Sunday, July 25, 2010

Kingston Democratic Picnic

Former City Chairman Bob Gillon at the Grill.


It was a warm but fun day at Hasbrouck Park yesterday. The City of Kingston Democratic Committee hosted a family fun day. Special thanks to Mark Halwick who organized the event. attending the event were...


City of Kingston Democratic Chairman Bob Golnick
Alderman Tom Hoffay
Alderman Charles Landi
Alderwoman Shirley Whitlock
Alderwoman Jen Fuentes
Alderman Hayes Clement

U.C. Legislator Mike Madsen provided musical entertainment.


City of Kingston Judge Larry Ball
Ulster County Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum
Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach
Ulster County Executive Mike Hein

Also in attendance were two former City of Kingston Democratic Committee members...

Former Alderman Clint Brown and Former City Committee Vice-Chair/Former Town of Ulster Supervisor Nick Woerner

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Indy Party Pay To Play????


Fawn Tantillo the Independence, Republican and Conservative candidate for Comptroller sure does not know how to make friends. In this last week she has upset the entire Republican committee by endorsing Democrat Andrew Cuomo for Governor..(if you remember from my earlier post, Tantillo has no allegiance to the GOP, she left them along time ago and came back when she needed them and they foolishly gave her their line) I hear Chairman Catalano, who I respect a great deal, is not too happy about all of this and let his feelings be known to Fawn..good for him. Expect a lot of Republicans to sit on their hands and let Tantillo self destruct.

On a bigger level Fawn Tantillo, who is the newly minted 101st state committeewoman for the Independence party (how convenient) went and overturned the will of her own committee by using her weighted votes to vote for Peter Ronney over the Indy's endorsed candidate Kevin Cahill. She then blocked an effort to allow Assemblyman Cahill the opportunity to be in a primary. Here is Fawn Tantillo, a member of the Independence party, saying that her fellow Independence party members should not be allowed to have a choice. Are you kidding me??? It should be noted that Fawn Tantillo ran against Kevin Cahill for Assembly and was destroyed by more than ten thousand votes.

Why did Fawn do this? Well I'm not saying it was pay to play but.....

Two weeks before she went and stabbed her fellow party members in the back she received a $500 check from Peter Rooney. So will that be the going rate of doing business in the Comptroller's office under Tantillo? Tantillo needs to return that money or drop out of the race. You can't have corruption or any sort of pay to play in county government, especially in the Comptroller's office, Elliott Auerbach is the People's Watchdog..all Fawn watches out for is herself.


ContributorAmtContr. DateRecipientReportSchedOfficeDist
HUDSON VALLEY ADVERTISING, INC.
PO BOX 3723
KINGSTON, NY 12402
150.0002-JUL-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicBComptrollerN/A
P & G'S RESTAURANT
91 MAIN STREET
NEW PALTZ, NY 12561
100.0005-JUL-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicBComptrollerN/A
TOWN OF SHAWANGUNK REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE
174 LONG LANE
WALLKILL, NY 12589
500.0005-JUL-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicCComptrollerN/A
CORDOVANO, PETER M
280 RT 299 SUITE 4
HIGHLAND, NY 12528
250.0030-JUN-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
CROCE, RICHARD
PO BOC 249
NEW PALTZ, NY 12561
500.0024-JUN-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
DEVINE, GEORGE
214 DUBOIS ROAD
NEW PALTZ, NY 12561
500.0029-JUN-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
GALM, PATRICIA
20 PENNY LANE
HIGHLAND, NY 12528
100.0029-JUN-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
HORNBECK, CONSTANCE
2660 NEW PROSPECT ROAD
PINE BUSH, NY 12561
1,000.0010-JUL-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
MUMPER, ROBERT
5 ULSTER AVENUE
NEW PALTZ, NY 12561
100.0028-JUN-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
ROONEY, PETER E
PO BOX 758
PORT EWEN, NY 12466
500.0007-JUL-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
SMITH, THOMAS
184 GROVE STREET
TILLSON, NY 12486
50.0019-JUN-10FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO2010 July PeriodicAComptrollerN/A
Total Contributions:3,750.00

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The People's Lawyer - Eric Dinallo


So I took the time to watch the New York State Attorney General debate this morning. First let me start by saying that I had an opinion about a candidate in this race previously which over the past month or so has changed. Today however, I have decided that former State Insurance Superintendent Eric R. Dinallo is the right person to succeed Attorney General/Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo.

Eric Dinallo has a proven record of protecting New Yorkers, standing up to dangerous criminals, Wall Street, and powerful interests. As a former Assistant District Attorney, Assistant Attorney General, and head of the New York State Insurance Department, Eric has the experience and independence to watch over our safety, our rights, and our pocketbooks.

Keeping New Yorkers Safe

Eric’s commitment to keeping New Yorkers safe and pursuing justice led him to a career in public service. He began as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan D.A.’s office under Robert Morgenthau. He went after repeat felony offenders and put violent criminals behind bars. He took on enterprise corruption and aggressively prosecuted some of the state’s first insider trading cases.

Standing up to Wall Street

As an Assistant Attorney General, Eric led the Investor Protection Bureau and prosecuted fraud and abuse on Wall Street. He resurrected the decades-old Martin Act to investigate conflicts of interest that took advantage of average investors. The groundbreaking casework resulted in the $1.4 billion settlement from the nation’s largest financial firms, including Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Bear Sterns. The case also secured important reforms to protect consumers and prevent the abuses from happening again.

The Martin Act cases helped to transform the Attorney General’s office into the powerhouse it is today. Eric’s work kept the life savings and pensions of ordinary New Yorkers safe, putting the people’s interest ahead of powerful interests.

Working as an Internal Watchdog

Eric applied his ability to route out waste and fraud to the private sector, where he worked as an internal watchdog to ensure that companies played by the rules and treated their customers fairly. As Managing Director of Global Regulatory Affairs at Morgan Stanley, and the General Counsel at Willis Group Holdings, Eric led internal reviews and audits to certify that the firms complied with regulations to protect customers and make sure businesses operated with honesty.

Holding Insurance Companies Accountable 



Most recently, as the New York State Superintendent of Insurance, Eric developed a reputation for being what the New York Times called a “regulator not stymied by red tape.” He was responsible for regulating and investigating insurance companies – from auto to life to health – and took his watchdog approach to examine how they treated policyholders. He co-chaired New York’s Universal Health Insurance Task Force, provided access to health insurance for 400,000 uninsured New Yorkers and extended insurance benefits to same-sex couples.

Eric also stood up to insurance companies to protect consumers. When Oxford Health illegally overcharged customers, Eric recovered $50 million owed to policyholders. When gas prices spiked and people drove less, Eric made sure car insurance companies lowered their rates accordingly – saving Empire State drivers over half a billion dollars. When Allstate and Liberty Mutual used unethical sales tactics to alter or cancel the homeowner policies, Eric forced the companies to stop exploiting homeowners’ fears.

And when the nation faced its biggest economic challenge in a generation, Eric played a key role in addressing the global financial crisis by making sure that AIG’s policyholders were protected.

Living in New York

Eric now teaches ethics at New York University’s Stern School of Business as the Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor of Finance. He serves on the board of the American Institute for Stuttering, an organization that supports individuals who stutter – a speaking disorder that Eric has had to overcome to practice law and become a public servant. He lives in New York City with his wife Priscilla Almodovar and their two young children.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Breaking News: Solid Sources Say Sottile is Calling it Quits


Mayor Jim Sottile will NOT be running for reelection next year according to very reliable sources close to Kingston's Chief Executive. Sottile has made too many enemies and he knows he cant win and does not care anymore said the source.

Mayor Sottile held his annual boat ride that usually is two full trips of about 300 people a ride, last nights ride had just one trip with a mere 150 people, barely filling half the boat. We hear Jimmy was calling people Wednesday afternoon giving tix away to fill seats.

Mayor Sottile has become an embarrassment for the Democratic party and no one with a future in politics wants to be tied to him. Only one Alderman, Charles Landi, attended Sottile's cruise last night...( the council is 7-2 Dems), no county legislators from Kingston were there either.

Matter of fact the only two elected officials that attended were County Exec Mike Hein and Ulster Supervisor James E. Quigley...( which could be the exec's race next year...how ironic)

With Mayor Sottile being forced out of the race, the field of Democrats will widen. James Noble, Bill Reynolds, Mike Madsen, Hayes Clement, David Donaldson...it will be a huge field. Alderman at Large Noble and Majority Leader Reynolds are both in good positions to take the Dem nomination but it's really anyones race and anyone can do a better job than Sottile.

Kingston residents should be happy to know that Hiz Honor is on another two week vacation...we all know he deserves it, that graffiti does not clean itself up.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Legislator Susan Zimet W Langon Chapman Plotting Against Hein


Rumor has it Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet was spotted on Ulster Ave at a local diner with Bonacic boy toy and the real chair of the Ulster Independence party, plotting against County Executive Mike Hein

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

KUDOS REDUX TO LEGISLATOR SWEENEY

Below is a recent post from Legislator Mike Sweeney (C,R,I,-Saugerties)


Party Politics


I'm probably about to step in a pile of junk by getting into this topic, but what the heck... how is that any different from anything I've done in the past?

Coming up, voters will have the opportunity to vote in Ulster County for a new County Comptroller and a new County Sheriff. I don't really understand why we need a choice. In other words, why do parties feel like they have to put a candidate up for a position no matter what--why don't political parties do more cross endorsing? Those 2 positions should be "non political", in my opinion.

While it's VERY early in the election season, and there's lots of time for news to come up to refute this, I personally find both Ulster County Comptroller Elliot Auerbach and Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum to be decent men that are handling their job well.

It's not that I want to discourage anyone from running. If there are candidates that think they can run an office more efficiently, etc, then go for it. But sometimes I think we should recognize elected officials that are doing a good job and let them stay without putting up candidates against them, just to put up candidates against them.

Along the same lines, why do parties endorse people just for the sake of endorsing them? I think it'll be interesting to see which candidates the Conservative Party endorses in the coming years. I would personally rather see the party, which I belong to, endorse candidates that behave like Conservatives. In the Legislature, I've seen a host of elected officials that have been endorsed by the Conservative Party that, so far, haven't been voting like fiscal Conservatives. And if there's something this county needs, its TRUE fiscal Conservatives.