All about guns, legislation and politics in New York
Eric Schneiderman says he began his career in law enforcement.
Kathleen Rice calls him a liar.
I knew this was coming. It was only a matter of time. With primary turnout so low, in a 5-way free for all with 2 of the 5 candidates (Schneiderman & Dick Brodsky) forced to give up their legislative seats to make this run, there was just no way they were going to behave. Schneiderman has to win this or his career is over. He’s got nothing to lose by embellishing his background.
There was a mass shooting in Buffalo last week.
Apparently it was gang related.
7 of the 8 “victims” had criminal backgrounds.
Senator Antoine Thompson tries to use it as an excuse to push microstamping.
Mayor Byron Brown calls it “reprehensible” the media outed the “victims” as having violent criminal pasts.
Obviously, racism is to blame.
The New York Times endorsed Eric Schneiderman:
“New York State needs a tough, honest and smart attorney general to attack the culture of corruption in Albany, protect consumers and the environment, and promote civil rights … For the Democratic nomination, we support State Senator Eric Schneiderman …”
Yeah, promote civil rights except for those specifically enumerated civil rights which the Times editors do not approve of.
According to Capitol Confidential this endorsement is a big deal:
“… The Times endorsement is seen as a major plum for the Democratic Party, where many stalwart Democrats in New York City rely on the paper as their main source of news …”
I think not. This might have been true many years ago, but is not now. Their circulation has been dropping for years and is down more than 8% from last year alone. People, regardless of their ideology, just do not rely on old media outlets like the Times anymore. This is not the game changer Schneiderman’s campaign is trying to spin it as.
The Westchester County legislature is reviewing whether the mandatory storage law passed by Andy Spano will hold up now that the 2A is incorporated to the states. According to the Journal News:
… “We have to consider whether our law is unconstitutional,” said Legislator John Nonna, D-Pleasantville, the chairman of the legislation committee. “We should examine whether our gun-storage law is subject to a constitutional challenge.” …
I suspect they’re going to end up changing it. Spano was the driving force behind all the antigun initiatives in the county and with him gone I don’t think there will be much cheerleading for it.
Mayor Mike has endorsed Pete King for re-election. NPR’s piece, “Bloomberg Busy Backing Candidates Of Both Parties,” contains a very important observation:
“… Political science professor Douglas Muzzio, of Baruch College in New York, says Bloomberg — if nothing else — is collecting some political IOUs. “Certainly it makes him a national player,” Muzzio says. “He’s getting chits from both sides of the aisle. It fuels the narrative of Mike Bloomberg, plutocrat, as philosopher king and all that comes with it — both in terms of influence and ego if you will.” …”
Damn right he’s collecting political favors and he’s going to use them to advance his gun control agenda. King has floated between a C and D rating over the years so it will be interesting to see whether it drops down after this endorsement.
It appears that NRA is going to endorse Nan Hayworth in CD-19. They hired a “campaign field representative” who is trying to drum up support for her from area gun clubs. There is no formal endorsement notice on either the PVF website or Hayworth’s campaign site.
New Yorkers Against Gun Violence endorsed Eric Schneiderman:
“… “No one in New York State has fought harder to protect the people of our state from gun violence than Eric Schneiderman,” said the group’s executive director, Jackie Hilly. “From his first days in the Senate when he kept the NRA out of our schools, to his recent bipartisan work with Mayor Bloomberg to help police solve gun crimes with microstamping technology, Eric has been in the forefront of the fight to keep illegal guns out of the hands of children and criminals.” …”
This means nothing. NYAGV brings no money, manpower or GOTV ability to the table. His endorsement by Alec Baldwin is worth more than this.