get donkey!

The NY Working Families Party has commissioned a poll that finds that New Yorkers are against Governor Paterson’s proposed budget cuts to schools and health care:

The poll showed that New Yorkers were strongly resistant to the proposed massive cuts to healthcare, education programs, and the safety net. When asked whether the state should “seriously consider” a list of budget proposals in order to close the budget gap, or should “definitely not consider taking that step,” between 60% and 75% of all voters said Albany should “definitely not” consider any of the following steps:
· Reducing the amount the state would reimburse hospitals for services provided under the Medicaid program (60% say “definitely do not take that step”)

· Reducing state funding for Medicaid and other health care services by $1.7 billion over the next year and a half (65%)

· Cutting state aid to public schools by $1.4 billion over the next year and a half (75%).

Continue Reading “New Yorkers don’t want cuts to schools or healthcare”

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A few pics I took from my front yard yesterday morning of the iced-over trees on Mt Beacon.

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Back in the comments of my previous NY-19 post, there is a debate brewing about the bona-fides of one of the candidates. I think the purveyors of take19 have some great advice:

If you want to see Ben and the other four candidates vying for Sue’s seat, they’ll all be at the Peekskill Democratic meeting tonight (12/15) which begins at 7 p.m. in a room at the Field Library in downtown Peekskill.

As a group — we formed Take19 last year to take back the 19th district — we’ve met with all five of the candidates and each has their plusses and minuses. Though we don’t plan to endorse anyone right now, we’re more than a bit concerned with some of the misinformation being pumped out into the blogosphere about Ben, primarily on DailyKos and primarily by some of the same people who have posted here.

So if you’re tired of being spun by a few posters, come to tonight’s event — there’s more info on the Peekskill Dems site — and make up your own mind about the candidates. Clogging the blogosphere with misinformation about the candidates only helps Sue Kelly. Many of us are working way too hard to see that happen yet again. (emph. mine)

I don’t think I will be able to make it tonight, but hopefully others will, and can see the candidates for themselves. I hope there are more events like this one.

One thing I would really hate to see is this primary become a circular firing squad resulting in a politically wounded Democratic candidate. Obviously, people are going to have primary favorites, and they should talk up the strengths of their preferred candidate, but attacks on the other Democratic candidates benefit no one. I think it would be better for people to keep the focus of the race on where it should be — defeating Sue Kelly. After all, each of the candidates running would be an improvement over the current congressperson.

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Republican Sue Kelly has held my “new” Congressional district since, I believe, 1994. In fact, I do not believe she has ever faced a serious challenge. Well, that is about to change. Perhaps emboldened by the big Democratic gains in the area back in November, there are now 5 announced Democratic candidates vying for her seat.

They are:

• Judith A Aydelott
• John Hall
• James Martorano
• Darren Rigger
• Benjamin Shuldiner

I don’t yet know enough about any them to pick a favorite. I do know, however, that John Hall is/was the lead singer of the band Orleans. He took on the Bush Campaign last year when they attempted to use the Orleans song, “Still the One” at campaign stops. Aydelott, who was formerly a Republican, was the first to enter the race and, has raised $200,000 since Labor Day .

take19 is a blog that is completely focused on the race. They have the scuttlebutt on the dealings of Sue Kelly.

The DCCC has a Races to Watch site where you can find your own district. Interestingly they seem to be framing the overall congressional campaign strategy as a referendum on Tom DeLay. That seems like a good idea to me. Here is what they have to say about Sue and Tom:

Some facts about Sue Kelly and how tied up Rep. Kelly is with Tom DeLay…

• Sue Kelly has taken $12,020 from Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC. No surprise that Kelly voted with Tom DeLay 90% of the time between Jan. 1 2004 and March 31 2005.
• Sue Kelly voted to weaken the ethics rules in a move that many say served only to protect Tom DeLay.
• When Republicans realized it was “impossible to win the communications battle” over the gutted ethics rules, Kelly flip-flopped and voted to put the old rules back into place.
• When Democrats offered a solution to clean up the House by strengthening ethics rules, Sue Kelly voted twice to make sure it never even came to an up or down vote.
• Sue Kelly voted to allow DeLay to continue serving as Leader even if he is indicted.

With all these candidates, the primary should be interesting. I’ll update the blog as I learn more about the candidates.

[UPDATE 12/6/2005] It turns out that Ben Shuldiner was the first candidate to officially enter the race as Radha Iyengar notes in the comments :

Ben Shuldiner was actually the first candidate to enter the race, filing with the FEC long before Judy Aydelott.

Ben is the founder and principal of a public school in New York City. His school has had enormous success and for this he was named the Greatest Public Servant under the Age of 35.

I apologize for the oversight.

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