The Hayseeds blog, No. 212 for the week starting July 1, 2007.
June 17, 2007
Hayseeds No. 211
July 1, 2007
Hayseeds No. 212
July 8, 2007
Hayseeds No. 212
Visit the Hayseeds Index
to see all previous entries.
It looks like Kirsten is planning to get upstate business leaders and others together to discuss economic development in Upstate New York.
This is a good thing. Kirsten has shown she will listen to all sides, and make a decision after carefully considering the evidence. Her district certainly could use some smart development, with industries coming into places where they are needed, and in appropriate downtown locations. Likewise, there needs to be an emphasis on development that provides jobs to local people.
It looks like the language and the rhetoric keep heating up between the Governor and Bruno, and the language keeps getting coarser. Bruno wants to hang on his majority desperately, but Spitzer is unhappy with the way Bruno is preforming when it comes to measures he wants.
The end-of-session sparring between Governor Spitzer and the state Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, is heating up, with Mr. Bruno calling Mr. Spitzer "some little rich kid having a tantrum" and saying he needs to realize "we're not in a Third World country where he is a dictator."
In one slide, Mr. Spitzer contrasts his stance on campaign finance legislation to that of Senate Republicans, saying he wants to lower contribution limits and increase transparency while the other side wants the "status quo."
For Bruno's sake it might make more sense for him to simply play along with the governor more—if he wants to keep his majority. Bruno probably thinks he can fight off the governor, and his masses trying to take back the Senate, but that is not entirely clear if that will be the case in 2008. If Bruno was smart, he would try to come halfway with the governor—and get him on his side, rather then as his enemy.
They have an interesting analysis of some of the votes surrounding the gay marriage bill from the Hudson Valley.
What is quite amazing is how uncomfortable elected officials are about talking about this whole issue. Nobody seems to want to touch this issue, and very few people want to defend their position. Maybe because opposing gay marriage is undefendable, and supporting it is tough with some of the more religious constituents.
It looks like the Senate Republicans head their first of a series of hearings across the state, with hand-picked guests that generally frowned upon campaign finance reform.
Both parties often pick out their guests when it comes to these kind of hearings. Yet, still you have to wonder if these hearings were overly negative towards campaign finance, and the picked guests where biased beyond the pale.
We really do need to think seriously about campaign finance reform in our state. Candidates are spending too much time fund raising, and not enough getting out and meeting with people. I have yet to meet an elected official that truly enjoys hosting fund raisers, although many enjoy the social nature of events with colleagues.
While many people try to build up Giuliani as such a great hero in our country, even his own firefighters are less then happy with the leadership he has given them as mayor.
Didn't he repeatly threaten and close down firehouses? Didn't Rudy act pretty ruthless to anybody that got in his path as mayor? It seems he did.
Interviews with more than 50 firefighters and department officers show a mix of admiration and disdain for the former mayor. Many firefighters praise his years in office, citing his success in reducing crime and his leadership after the terrorist attacks. Others harbor a resentment for what they describe as his poor treatment of the department before and after Sept. 11.
This also shows the diversity of people who are firefighters. Almost everybody in that occupation cares about people, and saving lives, but that's where the similiarities end. Just because some people go for the noble cause of being a firefighter, doesn't mean they are made from the exact same mold.
Blame that war says Jack McEneny in the Capital Insider.
"Primarily because of the Iraqi war, construction costs on projects all over the state of New York have skyrocketed," McEneny said.
It's no surprise that McEneny would voice concerns about the costs of the war, but can it really be held responsible for the increased cost of the proposed convention center? George Leveille, chairman of the authority's board, said last week that the center could cost $300 million, up from the original $200 million estimate.
Jeff Zogg, executive director of the General Building Contractors of New York State, said construction costs are indeed climbing, but there are many factors.
"It is very true that construction costs, especially for material, has fluctuated wildly over the past few years," he said. "I can't tell you the war in Iraq has had a direct impact, but it certainly has drained resources."
Interesting. Jack McEneny makes a good point when he notes that the war in Iraq is having a real impact on our country, right down to even local building projects. While it's impossible to prove the war is the sole cause of all of our problems, it certainly has not help make projects cheaper to build nor has it made our streets safer or our taxes lower.
