:
“Andrew [Cuomo] has always dreamed about being governor and president; David has always dreamed about being U.S. senator,” says a New York Democrat who is a friend of both. “We had an opportunity for it to work out that way. We had a small threshold where if David had named himself senator, we could have had some time with Malcolm Smith as interim governor while putting together a process to give Andrew an opportunity in a special election to run for governor. It would have solved a lot of problems”
However one part of the article stands out to me. Writing about what was going on when Paterson had to appoint someone to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate, Smith says:
“Andrew [Cuomo] has always dreamed about being governor and president; David has always dreamed about being U.S. senator,” says a New York Democrat who is a friend of both. “We had an opportunity for it to work out that way. We had a small threshold where if David had named himself senator, we could have had some time with Malcolm Smith as interim governor while putting together a process to give Andrew an opportunity in a special election to run for governor. It would have solved a lot of problems”
This stands out because it means that Smith’s source is either an idiot or a liar.
The New York State Constitution does not allow any process to create a Special Election for Governor. If Paterson appointed himself to the Senate, Malcolm Smith or whoever was President Pro-tem of the Senate would have become Governor.
Ending one-party rule in New York
In it, Skelos writes:“As we've seen in New York, one-party rule breeds arrogance and contempt for taxpayers”
….
“Voters across New York face a clear choice: Continue one-party Democratic rule, or restore bipartisan governance that's responsive to the taxpayer. We've seen the consequences of one- party rule in Albany: More taxes, more spending -- and more people unemployed. That just won't cut it anymore.”
Ending one-party rule in New York
In it, Skelos writes:“As we've seen in New York, one-party rule breeds arrogance and contempt for taxpayers”
….
“Voters across New York face a clear choice: Continue one-party Democratic rule, or restore bipartisan governance that's responsive to the taxpayer. We've seen the consequences of one- party rule in Albany: More taxes, more spending -- and more people unemployed. That just won't cut it anymore.”
But are Skelos and the GOP really upset about one-party rule or are they just upset about which party rules.
I don’t recall the Post printing any op-eds or editorials from Republicans between 2003 and 2007 about one-party rule when Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate & the House.
And Skelos isn’t complaining about his home County of Nassau, where thanks to the last election, the County Executive is a Republican and the GOP also has a majority in the County Legislature.
Skelos also never had a problem with his home town government in Hempstead, which has had one-party control of the Town Supervisor and Town Board for over a century.
Come on Dean, come clean, admit it – you’d love one-party rule in New York as long as you are one of the rulers.
Jackie Salit, head of the Independence Party in New York City, said Obama has lost touch with the independent voter and has been too focused on tending to the Democratic base. Salit, in an email to supporters this morning, said that Obama could lose the White House if he keeps this up.
Fun fact that Ms. Salit does not want us to remember –
Jackie Salit, head of the Independence Party in New York City, said Obama has lost touch with the independent voter and has been too focused on tending to the Democratic base. Salit, in an email to supporters this morning, said that Obama could lose the White House if he keeps this up.
Fun fact that Ms. Salit does not want us to remember –
The Independence Party candidate for President in 2008 was John McCain
As a necessary corrective to some of the nonsense recently written about him here, here is what really happened as a result of Maddox’s role in the Brawley hoax.
More than two years after he was found to have defamed a former prosecutor in the Tawana Brawley case, Alton H. Maddox Jr. has finished paying off a $95,000 damage award against him.
As a necessary corrective to some of the nonsense recently written about him here, here is what really happened as a result of Maddox’s role in the Brawley hoax.
More than two years after he was found to have defamed a former prosecutor in the Tawana Brawley case, Alton H. Maddox Jr. has finished paying off a $95,000 damage award against him.
The prosecutor, Steven A. Pagones, a former Dutchess County assistant district attorney, received a payment from Mr. Maddox of just over $39,000 on Monday, Karen Blaustein-Birchler, one of Mr. Pagones's lawyers, said yesterday. In 1998, a jury in Dutchess County decided that Mr. Maddox, the Rev. Al Sharpton, C. Vernon Mason and Ms. Brawley had defamed Mr. Pagones by wrongly accusing him of being one of a group of men who abducted and raped Ms. Brawley over several days in 1987.
Last year, Mr. Maddox vowed that he would fight to overturn the verdict in appellate courts and would not pay ''one red penny'' to Mr. Pagones, but the state's highest court later ruled that Mr. Maddox had failed to provide information necessary for an appeal.
A Marist poll completed the day before the election but never made public showed “a continuation of the trend we saw in the previous week” with “Democrats and African-Americans coming home,” said pollster Lee Miringoff.
A Marist poll completed the day before the election but never made public showed “a continuation of the trend we saw in the previous week” with “Democrats and African-Americans coming home,” said pollster Lee Miringoff.
Miringoff said the poll also showed “Bloomberg’s numbers had this low-50s element.”
Why are we supposed to believe him? Miringoff refuses to release those poll results and in the last Marist poll, he not only gave no hint of the possibility that there was a trend toward Thompson and way from Bloomberg but instead stressed how few voters might change their mind.
The race for New York City mayor is in the homestretch, and if today were Election Day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg would handily win a third term. Bloomberg currently leads Democratic challenger Bill Thompson — 53% to 38% — among likely voters including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate. Bloomberg’s lead among likely voters is consistent with the results of a Marist survey last week when Bloomberg received 52% to Thompson’s 36%.
75% of likely voters citywide say they will not waver when it comes to their choice of candidate. An additional 20% report, regardless of whom they are planning to support, they are somewhat committed to their pick, and just 4% say they might change their minds before Tuesday.
The proportion of likely voters who strongly back their choice of candidate has grown since Marist last asked voters about their intensity of support.
Mayor Bloomberg’s favorability rating is on solid ground. 61% of registered voters say they have a positive view of the mayor while 32% of voters report they have an unflattering opinion of the mayor. These proportions are little changed from Marist’s previous poll when 63% rated the mayor favorably and 33% had a negative perception of him.
There are a lot of reasons – low turnout, undecided voters breaking toward Thompson, voters lying, cell phones, etc, why Marist overrated Mike’s chances. But apparently, Miringoff can’t admit they got it wrong. Instead he announces a secret poll. Well I’m not buying it unless he releases the numbers.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/shock_move_hands_victory_to_right_8isahAUBozxE1tNc3QhapK
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/shock_move_hands_victory_to_right_8isahAUBozxE1tNc3QhapK
Yesterday's dramatic decision by Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the liberal Republican congressional hopeful, to suspend her campaign in the face of a massive revolt by conservative-oriented voters in her economically troubled North Country district makes Conservative contender Doug Hoffman the all-but-certain victor over Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate whose credentials were vetted out of President Obama's White House.
If, as insiders from both parties predicted yesterday, Hoffman winds up the winner Tuesday, it will be because of a huge grass-roots outcry from voters troubled by Obama's big-government policies, as well as Albany's crushing state taxing and spending programs with which Scozzafava was heavily idThe DN's Errol Louis flagged this interview Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook gave NY1 last night at Bill Thompson's party, which perfectly captures the anger among Thompson supports at Democrats who stayed on the fence.
Seabrook, whose union endorsed Mayor Bloomberg in 2001 and 2005, but turned its back on him in favor of Thompson this year, was asked by Grace Rauh what he thought the mayor's closer-than-expected margin means going forward.
The DN's Errol Louis flagged this interview Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook gave NY1 last night at Bill Thompson's party, which perfectly captures the anger among Thompson supports at Democrats who stayed on the fence.
Seabrook, whose union endorsed Mayor Bloomberg in 2001 and 2005, but turned its back on him in favor of Thompson this year, was asked by Grace Rauh what he thought the mayor's closer-than-expected margin means going forward.
On live TV, he replied:
"That means that a lot of the individuals that were supposed to be supportive, that considered themselves Democrats, that considered themselves staunch supporters of righteousness, strong supporters of change, strong supporters of taking the homeless off the streets are full of shit."
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bribing_the_voters_of_new_jersey_wc8CPVLsmQe5klWsuOeqD
“The state has one of the most progressive income tax structures, so that residents earning more than $250,000 in 2007 (the last year data are available) constituted just 3.9% of all households but paid 59% of state income taxes. And these folks will pay an even bigger share of the burden this year because Corzine raised their tax rates and cut some of their deductions.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bribing_the_voters_of_new_jersey_wc8CPVLsmQe5klWsuOeqD
“The state has one of the most progressive income tax structures, so that residents earning more than $250,000 in 2007 (the last year data are available) constituted just 3.9% of all households but paid 59% of state income taxes. And these folks will pay an even bigger share of the burden this year because Corzine raised their tax rates and cut some of their deductions.”
Last Tuesday, the same newspaper ran a story based on a study by the same Manhattan Institute about how high taxes are driving New Yorkers to move to two states. Guess which is one of the states?
Here’s the answer -
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tax_refugees_staging_escape_from_qb4pItQ71UXIc0i6cd3UpK
“The study used annual US Census reports, which showed which states had increased population, combined with Internal Revenue Service data, which show which states, cities and counties had lost people.
While New York City and the state were the losers, the Sunshine and Garden States were winners. more than 250,000 New Yorkers who lived in and around the city fled to Florida. Another 172,000 city taxpayers ended up in New Jersey.
Why all the moving vans?
The center, part of the conservative Manhattan Institute, blames the state's high cost of living and high taxes.”
Bill Thompson recently spoke to a forum on poverty, hunger and homelessness in New York City.
Bill Thompson recently spoke to a forum on poverty, hunger and homelessness in New York City.
Thompson took aim at the $17 million in city tax breaks given to Related Companies for developing the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, saying that it was unfair to subsidize a developer while ignoring community requests for a living wage provision for jobs created by the development. “The only reason why a developer would say, ‘jeez, I don’t want to ensure [a living wage],’ is because they want to put more money in their pocket,” he said.
My first reaction to that statement is Duh, the only reason why a potential employee would say “jeez, I want a living wage, is because they want to put more money in their pocket.”
Did Thompson, a former investment banker, just learn about something called “the profit motive?