Month: June 2018

Problem

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Newsday reports:

“As the race for governor accelerates, Republican nominee Marc Molinaro says the campaign of Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is trying falsely to define him as an ultraconservative out of step with most New Yorkers on social issues … The Cuomo campaign routinely refers to Molinaro as “Trump mini-me . . . who has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA …” … He defends the right of the National Rifle Association to be included in discussion of gun control and school safety. But he refuses to take campaign contributions from the NRA …”

There are roughly 250,000 NRA members in New York.

A candidate who does not have a personal interest in firearms and has little to no firsthand experience with them isn’t a problem.  A candidate who does not want to make guns a priority issue during the campaign isn’t a problem.  A candidate who does not want to accept special interest donations isn’t a problem.

This is a problem.  A lot of people are going to look at this as an insult as it singles out the NRA.

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Newsbits

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Friday’s Newsbits:

Elections:

Politics:

Jurisprudence:

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Look at the Janus reaction

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Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court effective the end of July.

Already there is speculation that his replacement will give us a court more supportive of 2nd Amendment rights.  That is probably right.  To understand how New York representatives would react to a pending gun case that would significantly impact the state, look at how they prepared for the Janus decision which said public employees cannot be forced to pay union dues.

Public sector unions knew they would likely lose that case so earlier this year their allies in the legislature passed and Governor Cuomo signed a new law designed to blunt Janus’ impact.  I would expect the same thing to happen when it appears another major SCOTUS ruling on gun rights is imminent.

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Turning out to vote

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Pat Ryan ran a hardcore gun control campaign for the Democrat nomination in CD-19.

The result of this?

With roughly a 35% turnout, he came in 3rd in a 7-way primary about 17.7% of the vote.

This is more proof that gunsense cannot turn out a voting block even in Democrat primaries.

The winner Antonio Delgado does support gun control, but he didn’t spend a pile of campaign cash running shamelessly dishonest advertisements on television implying the AR-15 is a military weapon.

“Antonio Delgado won Tuesday’s seven-person Democratic primary in New York’s 19th Congressional District, allowing him to run against Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso in November … Delgado also has said he supports universal background checks for gun purchases and closing the gun show loop hole, as well as banning bump stocks.”

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Cuomo’s Protect Our Kids ad

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A new advertisement paid for by Governor Cuomo’s campaign targets Senate Republicans for not passing his ‘red flag’ gun bill:

Because it is being done as a re-election ad, not an issue ad, I don’t think it will motivate any action on his proposal.

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Recess and return

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The state legislature went into recess as scheduled last week.  Governor Cuomo’s ‘red flag’ proposal did not come up for a vote in the Senate.

I am not totally convinced he was serious about it.  I am open to the possibility that the last few weeks was nothing but well orchestrated political theater meant to diminish Cynthia Nixon’s primary challenge.

In any event, because one of the other hot button issues was not addressed, speed cameras, there is the possibility the legislature will return for a special session before the current law expires on July 25.

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Newsbits

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Sunday’s Newsbits:

Legislation:

Elections:

Politics:

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Zeldin looking for campaign volunteers

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Congressman Lee Zeldin is looking for volunteers for his campaign offices in Center Moriches, Hampton Bays, Port Jefferson Station, Smithtown and Riverhead.

Sign up here and someone from the campaign will get back to you.

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What Mike has been up to

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CBS reports:

“… Michael Bloomberg is expected to spend at least $80 million in the 2018 midterm elections supporting Democratic candidates as part of his larger goal of flipping 23 Republican-held seats in the House, to put Democrats back in power …”

On the surface this looks bad.  However, Bloomberg has a history of throwing money around and not getting much of a return on his investment.

It is reasonable to assume that most if not all of the candidates he backs will be advocating for whatever his current gun control fixation is.

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Newsbits

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Wednesday’s Newsbits:

Legislation:

Elections:

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