Sunday, June 26, 2005

Will there be any leftover money for anger managment?

I was browsing through Gotham Gazette this morning and saw there are many candidates for big offices that I wasn't aware of. These candidates should be brought to the attention of the public, because we need to know everyone who is running for which office and with what party. It's all a fun cycle of madness to read these candidates on the issues and it's great over a cup of tea. Or coffee. Or iced tea or iced coffee.

Today, I came across Christopher Brodeur who is running for Mayor.
His site is one of a kind and chock full of issues with answers. There is so much pent up anger that you wish someone like this got some publicity even though he asks for none.

I hope my quoting his site doesn't cause him to sue me. I just want to feature his candidacy.

From MayorBrodeur.com:
Please pardon any grammatical errors or sloppiness herein. I really don’t have time to be doing this. I’m working my ass off and neglecting the rest of my life trying to help fix this damn city. I am not a rich politician like my opponents are. They not only fail to help you, but they get paid HUGE salaries to fail you! (And I don’t get paid a penny to try and help you fight these crooks. And fighting corrupt govt is like having 6 full time jobs!) (Except that 6 full time jobs would PAY.)

And please forgive my anger, but I’m sick of hearing the same old lies and the same old tragedies over and over again. (How many times can you hear about dead 10-year-old girls killed by criminals who were released from jail with no rehabilitation?? It’s infuriating and you can see with your own eyes how politicians just don’t seem to care.) (That’s one of my favorite quotes: “if you don’t pay attention to politics, then they get away with highway robbery and if you DO pay attention to politics, it’s so depressing you want to kill yourself”.)


Some key issues on his 100 inovations platform:
1. Free subway - death of MTA
2. Outlaw deceptive & dishonest media
3. Eradicate all fiscal waste
4. Rebuild the Twin Towers
5. Rescind most taxes
6. Kiss the war on drugs adios!
7. Build 200,000 units of affordable housing
8. Roof patios on all buildings
9. Revolutionary school reform
10. Free public bathrooms

Each of his 100 inovations include examples and solutions. I have to say, if he believes he can accomplish everything he says, I would love to see him win and take City Hall through the ropes. :)

Thursday, June 23, 2005

NY's US Senate Race for 2006

While the NY State Committee tries to persuade Jeanine Pirro to challenge Sen. Clinton, we already have four...(count them) four! candidates already exploring a bid for the seat. They are (in no particular order):

Adam Brecht
Mr. Brecht has been exploring the idea of challenging Sen. Clinton before last year's election. I met him at an Election Results party in Manhattan and he was passing out cards saying he is running in 2006.
His bold, results-oriented vision for New York and the nation includes:

-insuring the uninsured by 2010 by creating a new generation of private, not-for-profit insurers supported by charitable giving and pay-what-you-can-premiums;

-a government commitment to eliminate cancer and AIDS by 2050 under the global scientific leadership of the United States of America (using in part funds from the privatization of NASA);

-eliminating federal income tax on small businesses in their first three years with less than $6 million in annual revenue;

-freezing all federal taxes and hiring (except for national security hiring);

-stopping the closure of U.S. military bases on American soil -- and determining if those bases can be converted to homeland security purposes;

-a five-fold increase in college education grants for the poor;

-shrinking government by privatizing some government agencies including NASA, Amtrak and the General Services Administration.

Adam Brecht is a former aide to U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY) and the late U.S. Senator John Heinz (R-PA). In business, he has worked in the public relations industry for more than a decade in Manhattan, achieving senior executive positions with leading firms. A graduate of New York University, Adam lives in Manhattan, and he is single. He is an avid swimmer and advocate of health and physical fitness.


William A. Brenner
William “Bill” Brenner, 64, is a popular, respected attorney and politician in Sullivan County, New York. He is a dedicated community leader and a deeply passionate, honest and able communicator. He is also the proud father of three children whom he put through college, and a grandfather of two.

During his Congressional campaign of 2004, he had the opportunity to view first-hand the deep-rooted problems besetting the great state of New York and to speak passionately about his Republican-based ideas on how to fix them. He was particularly affected by his Congressional District’s skyrocketing taxes, the countless empty stores and lost businesses, the rising level of unemployment, and the ever-growing sense of pessimism displayed by proud New Yorkers who had always been known for their optimism and sheer determination to succeed.

Bill Brenner believes that we can and must turn our economy around and bring jobs and industries back to New York. We must assist Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in making New York State and New York City “Business Friendly” again, and we must reshape the current sense of economic pessimism into one of hope, optimism and opportunity.


Ed Cox
Ed Cox was born and raised in New York. Throughout more than 30 years of service to his state and nation Ed Cox has garnered broad respect for his work on a wide range of issues. He is currently a partner in the law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler. He has been a member of the New York bar since 1973.

For a decade, he has served as a Trustee of the State University of New York. He serves as Chairman of its Administration and Finance Committee and of its Construction Fund. In addition, Ed Cox is founder and Co-Chair of the State University's Community College Committee and of its Charter School Institute. Ed Cox has served for more than 20 years as a founding Director and former Chairman of Student/Sponsor Partners, which supports and mentors over 1,300 inner city students in New York City's parochial high schools. He is also a director of the Institute for Special Education which is at the forefront of servicing the educational needs of students with disabilities.


John Spencer
Not to be confused with John Spencer.
I strongly believe that Hillary Clinton can be defeated. More important for the good of New York she must be replaced. New York needs a hard working Senator who shares our values rather than someone who is going to run a losing race for President.

I believe the only way to defeat Sen. Clinton is to present a clear contrast in background, in life and on the issues. That's why I'm running and that's the only way Republicans win in New York.

Right now I am promising you that I will seek both the Republican and Conservative nominations. If necessary I am planning to run in the Republican Primary and if nominated by the Conservatives I will proudly run on their line all the way to November 2006. I've always run for, and with, both Republican and Conservative Party support. That's how I've won and that's how we need to win again.

If you're like me you're tired of watching our party lose in New York. We haven't won anything new in New York State for the past 11 years. Instead we have lost our US Senate seat, our Attorney General, Congressional seats, State Senate and Assembly seats, County Executives in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester and too many other races. Why? Because some Republicans have forgotten who we are and what we stand for.


I think New Yorkers have four strong candidates to challenge Sen. Clinton right here. For so Republican County Chairmans to throw support behind Jeanine Pirro when she hasn't even announced her candidacy is foolish at best.
I can't keep from going back to the question I always ask.
Who is more likely going to be defeated by Jeanine Pirro? Sen. Clinton? Or Andrew Cuomo or Mark Green?
Who is more likely going to win for Attorney General? Andrew Cuomo? Mark Green? Rick Lazio?

Jeanine Pirro is a very strong Republican candidate who can win the Attorney General hands down. That is one office of the Big Four next year. I'm not too sure any Republican can beat Sen. Clinton so play it safe and run your strongest candidate in the office she can almost certainly win.

A primary of the four mentioned candidates for US Senate could wake up State Republicans and get them to jump on a candidate's campaign. It will stir grassroots politics. And if the winner of the primary can't beat Sen. Clinton in November 2006, well, at least we won the Attorney General seat with Jeanine Pirro, right?

Friday, June 17, 2005

My problem with the Democratic Party

When I was 18 and first registered to vote, I looked at my options of party and I decided to check the box that was marked, "No Party at this time." I wanted to be independent from the two parties because I believed they both had their good and both had their bad and as an 18 year old, I didn't feel I leaned one way of the other.

My first election was the 1989 mayoral election and I voted for a third party candidate. I liked Mayor Koch, but with his loss to David Dinkins in the primary, my vote for a democrat went away with the loss. I thought Rudy Giuliani was mean and was too busy attacking the soft Mr. Dinkins rather than getting his message out. Even if there was a message of hope for New York, I didn't hear it through all his negative attacks. Henry Hewes was my pick. He was a republican who ran on the Right to Life Party. Knowing full well that a Mayor could not overturn Roe v. Wade, I focussed on Mr. Hewes message on policy, which was more positive than Mr. Giuliani's.

By 1992, we had a field day of democrats running for president and the man who ran on a positive message of centrism and change was William Clinton. President Bush offered nothing new, he raised taxes and looked disinterested in the debates. I wondered if he even wanted to win re-election. I did like Ross Perot and I enjoyed the movement of government reform to challenge Mr. Clinton's progressive change. Both appeared to attack the President's lack of direction. Perot foolishly dropped out and then jumped back in and had this ridiculous excuse of a threat on his family. If he did not drop out, it is quite possible we could've had an Independent President. Progression won out and in 1992, I had no qualms voting for Mr. Clinton to be my president.

Of course, through my 20s, I learned the good and bad of both parties to support my reasons of selecting "no party" on my registration card. But the 90s were years of economic expansion and with a Republican Congress and Democratic President, I found government working much better than the reverse back in the 80s.

So why did I finally change my registration to Republican? When did my party allegience occur?
Well, it happened after many stumbles the democrats have made throughout the years of paying attention.
1) Mayor Dinkins proved ineffective as Mayor and Rudy Giuliani learned from his 1989 campaign mistakes. Mr. Giuliani won the vote from New Yorkers (and me) and began to tackle crime and city reform.
2) Governor Cuomo was on the Tonight Show in 1994 talking about what New York needs to do to correct its problems. This would've been a great speech if it was coming from a challenger, but Mr. Cuomo was the incumbent. I could not understand how a man already in Albany for many years, talking like he has no power over how New York State is run. He correctly was defeated.
3) President Clinton's centrist message I found was all a ploy to get elected and the American People correctly voted for a Republican controlled Congress led by Newt Gingrich.
4) In 2000, Vice President Al Gore, once being a conservative Democrat from Tennessee, virtually had the Democratic nomination, especially with Sen. Bill Bradley running as a liberal candidate to Gore's "new Democrat" image he garnered back in 1992. But Gore chose to move left so he can win the liberal's support from Bradley and win the support from the Green's Ralph Nader. Al Gore could've returned to the centrist position Bill Clinton ran on saying he would be more effective than the President was in bringing bi-partisan policies that will be progressive. He campaigned as a liberal and did a lousy job doing it. George W. Bush ran a campaign on "compassionate conservativism" and bi-partisan centrism that stuck with many Americans.
5) With the election of George W. Bush, the democrats just fell apart. To use the Star Wars motto: Anger, Fear, Aggression, these are the signs of the Dark Side. The image of progress and change and being a "new" democrat that Bill Clinton ran on in 1992 was gone. The obstructionist party with no ideas was born.

Yesterday, WSJ.com's Opinion Journal published an opinion on why Democrats are losing favor with the American People. It pretty much sums up how I feel and how many feel about the Democratic party.

Here are some reasons why democrats are losing favor with the American People:
  • The Party of FDR & JFK no longer exists. There is no longer a moderate wing. There has been a total collapse of southern democrats. In 1980, there were 20 conservative Democrats in the Senate. Now, there are only four.
  • With the exception of Sen Lieberman, there are no Scoop Jackson defense hawks remaining with the party.
  • The Party that voted en masse for income and capital gains tax cuts under JFK now have one message on taxes: Raise them.
  • On trade, the Democrats delivered 102 House votes for NAFTA and Bill Clinton in 1994. At last count, all of five House votes are expected for the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
  • The Clinton Democrats helped enact welfare reform. Now today's party conspire to gut work-for-welfare requirements and prevent renewal of welfare reform by Congress.
  • There's the "know-nothing-ism" on Social Security. Democrats proclaim President Bush is advancing a risky scheme by destroying Social Security and creating risky private investment accounts. Only a few years go, when President Clinton was in office, elected Democratic leaders endorsed personal accounts. John Breaux. Chuck Robb. Bob Kerrey. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Charles Stenholm. Tim Penny. Today, in the entire US Congress, only one Democrat, Allen Boyd of Florida, endorses privatization, and he has been shunned for his apostasy.
  • President Bush has proposed tax reform and a flat tax system that is pro-growth and pro-middle class. Democrats have an opportunity here to show progressive policy making. However, voices from obstructionists like Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy are already proving that this may be another uphill battle. The Flat Tax idea is sweeping through Eastern Europe and proving successful. It was also once proposed and endorsed by Democrats such as Jerry Brown, Dick Gephardt, Bill Bradley and Leon Panetta.

    Yesterday's New York Sun has an op-ed on other countries that have privatized their ailing public pension programs. At least 19 countries have already shifted to some for of personal-account system similar to President Bush's proposal.
    Chile privatized there system back in 1981. Today, only 3% of Chileans remain on the old public pension system. Britain privatized in 1986. Sweden started doing it in 2001 and Lithuania started privatization in 2004.

    Which party is the party of progress? Well, I believe it is the one I am now registered to. The Republican Party is not perfect, by no means. But is not sliding towards the Dark Side the way the Democrats are. I know the analogy by the Angry Left likes to pit the GOP as the Dark Side of the Force. But if you look where the venom and anger and violence towards innocent citizens out on the streets because of political views, you will see the Dark Side is not with the progressive party on the Right.

  • Thursday, June 16, 2005

    Long Island Young Republicans

    The Long Island Press reports a growing interest in returning the Republican Party to prominence out on Long Island. The Nassau County Young Republicans have been active for little over a year now and they are wishing to expand with three other clubs, The West End YR, The East End YR and the Glen Cover YR.

    This is a great sign and the importance of club activity must be stressed. In order to develop a grassroots awareness of republican politics, a growing force of youth needs to get involved in order to keep the party growing. Here's hoping the ideals of the GOP return to Nassau County.

    Monday, June 13, 2005

    Advice to Chairman Stephen Minarik

    Dear Chairman Minarik,

    I know I come across as a nobody, someone who hasn't held a political office and really has minimal political pull in the Republican Party. But as a New York Republican, I feel the avenues our party seeks for big elections has been misdirected.

    In Sunday's New York Daily News I read a report about hand selected candidates for next year's Big Four offices. I am a bit concerned that if those in power simply select candidates for us, we will suffer even greater losses than we did in 2004 (US Senate candidate) and in 2002 (Attorney General candidate). We should be energizing the registered republicans of this state by giving them choices for primaries in races for US Senate, Governor, Attorney General & State Comptroller.

    We need to allow the process to work as it did in this year's New Jersey Gubernatorial GOP Primary. Seven candidates wishing to run a State with two front runners. I am not saying we need to field as many candidates for the Big Four, but what I am saying is we need to energize republicans throughout this State to be interested in who wishes to hold statewide office.

    If Tom Golisano, Randy Daniels, Pat Manning and John Faso all want to run for Governor, let them do so.
    If Adam Brecht, William Brenner and Ed Cox want to challenge Sen. Clinton, they should be given the chance.
    If Jeanine Pirro chooses A.G. instead of US Senator, and Rick Lazio also chooses the A.G., let them battle it out statewide.
    If John Faso chooses Comptroller, but so does Mr. Lazio and maybe someone like Peter King, it is all their choice.

    See who gets the support from the voters. See who registered republicans want for each office. Don't throw us hand picked candidates selected behind closed doors by those in charge. That is not democracy!

    Those I've spoken to in the club I'm a member of and fellow republicans I'm aquainted with, see Ms. Pirro more suited for Attorney General. Why choose her for Senator? Is it because it would be woman vs. woman? Didn't Republicans try something like this, Black vs. Black in Illinois? How did that go? Why not have Randy Daniels run for US Senator? A black man against the wife of the "first Black President?" Why not make the second black Senator of the United States a Black Republican? Is Rick Lazio really that strong a candidate to go up against Mark Green or Andrew Cuomo? Wouldn't he be better suited for Comptroller?

    In my opinion, it doesn't matter which office any of the above Republicans choose to run for, but it is important that they all be given a chance to win us over. US! The Voter! Not the State Party Committee.

    Sincerely,

    Daniel Peterson
    Urban Republican & Conservative Party candidate for NY City Council D2.

    Saturday, June 11, 2005

    Why We Need Jeanine Pirro for Statewide Office

    Westchester County District Attorney, Jeanine Pirro placed an op-ed in yesterday's New York Post attacking the New York State Assembly for not moving on a civil-commitment law on sex offenders. The law has passed through the State Senate this year as well as last year, but is buried in the Lower House and not being brought to a vote.

    Why?

    Ms. Pirro writes: I asked members of the Assembly Mental Health Committee why the measure hadn't even been brought up for a vote. Their "answer": The mental-health system isn't "geared up" to handle all these sex offenders.

    The assembly fears a flood of new cases on our system could disrupt the system. Probably something to do with "costs" rather than the safety of our children. I'm sure parents worry about costs over safety too, right?

    To correct their stance as to not sound insensitive to a child's welfare, Ms. Pirro received another "answer":

    Members of the Assembly committee gave me one other "explanation" for their failure to act on the Senate measure: We're working on our own bill.

    Really? For five years?

    Speaker Sheldon Silver has recently announced that "public hearings or public legislative roundtables" would be held at some as-yet-undetermined time in the future to discuss this legislation. Apparently, after five years, discussing action represents progress.


    So it seems Speaker Silver wants more discussion in committee, which if you ask me, is simply a tactic of trying to find money within the system or through our tax dollars for his own self interests. Has there ever been more of a reason for State Office Term Limits?

    I would like to know the position of our current Attorney General. Mr. Eliot Spitzer is too busy money grabbing Wall Street that he has been silent on this issue. If he hasn't been silent, he should be more vocal, because I haven't seen any press release on his position. You can find Mr. Spitzer's latest defeat in yesterday's New York Sun. It has nothing to do with child welfare.

    We need strong candidates in 2006 and until Gov. Pataki let's us know his plans, the Republican Party sits idle and lets potential campaign issues for statewide candidates pass us by. Ms. Pirro is being asked by the NY GOP to challenge Sen. Clinton, but Ms. Pirro should simply ignore the pressure and publically announce her run for Attorney General. This is the role she's cut out for and this is the office she can certainly secure and win. Let one of the governor's people, like Sec. Randy Daniels run for US Senate. Sec. Daniels, in my opinion, is more cut out for representing New York in Washington and I wish chairman Stephen Minarik would see that.

    We can only hope Ms. Pirro and reformers like Pat Manning can create a buzz and campaign on changing New York government. I can guarantee you Assemblyman Manning would get large grass roots support from Republicans in New York City and possibly Long Island, if he runs. There may not be a lot of registered Republicans in the NYC area, but a strong buzz downstate can definitely create a strong movement upstate.

    Saturday, June 04, 2005

    Republicans, Street Fairs, Reformers!

    Today, the New York Young Republican Club will have their annual Street Fair on 7th Avenue between 57th & 45th Street. The YR's will have a booth near 53rd. The Fair runs from 11 AM to 5 PM, so if you are a New York Republican and want to spend an afternoon at a Street Fair with other NY Republicans and many unsuspecting Liberal New Yorkers, come join the fun.

    One of our main goals is to play non-partisan vote registering souls. So if you haven't registered to vote, then stop by, eat some food and register.

    Also, I want to point out that I found that the New York Reform Party is alive and well and looking to rebuild. With all the negative press the Independence Party has been getting lately, now would be the perfect opportunity for the RP to jump into action and return to prominence.