Monroerising.com

How do you like this one?  Yesterday’s New York Times had an article pointing out that Senate Demos ran on a platform of making gay marriage legal and accepted millions of dollars in money from gay marriage advocates, only to announce that it is in their political interest to wait a little while.

From the NY Times:

ALBANY — After a pledge from New York Democratic leaders that their party would legalize same-sex marriage if they won control of the State Senate this year, money from gay rights supporters poured in from across the country, helping cinch a Democratic victory.

But now, party leaders have sent strong signals that they may not take up the issue during the 2009 legislative session. Some of them suggest it may be wise to wait until 2011 before considering it, in hopes that Democrats can pick up more Senate seats and Gov. David A. Paterson, a strong backer of gay rights, would then be safely into a second term.

(snip)

“We want to get there, but we want to get there the right way or else we risk setting ourselves back another decade,” said Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who represents the Upper East Side. “I think the California proposition and the recognition that entities with large amounts of money who oppose same-sex marriage have decided to be large players in this have a lot of people going back to the drawing board.”

(snip)

“Since when are fixing the economy and civil rights mutually exclusive?” said Daniel J. O’Donnell, an assemblyman from the Upper West Side who led the push for the bill in the Assembly.

Mr. O’Donnell added that expectations are high in the gay community that New York will be able to deliver the movement’s next victory. “The leadership of the Senate and others in our community collected a lot of money from a lot of people with the promise — spoken and unspoken — that if the Democrats won the Senate, they would take a vote,” he said.

Mr. O’Donnell plans to introduce a bill relatively early in the 2009 session, setting up a possible confrontation with the Senate.

Senator Thomas K. Duane, the Senate’s leading advocate on gay and lesbian issues, said the odds of a vote reaching the Senate floor in the 2009 legislative session are 50-50.

“I can’t even imagine before the budget’s done that we would do anything,” Mr. Duane said. The Legislature is required to pass its budget before the state’s fiscal year begins on April 1.

But even once the budget is passed, Mr. Duane said, other factors will have to be weighed, like whether the timing is too politically risky for the governor.

“We definitely want David Paterson to run for re-election and to win,” he said. “There’ll be a discussion. And we’ll have a point of view about time frame; he’ll have a point of view on time frame.”

People with knowledge of Governor Paterson’s position on gay marriage said the governor is wary of making a big push for the bill as the Senate leadership remains in flux.

I always thought principle was the most important thing to Democrats.  I can’t believe they would take all of that money, get people’s hopes up, and now say they aren’t sure. This isn’t the change they promised — it sounds like Albany politicians playing games.

I thought gay families were just as important as straight families.

Tags: New York State, The Equalizer by The Equalizer
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I’m traveling with the wife and kids for the holiday.  I won’t be back in the posting saddle until Monday. I know a couple of the other posters will be dark for the holiday.  I’m not sure if we will have any new content over the weekend — if we do it will be limited.

Have a great Thanksgiving and don’t forget to remember the true meaning of the holiday.  This is one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs.  I think it is very appropriate for this time of year.

Tags: Cincinnatus by Cincinnatus
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There was a President who ran on three messages:

Many of my Conservative friends are now saying “Sure it was Ronald Reagan”. I am sorry to disappoint but I am referring to Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. The point is that Presidents will say one thing to get elected then once in office will do what is necessary to govern.

President-elect Barack Obama has been appointing people who are making his supporters scratch their heads. The most interesting one that I see is Berkley professor Christina Romer. Romer along with her husband wrote a paper at Berkley on the power of tax cuts (actual paper click – here especially on the wealthy)

A big wonder is what he will do in Iraq?  It is also now official that Obama has asked Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense.  Iraq is now stabilized and we have a deal with them. A steady hand who knows the situation and the players like Gates is a smart governing move but a political move that will anger the left. You can be sure the left wing blogs will be up in arms.  Obama is smarter than the defeatists who want to pull out of Iraq at all costs. He may have promised it during the primary campaign to get their votes. But now in office he has reality and does not want to go into history as the person who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq.

If Obama wants a second term he must pull in conservatives. As much as the press wants you to believe that all the world loves Obama, 48% of Americans voted against him. That was a similar number that voted against President Bush in 2004. A big mistake Bush made was to govern as if he had won in a landslide with a mandate. Obama will not be able to give the far left liberals what they are expecting. If he does he will be doomed to a one term presidency. Therefore he must pull in some McCain moderates and a few conservatives as well.

President Obama will get a honeymoon, no doubt. At first he will be able to fend off people like Nancy Pelosi, and Henry Waxman who are salivating with the chance to get there far left dreams enacted. After about 3-6 month’s when the inevitable mistakes start to happen, when the luster wears off, when Bush is no longer a bogey man to blame. People will want to know why their pet grievance is not happening. Obama will start to lose popularity and his poll numbers will go down. At that point he must appeal to people outside his base.

Tags: Articles, Barack Obama, Tiberius by tiberius
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There they go again — I’ve commented many times on the anti-catholic bias in the Democratic Party.  Well, President-elect Barack Obama has announced that Melody Barnes is his choice to be his Director of Domestic Policy Council.

According to Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League:

“The left-wing Nation hails Barnes as a ‘dyed-in-the-wool progressive,’ and the even more radical Daily Kos calls her ‘an unabashed progressive.’ Barnes herself touts her role promoting a ‘common good’ approach to values issues, explaining that it is synonymous with ‘a progressive approach to governing.’ Her forte is working with the religious left, a skill she honed at the Center for American Progress.

“Barnes has earned her stripes on the religious left. When George W. Bush said in 1999 that his favorite philosopher was Jesus, the Baptist-raised Barnes went ballistic: She accused Bush of ‘creating the impression that we’re a spiritually monolithic country,’ thus ‘excluding people of different faiths and beliefs, and that’s wrong.’ Had he claimed Karl Marx as his favorite philosopher, Barnes would have said nothing.

“When recently asked why Obama is anti-school choice, and why he and his wife have decided not to place their children in failed D.C. public schools, Barnes said, ‘we want to make an investment in our public schools.’ But the ‘we’ obviously did not include the Obamas. More condoms are needed to fight AIDS, and the Bush administration is to blame for the fact that more blacks have AIDS than whites. She wants to overturn all restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, and her passion for abortion rights is so unyielding that she has served on the board of EMILY’s List and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

“A few years ago, when pro-life Catholic and evangelical judges were being summarily denied the right to serve on the federal bench, Barnes denied that bigotry was at play. To top it off, when asked to name people who are both pro-abortion and religious, she offered as proof the notoriously anti-Catholic group, Catholics for a Free Choice. Looks like Obama has chosen a ringer.”

 Well put Mr. Donohue!

Tags: Barack Obama, Bob The Pious, Religion by Bob The Pious
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I was having lunch the other day with a couple of my lawyer friends.  We see each other regularly, however we try to celebrate Thanksgiving with an annual get together.

One of them mentioned that Federal Court Judge David Larimer is going to retire next year.  Not being a lawyer, I wasn’t that familar with how that whole process worked so I did a little internet research.

Sure enough, the Democrat and Chronicle reported back in September that Judge Larimer would reach “senior status” in March. Accroding to the D&C:

Larimer said he plans to assume a “senior status” position at federal court in which he can carry a partial caseload. He cannot assume senior status until March, which will then likely open up a vacancy in Rochester for the federal judgeship.

The word on the street is that Monroe County District Attorney is the likely choice to be Larimer’s replacement.

While I feel Green would be an excellent choice, I don’t see it happening.  Green is a lock to be DA for as long as he wants it.  His departure would mean Republican’s would probably pick up the seat — or at the very least it would require local Democrats to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep it.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus by Cincinnatus
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I am starting to believe that President Obama will not be the flaming liberal, conservatives fear. (just a liberal)

During the campaign Obama said he would give tax cuts to 95% of Americans. This fooled people who voted for Obama into thinking that he was a liberal tax cutter (is that an oxymoron or what?).  He planned to do this by soaking the rich. Obama first defined rich as over $300k that quickly dropped do to $250k and stood there long enough for brain washed Obama voters to have it sink in. Such voters as were described in my last post “How Obama got elected“. A few weeks before the election very quietly that level started dropping like a Barney Frank stock market fueled by bad mortgages. It eventually settled in with Bill Richardson (now the commerce secretary) saying people earning about $130k were rich.

But an interesting thing is happening. Obama no longer needing to get elected and having fooled enough people like villager he is now saying that he may not repeal taxes on those greedy wealthy job creating people.  This from the AP:

WASHINGTON – An economic crisis, rising joblessness and a credit squeeze can make a president-elect refine his words. Today’s word is “repeal.” During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to repeal President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy ahead of their scheduled expiration in 2011.

It was part of how Obama would pay for an overall net tax cut aimed at low- and middle-income taxpayers, and an effort to bring what he called “fairness” to the tax system.

No one is talking tax hikes now.

We are happy that President Obama does get it and realizes that the wealthy are actually people who create jobs and not the idle rich like Ted Kennedy. If President Obama keeps this up he will actually do well.

If the Republicans can maintain a filibuster capable Senate they can stop such foolish legislation as the the fairness doctrine and the abortion increase act freedom of choice act. Obama kool aid drinkers like Klem have nothing to worry about, the media will not chastise Obama. They will just blame Bush. Even an expanded war in Afghanistan (now that Iraq is won) will be explained away by a sparkly eyed adoring media. All will be good for conservatives as well, while the third Bush term progresses on.

Tags: Articles, Barack Obama, Bullwinkle by bullwinkle
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Democrats and chaos is a repeated theme here at monroerising.com.  We have been all over the story of the possible Democratic takeover of the state Senate.  We’ve pointed out that identity politics tends to pit one faction against an other.

We thought our readers might find this story in the Daily News interesting.  Not because it has anything to do with our beat — Monroe County/western New York, but because it shows what we can expect as Democrats increase their control over New York State.

From the Daily News:

And the winner is …

Bronx Democrats will finally find out Tuesday which side of their fractured party was the victor in recent dual elections - the camp led by Assemblyman Jose Rivera or rival rebels led by Assemblyman Carl Heastie.

State Supreme Court Justice Robert Seewald told both sides late Monday that he will hand down his ruling this afternoon. The Rivera and Heastie factions battled in a raucous Sept. 28 meeting that ended with each camp holding its own leadership vote - and each claiming official party leadership.

The rebel faction of several Bronx state Senators and Assemblymembers and supporters challenged Rivera’s six-year leadership last spring. They allege he has turned the party into a job factory for his family and other Latinos, while excluding African-American and white party members from party largess.

The rebel faction, which also includes Latinos, triumphed over Rivera’s candidate for Civil Court judge in the Sept. primary.  Rivera’s side not only lost the judgeship race, but saw incumbent state Sen. Efrain Gonzalez defeated by longtime party nemesis, former State Sen. Pedro Espada.

Tags: Articles, The Equalizer by The Equalizer
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Two articles this morning give me hope that Republicans may end up controlling the state Senate after all.

First, the New York Post reports that the current GOP majority has created a $6 million “honey pot designed to encourage one of the “Gang of Three” Democrats to defect to the GOP side.”  From the New York Post:

The highly unusual move involves the $95 million 2008-09 budget that the still GOP-controlled Senate must submit to Gov. Paterson’s office by the end of next week.

For the first time in 14 years, the Senate budget, which cannot be altered by the governor, will contain a separate $5.9 million expenditure for the powerful Finance Committee, the chairman of which will be chosen in January by the next majority leader.

“It’s a carrot that people will take a look at,” a Senate source said.

“The money will be there for whoever heads the Senate Finance Committee next year, it means power and influence and a seat at the table for whoever is the chairman.”

Lame-duck Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau) has been working for weeks to persuade the Gang of Three independent Democrats - Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Sen.-elect Pedro Espada, both of The Bronx - to side with the Republicans, when the new Senate takes office in early January.

One would assume that Chair of the Finance Committee would be a plum offered to one of the gang.

The second article, from Newsday reports that there may be a thaw between current Senate Democratic Leader and Malcolm Smith.  But typically for the liberal/progressive/socialists, there are other members who can’t help themselves from dumping on the very people who’s support they need to  have a working majority.  From Newsday:

Meanwhile, another dissident, Democratic Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn says Smith must disavow published comments by a Working Families Party member who accused Kruger of “palling around with Republican terrorists.”

“Speaking that way and trying to be an ACORN bomb thrower is not going to win over support for Malcolm Smith and Senate Democrats,” Kruger said in an interview Monday.

Bertha Lewis, co-chairwoman of the Working Families Party, which is aligned with the Democratic Party, was quoted in the New York Daily News criticizing Kruger for threatening Smith’s leadership of the first Democratic majority in the Senate in 40 years. Lewis is also a leader of the left-leaning group ACORN, which advocates for the poor and helped register low-income voters nationwide for the presidential campaign.

“I would expect to hear form Malcolm Smith today, saying he disavows Bertha Lewis’ comments,” Kruger said. “Anything short of that means there is reason for further conversation.”

He got it.

“The comments by Bertha Lewis are inappropriate and we do not condone such over-the-top rhetoric,” Smith said in a prepared statement. “My conference and I look forward to working with our fellow Democrat, Senator Kruger, on our bipartisan reform agenda.”

 What?! The Working Families Party co-chairwoman is a leader in ACORN?  Shocking! Let’s all hope the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot as only they can do and force the gang of 3 to vote with the GOP.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, Malcolm Smith, New York State by Cincinnatus
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I thought today’s D&C editorial offered an interesting tidbit.  Mayor Duffy said he wasn’t going to beg for more money from Albany because of the current state budget problems.

According to the D&C:

One area the mayor will lobby Albany for in the coming year is mandate relief. It’s a worthy topic. And he should have a friend in County Executive Maggie Brooks. Both the city and the county, like similar entities across the state, are struggling to keep up with the unfunded mandates that tie their hands financially. The maintenance of effort provision, the required level of spending the city must pay the Rochester School District, is a prime example.

What?! He still wants to undo the maintenance of effort agreement? He better be careful.

We heard from several sources that Gantt is pretty upset at Duffy for taking a pass in the 56th district Senate race.  Supposedly, Gantt has made it well known in Democratic political circles that he is keeping a list of who was with him and who wasn’t.  One can only assume that those who were not “with him” on the Dollinger race can expect little help from Gantt in the upcoming legislative session.

Now, for Duffy to go after one of Gantt’s pet issues, the maintenance of effort provision, is a very dangerous step to take.  It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out — but don’t worry, we’ll follow this one closely and let you know.

Tags: Bob Duffy, Cincinnatus, David Gantt by Cincinnatus
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The New York Times is reporting that Congressman Charlie Rangel may have some new tax problems. From the NY Times:

Representative Charles B. Rangel’s legal team is reviewing his tax records to determine whether the congressman received a homestead exemption on a house he owned in Washington while living in several rent-stabilized apartments in New York City.

The situation is potentially troublesome for Mr. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat who is already the subject of a wide-ranging internal House investigation stemming from an assortment of ethical concerns.

Rent laws in New York City and the state require that tenants occupying rent-stabilized apartments use those units as their primary residences. At the same time, the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue extends the homestead tax deduction only to properties that are primary residences.

(snip)

Mr. Rangel, a 19-term congressman, has been under scrutiny since July, when The New York Times reported that a developer had allowed him to lease rent-stabilized apartments, including one that he used as a fund-raising office, in violation of state regulations.

He has since drawn criticism on other issues: his use of Congressional stationery to seek donations for a City University of New York school of public service that will bear his name; his failure to report on federal or state tax returns that he earned more than $75,000 in rental income from a villa he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988; and his failure to report that he had paid no interest for more than a decade on a mortgage extended to him to buy the villa.

Republicans have criticized Mr. Rangel, claiming that he has made a mockery of the Democratic Party’s promise to reform Washington’s political culture when it took control of the House in 2006. Republicans have demanded that he step down as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws and is one of the most powerful panels in Congress.

It really is past time for this guy to go!

Tags: Congress, The Equalizer by The Equalizer
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