All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
Following up on yesterday’s post, only the Long Island GOP likes Cuomo:
“Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the likely Republican gubernatorial candidate, faces a tough road in GOP-dominated Nassau County, where party leaders and lawmakers have close ties to Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, political analysts say …”
By party leaders they mean Al D’Amato, Dean Skelos and Joe Mondello.
I keep harping on this because the media refuses to acknowledge it: Democrats do not like Governor Cuomo.
“A day after Albany leaders announced a budget deal, State Senator Simcha Felder, a Democrat, issued a blistering attack on Governor Cuomo and Speaker Shelly Silver for killing the ‘Education Initiative Tax Credit’ bill sponsored by Brooklyn Senators Marty Golden and Felder … As a result of his outrage, Felder is considering to not endorse Governor Cuomo in his reelection bid this fall. Felder is so furious at the Governor for killing his signature bill that he’s considering to endorse Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino for governor …”
“… Cuomo’s disposable ethics is a reason a new Siena College poll shows support slid-sliding away. He still holds a 61-21 percent lead over Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the presumptive Republican nominee. At the same time, his favorable job rating has slipped to 46 percent — and the percent backing Cuomo v. “someone else” to only 49, the lowest of his term. Imagine. In New York, where Democrats hold a 2-1 registration edge, only a minority of voters prefers Cuomo’s re-election …”
Keep in mind Siena is notoriously biased to the left. He’s probably 5-7 points lower than what their polls show.
Giving credit where it is due, the “Little Assassin” Rob Astorino has been doing a good job with his campaign thus far. He’s kept on message and hasn’t backed down from his position on SAFE.
It needs to be said again, Governor Cuomo has problems with Democrats:
“More than 100 state committee members of the Working Families Party participated in a hastily organized conference call last night to discuss the possibility of not endorsing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s re-election bid this fall …”
Don’t they realize Cuomo is a national leader on gun control?
“… Cuomo has deliberately staked out territory as a centrist … He has offset this approach with victories on … gun control, but that doesn’t appear to be enough to appease the liberal wing of his party …”
This shows how unpopular gun control has become of an issue for leftists, something Cuomo had to have done research on for his presidential aspirations but for whatever reason chose to ignore prior to pushing SAFE. They may support it in principle, but the issue doesn’t have a constituency which will back up their position with money/votes at election time.
With this in mind, what has SAFE gotten for the Governor? Despite biased polling, from the left he’s gotten nothing. From the right, it’s a negative.
WPIX has decided to give up any pretense of objectivity and go all in for gun control. Here’s their general manager promoting “Gun Violence Awareness Month”:
Are you aware of “gun violence”? Yes, I am. So what? The general public doesn’t care about feel good nonsense like this.
If only the station and politicians featured in the ad had the courage to take a stand for something substantive, like demanding children get a quality education, everyone would be much better off.
As expected Governor Cuomo is pandering to the Fudds in an attempt to win back some votes he lost with the SAFE Act. He’s got DEC Commission Joe Martens going around around the state telling a bunch of B.S. to sportsmen:
“Joe Martens, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, is scheduled to meet with a select group of outdoors sportsmen behind closed doors Friday afternoon at the DEC Region 7 office in Cortland. The meeting is closed to the press, a DEC spokesman said. The reason for the meeting, scheduled from noon to 2 p.m., is to get feedback on a range of outdoor-related issues put out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including changes to the hunting, fishing and trapping licenses; the adventure license proposal and items in Cuomo’s executive budget for the coming year, including making crossbows legal for hunting …”
What possible reason is there not to have the media invited? The head of a state agency is looking for public input on the Governor’s budget. Isn’t this newsworthy?
“… A representative from the State Police is expected to accompany Martens to address any SAFE Act-related questions. “It’s always a hot button issue when we’re talking to folks,” said Christian Ballantyne, a special assistant at the DEC who helped contacted sportsmen about attending Friday’s get-together …”
This is why they don’t want the press around. They are guaranteed negative feedback because of SAFE and don’t want the media to cover it.
“… Ballantyne said he expects about a half dozen sportsmen representatives to attend Friday. He many of those invited were from a list of names recommended by the DEC’s fish and wildlife staff at the Cortland office …”
Known Fudds or other losers who aren’t likely to ask tough questions or expect serious answers.
“… Chuck Parker, of Mexico, who is president of the New York State Conservation Council, was among those invited but had to decline because he is attending a meeting of the state Fish and Wildlife Advisory Board today and Friday up at the DEC training facility in Pulaski …”
Case in point.
“… He said when it came to the SAFE Act, Parker said that Martens said he didn’t feel it had a significant impact on sportsmen. “We countered that yes it does,” Parker said …”
And what are you going to do about it? NYSCC has done nothing about SAFE.
“… Following that Albany meeting, Parker said he knows of meetings Martens has held with sportsmen at DEC regional offices in Region 9 (near Buffalo); Region 8 (near Rochester) and Region 3 in New Paltz. All were put together with little advance notice, he said, and to his knowledge there were no problems …”
I know someone who went to the R3 meeting. There were no “problems” because there was no real public input. The only purpose of these meetings is so the Governor can use them in his re-election campaign.
Op-ed from today’s Schenectady Gazette, “Cuomo should call special elections“:
“We’re told we live in a representative democracy. But that requires political representation, and right now more than 1.8 million New Yorkers, in 11 different legislative districts, don’t have any. For this they can thank Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has sole discretion to call special elections and shows no inclination to do so … Cuomo hasn’t given any real explanation for not calling special elections … He probably doesn’t want 11 different campaigns that may include criticism of his policies and programs; or controversial actions such as the SAFE Act; or controversial statements such as those regarding “extreme conservatives.” …”
And yet we are repeatedly reminded by media pundits, primarily those from NYC, that there is widespread public support for SAFE. If that is the case then it should be a non-issue and the Governor has no reason to hold up calling for special elections.
Back in January NYAGV Boardmember Justin Wagner announced his intention to run for State Senate again this year. Someone, presumably Wagner, is doing polling in the area. The questions the caller asked were: