| THE DISTRICT
The 46th State Senate Districts' boundaries are concurrent with those of Albany County. Senator Neil Breslin has represented the district in the Senate since 1996. In the early and mid 1990s, his brother Michael ascended to the position of Albany County Executive; his other brother, Thomas, became County Judge. This put the Breslin family in charge of nearly half the county-wide districts. So Breslin is a big name in Albany County Democratic politics, which is a bigger deal considering Albany County Democrats dominate enrollment by massive margins.
This year is intensely political for the county. First, it is the most populous and contested county in the 21st Congressional District, subject to a very high profile five-way Democratic Primary. No effect of any of the particular candidates will be insinuated here; but that primary is most certain to boost turnout in several down-ballot races.
Some examples of these races might be the many primaries for state Democratic committee, which have been covered by the papers rather extensively. And many stories of late focus on an intra-party battle between establishment and anti-establishment camps - thus the multiple stories on recent Albany County Democratic Committee meetings.
With this primary, we have in Albany County a three-way Democratic primary for State Senate in a year where Democratic primaries are being heavily reported. Whey the 46th hasn't been included is beyond me. Consider the qualities of the incumbent and his two challengers:
THE INCUMBENT
Neil Breslin is currently ranking member of the minority for the Assembly committee on insurance; he also serves on the committees on banking, labor, and codes. As pointed out earlier, he is one of a triumverate of three ruling brothers in Albany County. According to his Senate biography, his day job in the private sector is as an attorney who serves "of counsel" to the law firm of Hiscock & Barclay. He was recently with Girvin & Ferlazzo. This had lead some to level charges that he is comprised by connections to the banking and insurance industries as well as part of a union-busting law firm at present, and a double-dipping law firm most recently.
Whether these grounds are founded or not aren't considered here. What will be considered is the coverage of Breslin's recent political battles, as well as those faced by his brother, County Executive Mike Breslin. Most recently, Senator Neil failed in his bid to oust Senator Malcolm Smith as Minority Leader in the Senate. Victory would have rooted both parties' leadership in the Legislature squarely in the Capital District, and would have made then Majority Leader Joe Bruno his counterpart. Neil Breslin has gone on record in several news reports speaking very highly of the now retired Brunswick Republican.
The biggest challenges he faced, and most widely covered, was from current Albany County Comptroller Mike Conners. Both Breslin brothers have fought off challenges from Conners, who has primaried the County Executive and run on the Republican line against Senator Neil. Yet both brothers have remained resilient, as has Mike Conners, winning a primary battle for the Comptroller's office despite the Breslins backing his opponent last fall.
So if challenges to the big Breslin name have always warranted media coverage in the past, and have had symbolic successes, why then is local mainstream media, specifically the Times Union, basically ignoring the newest Democrats to stand up against the old guard? Consider this an introduction...
THE CHALLENGERS
First, we have Charlie Voelker. He's the only of Breslin's two challenger to actually get any press, appearing in this telling report a month ago:
Keeps on running
Elsewhere in Albany County, Charlie Voelker is still running to unseat fellow Democratic Sen. Neil Breslin in the 46th Senate District.
We say still running because, even though Voelker never said he stopped, it seemed questionable after no one at last month's Albany County Democratic Committee meeting offered Voelker's name for consideration for the party's endorsement. The party unanimously endorsed Breslin.
This despite the Polish Community Center on Washington Avenue Extension, where the committee meets, being awash in Voelker's "Demand More Albany" fliers.
So when Voelker this week announced this week that he had received the backing of Albany County Conservatives, Inside Politics asked why his name wasn't offered at the committee meeting.
Voelker said it was because his campaign didn't feel comfortable asking supporters, many of whom they say hold county and state jobs, to publicly cross the Breslin
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Voelker's campaign suggested its supporters would risk losing their jobs if they did. "I think it's a tough situation to put people in," Voelker said. "To come out against one of the Breslins isn't the most popular thing in the world."
Neil Breslin reacted angrily, saying "I think that my brother Michael and I bring good government to the table, and I think (Voelker is) hiding behind the fact that he had no support."
It doesn't seem as though the Times Union is taking Voelker's candidacy too seriously. It is most interesting that the intimidation factor was pointed out. I've heard from both of Breslin's challenger that the petition process certainly goes that way. When that kind of thing is going on, it adds a new wrinkle that certain warrants some attention from the news media.
But what about Charlie Voelker? He's running two websites, his own charlievoelker.com as well as Demand More Albany, though they both bring you to the same page. Here's a little bit about Charlie to get you started, straight from his campaign web site:
In 1997, Charlie left Time Warner Cable to become the Vice President and General Manager of the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs minor league baseball team. Under his leadership, from 1997 to 2001, the franchise attendance skyrocketed from 56,000 in 1996 to over 100,000 in 2001. In addition, the Diamond Dogs made the playoffs every year and won the Northern League Championship in 1999. In both 2000 and 2001, Charlie was awarded the "Northern League General Manager of the Year" distinction.
Charlie returned to UAlbany's athletic department full-time in 2003 to head up the university's athletic marketing and ticket efforts. Charlie's focus has included increasing UAlbany's television exposures; game attendance and revenues; and the development of corporate partnerships. Charlie's marketing plan was integral to the recent naming of SEFCU arena. He is currently the Associate Athletic Director of External Affairs.
Voelker's big claim to fame is as a fundraiser. Yet a recent report shows that Neil Breslin has a war chest of over $140,000; Voelker has less than $4,000 cash on hand, so he seems to be coming up a little short.
The second challenger, however, is whole other ball game. David Weiss was given a piece in the Times Union's Capital Confidential blog back in November, when Breslin's name was still being floated for the Congressional primary.
David Weiss, 51, a wind power advocate from Albany County, announced his intentions to run for the 46th Senate seat, currently occupied by Sen. Neil Breslin of Bethlehem, a fellow Democrat.
Weiss suspects Breslin will choose against running for Senate again next year to instead run for the job of Rep. Mike McNulty, D-Green Island, who is stepping down from the 21st congressional district at the end of 2008.
Weiss is correctly assuming that several Democrats would have their eye on Breslin's Senate position if Breslin leaves to pursue the Washington post.
However, the difference between him and others: He's ready to primary Breslin if the incumbent seeks re-election.
Weiss is the president of New York Farmer's Wind Power LLC, a renewable energy development company. His credentials include organizing no-nukes and Earth Day events and helping found Greenpeace.
Emphasis added.
These paltry 138 words will be over a year old come Election Day. In that respect, Capital Confidential takes on an ironic new meaning, doesn't it?
David Weiss is running seriously as well. Having spoken with him and several candidates for office extensively, I can tell you there is no candidate for office in Albany County as passionate about progressive issues than David Weiss. That includes the candidates for Congress in the 21st. We won't get into too much detail here, but this much is true: Weiss is running against Breslin because he strongly believes him to a poor legislator and he's running on a wealth of experience.
The experience Weiss boasts is as follows, from his website:
He is president of New York Farmers' Wind Power, LLC, a 100% Community-owned Renewable Energy development company.
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In 1973, at 17, he co-founded The Ulster County Environmental Task Force to oppose and defeat the planned construction of four nuclear power reactors in Cementon, NY...This became the key reason that the largest proposed nuclear power park was permanently stopped.
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In 1975 David became one of the original members of Greenpeace, based then in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was instrumental in opening the first office in the U.S. in 1976.
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In 1986, he began work on media outreach with Randy Hayes at the newly founded Rainforest Action Network and helped the organization grow from 8,000 members to 45,000 in little less than two years.
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He founded the non-profit organization Rainforest International in 1995 to help keep the rainforest and other environmental issues in the media and before the public. Their current mission is to promote sustainable, community-based renewable energy projects and educate citizens about the benefits of C-BED legislation (Community Based Energy Development).
Not only is Weiss extremely well-known nationally with the environmental movement, he is also well known in national political circles. He quotes the famous Harvey Wasserman on his campaign literature:
"David is a dedicated, incorruptible advocate of the basic rights of all human beings to a decent life. He is totally committed to justice in all matters, and possessed of a ferocious devotion to getting things done fairly and right. He will make a great state senator."
You'd think that a candidate going around with that kind of support might be picked up by the media. But they've strangely ignored David Weiss's candidacy almost completely. Suddenly, charges of intimidation by the Breslin's are given more merit, and conspiracy theories become easier to concoct. Those can be a great hindrance to the public as they lose their trust in their largest media outlets.
These should, of course, be disproved easily. But it gets harder when we remember the name Mike Conners. His political activity against the Breslin clan has been widely covered; so why hasn't the press taken any interest in the David Weiss campaign taking up a similar call-to-arms?
Yesterday, the Times Union made it's first official acknowledgment of David's candidacy (not counting the recent listings of candidate's finances, where Weiss's numbers were listed as "unavailable" because the Board of Elections uses Windows-based computers and Weiss prefers Mac...for the record, he has over $13,000 cash on hand). David Weiss was forced to write a letter to the editor when the Times Union continued to refuse to name in an actual news story:
Communities should own wind power projects
Attorney General Cuomo is to be complimented for investigating questionable business practices of large-scale corporate wind power developers that are contradictory to the best economic interests of the state.
There is no doubt that wind power is one of the most crucial forms of new electric capacity for the future of New York state. When done right, it is clean, cheap, safe, reliable and brings tremendous employment opportunities.
However, to be truly productive, wind power must be owned by the communities in which the wind farms are sited. The model of large-scale, corporate-owned, centrally financed wind farming prevents the true benefits of wind power from being realized by the public.
Instead, new wind capacity should be built in concert with local communities taking the lead in financing and owning these projects. That way, the profits stay in the community, and control of the project rests with the public.
The possibility of corporate wrongdoing becomes a reality if only the large-scale corporate developer model takes control of this technology.
Therefore, it is essential that the attorney general do everything possible to investigate private corporations who are developing these wind farms. The success of the transition to a renewable energy economy depends on a financial balance sheet that is as clean as the technology itself.
This can also be achieved by innovative legislation such as C-BED (Community-Based Energy Development), 2-5 megawatt (Mw) net metering, and an open renewable portfolio standard, to name a few.
My proposal to create public/private partnerships for renewable energy started six years ago, long before I entered the state Senate race. Besides creating approximately 40 thousand jobs in the state, renewable energy projects - especially commercial wind and solar systems - can be set up in cooperation with government entities or public power providers like municipal- and community-owned utilities. The systems can actually produce revenue to defray the cost of government and public services, especially property taxes.
David Weiss
Medusa
The writer is Democratic candidate for state Senate, 46th District, Albany County
Gee...how nice of the Times Union to keep us informed!
THE STAKES
Thank the Maker for the independent local press and the blogosphere. Now that Soundpolitic is on the beat, there's finally a place to go for information. Check back soon for much more information about David Weiss, as a couple of independent local news-weeklies have once again demonstrated their vast superiority to the Hearst empire.
This makes this blogger very curious. The Times Union recently took on an "independent monitor" for their political coverage. I wasted no time in relaying my concerns to her.
I see a major void here. As an unaligned Democratic voter, I feel ashamed of my local media for not giving ample coverage to a primary in my Senate District when it has been providing requisite attention to several other primaries of local import. As a proclaimed supporter of one candidate whom I feel strongly is well qualified to represent me in the State Senate - David Weiss - I am dismayed and very curious as to why decisions are being made to keep the 46th Senate District out of the loop.
The stakes? They are as high as in any election, primary or general. So the public deserves to know who's going to be driving the stakes into the ground when we open our next Legislative session here in New York State.
Former House Speaker Tip O'Neil said "All politics is local." Many of us here in the independent citizen-advocacy realm of journalism know that very well, and tend to become more interested, and perhaps more passionate, when things get more and more local. I don't mind saying that local government is one of the first places to get started in implementing progressive change, since the Fed and State haven't been willing to.
So, for those voters in the 46th State Senate District in New York's Albany County...we have a primary. The incumbent is Neil Breslin; the challengers are Charlie Voelker and David Weiss.
And for those big corporate media outlets that make their home in SD-46?
HELLO!? WE HAVE A PRIMARY!
Save your fifty cents and turn off your TV. Check back here soon for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the Democratic Primary for State Senate in Albany County and vote on September 9th, 2008 between noon and nine. |
