October 29, 2007

Well, if you're going to do something...

Dive in headfirst, I always say. (Alternate title, This is the most expensive piece of cardboard I've ever rented). I stopped by Magnarelli Headquarters today. Signed up to volunteer, made a donation, got my yard sign (hence alternate title, although of course the donation was optional). As for the volunteering, Bill's campaign's organizing a rally and literature drop this Saturday 10/3/07 at 150 Midler Park Drive, the plumbers and steamfitters local. Also apparently the phone to sign up for election day is 477-0500. Both sides have the opportunity to use this as a forum, if anyone knows what Joanie's up to this weekend, feel free to post it in comments or send me an email and I'll post it.

With regard to yesterday's post, I don't think we'll have a problem with anyone reading it that way, but just in case I in no way meant that you can't be both skilled and smart.

Today our paper starts a "Closer Look" at the candidates for county exec. Bill gets first, and unfortunately for him it may be too close a look, the particular choice of picture is sorta scary. One can only hope they play fair and give Joanie the same too close, black and white, no background shot when hers runs tomorrow.

Today I also saw an election guide in the new times, although it only posted one question per candidate and a lot of candidates didn't respond (including Ms. Mahoney). The main things I noticed were that they reversed the pictures of Dick Brickwedde and Bob Antonacci, and that Howie Hawkin's picture appears to be from like the 80's.

Our gov went to Portugal for a global warming summit, with what the Post-standard calls "International lawmakers." I'm pretty sure NY doesn't make international law. Used to be, this kind of thing, some folks would say this is just the kind of move someone does to run for president, and well, well I'd guess they're right. I still like Spitzer and most of what he's done, but he is surely a political animal.

We seem to now have a prescription drug discount program in the county. All drug stores in the county will start stocking the cards, good for 10 to 20 % on name brands and 20 to 40 on generics. Can't use it with another plan, but good if you don't have one or have a poor one.

Blogging leads to the most interesting conversations. I seem to be having one about the hotties of local politics. I'm just going to say that I met Karen Hanford at an Obama event and didn't have quite the same reaction, but to each his own.

I've been having a lot of fun with google webtracker tools. It appears a lot of people finding me on google are in fact looking for democracywise, a search where I rank #5. The link's to the right folks. I also came up in searches for candidates Deb Moynihan, George Alessio, and Tom Buckel, and in a search for "candidates cny politics." Interestingly, I also came up in a search for "I don't toot my own horn cuz I don't have to." I am apparently # 1 on a search for "debbie moynihan republican for county leg." I'm #7 and 8 on "onondaga county young democrats," by the way. Anyone looking for info on them, I do have it.

October 28, 2007

More Magnarelli

I couldn't think of a title and liked the alliteration.

Those short on time looking for convincing toward Magnarelli should skip to my next to last paragraph, I feel it's some of my finer work.

First, a column I think we should all read. It's like 10 years old, but it still rings true today because no one's been listening to it.

There was more today about both Joanie and Bill, this time with the candidates discussing jobs. Read one side, read the other, I'm not noticing much difference. Except focus. Joanie's main issue seems to be trimming things down into one-stop shopping for businesses trying to find information on our area, Bill's seems to be job training. Both give passing glances at the other's main topic. Bill also does a decent job of stating some areas where he's had experience in this before. Bill also mentions a website that's supposed to be in the vein of one-stop shopping. I found it, www.creativecoreny.com. It's certainly a beginning to this. I think it might be hampered somewhat by the fact it's trying to encompass all of CNY. In fact, I think the two most useful things are links to the case center and to grow syracuse. Still, it is experience in an area that both candidates are talking about.

I've been asked to convince a Democrat to vote for Magnarelli. It's a tough race to decide, to be sure. All I can do, I guess, is state my personal reasons for choosing Bill. I've read up on them both as much as I can, I've listened to them both in person. Bill, both in person and in print, talks much about job training and working with local universities. Of course, Joanie talks about working with local universities too, but by being in office, Bill already has the experience of working with Nancy Cantor. The money for the connective corridor is the most recent example. And I truly think Nancy has been the most constructive force in CNY in recent years. But I don't think it should all be on her. I get the sense, from most of Joanie's speaches, that Joanie wants to "make use of local private agencies". In other words, I don't hear too much about what the County is going to do, except maybe provide a little coordination. Maybe it's just the Democrat in me, but I feel the private sector needs more of an assist than that.

Second, on the issue of job training, my current job delves much into social work. I've seen people get frustrated and give up on the job hunting process, and I think lack of training has a lot to do with it. I've seen the programs that public assistance and other agencies send them to for help, and I've seen that those programs aren't much help. Are they a slight help to those with no skills or job hunting expertise, yes, but do they do what is really needed to get a quality job, are they helpful for those who have been in the workforce before? Not even close. Clearly, Bill's job development and job training emphasis cover an area where we are surely lacking. We have SU, ESF, and Lemoyne, we've got Cornell and RIT nearby. We aren't suffering from a lack of intelligent workers. We need some skilled workers to back them up. To work on the projects those engineers and scientists design.

Finally, we really do need to end the county vs city attitude. Pirro was a huge source of that attitude, why else put a sewer plant in Armory Square? Joanie's commercials tout that it's time for a change, but electing yet another Republican County Executive isn't my idea of change. That's all I got for now. It was enough for me, hope it sways a few others. Otherwise, take a fresh look at both candidates on Syracuse.com. Browse their answers to the Post-Standard, browse their campaign releases, (don't bother checking the websites, those are both pretty useless), and see what conclusions you come to. Let me know, if you've got a minute.

October 27, 2007

Last legislature endorsements, other notes...

First, some interesting political notes. The Gov, Elliot Spitzer, was here in Syracuse to talk about the $30 million the state is putting into Syracuse to build our Connective Corridor. Good news for this area.

2nd, the Post-standard is has a headline about DA Fitzgerald not itemizing items properly in reports on how campaign funds are being spent. The main reason I find this noteworthy is that our DA's name is Fitzpatrick. To their credit, the only place they made this error was in the headline. I suppose it is somewhat noteworthy, since we would expect a DA to know about the law, even if it is election law and not criminal law. On to the rest of the legislature:

16th district: Sam Laguzza. See the other day's note about Stanczyk, Ryan, and Laguzza being the lone vocal opposition when the Republicans ram through whatever Pirro decrees.

17th district: Marty Masterpole. Marty's opponent, Larry Corso, admits he would need guidance from colleagues if elected. Yeah, um, I'll go with the other guy.

18th district: Monica Williams. I could talk about Monica's wanting to improve job training and develop OCC, but I'll make it simple. Lots of candidates came to Young Democrat meetings with speeches. Monica came with a notepad and paper.

19th district: Deb Moynihan. What's that? I picked a Republican over a sitting Democrat when the current leg can pass a bill without a single Democratic vote? Absolutely. Deb's very energetic, she does her research, and most importantly, she's clearly made getting jobs in Central New York her main objective. Her opponent, Lovie Winslow, has one of the worst attendence records in the legislature. What good's a Democratic vote against if she doesn't show up?

Preview: My eventual choice of Magnarelli led Syracuse Scholar to post a request that I try and convince a fellow Dem to pick Bill. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to see what I can do.

Additional note, today I managed to agree with the Post Standard on all their picks, which I see as a sign that they're finally getting their act together.

Final score, out of 17 districts endorsed, 14 possible incumbents.
Post Standard: 10 incumbents, 10 Republicans, 7 Democrats
Me: 3 incumbents, 3 Republicans, 11 Democrats (2 write in, 1 no decision)

October 25, 2007

More endorsements

7th district: Tom Buckel. Anyone who's been reading this site is probably saying "duh." I've helped out on his campaign a lot, and there's good reason for it. Tom's been very active in the community, while his opponent seems to disappear until a few months before election time.

8th district: Mark English. This is another case of me meeting a politician and being impressed by his drive to be a positive force for change. If I can fit some time for door to door in amongst my many other campaigns, I'd be glad to go drum up support for this man.

9th district: Mark Stanczyk. Here's a case of me agreeing with the Post-standard. Most times when the Republican supermajority simply passes whatever Nick Pirro felt like proposing that day, Mark, Sam Laguzza, and Ed Ryan are the 3 vocal votes of opposition providing some actual discussion to our democratic process.

10 district: Write in again. I've met Democrat Geri Feldman. Nice lady, but not impressive as a legislative candidate. But even the Post's endorsement states Republican Holmquist needs to moderate his "patronizing attitude" toward the city of Syracuse. The city's the county's lifeblood and the county needs to realize this.

11th district: Kristen Zimmer-Meile. Patrick Kilmartin's answers, even his jobs one, are all about cutting taxes. Yes, we need to get taxes down, but there's a little more to it then that. Zimmer-Meile wants to give preference to local businesses for county contracts, and wants to crack down on businesses that didn't provide the jobs they promised when they were given tax breaks. I guess I'm Zimmering.

12th district: Robert Demore. Tough one. I've met Democrat Victoria Lightfoot, and she was decently impressive. Also I like that she wants to provide incentives to young folk who stay here. But I don't think bribing the young folk is the only answer. Demore is one of the few Republicans I've seen talk to the Post Standard about job training. He also wants to work more closely with local private job development agencies, and wants to get a state grant for a 1-stop shopping website for businesses looking to expand or relocate in Syracuse. Quite innovative for a party that seems to mainly be advocating cutting things this year.

14th: Gary Morris. Hmm, neither really said anything in the Post-standard questions that stuck out as being good, bad, or even saying much concrete on an issue. But the PS endorsed a democrat against an incumbent Republican? He must be doing something right.

Note to those who noticed things missing: there is no mention of the 13th because there is only one candidate. There is no mention of Conservative Lee Stemmer in the 12th because he has an anti-city attitude, but I couldn't find a way to effectively fit this in amongst the other info on the 12th so I'm putting it here.

Overall scores so far(13 total districts, 12 possible incumbents (no incumbent in the 12th, that was Dale's)):
Post standard: 9 incumbents, 3 challengers, 9 Republicans, 4 Democrats
Me: 2 incumbents, 7 challengers, 2 Republicans, 8 Democrats, 2 Write-Ins, 1 No Decision

October 23, 2007

I call em as I see em...

First a few things. One, there's another meet the candidates opportunity coming up, this one at SU Thursday, Room 132 Lyman Hall (google map college pl, Syracuse NY, and you should just about be pointing at Lyman)

Next, saw a Joanie commercial today. I know what it's supposed to do is stay on her campaign message of Bill's been around forever, and it does a good job of sticking to message. She also, manages in person to slip in little shots when talking on any subject, and any good candidate should stick to message. But the commercial states we have the opportunity ("for the first time in a while") to vote for real change in this county. By voting in another Republican when there's never been a Democrat? I know what she means, but this kind of wording made more sense against Dale then it does against Bill.

Speaking of voting for change, let's talk about the Post-Standard endorsements. Trying to be as polite as I can, they are endorsing way too many incumbents. 5 out of 6 so far. If this community was doing all sorts of vibrant and exciting things, if our economy were 10 shades of wonderful, if our property taxes were a nice low percentage of income, if the consolidation everyone talks about was well on its way, then yes, by all means endorse the incumbents. But since that isn't the case, here's my counter list of endorsements:

1st district: Write-in. Yes that's right, and I live in the 1st district. Neither incumbent Richard Lesniak nor challenger Jim Borchik get my vote. The incumbent's answers to the post-standard questions suffer from a case of being too happy with the status quo. Jim Borchik on the other hand, started off his answer on the job question (in my opinion the most important one) with "I don't have the answer to that yet." Then he said he was going to ask the elderly. When this community is losing young folk left and right, don't you think maybe we should be asking the young people and find out why they're leaving? If you live in this district and want my support as a write in, feel free to answer the post standard questions (or my own that were previously answered by Tom Buckel and Deb Moynihan) and send them to me.

2nd district: Don MacLaughlin. Post-standard got this one right. Bernie Kraft has been the floor leader for the majority for 12 years now. A majority which doesn't need a minority vote to pass anything. Have you felt us moving in the right direction?

3rd district: Brad Ward. This was a close one. I almost didn't even pick. Meyer certainly has impressive qualifications, and his answers were quite good. However, the Post-Standard writes "Ward's top issues are jobs and investment in the county." Me too. What does Meyer list for top issues? His website has a section entitled political issues, but apparently he forgot to post more than one. Everything is about cutting taxes, which I agree is important, but I think it's a little more complex then that. Also, he starts off with calling for NYS to give back any surplus taxes, which I believe at the county level was already called for by one Ed Ryan.

4th district: Dave Stott. One of Dave's main supporters is a registered Republican who feels Jim Ferrell didn't go to bat for her when Bloody Creek was overflowing. Also, Dave is one of those candidates I've personally met and worked with, and I can see that he'll fight hard for the rights of his constituents.

5th district: Still deciding. Phil Drury's answers at the Standard are kind of short, but I've talked with him a bit and we seem to agree on things. Rapp gives a good jobs answer, particularly where she starts off talking about how her kids ended up moving out of the area, so she's in the same boat as the rest of us. However, with regard to the part of the jobs answer where she states her daughter's friend told her we have everything Boston has but so much easier... what exactly was your daughter's friend smoking? I mean I like CNY, but just look at the sheer number of young people in Boston. There's a reason they're there and not here. We can (and hopefully will) get there, but we ain't yet.

6th district: James Rhinehart. Whaha! I finally found an incumbent I think I can endorse. And a Republican at that. Karen Hanford has some interesting ideas regarding trying to keep our college students here, but I wonder about effectiveness vs. cost. Jim was mayor and village trustee in Skaneateles and they're one community in this area that's doing quite well. He voted no to a legislator's pay raise, is for term limits, worked on bills for tax credits for emergency service volunteers and increased allowances for indigent burials, and because of his membership on environmental boards, is for "going green" and working with ESF.

More to come as the Post Standard lists theirs. Feel free to list your own arguments.

October 20, 2007

Supporting Magnarelli

The Post-standard ran the headline "Ed Ryan Reluctantly Supports Magnarelli." I got a major kick out of this headline, but I am also announcing that I've made a decision, and I am supporting Bill. And not reluctantly, but rather with careful decision making.

As any regular readers of the blog may know, I did not start off in Bill's corner, but I have ended up there. I have listened to both the candidates, I have read what both of them have said, and I am finding that I agree with Bill. For one thing, although Joanie is definitely the more charismatic of the two, and although there are some posters on Syracuse.com who would disagree with me, Bill seems to state things more clearly on the issues. Most issues. For instance, I point out again that on the issue of arts, Bill specifically stated he would spend more money, while Joanie only talked about how adjusting how we'd spend it. In general, Joanie seems to be taking a "we should take advantage of private organizations that already do these things," sort of attitude on many issues. I would say we already seem to have that sort of attitude, as evidenced by the fact that Nancy Cantor has been the main source of substantial change in this area. I personally think it's time the government got Nancy's back and did some of this stuff on our own.

Additionally, I recently went to a 40 Below meet the candidates thing at Ambrosia. Since the group was 40 below, the 1st question they asked was about how young people would play a role in each's administration. Joanie, to her credit,put together a good reply, stating she wouldn't look at young or old, Democrat or Republican, but at qualifications, but Bill got major points by bringing his campaign staff to the forum, as well as one young woman that was both on his campaign staff and his legislative staff, and they were all young people. Since a major problem right now is that young people are fleeing the area, wouldn't it be a good idea to make sure there are some young people around that we're going to ask?

So it's almost election time, and I, like most of the young democrats, have committed to more campaigns then I should have, but I'm adding Bill to the list of campaigns I will get out for before election day.

One last note, back to the Post-Standard, their online guide to the election has expanded nicely to cover almost all the local races. Check it out, you've got no reason to say you don't know anything about the Lysander town council candidates. I do wish they'd asked a specific question about how they're going to keep young people in Syracuse, but it's still a mighty resource.

October 13, 2007

links to political info, i toot my own horn, spitzer + and -

First off, a press release done by yours truly resulted in a post-standard mention of the Young Dems' happy hour. We're the 2nd section of the article. As you can see, the one thing I was not aware of was that the $25 entry for young dems also includes membership fees. Good, I get to pay $25 less than I thought. I edited my post below, so you don't go looking for the old info.

The post-standard has gone and made it easy for us to read blurbs about all our Onondaga County legislature candidates. Some of their answers are less than informative, and I wish they'd list emails like democracywise but it's still a help. Now with my links to the Post-standard feature and Democracywise, you've got links to websites, answers to questions, email... you cannot tell me you don't know anything about the candidates. Let's test and see if Deb's still reading the blog. Deb, as I expected I love the answer on jobs. The property taxes answer is also good, but that first sentence is a little too honest and really should have been taken out. Also the end bit has totally nothing to do with property taxes, but is nicely on focus with the message of your campaign.

A candidate for judge came to my home in the rain (Charles Mantione). Turns out he's a neighbor. He dropped off lit about him and 3 other democratic candidates in Lysander. I found it uplifting just to realize there were 4 other Democrats besides me in Lysander.

I also had a good long chat with Dave Stott's dad. Turns out he's a vet and former County Legislator. We talked about how to get young offenders working instead of committing more crimes, a subject I deal with every day at work. The man had some interesting ideas and asked Dave to talk with him about it when we weren't using time that could be spent canvassing. So his dad is another point in Dave's favor in my book.

Now to give our fine governor a point and then take it away. Because I'm like that. First, you can read his defense to his policy of letting people get licenses without a social security number. In particular, he mentions that unlicensed drivers contribute to 5 times as many accidents as licensed drivers. Of course, some of that, you have to factor in those with DWI's, but in general, it shows that people are going to drive so we might as well give them a road test. And I continue to agree that the policy will be an important aid to law enforcement, making it more likely they'll know who they're dealing with.

The point taken away? He called Bill Magnarelli a puppet last year, but is coming to Syracuse to endorse the man this year. I'm not saying anything one way or the other about Bill, but how are we to trust the governor's words when he acts contrary within the year?

And yes I do realize my capitalization is horrible in parts of this article, but I don't care.

Oh, also, I'd previously posted that the Deputy Sheriff's association was endorsing George Alessio over Paul Carey, but their ads this week show the reverse. I swear I'm not crazy, so they must have switched allegiances or something.

October 10, 2007

important items 1st, then discussion

First, some important things:
1) The deadline to register to vote for this election is this Friday. If you still need to register, get to the board of elections at the Civic Center, pick up a card and turn it in. Then vote Nov 6th.
2) The Onondaga County Young Dems are having a fundraising happy hour at the Empire Brewery (120 Walton St, Syracuse) next Wednesday, from 5-8. Unfortunately, the key word there is fundraiser, so there is a charge of $35 for guests, $25 for Young Dems and it includes membership dues. Already paid your dues? Then you're covered, but you also already knew about this. On the plus side you get food and drink and lots of local Democrats to talk to. Some big wigs even, Dem Committee members, candidates, right on up to County Exec Candidate Bill Magnarelli. We're already expecting a good turnout, but hey, the more the merrier. If you need more info or would like to RSVP, you can email me if you like, I'll make sure the word gets around to the Young Dems president. Both of us are fanatics about checking our email. Or if you got the card in the mail, just respond to that.

Speaking of Bill Magnarelli, lets move on to the political discussion (ooh, segue). Both major exec candidates (sorry there Ed) have gotten their names in the papers a bit. Both of them talked about merging services in Sunday's paper and about arts funding in Monday's paper. I like Bill's use of the County Crime lab as an example of how he's done this before. I also like that Bill committed to more money for the arts in the 2nd article, where as Joanie just talked about deciding how to spend the money we're already spending.

Also, Magnarelli today announced his 26 point development plan. I still disagree with the use of all these "points," but I do like some things: encouraging commercialization of local university ideas, converting contaminated properties back to business use, the county working with the city on parking issues, setting up a public authority to run Hancock to try and lower airline prices. Oh, and another advantage? No mention of windmills.

So, I'm honestly still deciding. I'm leaning toward Bill, but neither one's convinced me yet. Next I plan to browse their websites and see if I get any actual info from them.

Finally, they want to name the Oncenter convention center after Nick Pirro. Yes, he did champion it, and do much to encourage its use (even using the war memorial for a horse show so the county could get the funds, although the war memorial is no place for a horse). In fact, I might have no problem with naming it after him if someone else did it. But during his last year, right before the numbers might change and the county leg might not be able to pass things without a single Democratic vote? Supposedly the oncenter board asked to do this, but the timing seems suspicious. And of course, I must agree with the post on syracuse.com, from ohtypcalsy: big deal.....who gives a crap

October 2, 2007

Well, so far he's got my vote...

Jeff Kramer announces his campaign for county exec. It's funny cause it's sadly true. Scratch that, it's fricking hilarious because it's sadly true.

As you may have seen, I did not spend my weekend posting. I have an excuse though, it was a rather politically charged weekend. Thursday- meeting for Tom Buckel, causing me to miss the county exec debate. But I read Jeff Kramer's article, and I feel I was there. Friday- Young Dems Bowling event, my highest game ever at 197. Saturday- alright Saturday I spent doing some reading and a few other things I needed to get done. Sunday- Canvassing for Tom and not attending the Magnarelli fundraiser. Mind you, I intended to go to the fundraiser, but it was moved from one King David's to another and I didn't figure this out until I was at the wrong one and the building was closed. So I went to Smokey Bones. It was fun, but less politically charged.

Also I seem to have taken on some responsibilities. I'm trying to get some press coverage for the Young Dems Happy Hour at the Empire Brew Factory on October 17th. I'm in action, but if anyone has names or any other helpful information to forward, I don't turn down help.