photo blog

me, NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Kayla at the Onondaga Dem dinner
Rochester Mayor and Dem Lt. Gov candidate Robert Duffy, Kayla and I

I've decided I will be running for Mayor of the Village of New Paltz. Full details to follow early next week.

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

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.

Contributor	Amt	Contr. Date	Recipient	Report	Sched	Office	Dist
HUDSON VALLEY ADVERTISING, INC. PO BOX 3723 KINGSTON, NY 12402	150.00	02-JUL-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	B	Comptroller	N/A
P & G'S RESTAURANT 91 MAIN STREET NEW PALTZ, NY 12561	100.00	05-JUL-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	B	Comptroller	N/A
TOWN OF SHAWANGUNK REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE 174 LONG LANE WALLKILL, NY 12589	500.00	05-JUL-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	C	Comptroller	N/A
CORDOVANO, PETER M 280 RT 299 SUITE 4 HIGHLAND, NY 12528	250.00	30-JUN-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
CROCE, RICHARD PO BOC 249 NEW PALTZ, NY 12561	500.00	24-JUN-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
DEVINE, GEORGE 214 DUBOIS ROAD NEW PALTZ, NY 12561	500.00	29-JUN-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
GALM, PATRICIA 20 PENNY LANE HIGHLAND, NY 12528	100.00	29-JUN-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
HORNBECK, CONSTANCE 2660 NEW PROSPECT ROAD PINE BUSH, NY 12561	1,000.00	10-JUL-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
MUMPER, ROBERT 5 ULSTER AVENUE NEW PALTZ, NY 12561	100.00	28-JUN-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
ROONEY, PETER E PO BOX 758 PORT EWEN, NY 12466	500.00	07-JUL-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
SMITH, THOMAS 184 GROVE STREET TILLSON, NY 12486	50.00	19-JUN-10	FRIENDS OF FAWN TANTILLO	2010 July Periodic	A	Comptroller	N/A
Total Contributions:	3,750.00

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.

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.

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

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.

Random Photo Blog

Here and There

Mayor Jim Sottile just could care less about reelection these days, he has managed to make enemies of his majority caucus, the firefighters, police, CSEA and is acting completely reckless example: The Maxwells Pizza situation. WTF is this guy thinking?!?!?! Alderman Reynolds, Clement or any other competent Democrat could take him out in a primary in a walk. Mark my words if Sottile is the nominee for the Democratic party Ron Polocco will be the next Mayor of the city of Kingston and I can't say that's a bad thing, I think if Polocco decided to run he would be a good leader much better than what we have now.

Looks like Judge Larry Ball who know has the Democratic and Independence line is well on his way to a landslide victory over the very awkward Mike Bruhn Jr. have you ever tried having a conversation with the guy? It's painful..Ball will destroy him in November.

The race for Ulster County Comptroller has been set, Elliott Auerbach will face of against Fawn Tantillo who has three lines. Tantillo has the Independence line because she is a member of the party and the bylaws of the party call that they support their own. Which is fine but make no mistake about it if Linda McDonough would have won the GOP caucus, Ellliott would have the I.

The one benefit Elliott has in not getting the Independence line is that it will be a constant reminder to the old guard Republicans that Fawn Tantillo is a turncoat. Fawn left the Republican party with her tail between her legs when times were tough for the party but asks for their support when it's convenient. Fawn may have the Republican line but plenty of prominent Republicans will be supporting the very likable and qualified Elliott Auerbach. Republicans are under no obligation to support Fawn she is not a Republican.

On a side note at the GOP convention, Butch Dener nominated Linda McDonough over Fawn and he made mention of my blog and what was written about his candidate like 3 or 4 times during the speech...I'm glad the Ulster County GOP is reading. ;)

I would like to thank Mario Catalano for allowing me to observe, Chairman Catalano is always very gracious and while we are members of different parties and share really no similar views, I respect the guy and he's a friend.

I also ran into Ulster Mojo author MoJoe Roberti at the convention, he gave a lack luster speech nominating Goodwin for Sheriif (let's not forget Roberti has a crush on Frank Falutico) and when I confronted him about the untrue and nasty postings he writes about me and everyone else he grinned and ran away as fast as possible...what was that you called Ken Ronk a few weeks back MoJoe Roberti?...I think the word began with a p? Yeah that's definitely the way MoJoe was acting that night.

Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter Takes Lead Over Lincoln!!!

I hate to use this picture, it was taken last year and I was about 95 pounds heavier than I am now but Lt. Governor Bill Haulter has taken the lead in the race for US Senate in Arkansas over incumbent Blanch Lincoln. I wish the Lt. Governor the best. He is a real great guy and showed me great hospitality when I visited his state.



Thu May 27, 2010 at 10:58:22 AM PDT
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/24-26. Likely Democratic primar voters. MoE 5% (5/10-12 results)
Democratic primary
Blanche Lincoln (D) 44
Bill Halter (D) 47
Undecided 9

Favorable/Unfavorable
Lincoln 59/36 (61/35)
Halter 63/21 (65/17)

Lincoln seems stuck in the mid 40s, as she has for weeks. Halter scooped up all the undecideds during the first round primary, and continues that trend in the runoff period. All the negative ads from all sides continue to do little to dent both candidates' favorability ratings.
There is a huge gender gap, with Halter winning women 51-39, while Lincoln wins men 49-43. African Americans continue to poll strongly for Halter, and he wins this key demographic 58-28. Lincoln has a slight edge among white voters, 47-45.
Same poll, but general election sample, among likely voters, MoE 4%:

Blanche Lincoln (D) 38 (40)
John Boozman (R) 58 (54)
Bill Halter (D) 42 (41)
John Boozman (R) 53 (50)

Favorable/Unfavorable
Lincoln 37/58 (39/55)
Halter 47/37 (47/34)
Boozman 52/34 (45/34)

State Senator Eric Schniderman with future Attorney General Jonathan Sennett ;~)

Convention 2010

Comptroller Auerbach nominated for a second term, congratulations my friend!
Jonathan Sennett (since when do you wear glasses?)

Ulster County Executive and possiably Lt. Gov. Mike P. Hein

New Paltz Supervisor Toni Hokenson, Jon Sennett and County Exec Mike Hein

The Ulster convention went well with Elliott Auerbach, Kevin Cahill, Maurice Hinchey, Kathy Mihm and all our local candidates were nominated for reelection and are well on their way to huge victories in November...with the exception of Kathy Mihm of course who will be confirmed by the legislature at it's next session.

The thugs in the Saugerties committee pushed through their candidate Sager to challenge John Bonacic this November, expect Senator Bonacic to win by a huge margin. Sue Zimet may have given the Senator a run for his money but this Sager guy will go down in flames. However, as a committeeman I will be supporting the party nominee.

Harley Doles also won pretty handily over Larry Delarose, Harley who hired the Shacters to run his campaign had some help. It really is unethical for Phil and Trisha Shacter to charge candidates for support. It's also a violation of the new bylaws which states that a committeeman may not use their office for profit, they break that rule year after year, and the new bylaws they pushed for pretty heavily may actually get them thrown off the Democratic committee.

Former Supervisor Nick Woerner made no secret that he will be running for chairman against Julian Schreibman this September, which should be a pretty intresting race. There is no way Julian will retain his chairmanship and I wish Nick the best of luck.

Cuomo Pick Hein or Miner!!!

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner
Ulster Executive Mike Hein

Below is Andrew Cuomo's short list for Lt. Governor while all the candidates are impressive, we urger Andrew Cuomo to pick reformer Mike Hein or the great Mayor of Syracuse Stephanie Miner. I know Stephanie Miner, worked on her campaign last year and she is tough and would be a breath of fresh air and really shake up Albany. Mike Hein is our home town boy and would serve us proudly in Albany. If Cuomo picks Stephanie or Mike, NY will be well served.


Cuomo's Short List:


With his announcement today that he will run for governor, the question befuddling New York politicos is exactly who Andrew Cuomo will pick as his lieutenant governor. A campaign spokesman declined to discuss the question, but here’s a short list based on conversations with a number of Democratic sources.

Denise O’Donnell. A former federal prosecutor and U.S. attorney from Buffalo, O’Donnell had served until this year as head of the Division of Criminal Justice Services. She resigned amid reports that Gov. David Paterson contacted a woman pursuing domestic violence charges against his aide. Several sources were puzzled when O’Donnell opted not to run for attorney general after her exit from the administration, and a prospective LG nod is one explanation. In addition to bona fides as a prosecutor and administrator, O’Donnell would bring gender and regional balance to the ticket.
A business or academic executive. Cuomo is making separation from the legislature to be a major theme of his campaign, and one source close to him said the search encompasses business and academic leaders. The thinking here is to find a proven administrator, someone who would be able to lead the state. I haven’t heard many specific names bandied about, and the thinking is that this kind of person would not have a very high public profile at the time of their nomination.

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings. That’s right, our very own mayor’s name has been floating around this week, but sources close to both him and Cuomo pop the trial balloon as quickly as it is inflated. Still, Jennings and Cuomo are long-time friends, and Jennings backed Cuomo in his failed 2002 gubernatorial run.

Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy. Duffy would bring regional balance to the ticket, and his name has long circulated as a possible pick by Cuomo. However, a source indicated the two have not had contact in some time. He announced in March he would not seek re-election. (Update: I misread something. Sorry about that.)

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Brown previously served in the state Senate, and was elected mayor in 2005. Several Democrats said that Cuomo had favored Brown earlier this year, but his star had fallen as he came under scrutiny for his distribution of development funds.

Christopher St. Lawrence. Not likely, but the Ramapo Town Supervisor has been out on the trail seeking the nomination for months. He’s under no illusions, though.
Bill Thompson. The former New York City comptroller and stronger-than-expected mayoral candidate has been mentioned for a spot on the ticket, but a source close to him said it’s highly unlikely. At one point, Thompson was mentioned as a natural pick for comptroller, given Cuomo’s lack of love for incumbent Tom DiNapoli.

Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins. The legislator from Westchester County won a hard-fought election in 2006, and has been mentioned. But she is an incumbent state senator — not the best resume point right now — and her seat would be competitive were she to leave it.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner. Several Democrats mentioned Miner’s name, but just as quickly dismissed her because of a lack of experience. They said Cuomo was interested in her initially because of her background (again, a woman from Onondaga County would provide gender and regional balance) and her previous work for Gov. Mario Cuomo, but felt that she couldn’t be plucked so soon after her November 2009 election.

Ulster County Executive Michael Hein. I heard Hein’s name mentioned a few times, with Democrats noting that his record as an executive dovetails well with Cuomo’s platform.

$500 To Whoever Challenges Schriebman!

Julian Schreibman is just a disaster, at the Democratic convention that takes place Monday evening he will be hosting a reception for AG candidate Eric Schniederman... I like Eric Schniderman and think he would make a fine Attorney General but he is not the candidate of the party at this time and it is inappropriate for Julian to have a reception for this guy without allowing Kathleen Rice, Eric Dinallo, Richard Broadsky and all the other candidate's running the same opportunity.

Furthermore, it's a slap in the face to Kevin Cahill and Maurice Hinchey who are supporting Richar Boradsky and our next Governor Andrew Cuomo who is supporting Kathleen Rice.

What is Schriebman thinking????

The simple answer is he is not. Julian has no clue what he is doing or how to run the party. If Julian is reelected in September he will be the top Democrat in 2011 when our Executive Mike Hein is up, when we have the opportunity to take back the office of District Attorney, numerous local elections including Mayor of the City of Kingston and an opportunity to take back the Ulster County legislature, which we lost under his watch.

We as Democrats simply can not afford Julian Schriebman to be Chair during these important elections, we need new fresh leadership from someone that actually knows what they are doing or we will continue to lose elections.

I personally today am offering to donate $500.00 to a serious Democrat that steps up to the plate and challenges Julian Schriebman.

Harkavey On His High Horse

Mike Harkavey and his gang are apparently supporting newly minted Democrat and soon to be former Republican David Sager over Democrat Seth Goldman for NYS Senate. WTF? Is this not the same committee that launched a jihad (and rightfully so) over Vincent Bradley for running as a non Dem, when we had a great qualified Democrat running??? Be consistent Mike! Mike Harkevey should get off that high horse of his and out of the Democratic party.

Why is MoJoe Roberti Attacking Fawn Tantillo, Ken Ronk, Rich Gerentine and Frank Fellicello??

Crazy MoJoe Roberti is at it again.. Joe Roberti launched a really nasty attack on Ken Ronk on his blog UC Mojo yesterday calling him a very derogatory name that's more a fit for himself than Minority Whip Ronk. The not so anonymous blogger and former Legislator Joe Roberti accused Frank Fellicello and Rich Gerintine of pumping up Ken Ronk to run against Fred Wadnola next year for chair of the County legislature. No clue if that is true but it would be an interesting race.

MoJoe Roberti also continues to crush like a school girl over Comptroller Elliott Auerbach with his stupid childlike attacks on him. Fact is, Roberit has nothing else. Auerbach is doing a good job and there really is nothing to criticize. Roberti did however go after one of Elliott's potential opponents, Fawn Tantillo who is running in a GOP primary against new comer Linda McDonough, who despite the hype has no financial background or even a college degree but we can discuss the Comptroller race at another time.

How does the NYS DOT allow it's employee, Joe Roberti to use such disgusting language and rude remarks about elected officials that are at times outright slanderous??

Just a Random Thought...

What Qualifies Someone To Be Assemblyman of the 101st????




Working tirelessly to bring jobs into Ulster County

Or making Vintage Coca Cola signs?

Chair of the Assembly's Energy committee, making sure that NYS keeps up with the rest of the country and protects our future through green initiatives

or making Vintage Coca Cola signs?

Chairing and combating ethics reform on NYS government, holding our elected officials accountable...

or making vintage Coca Cola signs???

Kingston School Board Endorsements

The following candidates deserve your support tomorrow..please vote! And Vote Yes on the budget!



Kristin Uhl, Matt McCoy and Todd Langon

Elliottness

The mystery opponent with a great financial background that wants to run against Comptroller Auerbach we here has NONE. The life long Democrat who two months ago turned independent, graduated from Coleman high school and was a bookkeeper for former Auditor Lisa Cutten. The woman also ran Lisa Cutten's campaign for mayor in 2007 (I can count the votes Cutten got on my fingers, so we know off the bat, campaigning and auditing are not this persons strong points). Why on earth would this person run for office and run for an office she is not even qualified to hold?

Comptroller Auerbach on the other hand has plenty of experience, as an economist, a former small business owner, former Mayor and Village Manager of Ellenville, he has brought his experience in both the public and private sector to work in his office, watching and accounting for every dollar as if it were his own. Reaching across the aisle for the good of the people of Ulster County and making the office of the Comptroller apolitical.

We hear further rumors that a former County Legislator and chair of the New Paltz Independence party also is looking at a run..could we see a three way race for Comptroller this year?

Whether it's one, three or ten people running, Elliott Auerbach is running and seems confident that he will prevail in November and I agree. We need to reelect Watchdog Auerbach to continue doing the great job that he is doing.

FORMER MAJORITY LEADER JOE BRUNO GETS 2 YEARS FOR FRAUD

Meet The AG Candidates

Click this link...it has a good bio on all the Dem candidates for NYS AG: NYS AG STORY

Guess Which Pic Is Ulster Dem Chair Julian Schreibman

hint second down on far right

Alderwoman Whitlock is my new hero... Common Council Meeting Gone Wild!!

Ulster Exec Hein: Jeremy, Lets See If We Can Make That Race Happen

Ulster County Executive Mike Hein apparently took offence to my post the other day regarding the 2011 Executive race. In the post, (which is below), I simply stated that a big win for Assemblyman Cahill this year would put him in a strong position to beat Hein in a primary next year and that I felt in that race Cahill was a sure winner.

Assemblyman Cahill is very popular here in Ulster County and well respected in Albany for all the work he has done in the state Assembly and for his constituents. I stand by my opinion and I told Hein this, Cahill would beat him, not a doubt in my mind.

I do however give the County Exec credit for addressing me directly and not just attacking me behind my back as others choose to do. Again, a lot of what is written on this blog is just me opining the goings on of Ulster County. Hein is the highest elected official in Ulster and as I said to him, he needs to grow thicker skin. People are going to write about him and it's not always going to be positive.

90% of the time this blog is more than favorable to Hein, and I like Mike, he is not a bad Executive, I could see myself voting for him in 2011. In his two years in office he has a solid list of accomplishments and has shown basic competency for the job he was elected to do. But, that does not mean he is the greatest thing since sliced bread and it does not mean that he is above criticism. He has his faults, like me, he can be very polarizing, people either love Hein or hate him..I sort of love-hate the guy ;)

Hein also has a difficult time understanding or accepting the role of the county legislature. Yes, Hein is the executive but Hein needs to remember the legislature is an equal branch of government that he can't just ignore or try to steamroll over, that method will not work, ask Eliot Spitzer.

With that being said County Executive Hein will no doubt face stiff competition in 2011, Jim Quigley on the Republican side would be a tough contender. Cahill or Auerbach would also be tough if either of them decided to make a leap for the top spot in 11', even Zimet could give Hein a run for his money.



If Mike Hein is worried he sure didn't let it show, when we talked about the hypothetical Cahill v. Hein match up, Hein said to me very confidently: "Jeremy. lets see if we can make that race happen."

Be careful what you wish for Mr. Executive.

Kathleen Rice for NYS AG

HERE AND THERE

Protesting with SEIU in front of WWE owner and US Senate candidate Linda McMahon's Connecticut HQs. Linda McMahon is running for Senator Chris Dodd's seat who is not running for reelection.

It's been a while and I am sorry I have not updated the blog in so long have been extremely busy with work and not a lot of time to blog. I have kept in close contact with my Ulster County sources and there is a lot going on in Ulster County:


Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum now has a GOP opponent, SGT. George Goodwin of the UC Sheriff's office. While Paul will easily beat his subordinate in the general election; I hear the GOP may cross endorse Van Blarcum over the weak Republican candidate.

Elliott Auerbach, the guy that deserves a cross endorsement may face an opponent as well. We hear a "well respected woman" from the Southern part of Ulster County may toss her hat in the ring...I can't get a name on who she is but Elliott has a well oiled machine that will cruise him to victory this November.


Not for nothing but Auerbach has went out of his way to make the office of the Comptroller both transparent and accountable to the people of Ulster County and is the only countywide elected official to reach across the aisle and do the right thing on a daily basis. Mario Catalano should do the right thing and give him the GOP line.


Don Wise, failed candidate for Supervisor and Assembly ( against Hinchey back in the day) has announced that he will be running against the very popular Kevin Cahill in the 101st. While Kevin takes every race seriously and will run a full campaign on the work he has done both as our Assemblyman and as Chair of the NYS Assembly's energy committee he will take out Wise by a 3:1 margin. Putting him in a great position to primary Mike Hein next year for County Executive, if that is something he wanted. No question he would win.

Side note to Don Wise: Please do not use those awful huge yellow signs....such a turnoff


We hear George Phillips who is running against Congressman Maurice Hinchey for the second time may have a GOP primary on his hands. We hear former Assemblyman John Garren is backing Phillips opponent and will be throwing some cash at the race...interesting.


Democratic candidates for NYS Attorney General spoke before the Ulster County Democratic Exec committee last night and from what I hear both Dinalo and Assemblyman Brodsky were on their game. Senator Eric Schniederman and Nassau DA Katleeen Rice (who I support) are also in the running. Rice and Dinalo are the front runners at this point. Although Brodsky is someone that is really impressive...a dark horse in the race.

And finally, I have gotten a lot of comments as to why I took down the Eric Kitchen post, it was out of respect for his wife. I think the point was made and Councilman Kitchen did pay his back school taxes.

Will update the blog this week, it's been crazy with work, just have no time.

Few quick things:

A speedy recovery is wished to UC Legislator Terry Bernardo

Happy that after 100 years we finally have passed heath care in America :)

Will get to local stuff, more on heath care, and the Spitzer write up around Thursday if not sooner.

Spitzer Talks To Sold Out New Paltz Campus!!!!!

Eliot Spitzer event was a blast! I had a great time, Spitzer is brilliant..we had tons of access to him and I have great pics! A report on how he did and pics coming later in the week..Mondayish..it's Saint Patrick's Day Weekend and I am a little busy! :)

NY needs this guy back!!

The former Governor and Sheriff of Wall Street will be in Ulster County tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOTE: Having trouble with comment moderation! For some reason blogger will not let me see or moderate comments until I get about 12 or so...so if you left a comment, I'm not ignoring it just be patient.

Running for my life ...

I will be running the Kingston Shamrock run this Sunday and am looking forward to it! Certainly something I could not of done just a year ago...if you see my out there running or laying out in the side of the road somewhere ;), stop and say hello!

What is ‘policy’ and what is ‘administration’, ponders Ulster Legislature committee

From MidHudsonNews.com : Ulster County Legislator Brian Shapiro, a Democrat, and member of the Government Operations and Efficiency Committee, calls it ‘reinventing the wheel’.
Republican Terry Bernardo, who chairs the committee, doesn’t quite see their mission that way.
Broadly, this has to do with clarifying the mission of the Legislative and Executive branches of county government, under the year-old Charter, and County Executive Michael Hein.
Bernardo said that despite some misconceptions, the county executive is but one of six elected countywide administrators, along with the comptroller, sheriff, district attorney, county clerk and others.

“The legislature is the body that appropriates and makes policy for all of those divisions,” she said. “Michael may have put out put out a directive about nepotism, but that only affected his little tower, if you will. It didn’t affect the people in the DA’s office, the people in the Sheriff’s office, in corrections. It didn’t affect the people in the clerk’s office. So that is the job of the county legislature.”

Bernardo noted that during an orientation with County Attorney Bea Havraneck, they were presented with a long “do not touch” list from the county executive.
“And it was all about the things that the legislator couldn’t touch, that were the executive’s. We didn’t really get a big list of things that the executive couldn’t touch.”
Bernardo was disappointed that Hein, who was invited to Wednesday night’s committee meeting, did not attend, but sent a few key staffers, instead.

Two other invitees did attend – Comptroller Elliott Auerbach and Legislature Chairman Fred Wadnola, who charged the committee with the mission of reviewing current personnel policy.
Shapiro, however, said there is a mechanism already in place, that has worked before, at doing the same thing.

“So I think there’s a learning curve right now. I hate for us diving right into creating a new ethics law. Why don’t we give this to the Board of Ethics; that’s what we did last time. They came up with a good product. That’s what I’m going to recommend this time around, to look at the issue of nepotism.”

Shapiro sees this as the new Republican majority, which took office two months ago, wanting to jump in head first.

A Circus at Kingston City Hall, Ring Leader Schreibman

MISS HIM YET?

What more can we take?
Under Julian : Two county wide election loses, the Katz convention fiasco, the bylaws fiasco last night, loss of the county legislature. We can not afford anymore of Chairman Schreibman..enough is enough!

I attended the bylaws vote at Kingston city hall last night before heading back to the city and what a circus it was.

Julian Schreibman called the meeting at 715ish and said a quorum was present, I thought that 40 % was the required number for a quorum to be present so I went up to Kathy Mihm who was taking attendance and asked her if we had the 40% needed for a quorum, she informed me that we did and only 30 % was needed.

I did a head count and there were 75 people in that room, 93 would have been required to have the 30% needed so there was no quorum at that meeting and business was conducted illegally!

Besides that, the meeting was chaos, Brian Shapiro asked very pointed and well thought out questions and Terry Rosenblum did not have answers to those questions it was just a joke.

Attorney Andy Zweeben (no friend of mine) also asked relevant questions which were not answered and people gave him different answers...we voted on a document last night that we were not clear on.

And while Andy Zweben is not my favorite person, I thought it was out of line for Mike Harkavey the chair of the Saugerties committee to heckle him as he spoke, that's completely unacceptable to do to anyone.

How ironic that the Ulster County Democratic committee or I should say the Saugerties Democratic committee and it's ring leader Julian Schreibman passed new bylaws heavily focusing on ethics, in the most unethical manner.

More importantly I am extremly upset that I was lied to directly by the secretary of the meeting when I asked about the quorum, this person also happens to be the Democratic elections commissioner..how can we have faith in the elections process.

I'm not 100% against the new bylaws, two of my friends worked very hard on them and I know at least their intentions during that process last year were genuine but the meeting last night and how it went down was illegal and wrong on many levels.