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Post by lioneljoe on May 16, 2011 18:50:00 GMT -5
This link from the OD was interesting and ties in with what I said earlier about what message the fundrasier sends to the public at large. www.uticaod.com/topstories/x401387631/Where-are-the-county-Democrats-Candidates-are-lacking IMO, the local Democrats are the party of apathy and status quo, much to the detriment of our county. Why should there any surprise that no one wants to run if the local leadership doesn't care?? The local Democratic leadership headline two political losers like Roefaro and Arcuri at a fundraiser and publicly state that Picente is doing a great job. That is not the posture of a party on a mission this upcoming election. They don't care if the if county goes to heck in a hand basket; all they care is that they get their piece of the political pie. Why go through all that pain of running for office just to get no support? Really sad. Don't get me wrong, I want the Democrats to field strong candidates. I want them to clearly differentiate themselves. I want them to offer a compelling alternative to Picente and his "republicans." Lack of competition breeds complacency and apathy and our region suffers for it and Picente is the poster child for our regional incompetence. |
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Post by JGRobinson on May 17, 2011 4:49:32 GMT -5
I agree LJ, the big two look more like a single party with slightly different points of view. 1/4 rd of those running in CNY are running unopposed. Thats a sad statement but not shocking. The incumbent has the star power, party support and the Money. If they dont have competition, they wont compete or care about the other point of view. Because they are unrivaled, there is only one that matters, theirs.
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Post by longtimer on May 17, 2011 6:21:04 GMT -5
I always laugh when a politician from either party complains about the unions, their seniority systems and how difficult it is to get rid of bad employees with seniority because the "deck is stacked in their favor" It is clear these clowns don't own a mirror.
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Post by Swimmy on May 17, 2011 6:54:15 GMT -5
I agree LJ, the big two look more like a single party with slightly different points of view. 1/4 rd of those running in CNY are running unopposed. Thats a sad statement but not shocking. The incumbent has the star power, party support and the Money. If they dont have competition, they wont compete or care about the other point of view. Because they are unrivaled, there is only one that matters, theirs. And those incumbents who are opposed are only opposed by token candidates, e.g. destito's opponent this passed election. |
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Post by JGRobinson on May 17, 2011 17:32:58 GMT -5
The Party Leaders both elected and appointed create the entire Play and Character List, they write the Invitations, schedule the Dog and Pony Shows, construct the platforms and propose a candidate or two or maybe none at all. They are the forces that fail to provide real Candidates instead of these overstuffed legal eagles bread with used Car Salesmen.
Remember when Scozafava was picked over Hoffman, duh, ? He was the clear Conservative Pro Business Candidate, she was a well entrenched Republi-Crat Bipart. They chose the Pseudo-Con insider not the proven job creating Conservative Entrepreneur.
What were they thinking? The same old faces when we clearly are asking for less politicians and more Pro Business and Fiscal Conservative's. Throw the Party leadership out if you want to see what change should look like!
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Post by lioneljoe on May 18, 2011 1:18:33 GMT -5
The Party Leaders both elected and appointed create the entire Play and Character List, they write the Invitations, schedule the Dog and Pony Shows, construct the platforms and propose a candidate or two or maybe none at all. They are the forces that fail to provide real Candidates instead of these overstuffed legal eagles bread with used Car Salesmen. Remember when Scozafava was picked over Hoffman, duh, ? He was the clear Conservative Pro Business Candidate, she was a well entrenched Republi-Crat Bipart. They chose the Pseudo-Con insider not the proven job creating Conservative Entrepreneur. What were they thinking? The same old faces when we clearly are asking for less politicians and more Pro Business and Fiscal Conservative's. Throw the Party leadership out if you want to see what change should look like! Good Post. Now it looks like the Republicans can't field a full slate of candidates for Utica office. |
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Post by JGRobinson on May 18, 2011 5:38:35 GMT -5
LJ, So true, this is a root cause and epitome of Voter Disillusionment. When any job hits the want-adds, there are 100 applications, these jobs come up for a vote and nobody runs for them? its like an auto in-bumbant re-elect program.
I couldn't make the case better for eliminating and downsizing these positions if they aren't even attracting qualified contenders.
If they cant field a full ticket in this environment, I guess they are never going to be able to. They are supposed to fill the blanks with real candidates instead we just get blank looks. The Party bosses are our headhunters, no contender means they failed!
Remember when they beg for money to support party activities. Tell them "sorry, your not doing your jobs, I wont pay for a job done half right".
Its not like they didn't know the election was coming, must be the apathy has gotten so bad nobody wants to take the risk. If nobody competes for the jobs locally, many of us will refuse to leave our homes to vote.
Yesterdays School Budgets showed we still dont get it. They all passed locally other than VVS and they all had increases! It didn't matter if you voted in Stockbridge, the diff between the proposed and the contingency budget was .02%, or less than 1% even if we voted it down!
To put that in context. It cost more to drive to the polling station and vote against the increase than what I would have saved in taxes if it was voted down and went Contingent, it passed anyways, no matter.
What is the vote about if it really doesn't matter? They aren't giving us a choice or a voice, all we get is the bill and a handful of new Republi-Crats to replace the old ones!
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Post by dgriffin on May 18, 2011 6:39:27 GMT -5
There was a time when a person would be proud to run for and be elected to a local public office. Given the antics of his future colleagues he reads about daily in the news and the uselessness of local legislation when seen against a backdrop of draconian state and federal agencies and law, it's not difficult to understand why the "best and the brightest" would today rather put their efforts into business endeavors and other affairs. When public service has morphed into private greed and petty power struggles, not many are interested in exposing themselves to calumny and ridicule for the small gain of winning an election that is often no more important in the scheme of things than dog catcher. Yes, there are those who are indeed interested in sacrificing much of their money, pride and energy to win the prize of local office. You have to wonder about their ability to make logical decisions.
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Post by Swimmy on May 18, 2011 6:54:00 GMT -5
But you have to look at why the incumbents are unopposed... because our local deities ordained it that way. If we don't oppose your guy for this office, you won't oppose our guy for that office. And anyone legitimate candidate is not supported unless they play with the local deities. Look at Dick Allen, he pissed off the local deities and now we have deperno.
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Post by JGRobinson on May 18, 2011 7:51:56 GMT -5
Swimmy, I had considered the collusion aspects and I bet Dollars to Donuts, these folks are kissing up to each other and striking deals with the NME a whole lot more than they are doing the parties and the peoples work.
Dave, the Politico's have become Brand Names not platforms. T shirts, Bumper-stickers and Slogans are replaced with Corporate Lawyers, Pollsters, Think tank derived policies and Personality sculptures.
This is a billion dollar Business, they are all about the Money. I have a very close friend who successfully ran and was elected twice as a local Village Trustee, he was a shoe in for a third. He is an awesome public se4rvant but it took too much of his soul to continue serving. He's threw in the towel, loved the serving part but hated the job of servant to "The Party". Bones couldn't stand the Bi- Partisan Back slapping followed by the Partisan Back Stabbing. The election never ends for most of the Republi-Crats, they run 24/7 and call it serving the people.
3 Incumbents in the Village refused to run again for many of the same reasons.
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Post by clarencebunsen on May 18, 2011 7:53:29 GMT -5
I blame a lot of the problem on New York's election laws, in particular the petition system which seems to be designed to keep people from running. Candidates can be removed from the ballot for seemingly trivial defects in their petitions.
I moved here from Minnesota in 1984 and noted several differences in the electoral process. I don't think any state has a perfect process, but it did seem like theirs was more open than ours.
There virtually anyone could get on the primary ballot by paying a nominal filing fee. It sounds like a free for all but I never found the number of ballot choices overwhelming. It did seem that each year at least one candidate for a major office from a major party would loose at primary. There was still a strong incumbent advantage but it did seem to make them act a little less entitled.
I found the concept of a candidate having more than one line on the ballot bizzare. There people can get as many endorsements as they want but they only appear on the ballot once. New York's system is supposed to encourage minor parties but there they sometimes get elected. Perhaps it's because they endorse their own candidates instead of just cross-endorsing a Republican or Democrat.
Except for the 3 largest cities, candidates for local office ran without party endorsement (similar to school board elections here). The theory was that there is not a Republican or Democratic policy on things like snow removal or road repair.
Party affiliation was not strong at the local level. Voter registration did not include party designation. For primary voting one could decide at the polling place which party's ballot to take.
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