Fallout from NY Rep. Chris Lee's Resignation Over Inappropriate Emails

How will Rep. Chris Lee's departure affect NYS politics? Well, now that the Republican Congressman who represents the district outside Buffao has resigned, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will have to call for a special election to fill his seat.

Under New York law, his replacement doesn't actually have to live in the district. He or she merely has to be a New York state resident. That means Lee's replacement could come from anywhere in the state, although there are a couple of favorites among the GOP, and Carl Paladino's name is being floated:

– Ex-Assemblyman Jack Quinn. His father served in Congress, and Jack just waged a very public (but unsuccessful) campaign against now-Sen. Tim Kennedy. By phone, Quinn confirmed he was interested, adding “I may be the only candidate out there who is just coming off an election where we put together a plan to see what the people of western New York need.”

– Assemblywoman Jane Corwin. She comes from the tony suburb of Clarence and lives just doors away from Erie County Executive Chris Collins, an ally. She has a solid profile — a family woman, a successful businesswoman, a (albeit short) legislative career — and the ability to raise money or self-fund.

– Ex-Rep. Tom Reynolds. It as his seat originally, and one source suggested he’s getting antsy as a lobbyist for Nixon Peabody.

– Assemblyman Jim Hayes. He’s a work horse, serving as the GOP’s ranking member on the Assembly Ways & Means Committee. But one source suggested he’s been cautious about runs for higher offices in the past, and he’s got a pretty solid perch in the Assembly.

– Sen. George Maziarz. The Niagara County Republican is short in stature but not ambition. He has long hoped for a greater role in the Senate — he was appointed to its number three slot when the GOP won back the majority in 2010 — but has always been treated as someone with his own best interests in mind. The other senators are the just-elected Pat Gallivan and Mike Ranzenhofer, who keeps a relatively mellow profile.

– Maggie Brooks. According to Bill Nojay, a Rochester-based pundit, she’s long coveted a congressional seat but is wary of taking on Slaughter. Will this be her opportunity?

– Carl Paladino. I floated it as a joke, but then a source e-mailed to say it’s actually being considered. Paladino, a wealthy Western New York developer, was the GOP’s candidate for governor.

Also, there's the further matter of redistricting that is now underway and the existing district may be combined with neighboring districts in the process since NY is losing two seats in Congress.

Indictment Handed Down Over Bomb Threats Made To Carl Paladino's Campaign HQ

A New York City man has been indicted for making bomb threats against Carl Paladino's campaign headquarters dating back to last April.

Miles Fisher, 63, is charged with a felony of making a threat and conveying false information in connection with a bomb hoax, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said.

Fisher was arrested on a criminal complaint last June by agents from the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force of Western New York. The grand jury indictment is the next procedural step in the felony case.

During the heated gubernatorial campaign last April 13, Fisher called Paladino's campaign headquarters in Ellicott Square and said he was "going to bomb all of you," federal agents said in court papers.

Fisher has denied the allegations, according to John P. Pieri, who represented him during an arraignment Thursday before Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr.

"Mr. Fisher is a community activist in New York City, and he was upset by the e-mails [forwarded by] Mr. Paladino depicting President Obama as a pimp," Pieri told The Buffalo News.

"Mr. Fisher says he may have been profane during the phone call, but he denies threatening a bombing or any kind of violence."

According to court filings, Fisher claimed during the phone call that he was a member of a black militant group and threatened a bombing.

In trying to track down Fisher and his online ramblings, a few things popped up. If that is the same Miles Fisher, it would appear that he has some serious anger management issues.

Carl Paladino's Halloween Highlights His Lack of Character or Fitness For Higher Office

Carl Paladino was busy visiting Buffalo area watering holes Halloween evening, and among the photos of his appearances, was this most curious one:

What's so odd about that one? Besides the fact that Paladino was apparently inebriated (not a crime, but just not good visuals days out from an election), there's the guy standing behind Paladino getting all chummy for the camera. Was there no one in Paladino's campaign who thought that this would be a bad visual. Who was the guy who thought it was appropriate to wear blackface?

Voters have pretty much decided that Paladino isn't worth their vote, and the latest polls show Andrew Cuomo more than 20 points ahead. This photo is yet another example of why.

Paladino Now Counted Among Those Who Exaggerated Military Service

What is it with politicians and political candidates who think that they can get away with exaggerating their military service? Do they think that they aren't going to get caught and then have to explain the discrepancies?

Well, this time it's Carl Paladino's turn to explain why his campaign exaggerated his military service.

"Given their hostility to facts, Mr. Paladino and his puppeteer [campaign manager Michael] Caputo appear to be engaged in a race to see whose nose can grow longer," said Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.

Vlasto was responding to The Post's story yesterday that claims by Paladino's campaign that he commanded 250 men at Fort Bliss, Texas, during six months of active Army service in 1971 were false.

Caputo admitted the contentions were wrong after The Post obtained military records showing Paladino was on active duty for a total of only three months, and was at Fort Bliss for training as a newly commissioned officer in the late summer of 1971, although he did later command a unit based in Buffalo.

The GOP gubernatorial hopeful's allies responded by accusing Democrat Cuomo of trying to besmirch Paladino's entire military record.

No, Cuomo isn't besmirching Paladino's entire military service. He's calling out Paladino and his campaign for lying about the type of service and what he actually did. Paladino claimed that he commanded 250 troops at Fort Bliss over a period of six months. The facts are that he didn't command those 250 troops at Fort Bliss and that his service at Fort Bliss was for only three months. Paladino later commanded a number of troops when stationed in Buffalo.

If Paladino lies about something like this, what else will he lie about?

And Paladino isn't alone.

Earlier this year, Democratic candidate for US Senate from Connecticut Dick Blumenthal lied about his military service as well. He claimed to have served in Vietnam, but he never went overseas.

These guys are disgraces to the uniform they wore and to the men and women currently serving with distinction.

Paladino's Latest Policy Prescriptions: Eliminate the MTA; Cut $20 Billion From Medicaid

Well, this is a bit of fresh air. It's writing about a policy issue with Carl Paladino instead of his inane comments that continue to show him unfit for the job of governor.

He's come out with a couple of policy choices, one of which shows just how out of touch with fiscal realities he is.

He's called for the elimination of the MTA and direct control of the resulting agency by the governor. I've railed against the mismanagement of the MTA for years, and there have been repeated calls by members of the legislature to reform public authorities law for years, most recently led by Richard Brodsky.

Eliminating the MTA isn't going to solve the mass transit problems in the City, nor is it going to address the declining state support for mass transit that has put the agency in a bind.

Oh, and Paladino clearly doesn't understand how the MTA operates. The governor already has the power to choose the MTA board. The MTA has to answer to the Legislature. It is already a creature of the state political system and government oversight so his rambling rant doesn't change matters.

He also claims that the MTA has two sets of books, which was actually disproven in federal court and whose annual reports are public record.


Not that it matters, since this is a red meat issue designed to gain favor among Republicans upstate and independents and moderates in the NYC Metro area who are perpetually unhappy with the way the MTA operates and the rash of fare hikes and service cuts. Just as his anti-gay remarks were designed to gain favor among Catholics, he's trying to hit various constituencies to try and overcome a major deficit in the polls.

Then, there's Paladino's attempts to deal with the state budget situation. He thinks the way to save the state from fiscal disaster is to cut $20 billion from the state's Medicaid outlays. That's simply never going to happen because there isn't $20 billion to cut and the cuts would directly affect medical care in the state.

Oh, and it would also mean a fight involving fighting against both the hospitals and medical professionals who get reimbursed from the Medicaid outlays, and the service unions that work at those facilities. We're talking about groups that treat even holding spending in check as a cut, so this is simply not workable from a political perspective.

LoHud.com has attempted to pin down where the candidates stand on the issues, even if the positions are ludicrous.

Just Who Is Advising Carl Paladino

Carl Paladino can't seem to avoid a controversy and it's little wonder given who is advising him.

One of his advisers is Roger Stone, who is now being investigated for tax evasion. The IRS has filed a $400,000 lien for unpaid taxes.

Stone is likely to be thrown under the bus, particularly when he didn't come to Paladino's rescue over his anti-gay remarks over the weekend. Stone is also working with former madam Kristen Davis (whose prostitutes were among those who took down Elliot Spitzer).

As for the now-infamous anti-gay speech, who exactly wrote it? Well, it would appear to be Yehuda Levin, a rabbi of a small Orthodox Jewish congregation in Brooklyn that is little more than a minyan in size. He was claiming that members of Levin's congregation had inserted the line into his speech. Problem is that the speech as he prepared it (even excluding the line cited elsewhere) was still quite hurtful and treated gays as second class citizens.

Levin also happens to be a whole lot more conservative than many other rabbis in the Orthodox community and was hoping to set up an Orthodox tea party. Peas of a pod.

And ultimately it was up to Paladino to say what he did - and he didn't have a problem with the overall anti-gay tone of the speech. That's despite the fact that New York City is home to one of the nation's biggest gay communities and a rash of anti-gay attacks in the area.

UPDATE:
Staten Island Democrats had their way with Paladino's statements. This one is particularly apt:

“The NY Post’s cartoon today captured Paladino’s hypocrisy in its fullest,” Savino said. “For a man who has two families to be talking about lessons for children is ludicrous. After the election I am going to buy him a mirror so he can look at himself. Paladino takes his daughter on a trip to Italy with his girlfriend and then he wants to talk about exposing daughters to dysfunctional situations.” [emphasis added]

Indeed.

Don't tell me about family values and dysfunctional family situations when you're involved in adultery and fathering a child out of wedlock. While it's nice to be caring for that child and providing support, Paladino's actions show that he isn't one to talk about family values and what a responsible person would do.

Paladino's Hurtful Position on Gays and Lesbians Comes Through Despite Protestations To Contrary

Carl Paladino isn't going to make a whole lot of friends in the gay and lesbian community around New York with statements such as those he prepared to offer at a speech the other night in Brooklyn.

Paladino, who has received strong support from conservative-libertarian "tea party" activists, spoke at a synagogue in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section while trying to strike a contrast between himself and his Democratic rival, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

In his remarks, he criticized Cuomo for marching in this summer's gay pride parade, saying "that's not how God created us and that's not the example that we should be showing our children."

He added that children who later in life choose to marry people of the opposite sex and raise families would be "much better off and much more successful."

"I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option," he said.

But he skipped one line in his prepared text "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual."

That remark, which Paladino said was suggested by his "hosts at the synagogue," made its way into media reports about the event after a draft of the speech was circulated by the congregation, without first clearing it with the campaign, according to campaign manager Michael Caputo.

Paladino wants to put the blame of the text that wasn't included in his spoken remarks on his hosts - an Orthodox Jewish congregation in Williamsburg. the problem is that there was enough other hurtful language that his position on gay and lesbian rights is sorely out of touch with equality under the law.

He later says that some of his friends and employees are gay, but that doesn't mean that what he said at that speech was any less hurtful.

Paladino Fails To Impress With "Important" Announcement

Carl Paladino attempted to reset his campaign after three weeks of miscues, gaffes, attacks, lies, and stupidity.

He didn't succeed.

He hoped to shift the focus on to the issues, but still managed to make the issue about Paladino and his fitness and character to be governor of New York.

His 3-minute statement that was carried on upstate tv stations and then carried and reported around the state by other networks didn't get the job done because all of the same questions about Paladino's character and fitness remained.

Paladino claimed that his outbursts and incident with Fred Dicker was the result of multiple media outlets badgering Paladino over his love-child and extramarital affair. He also hoped that the media would take a similar interest in Andrew Cuomo's personal life.

The problem is that the media wasn't badgering Paladino. It was the NY Post, which he again singled out. It wasn't even Fred Dicker, but Dicker did question him over his actions thereafter. The rest of the media then jumped on Paladino for his actions relating to the Dicker encounter and the threats that Paladino made against Dicker.

This might go over well with Paladino's base, but Paladino needs more than his base to win in November. He's got to convince independents and moderates that he is a better choice than Cuomo, and this infomercial didn't do it.

As for the personal affairs of Cuomo, media outlets have not found any reason to dig deeper because by all accounts, it was Andrew Cuomo who was cheated upon - it was his wife Kerry Kennedy, who admitted to cheating on Cuomo and which led to his divorce. In other words, it is yet another baseless accusation against Cuomo and again keeps the focus on issues other than the state's perilous financial condition.

Paladino was ill-served in trying this ploy and focusing on the personal issues rather than using his time and efforts to focus on unveiling an economic recovery plan for the state - something that would have at least focused matters on the state.

Moreover, Paladino focused on the claim that Cuomo wasn't agreeing to a debate with all the candidates running for governor including the minor party candidates. That was agreed to almost at the same time that Paladino was busy slamming Cuomo for not entering into the debate.

Cuomo has agreed to a debate, and it actually would be Cuomo's interest to have all the other candidates involved because it would dilute Paladino's effectiveness. Paladino would need a one-on-one debate so that he could hammer home his issues without cutting through the additional noise on the dais.

But after Paladino challenged Cuomo to a debate and suggested that his Democratic opponent was too cowardly to agree, the announcement of the Hofstra event seemed to seal the deal. The 90-minute event will take place at the site of one of the 2008 presidential debates, in front of an audience of as many as 1,200 people.

"We look forward to a vigorous debate of the issues that matter to New Yorkers. To say that Andrew Cuomo has not agreed to debate is demonstrably false and misleading," said Benjamin M. Lawsky, general counsel of Cuomo's campaign.

Cuomo again showed that Paladino was all bluster and no substance.

It's also interesting that Paladino is pleading for money when he claimed that he would be running an independent campaign and put up a substantial amount of his own money for the campaign. Paladino is well behind Cuomo's $40 million warchest.

New York Gubernatorial Campaign Update

Today's big news is a planned news conference this afternoon by Carl Paladino. No one knows what he's going to say in the three minute spot, but sources indicate that he isn't planning on dropping out of the race.

The only thing that seems sure is that Paladino isn't going to pull out of the race, they said. As of late Wednesday, the Paladino camp bought a block of time in Buffalo with the three network affiliates.

Upstaters won't be able to turn on a major channel without seeing Paladino. The broadcast will be rerun in Rochester, Albany and Syracuse and Channel 12 on Long Island, plus Westchester Fox cable later Thursday night. Sources said his people also were trying to buy time on Fox statewide.

The only thing for sure is that no one knows what Paladino will say (which isn't really any different from any other day - when all manner of assorted craziness emanates from the filter-free Paladino. You also have some supporters urging him to drop some kind of bombshell about Cuomo (though that is quite unlikely), while others are urging him to drop out (also just as unlikely).

Still, as of last night, Paladino was attempting to show bipartisan support for his "outsider" campaign, holding a rally Wednesday evening in which Democrats for Carl Paladino announced their support, although the feature of the event was when former Buffalo Bills star running back Thurman Thomas spoke (he's an enrolled Republican). Paladino's also expected to appear at NYU for a College Republican event on October 15.

Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo picked up the endorsement of the Business Council and Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, who happens to be a a Republican.

Paladino might try to make hay of the fact that Andrew Cuomo considers Brooklyn Democrat Vito Lopez a friend, when Lopez is the focus of multiple criminal investigations.

The media continues focusing on how Paladino is spending campaign cash on entities he partially controls. They're taking a close look at his financial situation, but they aren't giving Cuomo a free pass either.

At the same time, David Koch, who is a major philanthropist for major New York City institutions, has donated to Andrew Cuomo. Koch, along with his brother, not only fund Tea Party candidates, but groups like the John Birch Society and various libertarian causes. The John Birch Society was founded by Koch's father.

Politics certainly makes for strange bedfellows.

Paladino Pops Silver Again; Yet Another Round of Lies and Smears

We get it. GOP/Tea Party candidate for governor Carl Paladino doesn't like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver, a Democrat who has outlasted all of his contemporaries in the dysfunctional Albany political environment, has been a frequent target on this blog for his actions, but he is not a criminal.

He hasn't done anything criminal, so when Paladino routinely smears him time and time again it further indicates that Paladino is removed from reality. This time, he called Silver a criminal. The last time, it was calling Silver Hitler (Silver is an Orthodox Jew).

The latest smear drew rebukes from Ed Koch, Silver, and Cuomo.

Moreover, let's say that Paladino actually wins the election in November over the Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

That means that Paladino has to work with Silver and the Senate Majority Leader. A budget deal would have to be worked out, and that means working with and through Silver.

If you've established a poisonous relationship with Silver, how do you expect that a sane and fiscally responsible budget will be enacted. You can't. It would be wishful thinking to suggest otherwise.

Meanwhile, Paladino's advisers are trying to spin Paladino's lack of a filter (he speaks whatever he thinks without regard to facts or logic), that this is exactly what Albany needs.

At the same time, some of Paladino's claims have come under fire for being outright lies or misrepresentations. That includes one where Paladino claims to have interceded on behalf of the chancellor of Syracuse University during a student takeover in 1970 to secure the chancellor's release. Paladino was a law student at the university at the time, but surviving participants say that Paladino had nothing to do with the incident. One of the student demonstrators (and now a law professor at my alma mater but who began teaching there after I left) disputes Paladino's account:

Paul Finkelman is contradicting published reports on the incident.

The reports say Paladino claims to have helped negotiate the exchange of the Syracuse Police chief for the university's chancellor.

“If it were 1970, I would want to know what Carl Paladino was smoking because this simply did not happen,” said Finkelman. “There was no known negotiation. There was no hostage-taking. The chancellor was not locked in his building. This is other nonsense.”

Paladino's Driver/Adviser Has Open Criminal Warrant Pending?

Nice company that Carl Paladino keeps. He wants to be governor of New York and complains bitterly that the Albany political environment is toxic and needs to be cleaned up. He says he's the guy to do it and has the backing of the GOP and Tea Party.

He better start by cleaning up his own political advisory committee, because he didn't exactly do a good job of vetting his advisers.

In fact, it now turns out that Rus Thompson is on the lamb and has an open arrest warrant pending in Arizona under a different pseudonym. Thompson for his part claims that he has done nothing wrong and that it's probably a paperwork error:

He resolved the DUI charge by pleading guilty in September 1990, serving jail time and paying a fine, but the suspended license charge somehow remained on the books.

Nearly nine years later in October 1998, an arrest warrant was issued for Thompson under yet another name - John Lloyd Thompson-Alden.

The warrant said Thompson-Alden had failed to appear in court on the misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended license.

In the meantime, he'd moved to Buffalo and obtained a New York license under yet another name - John R. Thompson, records show.

Running for state controller on the Tea Party line, he uses Rus Thompson, a name he claims to have had since he was a child. He is registered to vote in Erie County under that name.

Thompson said yesterday he has no idea why there's a warrant out for him.

"This is nuts," he said. "Everything was resolved. My probation officer advised me to leave Arizona."

He said he couldn't remember why he switched from John L. Thompson and John Lloyd Thompson-Alden to John R. Thompson when he got his New York license.

He also vowed to get to the bottom of the outstanding arrest warrant.

Of course, it doesn't quite explain why he kept changing names.

Meanwhile, candidate Paladino now says that he didn't intend to smear Andrew Cuomo when he made unsubstantiated allegations that Cuomo had an extramarital affair.

The Tea Party-backed Republican told his hometown paper that his remarks had been misunderstood.

He said he meant only to question coverage of his own extramarital escapade when he urged a reporter for Politico.com to ask Cuomo "about his paramours."

"I'm sick and tired of people asking me about if I've had affairs," Paladino told The Buffalo News last night.

"I was talking to [Politico] and said, 'Why don't you ask Andrew Cuomo if he has had extramarital affairs?' It's not that I was accusing him."

Right.

He was busy trying to go after the New York Post and Fred Dicker after the Post tried to get photos of Paladino's love-child and threatened Dicker Wednesday night after a business event when he made those comments.

Paladino's trying to divert attention from his own philandering ways and lack of family values by casting aspersions on Cuomo, who divorced from Kerry Kennedy after Kennedy admitted to having an affair with Bruce Colley. Kennedy also now supports Cuomo's run for governor.

UPDATE:
The Village Voice goes through Paladino's political filings and finds quite a bit of interesting information - both in what was revealed, and what it was meant to hide, and who is responsible for backing Paladino: Roger Stone.

The $53,000 tax lien against campaign spokesman Michael Caputo unearthed by the Times got a taunting "so what" from Caputo himself. Stiffing the IRS just proved again, as Caputo put it, that this is "a campaign of junkyard dogs."

No wonder Caputo, Carl, and the rest chat so comfortably with Duke, the untethered pit bull that accompanies Paladino on baby-kiss-free campaign swings. "Carl knows each of us comes to the campaign with warts," Caputo continued, acknowledging even that the candidate "has his own" warts. "We don't hide anything."

Actually, the so-called disclosure forms that People for Paladino filed with the State Board of Elections were designed to hide a lot, in apparent violation of state law.

Most hidden was the viral hand of the man who manufactured Paladino but never directly appears on his campaign filings, Roger Stone, the infamous Republican dirty trickster who suggested to the Times in August that he was advising Paladino pro-bono, which literally means "for the public good."

With a tattoo of Richard Nixon's head on his back, Stone's scandals started with Watergate, when he was 19, and peaked in 1996 when ads he placed in Local Swing Fever picturing himself and his wife seeking "athletes and military men" cost him a key role in Bob Dole's presidential campaign. He reached legendary proportions in a New Yorker profile in 2008 subtitled "Campaign tips from the man who's done it all," lodged over a bare-chested photo of a smug Stone, who'd described himself as "handsome body builder husband" in that long-ago ad.

Carl Paladino Threatens Political Reporter Fred Dicker

Carl Paladino, the GOP/Tea Party candidate for governor, threatened Fred Dicker in an altercation last night. Dicker is a political reporter who frequents the NY Post and other local television and radio stations around the state, is most recently known for the reporter to break the story of David Paterson taking free Yankee tickets.

Paladino accuses Dicker of working for Democrat candidate Andy Cuomo, calling him his "bird dog" and then said, "I'll take you out, buddy."

"You're going to take me out?" Dicker replied. How you going to do that?'

Paladino's response: "Watch!"



Paladino is a loose cannon and getting into altercations of any sort with reporters isn't going to help his campaign. Dicker typically goes after any and all politicians in Albany - he's an equal opportunity reporter in that regard and is more than willing to dig up dirt and report on issues regardless of whether the politician is Democrat or Republican.

UPDATE:
Paladino is busy trying to throw dirt Cuomo's way with claims that Cuomo has an affair (corrected from illegitimate child: ed) even as Paladino has to admit that he sired a child with another woman while still married. He's making unsubstantiated adultery charges against Cuomo, which does nothing to boost his credibility either.

Dicker is doing what Dicker usually does - which is go for story, and in the process, has become part of the story himself (something that reporters shouldn't be doing).

The altercation with Dicker was no chance incident.

Paladino spokesman Michael Caputo said afterward that a Post photographer recently put the lens of a camera against the bedroom window of Paladino's 10-year-old daughter, whom Paladino fathered with a woman who is not his wife. Caputo said the daughter was practicing for a school dance and she has had bouts of crying afterward.

Since then, Paladino has been more than explicit about his desire to keep his daughter "off limits." So when Paladino and Dicker went nose to nose at the Sagamore on Wednesday, it was by no means a chance encounter.

He was probably trying to make a point with Dicker - and the Post.

The Shady Dealings of Carl Paladino's Advisers

Carl Paladino wants to position himself as someone being outside the typical partisan and corrupt Albany political environment. Yet, there are numerous reports that he's surrounded himself with exactly the kind of people that the people of New York do not want or need.

Seems that Carl Paladino has himself quite the crew of assistants and advisers who have engaged in shady or illicit dealings. His driver/political adviser got busted on DUI, but changed his name at some point after coming to New York. That's the least of Paladino's worries though.

Another failed to report taxes to the IRS (go figure). And still another adviser has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $1 million from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s re-election bid last year. And Mr. Paladino’s campaign chairwoman left a local government position amid claims that she had steered $1 billion in public money to a politically connected investment manager.

Is it little wonder that yet another poll finds that the more people get to know Paladino, the less they like him (and find him unfit for the job he seeks)?

NY Governor's Race Gets Down and Dirty As Polls Keep Rolling In

New York's gubernatorial race appears to be the race to beat as far as sheer nastiness is concerned. Not only are both Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino willing to sling the mud and barbs at each other both directly and through their surrogates, but even former Governor Eliot Spitzer had to chime in about Cuomo.

Spitzer probably can't bear to watch the New York race, because it's one that was his for the taking until a prostitution scandal sent him packing from the governor's mansion. Cuomo was his nemesis in the primary race, but Spitzer ultimately won that race.

This time, Spitzer gets to sit back and throw barbs at Cuomo, even though Spitzer was no patsy when it came to throwing mud or his weight around Albany. If anyone knows how to be a dirty and nasty politician (and that's not counting his ethical and legal woes), Spitzer knows from personal experience.

Then there's the issue of polling, where a slew of polls were released this week and the results raised a few eyebrows. The polling on the race isn't quite all over the place as one would think. For starters, each of the polls was constructed differently - likely versus registered voters, and whether they included Rick Lazio or not.

A Quinnipiac poll found that Paladino was within 6 points of Cuomo among likely voters, but that's looking to be more of an outlier than any of the other polls that came in this week. That includes a Marist poll that has Cuomo up by 19 among likely voters, and Rassmussen has Cuomo up by 33 points among registered voters. Likely voters is a better gauge of outcomes, but the polling all seems to point to a significant Cuomo edge. From Marist:

“Andrew Cuomo is ahead, and right now, this is not a close race,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “He is being bolstered by the Lazio factor, but he is just above 50% among likely voters, and you can’t overlook the enthusiasm Republicans are bringing to this election cycle.”

Regionally, Cuomo runs best in New York City followed by the New York City suburbs. In the Big Apple, 65% of likely voters say they plan to vote for Cuomo while 23% report they will cast their ballot for Paladino. Lazio receives the support of just 6%. Moving to the suburbs, Cuomo garners a majority of likely voters in this region — 52% — while Paladino and Lazio net 30% and 16%, respectively. Upstate, Cuomo and Paladino receive the same support. Both Cuomo and Paladino take 43% of likely upstate voters. Just 7% of likely upstate voters say they will cast their ballot for Lazio. 7% are also unsure.

Cuomo has to get Democrats energized, which is a tall order in the current political climate. Still, registered Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans in New York, which means that Paladino has to hold on to the Republican base and take a strong majority of independents. Further, Paladino has to do more than hold his own against Cuomo upstate.

Paladino is attempting to run as an outsider and is channeling a whole lot of anger and vitrol. He's angry with the legislature, especially Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. He's angry with the governor and the sclerotic nature of the political process.

What he hasn't said is how he would actually fix things. He hasn't talked about what he would do to clean up the corruption in Albany. Other than demonizing Cuomo, Paladino hasn't actually said why he'd be better for the state than Cuomo.

More to the point, in the early ads run in the campaign by Paladino, Paladino has gone on the attack - but hasn't run positive ads. Cuomo has done both. He's run both attack ads on Paladino and uplifting ads about how Cuomo would bring change to Albany. Cuomo is at least attempting to channel the anger about the mess in Albany for positive ends. Whether he's successful remains to be seen.

New Poll Shows Paladino Closing On Cuomo

This is certainly unexpected news for the Cuomo campaign, which had seen itself coasting to an easy victory in November. Carl Paladino has closed the gap according to a Quinnipiac poll among likely voters.

According to a poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University, voters surveyed prefer Cuomo over Paladino 49 to 43 percent. In previous polls, Cuomo has led by 20 points or more.
“The question was whether Carl Paladino would get a bounce from his big Republican primary victory. The answer is yes,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “He’s within shouting distance and – you can count on it – he will be shouting.”
The poll found that Cuomo’s job approval in his current position as attorney general remains high — 67 percent — and that 51 percent of voters view him favorably, compared to just 36 percent for Paladino.
The two men have traded barbs this week. Paladino’s campaign sent Cuomo a letter questioning if he had “the manhood” to debate Paladino, and on Friday released a flier depicting Cuomo in the shower, washing mud from the waist-up vision of his naked body. The Democratic State Committee responded with a flier showing Paladino as a pig.

Quinnipiac 092210 NY GOV + BP That compares to a Rassmussen poll that showed Cuomo comfortably in the lead (54/38 in a phone poll. Rassmussen still calls the race as solid Democrat.

Paladino appears to have gotten a bounce from his win in the GOP primary against another lackluster GOP handpicked candidate - Rick Lazio, but I would be wary of thinking that this will somehow extend to a GOP/Tea Party win in November in New York.

It would take a tremendous showing by the GOP and independents to overcome a strong Democratic voter advantage. Thus far, Democrats don't seem willing to give Paladino a chance, and independents are only slightly more willing.

Paladino has previously graced these pages claiming that the state should use eminent domain to stop the Cordoba House project near Ground Zero and has also been known to send inappropriate emails containing racist and bigoted messages.

Paladino is right that the economy in the state is a mess, but I doubt that Paladino has any solutions for the problem - he's too busy calling out Cuomo on his manhood and turning the campaign into a street fight, and Cuomo's political allies at the state party are more than willing to do Cuomo's fighting for him.

The state needs positive messages about how the prospective leaders will deal with a dysfunctional state government, out of control spending, and a legislature and political culture that is rife with graft and corruption. That message isn't forthcoming.

Paladino says that he wants to challenge Cuomo to debates. Cuomo has said that he and his team would need to work out the details. No doubt, if there is a debate, it would be entertaining with the mudslinging and potentials for quote-worthy comments. Given that Cuomo has learned from his prior political experience to do more with less, and Paladino's inability to know when to turn off the verbal spigot, it would be a contrast in styles to say the least.

It's clear that Paladino lacks the tone and tenor of another independent/GOP candidate from recent history, Tom Golisano (who it should be noted failed to win in his electoral efforts). Some folks think that Paladino's style reminds them of Eliot Spitzer, but I don't see that. Paladino is far more bombastic than Spitzer ever was (and Spitzer ended up flaming out in a sex scandal).

New York Trio of D'Amato, Koch and McCall Calls Paladino Out For His Racism

Here's the open letter written and signed by none other than former US Senator Al D'Amato (R), former NYC Mayor Ed Koch (D), and former state comptroller and gubernatorial candidate H Carl McCall, attesting to Carl Paladino's inadequacy and competency to be governor of New York:

KochMcCallDAmatoOnPaladino

The three make several very important points. Paladino has engaged in divisive behavior, including distributing racist and bigoted emails, which are an affront to a significant portion of the state's population.

Paladino claims to be an outsider, and yet has spent tons of his money to lobby for state business and has profited from those lobbying efforts to the tune of millions of dollars. Far from being an outsider, he's used and abused the very system he complains about.

His response to the letter is to brand D'Amato, Koch, and McCall as little more than lackeys to Cuomo.

The way I see it, those three wouldn't have joined together unless they saw the state in such perilous shape and that it needed someone who would take the situation seriously without adding to an already rancorous and toxic environment in Albany. Paladino clearly needs to cast the three as lackeys to Cuomo, but that just doesn't wash - particularly with D'Amato.

UPDATE:
Gothamist has a list of Paladino's latest utterances and classic rants, but they missed the one where Paladino called Speaker Silver Hitler.

Note too that Paladino claims to oppose abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. That's a position that runs counter to most New Yorkers, who prefer a right to abortion, including in such instances. Andrew Cuomo's father, Mario, had long opposed abortion on religious grounds, until shifting his views to accepting a woman's right to choose.

Mixed Messages In New York Primary Results

What kind of message did voters send based on last night's election returns?

Mixed messages - and it totally depends on the race we're talking about.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY15) won reelecting pretty handily despite being up on ethics charges that could get him booted from the House. His constituents didn't seem to mind, and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that the primary was the only chance to unseat him. What does that say about his constituents in Harlem? They don't care about his criminality and illegal acts - including evading paying taxes in multiple jurisdictions and to the IRS?

At the same time, the nutter Carl Paladino handily beat the GOP preferred Rick Lazio. Neither of these guys are world beaters and Paladino is a nut job whose racist and bigoted comments surely reflect his true mindset and views on the diverse population found throughout the state. He has money to burn, and that surely helped him beat Lazio. Paladino seems to have touched a nerve of discontent, but it will not be sufficient to beat Cuomo in November.

Paladino really doesn't have a chance at beating Andy Cuomo in November, but he might make it interesting with tons of money to devote to his campaign. What the primary showed is that the GOP is particularly weak in NYS - something I've been noting for years and that the GOP establishment has few candidates to run for statewide offices except retreads - Lazio was last seen running as a replacement for Rudy when Rudy withdrew from the US Senate race against Hillary Clinton following his prostate cancer diagnosis. Before that, he was pretty much a nobody - and will again return to obscurity.

Other local races of note here indicate that some voters finally got tired of criminal behavior - sending Hiram Monserrate (who was now running for Assembly after being tossed this summer from the State Senate) and Pedro Espada Jr. packing. Those two loathsome Democrats launched a coup last year to hand power back to the GOP for a few months so that they could push their own agenda and enlarge their own political fortunes, but fortune turned quite cold real fast - and both are really thugs in nice clothes.

Can we draw a larger conclusion?

I think the real story is that voters are fickle - and that predicting the outcome in November is going to be a tall order. The Delaware outcome may have made a GOP takeover in the Senate more difficult because the candidate chosen, O'Donnell is less electable than Castle. That's a slim bit of good news for Democrats on an otherwise difficult election season.

Saga Continues For Cordoba House Proposal

Politicians continue weighing in on the Cordoba House proposal. Former Tea Party member (before he was kicked out for racist emails by fellow racist Mark Williams) and upstart GOP candidate Carl Paladino seems to think that eminent domain should be used to block the project. Paladino had fought to get on the primary ballot against Rick Lazio, who also opposes the Cordoba House proposal.

A number of Republican politicians have criticized plans by a Muslim charity to build a community center and mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks. Paladino says that if he wins, he would use eminent domain to block the mosque and make the site a war memorial.

The mosque is a project of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, which promotes understanding between Islam and the West.

Rick Lazio -- who faces Paladino in a September primary -- has called for an investigation into the funding for the mosque.

Meanwhile, Rassmussen has released a poll on the proposed mosque and community center. The wording of the poll is generally neutral, although I suspect the results would change significantly if you swap out mosque and put in community center or combine community center with mosque - which is a more accurate representation of what the proposed site would become.
he actual text of the poll's results is here. The questions and topline is here.

1* How closely have you followed recent news reports about plans to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York City? 22% Very closely
29% Somewhat closely
31% Not very closely
16% Not at all
3% Not sure
2* Do you favor or oppose the building of a mosque near the 9/11 Ground Zero site in New York City?
20% Favor
54% Oppose
26% Not sure
3* Those who are building the mosque say they are doing it to honor those who died on 9/11. How confident are you that the mosque is being built near the Ground Zero site to honor those who died in the terrorist attacks?
15% Very confident
15% Somewhat confident
26% Not very confident
32% Not at all confident
12% Not sure

Unlike many of the opponents to the site, the poll gets it right - the Cordoba House proposal isn't going to be in Ground Zero, but it will be near it.

NYS GOP Makes Its Choice

New York Republicans have made their choice for their gubernatorial candidate. It will be Rick Lazio.

Rick Lazio was picked at the convention over Dem turned GOPer (and still registered Dem) Steve Levy. Tea Party hack-crackpot Carl Paladino was a distant third, garnering 8% of votes (nearly all from Erie County). A latecomer to the party, Myers Mermel, a real estate consultant, got 4%.

Lazio was selected on the second round of balloting after no candidate got the required 50% on the first ballot.

Paladino still figures to make this interesting by forcing primary races in September by petitioning to get on ballots around NYS.

Of course, the GOP candidate, who ever it was, faces an uphill battle against Andrew Cuomo, who is more than likely going to be the next governor of New York.

The only one who can possibly beat Cuomo is Cuomo himself if he makes unforced errors - which he's done in the past. Cuomo's done well thus far because he's been pretty quiet (for him). He's let others do the talking and the foot-insertion has been kept to a minimum.

Cuomo is a smart guy, but has a tendency to annoy the wrong people, which has gotten him into trouble before.

Still, I don't think Lazio or Levy or anyone else the GOP puts up has much of a chance in NYS. Cuomo has the name recognition and is seen as a guy who might be able to clean things up in Albany (of course, the same was said about Spitzer before his fall).

Just What The NYS GOP Does Not Need

You've got a Buffalo-area businessman and Tea Party activist, Carl Paladino, who sends out racist and objectionable emails fast and furious. Heck, Paladino's email conduct was such that the Tea Party wants nothing to do with him and Paladino's spokes-flack complains that the Tea Party is a bunch of out-of-staters who have no vested interests in the state. I'm sure that will win over the crowds. *not*

Current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who hasn't even declared himself a candidate for governor trounces any and all GOP candidates by a 2-1 or 3-1 margin.

It's at a point where even the lame-duck scandal-ridden Gov. David Paterson, who knows a thing or two about scandals, thinks that this is disgraceful - and he'd be right.


Then, you've got a politician who just switched party affiliations to the GOP, County Executive Steve Levy, and will be seen as a RINO by many upstaters. Other candidates have little name recognition.

That's just in the governor's race.

Then there's the race for the US Senate seat currently held by placeholder Kristen Gillibrand. It seems that there isn't anyone out there who wants to take on this vulnerable seat, despite the fact that Gillibrand has done next to nothing for the state since she took office after being selected by Gov. Paterson.

There isn't even any declared GOP candidate for the Attorney General's race.

It's little wonder that the state GOP is in complete disarray. Besides the inevitable blame game, signs that the state GOP in New York was a mess were omnipresent for years - going back to the Pataki administration and have only gotten worse since then. The situation got so bad that the state GOP completely botched the NY-23 House special election and raised the ire of many in the district, who decided to vote for the Democrat than the GOP-picked candidate Dede Scozzafava, who later dropped out of the race entirely.

So, how does the state GOP fix this mess? Well, the problems are everywhere, but the solution is also going to take time.

It starts with the realization that downstate politics is quite different than upstate needs but there is a common denominator - high costs for doing business in the state. Upstate is far more rural, conservative, and has seen far less development and economic opportunities than downstate, and there are no real industries or economic sectors that can carry upstate the way that the financial and media sectors do for downstate.

Finding candidates that are willing to go toe to toe over out-of-control state spending should be a top priority. State spending is completely out of control and the state budgets are a complete mess - both in terms of process (no on time budgets passed in all but six years since 1975) and that it has huge structural deficits due to overly optimistic revenue projections and reliance on Wall Street revenues to carry the day. The state's Democrats are pushing soda/sugar taxes, even though the purpose would be to raise revenue for new programs and when those taxes fail to meet their projected levels, drops those programs into deficit situations. Each new tax adds to an already crushing tax burden that sends people fleeing from the state and stifles new economic development.

The federal stimulus package masked massive deficits last year, and allowed legislators and the governor to avoid making serious decisions to cut state spending to bring spending in line with revenues. This year, there's no stimulus package to save the day - so the state is facing billions of dollars in deficits, and all manner of financial trickery is being considered that eventually translates into a higher cost of doing business in the state.

The GOP needs to focus on this situation and cultivate candidates who are going to tackle these problems from all levels of government. It has failed miserable for the better part of the last decade, which has all but ceded the Albany landscape to tax and spend Democrats who have run hard into scandals and financial ruin. Even though such a scenario ought to result in sweeping changes in Albany, Democrats remain poised to hold control over top statewide positions because the GOP can't even get out of its own way.