Is that good news ? Is that bad news ? What could Jerry Kassar possibly be talking about ?
OF COURSE ! KASSAR IS FLACKING FOR HIS BOSS STATE SENATOR MARTIN GOLDEN (R-C) ... and all the hard work he did in Albany passing large parts of the ultra-liberal Cuomo agenda
Beware of anybody who starts off what they have to say with a disclaimer [ first things first -- they are making sure that they have an escape hatch if it all blows up later on]. In this instance, Kassar starts by describing the hectic recent legislative sessions in the NYS Assembly and State Senate; and he quickly adds the following: "I am not suggesting this is the best way to go. It simply is the way they conduct business in Albany. And I, for one, think it is a prime area for reform."
Rah ! Rah ! Rah ! Here's to Jerry Kassar ! " REFORMER " ! -- or maybe that should be -- "TRANSFORMER " !
Enough about that, because that isn't the point of Kassar's "Common Sense" column this week. No, like most weeks, Kassar's column is all about making sure that his boss, State Senator Martin Golden, gets the credit for everything good that happened and none of the bad stuff that went down, either in the 22nd Senate District or up in Albany. So here's Kassar's pitch -- "Locally, Conservative Republican legislators State Senator Marty Golden -- whom I serve as chief of staff -- and Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis had a strong finish both for what they did and what they did not do." Doesn't that imply that during the rest of the legislative session they were sort of -- well -- weak ?
Maybe, I'm being too critical. But, I strongly suspect that I have this just right. BTW, I'll leave Hon. Nicole M. out of the rest of this, since I have no quarrel with her -- yet, this year.
Let's jump to this: "Golden had a number of important economic development bills passed by both houses and received a great deal of attention for sponsoring the return of the lever voting machines for this year’s primary and run-off elections." "[I]mportant economic development bills ... that's getting some money to some of Golden's right important people ( like Manhattan luxury R.E. developers) by old time log-rolling and giving a lot more money to somebody else's right important people; this is not the way to cut the budget and keep taxes down for everybody. And the old voting machines -- Marty wants credit for going back to the old voting machines -- how about getting to the bottom of the problems with the "new" voting system. (Let's see if this comes back to haunt the State Senator sometime soon.)
Next, now this is rich --- "Golden played an important role in blocking a vote to expand abortion in the state and supported nine points known as the Women’s Equality Agenda." Okay, I'll bight, what important role did Golden play in blocking a vote to expand abortion in the state ? All I know is that Golden's own bill was used in a procedural move to get a vote on the abortion bill onto the floor of the senate; and that move failed by only one vote. As for Golden's supporting the rest of Cuomo's "Women's Equality Agenda" (and Kassar's writing about that like it's a good thing) -- does Mike Long know about that ? Or, does Mike Long now think that passing 9/10ths of that agenda a good thing too ? (What a dog and pony show these "Conservatives" are becoming ! But, that's something for another day.)
I think this one is my favorite : "Golden also sponsored in the Senate a bill that ... once again will allow retired police officers to carry a full 10-round ammunition load." Of course, don't mention that Golden made that illegal in the first place by passing Cuomo's so-called S.A.F.E Act gun control law without knowing what was in it.
I'll close with something in the form of a Double Jeopardy Question:
Galewyn Massey: "Alex, I'll take 'Phony Conservatives' for $200.... "
Alex Trebek: "The Conservative Party county leader who wrote this, "For that matter, all our local legislators work hard.... Congratulations on a good session."
Galewyn Massey: "Why, that would be from the last paragraph of this week's "Common Sense" column, "It's over - Amen! " by Jerry Kassar.
3 comments:
When the tail once wagged the dog, now the flies need to wag the tail.
No, it's fly larvae in the tail, maggots, that make the tail look like it has life in it.
If the dog is dead, the tail can't wag; and there ain't no point trying to wag a dead dog with its maggoty tail.
UPDATE: The Democrats came close to piggy-backing their proposed statewide program of publicly financed campaigns The"hostile amendment" tactic was used on the Golden-sponsored bill to get a vote on a proposed statewide campaign financing law (the proposal was attached as a "hostile amendment" to State Senator. Martin Golden’s bill allowing NYC to return to the old lever machines for the upcoming citywide elections). The effort was defeated only because three Democrats – Sens. Ruben Diaz Sr., Malcolm Smith and Simcha Felder – voted “no” along with the GOP caucus on the question of whether the amendment was "germane." (See "Fair Elections Protestors To Greet Skelos, Klein & Grisanti" by Liz Benjamin, 6/27/13, YNN Capital Tonight [http://capitaltonightny.ynn.com/2013/06/fair-elections-protestors-to-greet-skelos-klein-grisanti/]).
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