October 27, 2009

Endorsements!

Hmm, election's Tuesday and I'm out of town this weekend, so just the important endorsements.

1st District: Joe Coleman. From the Post-Standard: "Joseph Coleman is a retired schools superintendent with decades of experience in education... he stresses the need for better communications with constituents and more partnerships to make government work better... Coleman is a fine candidate who would bring leadership experience and a spirit of comity to the Legislature." Yet they endorse Lesniak. Boo to the PS for once again being too beneficial to incumbants. That said, a good example of Coleman's partnerships, the partnership he made when he was in Cortland between the school and social services. Because 20 % of 7th graders weren't making it to the end of 9th grade, Joe formed a partnership with social services. Families were referred to a hands on, but educational summer program, and not only did the kids make it to 9th, but the county reduced foster care costs.

Joe's post is long because I typed it in draft form first, and also because I've decided to help him out with canvassing, so I invested the time.

4th district: Dave Stott. Mr. Stott continues to vehemently argue for his citizens, and now I've seen it live on TV.

7th distict: Tom Buckel. Yeah, he's not running against anyone, so the endorsement seems less than necessary. But it's Tom, so there.

13th district: Not Bob Warner. Don't know quite enough about Scaramuzino for an endorsement, although by election day I'll have looked up more, and will probably vote for him. But Mr. Warner's way too casual dismissal of his constituents that happen to be county workers earns a vote in another direction. Always the write in possibility if nothing else.

THIS IS THE BIG ONE

That's a quote from an ad from an old movie. Bonus points if you name it. No more cookies for the bonus, I'm hoarding those. Anyway, without further ado
SYRACUSE MAYOR: Steve Kimatian. Ms. Miner, despite the fact I still find her kind of irritating, earned a close second. Otis Jennings was in the lead, then I saw articles where he started off by saying "Go Destiny," and saluting the project for creating $60000 a year jobs. Sorry Otis, those jobs were a publicity stunt, and they never had any intention of keeping those positions. That you were fooled by such a thing quickly rushes you from first to last in my support. I picked Steve for his business sense. Really, all three candidates have things that make me excited, and things that make me worry. Should be interesting. That's all for now folks, I'll be back on Monday in plenty of time to vote, don't worry.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE and for god's sakes use the internets and find out something about who you vote for. If you found this site you can find the info.

October 23, 2009

Endorsements, round 1

Lets start with those dramatic judge races! Judicial contests are supposed to be about experience and qualifications, and in fact candidates are not allowed to speak about issues, which makes for a weird race. Still, here we go:

Onondaga County Court: Tony Aloi. Judge Aloi is already in this position. Crisafulli has experience as a lawyer and as a hearing examiner for parking violations, but that in no way trumps Judge Aloi's 38 years working with Onondaga County Court (10 as judge and the rest as law assistant). Aloi hands down.

Supreme Court, 5th Judicial district: Walter Hafner Jr. and James McCarthy. This is a vote 2. Judge Hafner has worked 10 years as an Oswego County Judge, has worked as a ADA, law clerk to surrogate's court, and city attorney, proving he has the experience. Judge McCarthy has been an Oswego County Judge since 1993, an acting Supreme Court Justice for 10 years, and has presided over many courts. Perhaps most notable is the first sex offense court in NY. He's also been a city attorney and served in the army and army reserve. Judge Jim Tormey is the current chief administrative judge in Onondaga County, but I haven't always been impressed with his decisions, so Judges Hafner and McCarthy get the nod.

Soon I'll start with the legislature, and then mayor of Syracuse.

October 19, 2009

Democrats in Lysander? Hearings we can't attend

Sorry I didn't get to the endorsements yet, but I just started a new job. I can tell you in advance the first district endorsement will probably go to Joe Coleman. Having lived in Lysander for much of my life (not currently), it is nice to see yard signs that don't say Lesniak for once. It be nice to have a democratic candidate for legislature in Lysander that can make their presence known, and even nicer to finally have one I think could handle the job. Previous candidates, not so much on either of those areas.

The state wants to cut lots of funding, most of which will then fall on the counties and hurt them even more. There's a meeting on it in the Onondaga County Legislative Chamber, 401 Montgomery St on Friday 10/23/09, but it's at 10 am. Way to make it so working taxpayers probably can't go and voice their opinion.

October 9, 2009

Onondaga County Budget Forum

There was a lot more interest at the annual budget forum than last year, which apparently drew nine speakers. You can read about it here.

Highlights:
Joanie Mahoney did not have the decency to show up at the meeting. She thought it was more important to go to the museum than to listen to her constituents. She sent some lackeys in her place, including the deputy county exec, and the chief fiscal officer. Workers meanwhile commented that while she wanted to cut our pay she could pay thousands to redecorate her office with Stickley furniture.

Bernie Kraft's widow showed up to basically say to the legislators, hey, my late husband would be ashamed of you and this budget proposal. “This is unfair, and you and I both know it is unfair,I can say without hesitation that my husband would never have backed such a proposal.”

There were many good arguments against the furloughs and budget cuts, some particularly good ones coming from the probation department in regard to monitoring sex offenders. Some good ones were also made from social service employees in reference to child and adult protective issues.

Lots of people advocating for the Human rights Commission and the Student Assistance Program, the former being proposed to be dissolved and the other proposed to be cut down. SAP folks commented that most of the funds are paid by the schools, not the county, and therefore the county gets 8 full time positions for the $80000 a year it wants to chop out. Seems like school counseling for troubled kids is a great return on an investment that small.

That's my summation. I expect soon to start posting my endorsements for County Leg, County Court Judge, and Syracuse Mayor.

October 6, 2009

Updates on County budget

The town hall with County Legislators about the budget in Onondaga County has been moved. Same date, this Thursday at 7 PM, but now in the Oncenter Ball room due to expected high attendance. Which of course would be good. Show up at 6 to sign up to talk, or just come and listen and show your legislator that you are paying attention.

While on the subject of Legislators, I hear from a former co-worker that she wrote Mr. Bob Warner of district 13 and his response was basically get your union to accept there won't be a raise next year. Which I would say OK to if we didn't already have it signed and in writing. If I decided I wasn't doing as well as previous and I didn't want to honor a previous contract, but I had $63 million in a rainy day fund, ain't no court in the land that's not going to tell me to pay up. Why should Onondaga County be any different?

October 2, 2009

Kudos Dave Stodt

From the Tuesday Post Standard:
To the Editor:
One of the only good things to come out of the county executive's proposed budget is the increased level of interest expressed by taxpayers and county employees. I've received over 100 calls, e-mails and letters expressing concern about how this proposed budget will affect employees, their families, and those they serve. Let me shed light on one of the darkest proposed budgets in decades.
Onondaga County government and residents are experiencing the same financial crisis as nearly every other area. The proposed 2010 budget calls for a 2.9 percent property tax increase, $5 or $10 automobile fee, massive cuts in staffing and programs such as pregnancy care.
Regardless of the reasoning, these proposals are not reasonable. Some employees have been dubbed "non-essential," and they have expressed how that was just plain rude. It has resulted in a significant reduction in employee morale.
Increasing taxes, reducing services and moving 2,100 full-time employees to part-time while we maintain a more than $63 million "rainy day" fund is totally unreasonable. It is "pouring," and that rainy day fund is your tax dollars. We should use more of it to meet this horrible fiscal crisis.

David Stott
County Legislator, 4th District, Salina

Way to go Dave. Glad to finally hear someone proposing a solution other than violating already set up contracts. To those who declare that county employees must suffer like every one else, if there weren't a contract I'd say fine, but you can't just go back on a signed contract. Despite no obligation, the county workers have agreed to talk about possible solutions to the fiscal crisis, but Ms. Mahoney has refused to talk about anything other than pay cuts and layoffs. I haven't really had the opportunity to canvas this year, but Dave may have just earned some walking time.

Other news in brief: Regarding the recent taserings in city schools, without having been there, I will not comment on the individual incidents, but those who flat out rule out tasers in such cases clearly have not spent much time in a city high school or dealt with young offenders (both of which I have done). It is unfortunate that there are violent people who are so young, but there are, and therefore officers need to be able to defend themselves when appropriate. To have an option that can avoid death is a definite plus.

Also like to bring up that City Council president and Democrat Bea Gonzalez has refused to endorse Democratic candidate Stephanie Miner. Per the Post-Standard, Gonzalez said "I've seen how (Miner) behaves in public and in private and I'm concerned." The article also references Gonzalez stating that Miner does not always treat people with dignity and respect. Of course, it should also be noted that Gonzalez has expressed anger with the Democratic party for gearing up for a Miner run for mayor instead of a Gonzalez run for mayor. Perhaps a fair point since they both are term-limited out I believe, but Gonzalez holds the higher position on the city council.

September 28, 2009

Update, also 40 Below

An update on the budget issues: First off, I hear there is a public forum on 10/8/09 at the old courthouse (Montgomery St., next to the civic Center) at 7 PM. Second, I additionally sent a copy of my email regarding child protective's role in the budget to Legislator Bill Meyer, as he is chairman of the legislature.

Also, last Friday I attended the 5th annual 40 below summit. I enjoyed it quite a bit and got to reunite with a lot of members of the Young Democrats. Congressman Maffei was there, as well as all three mayoral candidates. Shook each candidates hand, the Congressman was only there at a time when I was heading to an informative session. Lots of organizations came, offering ways to volunteer and help in the community. Of the three mayoral candidates, I think I still like Otis Jennings, although the fact that one of my friends works with Ms. Miner and finds he agrees with her on most things does reassure me. Here's hoping for an interesting race!

September 25, 2009

Where budget cuts should not come from

I sent the following email to my county legislator, and a close variant to those legislators whose campaigns I worked on. I urge you to also contact your county legislator (mail, email, phone, whatever), whether it is this issue (child welfare) or whatever you feel is vital and needs protection in our County budget.

Dear Mr. Warner,

As one of your constituents, I am writing to you on an issue that is of importance to me and which I have some firsthand knowledge of. I was watching the news last night. The news of a conviction in the Erin Maxwell case was followed shortly by a story talking about how the budget cuts being made propose that child protective workers have their hours reduced.
http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/CPS-caseworkers-may-see-reduction-in-hours/jUALCIoxlkC2vWPsROjYxg.cspx

As a former child protective worker and as someone who still knows most of the staff, this situation alarms me. As I understand it from the report, the workers doing the investigations, determining if there is indeed abuse or not, are exempt from this. This means it would apply to those workers dealing with the long term providing of services. In short, this means that those workers dealing with families where the investigators found there was an issue, and found that the family needs some help, would be the workers that are affected. Investigations often get priority, and to a certain degree this makes sense, as any report has to have a response within 24 hours according to state mandate, and as we quickly have to determine whether there is an issue or not, and in some cases this is a matter of life or death. However, the workers that will be affected by this cut in hours are the workers we have monitoring those families where we have already determined there are some issues. They have mandates from the state as well, with the state mandating the number of times per month or months when family members have to be seen in person. Additionally, the hour cut on these workers will end up impacting the investigators as well, as investigator caseloads will increase due to the additional time it will take to transfer the case on to the long term worker (caused by those workers increased work load in decreased time).

This comes at a time when, as the report mentions, caseloads are increasing due to high profile cases making the news. Additionally, what the report did not cover, was that the summer is typically a time of less reports. Reports rise after the school year has got underway (due to school teachers being able to see the children on a regular basis and notice the signs of possible abuse), and my friends in the department have told me that this increase in cases is most definitely starting up again. Please take this under consideration when determining the county's budget.

September 13, 2009

Primaries!!

Don't forget to vote in Tuesday's primaries if you're a registered Dem or Rep. Particularly if you live in the city of Syracuse. Syracuse.com once again has a voter guide that can tell you if there are primaries for you to vote on. They've also got some nice bits on the mayoral race. Also, democracywise again has a list and short bios for all Onondaga County races this fall.

Something I found interesting, La Bella Pizza has signs up for Dave Stott's Republican oponant, Judy Tassone, in the November election for County Legislator of district 4. I know at one point Dave part owned La Bella. And Ms. Tassone also has her headquarters in the building Dave used during the last run. To say anything else would be speculation on my part, but it is curious.

Anyway, back to mayor, which I can't vote in, as I just moved out of the city of Syracuse (dang). Anyway, here are my endorsements:

Republican party: Otis Jennings. I like that he wants to spend a day a week in city schools and talk with staff and students to try to work on our terrible graduation rates. He's pledged to hold himself responsible if those rates don't improve. My criminal justice education also leads me to believe his views on reducing crime might be more viable then his opponent, Steve Kimatian. Kimation did mention having worked with Don Schaefer, former mayor of Baltimore, during it's revival, and I like that. Plus, Kimatian seems to have business experience that might prove useful. In the end though, I give Jennings the nod.

Democratic party: Joe Nicoletti. This was a tough choice for me. Number one it seemed harder to get information on concrete views in this race. Number two, it was particularly hard to get information at all on long shot candidates Carmen Harlow and Alfonso Davis. To their credit, I like that Harlow wants to start working with tenants and landowners before properties become vacant, and I like that Davis's views on community policing. In the end, I like Nicoletti's plan to re-establish an office solely to seek grants. There's plenty of aide money I'm sure we're missing out on. Also, Nicoletti wants to have monthly meetings with the mayor, school board and superintendant, and the common council. It's not quite going to the schools once a week, but it's another way of putting our schools near the top of the list. The other Democratic candidate, Ms. Miner, has the disadvantage that I've seen her in person. I have not been impressed and in fact was a little bit irritated. I can see how she could get a reputation for having a personality that might prove a hindrance to some negotiations. So Joe gets my nod.

August 20, 2009

Sorry for not posting more. Has been a busy summer, even for someone between jobs. As such I'm late posting about this, but it's due: Tom Buckel is considering running for State Senate against Defrancisco next year, because Tom has no Republican opponent for his County Leg seat this year. Go for it Tom. The problems with the Senate this year have proven that it needs overhaul if we can get it.
Meanwhile, Tom also posted on facebook asking what constituents want to protect or get rid of in the county budget, due to the sudden large deficit. Mahoney's first answer was to ask employees to either take a bunch of unpaid time off or ask them to give back the raise they already negotiated. Yeah, there's a little thing called a contract. You're supposed to follow it once you agree to it. So if you've got any ideas about what to trim, feel free to post here and I'll send any good ones Tom's way.
Getting back to the state front, a recent poll of NY Democrats shows AG Cuomo would get 4 votes for every one of Governor Paterson's. I agree Paterson has done nothing and in spectacularly bad fashion, but I'm not yet convinced I want another Cuomo in the top spot.
Bill Magnarelli secured a $10000 grant for Onpoint for College. Good program, good news.
More commentary on the Mayoral race: Finally saw some evidence of Nicoletti running, in that I saw a TV ad for him. Nice little ad, actually covered a bit of issues while poking a little good fun at himself. Showed him trying to fix a table at home and having it fall apart, then said he worked on a much more successful renovation in clinton square. Still, both Joe and Ms. Miner seem far too quiet in the news. Meanwhile, Otis Jennings makes it in the paper for saying he'll spend a day a week in city schools if elected, so he can talk with students and staff and work with the commish to ensure money is being spent wisely, and to see what can be done about the poor graduation rate. Also, I've seen billboards up for him. Not sure how effective that is in a race where most of those driving on the highway are driving into the city and therefore can't vote in the election, but I'm still liking some of the things he's saying. And since I've yet to hear much from Nicoletti, and Ms. Miner isn't getting my support so she can stop sending things to my mailbox...

July 7, 2009

The latest plus I weigh in on the mayoral race in Syracuse

Rep. Dan Maffei held a town hall meeting on health care, and a good time was had by all. No, actually what happened is the people from both extreme sides came out and tried to shout over the other, with one fellow being escorted out early on by Syracuse Police. Apparently whenever someone tried to speak that advocated for expanding the government's role in health care, that person was often booed by those advocating for no government role in health care. So, to those of you who didn't go because you thought it sounded kind of dull...

NY state is reinstating empire zone benefits to 96 businesses. Without looking into each one I can't really tell if this is good or not, but at least they're looking at it closer. As opposed to previously when they were basing it entirely on whether the companies answered a single complex question yes or no (really. Sadly, this was in the Post-Standard. And no, they didn't check to see if the yes or no was accurate) (FYI, yes was the bad answer).

State assemblyman Will Barclay states he won't run for John McHugh's soon to be open Congressional spot. Good. Having lived in Barclay's district a good portion of my life, I've yet to see tremendous progress due to him, and mostly seen him winning his seat back year after year due to the fact that the "big city" in his district is Fulton. Yeah, lots of Dems in that territory. Please, no emails, no disrespect meant to Fulton.

I feel I should weigh in on the mayoral race. Early yet, don't know much about too many of the candidates, but I am not a Miner fan. Saw her speak at a Magnarelli rally and she spoke longer than the candidate (which was slightly annoying) but didn't manage to impress me at all. She's managed to continue this trend of not impressing me. Don't know much about Nicoletti, but I think he needs to pick it up a bit if he wants to win a primary. Jennings is for accepting city construction bids without making sure the company pays the prevailing wage, which I'm against, but is for increasing participation by minority owned businesses in city contracts, and for creating an economic development office focused on small businesses, both of which I'm for. Nicoletti's and Kimatian's websites don't say much concrete on their views. Jennings website seems informative and allows you to ask him questions. Be interesting to see how the primaries turn out.

July 1, 2009

Fairly Random

Both Destiny USA and the NY State Senate seem to have stalled. I am not really surprised at either. If I had to pick, the senate surprised me just a little more, which is slightly more than not at all.

Onondaga County bans texting while driving. I may be in trouble.

On a humorous note, Democrats in the stalled Senate claimed to have a quorom (majority of members there so they could vote, to save some of you the trip to www.m-w.com), when one of the Republicans cut through the Senate Chambers to get a across because Democrats had blocked the other path for a press conference they never held. Sure. Whatever works in New York State.

Somehow I have ended up on Fred Thompson's email list. Didn't realize he still had one. I am looking for a job. Maybe I should count this as contact and ask if he'll add me to his linked in network if he has one.

My two legislature faves, Tom Buckel and Dave Stott, picked up endorsements from the working families party, as did Monica Williams, whom I also helped last time around a bit.

That seems enough chatter for now.

June 7, 2009

Hey, look, I do post!

But because I need a job. Although I do plan to post maybe a few things now and then, to force myself to keep in the loop on the local scene. But yeah, I'm looking for work right now, which also leaves me open to do volunteer work (either for a campaign or not). So if you got something interesting, let me know.

How to explain the lack of posts during the past year? I kind of fell out of it after the local elections finished two elections ago. National elections were fun as heck to follow, but harder to feel like I was playing a large role in. New local ones coming up though, lets see how they go.

Hadn't booted up the blogger in a while. 81 posts prior to this. Wow, I was more prolific than I thought.