First, the good news...

10 term congressman James Walsh has announced he will not run for reelection. (insert trumpets)

Of course that makes the race a bit more wide open on both sides of the aisle. Dale Sweetland has been mentioned (windmills for America?). I don't think he would win, but the mere mention still scares me. On the Democratic (technically) side, Tim Green was mentioned, and that scared me until he said no.

What about those who might actually be the candidate? On the Republican side, Bill Fitzpatrick is the most notable name. Yes, after having been DA forever he's managed to get a lot of people who hate him and not just the criminals, but he's also got lots of money having never really had a well funded opponent. In fact he's been so over funded he apparently can buy really nice dinners. Add him to the list of people who's names being mentioned scared me.

Among Democrats, Dan Maffei is the only name on either side to say that he's in, having said that quite a while ago and amassed quite a warchest after his last run for the office pulled up just short. Our term limited Mayor hasn't said if he'll run for the congressional district, rating his odds at 50-50. Either one would have good odds at the seat going into the race.

An additional positive, apparently Governor Spitzer vowed to take away Empire Zone benefits from places that haven't created jobs. About time. Somehow I missed the article in the paper and only now noticed it online while looking for something else.

That something else is the bad news. Spitzer has apparently agreed with Bruno to include a pay raise for judges in the budget of 24% and an undisclosed % pay raise for legislators (Bruno asked for 21%). The judges tend to make in the $90k to $140k range, plus they get to be called your Honor and throw people in jail for disrespecting them, but apparently this is too little to get by on. Legislators, essentially a part time job, as many of them are also members of law firms, earn a starting salary of $79k, with more if they are on committees or hold other positions. I'm sorry, but on my current salary I just do not feel their pain. This is an outrage, and I fully intend to formulate a plan to tell my legislators what I think of this. Stay tuned for details. Offers of assistance appreciated.

Is our children learning?

I'm sure I'm missing plenty of political news while I'm off in Rochester for job training every other week. If I miss anything vital, I'd like to ask my reader to notify me.

One thing I did catch is that Senator Defrancisco came up with a new school funding plan. If a democrat had put up such a plan, I would comment, so I'll play fair. School funding in New York state is definitely something that needs to be looked at, but it's hard for me to grasp what this bill means without some more raw numbers. So I emailed his office asking what the difference would be in state money for Syracuse city schools, New York City schools, and the total difference statewide. I'll post any response I happen to get.

The last young dems' event got some good coverage, with a nice newspaper article before and after, and some TV coverage even. More great things to come.

Quick update...

New job, new training, less time for posting. Sorry. Also local politics has been largely overshadowed by national politics as of late, but the one major event is the YOUNG DEMS FUNDRAISER TOMORROW. Again, Palace Theater, 6-9:30. $35 for food, carving station and open bar. The mayor's going to be there, we got some news stations (without even contacting them ourselves, work smarter, not harder... or just get lucky), got around 90 yes RSVP's. Should be a good event. Come on down.

There's been some news about new jobs local, and more news about less jobs local. I noticed Nancy Cantor in the picture regarding the new jobs, apparently she attended the announcement. Again, SU's one of the best things we got going.

Speaking of opening jobs, State Supreme Court Judge Robert Julian's spot is now open. Apparently he's quiting because his $136,700 plus salary needed a raise. My favorite quote is "On a personal level I am unwilling to further deplete my savings and reduce my lifestyle to continue in this office." The man's a supreme court justice and therefore should be addressed as your Honor, and therefore I will not say what I think of his lack of a raise. I'd gladly take his job, but they'd probably want me to have like a law degree or something.

On the humorous front, I seem to be getting emails from some NY state assembly Republicans committee. I know I said I'm open to the idea of supporting a progressive Republican, but in general I think these will not be productive emails for those assembly members.

That's all I got. See some of you folks tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Venturing into national discussion for just a bit, I find myself excited that it's Iowa Caucus Eve. Yeah, it's that whole political geek thing again. Go Obama!

The Post-standard reports the city is not backing up its Tomorrow's Neighborhoods Today program. An audit by city Auditor Phil LaTessa found that the full slate of representatives that should be at the meetings, 1 from each city department, was only at 16% of the meetings. Apparently the law states that they should have the full slate at all the meetings. So the good news is we're only 84% illegal.

The audit also showed that the plans the groups formed were often outdated and incomplete, the city was slow to implement those plans that were submitted, and staff members were being overpaid. So this sounds like another thing that needs some managing.

A new year brings a new County Exec, and I for one am looking at my job with a fresh perspective. Or at least I got an email asking me to do so. Really.