Ted Cruz plans to announce tomorrow that he will seek the GOP nomination for President in 2016.
I like the guy, but he doesn’t have much political experience. He needs to show early on that he has the ability to raise money and organize a campaign.
Still going
The R&P is still getting mileage from the press release I quickly threw together last week. It even upset Media Matters, which they keep retweeting, but refuse to acknowledge the response I sent to their first tweet.
Tiny antigun shop opens in NYC
Video killed the antigun star
The antis set up a fake gun store in lower Manhattan in an effort to deter potential first time gun owners from making a purchase. They made of video of it:
Looks as if they violated lots of city and state gun laws so I call for an investigation by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence claims the guns were props and no crime was committed.
Legislative Report #5
Legislative Report #5 is now online.
Note bills listed as Reported or on 3rd Reading. I have already been asked for a position on a couple of them, meaning, they will likely come up for a floor vote soon.
Armed citizen on NYC subway train
Gun control activist goes down
The NYSRPA Political Victory Fund has defeated gun control activist Rita Kestenbaum in yesterdays special election for Nassau County Legislature.
Right in Dean Skelos’ backyard.
Snoop Dogg as a gun control control spokesman
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence seriously believes Snoop Dogg is a good spokesman for their issue:
And what is his criminal record?
“… Since achieving fame, the popular gangster rap artist has had a number of brushes with the law. In 1990, he was convicted of cocaine possession. Three years later, he pled guilty for gun possession. Snoop was also tried and acquitted of murder charges in 1996. The case involved the killing of an alleged gang member who was shot by someone in the vehicle Snoop was riding in. In 2005, Snoop was sued for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at the taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003. Snoop made legal news again in 2006. He and his posse were taken in custody at a London airport in April after the group got into a fight at the terminal. Later that year, he was arrested at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, after officers found marijuana and a gun in Snoop’s vehicle. In 2007, the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship, citing his prior criminal convictions, banned him from entering the country and appearing at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards …”
President Cuomo ain’t happening
In keeping with today’s theme of Democrats hating Andrew Cuomo is today’s column by Fred Dicker, “Democrats: ‘Anybody but Cuomo’ for president“:
“Top New York Democrats are whispering for the first time that Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be their presidential candidate next year. And while they’re far from agreeing on who it might be, they do agree on one thing: It won’t be Gov. Cuomo. “People in the party all hate him,’’ one of the state’s best-known Democratic operatives told The Post. A prominent Democratic elected official added, “There’s an ABC factor at work here. It’s ‘Anybody but Cuomo’.’’ …”
All those people he’s fucked over are coming back to haunt him.
“… Cuomo has been widely mentioned by commentators as a possible candidate for president if Clinton doesn’t run, but a series of setbacks, including the investigation by US Attorney Preet Bharara into the governor’s closing of the Moreland panel on corruption, as well as Cuomo’s disappointing showing in last year’s gubernatorial primary, has cut into his standing … Said another prominent Democrat, “Two years ago, there’s no question Cuomo was a serious contender for the nomination …””
What cut into his standing? Gun control. Fred doesn’t mention it, but right up until that point Cuomo was riding high. He completely lost his shit during his ’13 State of the State and it was all downhill from there.
Democrat discontent with Cuomo
I have been saying for a long time that Democrats do not like Gov. Cuomo and that at some point they will start taking shots at him.
“… after once again coming up short in last year’s elections, Democrats in the mainline conference are making a public show of independence from a governor who, despite sharing their political affiliation, has shown little desire of seeing the conference take the lead in the state Senate … To be fair, the mainline Democrats aren’t the only legislative conference giving Cuomo grief as he begins his second term on decidedly rocky terrain … But the flashes of independence from the Senate Democratic conference these last 10 weeks underscore a broader problem for Cuomo that began last year with an insurgent pushback on his left flank …”
Whether or not this discontent with Cuomo will translate into a legislative opportunity to remove bits of the SAFE Act remains to be seen. Republicans, especially in the upper chamber, ought to listen to this advice:
Prediction: if Skelos does not negotiate major reform of SAFE Act during Budget or NYC rent control ext talks, GOP will lose Senate in 2016.
— Bill Nojay (@BillNojay) March 8, 2015