The Republican Party in the state of New York is in shambles, and it keeps getting worse.
I moved to Onondaga County in 1993. At the time it was a pretty red county. If not for the city of Syracuse it would have been solidly red. I don’t see the reason for the not so gradual shift to blue. This area has much more in common with middle America than it does New York City. But in 16 years we’ve gone from a pretty solid red area to a pretty solid blue area. I can’t help but wonder why.
Sure, the drumbeat against George Bush and all things republican over the past eight years hasn’t helped. Maybe people blame republicans for factories closing and moving jobs overseas and down south. Maybe they don’t understand that the democrats who blast those companies are complicit in killing the jobs by enacting policies that make New York a really tough place to do business. You’d think local republicans could find a way to capitalize on that message. But no, they’re completely inept, and they have a knack for picking losers.
The last election for Onondaga County Executive is a perfect example. It’s a seat that was held by the same republican – Nick Pirro – for decades. He retired. The local Republican Party backed Dale Sweetland. He’s a farmer who was a county legistlator. I’m sure he’s a perfectly nice man, but there’s nothing about him to make voters turn out at the polls. Enter Joanie Mahoney – a woman whose name and family are well known locally and who is (or was) well liked. Of course she whooped Sweetland in the primary and then went on the win the general election. She’s now under fire by the unions who refused to reopen their contract negotiations when the economy went south. I don’t agree with everything she’s done, but for the most part she’s doing a decent job and I’m still thrilled at the way she bucked the party establishment and isn’t afraid to take on the unions. The entire state is feeling the effects of the economy, why shouldn’t people whose compensation packages are far better than the average taxpayer – to quote Dear Leader Obama – put some skin in the game?
When Rep. Jim Walsh decided to retire from congress, the local GOP went with Dale Sweetland. He couldn’t win over the county, but they thought somehow he could win the congressional district. Brilliant! In all fairness, he was up against Dan Maffei’s Soros and Hollywood funded political machine. The odds were against him, but he could have been a little more enthusiastic. Any candidate with a personality and a decent message could have given Maffei a run for his Soros money, he’s hardly a compelling personality. I went to one of Sweetland’s campaign events and he barely spoke to anyone but the people who put on the event.If he couldn’t take the time to say a few kind words to voters there to support him, how did he expect to win the election? Especially when only a handful of supporters was present! I planned to write a blog post about my meeting with Dale Sweetland, but I had nothing to say that was positive. How bad is that? Of course, Dan Maffei is now Nancy Pelosi’s lap dog our representative in congress.
Not that Jim Walsh was any great prize. He wasn’t terrible, especially if you’re a pork lover. To this day he still defends earmarks. Our local paper helped to keep him in congress because he brought home the bacon. It was amusing to read the endorsements – one liberal after another and then Jim Walsh. They didn’t want to lose their federal ATM. Nothing like a little pork to grease the wheels of political endorsements. I guess it never occurred to any of the brilliant minds in this area that if the federal government stops taking so much from us, there won’t be a need to try to get it back. How much does it cost to run a dollar through the federal government? Even if every dollar we sent in was sent back to us, it would be reduced by how much? Why not keep the money here at home in the first place?
Which brings me to Dede Scozzafava – hands down the worst local republican candidate I’ve seen since 1993. She’s been endorsed by the Working Families Party – a political arm of ACORN and the SEIU. She received a Margaret Sanger Award – Margaret Sanger is a famed eugenicist. She was in favor of Porkulus. She even has the Daily Kos seal of approval. She supported the Spitzer/Paterson budget. She’s been in the political swamp known as Albany! This is the candidate the republicans in northern NY decided to heartily endorse. It’s like some sort of sick joke.
Unless the GOP in NY changes its leadership, candidates who want to win elections should avoid their stamp of approval. It’s the electoral kiss of death.
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