Well, the election is over, and once again, it seems that all the incumbents who survived the primary process (Oddly enough one or two of them actually got booted out there. We truly are living in an age of miracles.) have been returned to Albany.
Fucking, mind-melded, putatively adult sheep, who like late budgets, bleeding local jobs, and having a legislature that’s paid to look purty while two men run things, really.
We can’t vote for the Senate Majority Leader. We can’t vote for the Assembly Speaker. All we can do is vote against people who won’t promise to vote down the current leadership to try to break open some change.
And the voters just won’t see that.
I think I’m going to try running in 2006:
Things are messed up in Albany. Sure I’ve got mental health issues, but I can see that the first responsibility of the legislature is to get a budget approved in a timely manner. If it takes a lunatic to see that, and be willing to work for that goal, it’s time to send a lunatic to Albany.
I had no choices for most of my non-presidential votes. Why put names on a ballot if they will appear under both the Democratic and Republican tickets with no other opposition? It’s not like these judges campaigned…they didn’t have to. Get their family to vote and they’re in. No one else needed. All the state positions were either unopposed, or opposed by parties I cannot endorse (Green, Communist or Socialist) even with a throwaway vote.
Albany leadership is dysfunctional, and that’s why those of us in NYC pretty much ignore anything Albany has to say (as they pick our pockets and return half as an allowance).
I too find it disgusting. (the reform-minded Nassau County Exectutive) Suozzi’s Fix Albany campaign fell flat on it’s face. It’s disgusting.
People bitch and moan Federal income and SSI taxes in one breath and then return this local cabal of incumbents back to the state house. It’s almost like they haven’t realized how much property taxes (controlled in large part by what happens in Albany) and the state’s debt have skyrocketed.
Don’t let your 'MHI’s hold you back. Better you than the parliment of whores we’re stuck with for another two years.
I wish instead of listing them on the ballots as Democrats or Republican or Working Family candidate they would list them as incumbent and challengers.
Fargin’ Bruno’s name was on four party lines and he was running unapposed. I had to settle for just not voting for him. Damn, but it would have felt good to be able to vote for somebidy besides stadium-boy.
Unfortunately, the system we have is so self-reinforcing, I don’t think that there’s any really good way out of the sheep-fold. There is virtually no reason for the Democrats to actively challenge for a state senate seat, or the Republicans for an Assembly seat, because if they win they’ll have a useless legislator in the minority party. As a result, there are very few general election challenges.
In fact, my vote yesterday was virtually worthless as there were no seriously contested elections other than Bush/Kerry, and New York was as strongly for Kerry as any other state. Although there were Republicans runing for the seats of Senator Shumer and my congressman, Rep. Nadler, they did not do any campaigning that I could see. Similarly, my assembly member and state senator were all but technically unopposed. The only other races on the ballots were judicial, and the judges were either cross-nominated by both the Republicans and Democrats or actually unopposed.
Not too many choices for my district either. The only local race that had any fire under it was the 3-way race between Jeff Klein (D); Klein’s doppelganger, John Fleming (R); and the “traitorous” former Democrat-turned-Independent/Conservative Stephen B. Kaufman.
It seems to me that apart from Rudy’s abortive senatorial bid, the state Republican Party is largely uninterested in (or perhaps not able to) do much to support their candidates. Heck, they don’t even seem capable of finding worthy candidates. The NYT noted today that:
Geez, a Jeep, how helpful. To be honest, if I hadn’t checked out the League of Women Voters’ web site before I went to the polls, I would have had no idea who Mills was, whereas I can’t tell you how many Schumer commercials I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks alone.
In the larger scheme of things, I was also interested to see just how much support Schumer got upstate, despite his being a NYC Democrat. It reminds me of the unexpected upstate support that Hillary was also able to garner when she was running. I get the sense that northern New Yorkers (please chime in if I’m wrong, folks) are feeling neglected by the Republicans, Pataki in particular; the local economy of the rural areas seems to have been in the tank for some time now, with no signs of improvement. If Schumer runs for governor in 2006, I think Pataki stands a very good chance of losing. Any thoughts?
Well, I will say that Chuck Schumer has done a pretty good job of trying to represent the whole state, not just NYC. And, at the risk of sounding prejudiced against Hillary - if he got voted out, she’d be our senior senator. <shuddering>
But, yes, there is a sense that Albany believes the state exists in two clumps: South and east of I-84, and then Albany.
Another reason, however, that many people I know couldn’t vote for either of the challengers for Federal level positions was that they were trying to use their experience in the NYS legislature as a springboard for higher office. Not quite the most effective endorsement of one’s ability, IMNSHO.
Well, I will say that Chuck Schumer has done a pretty good job of trying to represent the whole state, not just NYC. And, at the risk of sounding prejudiced against Hillary - if he got voted out, she’d be our senior senator. <shuddering>
But, yes, there is a sense that Albany believes the state exists in two clumps: South and east of I-84, and then Albany.
Another reason, however, that many people I know couldn’t vote for either of the challengers for Federal level positions was that they were trying to use their experience in the NYS legislature as a springboard for higher office. Not quite the most effective endorsement of one’s ability, IMNSHO.
