DaBrinker Report

Troy GOP Finds Internet

The Albany TU has a story about the City of Troy GOP “embracing the internet age” by searching for candidates through posts on craigs list. First of all, it’s nice to have the Republicans in Troy realize there is a whole new world out there and something called the internet. Did Senator Bruno ban them from using the internet because its just a fad anyway? And now that poppa Joe is out of the picture, the kids are getting crazy.

Secondly, the reason they are posting on craigs list is because they are desperate and can’t find suckers to run.  I can’t image the quality of the candidates that will be running in Troy soon. The citizens there have to be so proud.

Tedisco's Campaign Staff -- Evens the Odds

This should be good.  Tedisco is bring a large chunk of his legislative staff out in to the campaign.  These are the same people that lost an Assembly seat last November – which should not have been lost.  They should just hand this election over to Scott Murphy.  Murphy would be gaining ground in this campaign even if he just sat at home watching reruns of Mama’s family. 

Senator DeFrancisco Handles Life in the Minority Poorly

Senator DeFrancisco wrote a letter to the editor of the Syracuse Post Standard.  I will summarize his letter for you so as to not waste your time.

Republican rhetoric.   Yada, yada, yada.  And the close. 

Words are cheap, and actions speak much louder than words. So David, if you want bipartisanship and you want good policies and good decisions, let your actions have some resemblance to your words -- open the process, give time for review and debate and, in good faith, at least get your New York City colleagues to consider opposing points of view.

So basically, Senator DeFrancisco is telling CNY residents that Senator Valesky should do as I say not as I did.  It’s not going to take a lot of work or effort for Senator Valesky and the new Senate Majority to be more open and bipartisan than DeFrancisco and the former Majority members were.  It still makes me laugh when DeFrancisco and the new Minority members whine and complain about how they are treated.  The Republicans  kept the Democrats locked out of the process for decades.  

NGD Gets After Jim Wright, Again

 

 

Oooooh SNAP!  NGD blasted Jim Wright Dukes of Hazzard style in a very entertaining post.  I don’t know if the DANC board members will ever look at Jimmy the same way again.  Does that make Political Ivy Cooter?

Jimmy Tedisco Shows His Support For Science

I recently heard that Jimmy Basketball Tedisco has offered himself up for this procedure.  I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. 

Jimmy Tedisco Still Saving Taxpayers Money

Ok. Say what you want about the Assembly Minority having more cars (14 cars and 41 members) than the Assembly Majority (10 cars and 109 members). 

 

But just remember this, Jimmy Tedisco use to have 42 members in his conference up until the end of 2008.  He lost a seat in the election of November 2008.  NYS legislators receive a base pay of $79,500 or $6,625 per month.  This more than makes up for the fourteen car payments for which the Assembly Minority is billing taxpayers. 

 

So by losing seats and keeping 14 cars in the Minority, everyone wins!  Of course this theory gets blown out of the water when you include Jimmy’s liberal use of the gas card, out of district campaign mailers at taxpayer expense and hair products (just guessing on this one, but someone has to be subsidizing his usage).    

 

As you can see, NGD has been saying the same thing for months.

Pataki for US Senate, Seriously?

Is the GOP so hard up that it has to bring Pataki out of retirement for a run at US Senate?  This just goes to prove what I have been hearing from GOP political operatives for years is true – the Pataki administration killed the back bench for the GOP in New York.

They didn’t do it intentionally.  Governor Pataki’s administration hired young political talent from across the state to work in the administration.  This severely drained the political talent locally.  Those that may have run for local office and refined their skills as politicians would have grown in to viable regional and statewide candidates.  But, no.  The backbench is dead.  Now a bunch of past their prime politicians want to get back out on the field, not realizing the voters are done with them and have already forgotten them. 

Does this sound like Jim Wright?

 

Do us all a favor Governor Pataki.  Stay retired and don’t embarrass yourself. 

Jim Wright is in a Yank to be at DANC

Is DANC wanna be Jim Wright pressuring the Board to hire him?  Indications I am receiving from readers seem to indicate that he is.   I have also received indications that Jimmy is also having his posse call DANC Board Members on his behalf. 

What is the Deal? 

More Stimulus Websites

There are two official websites for the Federal Stimulus package aka “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”  The Federal version and New York States version will hopefully continue more information soon.  Here is a snapshot of how much New York State should be getting for some of the programs.

These are in addition to ones I already listed here.

Syracuse Sub-Standard Has Tough Time Doing Factual Reporting

On Feb 8^th a cub reporter did a story about two CNY Assembly lawmakers not receiving a chairmanship.  But by comparison Senator David Valesky was given a leadership role in just his third term.

In the state Assembly, seniority matters:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver recently announced leadership positions for his conference, and two members from Central New York- Assemblyman Al Stirpe and Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton - were left without posts.

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Stirpe began serving in the Assembly in 2007, making this his second term. Lifton, D-Ithaca, just started her fourth term.

By comparison, Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, is beginning his third term in the state Senate, and this year was named second in command of that house.

Is Stirpe bitter about being left out?

"I would think that if someone has an outstanding skill set in a certain area, they'd be able to get a chairmanship in that area without waiting 10 or 12 years," he said. "But without that expertise, I can see why they wait awhile. It takes you two to three years to figure out how things work."

"Chairmanships are leadership positions," Lifton explained. "New people don't have leadership positions in any organization, and the state Legislature is no different. Plus, there are so many people in the Assembly. They usually go by a class at a time to find people to fill leadership posts. If you didn't do that, I think you'd have a lot more infighting than we do now."

What the reporter failed to mention, or maybe she is unaware, is that there are only 32 Democrats in the Senate Majority while there are 109 Democrats in the Assembly Majority.  Every Majority member in the Senate gets a committee to chair or a leadership title.  On the other hand, the Assembly has such a large majority that it takes many years for members to move up in seniority and receive a chairmanship or leadership post.  So Delen Goldberg, do your homework next time and report the whole story.

 

And Delen, how about congratulating Senator Valesky for receiving such a powerful spot. He deserves it.  And CNY will benefit for his new title.