Election results

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Preliminary election results:

There are a bunch of races that are too close to call.  It appears the Republicans have made inroads in both houses of the state legislature, picked up a few Congressional seats, and blown all statewide contests.

NYC Legislative Report #3

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NYC Legislative Report #3 is now online.  More “carrying while intoxicated” bills introduced.

News of the day

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Despite popular demand, we will not be doing ratings and endorsements for candidates in Vermont.  That is the job of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and/or NRA.

With the handwriting on the wall, the Times acknowledges that the Senate Democrats will likely lose control after tomorrows elections.  I think Brian Foley is toast in SD-3. Fred Dicker believes that Antoine Thompson might be in trouble in SD-60, although he’s the only one I’ve seen who says that.

The WFP is clearly worried about Demcorats losing as well.  They sent out mailers telling people not to vote for their endorsed candidates in at least two races: Bill Stachowski in SD-58 and Ginny Fields in AD-5, both of whom lost their Democrat endorsements and whose seats could switch to the GOP.  Stachowski has stopped campaigning, but Ginny has continued her campaign on the Independence line.

On Andrew Cuomo’s coattails: simple, he’s got none.  He’s probably going to end up winning, but it will be due to the establishment GOP not putting any serious effort into that race.

The race for attorney general is now tied between microstamping’s man man Eric Schneiderman and Bloomberg’s puppet Dan Donovan.

Speaking of Mayor Mike, the Daily News thinks that his political capital may rise after the elections:

“… Bloomberg also sent $3,800 to another Long Islander, Democratic Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, who carried the micro-stamping bill, which passed in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The micro-stamping bill has long been stalled in the Senate, in part due to the powerful gun lobby. This caused a rift between Bloomberg and the GOP. Padavan voted “yes” this past June before the bill was pulled from the floor because of a lack of votes. The mayor gave $3,800 to a second Democrat, Assemblyman Joe Morelle of Rochester. Morelle, a Cuomo ally, was the micro-stamping bill’s most prominent upstate advocate …”

While his money does get him influence in Albany, if the Democrats lose big tomorrow as is expected, it will take a lot of the air out of the gun control agenda.

Ladd Everitt’s outburst

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McCarthy election update

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Mayor Mike has endorsed Carolyn McCarthy for re-election.  Big deal.

McCarthy herself is, of course, running as a “national leader on gun control“:

“… I am a national leader on gun control and keeping our communities and our police officers safe. My opponent will be a reliable pawn for the NRA and will put our communities and police officers at risk …”

This seems unlikely given that Fran Becker has already screwed gun owners over twice during his career in the Nassau legislature, first in 2000 by jacking up the pistol license fees and again in ’08 with the colored gun ban.  Nevertheless, being a largely single issue candidate McCarthy has to bring up the gun issue or it takes away her main reason of being in Congress.

The Long Island Press reports that McCarthy is herself worried about losing:

“… In the 4th District, Nassau County Legis. Francis Becker (R-Lynbrook) claims to be surging against McCarthy … His campaign manager says the Republicans “smell blood,” and the GOP intends to bolster his so-far anemic advertising campaign … Her campaign paints Becker as a Tea Party Republican, pointing out that his campaign had less than $22,000 on hand as of Oct. 13, compared to her $541,053 tally. But this time around, it may be the secret donor money that really tips the scale. “We’re all petrified of a millionaire coming into the race,” McCarthy tells the Press …”

This explains her negative ad attack against Becker.

JD-9 mailers

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The NRA is apparently doing orange card mailings on behalf of J. Emmett Murphy and Jim Maisano in the 9th judicial district.  Neither are listed on the PVF website.  Both candidates were already endorsed by WCFOA and NYSRPA.

Murphy mailer

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Scott Murphy is doing a mailer touting his endorsement by the NRA.  Nothing unusual about that, although the mailer does specifically mention “handguns for self-defense.”  I don’t recall seeing that in New York before.  Candidates usually just go for a hunting/outdoor theme when mentioning their endorsement.

Bloomberg is worried

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Mayor Mike realizes that the Sullivan Law isn’t going to stand up to legal challenges so he wants to try and lower the fee structure for firearm licenses in hopes of preserving as much of his power to screw over ordinary citizens as possible.  See INT 313-2010.

However, since the Clown Council doesn’t have as much experience with gun issues as he does, they don’t seem to grasp the situation.  As Councilman Erik Dilan told the Post:

“… I don’t know how anybody could . . . speculate that we’re going to be sued by the National Rifle Association or any other entity for the fee when it’s been set at that rate for several years,” he said …”

He probably does not understand that up until McDonald, New York State operated under the notion that there is no right to own guns and therefore all gun control laws were acceptable.  Incorporation changed that.  I also doubt that he and most other most Councilmembers realize that New York City gun laws are way out of the mainstream.  Bloomberg knows this and clearly expects problems:

“… “We want to be in compliance with the law as we understand the Chicago decision was made. We don’t want to lose the ability to have reasonable controls. If we have controls that the courts have ruled are too onerous or too unfair, we could lose” other gun-regulation measures that are in place …”

Notice, he’s just going after the fees, not the arbitrary discretion powers (yet).  He has to know that won’t stand up.  At some point he’s going to have to address that issue.