. Silly Donkey Club (Schenectady Chapter): We’ve never been shy here at f/k/a about noting our disappointment with the Schenectady County Democratic Committee (e.g., here and there). Today’s newspaper brought one more reason for registered Democrats in Schenectady County to blush with embarrassment over the crassness and political ineptness of our so-called party leaders. The Gazette article “Fair campaign group seeks more pledges” (Sept. 19, 200 describes efforts by the group Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc to get county parties chairs across the Region — and not merely individual candidates — to sign the group’s Fair Campaign Pledge. FCP is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties and the Interfaith Alliance of New York State, Capital Region.
Seven years ago, FCP established procedures to accept candidates’ charges of unfair campaign practices within the Capital District, hold hearings and issue decisions regarding the charges, and their efforts have been welcomed by the voting public. See their “tips for Candidates” and list of “2008 Pledge Signers” , as well as their Candidate Manual (.PDF), and Decisions from prior years. This sounds rather non-controversial, and the Gazette article tells us that party chairs around the region have signed the FCP pledge — except for Brian Quail, chair of the Schenectady County Democratic Committee.
According to the Gazette: . . QUAIL OPTS OUT At least one party leader said he will not sign the pledge. “There are several reasons why I won’t sign it,” said Brian Quail, chairman of the Schenectady County Democratic Committee. “You should not sign a piece of paper to promise to do good and decent things when you should always be doing good and decent things,” he said.
The second reason, he said, is that Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region lacks credibility. “They use totally subjective standards and they apply their standards to other people’s conduct,” Quail said. “They don’t matter. Who matters are the voters.” I’m sorry, Chairman Quail, but voters really do want to know what an objective source like FCP has to say about the claims and accusations made in campaign materials, and about the charges hurled by political candidates and their election managers and parties. The voters need to hear from balanced sources. Your failure to sign the pledge makes us all wonder just what you have to hide and what FCP decisions you are hoping to avoid.
Here’s what Fair Campaign Practices says about its structure and procedures: “A pool of 32 respected individuals from the four county region is selected to hear complaints. These community representatives serve on Hearing Panels that determine the validity of complaints. In order to ensure a balanced, fair process for all sides, the local chairs of all the recognized political parties, or their designees, automatically become ex officio members of the FCP Hearing Panel and attend hearings.
“After a hearing is held and a decision is made by the hearing panel, the decision is made known to the candidates involved and to the media so that the media can inform the voting public.” I’m really tired of the leaders of the Schenectady County Democratic Party acting as if the rest of us are morons who will simply take them at their word and nod agreement to their nonsense. Quail, Savage, et al. continue to make the Party look bad with their high-handed, irrational positions and policies. They keep presenting a very big target for anyone wanting to pin the tail on the Democratic Donkey.
update (September 20, 200: Today’s Gazette editorial is titled “Party Chairmen should embrace fair campaigns.” Here are excerpts worth repeating: “But the process is elaborate, it seems meticulously fair, and, slowly but surely, it has been gaining acceptance with candidates and voters. Now the League wants the region’s political party chairs to join in — a logical step, since chairmen often set the tone for campaigns and are behind much of the advertising.”
“Unfortunately, as a story in Friday’s Gazette indicated, only a few have done so thus far, and one — Schenectady County Democratic Chairman Brian Quail — even denounced the idea as unnecessary and lacking credibility. His scorn for the system might have something to do with the fact that his party was flagged for violating fair campaign practices during the last election cycle.” “. . . [T]he more candidates and committee chairs who sign onto the concept of fair campaigns, the more likely they’ll adhere to the principles. That can’t help but make for fairer campaigns, a better-informed electorate and better government.”
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Salvatore
September 20, 2008, 10:05am
Guest User
Well I dont blame Quail after what LAzzari did to GOD and Tony J the snake last time but on the other hand the demos did a smear job on Ang and I think it was in response to Lazzaris tactics over here
More importantly...what the heck does sal ever mean 'over here'?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
she put out the stuff accusing them of sending negative fliers and that there and it wasnt their fault. then she said she was gonna kill the policing and she then flip flopped out in Duanesburg.
she put out the stuff accusing them of sending negative fliers and that there and it wasnt their fault. then she said she was gonna kill the policing and she then flip flopped out in Duanesburg.
They did send out negative flyers, if the shoe fits wear it. It was their fault. Each candidate NEEDS to be accountable and take responsibility for themselves, not hide behind the cloak of the "county committees". Some nasty stuff goes out from both parties and the candidates claim they don't know about it because the county parties sent it out. Give me a break. There won't be a single thing going out in the mail with my picture on it that I don't know about and completely approve of or it doesn't go out at all. She was not going to kill the policing. Her only concern was the duplication of services and associated costs of the Sheriffs Department providing police service to the towns that already had a police department in force. Rotterdam has a perfectly good police force, they appear to do a wonderful job and the residents of Rotterdam pay for that service. Why should you pay to have the Sheriff's dept. there too? See the thread from a week or so ago about the subject but the road patrol was intended to provide the service to Princetown and Duanesburg, neither town has a police force. I didn't notice any flipflopping in Duanesburg and I am usually pretty sensitive to that when it happens with either party.
she put out the stuff accusing them of sending negative fliers and that there and it wasnt their fault. then she said she was gonna kill the policing and she then flip flopped out in Duanesburg.
OMG Where do you start? Carolina Lazzari was one of 3 Legislators (and only GOP member) that defended Rotterdam and the Hilltowns from Lumpy Kosiur's pedophile relocation fiasco. There was no flip-flopping in Duanesburg. Carolina is a financial conservative and did not want State Police and the Sheriff's duplicating services. She was slimmed by a bunch of misleading mailers about a barn and road patrol.
Carolina stood up for the County taxpayers and was a voice of reason against more stupid County laws. She will be missed next week when we hear of the huge Countywide property tax increases for 2008.
describes efforts by the group Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc to get county parties chairs across the Region — and not merely individual candidates — to sign the group’s Fair Campaign Pledge. FCP is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties and the Interfaith Alliance of New York State, Capital Region.
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