Written on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 5:59am by Alan Bedenko | 24 Comments
County Executive Race
24 Comments
-
Advertisement
-
Latest
-
Alan Bedenko
Latest: Astroturf -
Sports Road Trip
Latest: Profiling OKC’s Ford Center – USRT roadie Day 2 -
Chris Smith
Latest: Economic Development 2.0 -
Brian Castner
Latest: Al Gore as Skeptic -
Tom Schuh
Latest: Hometown News at Noon: Fri 11/20/09 -
The Goose's Roost
Latest: I Blame the Spotlight Guy -
Christina Abt
Latest: Question of the Day.....Jim Kelly for Coach??? -
BfloBlog
Latest: Kevin Maguire Open Thread: Bruins as Sabres -
Marc Odien
Latest: Calls for Parks Usage Input from Community Groups -
Eric Saldanha
Latest: Friday YouTube Nugget
-
Advertisement
You need to log in to vote
The blog owner requires users to be logged in to be able to vote for this post.
Alternatively, if you do not have an account yet you can create one here.
Powered by Vote It Up
Negative ads–Too bad they can’t be outlawed.
Anyone who’s taken Marketing remembers the debacle of the Burger King negative ads in the 70’s (ex: 2 girls in BK uniforms on a swing saying “Hi McDonalds!”).
Always sell your product on it’s features and benefits, not on the lack of same of your competitor.
Dollar per month –I think the ENTIRE LEGISLATURE should go 1.00/month until they get their heads out of their asses and get things straightened out.
Generally –I don’t have enough access to the local media. Moms’ having cancer surgery today, and the wife will be up there for a week starting tomorrow. I’ll get her reaction.
Negative ads usually sour me on the candidtae running them.
Dollar per month is showmanship. Just like the 89 cent pen. Does not really impress me.
Generally, not a whole lot out there addressing specific issues from either candidate to hit me hard. On a side note, I received a robocall from Keane’s wife last night, citing his “famiily values”. With the paid for disclaimer at the end, it sounds like they had to pay his wife to promote him.
Mullins/Clark issue – non-starter. No bearing on the election.
Hank – we’ll say a prayer for Mom….
Negative Ads have always been a part of political campaigns and they always will be. If the ad is negative but true, they are probably ok. It is the blatant false or misleading ones that are harmful. Case in point: Everyone knows that Jim Keane accepted Paul Clark’s endorsement days before the story about the bags of cash became publicly known, yet Collins ad is saying that Keane accepted the endorsement after the Buffalo News story broke! That is simply lying. Should Keane have agreed to stop negative campaigning? I believe he should have said that he would think about it and get back to him (Collins). That way, he could talk to his campaign people to see their spin on it. I also believe Collins’ offer to stop the negative ads was disingenious. He seems like the little kid who knock his playmate’s sandcastle down and then say to his friend,before his own sandcastle gets knocked down: “Time out, I don’t want to play this game anymore!” It was also clear, from Collins’ responses, that he cares nothing for the city of Buffalo. How can he support the renovations of Erie Community College’s North and South Campuses and then state that he is not in support of improving the downtown campus? Buffalo is the ‘heart’ of this region whether he wants to recognize it or not.
I wish the negative adds would stop, lets hear about the issues that matter. In my opinion the first candidate to rise above this will have an advantage.
I am not sure about the dollar a month thing, it might not hurt.
As far as the candidates and their platforms I need to gather more info. There is one thing that is bothering me, I have a memory of Keane being involved in something that was illegal some time ago. Anyone out there remember what this was?
“Generally –I don’t have enough access to the local media. Moms’ having cancer surgery today,”
Sort of puts everything else in perspective, doesn’t it?
The pay pledge is a stupid marketing stunt. The only individuals who can make such a pledge are independently weathly, and if the idea catches on, we will guarantee that only the rich will run for office. (Granted, that’s basically what we have now).
I have similar concerns regarding campaign finance. Such restrictions tilt the playing field in favor of incumbants and the rich. Rich guys will always be able to fund themselves as much as they like. And incumbants can travel around their district doing good deeds, spitting out press releases, and getting all kinds of coverage. Moreover, sitting politicians almost always have a huge network from which they can draw contributions.
A new candidate, however, has to work hard to get press. That candidate also likely has a much smaller network of people from which he can draw contributions.
Accordingly, I have little respect for those who praise the independently wealthy and incumbant politicians who promise all kinds of campaign finance reform. The electeds are doing nothing but making a power play to shift the playing field to their advantage. And then naive good government groups and the press hail them as bastions of righteousness.
I agree that negative ads have been around forever and will be around forever. Even the first campaign for President in this country featured negative ads. I also agree that some things are acceptable and other things are not in negative campaigning. Your opponent’s record is totally in bounds. You should point out what he’s done wrong. That’s part of the issue. You shouldn’t get personal and bring up private personal life issues, or make outlandish and absurd claims. Come on, are any of you saying that if you were running a campaign against Bush, you wouldn’t mention his handling of the war in Iraq? And are you really soured to candidates that have?
And I don’t think Collins was the first to knock down the sandcastle here. Keane’s negatives, the one where he has a clip of Collins mentioning his campaign slogan comes to mind, was out around the same time if not earlier than any Collins negative ad.
I don’t understand Keane’s excuse for not agreeing to the suspension of negative ads. According to The News, he said he needed time to respond to Collins’ first. Why does he think he needs to reply to negative ads with negative ads? That doesn’t even make sense.
I also agree that the dollar a month thing is a just a gimmick and I lost some respect for Collins with that one, but I guess we have JFK to thank for that stunt.
I don’t think the Clark controversy has quite as much impact as just the fact that Keane accepted Clark’s endorsement. I think people are pretty sick of politics as usual and that was an example of it at its worst. I think that’s why Keane didn’t receive any bounce from it and actually lost ground in the following days.
I think Collins has done a better job of getting his message out, but I don’t think there’s much of message or any real issues involved in this campaign. I think Collins’ thing that he’s a businessman and not a career politician is resonating, but that’s about all there is. I can’t say I know much of what either of these guys really stand for.
Not a particularly informative debate as generalizations and platitudes were the order of the day. I generally got a more honest “vibe” from Collins, as he seemed more real / less scripted than Keane. I haven’t seen any of the TV ads, so I don’t care much about the “negative ads issue” . The stock ad showing how ‘my opponent is a jerk, but I’m a good guy’ doesn’t generally move me.
I did notice that Keane has a rather large, square dome which is not altogether unlike tweedy bird’s out-sized noggin – a bit like a very big, square lolipop. Now, If this has been a contest to measure cranial displacement, Keane would surely be a-head.
Doesn’t matter either way. People have plenty of opportunity to learn of each candidate’s qualifications and issue positions.
Doesn’t matter. Gimmicky symbolism. Politically it might be smart for Collins. Can’t hurt him.
Collins is head and shoulders above Keane in all of those respects. If he wins, I doubt Collins will be able to make much difference in anything given state mandates, carry-over union contract terms, and huge Dem majority in legislature. So any improvements he can make will be a pleasant surprise.
Re message effectiveness, the ways in which Keane has chosen to criticize Collins business success as being generally bad for WNY makes him sound totally clueless about how the private sector economy works. Would’ve been smarter to be consistently repsectful of Collins business success but find some specific ways to disagree about its applicablity to county govt. But to find so much fault with it is a big negative and plays right into the “big govt anti-business status quo career politician” image.
Can’t help Keane. Probably hurts him, somewhat unfarily, with some undecideds because he had embraced Clark’s endorsement just before this broke and there had been some reports of talks and negotiations in days leading to the endorsement. That doesn’t prove any deal with Clark, but if there wasn’t any considerations of some kind of deal then what could the talks have possibly been about? Also the whole thing likely demoralizes some Dems who had voted for Clark.
No, and imagine how pissed he’ll be if he ever realizes that money could’ve bought 22,727 of his favorite 88 cent pens. That’s a lot of pens.
I think the negative ads issue shapes up just as Jim Keane stated last night. He has had several town hall meetings throughout the county since last March discussing issues relevant to each community. His website is very informative and actually talks about issues and how he will deal with problems. He has had at least one press conference per week for the past 3 months which the media does not cover discussing his vision and plans for the future. What does this get him? A lot of cynicism and attacks from Collins. Collins answer to any question is career politions destroyed this county, career pols are the root of all problems in Erie County. Last night the moderator had to ask him to answer the question at least twice that I saw instead of just attacking. Those are the facts!
BBD–Moms’ cancer surgery reminds me what a tough old bird she actually is. 79 years old , went in this morning,and had a left mastectomy (total) and is already out of recovery. She’s the 5th of her 9 sisters to have it, and the only other living one had a mastectomy too.
She told me ” I could cry for about 4 hours, but it wouldn’t help”. She does refuse to take any chemo or rads. She said “I’ve had a good run”, and the doc’s think they’ll get it all this way and she’ll probably die of a stroke 10 years from now vice cancer.
Pauldub–thanks for the kind thought.
Hank, she sounds like an amazingly strong woman. Glad to hear things went well. I hope the best for her and your family. May she live to see 120.
Juan, the media never covers politicians’ attempts at free campaigning. It’s not news. And Keane has been met with cynicism from many more people than just Chris Collins.
Do you think Keane answered all the questions, directly and honestly? Do you believe he has no weaknesses? Do you think Collins is the only one attacking?
I am sure Keane has weaknesses.
Keane is attacking because that is how this works. If you do not fight back you become “swiftboated”.
I also agree that Keane didnt answer EVERY question directly, but in putting these issues out there he has answered a lot of questions directly.
As for the media, they should share in the blame for this areas devistation maybe covering these news conferences and Dan Wards news conferences 4 years ago maybe, just maybe we could have learned more about the unsexy looming budget crisis.
Also issues are not news?
Were not talking about look at me here is my record, were talking this is what I am going to do with the budget and here is my plan for the medical campus and not to mention here is HOW I am going to reduce our debt. Charts and graphs are just not going to sell ad time!
Issues are news. Desperate candidates trying to use issues to get free publicity is not. Collins has just as many plans for just as many issues and, aside from his $1 pledge, is getting just about as much press for it. When one of them is actually the CE, then the press will care about what they actually do.
Yes, the media should share some of the blame for this area’s problems, but the problems are not rooted in the budget crisis of 4 years ago and I don’t think Dan Ward could have done much to prevent many of the problems either. The person sounding the alarm is rarely the one that puts out the fire. So what good would just learning more have done about it?
And Keane’s not fighting back, he started much of it.
If I were to choose a “winner” of last nights debate, I would choose Keane. I will admit I am a Democrat, that does not mean however that I would AUTOMATICALLY vote Democratic. I am prepared to vote for the most qualified candidate. To me Collins has no ideas. Yes, he has been successful in the private sector. Does that mean that he will succeed in politics? I don’t think so. His belief is that the county should be run as a business. I don’t think that is necessarily the best mentality. Do we need to streamline things? Yes. Do we need smaller government? Yes. Is Keane capable of doing this? Yes. He did it once with Gorski, he can do it again. He has the relationships needed to get ideas off the ground…and let’s face it, we might not like to admit it, but in Politics it helps to have those relationships. He has the backing of Clinton, Schumer, Higgins, Spitzer, Mayor Brown etc. How can this not be good? Why is he derailed for having their backing? If Collins wants to think of the CE position as being the CEO of the county, would you really want to hire someone who doesn’t have any experience in this job? Call it what you want, but it is a political position. Personally I think Keane’s experience in the Gorski administration and his support from other politicians important to this area can only help this county move forward.
All this Gorski adoration is puzzling, unless it’s just partisan then it makes total sense. I agree Gorski is clearly a more competent guy than Giambra (not saying much), but even so didn’t this area’s economy and population size both suffer substantial declines during the 12 years of Gorski?
Isn’t that why he almost lost a Dem primary once to Swartz, and then lost a general election to King Goofball?
Although county govt is not a major cause (nor can it be a major solution) of these declines, what’s the argument against giving a four-year try to the Collins CEO-style business-inspired approach?
I doubt he’ll be able to make serious changes, but he seems like a sharp competent guy with new ideas yet a common sense practical mindset, so why not let him try?
If it’s a flop, we can return to the union-worshiping approach in four years. Why not let Colins have a try at kicking some ass private sector style for four years and see what happens?
Clarification: population size decline during Gorski years was small in total numbers but comapred to avarage growth of all U.S. counties we were near bottom of heap and the population ranking fell substantially.
Claire said: “I will admit I am a Democrat, that does not mean however that I would AUTOMATICALLY vote Democratic. I am prepared to vote for the most qualified candidate.”
Why is it that anytime somebody says something like that, I immediately think they are protesting too much?
Claire, please refresh my memory. What streamling did Gorski do? How, exactly, did he make govt. smaller?
Hank …. I hope everything went well. My father also recently underwent some cancer surgery. Was she at Roswell ? I’ll say a prayer as well …
Chris “I will work for $1.00 a month” Collins joins another phrase from Amherst’s Supervisor Satish Mohan, who said during his campaign. “I will work for free.” We now find that Mohan’s campaign promise was , in fact, only that; a promise. His wife stated they needed the money to live on. When candidates promise to work for free or for a small amouint of money, be afraid. be very afraid. They are either a nut case or a liar. We do have to admit that when Gorski was County executive, he was voted one of the top three manager/county executive in the United States for counties with sizes comparable to Erie County. Keane had to have learned something, sitting so close to him. Collins is not as smart as some people think he is. Why would he draw a line in the sand regarding relationships with county legislators by stating that he will repeal the Apprenticeship Law. I believe that responsibility to repeal laws lie with the legislature. And then he threatened to run people against those legislators who do not trembles and quake when he orders.
Chris Collins needs to be informed that all incumbents legislators, with the exception of Cindy Locklear, won with plurarities of between 65-83%. A potential Republican county executive, with a super majority (12 democrats) legislative body not of his political party, making threats even before he is elected, is just plain stupid. Joel Giambra might be leaving a lame duck, but in Collins’s case, if he wins, he will give new meaning to the slogan: “Put a fork in him; he’s done!”
Should he? Yes. But his whole campaign (look back to Keane vs. Clark in the primary) has consisted of negative ads. No wonder why he’s nine points behind.
In my opinion, it paints Collins as being rich enough (which he has been criticized for) for the job and doesn’t need the money. By accident, that’s what Collins has shown us. See, if a common citizen (like me, for example) took such a position, I would accept the pay. But these politicians nowadays aren’t common citizens, for the most part.
I don’t think Keane OR Collins is the right man for the job. But hey, not my county!
As mentioned before, Keane has made his campaign about negative ads. He might’ve won convincingly in the Democratic primary, but that means very little now. He needs to make this campaign about Erie County’s issues. He needs to show people how he plans on improving the E.C. economy, how he plans to reverse the trends of the last 50 years and lead Erie County out of the dark days.
I don’t think it affects Keane as much as it affects any future Paul Clark wishes to have in politics. It showed how disorganized his campaign was and the fact that they couldn’t keep track of these items (whether on purpose or by accident) is a total lack of management on his part. It shouldn’t affect Keane’s campaign at all.
It’s pretty easy for Collins to make that offer now — he and Clark have kicked the crap out of Keane for 4 months, so how much more negative can they get? That offer was total BS, but the public is comprised with complete morons, so they’ll see it as Collins “not being a typical politician.” Very disappointing.
People are tired of politicians running for office, but that’s what they do, that’s part of the job description.
People in other professions generally can’t leave their business for an extended period and still hope to have an opening or a client base when they’re ready to return. It’s that old “bills to pay, mouths to feed” thing.
Even an alleged “part time” political job can be incredibly time consuming. Which brings to mind – define “part time.”
Most would think of it as a few hours a day/week, instead of “less than 40 hours a week”. That can still be a lot of hours. I think it is more correctly defined as “not the primary source of income”, assuming there is a full time job or income source that is the main means of support.
All of that means that whoever decides to run for office has to be prepared for the position totally taking over their lives. Generally speaking, only full-time politicians are ready, willing, and able to do that.
So Ms. Curious is recommending that candidates need to go along to get along. Make no waves. Leave no footprints. Insert cliche here.
That’s worked real well for the city, hasn’t it?
Just for yuks, let’s say Collins wins. Let’s say he proposes a great idea, like reducing costs and improving competition by seeking to eliminate the apprentice law. And let’s say the Dem supermajority refuses to even consider it, not because it’s a bad idea, but because they can’t support it because it erodes their traditional base of support.
Where, Ms. Curious, is the problem in that scenario?
Thought so. I don’t need my elected officials to BFFs. In fact, I might prefer that they not be. I would prefer my elected officials to be professional and competent. Sadly, they’ve been in short supply for far too long in WNY.
Why? Because to get elected these days, you have to go along to get along.