Politics on the Hudson

A new, different and very funny take on the Battle at Bolton Landing courtesy of The Atlantic.

Lieutenant governor candidate Robert Duffy gave a speech today before business leaders that focused on spurring job growth and working with Republicans and Democrats.

He said afterword that the increasingly personal attacks need to be halted.

Duffy, however, released a strong statement on Wednesday slamming Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino for hiring campaign aides who have had legal troubles.

“I think the tone should be about the issues. Sometimes things will be said that there will be a compulsion to respond to,” he said.

Duffy added that voters wanted to hear about job creation and how to lower taxes.

“All the histrionics we see right now is not going to solve that,” Duffy said.

Duffy, speaking to business leaders earlier at the Sagamore Resort in Bolton, Warren County, stuck to policy in his speech about generating jobs in upstate New York and working with Republicans.

“We point fingers. It’s always donkeys versus elephants. Believe me, it’s not. There’s good leaders in both parties,” said Duffy, a former Republican.

Ossining community activist Don DeBerardinis, known locally as Don DeBar, has announced he’s waging a write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Harrison).

The “anti-war activist”  said that “in wake of revelation of racist writing by Republican opponent” he’s throwing his hat in the ring and that the “new polling machines make write-in wins possible.” DeBar was referring to candidate Jim Russell’s 2001 essay in the “Occidental Quarterly” in which he warns against racial mixing and embraces anti-Jewish writings.

Read below for Don DeBar’s 9/22 release on his write-in campaign:

Anti-war activist Don DeBar, fresh from a meeting last night between US anti-war activists and Iranian President Ahmindinijad, announced today that he will wage a write-in campaign against Rep. Nita Lowey (D-18) on an anti-war platform.

DeBar attended the conference as a part of a delegation led by former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA).

“Aside from murdering thousands of Iraqis, Afghanis and Pakistanis, the Obama Administration, like the Bush Administration before it, is squandering hundreds of billions of dollars that are desperately needed for jobs, schools, health care and housing and foreclosure assistance,” he said, adding “Lowey has been signing on to every military supplemental for these wars since they began.”

DeBar went to Lowey’s office on March 18, 2003, a day before the “Shock and Awe” attack on Baghdad, attempting to show her evidence that the Bush Administration had misrepresented the cause of the war – alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Lowey refused to discuss the evidence, instead spending the time DeBar sat in her office posing for a photo in front of a giant US flag while granting a magazine interview laying out her support for the invasion.

“We have it on videotape – Lowey refused to hear us,” said DeBar, “and it turns out we were right, and now thousands of lives, and nearly a trillion dollars, have been lost.”

“If elected, I will refuse to fund the war machine any further, and will move to spend the money instead on the needs of the American people – actual development of actual jobs here in New York, single-payer health care, foreclosure prevention that actually prevents foreclosures, housing assistance that actually provides housing and aid to schools that actually educate our children,” he said.

Congresswoman Lowey declined to comment on DeBar’s statements.

Photo of DeBar taken in 2004 by The Journal News.

Democratic Westchester County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz, who is running for state Senate, was endorsed today by The League of Conservation Voters and The Sierra Club. The endorsements were given, according to Kaplowitz’s campaign, because of his “record of protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for Hudson Valley residents in a manner that creates jobs and grows the economy.”

But the support was also a criticism of his opponent, Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball. Ball, Kaplowitz and the groups pointed out, has often voted against communities’ requests to participate in the Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act. The act gives municipalities the ability, if they choose, to hold a referendum on setting up a 2 percent real estate transfer tax, but only on the amount of money that a buyer pays above the median value for that community. Funds raised go toward land preservation.

Since 2008, communities in Westchester and Putnam have had the option. The legislation was sponsored by state Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson—the man Kaplowitz and Ball are running to replace.

“Local governments in the Hudson Valley have asked the legislature six times over the past four years for permission to create a Community Preservation Plan that would identify areas for farmland, open space and historic preservation.” said Nanette Bourne, NYLCV Westchester Chapter Chair. “Each and time, Greg Ball said ‘No’. NYLCV will be rallying all those who cherish clean water, open space and historic preservation to say ‘No’ to Greg Ball.”

“It’s not enough that Assemblyman Ball personally fails to deliver for his constituents. He also prevents local communities and constituents from being able to deliver for themselves,” said Kaplowitz. “He voted against giving our communities and neighbors – through a referendum – the power to protect their own natural and historic resources. Assemblyman Ball should stop voting to keep power in the hands of Albany politicians like himself and instead start empowering and delivering for local communities.”

Ball views the community preservation act as tax imposed on residents from above.

“My environmental ranking is one of the highest in the conference, I was the first Republican to demand a moratorium on dangerous hydro-fracking and I broke with my own party on climate change, standing up to big oil. But when these groups asked me to support another tax, a horrific mortgage tax, especially in this jobless recovery of an economy, I didn’t only say ‘No’; I said ‘Hell No!’ My tax and spend opponent hasn’t even been elected yet and he has already fallen off the wagon of fiscal conservatism and is now back to his taxing and spending ways, skills he perfected under Andy Spano. Typically politicians break their no tax pledges after the election, not a month before. Look, this pro mortgage tax endorsement isn’t an endorsement, its an indictment and taxpayers need to be aware. By voting for me, environmentally concerned voters can save both types of green: their wallets and the environment,” Ball said.

update—- Ball added: “There are better ways to preserve open space, like tax incentives. Taxes are already too high and I do not support this tax regardless of the process for implementation.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has a 15 percentage point lead over Republican foe Carl Paladino, a Marist College poll today found.

Cuomo leads Paladino 53 percent to 38 percent among likely voters, the poll from the Poughkeepsie-base college found. Last week, Cuomo had a slightly larger lead, 52 percent to 31 percent, but that Marist poll included Rick Lazio, the Conservative Party candidate who garnered 9 percent in that poll.

“Cuomo continues to hold a double-digit lead, but the numbers have shifted somewhat following Lazio’s withdrawal from the race,” Marist pollster Lee Miringoff said.

Cuomo’s support remains strongest in New York City, with support from 70 percent of likely voters—up from 65 percent just a week ago, despite Paladino’s efforts to campaign in the Democratic-heavy city.

Yet, as expected, upstate and the suburbs is the battleground, the poll showed.

Cuomo leads 49 percent to 43 percent in the New York City suburbs, while Cuomo and Paladino are neck and neck upstate—despite Paladino’s ties being to western New York. He’s a Buffalo businessman; Cuomo lives in Mount Kisco, Westchester County.

Sixty-percent of registered voters have a favorable opinion of Cuomo, 48 percent of registered voters say they have an unfavorable impression of Carl Paladino. Thirty-four percent view Paladino favorably.

The poll of 943 registered voters was conducted Sept. 27-29 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. Of those polls, 591 were considered likely voters. The results for that subset had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Polls have shown wide swings in the governor’s race over the last week. A Siena College poll showed Cuomo up 57 percent to 24 percent, but a Quinnipiac poll showed him with only a six percentage point lead.

It’s time to dial down the tone of the gubernatorial campaigns, said outgoing Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira.

Winner, who attended the Business Council’s meeting at the Sagamore, said both Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Republican Carl Paladino should take more policy and how to fix New York.

“I mean, that’s one of the reasons why I’m no longer running,” Winner said. “This atmosphere has gotten so nasty. I think the voters are pretty much fed up with it. I think the voters really want to see some real solutions particularly in these economic times with people hurting. I’m very disappointed by the tone of the campaigns and the top of the ticket in particular. They both feed on each other. There really isn’t any discussion on the merits of the real needs of the state of New York.”

Carl Paladino’s campaign manager sent out a long screed today in response to the “Sagamore Smackdown” between the Republican gubernatorial candidate and New York Post reporter Fred Dicker.

A longer version of the exchange can be found here. Caputo was the man in the video who yells at Dicker for “bias” and “being out of line.”

Meanwhile, Dicker’s boss at The Post, Col Allan, said the campaign’s claims that Dicker sent a photographer to take photos of Paladino’s 10-year-old daughter are untrue. (more…)

As Eliot Spitzer prepares for his new gig as co-host of the Parker Spitzer show on CNN, which starts Monday and airs at 8 p.m. weeknights, he gave an interview to David Gergen, PARADE contributing editor and a CNN political commentator. The other host is syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker.

The interview hits all the highlights, from the former governor’s resignation in March 2008 amid a prostitution scandal and how his marriage has been repaired to whether he has become more humble and what advice he has for President Barack Obama.

On repairing his marriage, Spitzer said he has been “extraordinarily fortunate in having a wife who is loving, caring, forgiving—far beyond what I’m entitled to.”

Spitzer told Gergen that his transgressions can be attributed to hubris and the “human frailty of anxiety that leads one to succumb to certain temptations, even though one knows, without any doubt, it is wrong and it is in public.”

Eliot Spitzer

Watch the impasse at a Southeast Town Board meeting as Supervisor Michael Rights tries repeatedly to move the board into a closed session over the objections of the majority of the board.

He takes the same vote over and over — to the same result — and then refuses to allow anyone else to speak.

“Dial down the hysteria,” he says.

“How juvenile can you be?” asks a councilman.

“We’re being stiffled,” a councilwoman says.

Watch him bang that gavel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlAsP1faSHI=player_embedded <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlAsP1faSHI&feature=player_embedded>

From Staff Writer Noreen O’Donnell

Eric Schneiderman, Democrats’ candidate for attorney general, is going after Republican opponent Dan Donovan in the form of a bobblehead character called “Dodger Dan.” The bobblehead, which sports Donovan’s face and a Dodger’s uniform, has its own Facebook page. Schneiderman is a senator from Manhattan; Donovan is Staten Island district attorney.

“We’ve been impressed by Dodger Dan Donovan’s ability to duck, dodge and weave when questioned on his record or stance on the issues. And we’re thrilled to introduce the character Dodger Dan and its Facebook site to follow his next dodges. From his refusal to answer questions on public corruption in Staten Island to his refusal to denounce racist emails, this site will be a one-stop shop to ensure that, while Dodger Dan may try to run, he can’t hide from the facts,” Schneiderman campaign spokesman James Freedland said.

“Dodger Dan” is the latest salvo in the attorney general campaign. Last week, the Donovan campaign set up its State Street Eric website to criticize Schneiderman. The site calls Schneiderman a career politician and says the 11 years, eight months and 30 days he has been in office is the length of time he “has been part of Albany’s dysfunction.” (The state Capitol is on State Street in Albany.)

Here’s a response from the Donovan campaign spokeswoman Virginia Lam:

“Team Schneiderman strikes out once again trying to distract voters’ attention from the fact that State Senator Schneiderman has been in Albany longer than Jackie Robinson played in Brooklyn.

“Despite State Senator Schnedierman’s disturbing lack of qualifications to be Attorney General, he continues to peddle half-truths and full on lies in an effort to retain his choke hold grip on the Albany machine.

“Of all the falsehoods in this puerile page – perhaps the most ridiculous is the attempt to portray Dan as a Los Angeles baseball fan … New York voters know better and they will not stand for this blasphemy.