Sen. Schumer is inserting himself into the NYC Public Advocate race with this ad for Dan Squadron:
Too late to make friends
Following up on Fred Dicker’s earlier piece where he states Cuomo’s internal polling indicates he’s pretty much lost everything north of the City, the Governor has decided to spend time with the redneck underclass:
“… During the past several weeks, Governor Cuomo has spent much of his time in upstate New York … There’s been good reason politically for Cuomo to lavish all of the attention on portions of upstate … Until recently, Cuomo enjoyed sky high approval ratings from nearly all New Yorkers, in the 70% range. But, after he championed strict new gun control laws in January, and pursued a left leaning agenda during the legislative session, his support among upstaters has declined precipitously. In New York City, his popularity is still high, but in upstate about half of voters say they’d prefer someone else as governor …”
Why would Cuomo think that spending time with people he’s fucked over is going to improve his standing with them? I realize this is part of his “major course correction“ strategy (which I can’t possibly see working), but he’s exposing himself to even more protests which in turn will drive his approval rating even lower.
Journal News boycott aftermath
The Journal News continues to feel the fallout over their decision to publish maps to gun owners homes.
Having lost ~30% of their subscribers and an unknown number of advertisers because of it, the paper is now letting employees go. One of those canned is their Rockland editor Caryn McBride:
“… McBride gained fame earlier this year for her involvement in the Journal News gun map fiasco. Police reports indicated McBride had called the Clarkstown Police Department to notify them of torrents of angry phone calls and letters the newspaper received following the publication of the map. The Rockland editor said she felt threatened by the complaints, but local police did not agree a credible threat against the safety of employees of the newspaper existed. Unsatisfied, McBride and other executives decided to hire armed guards to protect their property, causing an uproar due to the perceived hypocrisy …”
Good!
Too late
Fred Dicker writes:
“Gov. Cuomo plans a “major course correction” when he seeks re-election next year, shifting from the left-of-center agenda that has dominated his actions this year to the political center … Cuomo’s “major course correction” resulted from disturbing private polls showing the governor could lose most upstate counties next year because of the passage of his anti-gun Safe Act, which has enraged hundreds of thousands of upstate residents, and because of high unemployment and steady job losses …”
Nobody is going to believe this. It would be a obvious desperation move on Cuomo’s part, a sign he he realizes his presidential aspirations are headed down the drain.
Bartlett campaigns on SAFE repeal
David Bartlett is one of three candidates running for Columbia Co. Sheriff. He’s running in the GOP primary and sent out a campaign flyer (front, back) stating he will “Work to repeal the New York SAFE Act.”
Governor Cuomo’s efforts to quiet police opposition to SAFE with a limited exemption do not appear to be working out quite as planned.
Reid surrenders, Bloomberg whines
Harry Reid has raised the white flag on gun control:
“Senate Democrats have abandoned efforts to pass a law this year expanding background checks for gun purchases — dealing a new setback to the drive for tougher gun laws after the Newtown school massacre. In a meeting Thursday with a pro-gun-control group, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said budget battles looming this fall will make it impossible to enact the background-check measure that failed to pass in April …”
And our little Mayor ain’t happy about it:
“A day after Senate Democrats announced plans to abandon efforts to pass substantive gun control laws this year, a disgusted Mayor Bloomberg accused Congress of being too lazy to carry on the fight – and warned of repercussions at the ballot box. “We’re going to keep going after senators that won’t [support gun control],” he said in his weekly appearance on the John Gambling radio show. “If Congress won’t [act],” he added, “we’ve got to have the public get up and say ‘We’re not going to take it. We’re going to vote for somebody else.’” …”
Therein lies Bloomberg’s problem: there is no “we.” Gun control does not have an activist voting constituency and Congress knows it.
An environment of stupidity
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.