Elliott Auerbach with State Comptroller Tom DiNapoliLew Kirschner, Ulster County Treasurer, and Mike Hein, Ulster County Administrator and Democratic Candidate for County Executive, will be hosting a fundraiser to benefit
ELLIOTT AUERBACH FOR COMPTROLLER,
Tuesday, July 8, 2008--6 to 8pm at the Hillside, Rte 32, Kingston, NY.
Donation: $100/person
Full Details and Reservation info to follow.
On a side note: Elliott did a great job on Valley Chat w/ Alderman Madsen. Callers were very responsive to his candidacy and he came across great on the issues. This guy is the real deal.
On a side note: Elliott did a great job on Valley Chat w/ Alderman Madsen. Callers were very responsive to his candidacy and he came across great on the issues. This guy is the real deal.
16 comments:
Sure he sounds fine, but what does he do?
I have spent most of my life living in southern Ulster County. When my family moved here in the 70s, Ellenville was a cute little village with shops and flowers. Alas, that Ellenville has passed into memory.
The man running for Ulster County Comptroller has presided over much of the downfall of Ellenville. In just the past few years, we have seen the loss not only of major employers like Schrade, but even of fast food establishments like Pizza Hut and Burger King.
On the other side of the balance sheet, we have James Quigley, who manages - literally - billions in other people's investments and does so with a very high degree of success.
Quigley is also the running mate of Len Bernardo, a man who has overseen a multi-million dollar enterprise and managed hundreds of employees.
Now, supporters of Mr. Auerbach and Mr. Hein will point to their "experience" in government. Sadly, that experience is far from positive. It is experience built on businesses closing down and taxes going up.
When contrasting that against the Bernardo/Quigley record of businesses being built, jobs being created, revenue streams growing, economic and financial flourishment, the choice could not possibly be clearer.
Vote for Hein/Auerbach if you want Ulster County to have a pretty funeral.
Vote for Bernardo/Quigley if you want to join in this County's resurrection.
8:52: Your assertion is long on smear and short on facts.
Prior to Democratic control of the legislature, Republicans ran up property taxes by over 500 percent over a decade.
Mike Hein has controlled the bleeding and is moving the government into a much stronger position.
Voters have seen what happens when Republicans lead the county. Your glossy look at the situation reminds me...all that glitters is not gold.
NeoCons on the loose I see. Spreading falsehoods and half truths as always.
The Democrats took over for an absentee Republican/Conservative run government that buried this County. Stick around for a few years and watch the progressive, forward thinking Democrat lead Government turn it around.
As I have said before, Most of Ulster County has grown and matured past the antiquated 17th century thinking of most NeoCons. Get used to it, it is here to stay.
Holy Crap Blaber, he even looks like a comptroller!
As occurs all too often, liberals take facts out of context. They use the pieces of information which are to their benefit and conveniently forget those which are not.
For instance, 12:31 decries the increase in property taxes under the Republican Legislature, and rightly so. However, if Mr. Hein was an actual champion of the taxpayers and felt that those tax hikes were unnecessary, he would never have submitted subsequent budgets to the Legislature which added taxes on TOP of what he inherited. After all, if the amount of money coming in is too much, why would you need more?
Mr. Hein has not controlled the bleeding, he has added to it. He could have proposed a budget which freezes spending or even cuts it. Instead, he offered budgets which increased spending and, as a result, our taxes.
Furthermore, Mr. Bernardo is NOT a Republican. He has not held a political or bureaucratic position. He has no connection to the Republican Legislature of times gone by. Consequently, even if 12:31's assessment of the Republicans' actions was correct (and it is, in fact spotty, incomplete and woefully lacking on several fronts), Mr. Bernardo cannot be successfully painted with that brush.
Of course, Mr. Hein and his supporters were counting on using that brush against any Republican running against him.
This election is not about Republican vs. Democrat. It is about the Establishment vs. those on the outside, the rest of us, the real people of Ulster County.
The fact is, if we want to fix Ulster County, we need a team of non-politicians, who understand business and finance. We don't need people who have spent time working within or alongside either major party's machine. We need to go outside the box that the Establishment on both sides has built. In short, we need the creativity, energy and freshness only people who were never in the "In-Crowd" can bring.
Mr. Bernardo and Mr. Quigley can do that.
Mr. Hein and Mr. Auerbach cannot.
3:58 Simply put: if Len was/is so wildly successful why is he stuck running a roller rink in the middle of Accord?
Len is running a rink in Accord because that's what he wants to do. He retired... lived in Ulster County for a few years and commuted to the city 1 to 2 days, and did nothing up here for the other 5 days.
His wife was a compeitive roller skater when she was younger and thought it would be fun to have a roller rink, so he built it.
Is that a good enough reason for you?
Does Clint Brown like to roller skate?
T-Pain
5:02.... what's the matter.... cat got your tongue??... can't a man build his wife a roller rink. I think it's sweet. I hardly think the Bernardo's are "stuck" here. I think they live here because they want to. They could have lived anywhere in the friggen country that they wanted and they CHOSE Accord because they like it.
Len is a weak candidate.
Mr.Beke, in the words of the great late NY Senator Daniel Moynihan, you are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.
Mr.Quigley's experience as far as we know is limited to the private sector which is much different than that of the public sector. In the public sector if a department or sub-company is not profitable, you can just dump it. You can't dump the county snow plowing just because it is not profitable. you also need to be able to work with unions and different departments.. bottom line, you need a certain amount of knowledge and experience of dealing with a governmental budget to do the job of County Comptroller. Elliott Auerbach is the ONLY candidate that has both public and private sector experience.
Furthermore, we know all about Mr. Auerbach's successful public and private experience but not much of Mr.Quigley's. He talks of numerous boards of company's he has served on, well, let's see them. As a candidate running for such a powerful position the public has a right to know.
Hein and Auerbach are the only candidates that will bring forth the change and reform that County voters really want. With Bernardo and Quigley you get more of the same.
Mr. Blaber, the only facts I state are the ones which are true. You, however, insist on twisting them to the benefit of your candidates.
Case in point: you state that Messrs. Bernardo and Quigley have no public sector experience. Then you proceed to link them with what has gone before. You cannot have it both ways. If they have no government experience, they cannot be said to be "more of the same."
Furthermore, those who have no governmental background are far more likely to bring change and reform than those who are steeped in the government and have shown no inclination in their public records towards such change.
Government in Ulster County is broken. I agree with you completely that it needs to be reformed. That reform, however, cannot come from the Establishment that caused the damage, on either side of the political fence. It must come from a fresh source that has viewed the growth of our shared dilemma from the outside, with an objective eye. Those who viewed it from within as part of the Establishment will never be able to take off the blinders and recognize what needs to be done. Nor will they be able to muster the will to buck those who brought them to power and take the necessary steps.
What the extensive private sector experience brought to the table by Messrs. Bernardo and Quigley signifies is not a dumping of any given function of county government. That statement is not only fear mongering, but unworthy of someone such as yourself, whose writings have shown knows better.
What their experience does, however, bring is the ability to pare down the overspending present in every portion of our county government while improving the efficiency of those functions.
I also find it curious that you tout the experience of Messrs. Hein and Auerbach as being key to their leadership abilities while at the same time supporting someone with no experience for Democratic Chairman over someone who has a great deal of experience. While I am not a Democrat and have no horse in the race, I find the contradiction and inconsistency in these two disparate stances of yours rather puzzling.
It is, by the way, typical that supporters of Messrs. Hein and Auerbach refuse to address the issue of the economic tragedy that Ellenville has become under Mr. Auerbach's tenure. Even in the worst inner cities in the country, fast food restaurants flourish. Why did two of the three such establishments in Ellenville flee? What has Mr. Auerbach done to bring jobs back to Ellenville? That is the kind of "experience" Ulster County has no need of, thank you very much.
Jeremy this idea that public experience is so much more valuable then private sector business experience does not hold any water. There are numerous unions in the public sector that consistently must be dealt with especially in the commercial real estate business. Also it is inaccurate for you to say that when a department in the public sector is unprofitable it is simply dumped. The main thing that occurs is COST CUTTING and then an analysis of the departments efficiency. Something Mike Bloomberg successfully brought to City Hall in NYC. That is something that needs to occur in this county and never seems to get done. So let someone from the private sector with a wealth of business experience take a shot. People have these appointed jobs like a right of entitlement yet the economic situation in the area remains terrible and nothing changes no matter what party is in charge. It is obvious that the people in these positions are not performing, services are poorly provided, while increasing spending each year. Who is going to be more likely to make those cuts and more effectively make these departments more efficient. I don't see Hein and Auebach capable of doing that given they are both currently part of a very bad situation, and in Ellenville and unconsionable situation, that seems to get worse by the day.
The thing that gets me is that this county has been run by business people before.
Pete Savago, Rich Gerentine, Rich Mathews plus many, many others in leadership positions and as rank and file Legislators, have come from a private sector business background. I would bet, that most of the Legislators there today come from the private sector. Is it helpful? it sure is, but it is not the end all - be all either. There is some validity to Blaber putting a high price on public sector experience. It is crucial.
The fact that people are ready to dismiss the importance of public sector experience shows their ignorance of how Government works. I have not seen demonstrated proof that we need this upheaval of Government. Changing to Exec is plenty change if done correctly. Trying to bring in a new government will have dramatic effects.
As for Ellenvile, I don't think one man can be held responsible for a downturn in manufacturing across the country, which is the real reason VAW went out. If you need someone to blame for Schrade, just ask them and they will tell you it was 9-11.
Why did the fast food places leave? well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that when the factories close, the people who went out for lunch no longer exist.
Mr Blaber, how do you ever know what Jim Quigley does or doesnt do? You dont give a damn about him or Len, for that fact, and will make up anything, start rumors, or worse try to convince people hes not "worthy" of the seat comptroller just to get Hein and Aurbach the seats. He has both private and public sector experience and more importanlty more experience then Mr Aurbach here.
I would say I'm fairly close to both Mrs and Mr Quigley and they both sit on way to many boards. They are busy all the time either at meetings, spending time with their kids, or trying to make a difference. And for this fact this is a democRAT blog...you never post anything positive about republicans but you're always posting some facts about democRATs but mostly fibs. And the same thing about them over and over again...
Oh and Blaber? Maybe you should grow up, get over yourself, and start following and posting about some real buisness people that won't hurt your county.
Mr Quigley and Mr Bernardo for a change? They're worthy of your time.
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