Written on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 8:56pm by Alan Bedenko | 12 Comments

You'd Better Put that Blackberry Away

Let’s make something crystal clear.

I don’t give a crap that the Republicans took over control of the Senate with the help of two opportunistic indictees. There is not a single, solitary person who can convincingly argue that the same crowd that ran the Senate from 1965 – 2008 suddenly, magically found its reformist, small government, lower spending mojo. That is farcical.

That’s also hardly the point.

It’s Albany; the difference between a Republican and a Democrat has to do with which lobby is paying someone under the table to have your yard landscaped or your bathroom tiled.

Democrats should put away any and all notions that this was done illegally or that Malcolm Smith remains majority leader. What’s done is done. Take your lumps, move on, and regroup. What’s happened here procedurally is not the important fight.

The state’s fortunes do not rise and fall on parliamentary procedure. It’s substance that’s important. Unfortunately, procedure has consequences all its own.

What’s disturbing to me is that this is a typical Pigeon/Golisano fit of pique. It was reported and confirmed that Golisano decided on this course of action because Malcolm Smith was fiddling with his Blackberry in a meeting with him. While rude, it’s hardly the sort of thing that merits a coup unless you’re really super sensitive.

This new not-reformist not-coalition is spreading around press releases about how this is really a great victory for reform.

That must be why it all took place behind the scenes, why it had so much to do with the spreading around of member items, why the swearing-in of Espada took place in Skelos’ office, why some Florida billionaire bankrolled a coup, and why there clearly was some sort of massive quid-pro-quo for all this to happen.

If you’re going to preach reform, attaining power by parliamentary trick isn’t an auspicious start.

And what now? If someone hurts Golisano’s feelings or looks at Monica Seleš the wrong way, is he going to flip it back to the Democrats? Shall we just have the majority in the State Senate be subject to the whims of an out-of-state billionaire whose political operation is run by a guy who failed at running the Erie County Democratic Committee?

Seriously, I’m hating New York state right now really hard.

As an epilogue to this post, after the jump I’ve re-printed my open letter to Tom Golisano – the purported reformer who just bought a legislature.

I read this in the Buffalo News yesterday:

“I wish there were 100,000 people standing behind me feeling the same way and acting the same way, but they’re not,” Golisano told reporters at the state Capitol. But, he added, he still feels a sense of responsibility to stay engaged in trying to change the ways of Albany — even if he has moved his legal residence to Naples, Fla.

There are a million people, probably more, who feel the same way as you about reforming New York, its taxation structure, its spending, and the general way it does business. We can’t all “act the same way” because we’re not billionaires. But many of us try, and still more have tried, to effect some change, with varying degrees of success.

I did a post last week that highlighted the fact that it’s no big surprise, and in no way unique for you to move to Florida. People move to Florida from western New York every day. It just so happens that you’re a politically connected billionaire, so there’s more at stake when it’s a guy like you leaving.

But back to your “wish” of having 100,000 people standing behind you – when exactly did you invite them? Responsible New York was never a grassroots organization. It never tried to organize people to take action – or really do anything whatsoever.

All you did was throw some money at some people whom you liked better than other people. You apparently helped to fund a vicious and likely illegal effort to obliterate Sam Hoyt and his reputation. Your political organization was a top-down affair run by one of the most divisive political figures western New York has ever seen. By selecting that person to run Responsible New York, it lost pretty much all of its credibility as a change agent, and guaranteed that its successes would be accidents.

Throwing money at races is fine, but money doesn’t always win the race. I’m quite sure that a well-organized, well-funded effort to organize average people to effect change in New York State government(s) would find a warm reception in every corner of the state. Imagine if there was a group representing average taxpayers that could rival the lobbying prowess and spending ability of the big special interests and unions that run the show in Albany.

You never set that up, though. Instead, you just wrote some checks and put up a totally non-transparent website that didn’t even have any sort of social media aspect to it – except a seldom-updated blog – so that the people you pretended to be representing in that effort could communicate with you, and with each other, and get involved.

I guess the upshot of it all is, don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. Responsible New York was never about change and reform. It’s about kingmaking and backscratching.

As for your grandstanding on taxes, I only wish that the unfriendly business climate in New York could someday enable my taxes to go up by $5 million per year when the rate is raised by 2.12%. Hope you enjoy Florida. I hear Naples is really gorgeous.

Love,

BP

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12 Comments

  1. Pete at BS says:
    June 10, 2009 at 6:07 am

    I guess the biggest problem with a guy like Golisano monkeying around with the political machine is that you have to look at what he brings to the table…….start with his friends.

    Steve Pigeon – as divisive and arrogant a man as walks the planet. Has no regard for the people or the rules/laws that might stand in the way of anything he wants.

    Larry Quinn – “Hey let’s get public input to craft a master plan…Oh, Bass Pro wants the waterside lot? What master plan?”……..He handled those negotiations with Briere and Drury pretty well………Quinn – “I called them several times”…..Drury and Briere —”There has been no communication from the Sabres”

    Mr. Golisano, I really do appreciate your generosity, but please take your “friends” and go play on another playground. They are not good guys, and over and over they prove that they have self-interest at heart and not that of the people of Buffalo, Erie County or NYS.

  2. Russell says:
    June 10, 2009 at 7:22 am

    It is scary that one man can make the entire legislature his puppet when he’s not even a citizen of the state now, let alone an elected official. As if we didn’t know NYS politics was a dysfunctional mess, this has left no doubt. This should be a call to all voters that reform is desperately needed.

    BP, I’ll agree that this new arrangement is not reformist, but it clearly is a coalition. You have two Democrats (and maybe more) that are staying Democrats but voting with the Republicans to put them in the majority. If that’s not a coalition, I don’t know what is.

  3. lulu says:
    June 10, 2009 at 9:13 am

    Reform is needed – I get that. What I don’t understand is how to get there.

    Are there any true reform candidates in the mix? If so, could one actually be elected? If elected, could said reformer actually bring change within the confines of the current system?

    For those ‘joe citizen’ voters out there (who are not campaign donors or members of a larger lobbying group), how can we “vote for reform”?

  4. Ward says:
    June 10, 2009 at 10:57 am

    Interesting that Pundit was not referring to these two as “opportunistic indictees” when they meekly fell in step behind Malcolm Smith in January, thus ending any Republican hope of a coalition majority. Now that they’ve tired of Smith’s broken promises, they are no longer part of Pundit’s majority, and are pariah.

    Albany influence, according to Pundit (shorter version):

    Golisano buying a Democrat Senate majority = good!
    Golisano sick and tired of Democrat b.s., buying a Republican return = disgusting.

  5. Jon Splett says:
    June 10, 2009 at 11:34 am

    @lulu Register 3rd party, vote 3rd party, tell your friends to vote third party. If enough people register, the 3rd parties will run more candidates. (And I’m talking real third parties like the Greens, not these fusion parties that exist to shakedown the R’s and D’s)

    Nothing changes until we end the duopoly of two shitty parties. At the end of the day, the only reason they can get away with what they do is because we resign ourselves to thinking they’re the only option.

    You’re wasting your vote keeping them in power, make it count by casting it for people willing to earn it.

  6. lefty says:
    June 10, 2009 at 11:58 am

    As BP pointed out, there really is no difference between an “R” and a “D” in New York State politics. They are all the same.

    While registering 3rd party may force the 3rd party to run more people, it still would be a long shot for a 3rd party candidate to win. Let alone have enough 3rd party officials in office to do much change.

    So since the coalition is so popular these days, why not a grassroots “Upstate Coalition” that accepts “R” and “D” both with open arms. The simple goal would be to correct the VAST amount of issues that hold back Upstate NY.

    A Upstate coalition of districts 43-62 would give Upstate 19 votes in the Senate. Now that is not 30 but it is enough to call the shots if they did not align with Downstate “R” or “D”.

    This would create a fight between the Republicans of Westchester and LI and the Democrats of Metro NYC to see who could give more in return for the scraps on the table.

    Maybe this is the “3rd Party” Jon mentioned so to speak.

  7. Pete at BS says:
    June 10, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    @Splettt – Could you please tell us which are legit 3rds and which are the fusions in your mind? Not trying to be a smart ass, just interested to hear your thoughts.

  8. Jon Splett says:
    June 10, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    @Pete

    The Right to Life party certainly qualifies.

    The Independence and Working Families parties also come to mind. Both exist more as an endorsement for people on other lines than a legit way to run anyone themselves although they both do throw someone up now and then. I’m a Green but I can’t say I’m all that happy with what they do either but at least they have a platform.

    @lefty

    The thing with voting third party is you have to be able to accept the fact change isn’t going to happen in one election cycle or even multiple election cycles. But by drawing from the same two parties year after year , we create a sort of political inbreding where no new platforms develop and we’re left thinking every problem only has 2 solutions.

    “Fixing upstates problems” sounds like a great way to form a coalition but what would that even mean? What’s the criteria to join the club? Anyone who’s not an incumbent? That’s the business equivalent of hiring the first guy you interview because he’s not the schmuck you’re replacing.

    The problem with American politics in general is neither major party has core ideals or goals any more. It’s a random hodgepodge of issues they take safe stances on with no underlying belief system to accompany them. It’s about making sure your team wins more than about advancing what you really believe.

    While I think they’re batshit crazy douchebags bent on bringing us back to the pre-child labor era, the Libertarians are one of the few parties I respect for having a platform and staying true to it. They may lack social interaction skills and charismatic leadership, but if they could ever get that shit together, I really think they’d have a good shot at become a legit right-wing third party. I hope to Zeus that never happens, but at their core they have a belief system. The Republicans don’t.

    My Greens briefly flirted with organizing the beginings of a legit far left party back in 2000 but the media sunk that by pinning a stolen election on Nader. Now the national party is back to being a complete clusterfuck but I really believe if Obama keeps up all his Clintonesque centrist bullshit and corporate appeasement, we’ll see the rise of the real leftist party this country so desperately needs. The anti-capitalist movement in Europe is starting to come together and unify all sorts of smaller leftist factions under one tent and hopefully that makes it’s way to this side of the pond as the economy continues to fall apart.

    I’m getting longwinded and tangental but really the point I’m trying to make is that third parties don’t have to win to have an impact. They need to exist to force the major parties to commit to real policy. If the true left bailed on the democrats when they pandered to Wall Street and the banks, the democrats would have to change policy to get those votes back. The same goes with Libertarians on the right. If enough conservatives hopped on Ron Paul’s crazy train, the Republicans would be forced to actually implement the spending reforms they pretend to be in favor of to win back those votes.

    We can rag on politicians all we want for voting along party lines and playing political games instead of solving problems but at the end of the day we’re just as hypocritical as they are. Until we start voting our conscience instead of the lesser of two evils, they won’t either.

  9. Jon Splett says:
    June 10, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    @Pete

    Re-read that and to clarify the parties I mentioned are examples of bullshit third parties who serve no purpose.

  10. Christopher Smith says:
    June 10, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    @Pete, here’s a list of the official statewide political parties in New York State and which ones I think are legit and which ones simply offer fusion opportunities to generate more votes and patronage jobs for ideologues

    Fusion:
    Conservative
    Working Families
    Independence
    Liberal
    Right to Life
    Taxpayers

    Legit:
    Communist
    Constitution
    Green
    Libertarian
    Natural Law
    Socialist

  11. Pete at BS says:
    June 10, 2009 at 9:19 pm

    Thanks, Chris…..this thread had probably run it’s course. You endorsing the Communist and Socialist parties ought to stir it up again. And tossing the bone to Ostrowski…nice.

  12. Christopher Smith says:
    June 10, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    They are legit parties who run their own candidates, advocate a platform, and are trying to change the system. Sure, they might be fringe, but they are true believers in their political ideology. They don’t lease it to members of the Democrat or Republican parties in exchange for access and patronage jobs.

 

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