Buchanan sees the new party and its message — to hold the line on taxes — differently. “It really is a message that should be directed against county Democrats. We have not increased taxes in Rotterdam, but we have seen double-digit tax increases at the county,” he said.

Buchanan ~ uh, helloooooooooooo ~ it IS directed against county Dems, you guys should be embarassed that you passed on Littlefield ~ you know, the one who is leading the charge on that front!  You guys should also come clean, reality is that YOU raised taxes last year ~ just check the record.

Yeah,,,,,,and the Republicans give up an incumbent seat(Surhada) at the County level.  I fail to see the strategy.  

And as Grahambonnet would say, Littlefield didn't pay his dues to the party.  He didn't go door to door for the party handing out flyers.  He can't expect to walk into the party and get endorsed, he doesn't deserve the endorsement.  People need to look at George Amedore as the example - a distinguished intellect who worked his way up the ranks of the party to earn the party's endorsement.  He didn't just walk in with deep pockets and his recent publicity on Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  This Republican Party looks for commitment and integrity; you need not go any further than Mr. Amedore as an example.

Maybe other Republicans turned it down and didn't want to run for higher office. I know it sounds impossible through eyes that think all republicans are engaged in evil conspiracies to gather money from the public, but it is true.

Oh, and BTW, I didn't say Littlefield didn't pay dues. I respect HIM quite a bit as being someone who has his heart in the right place. i WISH he had the GOP line and I am not sure why he and the leadership didn't come to terms, but nonetheless my thoughts about him are positive. He has been an active force in exposing the democrats at what they are doing at the county which is spending 300 MILLION a year and offering no transparency or accountability. There is another guy on the ticket who wants the town to spend millions in his neighborhood, and when he gets his way only ties to destroy the republican party with every ounce of his energy, offering nothing positive except praise for the democrat party and candidates. No I won't back HIM, even if the assembly republicans sent their staffers in to help him. he is not a conservative and he is not a republican.

Why shouldn't the town spend some money on the development to fix the problems that the town helped to create.

I didn't say that they shouldn't. He wanted the town to spend millions then when he got his way, instead of being grateful to the people that FINALLY came to the aid of his neighborhood, he offers a knife in their backs. Of course this administration has spent money in attempting to solve problems that have been lingering for decades only to get bashed in the skull by the very people who wanted the problems fixed. Interesting case study in human behavior, this political arena.

They checked the petitions and figured out there was nothing to contest. The No New Tax Party will get alot of votes because unlike all others it actually stands for something. Had enough yet?

  The fact that they are running a green candidate for Joe Suhrada's seat speaks volumes. The dead enders have run to the tall grasses. Meanwhile the NO NEW TAX PARTY is on TV, on radio, in the press.

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

I didn't say that they shouldn't. He wanted the town to spend millions then when he got his way, instead of being grateful to the people that FINALLY came to the aid of his neighborhood, he offers a knife in their backs. Of course this administration has spent money in attempting to solve problems that have been lingering for decades only to get bashed in the skull by the very people who wanted the problems fixed. Interesting case study in human behavior, this political arena.

This is what I mean about these major parties. The town spent millions on something that clearly became their responsibility. Plan and simple. Something they were obligated to do ANYWAY!  And it just happens to have been resolved when the reps were in power. Good for them....really! People are happy that this issue has finally been addressed....but clearly not beholden to any party. That kind of thinking is 'old rotterdam and why there are so many 'blanks' in town.

I doubt that the reps would be feeling the same way if this same scenario occurred under the dem's watch.

No quid pro quo............ANYMORE!

Quoted from CICERO

Yeah,,,,,,and the Republicans give up an incumbent seat(Surhada) at the County level.  I fail to see the strategy.  

And as Grahambonnet would say, Littlefield didn't pay his dues to the party.  He didn't go door to door for the party handing out flyers.  He can't expect to walk into the party and get endorsed, he doesn't deserve the endorsement.  People need to look at George Amedore as the example - a distinguished intellect who worked his way up the ranks of the party to earn the party's endorsement.  He didn't just walk in with deep pockets and his recent publicity on Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  This Republican Party looks for commitment and integrity; you need not go any further than Mr. Amedore as an example.

Another Silver Pen Award.

  They don't have the smarts to endorse Brad Littlefield and hold onto a seat and pick up another. Instead they waste time and money on the Town Clerk's race which is a complete loser. I can hear it now-we lost everything-lost another County Leg seat-no candidates for City or DA-but we came close to winning Rotterdam Town Clerk.

It would have been nice if the legislators who were at the county and keeping watch actually got some backing more than every 12 months or so. But read these pages over the past few years and ask when you really did back the conservatives that sat there. Nobody did. So why be the only guy who is willing to stand out alone in the rain and make sense? I wouldn't waste my time doing that if the so-called 'conservatives' could not be bothered to offer some support now and again. It really is a thankless task to keep your own base happy.

It would be nice if the party and candidate you support would take the money and use the volunteers to spread their ideological message to other parts of the County, instead of just holing up in Rotterdam.  4 Republicans on the County Leg just isn't enough, especially when one of them is the creator of Metroplex.  The nice thing about the No New Tax Party is, its gaining grass roots support in other areas of the County and even Capital District, instead of whining about the Gazette not getting your message out. How about spending party money and finding more creative ways to advance the message.  I'll tell you the reason why party leadership doesn't do that, because those in the Republican Party are more concerned about their position in the Party rather than the conservative ideology they used to represent.  They run an environmentalist for County Leg claiming a large umbrella, while shunning conservatives O'connor, Mertz, and Littlefield.  They are will to marginalize conservatives in the name of inclusiveness.  

John McCain got destroyed by a socialist following that same philosophy.    Republicans haven’t learned their lesson yet.

And what have you done, personally Cicero to get a message across, or do anything constructive besides bash people on a blog? Where your boots ever on the ground? What an armchair general.

We could ask the same thing to many self described "candidates". How many doors did Mary hit 2 years ago for the REP ticket? How about the other guy? How many rubber chicken dinners did they buy? LOL! Umbrella's a good word-and its pouring on the taxpayers.

  The bunker mentality of putting all chips on Rotterdam and getting wiped is real brilliant. These stunads can't even get a Supervisor candidate in Nisky where they ran everything for a 150 years. Then they wonder why KRATS from all over the County flood into Rotterdam?

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

And what have you done, personally Cicero to get a message across, or do anything constructive besides bash people on a blog? Where your boots ever on the ground? What an armchair general.

I respectfully disagree with you on this one. There are many of us who have many ideas on how political parties should relate to their constituents. Some registered with a party and some of us not. We can all have opinions, concerns and ideas WITHOUT running for office or joining a party.

What we found refreshing was the people running for the no new tax party who actually took the time to go door to door and LISTEN to the concerns and opinions of the people. Clearly a grass roots movement for sure. The dems and reps appear, just like on a national level, that once elected, there is no need to communicate with their constituents any longer.

I would never run for a political office!! But I sure do have my 'informed' opinions! And I clearly do not consider myself an armchair general.

Quoted from GrahamBonnet

And what have you done, personally Cicero to get a message across, or do anything constructive besides bash people on a blog? Where your boots ever on the ground? What an armchair general.

What have I done,,,,,hmmmmmm,,,,,besides give any party willing to represent conservative values the winning message for FREE.  Rotterdam Republican Chairman could care less about message.  He just wants to rally the troops and protect his cash cow - the Town of Rotterdam, and for his personal gain.  He is promoting a losing message to preserve his hundred thousand+ he receives from the Town taxpayer. IMHO

And let's set the record strait.  I don't "bash" people.  I do criticize those public figures that I believe are part of the problem in Schenectady County.  I believe I have handed praise to people like Brad Littlefield, Mike O'Connor, John Mertz,  and to some degree Brian McGarry.  But I've also been critical of them when I see fit.  I've even said positive things about Joe Suhrada, until his principles were compromised for his party.  I can't believe that Joe would give up his seat as a County Legislator in order to run a fellow conservative(and notice I didn't say Republican) out of office to settle a party dispute.  Joe's a Union grad, he's smart enough to realize that this doesn't advance conservatism in Schenectady County, it does the exact opposite, it contracts it.

Tell Joe, good luck in November.  Hopefully after the election, conservatives can lick their wounds and develop a unified message that takes the interest of the people they represent into consideration.