I got an email from Metro Justice this afternoon with the body of Elliot Spitzer’s address to the Reform Day congregation in Albany.  It’s an impressive speech for those of us interested in reform, it’s just too bad that the Albany Machine decided not to play along.

But is it “just too bad,” or is it “just too obvious,” given Spitzer’s attack-dog style?  The worrisome part of the speech is that he’s saying “I won’t accept a bill that doesn’t. . .” this and “I won’t accept a bill that doesn’t . . ” that. Great that he’s so firmly behind reform, but in effect, he’s closing debate before it begins.  Before anyone’s had a chance to object to this or that reform, he’s making demands and putting people on the defensive.

I hope he gets what he wants, since it’s what I want, too.  But I would be remiss if I criticized the Bush Administration for ham-handed, “My way or the highway” policy-making and did not give equal time to this disturbing trend in Spitzer’s governing style.  We may argue that in New York, we’re dysfunctional enough to warrant such demands, but I do worry that this style of governing will eventually dash itself against the rocks in the same way that Bush-era presidential politics have.

The text of the speech is below the fold:
» Continue Reading…

When politicians do things I don’t like, I’ll post it. And when they do things I do like, even if I deplore their politics otherwise, I’ll post that also.

I’m not sure what the topics of discussion will be, exactly, but Tom Reynolds has taken the initiative locally to discuss campus safety.  The only other politician who is attending is Maggie Brooks, which is unfortunate.  At least, that’s the only other politician whose been mentioned in the article:

Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, will conduct a campus safety best-practices summit with western New York colleges and universities this morning from 9:30 to 10:30 at the Monroe County Public Safety Training Facility, 1190 Scottsville Road.

Even though so many topics concerning safety on campus run into politically-charged topics, keeping kids safe while they learn to be contributing members of our community is definitely not a partisan issue.  Let’s hope something positive comes out of this meeting.

Technorati Tags: Tom Reynolds, Campus Safety, Virginia Tech

Powered by ScribeFire.

Not politically charged in any way I can think of. Not particularly important for us as a nation. I just happened to run across it looking for stuff about our local representatives, and found this very funny:

OpenCongress - Roll Call Details

H.R.249: To restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros.

What’s funny about this, you ask? Well, people who don’t want to slaughter free-roaming horses need to vote “Nay.”

Oh, come on! It’s Friday, and that was funny, you know it was!

Technorati Tags: Funny, Congress

Powered by ScribeFire.

Before we get into this any further, let me ask the obvious question: does a company that can spend 2.5 billion dollars on buying Kodak’s medical imaging division and another 12 million dollars to spruce the place up really have any particular use for $725,000 in tax breaks?  How useful is that tax credit to them compared to the use that the citizens of this state might have gotten out of that same money?

But don’t tell that to Maggie Brooks.  She’s just gotten started crowing about the big deal she landed with all her political prowess.  That and giving away $1,500 in state tax revenue per job promised, more if those jobs aren’t delivered:

Carestream gets $725,000 in tax breaks || Democrat & Chronicle: Business

Carestream Health Inc., the big new company being formed from the sale of Eastman Kodak Co.’s health imaging division, received $725,000 in tax breaks Wednesday from the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency.

County Executive Maggie Brooks cheered the COMIDA vote, which came at a special meeting.

“We are excited to welcome Carestream’s world headquarters to Monroe County and we thank the company for its commitment to retain and create more good jobs in our community,” Brooks said.

She praised Carestream for recognizing the region’s strengths, “including our highly skilled work force.”

Huh!  They must have forgotten to mention the region’s weaknesses that drew them here: sucker politicians who give away the cow for a gallon of milk.  Wonder how balancing that budget deficit is working out?

Technorati Tags: Maggie Brooks, Monroe County, Onex

Powered by ScribeFire.

At first blush, you might think that people telling heroic stories about you, even if they were untrue, would be the kind of thing you’d be OK living with. After all, how many of us have been guilty of embellishing the stories of our own lives from time to time? Vanity is part of what makes humans human, so why would stories of valor on the battlefield possibly offend someone?

But when you’ve dedicated your life to serving your country, when you do so and suffer imprisonment and injury at the hands of your nation’s enemies for your country’s sake, you would probably like to think that what you’ve done was enough. You would probably want to be acknowledged for your service, as indeed you have a right to expect.

» Continue Reading…

I’m sure that someone else around these parts already caught wind of this, but just in case you missed it, an important vote on corporate governance was held last Friday.  The bill allows shareholders in a company some say in the compensation paid to the CEO of said company.  Certainly, this seems a sensible proposition: if the shareholders are happy, everybody wins, right?

Well, you might want to call a few of our Republican representatives and ask them why they disagree.  Both Randy Kuhl and Tom Reynolds voted in the minority to attempt to strike down this bill:

MyDD :: Bush, House GOP Side with CEOs Over Shareholders

This afternoon the House of Representatives held an important vote on legislation that would, for the first time, allow shareholders of corporations to at least have a say in the salaries given to executives. While the legislation did not give shareholders veto power, the power to make a statement of approval or disapprobation could go a long way towards reining in excessive CEO pay — particularly in cases in which corporations are hemorrhaging money but executives still receive fat paychecks and ridiculous bonuses.

Yet on this sensible piece of legislation, how did most House Republicans vote? Nay, naturally. Of the 184 memberds of the House Republican caucus who voted on this bill this afternoon, fully 70 percent (129) voted in the opposition. This group not only included members of the leadership, like Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Roy Blunt, but also potentially endangered members, including . . . , Randy Kuhl (NY-29), . . . , Tom Reynolds (NY-26), . . .

I don’t think it at all unreasonable to allow the people paying the bills to have a say in the decisions.  And by the admission of the CEOs themselves, one of the most important decisions that a company can make is the choice of CEO, hence the exorbitant salaries.  Fair enough, but let’s see those CEOs prove themselves to someone who can take that money away.

Technorati Tags: Congress, Randy Kuhl, Tom Reynolds, NY29, NY26, 2008

Powered by ScribeFire.

There’s so much good stuff happening out there, today, I hardly know where to begin with the linking!  Commenting on some of these probably require their own posts, but for now, I wanted to highlight some of the great goings-on out there in the New York blogspace.

The Albany Project has been hitting as hard as Eliot Spitzer on the Reform Albany project.  Lipris was actually onsite in Albany for the event, returning bearing pictures and all.  But it’s clear that Senate Majority Leader Bruno has found himself in a crouching defensive position, on the wrong side of history, it begins to appear:

Spitzer Quotes Bruno: “We cannot survive without LLC money.” || The Albany Project

Here’s another question for my dear friend, Joe Bruno: Do you really want to make your stand here? Do you really want to got to the voters net year and defend your heroic defense of the right of the super rich to manufacture endless subsidiaries and LLCs to blatantly circumvent New York’s already insane contribution limits? Really?

Exile at RT points out an excellent guest essay by James Allen of the NY Apple Association on a proposed solution to the Republican-made controversy over immigration:

Democrat & Chronicle: Farms need help; pass proposal to open gate to migrant workers

We need immigration reform in Washington, and we need it now. That is the message we are again trying to convey to Congress as we approach another growing season in western New York.

The AgJOBS bill, introduced in January, would greatly expand the opportunities for our farmers to employ migrant labor. The bill has two parts:

Allen highlights the importance of this legislation to Upstate, but I would hasten to point out, as a graduate of Sodus Central Schools, that too tight a restriction on immigration would positively cripple Wayne County’s primary source of summertime income. Not just Cadbury-Motts (though they do employ roughly 400 temporary and direct-hire workers there), but every single convenience store and restaurant in the area would lose a significant portion of their seasonal income.  To the detriment of an already hard-bitten, poverty-stricken county.

Also at RT, STLO7 has done yeoman’s work distilling the recent public hearing on Brighton Properties LLC:

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

There is more but chew on that for now but it is tied to video clips. So what do we have? tax allocation without representation, dependence on a government hand-out to conclude a private deal, lack of accountability and the political appointees of COMIDA making decisions that override decisions by elected officials.

And for what? A hotel next to MCC? Jesus, who the hell is staying there? You want to spread the wealth, why don’t you give Brighton some extra money to fix that piece of shit stretch of pothole-ridden pseudo-road called “East Henrietta Road,” that runs past the hotel?

Elsewhere, the DMIBlog has an outstanding post on the changing nature of employment and the struggling unions that are trying to keep up:

While Steeworkers Scramble to Adapt, a New Unionism Grows | DMI Blog

Unions in America began in the model of medieval craft guilds. From bricklayers to blacksmiths, people got together with others in the same profession. . .

. . . Clearly, that paradigm is crumbling. As the ties between workers and employers weaken, America needs to reweave its social safety net. For freelancers and independent contractors, especially, a New Unionism is emerging. Instead of collective bargaining for wages, they negotiate group rates for health insurance.

Do check out the Freelancer’s Union, while you’re at it. I argued quite a while ago that this sort of paradigm shift needed to happen for unions to keep their relevancy in the face of a growing IT and freelance market.

Elsewhere, the four retired generals (including John Batiste of Klein Steel, Inc) are still hot on the tail of the White House, writing statements in support of the Democratic funding bill that drags the war to a conclusion.  The Gavel has the story.

Finally, sad news for all of us who love music in Rochester: Meghan Taylor of Bee Eater is leaving town to make a run at NYC:

Rocker leaves the ROC: Bee Eater’s Meghan Taylor heads to NYC - Music - Rochester City Newspaper

For a band to go from good to great somebody’s gotta bust out and rise above. Somebody’s gotta make with the charisma and the balls. Bee Eater’s presence comes from singer Meghan Taylor, a petite powerhouse with Kool-Aid-colored hair and two different colored eyes. She shimmies. She shakes. And she sings in a big voice that belies her slight frame. Taylor gives the band its sizzle.

Meghan has been a big part of the Rochester music scene since her first band, White Cotton Panties.  I remember seeing them open for some show or another (can’t remember what, which means it was probably a good show) at the Water Street Music Hall and playing “Detroit Rock City.”  Sure, as she says in the article, everybody comes out to see girls play.  But really: it’s not enough to be girls, you’ve gotta have something special, and Meghan has it.

Best of luck to Meghan Taylor.  We hope to see your name in lights soon!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Rudy Giuliani is playing the fear card that Dick Cheney has so long employed.  He’s telling voters that Democrats are going to usher in another 9/11, never minding that 9/11 happened on Republican watch.

But the best part is the following quote:

Giuliani warns of ‘new 9/11′ if Dems win - Politico.com

“I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense,” Giuliani continued. “We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense.”

Yeah, that’s what Americans voted for in the last election, dumbass.  If only you’d listened.  Golly!  What a world we would be living in where we were free to talk amongst ourselves without the government listening!  It’s a terrifying thought.

Here’s to hoping Rudy and the rest of the Republican field attacks the rest of the campaign trail with just this type of skilled statesmanship.  No worries about John McCain, certainly. . . .

Technorati Tags: Rudy Giuliani, Presidential Election, 2008, Iraq, Patriot Act

Powered by ScribeFire.

Oh, man.  This is a rich one.  The Empire Zone has Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s response to Eliot Spitzer’s Reform Albany Day event and the campaign finance reform bill he attempted to push through.  Seems like Bruno might be a trifle upset.

In addition to a choice selection of other stupid quotes from Bruno’s press conference, this one sticks in my head as the solid-gold whopper of the day.  Hang on to your trousers, folks, ‘cuz the shit’s about to get deep [em. mine]:

Bruno to Spitzer: Lets Debate - The Empire Zone - N.Y. / Region - New York Times Blog

“[Spitzer says], on one hand, everybody has to be controlled in what they contribute, which limits people’s ability to support whoever they want to support, and yet he himself has the ability to write checks by the millions of dollars. He can call friends who will raise 100,000 at a time. He has got that ability. He is very fortunate. I don’t. People like me don’t. People like Senator Farley don’t. We have to do it the hard way.’’

Bwaaaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

I had to read the piece twice to make sure this was the same Joe Bruno.  Sure, Spitz is rich.  Very rich, indeed.  But for Bruno to play the role of the unconnected, hard-working blue-collar guy just trying to make it is preposterous. He’s the most well-connected guy in Albany, and even if the reforms were to go through, he’d be in no danger whatsoever of losing his seat.

But like I said: excuses are going to get interesting as we go forward.

Technorati Tags: Reform, Eliot Spitzer, Joseph Bruno, New York State, Senate

Powered by ScribeFire.

TAP’s Lipris was on-campus for the Reform Albany Day, an effort to bring some much-needed change to Albany. As if in answer to my recent post on the resistance to Spitzer’s reform, well, read on noble reader:

the albany project :: Legislature debating landmark reform bill?

It’s over. To quote Liz Krueger: “Bruno killed it”. The Assembly, it appears, had been willing to go along; but the reactionary neanderthals in the Senate, well, they like things just the way they are. Want reform? Overthrow the republican Senate majority in 2008.

Well, that does it for this round, anyway. What’s Spitz’s next move? One never knows, so stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: Reform, CMCE, Clean Money, Clean Elections

Powered by ScribeFire.