MAIG paying members off?

The Mayor of Walden regrets joining Mayors Against Illegal Guns and tells of being promised campaign contributions if he stayed on.

What goes around eventually comes around

A number of years ago the antis were pushing for a statewide mandatory storage law.  They started with efforts in counties in the lower Hudson Valley.  Fran Knapp led the effort in the Dutchess County Legislature.  It failed and eventually the issue died down.  Knapp did keep up with antigun initiatives, trying to keep gun shows out of the Mid-Hidson Civic Center, but that issue too went away.  Later, she moved on to become Democratic County Elections Commissioner.

So, what’s she been up to lately?

“… Knapp was indicted on 46 felonies and 48 misdemeanors.  The charges against Knapp stem from allegations that in August 2011 she permitted the names of voter agents for absentee ballots to be changed on the Board of Elections’ computer system without the absentee voter’s permission …”

Good.

Protest on Long Island

There was another protest yesterday on Long Island.  According to Newsday:

“Hundreds of local gun-rights advocates lined Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge Saturday to demand the repeal of the state’s newest sweeping gun regulation.  The protest, led by a coalition of groups, was one of several rallies to take place on Long Island since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act in January …”

Here’s some video:

Neither Cuomo nor Dean Skelos can be happy with this.  All the Long Island Republicans except Lee Zeldin supported SAFE at least in part because they assumed the issue wasn’t important to their constituency.

6%

More evidence passing the SAFE Act didn’t help Governor Cuomo’s presidential aspirations:

“Glass half full for Cuomo 2016: The New York governor is polling in third place for a potential Democratic presidential primary, trailing only former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden.  Glass half empty: Cuomo garnered support from just 6 percent of the Democrats (or Democrat-leaning independents) polled …”

So best case scenario here is that Democrats don’t see Cuomo’s support for gun control as being very important.

Sink Cuomo’s boat

Gov. Cuomo and other politicos held a river race to promote tourism in the Adirondacks. SAFE protesters were there.

How to lose money in the stock market

Bill De Blasio is trying to make some political hay out of his efforts at pressuring financial firms to divest their investments in the firearms industry:

“Six months after launching a national divestment campaign against manufacturers of assault weapons and high-capacity ammo clips, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio announced eight hedge funds and money managers have completely divested their gun holdings, valued at $150 million. Fourteen more firms have scaled back their gun investments by 7.4 million shares—27 percent of their holdings …”

While it is unclear whether or not De Blasio’s campaign really influenced any of these firm’s decisions, for the sake of argument let’s give him all the credit.

From an investors perspective, how smart of a move was it to dump these stocks now?

So basically, anyone who followed De Blasio’s advice lost money.

Way to go Bill.

Hoping to make a martyr

Lots of racists, radical leftists and antigunners are trying to make Trayvon Martin into a martyr either for their cause or simply for personal gain.

Here’s Josh Horowitz summing up the gun controllers lies:

Pete King for President

Some rumormongering from Newsmax:

“In a recent political development that could only be called surprising, Newsmax has learned that U.S. Rep. Peter King, past chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is being encouraged by friends in and outside the Empire State to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2016 …”

Why?  He’s an old, Northeastern RINO with limited national exposure.

“… “Peter can speak to and assemble the old Ronald Reagan Democrats — and he’s a world-renowned expert on global terrorism and national defense,” former Rep. Vito Fosella, a New York Republican and close friend of King’s, told Newsmax. “He has broad appeal and that’s why he keeps winning in the Northeast when other Republicans come and go.” …”

Yes, he can speak intelligently on terrorism and defense.  As to the later statement, I’m not so sure.  King’s continued re-election has as much to do with the inter- and intra-party cronyism and collusion Republicans and Democrats engage in as it does with any genuine public backing.

Cuomo’s re-election

Some interesting insights into Gov. Cuomo’s re-election campaign.

First from Fred Dicker:

“… Cuomo’s aides nervously concede that upstate voters are a major problem for the governor, with some predicting Cuomo will lose as many as 50 upstate counties because of an ailing economy, a worsening tax burden, and outrage over the governor’s sweeping anti-gun Safe Act, which passed in January …”

Second from State of Politics:

“The vast majority of contributions to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign come from $10,000 contributions and higher, according to analysis released today by the New York Public Interest Research Group … NYPIRG found that eighty percent of the money raised by Cuomo this cycle has come from donors giving $10,000 or more.  Nearly 44 percent of his contributions this cycle have come from donors giving $40,000 or more, according to numbers wizard Bill Mahoney.  Those giving less than $1,000 account for less than 1 percent of all Cuomo’s campaign donations …”

Taken together is seems to indicate the Governor’s level of public support is a lot less than most in the media are willing to admit.  Sure he’s got a lot of money, but why aren’t average citizens giving to the campaign?  With tens of millions in the bank it is unlikely any challenger could match Cuomo’s money, but perhaps a dark horse candidate like Steve McLaughlin who was willing to put in the effort and go door-to-door might be able to knock him out.

New Yorkers for Gun Safety ad campaign

I now know how much New Yorkers for Gun Safety spent on their ad campaign back in early May: $400,000.

The PAC is controlled by Cuomo and an examination of their disclosure report shows the bulk of their money came from a handful of wealthy, politically connected Democrat donors in Manhattan.  i.e. They’re just rich astroturf.

Given their ads were a total flop and failed to both move the antigun agenda in Congress and raise Cuomo’s potential presidential profile, I wonder how they will remain in business before NYGS joins the ranks of other failed front groups like Americans for Gun Safety, American Hunters and Shooters, etc.