So Democratic Legislator Roger Corbin wants to be Presiding Officer. To do so he needs a majority of votes in the legislature to beat current PO Judy Jacobs.
In order to do so, Corbin is making a deal with the devil in the guise of Peter Schmitt. In a news conference, Schmitt announced he is forming a "coalition" with Corbin and makerick democratic legislator Lisanne Altman.
Schmitt cries like a little girl that he and the Lazy 8 have been "completely shut out of the legislative process for the past six years under Judy Jacobs." Interestingly Schmitt doesn't understand that being in the minority, like the Democrats were for the first four years of the legislature, means not having the power. It works like that. Were the Democrats from 1996-2000 goven a seat at the table? Heck no.
Schmitt says "The Nassau County Legislature has become dysfunctional. We have been reduced to a rubberstamp for the county executive."
It's like a flashback to 1996-2000 when Schmitt as Deputy Presiding Officer and the rest of the majority republicans approved whatever Gulotta wanted which led to the financial downfall of the county.
Far from being a "rubberstamp," the Democratic legisltors have consistantly challenged County Executive Suozzi.
Keep in mind, Schmitt is a Liar.
Now comes the math. Sorry.
Schmitt pledges his caucus' votes for Corbin giving Corbin 11 votes (9 reps plus Corbin and Altmann) and Judy Jacobs gets 8 votes. Corbin is Presiding Officer.
But wait! Schmitt is an untrustworthy liar.
Schmitt takes his 9 votes for himself as normally would happen, Corbin gets 2 votes (Corbin and Altmann) and Jacobs gets 8 votes.
Guess who is Presiding Officer?
Peter Schmitt.
Corbin can't be stupid enough to fall for such a poorly executed rope-a-dope.
And Altmann? It's a power-play for her. She's the "maverick." She gets the attention for going against her party. Altmann is lying low to let her "moves" sink in.
Schmitt wants power, not a "coalition." Schmitt is such a tone-deaf political tactician (see his managing the losing Sabellico campaign) he thinks in the end he can pull off a blatant rope-a-dope.
Nice try, Schmitt.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Nassau republicans have to decide on how they feel about County Executive Suozzi running for governor. Oh sure, during the campaign Greg Peterson and the GOP took swipes at Suozzi's supposed ambition for the state-house. They said he was more concerned about running for governor and that he wouldn't be around much if he ran yadda, yadda yadda.
Now that the campaign is over, it's time for some serious thought. Do they "help" Suozzi in order to get him out? The County Charter is not completely clear about a CE vacancy but here would undoubtedly be a special election. Getting rid of Suozzi and fielding a candidate in an open election might give the republicans a chance to win the office back. But in order to get Suozzi out, he would have to win a primary and in order to win a primary, he would have to be the best candidiate with the most accomplishments. Do republican legislators make everything easy for Suozzi to do? Up until now, Minority Leader Schmitt and the Lazy 8 have done everything they can to say 'no' to Suozzi. Moving the county forward was not in thier best electoral interests so they oppose Suozzi wherever they can. Do they give that up to get rid of Suozzi? Do they come off as rubber-stamps for Suozzi so he looks good? That won't help their own re-election prospects with the base GOP voters if they do.
After they do get rid of Suozzi, what next? A special election to fill the CE office. Who would run? The Nassau GOP really has no county-wide marquee candidates. State Senators like Balboni has his own ambitions, Fuschillo isn't ready, Skelos is happy being the number 2 in the senate and right now Albany is not very popular with voters anyway. Plus Senate majority leader Joe Bruno isn't too pleased with a Balboni run for AG because an open seat in the New Nassau Paradigm menas the republicans could very well lose that seat.
Does TOBAY Supervisor John Venditto step in? He wants DA and with a Dem in the office, he can challange her in 4 years.
How about TOH Supe. Kate Murray..... okay i said that with a straight face. She has the name but outside TOH she won't do well.
TOH reciever of taxes and failed Nassau Comptroller candidate Don Clavin? This year was his shot to get out of TOH and make his move and he got clobbered.
Leg. Mangano has aspirations - like Minority Leader - and CE would be of interest. Rule Schmitt out right away because he would get clobbered easily. So who would the GOP have run? if they couldn't get anyone real to run this year, how could they hope to get someone next year?
Keeping Suozzi in Nassau is tough on them too. He's there till 2009 then unless something else comes up. By 2009 he and the Dems will have had a decade of control in the county and a record of accomplishments that will be hard to beat. By 2009 there will be enough elected Dems with the stature to run and win a County Executive race leaving the republicans locked out again.
It's not easy being a nassau county republican.
Now that the campaign is over, it's time for some serious thought. Do they "help" Suozzi in order to get him out? The County Charter is not completely clear about a CE vacancy but here would undoubtedly be a special election. Getting rid of Suozzi and fielding a candidate in an open election might give the republicans a chance to win the office back. But in order to get Suozzi out, he would have to win a primary and in order to win a primary, he would have to be the best candidiate with the most accomplishments. Do republican legislators make everything easy for Suozzi to do? Up until now, Minority Leader Schmitt and the Lazy 8 have done everything they can to say 'no' to Suozzi. Moving the county forward was not in thier best electoral interests so they oppose Suozzi wherever they can. Do they give that up to get rid of Suozzi? Do they come off as rubber-stamps for Suozzi so he looks good? That won't help their own re-election prospects with the base GOP voters if they do.
After they do get rid of Suozzi, what next? A special election to fill the CE office. Who would run? The Nassau GOP really has no county-wide marquee candidates. State Senators like Balboni has his own ambitions, Fuschillo isn't ready, Skelos is happy being the number 2 in the senate and right now Albany is not very popular with voters anyway. Plus Senate majority leader Joe Bruno isn't too pleased with a Balboni run for AG because an open seat in the New Nassau Paradigm menas the republicans could very well lose that seat.
Does TOBAY Supervisor John Venditto step in? He wants DA and with a Dem in the office, he can challange her in 4 years.
How about TOH Supe. Kate Murray..... okay i said that with a straight face. She has the name but outside TOH she won't do well.
TOH reciever of taxes and failed Nassau Comptroller candidate Don Clavin? This year was his shot to get out of TOH and make his move and he got clobbered.
Leg. Mangano has aspirations - like Minority Leader - and CE would be of interest. Rule Schmitt out right away because he would get clobbered easily. So who would the GOP have run? if they couldn't get anyone real to run this year, how could they hope to get someone next year?
Keeping Suozzi in Nassau is tough on them too. He's there till 2009 then unless something else comes up. By 2009 he and the Dems will have had a decade of control in the county and a record of accomplishments that will be hard to beat. By 2009 there will be enough elected Dems with the stature to run and win a County Executive race leaving the republicans locked out again.
It's not easy being a nassau county republican.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Getting Them Nervous?
I guess this post from Urban Elephants is flattering. Urban Elephants is a republican-centric website out of the five boroughs. I've read through the site a few times in the past but not on a regular basis. The posts that I have read aren't ignorant angry screeds typed out hunt and peck style each key smashed in with ungainly sausage fingers like we've seen from other sites. Urban Elephants is well-written (not that we agree with the writing) and thoughtful.
Seems there is a worry that local websites/blogs from Democrats have the advantage. So far we do. There are some Long Island republican sites we plan on covering the next few days but they fal into the angry screed style. Here is the post:
"The New York Political Blog War
Readers here should be aware of the growing movement of energetic liberal bloggers setting up space online targeting specific Republican elected leaders. These are not the occassional rants/criticisms lumped into larger blogs, but blogs dedicated solely to one person.
Veto Vito
Peter King Watch
Schmitt Watch
Nassua GOP Watch
Now this does not mecessarily mean such easily-set up sites can make an impact, but there is residual impact. The larger media loves fights. They will never write about a general blogger bashing Fossella, but the will not a single blog dedicated to fighting Fossella. A one-person crusade against everything is not news. A one-person crusade against one politician has the potential to become Cindy Sheehan-ized in the wrong hands.
Readers should consider proper defenses. Pro-candidate blogs? Anti-Dem elected officials blogs? Counter posts? Etc.
We cannot lose the blog war in New York.
Scott Sala's blog"
As far as impact, we and our sister site have contributed to news stories in various media on Long Island. Wish it was more though, but it's still early.
I welcome more blogs added to the fray but it would be nice if the sites stuck with facts and avoid making stuff up as I will be pointing out in future posts and did point out about the Coalition for Long Island's Future website.
Seems there is a worry that local websites/blogs from Democrats have the advantage. So far we do. There are some Long Island republican sites we plan on covering the next few days but they fal into the angry screed style. Here is the post:
"The New York Political Blog War
Readers here should be aware of the growing movement of energetic liberal bloggers setting up space online targeting specific Republican elected leaders. These are not the occassional rants/criticisms lumped into larger blogs, but blogs dedicated solely to one person.
Veto Vito
Peter King Watch
Schmitt Watch
Nassua GOP Watch
Now this does not mecessarily mean such easily-set up sites can make an impact, but there is residual impact. The larger media loves fights. They will never write about a general blogger bashing Fossella, but the will not a single blog dedicated to fighting Fossella. A one-person crusade against everything is not news. A one-person crusade against one politician has the potential to become Cindy Sheehan-ized in the wrong hands.
Readers should consider proper defenses. Pro-candidate blogs? Anti-Dem elected officials blogs? Counter posts? Etc.
We cannot lose the blog war in New York.
Scott Sala's blog"
As far as impact, we and our sister site have contributed to news stories in various media on Long Island. Wish it was more though, but it's still early.
I welcome more blogs added to the fray but it would be nice if the sites stuck with facts and avoid making stuff up as I will be pointing out in future posts and did point out about the Coalition for Long Island's Future website.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
KATEMURRAY! Gets a Raise
The photo-op queen of the TOH got herself a raise. Mike Derry her spokesman tells Newsday "It certainly recognizes the scope of responsibility the supervisor of the country's largest township has to deal with,"
Really? According to KATEMURRAY!, she doesn't control much. She doesn't control any of the fire and sanitation "special tax districts" in her Town. She has alot of time to get her picture taken at every possible venue. How much responsibility does she have that deserves a 13% salary increase.
Back in 2004 she got a 5% raise going from $109,000 to $15,000. This year she get 13% and goes from $115,000 to $130,000.
Who gets a 18% raise over 2 years?
Where is this money coming from?
Not only does she get a raise but she brings the Town Board up by $5000 to $60,000, the Town Clerk gets $5000 to make $89,000 and "fiscal watchdog" Don Clavin gets a 7.89% raise of $7500 making his salary $102,500.
Wouldn't it have been nice if they had given themselves the raises before the November 8th elections? Instead the Sneaky Petes did it a month after. not much intergrity in that group of elected officials and it says alot about defeated Nassau County Comptroller candidate Clavin's lack of principles.
Really? According to KATEMURRAY!, she doesn't control much. She doesn't control any of the fire and sanitation "special tax districts" in her Town. She has alot of time to get her picture taken at every possible venue. How much responsibility does she have that deserves a 13% salary increase.
Back in 2004 she got a 5% raise going from $109,000 to $15,000. This year she get 13% and goes from $115,000 to $130,000.
Who gets a 18% raise over 2 years?
Where is this money coming from?
Not only does she get a raise but she brings the Town Board up by $5000 to $60,000, the Town Clerk gets $5000 to make $89,000 and "fiscal watchdog" Don Clavin gets a 7.89% raise of $7500 making his salary $102,500.
Wouldn't it have been nice if they had given themselves the raises before the November 8th elections? Instead the Sneaky Petes did it a month after. not much intergrity in that group of elected officials and it says alot about defeated Nassau County Comptroller candidate Clavin's lack of principles.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Denise Ford
The Democrat running as a republican won re-election. Isn't it about time she switch party registration? She votes party-line with her republican boss Peter Schmitt and has yet to waver on a single issue.
Back in january 2004 when she took office the Long Island Press ran an article on her.
Reporter Lauren Hill wrote "But party affiliation doesn't always predict voting strategy. As a registered Democrat from a predominantly Democrat city (there are 19,923 registered Dems to the 13,031 registered Republicans,) she is indeed a "wild card." Although she owes her job to Republicans, no one knows how she will vote."
Well after two years, we found out. She votes with the republicans who paid for her. As the saying goes "Dance with the one that brung ya."
Funny though because back in early 2004, Ford said in the same article "I'll take each issue as they come along. I don't think I'm any party—I think I'm my own."
She takes each issue and then dutifully votes the way Peter Schmitt wants her to.
Interestingly, the party she belongs to (on paper anyway) has the most "wild cards." The Democratic majority in the legislature can count on members like Lisanne Altman for example, breaking ranks when they have a differnt opinion. That really can't be said of the republicans who Ford has chosen to caucus with. If Ford disagreed with Schmitt and the GOP plan, she certanly hasn't been vocal about it. Her silent assent to every hair-brained scheme concocted by her leader speaks volumes about her being on her own. We covered this over at Schmitt Watch back in January 2004.
After her recent close re-election, Ford told the Oceanside/Island Park Herald "We have a race again in two years, and I know we¹ll bring back the majority,"
That's what the republicans have been saying since 1999. Her side - the Republican side - have lost every election since. And exactly what will she bring back in the majority? The same fiscal malfeasence Schmitt and the other republican legisaltors foisted on the county before they were sent to the back bench.
Ford also offered this little gem "I'm happy that I'm re-elected, and I¹m going to work harder than I ever have before."
So for the past 2 years she wasn't working as hard as she could for her constituents?
Back in january 2004 when she took office the Long Island Press ran an article on her.
Reporter Lauren Hill wrote "But party affiliation doesn't always predict voting strategy. As a registered Democrat from a predominantly Democrat city (there are 19,923 registered Dems to the 13,031 registered Republicans,) she is indeed a "wild card." Although she owes her job to Republicans, no one knows how she will vote."
Well after two years, we found out. She votes with the republicans who paid for her. As the saying goes "Dance with the one that brung ya."
Funny though because back in early 2004, Ford said in the same article "I'll take each issue as they come along. I don't think I'm any party—I think I'm my own."
She takes each issue and then dutifully votes the way Peter Schmitt wants her to.
Interestingly, the party she belongs to (on paper anyway) has the most "wild cards." The Democratic majority in the legislature can count on members like Lisanne Altman for example, breaking ranks when they have a differnt opinion. That really can't be said of the republicans who Ford has chosen to caucus with. If Ford disagreed with Schmitt and the GOP plan, she certanly hasn't been vocal about it. Her silent assent to every hair-brained scheme concocted by her leader speaks volumes about her being on her own. We covered this over at Schmitt Watch back in January 2004.
After her recent close re-election, Ford told the Oceanside/Island Park Herald "We have a race again in two years, and I know we¹ll bring back the majority,"
That's what the republicans have been saying since 1999. Her side - the Republican side - have lost every election since. And exactly what will she bring back in the majority? The same fiscal malfeasence Schmitt and the other republican legisaltors foisted on the county before they were sent to the back bench.
Ford also offered this little gem "I'm happy that I'm re-elected, and I¹m going to work harder than I ever have before."
So for the past 2 years she wasn't working as hard as she could for her constituents?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
