We’ve got the Cuomo vs Paladino thread (fuck them both I’m voting for Libertarian party candidate Warren Redlich) so lets talk about the other elections. I don’t want to be just another goon who pulls all the levers of his party of choice so I’m starting to read about it now.
It looks like we’re also electing a state Comptroller and state Attorney General, and our US senators are up for election this year.
Our congressmen are up for election too. In Tonawanda I’m in Congressional district 28 (along with most of Lake Ontario shoreline which is weird) so Louise Slaughter is my current congressman. She’s running against Jill Rowland. I don’t know which bitch will get my vote.
I live in Tonawanda so I’m in the 61st state senate district so I get to elect a new state senator this year. I’ll be choosing between Marc Coppola and Michael Ranzenhofer. I have no idea who either is. Gotta research that one.
State assemblymen are up for election, state supreme court ustices, county judge, county clerk, town people, and various proposals.
I’ve got a lot of research to do. Anybody else taking this seriously?
I am, shocker. Candidates I’m particularly interested in are Schneiderman for AG as he is in favor of cracking down on Wall St. further, but opening up more personal freedoms on social issues, (Gay marriage, marijuana legalization, etc.) Marc Coppola because I know him personally (works with my dad) and because Ranzenhofer is a douche that broke his gentlemen’s agreement with my cousin Joe Mesi 2 years ago not to go negative, 2 weeks before the election, and Judge Mark Montour because he seems like a stand-up guy. I’ll vote against Chris Lee but I’m sure he’ll get re-elected since the district is half farmland and half upper-class suburbanites.
LOL I just realized that when I was 4 years old and living in Ontario NY Louise Slaughter was my rep in the House. Now it’s 24 years later and I live 90 miles away, and my rep in the House is Louise Slaughter. Not sure how I feel about that.
Jill Rowland seems like an airhead that doesn’t really have a grasp on the issues. Nothing on her website has any substance to it. It’s like she just skimmed the GOP pledge to America and was like “OK that’s what I stand for.” Plus I think she’s spent like under a $1000 dollars on her campaign, which is fine other than it shows she’s really not taking this seriously.
Slaughter is about as liberal as it gets but she’s doing cool shit for WNY like getting funding for UB and working on a high speed rail in NYS. So Slaughter gets my vote.
So I’m voting Warren Redlich for governer and Louise Slaughter for my house rep. Now to figure out what the heck a comptroller even does, then which one to vote for.
Is there anyone worth voting for running against Gillibrand or Schumer?
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Attorney General’s a tough call. Both the dem candidate AND the republican candidate push gun control. Not a big deal, other than it’s protected by the supreme law of the land so that it can be the last ditch protection of our rights. Uggh.
Otherwise I like Schneiderman’s policies to send people convicted of drug crimes to rehab rather than jail, and supporting equal marriage rights for gays. They have every right to be just as miserable as the rest of us. Oh, and he recognizes that immigration should be a federal issue not something left for each state to decide how to allow admittance to the entire country.
The libertarian party candidate is pretty clearly not taking the race seriously so he doesn’t get my vote. His website is just some empty rhetoric and there are no news articles on him.
Alright Schneiderman it is for AG. Hide your guns.
I’m about to click that link and if it’s the deem and pass thing that was used to pass the Patriot Act, among other things, I’m going to dick punch you.
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The self-executing rule began in the 1930s.[4] From the 95th to the 98th Congresses (1977–1984) the self-executing rule was used eight times, 20 times under Speaker O’Neill (D) in the 99th Congress and 18 times under Speaker Wright (D) in the 100th Congress. Under Speaker Gingrich (R) there were 38 self-executing rules in the 104th Congress and 52 in the 105th Congress (1995–1998). Under Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) there were 40 self-executing rules in the 106th Congress, 42 in the 107th Congress and 30 in the 108th Congress (1999–2007).[6]
In March 2010, the procedure was one option considered, and then rejected, by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and congressional Democrats to pass the Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), as part of President Obama’s health care reform initiative.[3][7][8]
It was never used on something as sweeping as the trillion dollar healthcare reform bill. And in this case they were specifically going to use it because they saw how much the American people were against the bill. They flatly admitted “we know people don’t want it so we’ve come up with a solution that allows us to vote for it but hide from our vote”. Slaughter smiled right into the camera and said she didn’t even care that her name was being added to the solution because she was so proud of her work.
It’s a procedure used hundreds of times over the last 70 years, including to pass legislation I don’t agree with. Slaughter solution? The size of the legislation really makes the rule OK or not? An unqualified claim that the people were against the legislation the rule was considered for? Spin spin spin.
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But anyways, Jay what do you think of Erie County Prop 1? Shrinking the legislature from 15 to 11? I’m all for smaller government and I don’t like how it almost didn’t make it to ballot, but shrinking from 15 to 11 seems so arbitrary that it doesn’t smell right to me. ???
Hm…I wonder how they would lay it out. It sounds like a great idea on paper but the last thing I’d want to vote for is something that gives Emperor Collins more power.
I can’t find much out about it. I don’t see how it’s going to fundamentally downsize anything, other than decrease representation. I dunno about this one…
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As much as I disagree with him on policy, I can’t help but love Carl Palladino’s attitude.
We need less government and 15 is stupid for the size of Erie county.
It will result in a redistricting and Buffalo will end up with less representation since it has lost a ton of population to the suburbs since the lines were last redrawn. I heard Kevin pitching here will be “more districts that include a part if Buffalo than before”. That’s spin to get the stupid city residents to vote for it. “Include a part” is they key. How small a part?
