The GOP ticket isn't looking that bad

This isn't an endorsement. It's just something for everyone to consider and take a look at who the GOP has to offer for the statewide races this November.

John Faso for Governor

Today the Legislature is passing a tax, spend and borrow plan that will lead to very large out year deficits. Their budget not only dramatically increases spending, but provides no reform of the two areas with the largest spending growth – Medicaid and education.

The reason New York has the highest state and local tax burden in the nation is that our Legislature consistently spends and borrows more than citizens can afford.

While spending increases and apathy toward reform have become customary for the Legislature, the lack of a response from Eliot Spitzer is most revealing. He has not raised more than a whisper in protest with his allies in the state Assembly. The Sheriff of Wall Street is mute on State Street.

Jeanine Pirro for Attorney General

[Jeanine Pirro will] be pushing the MySpace.com issue with Hudson Falls Central Schools Superintendent Mark Doody. The district recently warned parents of the dangers associated with ”social networking” sites and blocked them - including MySpace.com - from the school network.

Follow-up: MySpace complies.

J. Christoper Callaghan for Comptroller

He's been in government accounting for 35 years, the last nine as Saratoga County treasurer. Now he's pursuing the state's top accounting job, the elected office of state comptroller. He announced March 8 he won't run for re-election, but will instead seek the Republican nomination to oppose Alan G. Hevesi, the Democratic incumbent.

Callaghan also has met with state Conservative Party leaders and is pursuing that party's endorsement.

He's derided some of Hevesi's policies as "gimmickry" that could push state taxes higher; Hevesi, a Queens resident who would be seeking his second term in November, has so far refused comment on Callaghan's candidacy.

As Saratoga County treasurer, Callaghan has been part of the team behind one of the most financially successful counties in the state, a county with a budget consistently in the black, and which has general held tax rates steady or cut them for 20 years.

John Spencer for US Senate

John Spencer, the leading Republican and Conservative Party Executive Committee endorsed candidate to face Senator Clinton, blasted the ACLU-backed “Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act,” introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D, NY-14).

"This bill is a blatant attack to--once again--smear the good work of America’s vital alternatives-to-abortion network of crisis pregnancy clinics which provide a ‘true choice’ for women and girls in unexpected pregnancies,” said Spencer at a press conference hosted by numerous mothers helped by the EMC FrontLine Pregnancy Centers today.

“Having been adopted myself, I have always supported this organization and similar ones like it that help provide a real choice to pregnant women seeking counsel. Only those who see strictly through the prism of pure politics could oppose those seeking to choose life,” added Spencer.

According to today’s New York Sun, Nat Hentoff, a former member of the ALCU’s board, was quoted as saying “My God, what about the First Amendment?” when told of the ACLU’s support for the bill.

Also according to the Sun Mr. Hentoff also called the ACLU's endorsement of the legislation “a really extraordinary mistake.”