With Gov. Spitzer's tanking numbers in the polls these days and Cuomo's numbers that seem to keep going up, people are speculating over a possible primary run in 2010. For purpose of full disclosure there is no bigger supporter of Andrew Cuomo than myself, I worked on his campaign for AG and I supported him as a very young Democrat at Miller Middle School for Governor the first time around, with that being said Cuomo should stay put. Nothing is to be gained by trying to unseat an incumbent governor especially someone like Elliot Spitzer.
Gov. Spitzer a self proclaimed f-ing steamroller has had his faults but a lot has been accomplished and I think Spitzer's numbers will climb back to about 65 percent come next year. When you're a leader and a reformer like our Governor, there are a lot of decisions that have to be made that are not always popular but make no mistake about it they are necessary.
Andrew Cuomo, who most likely has no real intention of running for anything but reelection as AG, has a bright future in NY politics and his time for higher office will come.
11 comments:
Spitzer will recover from the xenophobic hate-fest that CNN's Lou Dobbs put forth. This whole issue of driver's licenses was an attack on illegal employers and the backlash was so clearly fueled by fear of exposure that these employers exposed themselves anyway. Now that this issue has garnered national attention,the fines and penalties for employers are sure to rise. Also,the need to establish tangible proof of identity and an agency devoted to that end,has become undeniable. The SSA is not equipped or intended for this purpose. Eliot's plan to use the DMV for this did not solve the problem nation-wide and as such wasn't feasible. 20 million americans stand to lose their voting rights as a result of SSA's inadequacy combined with new voter ID laws. This is unacceptable. We need bio-metric ID that definitively identifies who is here and who can vote. We currently have a system that relies solely on "good faith" means of of doing that. A mis-spelling of a name on a medical record puts the whole system out of whack. There are people with multiple SSA #'s and people without them. We need a new system. Fingerprint technology is here and is cheap. It's on your laptop,why not our record keeping systems.
Governor Spitzer is arrogant and does not listen to the people. He just knows best, with or without bothering to gather any information. He should be a one term footnote in NY history.
Only after Sen. Clinton and the new Dems in the NY Congressional delegation demanded it for their own political reasons did he abandon his wildly unpopular, ever-changing and incomprehensible drivers license plan. The voters had no impact on his decision at all.
He disregarded all propriety in cutting a "deal" for Belleayre Resort behind closed-doors with a Developer and the paid staffers of some environment groups only concerned with the Ashokan Reservoir and NYC's water supply.
No consideration was paid for the local people who will suffer from their grandiose "Agreement." IF they get it pushed through. To put a huge real estate development on steep mountain slopes, including 2 hotels, hundreds of condos and a new suburb of 19-30 mcmansions on the top of Belleayre Mountain in the Catskill Park is CRAZY, and against the wishes of the voters who do not want the low-paying jobs, flooding and horrible traffic it will produce along Rte 28.
Notice the Shandaken landslide upset? Jane Todd, Mrs. Ward Todd, was defeated 55% to 39% (without the absentees) in a lopsided and total repudiation of this arrogant "DEAL." Look at the petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/stm07/petition.html Over 1200 signatures in 12 days. See all information here; www.SavetheMountain.net Watch for the yard signs and bumper stickers.
Someone should listen to the people for a change, not to land speculators, those in the Real Estate industry and their lawyers and bankers, eager to suburbanize the Catskills. Only they stand to gain from this speculative, destructive project that might well fail.
And if it does fail? What will they do with that huge scar on our mountain?
DON'T tread on us. Save the Mountain!
8:06, what you are saying is the driver licenses for illegal aliens would infact, create LESS opportunity for them to work? Isn't that just the opposite of what Spitzer was selling? I just don't get you people. You cry when ICE descends on a company, where illegal aliens work, fining the business owner, and deporting those who don't belong here. Then, while trying to spin spitzer's blunder, you say this will expose companies who hire illegal immigrants. That's enough spin to make the head of David (the statue) fall off.
SSA having problems? The SSA's attempt to fix and send SS# irregularities reports have been blocked by the ACLU! I keep track of my SS#, how about you. I think more concern should be directed towards how will these 20million people receive their SS benefits when the time comes, than whether or not they stand to lose voting rights. That's an easy fix, you VISIT your local SSA office, and get it sqaured away before election day. If you go through life with an incorrect SS#, and now it's time to retire, I think it will be alittle more involved to fix.
Looks like you and the Tuchman's have something in common. They too supported Cuomo for his bid for Gov
Rich Cahill is a little pimple of a man
Impeach Spitzer!!!!
www.impeachspitzer.com
Jeremy,
Getting back to the Mayor's Race
Did Rich Cahill Carry any Ward's?
Thanks,
Burt
1:11-you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. A business owner has a better chance of being struck by lightning than being fined for hiring illegals. Go and visit an SSA office without government issued ID and find out what it would take to get it. The department of homeland stupidity banned them from using their own records. Pay attention to the supreme court docket and you'll find out how voting will be affected. I just spent years getting a new card and it isn't going to happen just before election day. One office nearest me had a phrase "sol" for "shit outta luck". Even with the help of my senator and a "friendly" office (Kingston) it took three months. Meanwhile my fingerprints were on file with the pentagon for over twenty years. That wasn't good enough? It should have been. We need better identity verification that uses bio-metrics both to protect our rights and to reserve voting to legal citizens.
11:18-I read through the website thoroughly and I'm very impressed with the ambitions of the owner. It doesn't seem as though it's worth all the work to comply with all these conditions. I think it will cost much more than they think and require many,many years of high maintenance. That seems on the face to be a money-pit that will be quite profitable to the local residents. The service industry is the highest paying job creator in our country right now and this project certainly will spur more of that type of employment than the resort itself. I hardly think that the influx of workers would be low-wage earners. Your opposition seems to be a case of "not in my back yard". This property is now privately owned and could certainly be turned into a "mushroom" housing complex of much worse proportions. Your opposition and concern for the environment is evident in it's planning. A lot of intelligent ideas are at play. I'll be looking at these ideas in practice for my own interest. I hope it works out. Experiments have to be done,even at the risk of failure. Keep in mind that these wooded areas are not virgin and will recover in a few decades from the worst disasters. I've hiked and camped extensively in that area many years ago and they're certainly not "untouched" or in any way natural.
Spitzer has proven he is not capable of doing this job. Hard to believe I am saying this, but we are worse off now than we were with Pataki. Spitzer's has never had to compromise because he could always extort his opponents in the AG's office. That is all his prosecutions were..see the Marsh Mach trial going on right now in NYC. Everytime a defendant has taken one of Spitzers major indictments to trial, the defendant gets off. Marsh is the next one that will get aquitted, the AG is losing it miserably. These tactics may have worked in AG's office but will not work in Albany. We are now seeing that this guy is an arrogant inflexible joke. Cuomo should run against him in primary
the Federal government (and the state's as well) doesn't give a hoot about illegals. Just try calling up Dept of Homeland Security, Police or any gov't office and ask how you can report an illegal alien. You will get a total runaround. Truth is, no one wants to be bothered. Spitzer had his own agenda to serve when he brought up the licensing debacle;
Sylvia
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