Saturday, June 13, 2009

Here and There

Mike Madsen has decided to run for County Legislature instead of running a Ward 9 primary. I asked him to reconsider but he is all about it and that's democracy. Obviously, I am supporting him and hope he wins the primary. I think it's also important that Dems in that district pull down the lever for Jeanette Provanzano as well.


As for Ward 9, I am supporting the highly qualified Hayes Clement to be Mike's successor. Hayes has what it takes and will be the next Alderman of Ward nine.


While I was bitter, and ignored covering the county court Judge race after the convention, I would like to Congratulate Debra Schneer on her victory at last weeks convention. Our chairman really did a poor job throughout the county court selection process and Terry Rosenbloom should be ashamed of herself and expect a primary in her next bid for office.(apparently, I'm still bitter) Nonetheless Ms. Schneer is the Dem nominee and I congratulate her.

Also congratulations to Judge Katz, who was the Governor's pick and would of been a great County Court Judge. Judge Katz has decided not to primary and do what is best for the party like a true Democrat. I repect that but have a feeling with Katz out of the race, the group Dems for Don Williams will keep growing.

Town of Ulster Dems had a big pick up with Lew Kirshner running for town justice but it was short lived and his departure from the race overshadowed the entire Dem ticket. It's going to be an uphill battle for Dems in the town of Ulster.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jeremy Blaber
Bitter about the judge race
It sucks doesn't it

Anonymous said...

Uphill battle is right. The least the Town of Ulster Dems could have done was pick ONE candidate that is not attatched to the 20% tax hike. That ship is this years Titanic and Captain Nicky and company are going down with the ship.

Anonymous said...

I think the town candidates are in big trouble. I am still trying to decide if the voters will take it out on all the Democrats or just Nickie and the Town Board. I would hate to see someone like Brian Cahill lose because of Nickie Woerner and the town board.

Anonymous said...

Put the blame at the feet of the Governor not Schriebman and Rosenblum. The Governor prohibited his choice of Katz to be made public. Schriebman and the Executive Board made every effort to signal his choice to the full committee. The Governor covered his ass. If his appointment was known and we voted differently he would look weak. It happened and he is.

Rosenblum had every right to put forth a nomination from the floor and the committee voiced its choice. Her action seemed totally spontaneous.

The Governor seems to be unable to master the appointment process.

Anonymous said...

Here is my handicap of the town races. The only sure winners are Quigley, Kessick and Cahill. I think the Republicans on the board are in pretty good shape, but the Legislature is a 3 way race for the other seat, anyone of those 3 could take it.

Supervisor
Quigley 3-5
Woerner 5-1

Town Board
Morrow 2-1
Secreto 3-1
Hendrick 3-1
Artist 8-1

Town Justice
Kesick 3-5
????

County Legislature
Cahill 3-5
Maloney 3-1
Wadnola 3-1
Brink 3-1

Anonymous said...

You all need to be reminded that it was Wadnola and Maloney that gave the Town the largest tax increase in history in the Town in 2003. A 33% increase to the assessments and a 13% tax increase which led to the tax payers paying 42% more takes in 2004 than 2003! Give me a break, Woerner, Secreto and Artist will win and your boy Quigley will waste $ 250,000 more of his money!

Anonymous said...

williams has the support of city of kingston democrats. can he grab the dem ballot line from sneer in a sept primary if catz doesn't?

Anonymous said...

At least it is his money to waste and not Aaron's and Spada's.

Anonymous said...

KingstonTruth Is The Loser. Whoooooo's He Kidding?

Anonymous said...

SEE YOU IN COURT ...

Anonymous said...

What did Rosenblum do that was wrong? She had every right to nominate Schneer especially with Schreibman trying to force HIS pick down everyone's throat. KAtz was not the Governor's appointment, he was Schreibmans handpicked committee's appointment. Has anyone talked to the Governor's Office and asked them?...all indications are there was never an appointment and you never heard Schreibman after the convention admit to anyone that there was. Schreibman told everyone there was an appointment to try and make sure his guy got the nomination. The whole thing was fixed. Not only did he handle it poorly, he handled it dishonestly. It was a disgrace. One thing your right about is that this should be a walk for Williams.

Anonymous said...

9:43AM

Not a chance. He could not get the authorization to enter the primary from the Democratic Committee. He would have to carry petitions for an Opportunity To Ballot. That is a write in vote that is extremely hard to pull off.

Anonymous said...

Remember EXPERIENCE? Katz runs circles around Schneer. Dem committee needs to remember nominating someone is not based on how you elect a prom king and queen.

Smiles don't matter. Legal mind matters. How many felony cases has she presided over in Rochester? Not barking dog cases.

Anonymous said...

This Dean Palen thing is scary. Who knew what...when? Sound familiar?

Anonymous said...

Dems for William's??? What's that the geriatric set? I can't wait for the bigotted slurs to start eminating from the Williams camp. I think we'll see him become pretty much marginalized by them. It may galvanize the hardcore Von Brunn crowd, but I'll bet the average county voter will be repulsed. Experience as a longtime supporter of the most despicable party of the century will weigh this guy down like a ton of bricks too.

Anonymous said...

10:32:

There is no such thing as wilson pecula for judicial races. Get the signatures and your on the ballot no matter what party you belong to. If you don't know the rules than you shouldn't be posting.

Anonymous said...

10:32,

You don't know what you;re talking about. Judge candidates can run in ANY primary regardless of his/her enrollment. He would not need permission.

Anonymous said...

10:32,

Judge candidates do not need permission to run in primaries.

Anonymous said...

sounds like something that would happen in Kingston:

TOLEDO, Ohio – Residents of Toledo, Ohio, are complaining that they received $25 tickets for parking their vehicles in their own driveways.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner (FINK'-by-ner) says he stands by the citations handed out last week by the Division of Streets, Bridges and Harbor. He says the tickets were issued under a city law against parking on unpaved surfaces, including gravel driveways.

During a news conference Monday, Finkbeiner ignored a reporter's question of whether the crackdown and fines were related to the city's budget crisis.

The three-term mayor faces a recall vote in November. Critics have claimed he's wasted city money.

City Councilman D. Michael Collins calls the ticketing "Mickey Mouse nonsense." He has told residents he'll try to have the citations rescinded.

Anonymous said...

9:01, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, it's a

Wilson Pakula,

not a wilson pecula....

like you said... people who don't know what they are talking about....

trying to be funny like a clown?

Anonymous said...

Not only has she never presided over a felony case because that happens in County Court. How many felony cases has she even argued as a lawyer (prosecution or defense)?

What a joke of a candidate. Out of all of the democrats out there, this is who we found to run for Judge.

Anonymous said...

Yo,

I hope that Ms. Schneer gets elected because I want more gangs, drugs, and crime in Ulster County.

Having a judge who will be soft on crime will attract many of those criminal elements who have stayed away from here because Judge Bruhn has always given harsh sentences to them.

So vote for Schneer!!!

==not paid for by Citizens for Katz, Miranda, or even Williams==

Anonymous said...

For all the crap about how inexperienced she is, the only things that really matter are that she isn't a Republican and she belongs to a group Republicans despise. I'm all for putting in new blood and pissing off the pugs. When they get all riled up, they do stupid things that bring their bad ethics and immorality to the forefront.

Anonymous said...

11:14 Aren't some felony cases heard in City Court? Isn't Katz a back-up City Court Judge?

A judge should be judged by experience. Next year, dems will choose the candidate who can walk the smoothest with a book on their head. How about Blacks Law Dictionary.

Anonymous said...

I would like to say that the problem is this in regards to all the Ulster Democrats:

1. Pick a half decent leader!! Not for NOTHING who's idea was it to elect a man who does NOT work in this area, who has a new family, and who doesn't know how to speak up. Leaders are supposed to be the strongest in a group, why we elected Mr. "Deer in Headlights" to be the head hancho I will never understand. Is it because he's affiliated with Yale? what does that say about all those who supported him? YOU are only as strong as your leader is, and anyone at the Convention saw how terrified he was when it came time to deal with the County Court Judge Candidates.


2. IF Schriebman WAS the strong leader we wanted, he would have simply stated that he favored Katz, and as the leader he would have urged his fellow Democrats to vote the same way. Its not like people don't know who Katz is, or that he's been a longstanding Judge and that he's got the experience to do the job well. Whether or NOT the Governor had spoken about endorsing Katz is irrelevant, and Schreibman never said anything about it. The fact that there were "Rumors" which is EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE means that it should have been irrelevant in the first place. If Im planning on going to Mexico next month, I don't need to tell everybody that on their terms, Ill let them know when Im ready, just like Patterson was planning. I don't see why everyone has such a hard time understanding that.

What kind of Group of GROWN people will literally throw out names just to spite others on their side?? It seems to me that the theme of Democrats is really to constantly and consistantly elect the underdog, and hope like hell they will come out on top. Success rate is Zero people, time to rethink the game plan.

We now have a Republican as the District Attorney, and frankly will be having a Republican Judge now... I dont know what makes anyone think that an woman, unknown by almost everybody other than those in her town, would give a Candidate who has worked, lived, and been SEEN in this area for DECADES a run for their money?
We already know Williams is quite capable of getting enough votes to win a County-Wide race, hes DONE it before.

Maybe everyone should have thought about this when choosing the Candidate. Maybe Terry Rosenblum should learn to keep her mouth shut as she just seems to insult everyone in her path, and enjoy Democratic Humiliation.

Not only is Schneer working her but off, she will work herself to death to win, and how many of you are going to help her, how many of you are going to be there to pick up the pieces when Williams Wipes the floor with her?
Putting her in the position she is in was selfish and unfair of the Democrats, way to set up your own kind for failure.

Anonymous said...

Judge Schneer will do just fine. Williams does not have a judge's demeanor, he still thinks he's a DA.

The Governor's cat and mouse game was a disservice to his first choice, Judge Katz. He should have clearly made the appointment, or kept quiet and let the convention move through its process. He tried to have his cake and eat too. All he caused was confusion and some hard feelings.

Anonymous said...

Schneer has NEVER handled even one case in County Court.

Her only supporters are ardent liberal Democrats who would support ANYONE with a D next to their name and gay activists who are thrilled at the possibility of an open lesbian in County Court.

Everyone else will vote for Don Williams.

Anonymous said...

Is Jimmy Gilpatric running for County Judge?

Adam Admonishment

Anonymous said...

Hmm, underdogs like Clinton and Obama seemed to have worked out just fine. With Williams' supporters making him out to be a nazi, I'd say her chances are pretty good. This same old "soft on crime" routine is pretty stale. Besides, you don't have to be a geneticist to see that Williams is a descendent of Africans. Isn't that going to turn off his rabid rightwing base? He may have light skin but his heritage is undoubtedly colored.

Anonymous said...

As best as I can recall, the only real race Williams was in was for City Court judge and he lost. He won the DA position with little if any genuine competition and he has never had to go out and win over people on the streets.

He has an overbearing, condescending personality which does not play well with most people who he meets.

Schneer is charming, personable, intelligent and very likable. She worked like a dog to get the nomination and the hard work paid off. She will work like a dog to beat Williams. She has some serious baggage to overcome and the public is not necessarily going to buy into a former prisoner's rights advocate sitting in County Court, but we shall see.

In contrast, Katz did nothing at the convention and his personality is about as vibrant as a chair (Williams is about as vibrant as a desk).

When Katz walked into the convention, he was little more than a stranger to most of the people in the room. He didn't bother to call the committee people, didn't bother to introduce himself to the people who were going to vote on his future.

When he lost the first ballot, he stood in the back of the room like Vince Bradley and had no idea what he had to do to win over the crowd.

While he was standing in the back of the room, Schneer was working the room, talking to the delegates, looking them in the eye and winning them over one by one.

While Williams may bring certain advantages into the race, Schneer brings her own. Just don't write her off yet. With help from her party, she can pull this off.

Anonymous said...

Were you at the convention. I was and Katz and Scheer were together in the back of the room and Katz was congratulating her on her victory. Neither was working the room in between the votes or while the votes were being counted. In fact, Scheer was out of the room for a long period while the votes were counted. Additionally, there was only about five minutes to work the room after the results, they started voting almost immediately after the results were out.
And finally, Katz and Miranda did not call or reach out to delegates because they were told not to by our esteemed chairman. He told them that the governor's pick would be what controlled the day. Her one smart move was not believing him, which she should be commended for. they made the mistake of trusting the instincts of a chairman who has none.
She cannot win though. Half her own party will not vote for her based on her past legal experience

Anonymous said...

I don't know what room you were in, but I was there and Schneer not only approached and spoke personally to every person in her path, she won over a number of people on the spot before they went up to vote.

The second ballot may have started soon after the results of the first, but it dragged on while each name was called and Schneer kept circulating and talking to people while Jon stood in the back of the room with his arms folded across his chest.

A number of people approached Jon in the weeks before the convention and tried to tell him to start studying the lists of committee people and to start making calls. Some of those same people tried to approach him at the convention to tell him to start circulating and he did nothing.

As to the one mistake you claim that Katz and Miranda made, it clearly was a huge one. Why would anyone who was willing to fight for a job that they want defer to Julian?

Also, whatever Julian may have said, most delegates knew and repeatedly discussed in the month before the convention that it was foolish to count on the governor doing anything before the convention.

A simple look at the calendar was all it took to figure out that the appointment was not going to come before the delegates voted. The position was only posted about two weeks before the convention and given this governors inept approach to other vacancies and appointments, it was obvious that he was not going to save the local party from itself.

In any event, anyone who was willing to defer to Julian on this issue does not have the kind of judgment I would want from a Judge.

Now we just have to wait and see how strong the democrats for Williams movement will become.