October 31, 2008 - 9:51 AM | Comment
WASHINGTON -- For 16 years, Project Vote Smart, a national nonpartisan organization that wants to inform voters about candidates' stands on the issues, has sent out questionnaires to political hopefuls. Some respond, and some don't.
This year, the two candidates who hope to succeed retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, Republican Christopher J. Lee and Democrat Alice Kryzan elected not to fill out the Vote Smart questionnaire, despite repeated requests from the respected organization.
Those two candidates, VoteSmart said, "repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimlball and Project Vote Smart staff."
Whether the candidates decided to avoid answering questions ranging from their positions on gay marriage to taxation because they are in a close race is anybody's guess. However, two incumbent Democrats who appear to be headed to re-election, Reps. Brian Higgins of Buffalo and Louise Slaughter of Fairport, provided thorough answers to the quiz.
Their answers and those of hundreds of other candidates may be found at www.votesmart.org. However, here is a sample of Higgins' and Slaughter's views.
Higgins favors laws allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons, supports universal health care, opposes any more free trade agreements, is against giving the government any more power to evesdrop on the conversations of ordinary citizens, and wants a prompt withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Higgins would maintain existing rates for capital gains and corporate income taxes, and would marginally cut the capital gains tax, but opposes repeal of the estate tax. He would support abortion in the case of rape or incest and where the mother's life is endangered.
Slaughter opposes any limits on women's right to an abortion, and she opposes any restrictions on same-sex marriage. She would increase the estate tax. She opposes the death penalty for a federal crime, and would increase restrictions on the sale and possession of firearms.
On Iraq, Slaughter said: "I believe we must have concrete deadlines for withdrawal from Iraq as soon as possible and we must focus our efforts to fight the war on terror in Afganistan."
Higgins' Republican opponent, Daniel J. Hummiston, ignored the questionnaire. But Conservative candidate Harold "Bud" Schroeder filled out the questionnaire, reflecting his strong support for gun rights and increasing tax exemptions for medical expenses.
Rep. John R. "Randy" Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, is locked in a tight rematch with his 2006 Democratic opponent, Eric J. Massa of Corning. Neither of them filled out the questionnaire. Nor did Slaughter's Republican challenger, David W. Crimmen. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader filled it out, but Democrat Barack Obama, Republican John McCain and Libertarian Bob Barr Jr. didn't.
--Douglas Turner
October 31, 2008 - 12:48 AM | Comment
Timing can be everything in Albany.
Defenders of Gov. David A. Paterson's plans to head to two Caribbean islands next week say the trips will help New York's economy, were planned a long time ago and will not cost the taxpayers a dime -- at least for the governor's expenses.
But the trip's timing left some scratching their heads Thursday. "I was wondering about the decision when I heard about it," said one seasoned Albany public relations pro.
The governor just this week released fiscal numbers showing New York faces its greatest-ever budget deficit over the next few years. Lawmakers are coming back in less than three weeks to cut, if Paterson gets his way, $2 million from the current budget. And the news only gets worse next year.
Then there's the funding for the trip. Paterson aides say it's a wash for taxpayers because the governor's 2010 campaign account will pay his way. But that led at least one watchdog group to wonder how that jibes with the governor's own legislation -- which did not pass this year -- curbing longtime Albany abuses that let politicians dip into campaign accounts for expenses that really have nothing to do with their re-election efforts.
To Paterson supporters, the alternative -- using taxpayer money -- would have been ridiculous at a time when he is asking for shared sacrifices by all groups that rely on the state budget for funding. They also wonder, what's the big deal? A governor has to travel, has to represent the state -- both within the state's borders and outside. And that happens when the state's finances are both healthy and dire.
-- Tom Precious
October 31, 2008 - 12:35 AM | Comment
ERIE, Pa. … Palin '012.
No, that was not a typo. That was what was on the minds of some of the 6,000 or so people who jammed the convention center here Thursday to hear Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin deliver the same sort of show that's made her a star on the stump in this year's campaign.
Pundits are, well, stumped at why she's such a star, but if you saw her, you'd understand. She rips into Democrats and touts the GOP's small-government philosophy with a folksy eloquence that contrasts totally with those cringefest interviews she did with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.
Those interviews have left some pundits thinking Palin is the Dan Quayle of 2008, but if you ask her fans, they'd say no, she's the Republican Barack Obama of 2012.
This is America, where presidential campaigns never really begin or end, so it's not to early to ask: Who's the best Republican choice for 2012?
… Jerry Zremski
October 29, 2008 - 1:20 PM | Comment
Douglas Turner was Buffalo.com's guest for this week's IMportant People segment.
Here's a recap of the discussion:
October 28, 2008 - 4:55 PM | Comment
WASHINGTON - Reacting to the felony conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Sarah Palin, the state's governor and the Republican nominee for vice president, said it was a sad day for Alaska and his family, but left it up to Stevens to decide whether to leave the Senate or not.
But Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, the GOP presidential nominee, issued a statement calling on the major domo of the Appropriations Committee to get out. McCain said the conviction was a sign of the corruption gripping Washington.
Is the vast difference between Palin's view and McCain's a sign that she is cutting a separate figure for herself should the ticket fall next Tuesday? Or is it simply a disconnect between the two camps.
The Senate has no rules requiring a member convicted of a felony, even a crime connected with the member's official duties, to resign. Stevens was convicted Monday of seven counts of failing to report on his Senate financial disclosure form $250,000 worth of gifts he received from Bill Allen, former chief executive officer of VECO, and from VECO itself.
VECO is a oil industry services and construction firm.
Sen. Stevens has vowed to appeal the result of the trial, which he said was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct, and is free on bond. He returned to Alaska to fight for re-election. Before the verdict, he and Democratic challenger Mark Begich were in a dead heat. On paper, the conviction should grease the way for Begich, but the 84-year-old Stevens has brought back $3.5 billion in special projects to his state which has made him a father figure there. If re-elected, the Senate could bring an action against him in the Ethics Committee, and vote to expel him. Stevens was once chairman of the Ethics Committee.
--Douglas Turner
October 26, 2008 - 5:00 AM | Comment
PITTSBURGH -- John McCain must see Pennsylvania as the keystone to victory, given how much time and money he's spending here.
He spent a full day here last week and brought in his running mate for good measure, and in early October, he spent more on ads in Pennsylvania than he did anywhere but in the ultimate swing state of Ohio.
And everywhere McCain goes in Pennsylvania, he talks about offshore oil drilling -- and the crowd responds by shouting: "Drill, baby, drill!"
Yet the polls project him losing Pennsylvania by 11 points to Barack Obama. And the juxtaposition of those polls and McCain's focus on Pennsylvania poses two important questions:
How much good, really, can a focus on offshore drilling do for McCain's campaign?
And why is McCain spending so much time and money in a state where he's so far behind?
-- Jerry Zremski
October 24, 2008 - 6:00 AM | Comment
For several years, gay marriage rights has been a social issue that has sharply split the Democratic-run Assembly and the Republican-led Senate.
In 2007, following a long and emotional debate, the Assembly approved a measure legalizing same-sex marriages. Backed by then Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, the Assembly stance has since been roundly embraced by Gov. David A. Paterson since he took office earlier this spring.
But during the previous two sessions, the Senate beat back lobbying efforts to have New York join other states that have legalized gay marriage.
Now, things are fuzzier. Republicans are at risk of losing their Senate majority to Democrats. But still unclear is whether here would l be enough support to pass bill.
Supporters of gay marriage rights, however, believe they stand a far better chance if the GOP loses control of the Senate. And from around the country, money is pouring into Senate Democratic races from people and organizations with an interest in having New York join Massachusetts, California and Connecticut with marriage equality laws.
Donors say it's about simple civil rights, and that sooner or later New York is going to legalize such marriages.
Opponents say a Democratic shift in the Senate would result in the legalization of gay marriage -- perhaps the first of many social policies that would change in Senate that had been dominated by Republicans for seven decades.
--Tom Precious
October 22, 2008 - 4:18 PM | Comment
WASHINGTON — This year's federal election is expected to set a new record for spending, $5.3 billion or 27 percent more than the 2004 elections for president, the Senate and the House cost. The Center for Responsive Politics said that when all the tallies are in, the Democrats will have collected 52 percent more money for their presidential and congressional elections than four years ago.
Most of the big contributions are coming from the usual players: lawyers, financial institutions, labor unions, prescription drug makers, health professionals, the real estate business, and ideological groups. Democrats have a slight edge over the GOP in campaign gifts from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors.
Sheila Krumholz, the CRP's executive director, said incumbents running for the House and Senate as usual "hold a huge advantage" over challengers in fund-raising.
The average Senate incumbent has raised $8.3 million (which includes money raised since the start of the six-year term in 2003), to the average challenger's $850,000, an advantage of nearly 10 to 1, she said.
Krumholz said "the incumbent's advantage in the House is also lop-sided.
"Members of the House have raised approximately $1.2 million through the third quarter of this year, on average, while their opponents have raised an average of $286,000 -- a 4 to 1 edge for the seat-holder."
Candidates for Congress in 2008 have spent nearly $95 million from their own pockets to get elected, she said.
"You can't win a seat in Congress without being personally wealthy or knowing a lot of wealthy people who are willing to back you with their money," Krumholz said. "With Election Day coming up, it’s important for candidates and citizens to remember that you can't win without votes, either."
Although one million persons have made campaign gifts of $200 or more in this two-year cycle, the donors still represent only a half of one percent of all adult Americans.
"Many new donors have been brought into the fold in 2008, but participation in this element of our democracy isn't representative of the electorate or the nation as a whole," Krumholz said. "The typical campaign contributor showing up in government data is still typically a lawyer, a Wall Street banker, a doctor, a CEO or a college professor at a major university. For all their influence at the polls, guys like Joe the Plumber aren't typically campaign contributors. You're more likely to see John the Bond Trader bankrolling these campaigns."
--Douglas Turner
October 18, 2008 - 12:10 PM | Comment
WASHINGTON -- John McCain just called Barack Obama's tax plan socialistic, and you will hear the same kind of talk all the time from McCain supporters out on the campaign trail -- particularly when it comes to Obama's health care proposal.
But in fact, both candidates propose big changes in the American health care system, to be detailed in my story in Sunday's editions of The Buffalo News.
Obama wants to set up a new group of insurance plans, including one run by the federal government. According to independent evaluations, Obama's plan would end up covering 34 million of the 45 million who now go without insurance, at a cost of $1.6 trillion.
And McCan wants to tax the health benefits many people now get from their employer while giving individuals tax breaks to buy health care. It's a plan more aimed at breaking down the current employer-based health insurance system in hopes of making health care an individual responsibility -- thereby forcing individuals to become frugal health care customers. The Tax Policy Center says his plan would insure an additional 2 million people while costing $1.3 trillion.
And while some may accuse the Obama plan of being socialistic, there might be a more important question to ask.
Which candidate's health plan is more radical?
-- Jerry Zremski
October 17, 2008 - 2:58 PM | Comment
WASHINGTON -- In last Wednesday's final presidential debate, Republican John McCain charged that Denocrat Barack Obama's political career was launched in the "living room" of a one-time terrorist, Bill Ayers. Sen. McCain also charged that Sen. Obama had a "close association" with Ayers. Gov. Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor who is GOP vice presidential nominee, charged Obama was "palling around" with Ayers.
Here's how Obama responded during the debate:
"So let's get the record straight. Bill Ayers is a professor of education in Chicago. Forty years ago, when I was 8 years old, he engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts.
"Ten years ago he served and I served on a school reform board that was funded by one of Ronald Reagan's former ambassadors and close friends, Mr. Annenberg. Other members on that board were the presidents of the University of Illinois, the president of Northwestern University, who happens to be a Republican, the president of The Chicago Tribune, a Republican-leaning newspaper. Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House."
Obama continued, "Now, the reason I think that it's important to just get these facts out is because the allegation that Sen. McCain has continually made is that somehow my associations are troubling. Let me tell you who I associate with. On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. If I'm interested in figuring out my foreign policy, I associate myself with my running mate, Joe Biden, or with Dick Lugar, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or Gen. Jim Jones, the former supreme allied commander of NATO."
The allegations didn't stop there. On Friday morning, the Republican National Committee sent voicemails to potential voters in Northern Virginia. Here is the text of that message:
"Hello, I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers whose organizations bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans. And Demcorats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Commtitee, at 202 863 8500."
On Wednesday, before the debate, the respected Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, Lynn Sweet, wrote this article chronicling just how Obama's career got started:
"WASHINGTON--Barack Obama continues to be attacked by John McCain and other Republicans for his relationship with Bill Ayers, the former terrorist turned respected Chicago educator. Obama served on civic boards with Ayers and Ayers held a coffee for Obama when Obama first ran for a state senate seat in 1995. McCain said he may bring up Ayers at the third and final presidential debate Wednesday night.
"Obama said McCain -- running ads featuring Ayers with Sarah Palin making him an issue on the stump --never said anything to his face. Ayers did not came up in the first two presidential debates. If McCain continues to insist that Obama launched his political career from Ayers' Hyde Park living room, he is misleading the public by overplaying the size and significance of Ayers' early support.
"Obama's campaign really was launched when he got the backing of then state Sen. Alice Palmer (D-Chicago), who wanted him to replace her as she was planning a run for Congress. Palmer's backing gave him entrée into local influential political circles.
"Obama and Palmer would later have a falling out that continues to this day. Palmer changed her mind and decided to run for re-election after all. Obama got Palmer and his other rivals knocked off the ballot. Palmer ended up backing Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic primary bid.
"Obama's formal kick-off to announce his run for state senate was at the Hyde Park Ramada Inn on Sept. 19, 1995. Obama was introduced by Palmer in a room filled with supporters at the Ramada, fronting Lake Michigan on South Lake Shore Drive, a stroll from the Museum of Science and Industry.
*Around this time, Obama started to attend a series of coffees in the Hyde Park community where he lived, standard operating procedure for political rookies running in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Chicago.
"I was certainly (hosting) one of the first," said Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, rabbi emeritus at Chicago's KAM Isaiah Israel -- located across the street from the Obama home.
"There were several every week," he recalled on Tuesday night when we spoke. "I remember what I said to him: 'Someday you are going to be vice president of the United States.' He laughed and said, 'Why not president?'''
*The Ackermans, Sam and Martha, longtime Hyde Park activists in independent Democratic politics, also held an early event for Obama in their condo on E. Hyde Park Boulevard. (They have since divorced.)
"Sam Ackerman told me Tuesday when we exchanged e-mails that 'as I recall, the event at Bill Ayers' house (prior to ours) was a fund-raiser for Alice's congressional campaign at which she also introduced Barack as the successor she would like to see elected.'
"If Ackerman's recollection is correct -- that the event at Ayers home was really for Palmer and Obama just piggy-backed on it -- then any argument that the Obama political career was launched in the Ayers home is moot.
"Martha and I talked on Tuesday night and she said she was not sure if the coffee at their condo for about 20 people was before or after Obama's Ramada Inn announcement.
"'As a starter, I know that Barack went to Alice Palmer,' Martha Ackerman told me. '...Then the question was, how do you go about doing this in the Hyde Park way,' she said, a reference to the personal touch needed in the Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhoods, at the time immune to the dictates of the remnants of the Chicago machine and Mayor Daley's City Hall.
"...the way to launch the campaign was to have coffee, and not one coffee, as in 'this is the start of everything.' Barack went around to a number of people and requested that they hold coffees for him."
"But the Ackermans did not want to host an event for Obama without meeting him first. So he came over to their house and spent more than an hour with the couple.
"When Obama left, 'I said to Sam, this guy could be the first African American president of the United States.'
"Martha Ackerman said, 'I know there were a number of coffees. It wasn't just one or two.'"
--Douglas Turner
