CHICHESTERSaid So

Sweet Thug

2009-01-15T18:16:00.020-05:00

Sources: Kennedy Hopes To Bring Obama In To Campaign - Subheadline, WCBS television news story, January 13.

Caroline Kennedy is a thug.

She, of course, doesn't look like a thug. She's not a felon, a sociopath or a violent menace to society.

She's a political thug. And those people are not uncommon in the world of superpower politics. Welcome to the club, Caroline.

Kennedy is leveraging every ounce of power she possesses to sit in Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. From the beginning, it has been an embarrassing spectacle.

The news from WCBS that Kennedy is going to use the future president of the United States to win appointment to the Senate is no surprise. It's likely been happening for weeks with an assist from Mayor Napoleon Bloomberg. As we get closer to Hillary Clinton's confirmation as Secretary of State, Kennedy wants everyone to know Barack Obama is for her.

This unimpressive, painfully inarticulate woman has coasted through life with barely a care about New York state and it's political atmosphere.

For her, voting is a nuisance. For her, holding a real news conference to answer serious questions is demeaning. For her, financial disclosure is an invasion of privacy.

The media has described Kennedy's unseemly quest for a Senate seat as a "campaign" in the traditional sense of the word. It's not. What Kennedy has launched is an intimidation scheme aimed squarely at one man: Governor David Paterson.

If Governor Paterson succumbs and appoints her to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat he will expose himself as the 98-pound weakling of New York politics. He will be a governor who allowed the Kennedy family to kick sand in his face and browbeat him into doing exactly what they covet, which is always power.

Caroline Kennedy's political thuggery is anchored by her surname. The only reason she's not treated as a laughable, fringe Pierre Rinfret-type contender for the Senate is because she's a Kennedy. That obvious fact is lost on millions of New Yorkers. They don't care.

New Yorkers don't care because the Kennedys are supposed to be "American royalty." They're "Camelot." Right. In his act, the late comedian George Carlin changed one letter in "Camelot" for accuracy purposes. He replaced the "a" with a "u."

History exposes this bunch as one of most wretched and reprehensible political families to ever shame America with their destructive presence. Since she's running only on her name, Governor Paterson needs a refresher course on Caroline Kennedy's family.

* Grandfather Joe was a Nazi sympathetizing, bootlegging, serial adulterer who forced his daughter to get a lobotomy.

* Father John was a feckless, philandering, pretty boy speechifier, and the Soviet Union knew it. They started building the Berlin Wall seven months into his presidency, which he didn't have the guts to stop. He compromised national security by sleeping with spies, had the infamous "Dr. Feelgood" at the ready to medicate him and nearly dragged our country into a nuclear war because of his known weaknesses.

* Uncle Bobby was Senator Joe McCarthy's ruthless lawyer, approved the wiretapping of Martin Luther King and, shocking for a Kennedy, cheated on his wife Ethel with Marilyn Monroe. Joe DiMaggio made it a point to blow the sainted Bobby off at a Yankee Stadium pre-game ceremony because he knew he was a snake.

* Brother John was an "adrenaline junkie" woefully unqualified, while injured, to fly the plane that killed him, his wife and his sister-in-law. If he crashed on land he could have also killed innocent people on the ground.

And there is Uncle Teddy, the driving force behind the Sweet Thug's intimidation scheme. His amoral life has many chapters, and Chappaquiddick defines it.

When I was a U.S. Senate staffer, I worked on the fourth floor of the Russell Senate Office Building. Kennedy's office was on the third floor.

One early morning I got on the elevator to get a cup of coffee. It stopped at the third floor, and in walked Ted Kennedy with an aide and his two Portuguese water dogs. I knew the name of one of the dogs already - Splash.

Kennedy leaned over, rubbed the dog behind the ears and in baby-talk said, "good Splash, are you a good Splash, good Splash." I wanted to throw up because I thought about Mary Jo Kopechne's family.

A splash is what happened to Kennedy's car when he drove it off the Dike Bridge. A splash that killed Mary Jo Kopechne.

So this is the family name Caroline is using in an attempt to intimidate Governor Paterson and parachute into the United States Senate after a life of leisure and indifference. New Yorkers should be repulsed by what the Sweet Thug is trying to pull off.

The Super Bowl Of Cliches On Mike & Mike

2009-01-12T23:01:00.025-05:00

Official ESPN Transcript

Mike Greenberg: Welcome back to Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio. Joining us now to break down this weekend's NFC and AFC championship games is Hall of Famer Mike Ditka. Coach, thanks for joining us. First, what is the key to victory for the Steelers-Ravens game?

Ditka: Well, this game is for the bragging rights, Mike. The Steelers can't underestimate the Ravens, and have to go out there and play Steelers football. They have to find a way to limit what Ed Reed can do. He can take over a game. The weather is going to be a factor, and Ben Roethlisberger has to dictate the tempo of the game. He has to stay upright and avoid the sack.

Mike Golic: Coach, talk about what the Cardinals have to do against the Eagles.

Ditka: The Cardinals need to get it done in their building. Stay out of third down and long situations, and prevent the Ravens from working with a short field. Get the crowd into the football game. Kurt Warner has to find passing lanes, make the big plays downfield and eat the clock.

Greenberg: Coach, break it down and tell us if the Cardinals have any shot at beating the Eagles.

Ditka: If I'm the Cardinals, I know any time you're in a playoff game you always have a chance to win. You just have to minimize the mental mistakes. The Eagles need to neutralize Larry Fitzgerald. He's a big play threat every time he touches the football.

Golic: Coach, is the Ravens defense going to be the difference in the football game?

Ditka: It will if they go out there and punch 'em in the mouth. The Ravens have to get after it. When you talk about the Ravens defense you talk about putting pressure on Donovan McNabb. He can't force the football into the secondary against this defense and try to win the game by himself if they hope to win.

Greenberg: Coach, as you break it down, what is the X factor in both of these games?

Ditka: They need to score touchdowns inside the red zone, and establish a tone. Each team has to take advantage of the opportunities they're given and stick to the fundamentals. If you lose, you go home.

Golic: Coach, why have the Cardinals made it deep into the playoffs?

Ditka: The players have bought into the system, and they're doing all the little things they need to do to win. This team has taken on the personality of Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt. When you've got a Kurt Warner calling the plays, you can put points on the scoreboard. He's a natural leader.

Greenberg: Coach, Willie Parker rushed for 146 yards for the Steelers against the Chargers. Break down for us why that happened.

Ditka: He's a physical football player, and their workhorse. He has a nose for the ball, and can make things happen out there. The writing is on the wall if he runs for another 146 yards.

Golic: Coach, why has coach Andy Reid been able to engineer this comeback for the Eagles?

Ditka: Give him a lot of credit. He's all about winning. He always has his team ready to play. He has a good, solid foundation there. I can't say enough about him.

Greenberg: Coach, break down what the Ravens need to do to stop the Steelers rushing game.

Ditka: The Ravens are playing inspired defense. It's a swarming defense. Ray Lewis is still getting it done by playing with reckless abandon and making the players around him better. Number 52 thrives under pressure.

Golic: Coach, what are your picks for each game, and the eventual Super Bowl winner?

Ditka: The Eagles and Steelers. No question about it. It's a game of inches, and it will be a close game. But Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb will finally get the monkey off their backs and win the Super Bowl.

Greenberg: Hall of Famer Mike Ditka is with us. Coach, thanks for joining us again to break it all down.

Previous: The Super Bowl of Cliches I, and how you know you watch too much football.

The Governor Paterson Questionnaire

2009-01-07T14:25:00.008-05:00

"Candidates hoping to be appointed to the United States Senate by Gov. David A. Paterson are being asked to divulge details about their finances, job history and any criminal record, several of them said on Monday. At least six contenders for the seat have received copies of a 28-page questionnaire, including Caroline Kennedy . . ." - The New York Times.

1. If you were previously employed in the Queens District Attorney's office, and never passed the bar exam, you should:

A) Lie, and claim the job title of "assistant district attorney" in your official biography.
B) Possess the integrity to not call yourself an assistant district attorney until you pass the bar exam, try a case in open court and win a conviction.

2. The ethical way to spend campaign funds you raise are:

A) On bar tabs, suits and hotel rooms.
B) For honest political advertisements that explain your positions on the issues.

3. One day after becoming Governor of New York, you should:

A) Confess to adultery and turn New York into a nationwide laughingstock, again, in the wake of Eliot Spitzer's resignation.
B) Not commit adultery.

4. While Lieutenant Governor, if you have a home in Guilderland, 20 minutes from the Capitol, you should:

A) Use your state credit card to bill taxpayers 13 times for stays at downtown Albany hotels even though there was no emergency reason for it.
B) Remain home and conveniently get transported into your office.

5. When asked intrusive personal questions about your personal life by the media you should:

A) Pretend you're a self-indulgent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and confess to snorting cocaine.
B) Not snort cocaine.

6. After months of calling for spending cuts with a $15 billion current-year budget deficit you should:

A) Alienate your supporters, and transform yourself into a fast talking fraud by proposing a budget that increases spending.
B) Cut spending.

7. If you're appointed, you should:

A) Support legislation that provides non-citizens of the United States of America the right to vote in New York .
B) Deny non-citizens the right to vote until they become citizens.

8. If you're plucked from obscurity in 1985 and win a seat in the state Senate, you believe the plucking should be done by:

A) Your father.
B) Your mother.
C) Your Uncle Teddy.
D) You have no relatives in politics.
E) You better pick A, or else.

9. If you were to deliver New York's State of the State address you should:

A) Arrogantly tell parents they are too stupid to understand "childhood obesity" and demand a tax on sugary drinks.
B) Forgo a government lecture to moms and dads about how to raise their children.

10. When asked by a reporter about your federal income taxes you should:

A) Blurt out that you underpaid your taxes.
B) Pay your taxes.

Albany's Albatross

2009-01-05T07:13:00.017-05:00

Dear Mayor Jerry Jennings,

It's your fault.

It's your fault Albany is plummeting into decay and decline. You have led my city for 15 years. And failed. Miserably.

Whether it's law enforcement, economic policies or quality of life, you have presided over a public policy calamity.

Last year there was a terrible outbreak of violence. A little girl shot and killed in broad daylight while playing with her friends; an innocent University at Albany student shot behind the head to also become one of the city's tragic homicide statistics.

Albany High School is a haven for juvenile delinquents and bureaucratic buffoonery. It has a gang infestation, a detached principal and incompetent security methods. You pretend those problems don't exist. Gangs? What gangs?

Out-of-control Albany High School and the criminality in the city is your fault. You used to be a senior administrator at the school, and you can't exert influence over it. None.

Marauding teenagers ride their bicycles past my State Street apartment after midnight constantly on school nights. How would you like to walk back from a Lark Street market and suddenly get surrounded by six kids on bikes staring at you and deciding if they want to rob you or deliver a beat down just for fun? I can handle one thug. Six is a mismatch.

So what happened to the curfew for children before the Common Council, Mr. Mayor?

It's your fault there's still no curfew. It will be your fault as these underage predators continue to commit crimes when they're supposed to be sleeping.

It's your fault a Keystone Cops operation thrives. Your administration had an unofficial policy of writing fake parking tickets for connected people with special stickers on their cars. What was your response? You denied any knowledge of the scheme. As did your police commissioner James Tuffey. You were both lying.

Public safety and integrity in law enforcement is a low priority for you. You don't have the power to fire cops, and barely care about it. Because of the blue-wall-of-silence goons you kowtow to in the city's police union. I'm tired of reading about the dirty cops that serve under you, and how you've done nothing to reform a broken system that employs them.

It's your fault I can't drive down Central Avenue without bouncing over one huge pothole after another. You're incapable of performing a basic function of government such as fixing the roads.

It's your fault downtown Albany is dilapidated. Have you noticed the eyesore, the complete embarrassment that the Wellington Hotel has been for over a decade? Or noticed the sad, shuttered state of the former Barnaby's Pub, which is next to it? Both are in the shadow of the Capitol.

Your feckless leadership can't keep open businesses a mere two minute walk from the Capitol. It's our state's seat of power, with a natural customer-base of legislators, lobbyists and state, city and county employees a permanent presence. Your city's economy should flourish. Easily.

It's your fault the Empire Plaza skating rink is closed. You have the power to prevent a high profile rink from going under, which costs a pittance to operate given what you waste in your $161 million city budget every year. All you have to do is get on the phone to Governor Paterson and demand the rink not be closed.

I know why you created this ice rink public relations scam. It's the "Washington Monument Strategy." Pick a high profile destination for people and tell them it's closing. Governor Paterson is doing the same thing with our state parks.

You know where the real money is located in your budget, but you decided to concoct an excuse to deliver to the people of Albany to keep your union supporters and other special interests exempt from spending cuts. See, the skating rink in our city had to close, is what you can proclaim. What more do you want from me? Instead, you're now reduced to asking for private donations to keep the rink open because of the loss of state funds to operate it.

It's your fault there has been a population decline of at least 5,000 in the city since you took office. You're not the Mayor of Utica, where there is no monstrous state government bureaucracy to anchor the local economy. You're the Mayor of Albany, and you still can't prevent people from leaving.

And what is your response as Albany confronts crime, abandoned and burned-out buildings along with your inability to carry out simple city responsibilities mayors throughout the country easily execute? You raised property taxes last year.
.
Congratulations. You're driving more people out of the city. Wait until you see the 2010 Census Bureau figures for Albany. I guarantee you'll see more population flight.

This year you're going to run for a fifth term as an aspiring Erastus Corning mayor-for-life, and you'll win. In the four years of that fifth term there will be more and greater failures. Nearly all of them will be your fault. As usual.

Sincerely,

Chris

Steve Coffey: Why, You Must Be A Nazi

2009-01-02T10:13:00.025-05:00

It's not enough to object to a political opinion today. Language beyond the bounds of acceptable criticism has to be invoked by people who can't control themselves.

Such as calling someone a Nazi.

Meet Steve Coffey, a prominent attorney with the Albany firm O'Connell and Aronowitz. Self-control is not one of Coffey's specialties, to put it mildly.

Last week during an appearance on WGDJ's Paul Vandenburgh ~~Infomercial~~ Show, Coffey called nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin a Nazi. Levin's show is heard on the station every night and I listen to it often. Because I agree with nearly every word Levin utters.

Vandenburgh, the part-owner of the station and program director, sat there like a potted plant and said nothing in response to Coffey's slur.

Calling Mark Levin a Nazi is calling me a Nazi.

I rarely dial into a talk radio program. But the combination of Coffey's reckless language and Vandenburgh's pathetic failure to mount one syllable in defense of a show he decided to put on his own station was too much to tolerate.

"Why did you call Mark Levin a Nazi?," I asked Coffey. He was unprepared to answer and responded weakly by citing "hate" on the radio.

"Give me a specific example for why you believe Mark Levin is a Nazi," I demanded. Again, he failed to answer. He couldn't provide one single example for why he believes Levin is a Nazi. Mark Levin is, of course, not a Nazi and that's the reason Coffey was left floundering for the words to explain himself.

What could he possibly say? Levin was a guard at Buchenwald?

Shortly after I informed Coffey that Mark Levin is Jewish, the phone call was cut off. To save him from further embarrassment.

Mark Levin's career is deeply admirable. He has served his country as a senior official in the Reagan administration. He is the author of the bestseller Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America, a relentless champion of our troops overseas and the head of the Landmark Legal Foundation.

I wonder what Coffey's partners and colleagues at O'Connell and Aronowitz think about him blathering "Nazi" at a respected Jewish American who is heard on hundreds of radio stations nationwide. Levin has over 5 million weekly listeners.

Millions of Americans don't turn on their radios to listen to a Nazi every night. Yet, Steve Coffey is so deluded he believes Mark Levin walks around with an invisible swastika on his arm. Perhaps he should think twice about the evil Adolf Hitler unleashed the next time he decides to attack someone with one of the most disgusting words in human history.

Treasure, And Choose, Life Always

2008-12-29T16:47:00.007-05:00

The God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness our Founding Fathers proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence does not exist in New York. It vanished.

Every year in the Empire State there are over 100,000 children deprived of the chance to experience fulfilling lives; to aspire to greatness, or even possess a fleeting sense of hope.

No one knows their names. They're forever invisible. Their souls are in repose.

Because they were aborted.

Abortion is a subject that makes people deeply uncomfortable. It's too often off-limits, and should never be that way. We need to talk about it more. Especially when we have the numbers.

The most recent state Department of Health (DOH) statistics document the tragedy of abortion. The numbers are gruesome. No New Yorker barely knows it, and the majority of our citizens seemingly do not care about the stark reality of lives never lived.

In 2006, there were 121,178 abortions in New York according to DOH, which includes:

* 29,186 women with one previous abortion;
* 16,815 women with 2 previous abortions;
* 8,068 women with 3 previous abortions;
* 3,804 women with 4 previous abortions; and
* 3,803 women with 5 or more previous abortions.

It doesn't improve from the gruesomeness, with:

* 47,071 abortions paid for by taxpayers through Medicaid;
* 13,778 abortions with a gestation period greater than 13 weeks;
* 65,704 abortions for women aged 20-29; and
* 28,722 abortions for women aged 30-39.

These numbers should break your heart in half if you have the capacity to have a heart. Each number has a story. A story that is either poignant, frightening, or unimaginable for the victim, her family and friends.

Abortion statistics are never reported. Not in a paper, local television news, national television news or talk radio. They should be.

Despite the powerful National Abortion Rights Action League and the National Organization for Women asserting that abortion is not a form a birth control, the multiple abortion numbers transform the claim into pure fiction. Yet, that fact does not matter to our elected officials.

Not one politician in New York held a news conference to celebrate the 121,178 abortions that happened here in 2006. For good reason. What would be said? Damn, we missed our 140,000 goal?

Our elected officials will never call attention to these DOH numbers. And every single one of them knows why. They understand abortion is the taking of a human life. But cravenly refuse to admit it.

If abortion is such a sacred right why don't abortion doctors speak on behalf on those we cast our ballots for? Did Mayor Michael Bloomberg or Governor David Paterson ever invite an abortionist to a campaign rally or news conference during their careers to hail the precious right to an abortion? Of course not.

There were 83,226 abortions in Mayor Bloomberg's city in 2006. We didn't hear one word - not a peep - from this man who revels in lecturing his constituents about how to live healthy lives.

Immense psychological repercussions are common for women who undergo an abortion. Yet this Napoleonic mayor deigns to condescend to us about smoking and transfat at fast food restaurants. His priorities about how to live a healthy life are backward.

The Bloombergs, Patersons and others that support this "procedure" can't even bring themselves to use the word abortion. It's called "reproductive rights" or "choice."

We all deserve to make choices in life. The DOH website lists the choices New York's moms and dads made in 2006 for "most popular birth names by sex." It's on the same statistics table as abortion, and the bureaucrats at DOH likely never noticed the contradiction.

Michael and Matthew are the most popular boys names with Emily and Isabella the most popular girls names. They are beautiful names, and when the 2007 statistics come out thousands of Michaels, Matthews, Emilys and Isabellas will never be placed in a baby stroller because of the culture of abortion.

2008 Op-Eds

2008-12-27T11:25:00.003-05:00

September 18: New York Daily News: Economic Development Giveaways Are A Bloody Ripoff

September 21: The Sunday Gazette of Schenectady: Tonko Will Be One More Do-Nothing Congressman

October 5: The Sunday Gazette of Schenectady: Governor, Leaders Too Afraid Of Unions To Cut State Spending

November 6: New York Post: A Well-Deserved Defeat

November 12: Newsday: Go For It, Gov. Paterson

November 25: New York Post: New York's Real Outrage

November 30: The Sunday Gazette of Schenectady: After Years Of No-Plan Spending, Fat-Cat Teachers Deserve Cuts

December 7: New York Daily News: Teach Kids To Understand, Not Worship, Bobby Kennedy

December 14: The Sunday Gazette of Schenectady: Super Steel Took Millions, Then Abandoned County

The Super Bowl Of Cliches

2008-12-22T10:10:00.011-05:00

2009 NFL Playoff Game: New York Jets v. New England Patriots

New York Jets Pre-game Locker Room

Coach Eric Mangini: Today we have to bring our A-game and play like we're capable of playing. Everyone counted us out before the start of the season. No one gave us a chance two weeks ago. But we don't play these games on paper, and if we come together as a team, we'll find a way to win. Just go out there and have fun.

New England Patriots Pre-game Locker Room

Coach Bill Belichick: Winning is everything.

Game Time Booth with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms

The Jets came out of the locker room all fired up, Jim. Yes, they're loaded for bear today, Phil. And it's obvious there's no love lost between these two teams.

This is always a tough place to play, Jim. Intangibles will be the key. The team that plays ball-control offense and doesn't turn it over will win. The Patriots have to contain Thomas Jones. He's a real throwback. And the Jets have to stop the big play by Randy Moss. He can put the Patriots on his shoulders and carry them.

First Half Game Call

Favre and the Jets are playing with a short field at the Patriot 45. Favre hands off to Jones, he's got some room, and shakes off several would-be tacklers and rumbles down the sidelines for 40 yards. You could have driven a truck through that hole.

At the five, Favre hands off to Jones and New York draws first blood on a textbook play. Jones was in a zone on that drive. You can't teach that. The extra point splits the uprights, 7-0 Jets.

The Patriots go three and out.

Favre is marching the Jets down the field. Favre is audibilizing. Mangold snaps it. Favre has all day back there, Favre has an eternity. He airs it out to Laveranues Coles. A circus catch by the cat-quick Coles, and he turns on the after-burners. Touchdown Jets. That was vintage Brett Favre.

Favre will be buying dinner for his whole offensive line after this game if the Jets win. He's playing like a little kid out there. Jets tack on the extra point, it's 14-0. The Jets are clicking on all cylinders.

You can feel the momentum swinging. New England is playing physical football. The crowd is becoming a factor.

Matt Cassel has New England knocking on the door at the Jet 16. This is their deepest penetration yet.

Cassel is directing traffic. He throws a strike right on the numbers to Moss for a touchdown. That was a timing pattern. You can't say enough about Moss; he's got ice-water in his veins. And so New England answers back, with the extra point good, 14-7 Jets.

Favre has happy feet, he's flushed out of the pocket, and throws into double coverage and it's picked off by Mike Vrabel. He's always around the football. That was an ill-advised pass by Favre.

But there's a late flag. A flag usually means holding. The officials can call holding on every play. But it's offensive pass interference on the Jets, and the players have choice words for each other.

The Patriots take over. Cassel has his game face on. He checks off his receivers, and he finds Moss all alone in the end zone. They diagrammed that perfectly. Cassel has a swagger about him now.

The Patriots line up for the extra point. Missed wide right. That one could come back to haunt them, and it's 14-13 Jets.

Halftime interview by ESPN's Erin Andrews with Belichick

Andrews: Coach, what adjustments do you need to make in the second half?

Belichick: Well, we've still got plenty of football left. We have to go out there and execute.

Andrews: Thanks, coach.

Halftime interview by ESPN's Erin Andrews with Mangini

Andrews: Coach, what did you tell your players in the locker room?

Mangini: That we have to step up and make plays. We need to play within ourselves.

Andrews: Good luck, coach.

Second Half Game Call

The Patriots are trying to stave off elimination, down 14-13.

Cassel comes set at the Jet 45. Three-step drop, and he hits Wes Welker with a pinpoint pass at the 34. They pay him to make those catches. Welker is the consummate team player. And that looked like a missed assignment for Jet DB Ty Law.

The Patriots can't afford to get lackadaisical now. Cassel drops back, he scrambles, and he's sacked for a 15 yard loss by the rookie Vernon Gholston out of Ohio State. He's some kind of player.

Cassel really got his bell rung there, and he's slow getting up. Cassel is up, but he's walking gingerly. He's going to feel that one in the morning. The Patriots are looking at fourth down and forever now, and have to punt.

Farve takes the snap from Mangold, and dumps it off to Dustin Keller. Keller bulls his way for extra yardage, and is taken down just shy of the Patriot 29 for a 20 yard gain. That was a real heads-up play by the former boilermaker Keller.

The Jets have to remember what got them here, and take care of the football.

Favre, the ultimate gunslinger, is changing the play at the line of scrimmage. Play-action fake, Favre has all kinds of time, and guns it to Jerricho Cotchery for a first down at the Patriot 9 yard line. That throw was right on the money. Cotchery came to play today. The North Carolina State product has a great feel for the game.

Favre hands off to Leon Washington and he runs to daylight for a score. No one even laid a glove on him. He's the Jets' spark plug. The scrappy Washington is finally coming into his own. Feely puts it through and its 21-13 Jets. That took the crowd right out of the game.

This is gut-check time for the Patriots. They're still very much alive with a buck-40 left in regulation.

Cassel hands off to Kevin Faulk and he's stuffed for a 3-yard loss by Kris Jenkins at the Patriot 47. Jenkins has been a beast out there.

The Patriots are playing with a great sense of urgency. Third and 13. Cassel is in the shotgun. He drops and hits Welker for a fifteen yard gain and he steps out of bounds at the Jet 38. He ran out of real estate.

These two teams are fighting tooth and nail. With 14 seconds left in the game, it's decision time for the Patriots.

Cassel takes the snap. Cassel has a man open downfield, Moss has a step on the defender and it's caught at the Jet 2 yard line. He's having a monster game. Cassel and Moss are on the same page now.

The Patriots are not going away with their backs against the wall. The crowd is going wild. You can feel the electricity.

The Patriots can't cough it up here. They pin their hopes on Cassel. Five seconds to go. Cassel drops. He's sacked by Gholston, the one-man wrecking crew. It's over. Jets win 21-13.

Favre has silenced all the critics. He has a new lease on life.

New York Jets Post-game Locker Room

Andrews: Brett, talk about the game.

Favre: We made a statement here today. It was a total team effort, and we knew what we had to do and went out and did it. We gave it 110 percent.

Andrews: Thanks, Brett.

New England Patriots Post-game Locker Room

Andrews: I'm here with Coach Belichick. Coach, what went wrong today?

Belichick: We came out flat, and they smelled the jugular. They made the big plays, and we didn't. The ball just didn't bounce our way. We can still hold our heads high though. We left it all out on the field.

Andrews: Thanks, coach.

Post-game booth with Nantz and Simms

Phil, these two teams went at it like a couple heavyweights. They played a full 60 minutes. Yes they did, Jim, and the Jets served notice that they finally learned how to win.

The game was a lot closer than the final score indicates, Phil. True, Jim, and the Jets made the athletic plays when they had to, and the game was won in the trenches.

There were no losers in this game, Phil. Both teams played their hearts out.

PROVOCATIONS: Paterson's Budget From Hell

2008-12-18T07:55:00.007-05:00

Gov. David A. Paterson has demonstrated why questioning his largely uneventful career before he assumed office and his bizarre behavior after taking office were legitimate concerns.

Unveiling a $121 billion budget, Gov. Paterson again made the Empire State a national laughingstock by proposing $4 billion in 137 gratuitous fees on everything from iPods to soft drinks to inexpensive clothes to movie tickets to cigars. He gleefully launched a fee assault on our wallets and everyday lives.

Most disturbingly, after issuing warnings for months on the desperate need to cut spending, what did Gov. Paterson do? Sell out, and increase spending. He lost his nerve by following a typical politician's penchant for placing hypocrisy over principle.

The critical barometer for spending is the "state funds" section of the budget. Gov. Paterson's spending increase is one percent, and one percent too much. With the looming multi-billion deficits we face, a cut of at least five percent was required.

The so-called "cuts" to school aid, Medicaid and hospitals are minor, despite the predictable whaling and whining of Albany's entrenched special interests. In addition, our 200,000-member bloated state workforce drains state coffers with gold-plated benefits not provided in other states, and Paterson proposed eliminating a grand total of . . . 520 positions.

What Gov. Paterson continued was nothing more than the failed Cuomo-Pataki-Spitzer model that created the financial nightmare we're living in today.

It's an abdication of leadership from Gov. Paterson. His budgetary decisions display a woeful unpreparedness to lead 19 million New Yorkers through our daunting fiscal crisis. Perhaps the only success he achieved was alienating political and ideological constituencies critical to long-term fiscal sanity.

Blame it on Eliot Spitzer. Yes, client 9 has been gone nine months, and he's still wreaking havoc.

Shortly before Gov. Paterson assumed office last March in the wake of Spitzer's downfall, his responsibilities as Lieutenant Governor were few. He was virtually ignored for 14 months.

In Albany circles the sole reason for why Spitzer picked Paterson is well-known, and now we're paying the price with a budget devoid of innovation and new ideas. It's the truth that dare speak only behind closed doors.

In 2005, Leecia Eve, the daughter of former Assemblyman Arthur Eve of Buffalo, announced her candidacy for Lieutenant Governor. Ms. Eve is black. She had the support of nearly every influential black New York elected official, from Rep. Charles Rangel to former Mayor David Dinkins. Even Gov. Paterson's father Basil supported Ms. Eve.

Yet, then-Attorney General Spitzer created a massive political problem for himself by rejecting Ms. Eve's candidacy. "The Smartest Man In The World," as Rangel mockingly described him, needed to mend fences with angry Democrats in the minority community. He knew he had to select an African-American to be his running mate to calm the storm.

Where to look? Why, in the New York State Senate where Paterson was serving as the sleepy Minority Leader for three years supporting absurd legislation such as limiting the number of bullets police officers can carry in their weapons and voting rights for non-citizens.

Before he was elected to the Senate, Paterson worked in the Queens District Attorney's office, which is notable because he lied about being a "prosecutor" in his official biography (he never passed the bar exam). But his influential father plucked him out of the DA's office and he was easily elected in a 1985 special election.

Spitzer knew exactly what he was doing. Every Governor wants a Lieutenant Governor who dutifully says nothing and stays out of sight. He could count on Paterson to fill the role.

Paterson was picked by Spitzer for raw political reasons. Now this poor, politically-correct decision has manifested itself in a destructive budget blueprint that will further drive more jobs and residents out of the state for good.

It shouldn't come as a surprise.

The budget Gov. Paterson announced is a mere extension of the incompetent decision-making he exhibited days after taking office. He stunned New Yorkers with lurid confessions of drug use and adultery, and media reports detailed his delight in spending campaign funds on personal desires such as hotel rooms, suits and travels out-of-state.

When a public official is an accident of history there are unintended consequences. For nine months we've experienced the unintended consequences of David A. Paterson as New York's 56th Governor, and our future looks bleaker than ever.

Keystone Security At The Capitol and LOB

2008-12-18T06:41:00.008-05:00

Text of the e-mail read by Fred Dicker on his show yesterday:

I hope you keep blasting the State Police for their bumbling behavior. They deserve it.

Never once in the five years I worked on Capitol Hill as a Congressional staffer did I walk through a House or Senate office building security entrance and experience the head-shaking unprofessionalism that goes on at the Capitol and the LOB entrances. And I'm talking about situations with major security concerns, such as President Reagan lying in state or the State of the Union.

A couple weeks ago I entered the State Street side of the Capitol and put my Blackberry and keys in the basket. The dimwit State Police officer says to me: "where's your wallet?" Where's my wallet? I don't carry a wallet, I told her. What a stupid question. Like I would have an M-16 in it even if I did carry a wallet. Plus, having gone through security entrances in D.C. thousands of times, I know what must go in the basket to make their jobs easier. She was so obnoxious.

Another time I entered the LOB and put my stuff in the basket and proceeded to walk through. I put my left hand in my pocket looking for my ATM card and the State Police officer bellows "take your hand out of your pocket!" This was after I had already walked through the metal detector. The guy acted like some wanna-be Albany Rambo.

These officers need simple common decency lessons.

The podcast can be heard here.

Scamming Schenectady

2008-12-14T05:54:00.004-05:00

Chichester's Op-Ed in today's Sunday Gazette: Super Steel Took Millions, Then Abandoned County.

The Gang of Three Stooges

2008-12-14T00:48:00.009-05:00

Gina: You will show me The Stooges?

Jerry: I will show you The Stooges.

New Yorkers don't need Jerry Seinfeld to help them identify the state legislature's Three Stooges. They are Pedro Espada, Carl Kruger and Ruben Diaz.

Known as The Gang of Three, these Democrats have refused to vote for Senator Malcolm Smith as the incoming Majority Leader even though their party won control of the Senate on Election Day for the first time in over 40 years.

For New Yorkers who have never heard of this legislative Gang of Three Stooges, here's the shorthand on their tainted reputations. Among Democrats.

* Senator-elect Pedro Espada is a con artist, a bumbling phony and suffers from delusions of grandeur.

* Senator Carl Kruger is a forgettable legislator with a history of cutting deals that satisfy his Lyndon Johnson-like narcissism.

* Senator Ruben Diaz, a leading Democratic opponent of gay marriage and abortion, is so utterly clueless he doesn't understand why he's in a party that despises his position on those issues.

The Gang of Three Stooges are hustlers. Minus the eye-pokes, ear pulling and smacks in the face.

Even by sleazy Albany deal-making standards, the Gang of Three Stooges are brazen. They should be joyous about the end of the 43-year long reign of Senate Republicans. They're not. What each Stooge cares about is: what's in it for me?

We now know the deal they negotiated with Smith last week collapsed because of its absurdity. Stooge Espada as a Potemkin Majority Leader, Stooge Kruger as Senate Finance Committee Chairman and Stooge Diaz extracting a promise not to bring gay marriage to the floor for a vote (which wouldn't pass if there was a vote).

These are duly elected New York State Senators and they behave like infantile 8th graders angling for the class presidency. Unfortunately, we don't have the power to recall state legislators in our Empire State. If there is ever a campaign mounted for recall legislation, Espada, Kruger and Diaz should be the poster boys for it.

16-year-old Chichester's Letter On "The Vault"

2008-12-12T23:35:00.010-05:00

What a thrill to be in Sports Illustrated, my favorite magazine Mom and Dad gave me a subscription to years before being in high school. Even if it's only two sentences.

(And the first experience with an editor's knife).

NYSUT's RFK Political Indoctrination, Cont.

2008-12-09T22:43:00.014-05:00

The New York State United Teachers held an event at the Robert F. Kennedy High School in Queens today to unveil three lesson plans on the life of the late former Senator and Attorney General.

“What we’re trying to do is connect the lesson plans with the vision of social justice,” said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi.

These fraudulent lesson plans were first brought to the wide attention of New Yorkers in my Daily News op-ed on Sunday.

The lessons plans, which can be read here, are a lie. They purposely ignore the inconvenient, complete truth about Kennedy's career.

One of the worst things a teacher can do is distort history. But that's exactly what NYSUT is perpetrating. They're exerting political pressure on our Empire State principals, superintendents and teachers to adopt lesson plans that are a comic book chronicle of RFK's life.

New York's public school students won't be learning about Kennedy's direct involvement in the wiretapping of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Or how he served as counsel to United States Senator Joe McCarthy. The man is so thoroughly reviled "McCarthyism" is today a catch-all attack word in response to smears, real and perceived.

In addition, he was widely viewed as an unprincipled opportunist by his fellow Democrats when he joined the 1968 presidential race only after Senator Eugene McCarthy exposed President Lyndon Johnson's weakness in the New Hampshire primary.

Historical facts don't matter to NYSUT. The union's lesson plans about Kennedy read like Soviet-style manuals circa 1938.

What is important to New York's largest teachers union is assisting the Kennedy family's obsession with glorifying itself. The union states these lesson plans began "with a phone call to Iannuzzi from Kerry Kennedy, the seventh of RFK's 11 children."

Thanks to Iannuzzi, Kerry Kennedy imposed a Pravda-like version of her father on the public school children of New York. It's a disgrace.

What would happen if NYSUT sent three lesson plans to Empire State teachers celebrating - and fictionalizing - the life of President Ronald Reagan? That left out the Iran-Contra scandal, for example? There would be an outcry from the same people canonizing Kennedy.

Lesson plans should be left to local school districts. NYSUT has thoroughly politicized our public schools, and Iannuzzi should be ashamed of himself for helping to lead such an outrageous assault on the truth.

NYSUT's Cult Of Robert F. Kennedy

2008-12-07T05:02:00.007-05:00

Chichester's Op-Ed in the New York Daily News today on Robert F. Kennedy and the New York State United ~~Hustlers~~ Teachers.

"A Union of Professionals." Right.

Another Shameless Kennedy Opportunist

2008-12-06T13:23:00.010-05:00

The New York Post and Associated Press report Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has approached Governor David A. Paterson for appointment to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Via a phone call.

What has Mrs. Schlossberg ever achieved in her life to merit serving as a United States Senator?

The 51-year-old interned with her Uncle Edward Kennedy in the U.S. Senate, worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, wrote two forgettable books and serves on boards and foundations.

Wow. That's impressive.

Mrs. Schlossberg's resume is so flimsy it insults flimsy.

It's no secret what Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's occupation has been for years: Being John F. Kennedy's daughter. She's a typical professional Kennedy.

A professional Kennedy lives off the family name. A professional Kennedy doesn't have a real job. A professional Kennedy believes in entitlement without accomplishment. And eventually the professional Kennedy demands public office.

Edward J. McCormack Jr. understood it. He was Ted Kennedy's 1962 Democratic primary opponent, and during debate said:

"If your name was simply Edward Moore instead of Edward Moore Kennedy, your candidacy would be a joke."

Well, Caroline, if your name was simply Caroline Schlossberg instead of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, your candidacy would be a joke.

What has Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg ever done for upstate New York? She probably can't locate Massena on a state map. Or pronounce Coxsackie correctly.

How many times has she been to Albany for a true public service purpose? Or shown concern for the plight of Schenectady, Buffalo and Utica? I can't recall. Her record in that regard is likely barren.

She's also never been elected to any office. However woefully wrong they are on the issues, at least Rep. Carolyn Maloney and other Democratic contenders for the post have served New York for years. They've presented themselves to the people for office. No matter who you are that's always admirable.

New York doesn't need another famous name waltzing into office for reasons of ego. We already had it with Hillary Clinton, and she could hardly wait to abandon New York. But at least she was elected.

Senior elected Democrats hoping to serve out Senator Clinton's term have to be enraged today. Here comes unelected Caroline with an inside job phone call to Governor Paterson.

Go away, Caroline. Stick to being a professional Kennedy. That's what you're good at.

PROVOCATIONS: It's Time

2008-12-05T06:25:00.007-05:00

Governor David A. Paterson must certainly understand his amiable personality has failed to convince the state legislature that New York faces its worst financial meltdown since the 1970's. Nearly all our 212 legislators suffer from indifference. Crisis? What crisis?

State legislators don't care about the reality of what we're up against, are too petrified of their union bosses, or both. Now that their leaders, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, have arrogantly refused to provide Governor Paterson with one single idea for spending reductions to close next year's $12.5 billion deficit, they have forced him to the brink of dire decision-making.

Skelos, deservedly, will soon inherent the mantle of irrelevance now that his Senate Republicans lost their majority. But the problem is his successor, Queens Democrat Malcolm Smith, is not an improvement. In fact, Smith will lead a 32-member Democratic majority in opposition to spending controls with a greater ferocity than Albany's feckless Republicans.

Silver is even more of a challenge for Governor Paterson than Smith. He will go down in history as one of the most cunning and calculating legislative leaders Albany has ever witnessed. Entering his 15th year as Speaker, this man always seems to get what he wants.

There is only one way for Governor Paterson to handle the legislature for at least the next two months: Unilaterally. New York's constitution provides the governor with a series of executive powers state legislators have no authority whatsoever to stop.

State legislators have pet bills that barely receive media attention. Many are yawn-inducing. But not to them. They revel in promoting these little bills in their newsletters, public appearances, weekly newspapers, websites and elsewhere.

Governor Paterson should inform Speaker Silver and incoming Majority Leader Smith he's not signing one bill that does not directly address our state fiscal emergency. Every single one will be vetoed if it's sent.

State legislators relish access, and no where is it more evident in their pursuit of patronage. They love securing posts in the executive branch for supporters, campaign donors, friends and family members. It makes them look good at home.

Governor Paterson's Appointments Secretary, the patronage chief, knows all the precise details of the jobs state legislators covet for their benefactors. He should impose a moratorium on every one.

If halting patronage and bill signings is not enough to break chronic legislative inattention, there is always their precious pork-barrel projects to target. Governor Paterson can order top advisers to delay checks for the tens of millions that comprise this vote-buying slush fund. Assert no group gets one penny until the governor is satisfied he's receiving real cooperation from the legislature.

There is also The Nuclear Option. Governor Paterson can begin laying off state employees.

If he moves forward with layoffs the Public Employees Federation, Civil Service Employees Association and 1199, the bloated New York City hospital union, will be forced to negotiate in good faith. And it may finally make them consider reform to their Cadillac-style pension and health care costs that are bankrupting the state.

Such a hardball tactic should convince the union leadership to avoid launching their predictable radio and television commercials calling for tax hikes and other policies that have helped land our Empire State in this abyss. Once their members are looking for new employment, they'll consider playing nice with a man who leads 19 million people.

The governor himself also needs self-inspection. While his language is bold in warning New Yorkers we are living in a budgetary nightmare, Governor Paterson's behavior can be curious. He's jetted off to California and overseas recently for conferences that have nothing to do with the business of Albany. This is needless out-of-state socializing, and must stop.

In addition, Governor Paterson hesitates to use the bully pulpit. He has shown flashes of understanding how this immense communication tool succeeds. If he uses it correctly, it will work.

For example, when the unions inevitably object to reductions in health care spending Governor Paterson has the hard facts on his side. In 2005, a New York Times investigation found that as much as 40 percent of our $45 billion annual Medicaid budget encompasses fraud, mismanagement, abuse, as well as the incompetent interference of state legislators.

It's merely one fact, in an arsenal of facts, which have driven jobs and people out of New York. Especially upstate. Governor Paterson can relentlessly cite each one as he continues to confront the legislature.

The truth is the budget has to be cut. Massively. That simple. Yet we have 212 dithering state legislators who have conclusively demonstrated their only solution is to run away from reality.

Governor Paterson must wield the power he has at his disposal. It's time.

Teacher Throws Eraser At Chichester

2008-12-05T05:33:00.004-05:00

A former teacher is very upset with the Sunday Gazette Op-Ed on the New York State United ~~Hustlers~~ Teachers.

ESDC

2008-11-30T19:42:00.002-05:00

The critical response to Chichester's Op-Ed in the New York Post on the Empire State Development Corporation.

Fat Cat Teachers

2008-11-30T14:26:00.007-05:00

Chichester's Op-Ed in The Sunday Gazette on the New York State United ~~Hustlers~~ Teachers.

And they happen to be fatter, and more greedy, than this cat.

The Fraudster

2008-11-29T13:46:00.015-05:00

Dear Senator Ruben Diaz Sr.,

You oppose gay marriage. Good. It's the right position.

Even though your fellow Democrats won control of the state Senate by a 32-30 margin on Election Day, you have a personal problem. You won't vote for Malcolm Smith as the first Democratic Senate Majority Leader in 40 years if he brings gay marriage to the floor for a vote.

Your vote is critical. If you don't vote for Smith, or one of his Democrat competitors for leader, it could throw the Senate into chaos.

Well, now. That's interesting.

You're a proud New York Democrat.

New York Democrats overwhelmingly support gay marriage. Your party has been in the vanguard of the gay rights movement.

You serve in the same party as Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, Senator Tom Duane, Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell, Assemblyman Micah Kellner and Assemblyman Matthew Titone. All openly gay legislators. Your powerful New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is also an openly gay legislator.

Have you noticed?

There is a certain famous event, Ruben, that happens in your city annually. Perhaps you've heard of it.

Have you ever seen the New York City gay pride parade? Who do you think organizes and participates in that event? Who prances around on those floats? Or likes to play dress-up? And mocks and ridicules my Roman Catholic Church?

I can assure you, Ruben, they're not Republicans.

This is your party. Your Democrat party, Mr. Principles.

Opposition to gay marriage is your signature issue. It's why people who count know your name.

If you're so committed to this issue, why are you a Democrat and not an independent? Or even a Republican? I'll tell you why. You could never get elected to the Senate without the Democrat party line in your Bronx district.

Of course, you understand your career would be over if you voted for a Republican as the next Majority Leader. Remember Olga Mendez? Her career was finished once she sided with Senate Republicans. You're going to be the next Olga if you do the same, and you know it.

There is an endgame. You want something from Smith, or Governor Paterson (he's another strong supporter of gay marriage in your party, Ruben). This issue is your leverage.

You're going to do the right thing by your party and vote for Smith or Senator Jeff Klein come January. When you do, you'll have a great excuse to do so. We just don't know what it is yet. And this political farce you've manufactured will finally be over.

- Chris

New York's Real Outrage

2008-11-25T06:51:00.003-05:00

Chichester's Op-Ed in today's New York Post.

Senior Day At Notre Dame

2008-11-22T14:31:00.006-05:00

Here's hoping my Fighting Irish beat Syracuse 77-2 today. Rudy, which is 100 percent "based on a true story" accurate, should be the inspiration.

"You're 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you're gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself. And after what you've gone through, if you haven't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen. Now go on back."

State Legislator Judith Kaye Retiring

2008-11-21T10:32:00.003-05:00

The Associated Press reports "ovations" followed Judith Kaye's final hearings. And we go to the archives for information the fawning media won't report about Kaye.

The Vultures Show Up

2008-11-18T21:06:00.013-05:00

What a disturbing day.

In a noble demonstration of leadership, Governor David A. Paterson called the Legislature back to address our fiscal crisis. He proposed modest mid-year reductions in the rate of spending. Despite the reporting of certain lazy members of the Albany press corps, he did not propose budget "cuts."

The usual suspects appeared anyway, of course.

If New Yorkers want to truly understand why our state is being destroyed, it was on display outside the Capitol today. So-called protesters were in action. They were screaming into bull-horns, using children as political props and waving obnoxious, fake signs.

They were demanding another hand-out, another government program, another tax hike. If you told them the facts of the financial doomsday we are now living in, they wouldn't care. They wouldn't give a damn.

It was an appalling spectacle. These people exhibited their ignorance, greed and selfishness.

New Yorkers who see the pictures outside the Capitol could reasonably conclude it was comprised of grass roots protesters. Or "concerned citizens," as the predictably clueless Times Union described them. Wrong. They're union employees. A true protester shows up motivated by free will.

We are in a terrible economic decline, and I'm tired of citing the numbers. The numbers that show how many jobs we've lost. The numbers that detail the population flight from New York. The numbers that demonstrate, undeniably, how we are nationwide leaders in spending and taxation. These numbers write the obituary of our former great state.

And who do we have outside our Capitol, a building I love and my former place of employment, today? People too stupid and narcissistic to accept the facts. They want to continue the same, failed policies that have turned our state into a national laughingstock. A state over a million people have waved good-bye to during the last decade.

I don't travel home to Long Island anymore to visit my Mom and Dad. I have to go to Virginia, where they retired. Largely because of these hopeless, Jimmy Hoffa-style unionists plundering The Empire State just two blocks away from me today who will never get it. Ever.

Bumbling Baseball Writers Of America

2008-11-17T19:47:00.013-05:00

val·u·a·ble
adj.

1. Of great importance, use, or service.

The Baseball Writers of America should retire en masse. We don't need them anymore.

Today, their select members decreed Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals the National League Most Valuable Player. In the voting Pujols comfortably defeated Philadelphia Phillie Ryan Howard, 369-308.

Pujols was so valuable he helped the Cardinals to . . . a blazing fourth place finish in the N.L. Central division. The Cardinals were never in serious contention for the wild card, either. Not even close.

Yet, Howard has a World Series ring being fitted for him right now. A glorious ring none of his teammates could wear for the rest of their lives without his 48 home runs, 146 RBI and .543 slugging percentage. He erupted in September with a team-record 32 RBI, every one of which the Phillies needed to barely sneak by my beloved New York Mets for the division crown.

No Ryan Howard, and no Phillies playoff berth, no Phillies National League championship, no Phillies World Series championship. It's that simple.

But with Albert Pujols, the Cardinals were on the golf course last month. What exactly was his precise value? That his team finished fourth, and not last?

What a joke.

As noted, valuable is defined as "great importance." In baseball, "great importance" means making the playoffs. Nothing else counts after the 162nd game is completed.

If your team sucks, and you're the best player in baseball, so what. It doesn't matter. It's not the Most Outstanding Player award or the Greatest Season award or the Best Statistics award.

Value is subjective, of course. And it has allowed the sabermetric propeller hats in the BBWA to pervert the meaning of an honor that forever covers players in excellence.

Or should cover players like Ryan Howard in excellence. He just got Jeffrey Maier-ed today.

If Pujols won the Triple Crown, he wouldn't deserve the MVP. If he became the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941, he still wouldn't deserve the MVP.

The BBWA have placed me in the unenviable position of defending the Phillies, ~~the maggots~~. Because ~~I HATE THE PHILLIES WITH THE HEAT OF A NOVA~~ the team broke my Met heart in half. Again. Now I know what it feels like to be a pre-2004 Boston Red Sox fan because of Ryan Howard. Not because of Albert Pujols.

Mets General Manager Omar Minaya must be amused by this vote. David Wright finished seventh and Carlos Delgado finished ninth. Without either player the Mets don't even win 75 games. Both were more valuable than Pujols.

When Pittsburgh Pirate Ralph Kiner finished his seventh consecutive season leading the National League in home runs in 1952, he asked General Manager Branch Rickey for a pay raise. "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you," Rickey famously told Kiner.

Pujols should demand a new contract immediately. And his General Manager John Mozeliak should inform him, "We finished fourth with you, we can finish fourth without you."

"A Well-Deserved Defeat"

2008-11-14T09:36:00.003-05:00

Post readers respond to Chichester's op-ed on why Senate Republicans lost their majority.

PROVOCATIONS: The Marion Barry Republicans

2008-11-13T11:51:00.012-05:00

House Republicans are Marion Barry Republicans.

Barry, the former Washington, D.C. mayor, infamously became a national punchline for smoking crack with a prostitute on a video surveillance camera in 1990. After leaving office in disgrace and serving six months in prison, he was easily returned to office in 1994 with 56% of the vote.

With no questions asked. His record was irrelevant.

Barry's transgressions didn't matter to the Washingtonians who voted for him a mere four years after his conviction. And they were once again disappointed by his feckless performance in office.

Marion Barry's supporters were skilled in the art of denial and willful ignorance. Today, they serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Only their party is the Republican party.

Meet the Marion Barry Republicans.

A Marion Barry Republican doesn't consider an elected official's failed record. A Marion Barry Republican blindly supports personality, superficial appeals to ideas and claims to political rehabilitation. A Marion Barry Republican accepts futility and dismisses losing.

A Marion Barry Republican is a John Boehner Republican.

Even after the embarrassing loss of over 20 House seats, Congressman Boehner is slated to serve as the Republican Minority Leader throughout the next Congress. It's a sad, and pathetic, political reality: House Republicans refuse to overthrow their leader and begin rebuilding the party while staring in the face of two consecutive humiliating defeats.

Mr. Boehner has now presided over a stunning decline in House Republican fortunes. Even after losing the majority in 2006 under his leadership, he survived a challenge.

A major reason why morale collapsed throughout the Republican base during the party's 12 years of Congressional control was because of the explosion in federal spending. Mr. Boehner, as chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee from 2001 to 2006, helped achieve this sad reality.

Among conservative aides to House Members, and I served as one, it became a running joke to read Congressman Boehner's press office emails to Capitol Hill staffers. He was constantly highlighting the "record increases" in education spending for the intrusive No Child Left Behind law and other questionable education initiatives.

Mr. Boehner has been tattered by the sleazy Mark Foley text messaging fiasco, his ill-advised decision to place ethically compromised California Congressman Ken Calvert on the Appropriations Committee and a long association with those noted good-government reformers, K Street lobbyists.

But despite that past, does losing matter?

Before Election Day, 2006 House Republicans held 232 seats. Today, they hold 175. Congressman Boehner must be accountable for the catastrophic 50-seat loss in the House. Right? Wrong. He won't have to worry.

Even with the status quo Boehner record, House Republicans still don't understand what must be done. They're in a stumbling haze.

Immediately after the results were evident conservative Congressman Eric Cantor announced that he would seek to replace House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, who is not running for re-election as the second highest-ranking House Republican.

Big deal.

Mr. Cantor is not exactly a profile in courage. He's going after the easier prize in competing for Mr. Blunt's job. Even if he wins, Mr. Cantor will serve under Mr. Boehner, who has been in Washington, D.C. for so long there are no limited government, pro-freedom ideas left for him to embrace without the hypocrisy of his career and voting record emerging.

If elected, what's Mr. Cantor going to claim? That he has Mr. Boehner's "ear" on issues, and constantly reassure his conservative colleagues for the next two years?

Unfortunately, Congressman Boehner became a classic establishment Republican in the Bob Michel mode, the former minority leader who proved incapable of leading House Republicans out of the political wilderness. Only until Newt Gingrich was elected Minority Whip in 1989, by one vote, did Republicans begin to lay the groundwork for the Contract with America that elevated them to the majority.

Where is the Gingrich-level revolutionary challenge to Mr. Boehner? No Member of the House Republican Conference has the skills and energy to mount one. They're exhausted. They do not possess the courage, core principles and, yes, character to lead a coup against Mr. Boehner and his yes-man lieutenants.

House Republicans have been defeated in a hail of arrogance and ideological sell-outs, and continue to flounder. And in the process they destroyed the once-enthusiastic conservative base that elected them.

Mr. Boehner should have resigned immediately after Election Day, and called for a new direction for House Republicans. It would have been the honorable thing to do. He didn't resign, of course, and somewhere Marion Barry is proud of his decision.

Dad's Paper

2008-11-12T07:33:00.008-05:00

Chichester's Op-Ed in today's Newsday.

Headless Republicans In My Beloved Post

2008-11-06T07:19:00.003-05:00

Chichester's Op-Ed: A Well-Deserved Defeat

Carnac Chichester Nearly Nails It Completely

2008-11-05T06:21:00.006-05:00

Prediction: Electoral College
Obama: 339
McCain: 199

Result:
Obama: 338
McCain: 158
Too close to call: 42

Prediction: Percentage
Obama: 53.2%
McCain: 46.1%

Result:
Obama: 52% (62,322,081)
McCain: 46% (55,290,796)

Prediction: U.S. Senate
Democrats/Independents: 61
Republicans: 39

Result:
Democrats/Independents: 56
Republicans: 40
Too close to call: 4

Prediction: U.S. House of Representatives
Democrats: 251
Republicans: 183
Vacant: 1

Result:
Democrats: 252
Republicans: 173
Too close to call: 10

Prediction: New York House Delegation
Democrats: 26
Republicans: 3

Result:
Democrats: 26
Republicans: 3

Prediction: New York Senate
Democrats: 34
Republicans: 28

Result:
Democrats: 32
Republicans: 29
Too close to call: 1

MSNBC Calls Presidential Race For Obama

2008-11-04T08:07:00.007-05:00

"MSNBC is now ready to call the 2008 presidential race for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. Senator Obama, 47, entered the Democratic primary as a decided underdog against the seemingly invincible Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. With less than one-tenth of one percent of the vote in, we project Senator Obama has now defeated Arizona Senator John McCain. We repeat: MSNBC has called the presidential race for Barack Obama at 8:07 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, November 4, 2008. Mr. Obama will be the 44th president of the United States." - Tom Brokaw.

Election Day Pick Six

2008-11-03T22:46:00.010-05:00

Electoral College
Obama: 339
McCain: 199

Percentage
Obama: 53.2%
McCain: 46.1%

U.S. Senate
Democrats/Independents: 61
Republicans: 39

U.S. House of Representatives
Democrats: 251
Republicans: 183
Vacant: 1

New York House Delegation
Democrats: 26
Republicans: 3

New York Senate
Democrats: 34
Republicans: 28

Welcome, Potheads And Atheists

2008-11-02T22:33:00.040-05:00

It is not easy to work for a Member of Congress. The hours are grueling, the pay is mediocre and the politics raw. Yet, the experience is deeply rewarding for many reasons, especially if you're a staffer in the Washington, D.C. office.

The structure is nearly the same for every office: Chief of Staff, Counsel, Scheduler, Press Secretary, Legislative Director, Legislative Assistants and Staff Assistant. Each position carries a different and important duty so the Member can serve 750,000 constituents effectively.

But there is a responsibility common for every Congressional staffer who understands Capitol Hill: Always protect the boss from outsiders with bad intentions. Always.

All 535 Members of Congress have outsiders lurking. These are people who exist for the sole purpose of creating havoc and embarrassment. It's easy to recognize them. They're the kooks, the nut jobs, the wackos.

For example, the lobbies for atheists and potheads. Keeping the atheists and potheads away from the boss barely needs a staff discussion. They don't get in the door.

Except if you're Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand.

Meet Woody Kaplan, a shopping center magnate who lives in Massachusetts.

Kaplan sits on the board of a political action committee called Godless Americans. According to its website, the goal of Godless Americans is "mobilizing nonbelievers for political activism," which includes the removal of "In God We Trust" from our currency.

In addition, Kaplan is currently a major fundraiser for the Massachusetts Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative, a ballot question that asks for the "decriminalization" of the plant this year. Among other demented provisions, it would replace criminal penalties with civil penalties for possessing marijuana.

Since her election, Congresswoman Gillibrand has met with Kaplan at least twice. He has contributed money to her campaign, which she refuses to return.

A scheduling meeting with a Member of Congress is precise. The boss wants to know the background of the person in consideration. Why? Because it may come back to haunt the Member if the meeting occurred with a person completely out of the mainstream. Like Woody Kaplan.

Who meets with someone determined to banish any mention of religion from American life? Why meet with an individual who devotes time and money toward a new law that empowers people to smoke a joint right outside your house or apartment without fear of heading to the slammer?

If Congresswoman Gillibrand didn't know Kaplan's background before she met with him, she needs to hire new staffers because she's surrounded herself with incompetents. If she did know Kaplan's background, voters should consider that fact on Tuesday.

Politics is about associations. Perhaps someone will ask Congresswoman Gillibrand about her association with Mr. Kaplan. Because we don't know how The Transparent Congresswoman happened to take money from, and meet with, a certified extremist.

We have more pressing problems than potheads and atheists in our country now. And that's why Kirsten Gillibrand should have blown off this Kaplan character and returned his money when she had the opportunity to do so.

"I'm not meeting with someone who believes in the precious 'right' of the bong hit or those who despise the mere mention of faith. Bring me someone who counts."

You can bet Congresswoman Gillibrand never uttered those words to her staff.

Philadelphia Freedom, Don't Shine On Me

2008-11-02T22:07:00.029-05:00

They have no class. None.

Philadelphia's so-called sports fans and its professional athletes are not defined by brotherly love. They're defined by non-brotherly stupidity.

"World F---ing Champions!"

That's what second baseman Chase Utley bellowed when he took the microphone at the Phillies celebration of their World Series title on Friday. He was cheered, of course.

I wonder what the moms and dads who brought their children to the event thought about Utley. There was definitely no advance "ear muffs" warning from Vince Vaughn a la Old School before Utley opened his mouth.

Like Utley, shortstop and designated dimwit Jimmy Rollins could also not contain his no-class act. He ripped the Mets.

Here the Phillies defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays for their first World Series triumph in 28 years, and Rollins is trashing . . . the Mets. Because the Mets took 11 of the 18 games this year against the Phillies, the only team in Major League Baseball history to lose 10,000 games. They can't lose another 10,000 fast enough and wallow in more misery.

Watching a Phillies game is also watching a bunch of catatonic cultists. They boo everything and everyone. Even in the aftermath of the Phillies win, the fans were still booing the mere mention of someone or something they didn't like.

What a pathetic bunch of "fans." In the wake of a glorious win, they can't control themselves. These people need help.

Utley and Rollins are the perfect no-class Philadelphia professional athletes. They could also play hockey and football in Philadelphia.

This is a city so maniacal about the Philadelphia Eagles that the old Veterans Stadium had a court installed in it to immediately administer justice to its criminal fans. If you wore a Giants or Cowboys jersey into the old Vet, be prepared for a potential assault. Or, at the very least, for a beer thrown on you.

The Flyers won two Stanley Cups with a bunch of aspiring convicted felons and no-teeth big mouths. "The Broad Street Bullies." Right. Goons On Ice was more like it.

How fitting that it was my team, the New York Islanders, and Bobby Nystrom scoring an overtime goal to beat the Flyers in Game Six to win the 1980 Stanley Cup. At least he spared Philadelphians a riot if the Flyers won.

Philadelphia fans and athletes deserve to celebrate another major professional sports title when they can achieve civility. That means never.

Times Union Online With Rep. Gillibrand

2008-11-01T13:02:00.035-04:00

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand represents the 20th Congressional District of New York. She was online, live, with Times Union Editor Rex Smith and Editorial Page Editor Jay Jochnowitz on Friday, October 31 at noon to take your questions and comments regarding her work in Congress.

NOTE: The Times Union reserved the right to select the questions and comments. A transcript follows.
_________________

Susan from Troy: Congresswoman, I want to thank you so much for the resolution you introduced last month encouraging all Americans to be nice to puppies.

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Thank you, Susan! I have long been a puppy rights advocate! I hope all Americans will be kind and gentle to puppies everywhere. In fact, I just adopted a new Golden Retriever puppy that I named Marlboro Man. :)
_________________

Bob from Hudson: Congresswoman, what is your favorite color?

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Thank you for such an important and insightful question, Bob. It's red. But if I had to choose three colors they would be red, white and blue!!! And I will continue my work on behalf of our red, white and blue veterans!!! For you Bob!!! :)
_________________

Joan from Saratoga Springs: How can you possibly explain your short-sighted and naive opposition to the surge? It has succeeded and we are winning the war on terror because of it. Don't you owe your constituents, our veterans and our troops fighting overseas your deepest apology for your failure to support the surge?

Congresswoman Gillibrand: What the fuc-, er, I mean, what the heck. Rex, who approved that question? See me later. And get with the program. Next question.
_________________

Lisa from Valatie: Congresswoman, you are my role model for a working mother! I just don't understand how you can have it all and do it all! You are my hero! You go girl!

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Thank you, Lisa! I can do it all because I know our children are the most precious resource we have. I am pro-children (and pro-puppies if you didn't notice from a previous questioner). I am also pro-motherhood. And you go girl, too!!! :)
_________________

Joe from Schodack: Why do you feel the compulsion to issue news release after news release grandstanding about New York's property taxes? Do you understand that you, as a Member of Congress, can do nothing about our property taxes because it's a local and state government responsibility?

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Jay, who let this character in the door? You see me later as well. And don't forget to bring Rex, got it? Next question.
______________

Liz from Clifton Park: Congresswoman, my favorite song is Whitney Houston's I'm Every Woman because it reminds me of you!

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Thank you Liz! I plan to introduce a Congressional resolution on that song next week in your honor, and issue a news release! :)
_________________

Stephen from Glens Falls: Why do you oppose drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while we're facing an energy crisis? Did I miss something, or do you represent Alaska, and not New York, Congresswoman?

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Is some Times Union minion allowing these questions? When Big Daddy and I get done with you, Rex and Jay, it's not going to be Rex and Jay's Excellent Adventure. You both better be in a meeting right now. Next question.
_________________

Tom from Lake Placid: Congresswoman, I have no idea why Barack Obama did not select you to be his running mate. What was this man thinking?

Congresswoman Gillibrand: Why, thank you Tom! :) I am going to continue to work on your behalf, and I'll be thinking of the placidity of your lake, and you, Tom, as I go fulfill the duties of my office. And I'm sending you a puppy.
_________________

Chris from Albany: Congresswoman, why do you purposely conceal and deny your work for Big Tobacco?

Congresswoman Gillibrand: I know that's you Chichester, you little jerk. Next question.

Kirsten Gillibrand's Pork Problem

2008-10-30T14:43:00.009-04:00

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand understands how to get re-elected in the traditional Washington, D.C. way: Buy people and institutions off with federal tax dollars.

Congressional Republicans, my former employers for five years, presided over an explosion in pork barrel spending, also known as earmarks, while they held the majority from 1995-2007. It was a disgrace. Especially watching it up close as a Capitol Hill press secretary and communications director.

Earmarks were part of the reason why Democrats defeated Republicans to take the majority in the House and Senate two years ago. Fiscal conservatives grew increasingly disgusted with the unaccountable and out-of-control process. And rightly blamed Republicans.

President Reagan vetoed the 1987 transportation authorization bill because it contained 152 earmarks. In May, 2007 Gillibrand announced that she requested funding for an astounding 188 earmarks totaling $297 million. The following December she issued a news release noting that 32 earmarks for "local projects" totaling $19 million would be funded by an omnibus spending bill.

Of the 32 projects, Congresswoman Gillibrand "won" $122,500 for the Hudson Opera House Community and Arts Center for "renovations to the building." And another $750,000 went to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum to "complete infrastructure modernization projects."

While Congresswoman Gillibrand succeeded in delighting Figaro fans, she earned the wrath of the Washington, D.C. taxpayer watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. In a "pork alert" the group ridiculed Gillibrand's Roosevelt library earmark as "among the most egregious examples of pork-barreling" in the House.

"I think investing in the library is very important for the economy of Dutchess County," Gillibrand said, ludicrously.

From Day One in office, Congresswoman Gillibrand has eagerly joined the ranks of House members who simply can't control themselves. It's obvious what The Gillibrand Pork Doctrine is: Say Yes To Everything. No individual or group is seemingly off-limits.

It's impossible for Congresswoman Gillibrand to reach an informed decision on the merits of every earmark request she makes. Equally dubious is how personally instrumental she is in obtaining the funding she obsessively announces. From reading the news releases her office distributes, one could easily conclude she's the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee rather than a typical freshman.

Both Republican and Democratic Members of Congress have a near-pathological inability to say no to their constituents when the "project" is a complete waste of federal money. A fellow press secretary for a House member once told me her boss requested funding for a constituent group researching UFOs. Yes, tax dollars in search of little green people.

Congresswoman Gillibrand is part of this intractable problem in Washington, D.C. She possesses a pork barrel ideology that puts the average pork-laden Member of Congress to shame. If all 535 Members asked for her 188 earmarks it would amount to 100,580 requests draining the federal treasury of billions.

In fiscal year 2008, Congress approved 11,610 earmarks worth $17.2 billion. That was a 337 percent increase over the 2,658 projects in fiscal year 2007, and a 30 percent increase over the $13.2 billion total in fiscal year 2007.

Fortunately, there are principled Members of Congress who don't request earmarks because they are repulsed by the unseemly nature of the process. Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, for example.

And there are the Kirsten Gillibrands, who not only refuse to follow the Flake standard but relish the vote-buying potential in pork. She has the UFO-mentality and can't say no to anyone who bangs on her door with a tin cup.

Gillibrand understands local governments are not going to turn down one penny from Congress, even when they have no need for it. For example, homeland security bills routinely send tax dollars to small fire departments in rural counties nationwide. The Congresswoman has issued news release after news release hailing the funding acquired by those fire departments in her district.

What Congresswoman Gillibrand will never tell upstate fire department chiefs is the truth. That al-Qaeda is not targeting them. Ever. And up goes the pork tab for taxpayers.

Congresswoman Gillibrand defends her earmarks by claiming she makes them public. So what. She reminds me of the character Matthew Lesko in the late-night infomercial who runs around Capitol Hill in a ridiculous suit covered with dollar signs screaming about how to extract money from the federal government.

If Congresswoman Gillibrand wins a second term this Tuesday part of the reason will be her successful raiding of the federal treasury. She's become a princess of pork, and given the fiscal crisis we're mired in right now that's not an admirable quality for any Member of Congress.

The Silence Of Excellence In Broadcasting

2008-10-27T19:22:00.007-04:00

Who is afraid of President George W. Bush?

Rush Limbaugh.

The legendary talk radio host with the largest audience in America can't bring himself to direct criticism toward our 43rd president. Not a syllable. Not a peep.

George W. Bush is not a conservative. He's not even a "moderate." He's a liberal.

Not only is he a liberal, President Bush will go down in history as a failed, apathetic president. He is the Jimmy Carter of the Republican party. If our president leaves office with an approval rating above 30 percent, it'll be a polling miracle.

President Bush has helped destroy the conservative movement. The movement doesn't exist anymore. It has been relegated to the ash heap of history.

Limbaugh is fond of declaring America is a "conservative country." We're not. It's a joke to even make such a declaration. And one of the reasons why that's a stark truth is because of George W. Bush.

Across conservative talk radio we hear Senator Barack Obama is a socialist, and a marauding Big Government left-winger for supporting the Wall Street bailout bill (he is). Limbaugh has gleefully and rightly lampooned Obama for it. But who proposed and signed the bailout monstrosity into law? President Bush.

Yet, day after day, in his monologues, Limbaugh never mentions President Bush. When he takes phone calls, there is also no discussion of the soon-to-be former president. The topic is off-limits.

For El Rushbo, George W. Bush is The Invisible President.

It's a daily broadcast embarrassment that has gone largely unnoticed. How can the most listened-to radio talk show host in the country pretend we don't have a president of the United States?

Limbaugh expresses an opinion on everything. From politics to sports to relationships to whatever floats into his mind at any given moment. Good. That's compelling talk radio, and he is the undisputed master of the medium.

Yet, it's amusing as well as disturbing to hear not a word from Limbaugh regarding the feckless leadership of the most powerful man on the planet.

Why? We don't know.

But I have a hunch. Because President Bush understands the art of media manipulation.

Limbaugh has been seduced by the president and his family with praise publicly and, undoubtedly, privately. The Bush family showering him with slavish compliments makes him think twice about cutting loose on the Oval Office occupant for willful deviations from conservatism.

Limbaugh has been effectively intimidated. Intimidated by a liberal president who can't leave public life fast enough.

Limbaugh knows what he's doing, of course. He's given other Republican politicians a total pass on his show while they were in the midst of stomping on conservative principles. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, for example.

One of the few times Limbaugh has come close to addressing sell-out, counterfeit conservatives occurred in the days after Republicans lost their Congressional majority two years ago. He proclaimed he was done "carrying water" for the party's leaders.

It was a momentary flash of honesty. That didn't last.

Unfortunately, Limbaugh is still carrying water for an exhausted president. Buckets of it. And he is not alone. Leading conservative radio hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin also cravenly ignore President Bush on their shows.

Yes, I'm a conservative, and I love Limbaugh's show. I have since I first heard it on WABC in 1988. The man has no equal now, or ever.

But how is it possible that the president of the United States is blatantly omitted from any discussion about American politics from a program that has 20 million listeners? It's outrageous. It's gutless.

If Al Gore won election in 2000 and compiled the exact same record as President Bush, Limbaugh would have mocked and ridiculed a President Gore relentlessly. Monologue after monologue and musical parody after musical parody.

Limbaugh will, however, finally be able to recognize we do have a president of the United States. Soon. After Barack Obama easily defeats John McCain.

A major reason why President Obama looms is because of the man who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Perhaps Limbaugh may address that fact after Election Day. He won't. We'll hear the sounds of silence.

Rep. Gillibrand's Pet Bigot

2008-10-27T09:33:00.008-04:00

Who sits down to write a letter to the Times Union defending Adolf Hitler as a non-atheist?

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand's district representative, Lisa Manzi.

In a 300-word letter published July 16, 2004 by the Times Union, Ms. Manzi began:

"Mark Harness' recent letter falsely claims that Hitler was an atheist. There is much evidence to the contrary."

I'm not going to post the full text of Ms. Manzi's letter because I'd have to fight physical illness getting near my laptop. She quoted Hitler's Mein Kampf and a 1922 speech where he proclaims his Christianity.

While preparing to be the most repulsive and destructive human being of the 20th Century, here we have Congresswoman Gillibrand's district representative taking Adolf Hitler's word for it. That he was a Christian.

Matthew said:

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them."

By their fruit you will recognize them.

Congressman Gillibrand's employment of Ms. Manzi is nothing short of disgusting. Her staffer is incapable of recognizing a ferocious wolf. And believes the wolf of the 20th Century was truly a Christian.

Rep. Gillibrand Hires Jane Fonda

2008-10-26T18:28:00.014-04:00

Help Wanted: Member of Congress seeks extremist to serve as district representative. Must be punctual, enthusiastic and willing to mock religion, patriotism, the Pledge of Allegiance and our National Anthem. Should also be prepared to make frequent use of the word "retarded."

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand has attempted to portray herself as a "moderate" in order to reflect the values and ideals of the New Yorkers she represents. It's what she must do since there are 80,000 more Republicans than Democrats in her district.

Meet Lisa Manzi.

Ms. Manzi is Congresswoman Gillibrand's Glens Falls-based regional representative. If you're a constituent and seek to communicate with the freshman Congresswoman, it has to be done through Ms. Manzi. That's the protocol in a Congressional office because it's impossible for the Member to converse one-on-one with concerned constituents.

It turns out that Ms. Manzi has expressed numerous opinions. And they're not normal. Far from it.

But Congresswoman Gillibrand's constituents likely won't hear what Ms. Manzi has to say about certain sensitive issues. With good reason.

In letters to the editor and on her personal blog, which is now offline (and you'll understand why momentarily), she writes her heart out.

On religion:

"I like to tease the Religious Wrong and tell them that the intelligent designer is probably gay" - April 9, 2006.

"I propose that all of the right wing religious zealots ban together and start lobbying congress [sic] for a constitutional amendment requiring everyone in America to say 'Merry Christmas' to everyone they make eye contact with between Thanksgiving and Christmas . . . Those who don't follow the script will be sent to Syria for why they hate the baby Jesus. Speaking of Jesus, he sent me an email the other day that said: Don't these people know I was Jewish?" - December 15, 2005.

On The Pledge of Allegiance:

"Why can't we pledge to the flag in a secular manner, as we did before the phrase 'under God' was inserted into our national pledge in 1954? In a nation that was founded on the notion of liberty and justice 'for all,' it seems our pledge should not exclude citizens who would prefer to say 'under Allah' or 'the Great Mother Earth' or 'Buddha.'" - October 23, 2003.

On the National Anthem:

"Why was [Condoleezza Rice] holding her hand over her heart when they were singing The Star Spangled Banner? Did she get that confused with the Pledge of Allegiance? Is there some rule about this song that I don't know about?" - February 5, 2006.

On the media:

"CNN's Sunday morning show had me wondering if CNN stands for Christ News Network. - March 5, 2006.

On social conservatives and banning the "morning after" pill:

"First they'll pass this law, and then they'll pass a law that says if you are a woman and you are menstruating, you go to jail. Why? Cause that means you are not pregnant! You should be barefoot and pregnant at all times. Don't you read The Bible? That is ten more years added to your sentence, heathen! The taliban would approve." - September 27, 2005.

On Senator Hillary Clinton being an "angry" candidate:

"Given the choice between an angry president and a retarded one, I'll choose angry hands down." - March 16, 2006.

Did Congresswoman Gillibrand take the time to read this kook's infantile writings before she hired her? Ms. Manzi possesses an incredible hostility toward people of faith and our country's noble traditions.

She questions why Americans hold our hands over our hearts while The Star-Spangled Banner is played? This is up for debate? I wonder what the veterans Congresswoman Gillibrand represents are going to think about that pathetic musing. And our fighting men and women overseas, as well.

If you oppose the legality of the RU-486 "morning after" abortion pill, Ms. Manzi compares you to the Taliban, a cult of evil that has few rivals. I'm sure my fellow Catholics in the Congresswoman's district will be thrilled with such demagoguery.

And she is fine with substituting a ludicrous phrase such as "Great Mother Earth" for "under God" in our Pledge?

What a complete embarrassment. Ms. Manzi's "writing" is what we expect from a SUNY Albany student interning with the Star Wars bar scene crowd at Metroland. Not someone charged with the honor of representing a Member of Congress.

Rep. Gillibrand's Dr. Strangelove Goodfella

2008-10-24T23:32:00.014-04:00

Henry Hill: Just ... ya know ... you're funny.

Tommy DeVito: You mean, let me understand this, cause ya know maybe it's me, cause I'm a little ------ up maybe, but I'm funny how? I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to ------ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

Henry Hill: Just ... you know, how you tell the story, what?

Tommy DeVito: No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm funny. How the ---- am I funny, what the ---- is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny! - Goodfellas.

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand believes her career is funny. A laugh riot.

Because during last night's debate when Sandy Treadwell raised, factually, the issue of her long work for Philip Morris she laughed. She scoffed at it. Like it was a ludicrous accusation. The Congresswoman's reaction can be viewed here.

Well, how funny is this reality: When Congresswoman Gillibrand was a $305.00 an hour lawyer for Philip Morris she interviewed Dr. Max Hausermann, the corporation's former vice president of research and development, in preparation for possible litigation.

What was Dr. Hausermann doing while at Philip Morris? Among the studies he supervised was a report that asserted:

"It is important to know as much as possible about teen-age smoking patterns and attitudes. Today's teen-ager is tomorrow's potential regular customer, and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke while still in their teens."

That report was titled "Young Smokers - Prevalence, Trends, Implications and Related Demographic Trends."

So here we have the laughing Congresswoman involved with a Dr. Strangelove scientist whose job it was to research how best to hook teenagers on cigarettes.

Capital District moms and dads are sure to find that fall-down funny. Since Kirsten does.

Everlasting Mets

2008-10-22T17:44:00.043-04:00

"There's a fly ball out to left. Waiting is Jones. The Mets are the World Champions! Jerry Koosman is being mobbed! Look at this scene!" - Curt Gowdy World Series call, 1969.

They are a team forever covered in glory.

When New York Mets left fielder Cleon Jones caught the final out, with his knee to the ground, in prayer, to win the 1969 World Series on October 16, 1969 at Shea Stadium in my birthplace Flushing, Queens, it became the greatest and most improbable upset in World Series history.

The New York Mets, an expansion team that was a Major League Baseball laughingstock for its modern day record of futility, lost 120 games just seven years before in its 1962 debut season. Yet they not only defeated, but dominated the seemingly invincible Baltimore Orioles four games to one.

Those Orioles are likely still numb from what the Mets did to them.

The Mets won with a combination of incredible defensive plays by Tommie Agee and Ron Swoboda, stellar pitching from Jerry Koosman and clutch home runs by true home run hitters and hitters who barely hit their weight. Their manager, Brooklyn's own Gil Hodges, proved a dugout genius.

No one thought it possible. No one at all.

Tonight, as Game One of the World Series begins, the Tampa Bay Rays are poised to become another miracle championship team. But if they defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, it won't compare to what the Mets achieved 39 years ago. Not even close.

The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies? This is not a team feared throughout baseball. No players perform a deer-in-the-headlights with the thought of facing the Phillies. The Mets even won the season series against them before their inevitable, heartbreaking collapse.

The Baltimore Orioles won 109 games in 1969. They had three future Hall of Famers in third baseman Brooks Robinson, right fielder Frank Robinson and pitcher Jim Palmer. Their manager, Earl Weaver, was also destined for enshrinement at Cooperstown.

It featured Orioles who had typical All Star years.

First baseman Boog Powell, the intimidating first baseman who looked like he could hit the pitcher along with the ball over the right field fence at Shea, batted .304, with 37 home runs and 121 RBIs. Shortstop Mark Belanger, "The Blade," won the Gold Glove, his first of eight.

Pitcher Mike Cuellar won 23 games against 11 losses with a 2.38 earned run average, and was the co-Cy Young Award winner. Center fielder Paul Blair, scored 102 runs and won the Gold Glove. And second baseman Davey Johnson, who would go on to manage a Miracle Mets team, was yet another Gold Glove winner and a critical part of the team's success.

The Orioles could do everything on the field, offensively and defensively.

Along slink the lowly Mets. They had never finished higher than 9th place in the ten-team National League. The team was lampooned for their ineptitude, which was personified by "Marvelous" Marv Thronberry.

They couldn't hit.

They couldn't pitch

They couldn't field.

What they could do, was lose. Spectacularly.

"Can't Anyone Here Play This Game?" asked Jimmy Breslin in his book about the team.

Until 1969.

The Mets, predictably, began their 1969 season with a defeat, 11-10 to the expansion Montreal Expos. After 41 games, their record stood at 18 and 23. It appeared to be another dreadful last place finish in-the-making.

And it began. The team won 11 straight games. Beginning with that fateful 42nd game, the Mets finished the season 82-39, for a .678 winning percentage.

Despite their late-blooming outstanding play, and the key acquisition of Donn Clendenon from the Pirates, the Mets were sill mired in third place by mid-August, 9 1/2 games back.

Again, they did not relent. They didn't give up.

The Mets won 37 of their last 48 games to win the National League Eastern Division, comfortably by 8 games over the Chicago Cubs (with an assist from a black cat Flushing resident). They swept the Hank Aaron-led Atlanta Braves 3-0 in the first-ever National League Championship Series.

The only upset in major professional sports history that surpasses the Mets' 1969 World Series triumph is the 1980 "Miracle On Ice" victory by our United States hockey team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

But the Mets remain the gold-standard of underdogs in baseball. If there is a World Series championship team that achieved a more stunning upset, I want to know. I really want to know.

"Come on down, come on down, baby" is what Cleon Jones said to himself while the final out came flying into his glove off Davey Johnson's bat. It's still a thrill to watch that emotional, amazing out.

And no matter what happens in this Phillies-Rays World Series, the 1969 New York Mets will retain their rightful place in baseball history as the Kings of the impossible victory.

Ya Gotta Believe Kirsten

2008-10-21T18:05:00.011-04:00

I believe you, Congresswoman Gillibrand.

I believe you aren't purposely hiding your extensive legal work on behalf of cigarette-dealer Philip Morris.

I believe you never went to great lengths to help Big Tobacco conceal its research on the dangers of smoking.

I believe you did not help Philip Morris perpetuate a fraud on the American people using attorney-client privilege for five years.

I believe the moms and dads you represent will have no problem with your service to Philip Morris executives who denied tobacco is addictive before a Congressional committee.

I believe there were clients at Davis Polk & Wardwell you represented other than Big Tobacco.

I believe your claim that you have proudly and openly talked about your work for Philip Morris with reporters.

I believe you have a good reason for accepting major campaign contributions from Altria, the Philip Morris parent company.

I believe it's an honor for Altria to consider you a legislator they support.

I believe your long association with Altria is perfectly consistent with your current positions on children's health care.

I believe the reason you refuse to release your income taxes is because you have no financial interest in Altria.

I believe you did no legal work for Altria, or Philip Morris USA, while you were at Boies Schiller & Flexner from 2001 to 2006.

I believe it's perfectly understandable why there are no quotes in the public record from you recommending young people and minors not smoke.

I believe it presents no conflict of interest for you to accept campaign contributions from firms your super lobbyist father represents.

I believe your claim to the Times Union that you never talk to Big Daddy about his clients "at all."

I believe your work at the secret Dr. Strangelove German lab used by Philip Morris to skirt United States federal laws were four innocent European vacations.

I believe you possess high ethical standards and would refuse to represent clients you consider morally objectionable.

I believe you should never feel guilty about helping "America's most reviled company."

I believe you, Congresswoman.

* Michael Kelly, RIP.

Gov. Paterson Hires The New York Times

2008-10-21T11:41:00.009-04:00

If there is a stark example for why New York continues to head toward economic oblivion, it happened on October 15th.

Governor Paterson approved a $1.25 million state subsidy for The New York Times. For what purpose? We don't know. His Empire State Development Corporation listed the "grant" in a news release with no explanation from the board that approved it.

ESDC didn't give a reason because its bureaucrats knew they'd break the laugh meter. The release can be read here.

Why does The New York Times deserve one penny from New Yorkers? Especially while we're in a fiscal abyss?

The paper's parent, The New York Times Company, owns 24 other newspapers, employs 10,000 people and has annual revenues of $3.2 billion.

But they need $1.25 million in monopoly money from the wallets of New Yorkers.

It makes you want to scream.

And with the The New York Times on Governor Paterson's payroll, we won't be reading any sanctimonious editorials describing a conflict of interest. Or any smug columns on such a conflict by Gail Collins, the paper's editorial page editor, who specializes in smugness.

This is not the first time the Times received a hand out from New York taxpayers. It certainly won't be the last. The Times will come calling again, and Governor Paterson will fail to simply tell them: No.

"America's Most Reviled Company"

2008-10-19T15:31:00.017-04:00

I have no problem with smoking or people who smoke, which I wrote about last month before Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand's Big Tobacco past was exposed.

I don't smoke. Never have.

I don't cast dirty looks at smokers in public places if their smoke floats into my personal space, either. Or lecture friends and family about the dangers of smoking. People who behave that way annoy the hell out of me.

Cigarettes are a legal product. So is alcohol and the 1,500 calorie hamburger. If you decide to lead a life where you acquire blood type Cheez Doodles Crunchy (which are extra yummie), that's your decision. It's your free will. Have at it.

The revelations about Congresswoman Gillibrand's Big Tobacco past don't concern adults with the ability to make their own decisions, however. Her problem is hypocrisy, deceit and secrecy, which this blog has documented.

Kirsten Gillibrand sits in Congress partly because the people who voted for her in 2006 are nanny Democrats, health obsessives and meddlesome liberals. It's her political base in the 20th Congressional District. She needs these voters.

The Gillibrand base constantly condemned Philip Morris during the 1990's. She recognizes a severe political liability that must be handled. And concealed.

The Congresswoman told the Times Union she became an expert in attorney-client privilege defending Philip Morris. Good. Every attorney should strive to perfect Constitutional rights for a client. Even when the client is the Enron of the 1990's.

"PHILIP MORRIS: What It's Like To Work At America's Most Reviled Company."

That was the title of a 1999 Business Week cover story, which can be read here. It chronicles lie after lie after lie told by Philip Morris executives, including the laughable smoking-is-not-addictive claim they made before a Congressional committee under oath. How they escaped perjury charges is mystifying.

And who was serving the smoking-is-not-addictive crowd? Protecting them? Kirsten Gillibrand.

The Congresswoman had been working for Philip Morris for four years when Business Week published its story. I wonder what she thought about the sleazy details. Like so much about Kirsten Gillibrand's experience with Philip Morris, we'll never know.

Times Union Flogs Rep. Gillibrand

2008-10-19T12:18:00.014-04:00

So, Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand's work for cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, and the campaign contributions she accepted from the corporation's parent, should be dismissed as a non-issue? Right. Today's Times Union:

"The money has all the trappings of an investment in a congresswoman the tobacco industry seems to think still might come around. Yet here's Ms. Gillibrand, trying to dismiss Philip Morris as one more of her 10,000 campaign contributors.

"How many of those contributors have an interest in pending or future legislation? How many are associated with an industry so heavily regulated by government?

"It's hard to gauge what's more troubling — that Ms. Gillibrand says she don't know she was getting money from Philip Morris, or that she doesn't seem to care. There are responsibilities, in either case, that come with raising all that money — more than $3.95 million and counting."

The Disappearing Congresswoman

2008-10-18T04:36:00.002-04:00

Two years ago Kirsten Gillibrand, an unknown New York City lawyer with barely any public service, was headed toward unseating Congressman John Sweeney. Her win had nothing to do with the issues. She won for one simple reason: I'm Not John Sweeney.

Now there is an issue. A legitimate issue. Congresswoman Gillibrand represented tobacco giant Philip Morris. Not for six months. Not for a year. For five years.

Yet, Congresswoman Gillibrand has expunged those five years from her life. Her House of Representatives and campaign biographies purposely exclude her experience. Poof! Just like that, five years of Kirsten's professional career disappeared. They don't exist. Officially.

I've written the official biographies of my employers while a Capitol Hill staffer. The responsibility is an important one because Hill press secretarys and communication directors are called upon to explain, promote and defend the boss' prior experience to the media.

To go over a draft official biography with a Member of Congress is a painstaking process. The Members pay meticulous attention to their careers, and the overwhelming majority are proud of the work that took them to the halls of Congress.

Not Kirsten Gillibrand.

It's convenient how she has forgotten five years of her career. You'd think she fell asleep in 1995, woke up in 2006 and decided to run for Congress.

As this blog was the first to report, Congresswoman Gillibrand runs away from her career for a serious reason. She well remembers the political environment she was working in during the 1990's. The attacks on her client Big Tobacco were neverending. We heard they're nicotine pushers. Purveyors of death. Liars. Thugs. Frauds. Hustlers.

Who would want to be associated with that gang? Not a Member of Congress, for sure.

And so yesterday it was no surprise to see Congresswoman Gillibrand's response when her opponent Sandy Treadwell unveiled a new ad highlighting her smokey past. It was near-hysterical.

Congresswoman Gillibrand can become as indignant as she wants, and it remains a fact that for five years she was a counsel to Philip Morris. Despite her efforts to pull a page out of 1984 and delete years of her life, her constituents are now more familiar with her record than they were in 2006. After all, this is the same woman who constantly reminds us how she believes in "transparency."

Well, Kirsten, you're transparent now.

ESPN, Please Fire This Man

2008-10-17T10:20:00.007-04:00

Last night during the ESPN radio broadcast of the ALCS Joe Morgan achieved his usual level of incoherence. In discussing Phillie pitcher Cole Hamels, the MVP of the NLCS, Morgan told partner Jon Miller he disagreed with the selection. His choice: Manny Ramirez. Because he was the "best player."

If the Series had gone to seven games perhaps his argument for Ramirez could have some merit. But in a four games to one blowout, Ramirez provided the Dodgers with no value whatsoever. Zippo.

ESPN's employment of an "analyst" who doesn't understand the simple concept of a Most Valuable Player award, among other deficiencies, is a testament to broadcast mediocrity and Howard Cosell's jockocracy.

Harumph.

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Philip Morris Brands)

2008-10-16T21:52:00.030-04:00

Smokescreen

2008-10-16T13:51:00.005-04:00

Congresswoman Gillibrand on her father's work for Philip Morris in today's Times Union:

"I don't talk to my dad about his clients at all."

At all.

She must be kidding with that nonsense. Kirsten Gillibrand owes her seat in Congress to Big Daddy super lobbyist.

Successful political families talk about everything and everyone. It's why they achieve success.

Going Up In Smoke

2008-10-16T12:43:00.010-04:00

The Times Union followed up yesterday's exclusive post reporting Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand's shady ties to tobacco giant Philip Morris.

It's a brutal 1,150 word story by James M. Odato.

* Fellow Democratic Congressman Michael McNulty on Gillibrand accepting Big Tobacco contributions, and why he once returned a $500.00 Philip Morris check:

"I didn't want to take money from a tobacco company.''

* Bill Corr, Gillibrand supporter and executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, on the Congresswoman's representation of Philip Morris:

"I did not know that."

* Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California at San Francisco, dismissing Gillibrand's I-Was-Just-Following-Orders-Because-I-Was-A-Mere-Associate excuse:

"I think it's highly relevant because she was an active advocate in one of the world's biggest tobacco companies against claims that they were manipulating the nicotine delivery in cigarettes . . . "

"These are very important things she was doing for them. I think this is definitely newsworthy. If she had done this 10 years ago and hadn't gotten a nickle from them, then I'd say, 'well, she was just a junior member of the law firm.' But they consider her their pal."

* Michael Cummings of the Buffalo-based Roswell Park Cancer Institute on Gillibrand's legal ethics.

"Big law firms have other clients. You could work for somebody else."

Just a wild guess, but Congresswoman Josephine Camel and her campaign staff are not having a good day.

McNulty didn't hesitate to throw her under the bus. Anti-tobacco activists were in the dark about her Big Tobacco past. A professor of medicine from California unloaded on her. And the prestigious Roswell Park Cancer Institute was one step removed from calling her a shyster lawyer.

Congresswoman Josephine Camel

2008-10-15T03:02:00.042-04:00

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand has been endorsed for re-election by the American Cancer Society.

Despite the endorsement, the Society's officials likely do not know the full extent of the freshman's legal representation on behalf of Philip Morris during the 1990's. Yes, that Philip Morris, or "Big Tobacco" as the corporation's detractors in the cancer community and the media relentlessly describe it.

The Invisible Law Firms

From 1995 to 2000 Congresswoman Gillibrand was an associate at the international law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, headquartered in New York City. But New Yorkers wouldn't know she was employed at Davis, Polk & Wardwell for five years because her campaign website does not mention the fact. This experience is also omitted from her official U.S. House of Representatives website biography.

Also curiously cast aside from both her Congressional and campaign biographies is her partnership at Boies Schiller & Flexner, a national firm specializing in unpopular clients. She was employed by the firm from 2001 to 2006. It was her last position before running for the House.

Why would a Member of Congress running for re-election purposely omit a legal career spanning ten years with two major firms? For a good reason. A reason that is still disturbingly vague.

The Settlement

In November, 1998 the disgust many Americans directed at the serial deception of Philip Morris and other cigarette-peddlers culminated with the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. It was signed by Philip Morris, and representatives of all 50 states. The provisions required Philip Morris to compensate states for the cost of providing health care for persons with smoking-related illnesses.

A critical component of the Agreement would eventually make available to the public hundreds of millions of privileged documents. The documents have exposed the decision-making process the tobacco companies and their attorneys followed to defend themselves throughout decades of deceit.

The University of California at San Francisco is home to The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL). According to its website:

"LTDL holdings updated as of Sunday, September 28, 2008. It contains 51,440,321 pages in 9,925,621 documents."

Congresswoman Gillibrand has a starring role in the LTDL archives. Using her maiden name "Rutnik" in the search engine, New Yorkers will discover an astounding 1,175 documents that include her advocacy on behalf of Philip Morris and organized smoking. But 400 of those documents still remain privileged, and shield from public scrutiny the totality of Gillibrand's work.

Thank You For Smoking

Rep. Gillibrand's Philip Morris representation includes:

* An August 31, 1995 Davis, Polk & Wardell accounting document that includes Gillibrand as one of 63 employees paid "with regard to legal advice concerning civil lawsuits that have been filed making claims relating to alleged injuries from cigarette smoking, nicotine addiction, second hand smoke . . . " She earned $305.00 per hour. The document can be viewed here.

I wonder what mothers across the Capital District will think about Kirsten Gillibrand earning $305.00 an hour on behalf of Philip Morris. We're not talking about a teacher looking the other way at Emma Willard if a few girls sneak a smoke behind the bleachers. She was doing serious legal work for one of the most reviled corporations of the 1990's. Reviled because of her Democratic party.

* In preparation to defend Philip Morris, Rep. Gillibrand helped manage and interview two Dr. Strangeloves of Big Tobacco: Dr. Wolf Reininghaus and Dr. Max Hausermann.

Reininghaus and Hausermann were employed by Philip Morris. Reininghaus at a highly secretive German "research facility" called INBIFO, and Hauserman as a vice president where he was charged with supervising all 600 of the corporation's scientists in the 1980's. Both were, in fact, responsible for justifying the "science" behind the lies Philip Morris told the public.

According to the March 20, 1996 edition of ABC News Primetime Live:

"Philip Morris needed INBIFO because there were certain research projects that, clearly, the company did not want to have done on United States soil. These projects involved cancer-producing agents. These projects involved ways to manipulate components of cigarette smoke."

Documents show Gillibrand traveled to Germany at least four times. On January 31, 1996 Gillibrand personally interviewed Dr. Reininghaus and on September 5, 1997 she furnished a Philip Morris Associate General Counsel with a memoranda summarizing two previous interviews with Dr. Hausermann. We'll likely never know what Gillibrand said to Reininghaus and Hausermann, but she certainly wasn't in contact with them to provide whistleblower protection counsel.

The Campaign Money Trail

Rep. Gillibrand's Big Tobacco-enabling efforts did not go unrewarded by her former employers. She has been showered with their campaign contributions.

According to the website Open Secrets, Davis, Polk & Wardell contributed $48,300 to Gillibrand during her 2006 race for Congress against incumbent John Sweeney. It was the third highest contribution she received.

Then-candidate Gillibrand's top contributor in 2006 was Boies, Schiller & Flexner at $117,810. The Boies is David Boies of Bush v. Gore recount fame. Boies and his firm have been described by the National Law Journal as “unafraid to venture into controversial” and “high risk” matters.

During the 1990's Philip Morris was the very definition of a "high risk" legal matter. The corporation retained Boies to help contain its ever-escalating public relations nightmare. And Kirsten Gillibrand was there nearly every step of the way cashing paychecks for a paper trail that looks like a protection racket.

Who Are You?

Congresswoman Gillibrand has enjoyed a comfortable first term, with local media outlets fawning over her. Several reporters and editors may as well be on her payroll because of their inability to hide their unprofessional bias.

But what is troubling about Rep. Gillibrand since she first entered public life are recurring questions: Is she truly who she purports to be as either a 2006 candidate or incumbent Member of Congress? Or is she a phony?

No one pretends ten years of a professional life doesn't exist if there is nothing deeply embarrassing or shameful to hide. Gillibrand clearly wants no discussion of her ensnarement by Big Tobacco, which is understandable. She helped defend a fraud. It's a stain not easily forgotten, or erased.

And stay tuned.

The PEF Politburo Responds To Chichester

2008-10-14T13:36:00.009-04:00

Arlea Igoe, the secretary-treasurer of the Public Employees Federation responded to my Sunday Gazette op-ed on the state budget here. It's always amusing when PEF hits the roof, especially given their destructive influence in state government. And these perpetual grumps probably have no sense of humor about the hammer and sickle image.

The text:

Don’t blame unions for state’s fiscal problems

Christopher Chichester’s Oct. 5 Viewpoint [“Governor, leaders too afraid of unions to cut state spending”] on cutting state spending is factually incorrect and lacks a basic understanding of the issues facing New York state.

An article lamenting the power of public employee unions without knowing the size of the state work force is inexcusable. Mr. Chichester would have you believe the state work force accounts for a substantial amount of the state budget when in reality it accounts for less than 13 percent of the budget. He should know better. The governor he worked for trimmed the state work force considerably during his term in office.

New York state’s budget problems are not spending problems. We did not wake up one day to discover spending had gone through the roof. We had a balanced budget based on projections of expenditures and revenues. Simply put, revenues are not meeting those projections. New York has been overly reliant on the so-called FIRE (Financial and Real Estate) sectors for too long. When those sectors suffer, New York suffers disproportionately. Now is the time to fix that problem.

We need tax policy that is fair and just. Corporate loopholes should be closed and the wealthiest New Yorkers should pay their fair share. We need to end corporate welfare by refusing to continue wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on costly consultants and instead bring those jobs back in-house. We have proven this saves money, which is why the Legislature and the governor have agreed with us. Not because we are all powerful, because we are right.

Discourse is important, but misguided opinions offer no real solutions. The Public Employees Federation union remains willing to discuss real solutions to our budget problems.

Arlea Igoe
Albany

The writer is the secretary-treasurer of the Public Employees Federation union.

Congresswoman Code Pink, Wrong Again

2008-10-09T08:51:00.010-04:00

"We can not continue to send our troops to fight in the middle of a religious civil war. Our commitment to the Iraqis can not be endless and we need to start redeploying our troops out of Iraq by March of next year."

Dear Congresswoman Gillibrand,

That's what you said on March 19, 2007.

You didn't want to "redeploy" our troops. It's a typically bankrupt, focus-group word politicians use when they're too afraid to use accurate language.

You wanted to surrender. To retreat. To cut and run.

If it were up to you, the United States of America would be seen by al-Qaeda and the Taliban as gutless. As craven.

If it were up to you, Islamofascists worldwide would have pursued another September 11th with an even higher degree of fanaticism.

If it were up to you, our soldiers would have returned home cloaked in humiliation and defeat.

But it was not up to you.

Thank God.

I'd like to break the news to you: Our soldiers have been kicking ass, Congresswoman. They're killing terrorists. They are showing the world that the United States military is the most ferocious force on earth.

And where were you when the surge began? Where were you when our soldiers began the path to victory? You were sticking daisies in their M-16's like a tie-dyed Woodstock hippie.

Throughout your re-election campaign against Sandy Treadwell, you barely even mention the war. Well, now, I wonder why.

If you're so proud of your March 19, 2007 statement, you should run television and radio ads citing it. Remind your constituents.

I'm sure they'll be crazy-go-nuts for it. Especially given the 80,000 vote Republican registration advantage in your district.

I noticed you were endorsed by the National Rifle Association this week. So what.

You can acquire all the N.R.A. endorsements the organization has to offer. I don't give a damn. And neither should the New Yorkers you represent. Because you didn't support the most important rifles on earth being fired in our epic global struggle against evil.

- Chris

Fear Of Unions Destroying New York

2008-10-05T15:08:00.003-04:00

Chichester's op-ed in The Sunday Gazette of Schenectady on the state budget.

Numbers? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Numbers

2008-10-01T15:27:00.012-04:00

Major League Baseball teams retire numbers faster than a Tom Seaver fastball.

Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan's number 30 was retired by the Texas Rangers after his five seasons of mediocrity, finishing with a record of 51-39. The Tampa Bay Rays retired Wade Boggs' number 12, even though he played only two seasons for the team and had a mere 727 at bats.

Steve Garvey, the famed Los Angeles Dodger, had his number retired by the San Diego Padres for five seasons of play. Garvey played 15 seasons with the Dodgers, and the team has not retired his number 6.

The Houston Astros, a 1962 expansion team that has never won the World Series, have retired nine numbers. It's three more numbers than the storied Boston Red Sox, founded 61 years earlier than the Astros.

But one Houston Astro number is particularly touching, and fitting, for the thoughtfulness of the team's ownership. Pitcher Jim Umbricht died of lymphoma at the age of 33 in 1964. His number 32 was immediately retired. Umbricht won 9 games and lost 5 for the Astros.

And those facts lead to my New York Mets. Thoughtfulness and retired numbers are alien concepts to Fred and Jeff Wilpon, the father and son who own the team. Their refusal to properly recognize the players who have provided Mets fans with unrelenting joy over the years is a continuing disgrace. The last time a number was retired was 20 years ago.

The Mets have retired only three numbers: Tom Seaver's 41, Gil Hodges' 14 and Casey Stengel's 37.

The time has come for the Wilpon family to add three more: number 36 Jerry Koosman, number 17 Keith Hernandez and number 31 Mike Piazza.

Jerry Koosman is the best big game pitcher in the 46-year history of the Mets. It's quite a feat given The Franchise, Seaver, is enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Koosman was the pitching star of the Miracle Mets' glorious triumph over the 109-win Baltimore Orioles juggernaut in the 1969 World Series. After Seaver was defeated in Game One, Koosman pitched six innings of no-hit ball in Game Two, and went 8 2/3 innings to give the Mets a critical 2-1 win.

In Game Five, the unflappable Koosman pitched a complete game victory to close out the Orioles for the most improbable win in World Series history. The images of Koosman embracing catcher Jerry Grote after the final out was caught by left fielder Cleon Jones, and dashing off the field, are iconic.

In Game Three of the 1973 National League Championship Series, against another seemingly unstoppable team, the Cincinnati Reds, Koosman pitched a 9-2 complete game victory to put the Mets up two games to one. Koosman was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1989 after finishing his career third in franchise wins (140), second in innings pitched (2,544.2), fourth in Earned Run Average (3.09) and third in strikeouts (1,799).

The transformation of the Mets from a late 1970's Major League Baseball laughingstock to 1986 World Series champions began on June 15, 1983. That's the day the team acquired Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals. He became the undisputed leader of the clubhouse, and was named the team's first captain in 1987.

Hernandez is the greatest fielding First Baseman of all time. He won eleven consecutive Gold Gloves, including six for the Mets. To attempt a bunt against Hernandez is "driving the lane against Bill Russell," said Pete Rose.

And he excelled with the bat, as well. In 3,164 plate appearances "Mex" hit .297, which is the third highest average for a Mets player.

In Most Valuable Player voting, Hernandez finished second in 1984, eighth in 1985, and fourth in 1986. He was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1997. Hernandez is perhaps the most glaring example of the callous ways of the Wilpons because he's still with the team as a superb broadcaster.

Mike Piazza. Does the Wilpon family need an explanation other than the mere mention of his name for why number 31 should be retired? His career statistics don't have to be cited because they're brilliant.

"He was one of those hitters who could change the game with one swing. He was certainly the greatest-hitting catcher of our time, and arguably of all time," said Atlanta pitcher Tom Glavine, Piazza's former Met teammate.

When Piazza announced his retirement he said:

"I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn't have been the same without the greatest fans in the world. One of the hardest moments of my career, was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made my time in New York the happiest of my career and for that, I will always be grateful."

It's obvious from Piazza's words that he loved being a Met throughout his eight seasons in New York. His performance on the field and deep affection for the organization should be rewarded. As soon as possible.

Opening Day at Citi Field next year is the opportunity for Fred and Jeff Wilpon to show class and gratitude by honoring Koosman, Hernandez and Piazza . Just like Seaver, Hodges and Stengel, they are everlasting Mets and should be recognized for their years of dedication to the team.

Congresswoman Code Pink (D-Unforgiven)

2008-09-29T13:49:00.001-04:00

Dear Congresswoman Gillibrand,

"Rep. Gillibrand Opposes Troop Escalation"

That was the headline from your news release issued on January 11, 2007. It was your first week as a Member of Congress, and you felt compelled to address the surge.

In case you forgot the words, the full text:

"The President's proposal for an increase in troops, and today's testimony by Secretary Gates, have failed to provide a clear strategy for success and a plan to reduce violence and bring long-term stability to the region.

"At this point the future of Iraq rests squarely on the shoulders of the Iraqi people. The solution to peace in the region is a political one - not a military one. The American people need to see a commitment from the Iraqi people that they are serious about taking responsibility for their own security and stability.

"America's commitment in Iraq should not be open-ended and I will continue to encourage this Administration to put Iraq on notice that we will redeploy our troops. A defined notice period for redeployment will be the best way to force the Iraqi government to step up to the plate, make the necessary compromises, and take responsibility for their future."

How do you think this vapid, talking points release will be received by your constituents now, Congresswoman? Little attention has been paid to it as you run for re-election.

One sentence after another is now proven wrong. Colossally wrong.

"The President's proposal for an increase in troops, and today's testimony by Secretary Gates, have failed to provide a clear strategy for success"? Wrong.

"The solution to peace in the region is a political one - not a military one"? Wrong.

"At this point the future of Iraq rests squarely on the shoulders of the Iraqi people"? Wrong.

The surge, thank God, worked. It worked so spectacularly that the pacifist Left in your party avoids denial.

Yes, you're a Freshman, with foreign policy experience from Emma Willard High School and the faculty lounges of Dartmouth and UCLA. That's no excuse. Your goal was to grovel before the Code Pink lunatics who disrupt Congressional hearings and the Moveon.org extremists that helped you get elected.

But what are the veterans you represent going to think about that release once it receives more publicity? From what I can tell, your opponent Sandy Treadwell has not made it an issue. He should. And if he does, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do. Bumbling explaining, at best.

What makes your decision most troubling is you're a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Who did you talk to at the Department of Defense, or in the field, before you adopted Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco rhetoric? Did you speak to a General or a Private First Class or a Command Sergeant Major?

Probably not.

You should have simply echoed your fellow Democrat Senator Harry Reid when that release you approved went out. He said: This war is lost.

"This war is lost" is exactly what you believed on January, 11 2007. You were a defeatist.

Now, I could recite to you how and why the surge became a tremendous success, but you already know how and why.

As a veteran, you failed me. You failed our dedicated fighting men and women, and you failed yourself.

You're not forgiven. You probably don't even want to be forgiven for such an egregious lapse in judgment. Because we hardly hear a word from you about your opposition to the surge.

You can issue all the "news" releases you want about veterans health care or any veterans issues, and it won't matter. On the most critical strategy that has allowed our country to move toward total victory in the war against Al-Qaeda and their Islamofascist allies, where were you? You were wearing your Code Pink t-shirt. Congratulations.

So, Congresswoman Gillibrand, what do you have to say for yourself now? How about: The surged worked, and I was wrong.

Perhaps if you can utter that phrase you may begin to regain the trust of veterans and our troops in the field. But I doubt it.

- Chris

Whining We Can Believe In

2008-09-27T09:58:00.009-04:00

Is there a New York Democrat who refrained from incessant whining, complaining and apologizing this week?

Yesterday, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester was upset because Governor Paterson didn't tell him of plans to build a new Tappen Zee Bridge in his district.

"I was glad to learn from media accounts that my district was to host the announcement about future plans for the Tappan Zee Bridge," Brodsky said in a news release.

"We welcome the Commissioner and state officials here, and urge them to spend some additional time listening to public concerns rather than just making announcements. We are releasing this statement because we have been neither briefed nor invited to the announcement."

Oh, boo hoo hoo, Dick. You know why you were kept in the dark? Because Republicans and Democrats know you're an obnoxious pain in the ass. It's bi-partisan.

Also yesterday the Assembly Ethics Committee recommended banning married Assemblyman Sam Hoyt from the Assembly intern program because of a "past inappropriate relationship" with a 23-year-old intern.

"I accept the committee's findings and once again apologize to my family and the people of the 144th Assembly District."

Assemblyman Hoyt won his Democrat primary this month with an apology-filled campaign after e-mails he exchanged with the intern were leaked to the media.

And earlier this week Congresswoman ~~Tracy Flick~~ Kirsten Gillibrand released a new ad because Republican opponent Sandy Treadwell hurt her feelings:

"With all of America's challenges, you'd think Sandy Treadwell could do better than a false, negative campaign. Now, rest assured Sandy's personal attacks don't hurt me. I expected it."

"Personal attacks don't hurt me." Right. Play the non-victim victim card.

The Most Corrupt, And Weird, Party In America

2008-09-22T14:44:00.027-04:00

When then-Republican John Lindsay ran for mayor of New York City in 1965 columnist Murray Kempton wrote: "He is fresh, and everyone else is tired." Forty-three years later, it applies to his former party.

Only, New York Republicans are not merely tired.

They're exhausted.

Republicans in control of the Senate will likely lose their slim 32-30 seat majority on Election Day. It will engender little sympathy because Albany's Republicans and Democrats reach agreement so often it's nearly impossible, ideologically, to distinguish between them.

Even worse, Governor David Paterson has skillfully positioned himself to the right of the state G.O.P., especially on property taxes and cutting government spending. Our liberal Democratic Governor has become more of a Republican than Albany's Senate Republicans on the two most critical issues facing our state.

But, there is one difference between Albany's two parties, and it's significant: The legislation proposed by Senate Democrats as well as the appalling behavior of New York Democrats in general.

The New York Democratic party is infested with corruption.

Congressman Charles Rangel's rent-controlled apartments scam is merely warming up in the unethical bullpen. His party's Assembly Sopranos have been forced from office with one felony conviction after another. Gloria Davis, Clarence Norman, Diane Gordon and Brian McLaughlin, among others.

So it was no surprise when Democratic Assemblyman Anthony ~~Soprano~~ Seminerio was arrested for accepting $500,000 in bribes two weeks ago. The 17-page indictment is rife with Seminerio's greed and narcissism.

"I'll break his balls. And I know what to break his balls about," Seminerio boasts to his bribe-paying hospital executive who was angry with a senior Department of Health official for not helping him fend off "cuts" to his budget.

It's unrelenting with Albany's Democrat La Cosa Nostra.

~~Don~~ Speaker Sheldon Silver's former chief counsel, J. Michael Boxley, a man he vigorously defended against rape charges, is now a registered sex offender. Comptroller ~~Fredo Corleone~~ Alan Hevesi resigned in disgrace because he was using state tax dollars to chauffeur around his wife. And New Yorkers know well how ~~Luca Brasi~~ Eliot Spitzer made our state a national laughingstock.

This is not normal for a state party as a whole.

If the New York Democratic Party is not the most corrupt state party in the country, what state, either Republican or Democrat, outperforms its sleaze?

Tell me.

Tell me what state party, blue or red, is more corrupt.

I want to know.

Despite their undefined and undisciplined existence, New Yorkers should vote to keep the Senate Republicans in the majority. Why?

Because:

* Nearly every Senate Democrat has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, which favors a "progressive" tax system, and they will undoubtedly be a major force in leading the effort to raise taxes on every New Yorker;

* Brooklyn Senator Eric Adams supports legislation that gives illegal aliens and convicted felons the right to vote, and he's in line to become the Chairman of the Senate Crime, Crime Victims and Corrections Committee;

* Westchester Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins introduced legislation that would make obtaining an abortion so convenient that her colleague, and ordained minister, Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. called it "one of the most dangerous and radical pieces of proposed legislation in New York State that I have ever seen"; and

* Manhattan Senator Liz Krueger has pronounced a revived death penalty bill will never receive a vote in a Democratic Senate (this is also the same Senator who told New Yorkers to "drive less" while gasoline prices were exploding and she voted against suspending the gas tax for the summer months).

If New Yorkers believe the future is dire now, just wait until Senate Democrats move to implement their agenda. Tax hikes, voting rights for illegal aliens and convicted felons is merely the beginning. They will also revisit the attempt to provide driver's licenses to illegal aliens despite the intense backlash when Spitzer proposed it. And we'll witness more criminal convictions.

When Senate Democrats inherit the majority this January, upstate and Long Island will be completely dominated by New York City interests. Once we have statewide one-party Democratic rule, it's the kiss of death. New York won't recover for a generation.

Paul Tonko: The Triumph Of Mediocrity

2008-09-22T14:43:00.002-04:00

Chichester's op-ed in The Sunday Gazette of Schenectady on soon-to-be Congressman Paul Tonko.

Boss Paterson's Hackocracy Strikes Again

2008-09-20T14:26:00.029-04:00

"Empire State Development today announced that 25 Upstate New York grants totaling $67 million received formal approval at the Board of Directors Meeting held in New York City on September 18."

That was the first paragraph from a news release the Empire State Development Corporation issued two days ago. It was the same day The Daily News ran my piece on Governor David Paterson's ESDC funneling millions of tax dollars to McDonald's, Fordham University and multi-billion dollar corporations.

$67 million went down the drain on Thursday, and the largess included:

* $200,000 for Alpla, Inc., an Austrian plastics manufacturer with 10,000 employees and 119 manufacturing plants in 34 countries;

* $100,000 for Luvata Buffalo, a Swedish metal fabrication company with 8,500 employees in 18 countries;

* $500,000 for Erie County tool manufacturer Dynabrade; and

* $500,000 for Anaren, a self-described "world leader" in wireless infrastructure based in Onondaga County.

No explanation whatsoever was given by ESDC for why these four businesses received tax dollars. Not one quote appeared in the release. ESDC simply announced the company, and the cash is now in their bank accounts.

ESDC also approved:

* $50,000 for the Erie County Industrial Development Agency;

* $26,000 for Current Applications of Jefferson County;

* $34,200 for Exelco Developments Inc. of Chautauqua County;

* $50,000 for Graham Corporation of Genesee County;

* $40,000 for J.R. Clancy of Onondaga County;

* $40,000 for Nixon Gear Inc. of Onondaga County; and

* $25,600 for Qualicoat Inc. of Monroe County.

No explanation was provided. Again.

This is payola. It's Tammany Hall-style vote-buying and legalized bribery.

Nearly every company that gets its claws in New York's taxpayers describes itself publicly with superlatives such as "leading" or "global" or "innovative" or "worldwide." O.k. If that's the case, why do they need even one penny from New Yorkers?

Our accidental Governor has an opportunity to prove he's a real Governor by abolishing the ESDC, and it's repellent corporate welfare culture. New Yorkers would be spared from funding its bloated $1 billion budget, at the very least.

Anyone who has worked at the highest level of New York politics knows why ESDC exists. It's a patronage mill; a dumping ground for relatives and friends of the well-connected. These people have no training, no experience and no clue how a free market economy functions. All they understand are political favors, and hustling businesses to stay in New York when they would otherwise leave because of our punishing tax burden and excessive regulations.

Our state Legislature should schedule multiple hearings on Boss Paterson's ESDC operations. Summon their bureaucrats to the Legislative Office Building in Albany, and grill them on how they reach their decisions.

Why are certain businesses lavished with taxpayer goodies, and others blown off? Because right now, we have no idea. The public record is barren.

But I do have a good idea why.

For Thomas Valentine Hennessy

2008-09-18T10:53:00.010-04:00

Thomas Valentine Hennessy was my Grandpa. He would have loved this piece in the News today.

The Daily News: New York Economic Development Giveaways Are A Bloody Ripoff

Velmanette Montgomery, A Pervert's Best Friend

2008-09-16T12:10:00.010-04:00

Our New York State Senate is controlled by Republicans with a precarious two-seat majority, 32-30. Unfortunately, they are nearly certain to lose their majority for the first time in forty years because of their own ineptitude, and the record turnout that Barack Obama will create in minority communities.

But New Yorkers should be aware of what they'll get once the Senate is controlled by New York's Democrats. There are Democratic Members of the Senate who possess a disturbing inability to punish criminals. Paramount among them is Senator Velmanette Montgomery of Brooklyn.

Ms. Montgomery is obsessed with protecting sex predators, and that’s no exaggeration. From her voting record, she believes it's a crime right up there with jaywalking.

On May 19th, the Senate passed legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos that would require the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) to post personal information regarding every registered sex predator in New York State. Under current law, New Yorkers are prohibited from accessing any information about so-called Level 1 Sex Offenders online.

It means if one of these deviants happen to live right next door to you, there's a good chance you'll never know about it. They’re supposed to be a “low risk” to commit additional sex crimes, and exempt from the online public registry.

The Skelos bill also requires all sex predators to provide their zip codes. Zip codes enable authorities to send New Yorkers an immediate e-mail informing them a sex predator - at any level - has just moved into their neighborhoods. All it takes is a request to be notified.

This common sense legislation passed 60-1. Well, who was the only Senator to vote against it? Velmanette Montgomery.

On May 14 the Senate passed another bill sponsored by Senator Skelos that would make it a class E felony for any Level 3 Sex Offender who fails to register or report a change of address. The vote was 60-1. And Senator Montgomery was again the only Senator to vote against it.

Finally, and also on May 14, the Senate passed legislation sponsored by Republican Senator George Maziarz that would make it a class A misdemeanor for first-time sex offenders to apply for a job that would allow them to have access to children in any way. Those guilty of a second violation are subject to a felony conviction.

The Maziarz bill passed 60-1. And, yes, the chairwoman and sole member of the Senate Friends Of Sex Predators Caucus voted against it.

What the hell is this woman's problem? The precious "rights" of people who commit such heinous crimes that even murderers believe they're the scum of the earth?

I attempted to find out what crime renders someone a Level 1 Sex Offender. That information is not publicly available. Why? Because the court of jurisdiction assigns the offender level. Isn't that wonderful? We have some of the most criminal-friendly judges in the country and they're making these decisions.

According to DCJS, there are 9,778 Level 1 Sex Offenders living in New York. I doubt all of them are 75-year old Alzheimer's patients who briefly opened a rain coat on Main Street.

In Senator Montgomery’s Brooklyn borough there are 636 Level 1 Sex Offenders. But she doesn’t want her northern and central Brooklyn constituents to know that one of them may be living in an apartment right next to them.

If you’re a Level 1 Sex Offender and decide apply for a job teaching second graders, Senator Montgomery has no problem with it. Since it’s just dandy that Level 1 Sex Offenders can become teachers, perhaps Ms. Montgomery should track one down on her own and ask him to do some babysitting for her family or friends.

And if you fail to register she also doesn’t believe you should be prosecuted for a felony. It’s called a registry and Senator Montgomery finds no fault with failing to register.

This is beyond ludicrous.

There is no way to describe these three votes by Senator Montgomery as anything but disgusting. I wonder how many Democrats in her district were appalled enough to mount a primary challenge. We already know the answer. Zero.

If a Senate Republican cast these three “no” votes there would be a stampede to get on the ballot. The Member would also be denounced publicly by party leaders.

It becomes even more Orwellian.

Senator Montgomery is the Ranking Member on the Senate Social Services, Children and Families Committee. That means she'll likely Chair the Committee if her party wins the Senate majority. She is also a member of the Senate Crime, Crime Victims and Correction Committee.

So, New Yorkers, vote for every Senate Democrat on the ballot this November 4th if you want the demented thinking of Senator Velmanette Montgomery to sit in a position of power in Albany where she can dote on and excuse sex predators.

With A Blue Moon In Your Eyes

2008-09-15T12:43:00.016-04:00

They are The Assembly Sopranos.

Since 1975 Democrats have controlled the New York State Assembly, and they don't merely resemble a fictional organized crime family. They are an organized crime family.

All the shadow of the Capitol requires in Albany is the Bada Bing! and Satriale's Pork Store.

So it was no surprise when Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who once boasted of being "John Gotti's Assemblyman," was arrested last week for an eight-year scheme he concocted to collect $500,000 in bribes. The 17-page indictment is damning.

"I'll break his balls. And I know what to break his balls about," Stugots Seminerio tells a bribe-paying hospital executive who was angry with a Department of Health official for not being helpful enough.

Seminerio, a 30-year incumbent, was also brazen and dumb enough to bring the undercover F.B.I. agent who nailed him onto the Assembly floor.

"Seminerio introduced the undercover to the Assembly Chambers' security guard, and requested that the security guard let the undercover enter the Assembly Chamber," the indictment charges. He immediately introduced the agent to Assembly Members who could help pass environmental legislation, and subsequently accepted a bribe for the "service."

Seminerio responded to the charges with his trademark arrogance. "It's one of those stupid things," he said.

He will likely join his disgraced former colleagues in resignation or expulsion from the Assembly. Or in prison. The body's most recent Assembly Sopranos, all New York City Democrats, include:

* Brian McLaughlin, allegedly the "confidential witness" who set up Seminerio. Plead guilty to racketeering charges for stealing $2.2 million from labor unions and nonprofit groups for personal use. Awaiting sentencing;

* Diane Gordon. Convicted of receiving a $500,000 bribe to build a new home. Awaiting sentencing;

* Clarence Norman, former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman. Convicted of accepting illegal campaign contributions. Currently serving time in a New York prison;

* Gloria Davis. Convicted of receiving a bribe. Served 90 days in jail;

* Roger Green. Plead guilty to larceny for billing taxpayers for rides to the Capital he received free of charge from a contractor. Resigned.

It never ends with this crew.

A day after Seminerio was hauled in by the F.B.I., the toothless Assembly Ethics Committee met to investigate Democratic Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and Assemblyman Greg Ball (a rare Republican Assembly Soprano). The married Hoyt has confessed to exchanging sexually explicit messages with his goomah, a legislative employee, and Ball is accused of stalking and sexual harassment.

Democratic Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV has twice been accused of rape, and exonerated. Earlier this year he was charged with a D.W.I., and his female passenger was so drunk she had to be taken to a hospital emergency room by the police.

The Don of The Assembly Sopranos is Speaker Shelly Silver. He's no stranger to ethical gray areas and excusing criminal behavior.

Don Shelly once stayed at a posh Las Vegas hotel (how fitting) paid for at a discount rate by a casino company looking to expand in NewYork. And he works for a law firm notorious throughout our business community for supporting tort laws that have enriched trial lawyers and helped cripple our state economy. Because of our weak ethics laws, Silver is not required to disclose how much the firm pays him.

In perhaps Don Shelly's most appalling example of looking the other way in the face of criminality, he aggressively defended his chief counsel, Michael Boxley, after he was charged with raping a 22-year-old legislative employee.

It was not the first time Boxley was accused of rape, and Silver called the young woman a liar publicly. Boxley was dragged out of the Capitol in handcuffs, and is now a registered sex offender.

"Speaker Silver has acknowledged repeatedly that he was wrong about Michael Boxley," said one of his spokescapos at the time. Boxley's victim received a $500,000 settlement from the state.

A primary reason why the Assembly is an organized crime haven is because of its shameful refusal to pass financial disclosure reform legislation. Its Members can hold outside jobs, and they're not required to disclose income and holdings beyond the pittance of $1,000.

The Assembly Sopranos want it that way. It's how they stay organized until they get caught. Until they remove this veil of secrecy and pass strong financial disclosure legislation we will continue to witness the convictions of small-time Roger Green grifters as well as big-time thieves and aspiring Jimmy Hoffas like Brian McLaughlin and Anthony Seminerio.

However corrupt, from bribes to sex scandals to F.B.I wiretaps to rats to convicted felons, The Assembly Sopranos fall short of their fictional counterparts in one respect. No Assembly Member has whacked anyone.

But it wouldn't be a surprise if it's reported one day that one of them: Woke up this morning, got yourself a gun.

Good, You Know, Will, Uh, Hunting Speaks

2008-09-10T21:47:00.019-04:00

Matt Damon solidified his status as a leading Hollywood dimwit on CBS News today. To comprehend his complete meltdown, this is the full text of what he said about Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin:

"I think there's a really good chance that Sarah Palin could be president, um, and I think that's a really scary thing. Um, because I don't know anything about her. Uh, I don't think in eight weeks I'm going to know anything about her. Um, I know that she was the mayor of a really, sma- , really small town. Um, and she's Governor of Alaska for, for less than two years.

"I just don't, understand.

"Uh, I think the pick was made for political purposes, but in terms of governance, it, it's a disaster. You do the actuary tables, you know, there's a one out of three chance, if not more, that McCain doesn't survive his first term. And it'll be President Palin.

"And, it really, you know, we was talking about it earlier, it's, it's, it's like a really bad Disney movie, you know. The hockey mom, you know. Oh, I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska and she's the president and it's like she's facing down Vladimir Putin and, you know, and using the, you know, the, the, folksy stuff she learned at the hockey, you know, rink, you know, and it's, it's absurd. It's totally absurd, and I don't understand why more people are not talking about it. How absurd it is.

"I, I, I, it, it, it's a really terrifying, uh, possibility. The fact that we've gotten this far, and, and we're that close to this being a reality is crazy. Crazy.

"She, I mean, did she really-. I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. That's an important - I wanna know that. I really do. Because she's gonna have the nuclear codes, you know. I, I, I wanna know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago.

"Or if she banned books, or tried to ban books.

"I mean, th-, th-, you know, we can't, we can't have that."

I mean, th-, th-, you know, Hollywood people really gave this guy an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay? He can barely, uh, complete a sentence. Perhaps th-, those rumors about legendary screenwriter William Goldman writing Good Will Hunting are true.

I just don't, understand.

Well, you know, I-, I-, I- can't, can't believe how he dared to bring up Senator McCain, you know, possibly dying in office. It, it, it's so low class. You do the actuary tables, and, and there's a room temperature IQ for The Talented Mr., Mr., Um, Ripley, right up there with Madonna. Crazy.

And, it, really, you know, he, uh, insulted small towns across America with his really elitist, condescending comments. I mean, th-, th-, how can, how can any Alaskan or small town resident ever want to watch, rent or, um, own, one of his movies ever again?

Uh, even though Damon said he doesn't know anything about Governor Palin, and won't, for the next, ah, eight weeks, he certainly expressed a strong, you know, op-, op-, opinion about her.

It's, it's, it's a really bad Disney movie, you know, when a Hollywood actor attempts to address the, the most serious issues before our country and comes across, like, a, a, a complete, stammering idiot. It's, like, Snow White, and, and, and the Seven Dwa-, you know, Little People running for president.

But, hundreds of thousands of Americans take their children to the hockey, you know, rink, and the bet here is they won't appreciate Damon's comments in swing states where hockey, you know, rinks are a major part of their lives. Like, in Minnesota, Michigan and Montana.

I, I, I wanna know why Matt Damon believes Governor Palin wants to ban books, as if, like, you know, she's a Nazi or something trying to fool everyone by using, the, you know, folksy stuff. Whatever.

She, I mean, uh, I think it's really terrifying to think the dinosaurs could have been in those really bad Disney movies 4,000 years ago, too, carrying the nuclear codes with them, and, I mean, Sarah Palin starring in them. Disney movies I've already seen, like, Benji the Hunted, and The Mighty Ducks.

You know, th-, th-, we can't, we can't have that.

Governor David A. Paterson, Amnesiac

2008-09-09T14:13:00.015-04:00

From today's New York Daily News:

"Republicans disguised their digs at Barack Obama with 'racial coding' to subtly make an issue of his color, Gov. Paterson said Tuesday morning.

"'There are overtones of potential racial coding in the campaign,' Paterson told the Crain's Business Forum, when asked whether racism would hurt Obama's chances to become president.

"'The Republican party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black,' Paterson said.

"'But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican convention. A 'community organizer.' They kept saying it, they kept laughing, like what does this mean?' "

Dear David,

Get a life. There was nothing remotely close to racism at the Republican National Convention, or in Senator McCain's campaign operation.

I hate to break the news to you, but Senator Obama himself refers to his past as a "community organizer." So do his supporters. Are you even paying attention to the presidential campaign?

The reason why "community organizer" is mocked by Republicans is because Obama has yet to explain what exactly this position entailed beyond feel-good nonsense. "Community organizer" is yet another part of his paltry experience.

What about your strong association with Al Sharpton? Anyone who claims Sharpton as a close friend and political ally, like you do, should be very careful about tarring public officials as racists.

Sharpton was - and still is - New York's premiere demagogue on race. He never apologized for his despicable role in perpetuating the Tawana Brawley rape hoax, and a civil jury ordered him to pay $345,000 in libel damages to the prosecutor Steven Pagones.

And, David, let's not forget Sharpton's role in inciting the armed attack on Freddie's Fashion Mart that led to the death of eight people.

"We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business," said Sharpton at the time. Of course, your buddy Al didn't stand by. One of his thug's entered the "white interloper's" store with a gun and flammable liquid. Does that horrible crime ring a bell, David?

How about the Crown Heights riots, and your pal Sharpton's destructive role?

"If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house."

That's what Sharpton said at the time. He also referred to Jewish New Yorkers as "diamond merchants."

You're obviously trying to score points with the Obama campaign. Fine. But at least attempt to achieve that goal without Al Sharpton exposing your hypocrisy.

"Racial coding." Right. You're the only one who seems to be the codebreaker.

- Chris

The Last Place Cable Network Makes A Decision

2008-09-08T13:59:00.008-04:00

From today's New York Times:

"NBC Universal executives are also known to be concerned about the perception that MSNBC’s partisan tilt in prime time is bleeding into the rest of the programming day. On a recent Friday afternoon, a graphic labeled 'Breaking News' asked: 'How many houses does Palin add to the Republican ticket?' Mr. Griffin called the graphic 'an embarrassment.'”

Mr. Griffin is the genius NBC network executive who defended the teaming of former ESPN jockstrap idolator Keith Olbermann and former Jimmy Carter speechwriter Chris Matthews to anchor the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. They were removed this weekend from anchoring any future political events, and replaced by David Gregory.

Both should be fired.

Olbermann and Matthews disgraced MSNBC with their insufferable ramblings, frequent adolescent cracks (Olbermann snidely saying a "Pawlenty" sounds like a side dish) and their unrelenting partisan unprofessionalism. These two characters should have been delegates to the Democratic convention.

Instead, MSNBC showcased them. For a last place cable network that consistently gets blown out in the ratings by Fox News and CNN, it's curious that the most important barometer doesn't apply to Olbermann and Matthews.

Olbermann is the most offensive person on cable television news, and Matthews, the rudest. The fact that they reportedly despise each other is amusing.

MSNBC long ago lost its credibility as a legitimate news operation. Maybe today's canning of Olbermann and Matthews from anchor duties shows they understand attempting to appeal to the Democratic party's moveon.org fanatics is not the right strategy to move up in the ratings. But I doubt it.

McCain

2008-09-06T23:52:00.005-04:00

Senator John McCain is blowing it. Big time.

His acceptance speech was mediocre, at best. He had eight years to prepare for the night he accepted the nomination from his party to be the next president of the United States, and it was a major disappointment.

To win, he must tell the truth about Senator Barack Obama.

He likely will not. Because the truth about Obama will be reported as "negative politics" by the mainstream media. Senator McCain, and his people, can easily be intimidated by the MSM.

If he loses on November 4th, it will be because of his excessive pandering to the media.

Senator McCain should make Obama's unrepentant terrorist pal William Ayres an issue. His extremist, paranoid, conspiracy-theory former pastor Jeremiah Wright is also a legitimate line of attack. And his "slum lord" buddy and convicted felon Tony Resco should never be off limits.

Senator McCain is not going to make Ayres, Wright and Resco part of his campaign. If he loses this election by a dozen electoral votes, that will be the reason. He was too afraid to expose his opponent for what he represents by his unseemly associations.

PROVOCATIONS: The Ticket

2008-09-04T20:05:00.007-04:00

Senator John McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin was necessary because he had to jump-start his floundering campaign rather than accept a conventional, lackluster running mate. The Alaskan is a risk, and may prove a mistake, but she's gifted, authentic and tough.

Unfortunately, we are now witnessing the hatred that consumes fringe bloggers and their mainstream media enablers. They are obsessively attempting to find something - anything - to humiliate, if not destroy, Gov. Palin. And that goal made her 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy fair game.

It has been an ugly and indecent last 72 hours, and with the media swarming all over the Palin family we will be subjected to more "analysis" about how a 17-year-old who made a mistake can impact the two most powerful offices in the world. How is that good for our country? It's not.

Bristol Palin's pregnancy is irrelevant. It should not diminish Gov. Palin's status as a rising Republican star, and is certainly not an indication of flawed judgment by Sen. McCain. Gov. Palin is guilty of being an ordinary American with a family issue millions of mothers and fathers cope with today.

Parents can impose restraints on teenage girls, but they are not foolproof. Were Gov. and Mr. Palin too trusting or too busy with their careers and neglected their parental duties? Perhaps. It's unflattering, and all too human.

What has been lost in the Minneapolis feeding frenzy is how the Republican Party desperately needs people like Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin to shake things up, as it has become a dysfunctional, pork-barrel party that lost its way and its principles. Our country needs them as well.

Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are both true reformers who have demonstrated determination and independence on issue after issue. In addition, neither has not hesitated to forcefully stand up to entrenched special interests, their opponents and their own party's faltering leadership.

By contrast, Obama has the experience of a yes-man state legislator dutifully obeying his leadership's orders, and casting the cowardly vote of "present" 129 times on dozens of issues in Springfield. If there is one example of Sen. Obama demonstrating his willingness to pursue and achieve the reforms he claims to support as a State Senator or United States Senator, it has yet to be revealed.

Unlike Gov. Palin he's never run anything. Not a state. Not a city. Not even a village. Nor has he accomplished anything that denotes real reform, and his supporters have no answers beyond platitudes when they are asked for examples.

Yes, Sen. Obama is a great communicator - an important talent for a president. But take away the script, he actually does poorly in question-and-answer sessions and debates. He simply is not good on his feet. Unscripted questions are above his pay grade. And his ideas are forty years out of date and bad for the economy and national security. He merely makes them sound more appealing than the Kerrys, Gores and Dukakises.

That the Republican vice presidential nominee has short-term experience is hardly a talking point for the Democrats, and it comes off as deeply hypocritical. In fact, the 44-year-old Palin's career highlights just how flimsy Sen. Obama's credentials are as the man who aspires to lead the free world.

And Gov. Palin's counterpart Biden? Joe Biden has been a major part of the most ruthless partisanship in Washington for the last 20-plus years as the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a party to destroying the reputations of qualified men and women for Federal judgeships. The extreme partisanship Obama claims to want to move on from, Sen. Biden revels in.

For all his purported foreign policy experience, Sen. Biden proposed a "plan" to partition Iraq, comparing it to Bosnia - a colossal error in judgment and since removed from his website. He also, like most Democrats, opposed President Reagan's 1980's military build-up that helped win the Cold War. On the most critical foreign policy issue that consumed America for 50 years, Sen. Biden was on the wrong side.

By choosing Gov. Palin, Sen. McCain showed us he is no different than the man who first ran for president eight years ago. He's been a thorn in the side of President Bush's fecklessness for most of his presidency, and he picked a new generation leader who has been a thorn in the side of Alaska's knuckle-dragging, corrupt old-boy network.

Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are the right man and woman for our times, and that fact will become more evident as we approach Election Day.

The Perfect Song For Jilted Hillary Supporters

2008-09-04T13:33:00.005-04:00

"Sarah, you're the poet in my heart."

Written by Stevie Nicks, and listen here.

Wait a minute baby,
Stay with me awhile...
Said you'd give me light
But you never told me about the fire

Drownin', in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown.
But now it's gone, it doesn't matter what for
So when you build your house, then call me home

And it was just like a great dark wind
Within the wings of a storm
I think I had met my match
He was singin'
And undoing and undoing
The laces, undoing the laces

He said "Sara, you're the poet in my heart,
Never change, never stop..."
But now it's gone, it doesn't matter what for,
But when you build your house, then, call me,home

Hold on, the night is comin'
And the starling flew for days
I'd stay home at night all the time,
I could go anywhere - anyway - anyway...

Ask me and I'm there, yeah,
Ask me and I'm there, I care
In the sea of love where everyone would love to drown
But now it's gone, they say it doesn't matter any more
Well, if you build your house, then please call me,home

"Sara, you're the poet in my heart,
Never change, and don’t you ever stop..."
But now it's gone; no, it doesn't matter anymore
When you build your house, I’ll go by

Sara

Sara, baby
There was a heartbeat and it never really died,
Yes it never really died
Oh will you swallow your pride?

All I ever wanted was to know that you were dreaming...

Sarah Rising

2008-09-03T23:45:00.002-04:00

She did it.

With elegance and eloquence.

"I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment."

She sure isn't, and she's ready to lead.

The Night of the Barracuda

2008-09-03T19:57:00.002-04:00

It has been a long time since the fringe left and their mainstream media accomplices made me this angry.

Senator John McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate was a brilliant choice. Her speech last Friday was nothing short of thrilling. She is an impressive, gutsy woman who took on Alaska's corrupt, male-dominated Republican dinosaur establishment and defeated them. Gov. Palin is a true reformer in the McCain style, and the kind Barack Obama merely pretends to be.

A Mayor (albeit from a small town) and Governor is a resume with significant executive experience, and neither Obama or Joe Biden possess it. The contrast with Obama - a quintessential, privileged, yes-man Chicago machine politician is immense.

Yet, none of that matters tonight. What matters is destroying Sarah Palin and smearing her family.

Governor Palin will rise to the challenge of her life tonight, and deliver a speech that will electrify this convention.

PROVOCATIONS: The Fat Grams Mayor

2008-09-03T19:03:00.007-04:00

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

During your 16 remaining months in office, you need to understand what the people of New York don't have to endure from you. It's lectures about our health and diets.

From your recent announcement to spend $500 million with Bill Gates to "fight smoking" to your pet bill that would force chain restaurants to display calorie information on their menus to your banning so-called trans fat from city restaurants, it's been incessant smothering-by-government from you.

If you were a private citizen, I would have no problem with your efforts. You're not, though.

Guess what, Mr. Mayor? It's none of your business what New Yorkers decide to eat, or smoke, legally. If we want to eat a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken or smoke five packs of Marlboro cigarettes every day, it's a personal choice. Making a personal choice - a pro-choice - on other life issues before the public is usually language politicians like you enjoy using to score points with the electorate. Right? More on that in a moment.

You obviously fail to understand the proper role of government. When James Madison and his fellow Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution they didn't have your obsessive calorie counting and "anti-smoking" crusades in mind. The Federalist Papers and The Declaration of Independence also make no mention of the foods and cigarettes you disdain. It's why we don't have any monuments dedicated to a cholesterol test.

You, sir, are a health fanatic. Your goal is to impose this fanaticism upon the 8 million people you represent.

I know your defense: People who eat unhealthy foods and smoke cigarettes drive up the cost of health insurance and burden the health care system.

So what.

Once your reasoning is accepted, elected officials like you can bring the full force of the government down upon private decisions at any time. If I can't eat a Whopper at Burger King or grab a smoke without you leering over my shoulder like a dietary Humbert Humbert, it creates more opportunities for you to regulate and harangue me about my behavior.

Your health hectoring insults the intelligence of New Yorkers. I know smoking is unhealthy and a salad is healthier to consume than a Nathan's hot dog. Because my Mom and Dad told me - when I was five years old.

"Eat your peas."

Didn't your parents tell you to eat your peas because they're healthy? Of course. It wasn't eat your Ding Dongs at the dinner table.

Mr. Mayor, your city has tens of thousands of abortions take place every year. In 2006, according to the New York State Department of Health, of the 121,278 abortions in New York, 83,226 abortions were here.

Although the Department does not have a statistical break down for the number of previous abortions by geographic area, statewide there were 16,815 women who already had a third abortion, 8,068 with a fourth abortion, and 3,804 with a fifth abortion. Undoubtedly, these disturbing multiple abortion numbers include your constituents.

Is abortion a life and death issue that compares to your calorie counting and smoking agendas? Of course it is. Yet, we don't hear a peep of concern from you about those lives taken in your city day after day. Not one word.

The psychological and family repercussions that these women have suffered are tragic. It doesn't compare, in any way, to ordering a box of McDonald's french fries you so sanctimoniously condemn..

You're promoting a cause because you believe you'll save lives - the lives of New Yorkers who make decisions of their own free will. Fine. But you wake up leading a city where you strongly support a barbaric "procedure" that costs the lives of babies who have no free will. And you have done nothing about it.

Think about the unborn, and your hypocrisy, the next time you feel the compulsion to condescend to us about what to eat or smoke in order to live a "healthy lifestyle."

- Chris

What Hillary Doesn't Know

2007-12-28T09:19:00.000-05:00

"As soon as I found out that one of my supporters and co-chairs in New Hampshire made a statement, asked a series of questions, I made it clear it was not authorized, it was in no way condoned. I didn't know about it and he stepped down." - Senator Hillary Clinton, December 14, 2007.

By Senator Hillary Clinton

I don't know anything about my presidential campaign.

I didn't know we were planning negative attacks. I didn't know Billy Shaheen, a senior New Hampshire campaign aide, was going to make an issue of Senator Obama's teenage drug use. I didn't know my advisers were going to keep the issue alive by using the word "cocaine" in interviews after the aide was fired.

I didn't know my senior aides were using Senator Obama's kindergarten writings to concoct a pathological obsession for winning the presidency. I didn't know my campaign workers were planting questions with audience members before my appearances. I didn't know a 15-years-long fugitive illegally bundled $850,000 in donations on my behalf.

I didn't know my husband's disgraced National Security Adviser, who admitted stealing and destroying classified documents from the National Archives, would have "no official role" in my campaign after I selected him to advise me. I didn't know a gay General who supports me was traveling cross-country to the Republican You Tube debate to ask a loaded, partisan question.

I also don't know anything about my 2000 Senate campaign.

I didn't know why my former campaign finance director was indicted on four counts of filing false reports with the Federal Election Commission for an August, 2000 Hollywood fund-raising gala. I didn't know why 1,359 out of 1,369 votes cast in the Hasidic village of New Square were for me. I didn't know how my husband decided to pardon four residents of the same village on his last day in office even though they were convicted of stealing $40 million in federal funds.

I didn't know my brother was selling pardons. In fact, at the time I said:

"I'm just very, uh, disappointed about my brother's involvement. If I had known about, uh, this, we wouldn't be standing here today. Uh, I didn't know about it, and I'm very ... regretful that, uh, it occurred, that I didn't know about it. Uh, I might have been able to prevent this from happening. And I'm just very disappointed about the whole matter. I did not know. I was heartbroken and - and shocked by it."

I also don't know anything about The White House when I was the First Lady.

I didn't know why White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum removed documents from the late Vince Foster's office related to the Whitewater Development Corporation. I didn't know why he subsequently gave them to Margaret Williams, my chief of staff.

When asked about it in 1994, I said, "I can tell you what I know which is that I did not know that Vince had any of the documents related to our personal business in his office until after his death."

I didn't know how my Rose Law Firm records sought by Congressional investigators and a special prosecutor mysteriously turned up in my White House personal residence. I didn't know why the career White House Travel Office staff were fired. I didn't know The White House had access to hundreds of FBI background reports on former employees. I didn't know why a former bouncer was hired to head the Office of Personnel Security.

I also don't know anything about Arkansas when I was the state's First Lady.

I didn't know representing a bank before the Arkansas state regulators my husband appointed was a conflict of interest. I didn't know how Jim Blair turned my $1,000 investment in cattle futures contracts into a $100,000 profit. I didn't know what my former business partners Jim and Susan McDougal concealed that sent them both to prison. I didn't know what my former Rose Law Firm colleague Webster Hubbell was doing before he was convicted of tax evasion and mail fraud.

In fact, I don't know much about anything at all.

I don't know why so many women have accused my husband of ungentlemanly behavior. I don't know why a Google of "Hillary Clinton" and "scandal" produces 466,000 results. I don't know why a Google of "Hillary Clinton" and "I didn't know" returns 161,000 results.

I just don't know.

If This Is Governor George Pataki

2007-12-26T06:46:00.000-05:00

December 26, 1995 -- ALBANY - Gov. Pataki is endangering the recovery of potentially crucial e-mail evidence relating to the Dirty Tricks Scandal by refusing to give investigators the names of Internet service providers used by himself and his aides, sources said.

The refusal has blocked the Assembly Investigations Committee from issuing subpoenas to ISPs for personal BlackBerries and other e-mail-equipped devices known to be used by Pataki and his senior aides.

"I sent [Pataki counsel] Mike Finnegan a letter asking for the names of the ISPs in October, and he hasn't even answered me," said Assembly Investigations Committee Chairman Richard Brodsky.

"Then we sent out a subpoena for the information, and the governor is fighting that in court. I can't just send out a general subpoena to Yahoo! or Hotmail or AOL or Road Runner. I need to know what ISPs are being used by the governor and his aides."

Pataki's refusal to identify the ISPs has led Assembly and non-Assembly probers to fear that crucial scandal-related evidence has been, or will soon be, destroyed.

A senior official involved in the investigation said "some of the ISPs only hold copies of e-mails for 30 days, some hold them for 60 days, and maybe some for six months.

"What you have here, I believe, is the governor running out the clock on the evidence," the official continued.

Pataki's spokeswoman, Zenia Mucha, insisted that the governor and his aides had preserved all "relevant materials" and were resisting the Assembly's requests for information only because "state law makes it clear that it is improper for the Assembly - an equal branch of government - to investigate the executive branch."

The scandal, which is also being probed by the state Public Integrity Commission and the Albany District Attorney's Office, involved the use of the State Police by top Pataki aides last spring to gather purportedly damaging information on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the governor's chief political opponent.

That's part of Fred Dicker's story today from The New York Post altered to reflect the same circumstances for 1995, Governor Pataki's first year in office.

If this is Governor Pataki, and not Governor Spitzer, at the center of the Dirty Tricks scandal certain reporters who cover state government wouldn't be so arrogantly dismissive of it.

If this is Governor Pataki the Albany County District Attorney wouldn't be a bumbling incompetent.

If this is Governor Pataki we'd read editorial after editorial from The New York Times calling for his impeachment and removal from office.

If this is Governor Pataki so-called good government groups such as NYPIRG, League of Women Voters and Common Cause would be screaming about ethics and transparency.

If this is Governor Pataki the state Public Integrity Commission wouldn't be a bunch of stonewalling stooges, but a "bi-partisan" Commission looking to nail a freshman Governor elected with 49 percent of the vote.

If this is Governor Pataki the media and "good government" phonies wouldn't be giving the Acting Superintendent of the State Police a free pass for his gross ethical transgressions.

Chichester Obtains Spitzer-Soares Email

2007-12-26T06:29:00.000-05:00

N.Y. Post: DA Faces Subpoena Over Spitzer E-Files
*
FROM: r.milhouse.spitzer@executive.chamber.infant.gov

TO: mike.nifong@albany.county.gov

David I'm extremely, extremely upset with you!!!!!!!! I heard you're getting a subpoena for my computerized records!!!!!!!!! Baum and Pope told you the day after Andy Cuomo's little report it's DAY ONE, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE and you better play ball David!!!!!! Or you're finished!!!!!
*
FROM: mike.nifong@albany.county.gov

TO: r.milhouse.spitzer@executive.chamber.infant.gov

Governor, yes, Baum and Pope told me. But I'm getting nervous about my support from the Working Families Party when I run for re-election.
*
FROM: r.milhouse.spitzer@executive.chamber.infant.gov

TO: mike.nifong@albany.county.gov

My father made millions and he was the head of a working family!!!!!!!! I wouldn't be GOVERNOR OF YOU without being in a WORKING FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!! Guess what David!!!!!??????? BILL GATES IS IN A WORKING FAMILY!!!!!!! It's the dumbest name for a party EVER!!!!!!!!! Now you have me sidetracked!!!!!!!! What the fuck were we talking about?????????!!!!!!!!!!
*
FROM: mike.nifong@albany.county.gov

TO: r.milhouse.spitzer@executive.chamber.infant.gov

Obstruction of justice without your fingerprints Governor. Sir, I think we could be placing Attorney General Cuomo in a very difficult political position if we move forward with this plan.
*
FROM: r.milhouse.spitzer@executive.chamber.infant.gov

TO: mike.nifong@albany.county.gov

I HATE ANDY CUOMO!!!!!!!! I HATE HIM SO MUCH I FEEL LIKE MARRYING A KENNEDY NOW!!!!!! Don't ever mention his name again David!!!! You better get with the program and start telling the Senate and Assembly about my soft side and how I was nice to a puppy today, or guess what?????!!!!!!!!! You're finished!!!!!!!

Previous:
Chichester Obtains Spitzer-Cuomo Email Exchange
Chichester Obtains Spitzer-Silver Email Exchange
Chichester Obtains Spitzer-Bruno Email Exchange
Chichester Obtains Spitzer-Hillary Email Exchange

Gov. Spitzer's Hammer And Sprawlsickle

2007-12-24T15:06:00.000-05:00

Judith Enck

Can someone please tell me what "sprawl" means? I've read about it. I've heard about it. And I still have no idea what it is.

Governor Spitzer apparently understands "sprawl." He's created a "Smart Growth Fund" to deal with the "problem." The staffer in charge of the Fund is Judith Enck. Ms. Enck offers her "solutions" for addressing the scourge of "sprawl" in today's Times Union:

"Step one is to focus on state spending, to make sure it does not contribute to sprawl problems. We want to help drive development where we have existing infrastructure. Then we look at how we can assist local governments . . . Our goal is to come up with programs to avoid sprawl without growth, which is what we have now throughout upstate."

Avoid sprawl without growth? What the hell does that mean? I need an Enck-to-English dictionary whenever she starts talking. And who is Ms. Enck to declare "we want to drive development where we have existing infrastructure." The market drives development, not state bureaucrats in the Spitzer administration.

For the uninitiated, Ms. Enck is one of New York's leading anti-business, carbon-counting green kooks. And that's a mild description. Ms. Enck is so militant on environmental issues that she once attacked my former boss, Governor George Pataki, as "out of the mainstream." Even The New York Times editorial page was forced to concede: "Most politicians are fortunate if they’re remembered for one good thing. In the case of Gov. George Pataki, that will almost surely be his work for the environment."

I have a good idea how Judith Enck defines sprawl. Sprawl is whatever Judith Enck says it is. Sprawl is a strip mall that Judith Enck doesn't like because it's not an architectural masterpiece. Sprawl is a private development that dries up a big puddle Judith Enck believes is a wetland. Sprawl is a small business owner who decides to expand by clearing trees that Judith Enck wants to stare at all day long. Sprawl is any job created in New York that doesn't comport with Judith Enck's Marxist flow chart for how jobs should be created.

Last week the Federal Reserve reported upstate New York lost 85,000 jobs between 2000 and 2006. With Governor Spitzer employing anti-capitalist environmental extremists like Judith Enck in a senior capacity New York will continue to lose tens of thousands of jobs.

R. Milhouse Spitzer, Judith Enck and Peter Pope

2007-12-24T07:52:00.000-05:00

“Many, many, many of us are sick of being bashed in speeches and then called up for money.”

That's what an anonymous Albany-based lobbyist told the Times today. Regarding Governor Spitzer's long planned December 3 fund-raiser that netted $1.5 million another lobbyist said, “I may have gotten six different e-mails on that fund-raiser. We’re all being solicited to bundle contributions.”

The Times further reports:

"Some of Mr. Spitzer’s aides and appointees continue to keep lobbyists at arm’s length. Mr. Spitzer’s deputy secretary for the environment, Judith Enck, for example, does not allow a lobbyist to meet with her for more than 15 minutes, and she does not do meals. 'If you can’t make your case in 15 minutes, you’re not a particularly effective spokesperson for your cause,' Ms. Enck said."

Ms. Enck should know. She was a long-time left-wing Albany lobbyist, which the Times curiously did not report.

Judith Enck is the personification of the Spitzer administration. It's an ethical badge of honor for her to refuse to meet with lobbyists for more than 15 minutes or dine with them. So what. Does that somehow make her morally superior?

Governor Spitzer and his senior staff remain incapable of communicating with New Yorkers without an overwrought self-righteousness. And they're also completely oblivious to the hypocrisy they've created.

Perhaps the most hilariously funny - and hypocritical - example of this troubling personal demeanor at work in Governor Spitzer's second floor Capitol offices is Peter Pope. Today's Times reports:

"Several people also said that Peter Pope, the governor’s policy director, was widely considered to be hostile to lobbyists, especially when their clients disagreed with Mr. Spitzer’s priorities."

Mr. Pope, as I previously noted, is represented by Susan Necheles in the ongoing Dirty Tricks scandal. Ms. Necheles was once counsel to Venero Mangano, a Genovese crime family member also known as "Benny Eggs" who served 15 years in prison for extortion.

Obviously, if you're an Albany lobbyist be sure to avoid Mr. Pope. But if you're in the market for an underboss or need a tutorial for the proper way to sleep on a mattress in a vacant apartment in your suit, Mr. Pope may be a resource.

No matter how much dirtier the Dirty Tricks scandal becomes, there will be stories about the holier-than-thou comportment of Governor Spitzer and his aides. In the meantime, I'll take lunch for longer than 15 minutes with any lobbyist in Albany every time over lunch with Ms. Enck, Mr. Pope and Mr. Pope's mob attorney.

Eliot Sulzer?

2007-12-24T06:51:00.000-05:00

William Sulzer, New York Governor, January-October, 1913.

Fred Dicker of the New York Post reports exclusively today that "computers in Gov. Spitzer's office were intentionally 'purged and scrubbed' of potentially crucial records involving the Dirty Tricks Scandal - while others have simply disappeared, investigators have been told."

This Spitzer scandal is growing and the facts that have not been reported will be even more damning than the facts we know today. The only New York governor impeached and removed from office is William Sulzer. Mr. Sulzer may have company. Soon.

Malleable Mitt And Other Sunday News

2007-12-23T08:49:00.003-05:00

With Sen. McCain closing the gap in New Hampshire, Romney accuses him of "failing Reagan 101." It's truly amazing to watch Romney attack his opponents as insufficiently Reagan. The accusation comes from a man whose malleable lifelong ideology can be summarized by the coherence of a Jackson Pollock.

Sen. Obama lets John Edwards know he's a hypocrite in Two Haircuts America. Bill Clinton continues to talk about himself. Gov. Dukakabee is still answering for "arrogant bunker mentality."

Point Of Personal Privilege, Mr. Chairman

2007-12-23T08:49:00.001-05:00

~~Jason Giambi~~, er, ~~Mark McGwire~~, er, ~~Barry Bonds~~, er, ~~Marion Jones~~ Roger Clemens*** denies using steroids and human growth hormone. And I said so, pre-blog.

The Art Of The Slam

2007-12-22T12:44:00.000-05:00

"Mike Slams Gov Over Javits Flop" is the headline in today's Post after Mayor Bloomberg's mild criticism of the Spitzer administration's review of the Javits Center's expansion plan. Unfortunately, and as much as every New Yorker has to love the city's tabloids, this story does not rise to the level of an official "slam."

First, Mayor Bloomberg did not fume. It can't be a legitimate "slam" without a "he fumed" quote. The Mayor merely "said" the delay cost an enormous amount.

Second, the Mayor "conceded" that "maybe all the costs originally weren't put in." We can't have any concessions in an official slam. And costs are never just costs. They're "explosive" or "out of control" or (my personal favorite) "secret."

Third, a "delay" is too tame. It has to be an "unacceptable delay" that the Mayor "won't tolerate."

Illegal Eliot

2007-12-22T08:50:00.000-05:00

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco describes Governor Spitzer as "Illegal Eliot" with good reason. Yesterday he pardoned Frederick Lake of Brooklyn, who served a six-year sentence for armed robbery. In the news release Governor Spitzer said:

“Mr. Lake has presented his arguments to the courts, and the courts have upheld his conviction, but whether or not Mr. Lake committed this crime, he now has two young sons who depend on him for emotional support and physical supervision, and who would be devastated by his deportation.” (Emphasis added.)

But whether or not Mr. Lake committed this crime? So taking guilt into consideration for armed robbery doesn't matter when the Governor of 18 million people issues a rare pardon? This from the so-called Sheriff of Wall Street?

What an absurd statement.

How about whether or not Maurice Greenberg committed a crime. Or whether or not Howard I. Smith committed a crime. Or whether or not Dick Grasso received excessive compensation. Or whether or not securities fraud is a crime. Or whether or not payola is a crime.

Governor Spitzer is a real tough guy when he's going after Wall Street executives and their rampaging briefcases. Yet when he has to defend a pardon for an individual convicted of a violent crime New Yorkers get a dismissive "whether or not Mr. Lake committed this crime."

Friday News

2007-12-21T08:25:00.000-05:00

Mystifying Mitt Romney is at it again with his say anything habit. Democratic Assemblyman Michael Benjamin defends Falun Gong and rips Chinese government thugs. Professional goof Stephen Colbert recognized for his work in the joke-teller primary. Non-veteran Gov. Dukakabee on his "battlefield."

And Legislator Judith Kaye and her Court of Appeals with yet another decision that demonstrates New York's judges should not receive a pay raise. Defend the Constitutional rights of American authors? Don't bother Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick with such a technicality.

How The Media Cover Presidential Races

2007-12-21T08:02:00.001-05:00

The next President of the United States.

Good afternoon. I'm Dave Johnson with the call from Belmont Park. The horses are in the gate. Six of them for the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes. Mile and a half.

And they're off. McCain breaks from the outside and takes the lead. Giuliani second with Ron Turcotte aboard on the inside between horses. Romney away very well racing in third position at the rail. Thompson did not break alertly and is fourth and Huckabee is right there in fifth. There's five of them across the track going for the lead as they swing around the clubhouse turn with Paul on the extreme outside trailing.

McCain draws out the lead by a length and a quarter. Giuliani in second from between horses and is very eager to get to that lead. Romney drops back a bit and there goes Huckabee now taking over fourth showing uncharacteristic speed. Thompson fifth about six lengths off the lead. Paul is the trailer.

As they race to the back stretch on the front end it's McCain with Edgar Prado aboard showing the way by a length. And now Giuliani charges up, storming up on the outside to take the lead. Giuliani by a length over McCain.

Romney is back to third, followed at the rail by the unpredictable Huckabee, and the great colt Thompson may be on the move in fifth, and the trailer continues to be Paul, who is 16 lengths off the leader Giuliani. The opening quarter was 23 seconds and the half in 46 and three-fifths seconds; that's three-fifths slower than the track record set by Reagan in 1984.

Here we go with Giuliani now in front by a length and a quarter but as you can see Huckabee is moving up along side to challenge McCain and Romney. Huckabee moving up on the rail and taking strong command of second as McCain and Romney drop back on the outside.

Giuliani is on the move now. Huckabee is a stalking second and he's moving early with six furlongs to go! Huckabee is about to overtake Giuliani! Oh! Huckabee has broken down! Huckabee has broken down!

Romney is now at the rail racing in second at the far turn. Thompson has moved up to the third position but is faltering and McCain falls back too. Paul is the trailer now by 35 lengths.

As they move to the top of the stretch it's Giuliani now in front by only a half-length, and now Romney puts in a run with Gary Stevens on the outside aboard. Thompson is still back to third by seven lengths as they straighten and McCain has given way trailing in fourth!

Romney is making his move. Stevens glances over and he sees that Giuliani is along side. It looks like a two horse horse race for the Belmont Stakes as Giuliani and Romney pull away! They're by the eight pole.

And down the stretch they come!

It's still Giuliani in a furious drive uncoiling that massive stride. He's holding on to a head lead. Romney is outside and challenging that lead. The two are heads apart. And Romney's got a lead! Romney is now a nose in front! Right in the middle of the stretch! It's Romney and Giuliani battling back along the inside! They are deadlocked! They're stride for stride!

The whip is out on Giuliani! Giuliani under a right hand whip from Turcotte! Romney on the outside driving! Giuliani and Romney noses apart!

As they come to the final sixteenth, Ron Turcotte imploring Giuliani to hold on! 63 years in the waiting! Romney a final surge! It's going to be very close. Here's the wire . . . IT'S TOO CLOSE TO CALL! Was it Romney or was it Giuliani?! A picture is worth a thousand words! History in the waiting until we get that photo finish!

2006: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Lobbyists; 2007: Nevermind

2007-12-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

"Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer announced his transition team this morning, stressing that he has decided to allow no elected officials and no lobbyists to participate in order to 'maintain the public’s confidence' in the process of transferring power from the old Pataki administration to the new Spitzer administration." - Capitol Confidential, November 9, 2006

“'We can say that the public has spoken and the public cares about this,' . . . 'We will be in a position to change the dynamic, speak with a unified voice—and trust me, it’s going to be a very different decision process.' . . . 'Boy,' said Spitzer running mate David Paterson, 'are they in for a surprise.'" - N.Y. Observer, November 12, 2006

"Some of the names being discussed to replace Alan Hevesi as state controller: Bill Mulrow, investment banker, former candidate for state controller in 2002. A graduate of Harvard and Yale, Mulrow ran a solid race against Hevesi in 2002 and has a strong financial background. But his work as a lobbyist since then could pose a conflict." -N.Y. Daily News, December 22, 2006

"There has been no official announcement or explanation of what role investment banker/Democratic big Bill Mulrow will play in the Spitzer universe, but someone with intimate knowledge of the set-up explained he will serve largely as a goodwill ambassador of sorts for the governor, seeking to shore up ties between the executive and his erstwhile supporters - particularly those who are members of organized labor." - The Daily Politics, December 20, 2007

Boy, you were right Mr. Paterson. We were in for a surprise in 2007.

First, Felton And Now Ms. Indira Faith Noel

2007-12-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

Times Union: Aide To Senate Minority Punished

"People familiar with the accusation say Noel sought transcripts from the University of Buffalo, using Pierre's Social Security number and signature without his authorization."

Excuse me, but isn't this a crime? And the aide is merely "punished" and not fired? What behavior for political appointees in the New York Democratic Party merits a termination for cause? Raping an Assembly minority staffer and getting placed in the state's sex-offender registry? Oh, nevermind. That already happened to Speaker Silver's former counsel.

Why Hasn't This Man Been Fired?

2007-12-20T07:09:00.001-05:00

Preston Felton

Acting Superintendent of the State Police Preston Felton was a willing and enthusiastic participant in the Dirty Tricks attempt by Governor
Spitzer's senior aides to destroy the career of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Despite having conspired with Spitzer aide William Howard, Superintendent Felton has largely receded from public view.

Felton remains unscathed in both media coverage and public scrutiny since Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released his report five months ago. The media, New Yorkers and, most of all, Governor Spitzer's serial apologists should read (or re-read) Attorney General Cuomo's report, particularly page seven. It concludes:

"• The Superintendent directed the creation of records to show where State Police investigators had driven Senator Bruno while he was in New York City, even for a trip for which Senator Bruno had already provided a schedule. These records were not ordinarily created or maintained by the State Police. The Superintendent provided these records to Howard with the understanding that they would be produced under a FOIL request.

"• The Superintendent began reporting to Howard information about Senator Bruno’s upcoming schedule and changes to the schedule on an ongoing basis as the Superintendent received that information.

"• The creation of records outside the ordinary course of business and the events in question carries the risk of creating inaccurate or misleading records, which occurred here.

"• Howard requested and the Superintendent produced selective information regarding Senator Bruno.

"• The Superintendent and Howard produced sensitive scheduling information of the kind not typically produced and did so without conducting a security review.

"• The Superintendent personally handled and oversaw the document creation and production. This was contrary to more than twenty years of State Police practice and procedure and was something that the Superintendent himself had never done before." (Emphasis added.)

How can anyone who understands the difference between right and wrong reach the conclusion that Preston Felton possesses the personal rectitude to lead the New York State Police in the aftermath of Cuomo's report? He should have been dismissed the day it became public.

Our State Police proclaim a "Vision, Values and Mission." The Mission is: "To serve, protect and defend the people while preserving the rights and dignity of all." Where was Felton's concern for preserving the rights and dignity of Senator Bruno while he was grossly abjuring the responsibilities of his office?

One of the top "Values" cited by the State Police is "Integrity: To live and work in accordance with high ethical standards." How is Felton's behavior not appallingly unethical? The man has been a member of the New York State Police for 22 years and he reduced himself to being a political party functionary. He has to know better.

When Governor Spitzer appointed Felton the Acting Superintendent on March 15th he hailed a "vast array of skills and abilities as both a top administrator and a field commander." He certainly has a vast array of skills and abilities since he's still employed as New York State's top cop.

Felton's News Release

2007-12-20T07:03:00.003-05:00

In writing the post for this morning on Preston Felton I could not find the news release announcing his appointment last March 15th on Governor Spitzer's website. There are releases from that date on racing and Governor Spitzer's tour of the Alianza Dominicana Center in New York City.

Chichester Edits Statements For Accuracy

2007-12-19T14:08:00.000-05:00

Christine Anderson, Governor Spitzer's Director of Communications, explaining the "upstate" State of the State.

"It's the state of our upstate (I can't believe I have to defend this bonehead idea) . Is it strong? (The second floor genius who came up with this first-ever fiasco-in-waiting better stay out of my office) . Is it weak? (Now this genius has me asking if the upstate economy is weak when I know a new report shows it lost 85,000 jobs between 2000 and 2006). What do we have to do next? (What I'm going to do next is find the propeller-hat in our administration who has no idea what the flack does).

"The Dishonest Way You Pose Yourself"

2007-12-19T13:44:00.001-05:00

Senate Majority Leader ~~Pat Geary~~ Harry Reid of Nevada still hates President Bush.

President Signs An Al Gore Energy Bill

2007-12-19T12:39:00.000-05:00

January 20, 2009 can't arrive fast enough so President Bush can retire to Texas. This morning he signed the "energy" bill flanked by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Every bill favored by Reid and Pelosi that purports to help America achieve energy independence will never achieve the goal and is merely one that appeases carbon-counting green kooks.

The legislation keeps the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge closed to oil drilling, does not provide incentives for the construction of nuclear power plants, does nothing to control rising gas prices and will not build the first oil refineries in the continental United States in thirty years. Today, President Bush officially became a total failure in attempting to establish a workable, balanced and sensible national energy policy.

This is an opportunity for one of the five competitive Republican candidates to show guts and leadership. The first candidate to effectively criticize President Bush for his signature on this atrocious legislation and paint him as an eight-year failure on domestic issues, with the exception of tax cuts, can break out.

A Slip And Fall Lawyer Reps Spitzer's Lawyer

2007-12-19T08:25:00.001-05:00

ambulance chaser

NOUN: Slang
1. A lawyer who obtains clients by persuading accident victims to sue for damages.
2. A lawyer avid for clients.

This is Peter Moschetti. He represents David Nocenti, counsel to Governor Spitzer, in the ongoing Dirty Tricks scandal. Mr. Moschetti's major practice areas, he helpfully notes, include "slip and fall accidents." The legal advice he offers, which comes with a FREE CONSULTATION (it's in yellow on his website), is:

"Whether it’s an unsalted patch of ice in a business’s entryway or an unmarked spill on the grocer’s floor, New York slip and fall hazards are lingering amidst businesses, homes, and pathways . . . If you or a loved one has been injured in a New York slip and fall or other premises liability accident, consider these steps to help you with your claim.

"Take photographs of the accident scene and your injuries soon after, if not immediately after the accident. Write down the names and addresses of any eyewitnesses. Contact a New York premises liability lawyer at Anderson, Moschetti & Taffany as soon as possible. Our staff can help collect vital evidence and take action promptly to thoroughly investigate the case."

Unfortunately, I'm not near a shower as I write this post but I will carry on dutifully.

David Nocenti holds a position of immense responsibility. Having worked closely with one of his talented predecessors on criminal justice issues, I can confidently assert that they are not supposed to be this dumb.

I'm not a lawyer, and I know Mr. Nocenti needs a new lawyer. Immediately. If Mr. Nocenti slips and falls on his way into the Grand Jury room or has an auto accident on his way to take a polygraph, he can pursue an ambulance chasing case with Mr. Moschetti.

But since he's involved in a scandal that could prevent Governor Spitzer from completing his term in office, he's going to need the services of someone with experience in government corruption and white collar criminal cases. The Governor's Chief of Staff Richard Baum apparently understands the stakes. He hired Steven F. Reich.

Mr. Reich has experience as a trial lawyer and also "served as Special Counsel to a Select Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly considering whether to recommend the impeachment of then-Governor John Rowland." There aren't many attorneys directly involved in impeachment proceedings for a Governor. Mr. Baum hired the right lawyer.

Gov. Spitzer, Mr. Eggs and Lawyers

2007-12-18T15:02:00.000-05:00

Mr. Eggs

"With women assuming a major presence in other fields of law, it is likely Ms. Kedia will in the not-too-distant future be joined by a fairly substantial sisterhood representing organized-crime clients. Susan Necheles has represented Venero Mangano, an imprisoned mobster known as Benny Eggs."

Susan Necheles now represents Peter "Hatchet Man" Pope, a key player in Governor Spitzer's Dirty Tricks scandal now engulfing his administration. The New York Times reported her mobbed-up client in the 1999 story "Gotti's Newest, Youngest Lawyer: 'An Angel' but Also 'a Lioness.'"

Mr. Eggs is a member of the Genovese Crime Family. He was released from prison in 2006 after serving 15 years for extortion.

In addition to this experience Ms. Necheles also boasts of her "great success in representing individuals charged with sexual misconduct, including rape."

Pope's attorney is not the only private lawyer for Governor Spitzer's senior aides with a colorful background. The attorneys representing Governor Spitzer's chief of staff Richard Baum, his counsel David Nocenti and his former communications director Darren Dopp also have interesting career highlights.

"He specializes in representing clients charged with civil or criminal frauds in a wide range of industries, as well as clients embroiled in complex commercial disputes."

The specialty belongs to Steven Reich, Baum's private counsel.

"In the Matter of William Bonnani: Successfully represented police officer in an extensive arbitration in which the government employer was seeking to terminate his employment."

The "matter" is one of the "significant representations" Michael L. Koenig highlights in his biography. Mr. Koenig represents Dopp. Mr. Bonnani is a controversial Albany police officer suspended for four years, with pay, for beating a college student.

"New York's Personal Injury Lawyer" is how Peter Moschetti describes himself. Mr. Moschetti is the attorney for Counselor Nocenti. Yes, the Governor's lawyer has a lawyer. And he's an ambulance chaser.

So if you're a wise guy on the verge of being charged or a pedestrian who slipped on the ice in front of a small business or a police officer facing a brutality complaint, Governor Spitzer's top aides can give you a referral.

No, I don't want to repeal the Sixth Amendment or Miranda rights. The accused or soon-to-be-accused must have competent and qualified defense counsel.

I'm talking about a higher standard. The standard Governor Spitzer promised. In his Inaugural he said:

"I have no doubt that we can move on to better things in this state - that we will find ourselves on the winning side of history once more. But to be number one again, we must be one New York again. And so in order to return to policies of opportunity and prosperity, we must change the ethics of Albany and end the politics of cynicism and division in our state."

I was inspired by Governor Spitzer's campaign, his energy, his Inaugural and many other traits I believed he possessed that would finally begin New York's return to greatness. Despite a few doubts, I even told one of the aides mentioned in this post that I'd work for his boss in the same capacity as I once did for Governor Pataki.

Governor Spitzer certainly did "change the ethics of Albany." He single-handedly made it worse. Much worse. It's a stunning personal and political collapse for a man who showed so much promise and threw it all away.

Ax Murderers Have Constitutional Rights, Too

2007-12-18T11:24:00.000-05:00

Terence L. Kindlon, counsel to a convicted ax murderer and former counsel to a senior aide to Governor Spitzer.

Kudos to Joe Mahoney of The Daily News for assembling a more comprehensive list of the private sector lawyers representing Governor Spitzer's collection of Haldemans and Ehrlichmans. It includes the notorious Terence L. Kindlon. Mr. Kindlon defended convicted ax murderer Christopher Porco.

The Silence Of R. Milhouse Spitzer

2007-12-18T08:25:00.000-05:00

This is Michael L. Koenig. He is the private attorney representing Darren Dopp, Governor Spitzer's former communications director.

Richard Baum, the Governor's chief of staff, has retained a Steven F. Reich to represent him.

Peter ("Over the years, Pope has earned a reputation as Spitzer's hatchet-man") Pope, Governor Spitzer's policy director, has hired one Susan Necheles to represent him.

These three men are Governor Spitzer's new generation of Haldemans and Ehrlichmans at the heart of the Dirty Tricks attempt to destroy the career of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. They've hired their own lawyers with good reason. But New Yorkers don't know if their boss also has hired a lawyer.

Yesterday at an Albany news conference Governor Spitzer was asked if he had retained private counsel. He refused to answer the question.

Why can Dopp, Baum and Pope disclose who they've retained, but Governor Spitzer not even confirm he also has an attorney?

If there is any indication that this scandal will continue to grow in severity, it's yesterday's news conference. Governor Spitzer's Nixonian attempts to ignore it, downplay it or pretend it never happened are increasingly pathetic. A Saturday Night Massacre sometime soon won't be a surprise.

R. Milhouse Spitzer's Attorney

2007-12-18T07:38:00.000-05:00

N.Y. Daily News: Gov. Spitzer, Aides, Mum On Private Lawyer Hire

Governor Spitzer's lawyer can be seen here.

David Soares Crusades Like Thomas E. Dewey

2007-12-18T07:00:00.003-05:00

The David Soares Investigative Sleep Mask

Rick Karlin of the Times Union reports the latest from ~~Mike Nifong~~ David Soares:

"The travel records scandal that has enveloped Gov. Eliot Spitzer and some of his top staff members is far from over, as the governor on Monday confirmed that his office has received yet another subpoena from Albany County District Attorney David Soares.

"This comes as Soares is hiring a chief for his Public Integrity Unit, which subpoenaed the governor; and as the state Public Integrity Commission is about to call Spitzer in to testify next month . . .

(and now the best part of Karlin's story)

"Heading the Public Integrity Unit is Bruce Lennard, who left the office this summer for a post at the Commission on Judicial Conduct, said Soares spokeswoman Heather Orth, who explained that he was rehired last week. Orth said the hiring was not linked to the travel records affair, saying there was an open position to run the bureau for some time. 'We were just looking for the right person,' she said."

Rehired last week? There was an open position to run his Public Integrity Unit? Soares was looking for the right person? While he's charged with investigating an ethics scandal that has crippled state government?

This is too good. What a complete bunch of incompetents in the Albany County District Attorney's office.

Another Useless Poll From Quinnipiac

2007-12-17T08:35:00.000-05:00

Quinnipiac University's polls continue to be laughable public relations stunts. Three major "findings" from today's poll are:

* "In a head-to-head presidential matchup, Sen. Clinton tops Mayor Giuliani 53 - 32 percent, compared to 50 - 36 percent October 17."

* "In the Democratic primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads Illinois Sen. Barack Obama 55 -17 percent, with 7 percent for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards."

* "Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's lead in the New York State Republican presidential primary is shrinking as he gets 34 percent."

We have no idea who the Democratic and Republican parties will nominate. Yet Quinnipiac polled a hypothetical general election contest between Rudy and Hillary that is almost a year away.

Hillary is faltering and if she loses Iowa to Obama it could be all over for her campaign. But Quinnipiac's poll is a national poll. Iowa is all that matters for Hillary, Mark Penn and Ickes-Begala-Carville-Lindsey now.

Gov. Huckabee is gaining in all polls, and it should come as no surprise that he's gaining in Rudy's home state. Plus, I hate to break it to Quinnipiac: New York is not a bellwether for the national Republican party with or without Rudy in the race.

A friend describes Quinnipiac's polls as "Quackapiac." It's a fitting description.

Jim Tedisco For Congress

2007-12-17T07:45:00.000-05:00

"The saddest thing in life is wasted talent." - Lorenzo, A Bronx Tale.

In 1991 Democrats controlled the California State Assembly by a 49-31 majority. Then-Governor Pete Wilson had a two-word term he used to describe his fellow Republicans in the minority. F---ing Irrelevants, or FI's.

It was a harsh term for a harsh reality. Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco should think about its meaning in the aftermath of his decision to forgo a race to fill the seat of retiring Rep. Michael McNulty, The Invisible Congressman.

With Democrats holding a 108-42 majority Jim Tedisco is not going to be the Speaker of the New York State Assembly. Ever. He's been in the Assembly for 25 years. What's the long-term goal? To be in the minority for another 25 years, effectively achieving nothing beyond annoying and embarrassing the majority?

Assemblyman Tedisco should run for Rep. McNulty's seat, and there is only one reason why. It's the best reason. He can win.

Despite the significant Democratic registration advantage, Tedisco will bring strong qualities to a race. He's personable, positive and conservative. Those are Reagan qualities. He can raise money, has solid name identification and his star play on the basketball court at Union College is a great personal story.

Assemblyman Tedisco's "Illegal Eliot" effort, where he debunked and ridiculed Governor Spitzer's scheme to hand out driver's licenses to illegal aliens, was very impressive. Moreover, as the recipient of the Governor's "f---ing steamroller" meltdown he can motivate the Republican base and continue to use it as an endless source of humor.

There is a down side. If Hillary is the Democratic nominee it will hamper all Republican candidates in competitive districts across New York, including Tedisco. So what. I've heard that whining from Republicans, and I'm tired of it. Believe in ideas, get aggressive, don't apologize and take risks. The alternative is being an FI in good standing for life.

Only 10,000 men and women in the history of the United States have been elected to Congress. It's a tremendous personal honor to serve in the House of Representatives or Senate. Everyone who has a strong chance to win a seat should run.

So run, Mr. Leader. What do you have to lose?