Quoted from 466

Yes LWV pledge.  Yes signing is very important to anyone interested in clean money and clean campaigns.  

And what if they sign but don't comply?

If they sign and don't comply, the opposing candidate brings a charge and then there's a hearing.  I am not sure but I think that may have happened to a Dem in the city last year.  The Dem lost and he was chastised in the paper and looked pretty foolish.  And he lost.  I recently held a forum for the Democratic Mayoral candidates in the City of Albany.  That was my first question to them.  They both said yes so I didn't need a follow-up.  Signing or not signing says a lot to the community about the candidate and his ethics.

Last year there were no City races. Two years ago all the City DEMS ran unopposed and they all won. Just like this year.

  Think Cal maybe referring to the DEM Congressional primary. That was a slam dunk for Tonko from Day One.

Quoted from 466

I recently held a forum for the Democratic Mayoral candidates in the City of Albany.  

I'm glad to see you're not favoring or endorsing any one party over another.  When is your Republican forum?

It was for the Democratic primary requested by senior citizens.  NOt for other parties.  Jerry jennings, and Croey Ellis showed.  However, Marlon anderson did not participate because he didn't have his petitions in and Rev. Valerie Faust was a no-show.  About three hundred folks mostly seniors came.  I introduced Nathan Lebron who came to hear.  Actually he and I are friends.  Of course the Reps here are making a fool of him.  He is a STELLAR candidate.  Bright, honest, (too honest for those fools) and very authentic.  Unfortuantely he didn't have a primary so there was nothing I could do.  HOWEVER,  I did invite him to the senior citizen picnic and had him speak to the seniors and then allowed him to visit them from table to table.  I speak to him frequently.  He is WONDERFUL.

Yes MT I did it right.  Sorry if you were looking for a bias.

Bennie Salami--I think maybe it had to do with the Assembly race?  Yes???

Hear ye, hear ye!

The LWV pledge violation, and subsequent high-impact reporting led to Blanchfield's demise!

Gimme' a break...

If you Reps in Schenectady want a really  good candidate to run who has all the right stuff, you should try to get Nathan Lebron to move to Schenectady.  He cannot win in Albany.  If he doesn't get too beat up in this race and I don't think he will,( the machine will go easy on him,)  move him into Schenectady.  He is terrific --gentle, kind, a Republican, but he listens to ALL sides.  There are not enough superlatives to describe him.

"Move him" into Schenectady. Just like that. That is the big difference when you ad it all up at the end of the day in how we think. We acknowledge individual human free will, and you think people can just be "moved" as if it is a command system that dictates the overall human condition.

GB  what's your beef?  That he's decent?  I already had him speak to somebody about making a move next year.  If he wants to be a Republican and he is a true Republican he has a abetter chance at success in this county or perhaps Colonie maybe Delmar.  He can't make it in the City of Albany.

Don't try to rage against the machine...move out!  If we all did that, what would happen?  

What a joke.

TBV--No you can stay and rage against the machine and get your aggression out blogging.  BTW NL doesn't rage against the machine or anyone.  I repeat he's just a smart, likable, Scott Murphy type.  I'm not looking for a fight-just made a comment.

Cal ~ I am glad you stuck around.  Thoughtful debate is always a good thing, only if you and Joe could put the emotions aside ~ both of you, sadly, hold on to grudges forever.

Joe ~ Deb has a point; why wouldn't you welcome Republicans into your district?  If you ask me, which you didn't ~ but I'll offer my opinion anyways ~ Schenectady/Rotterdam needs real Republicans who are not controlled by your Tom & Jerry joke.  Clean and decent Republicans that want to move into our area should be welcomed with open arms, problem is the dirty/corrupt Republicans don't want them anywhere near their turf.  Your party has absolutely no leadership, you guys will probably win because the local Dems think they can win all the elections, not the case.

Now, I believe Rotteram needs change.  The small business owners need more than lip service from Ego, they need some real results.  It is the small businesses that drive the economy and YOU ~ Joe ~ should know that.  Tell us what's YOUR plan to bring Rotterdam back?

We know about Fran, but you can't dispute his success!  McGarry's a small business guy too and gets it, but I think those guys just gave up and that's too bad.  Just curious, anyone see these guys anywhere?  I had a few emails back and forth with a couple of these guys, but haven't heard much from them at all.

Quoted from 347

  McGarry's a small business guy too and gets it, but I think those guys just gave up and that's too bad.  Just curious, anyone see these guys anywhere?  I had a few emails back and forth with a couple of these guys, but haven't heard much from them at all.

All the NNTP candidates attended and spoke at last night's Rotterdam Town Board meeting during the public hearing to create an ambulance tax district.  (It was a marathon meeting by the way.  I didn't get home until after midnight, though the meeting wound up around 10:30, I think?  Anyone who was there can attest that it was one of the most constructive, informative, civil discussions on a very important issue facing the town.  I was very impressed with the level of concern in the room from everyone, even though there were many different views presented.  If every hearing attracted interest like that we'd have a lot more solutions.)  

The 4 of us are working as hard as ever.  We obviously can't be everywhere all the time but I can always be reached through my email rotterdamwindmill@yahoo.com by anyone whose path I haven't crossed that might have questions or concerns.  I'm pretty good about responding promptly.

I, Graham Bonnet can't speak for Joe but I can say that I am not opposed to anyone moving here and getting involved, but people are not just "moved" like pawns on a chess board, nor are they "ordered" or "directed" ...They do it on their own volition and certainly would be welcomed should they CHOOSE to move here and get involved! THAT WAS THE POINT OF MY POST. Contrary to reports the GOP does not operate like some think, it is not an autocracy as much as one would believe. Evidence is the divergent views and votes of the GOP county legislators as opposed to the county legislators on the other side of the isle who never break with the team unless it is an 11th hour budget vote where they are safely given cover to dissent and then they quietly do so by voting for the larger GOP spending cut proposals which reduce taxes further than the current majority ones.

As far as what Joe would do? I imagine he would do what he does at the county. Instead of just voting against "taxes" he actually votes against spending, because being a business person for 20 years and having a degree in economics from Union College, he understands that you can't "just" cut taxes, but in order to do that you have to say "no" to some of the goodies too, ad vote against spending as well...NOT always a popular thing to do to vote against a huge Library expansion and things like that but Joe does it. Even when he is the only one, therefore being cast as the "radical such and such" that the demagogues of spending wish to frame him as. So I think Joe would make hard choices on some things that he doesn't believe to be essential, and make sure the budget is balanced. You can't have "no taxes: without commensurate spending cuts...

Joe also believes that if you sell and asset such as a piece of land, you should not go out and blow the money, but use it for one of two things- debt reduction or offsetting capital expense.

Many things can be learned from what regular families do at the kitchen table each night when they pay bills and balance their checkbooks. If you sold a piece of your land for a person to build a house on, you should take that coin and pay your mortgage off, not buy a new BMW. But this is what government does all the time. Can you argue with that radicalism? LOL But these are the kind of things Joe proposes all the time and shut down for.

Now how about meeting all those departmental requests for new vehicles and such? I hear Joe's truck has 180,000 miles. why can't government take care of the taxpayers property and get more life out of each and every item the taxpayers own and the government oversees and uses? For these ideas Joe is castigated.

Let me tell you a story about Rotterdam and Joe. In the early 1990's the police department decided to modernize the firearms they carry. All well and good. So they went out and purchased the modern Glock Pistol that fired the then 90 year old round 9mm Lugar. However, the round  had proven not much better than the .38 Special that it replaced but of course with high capacity semi-auto usage in the Glock. Joe, as an average citizen called the police station and spoke with the chief from what I hear to suggest that he look into the modern round .40S&W which is considerably more powerful than the antiquated 9mm Lugar. His concerns were dismissed of course. Well within a short time, maybe several months, the department found that the firearms world had agreed over the past  few years that the .40 WAS the way to go, was more powerful, etc so THEY TRADED IN THE OBSOLETE 9mm Caliber firearms for the .40 at a huge cost to the taxpayer.

This is not rocket science. Joe was simply an informed citizen who fired off these .40 pistols and read his gun periodicals and stayed on top of developments in the shooting sports. He wasn't a firearms instructor or gun dealer or anything but he knew his stuff. This is called research- the type any business would do before making a purchase...I imagine the gun seller wanted to get rid of those slow selling 9mms and found a town willing to take them, sadly the taxayers bought new guns twice in a short time. So this is the type of thinking we need. People need to ask questions and look into some things, get dialogue going, reach out to the community where there is much expertise and a ton of brainpower...It is not rude, or radical, or wrong. But in government it is often just plainly considered intrusive on the bureaucrats' baliwick. Can we change this? I hope so.