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SD-46: Martland Holds Sen. "Pay to Play" Breslin to Account

by: Soundpolitic

Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 12:45:58 PM EDT

There's been quite a lot of talk here on The Albany Project this week about the Democratic "pay to play" fundraising scandal. I believe we are upset for good reasons, all of which are expressed in the linked-to diaries.

But we're just bloggers. We aren't the ones running for office. What we should be looking for is condemnation from these Senators primary challengers. Something like what SD-46 primary candidate Luke Martland has just released to the press today:

Martland Blasts Breslin, Senate Leaders on Pay to Play Scheme
(Albany) - State Senate candidate Luke Martland today blasted State Senator Neil Breslin (D-46th) and State Senate leaders for soliciting $50,000 payments from labor leaders and $25,000 payments from business leaders to join an "advisory council" and participate in "policy discussions."
"Neil Breslin is assistant majority leader in the State Senate. He is a part of the Senate Leadership team. Why isn't he standing up and saying no to this type of pay to play corruption," said Martland.
"I think people have a right to know if Neil Breslin knew about these solicitations, did he approve these solicitations or did he just stand by and let these solicitations go out?" questions Martland.
"Ordinary people don't have $50,000 to give to the State Senate so their voices can be heard," added Martland. "This is politics as usual in Albany and that's why we need new leadership in the State Senate."
"Until we clean up Albany and clean out the professional politicians who think it's fair to sell access, the State Senate will never do what's right for average New Yorkers. Only then will the Senate stop being for sale and start making the tough decisions to get New York back on track, lowering taxes and fixing the problems that years of corruption, borrowing and wasteful spending have created," added Martland.
Luke Martland's stands on issues can be found at www.lukemartlandsenate.com.
Emphasis mine - SP

Sound political analysis below the fold that any Democrat and any blogger should understand...

Soundpolitic :: SD-46: Martland Holds Sen. "Pay to Play" Breslin to Account

One of today's diaries linked to above suggests that RebootNY might be a good vehicle to get rid of this kind of thing and elect "more and better" Democrats like Luke Martland. They are asking for your help with the upcoming elections in November.

The analogy, I'm guessing, is that the New York State Senate is similar to a computer, and that this kind of money-grubbing is akin to a virus, so the analogy seems like it means the General Election will be like a "reboot" to the whole system.

But we bloggers should know a little about the way PCs and laptops work...

...so we should be the ones who understand that if you just restart a machine with a self-replicating virus on it, you've only just allowed the virus to reboot itself.

So instead of just "rebooting" our government in November, why not check out some primary challengers like Luke Martland and Tim Carney running against entrenched "pay to play" Democrats like Breslin?

In other words, why not run some anti-virus software in September?

I think last cycle's primary challenger, David Weiss said it best after he lost his challenge against Sen. Breslin...the first primary challenge Breslin ever faced since being elected because he has the same name as the County Executive and County Judge in the same exact voting district, Albany County, in 1995. David Weiss pointed out something that should be very obvious to us Democrats as we seek to change this poor excuse of a Senate while still keeping a Democratic majority:

SEPTEMBER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN NOVEMBER.

Sage advice, says I.

But will we follow it when deciding who to support this primary season?

That's the big one we must ask ourselves if there's ever going to be any real change.

Tags: Albany County, 2010 Primaries, pay to play, DSCC, Luke Martland, Neil Breslin, SD-46, (All Tags)

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SD-46: Martland Holds Sen. "Pay to Play" Breslin to Account | 5 comments

Tip Jar & Cross Post (4.00 / 1)

Tips for reasonable diagnostics to an infected system.

Cross-posted on Soundpolitic.

by: Soundpolitic @ Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 16:55:31 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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This is good. (4.00 / 1)

I see no reason whatsoever to hold Democrats to a lower standard than republicans. That's not what the netroots are about. We are not some hack party committee offering the political version of smile and nod.

Hint: if some of your strongest partisans are up in arms about your crap, it may well be that it is, indeed, crap.

Good luck and godspeed to Mr. Martland. Keep us posted, plz.

by: Michael Bouldin @ Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 23:26:53 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Will keep you posted (0.00 / 0)

I recently had informal initial meetings with both primary candidates. Both were off-the-record introductions so that I knew where they were coming from and so they knew where I am coming from.

In other words, I will NOT proclaim support for either challenger, Mr. Martland or Mr. Carney, until shortly before Primary Day. But I reassured them both as I will reassure you:

Any press release I get sent will get posted. This is how we fight the brainless (and sometimes culpative) coverage in the mainstream media. I will provide analysis, yes, but only insofar as it helps defeat Senator Breslin.

Because while I won't declare which of his challengers I support until they prove to me which one is worth voting for, I think it's pretty clear that Breslin needs to go.

That, by the way, is NOT an opinion.

Oh, and if anyone in Breslin's office is reading this (you told me on the phone recently that you pay "very close attention to The Albany Project.") then be it known that if Mr. Breslin's communications director wishes to e-mail me any press releases, I'll post those in full as well.

I gave you my e-mail...still waiting!

by: Soundpolitic @ Sat Mar 27, 2010 at 00:04:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Seriously? Of all the Senators? (0.00 / 0)

You're going to target Neil Breslin? The same Senator who was most outspoken about the gridlock in Albany, and in fact called Pedro Espada (a fellow Democrat) a CROOK.

Sometimes I wonder if the "progressive" movement around me (note: I support mostly progressive Democrats) is really more just as ignorantly anti-incumbent as the tea-baggers.

Senator Breslin supported Congressman Tonko (possibly the most progressive and "for the people" Member of Congress) before it was fashionable to do so. I've never seen Luke Martland (or Tim Carney) at my neighborhood association meeting. I've seen Tim at a few meetings of local interest, particularly around election time. BUT, I see Neil at most every major event of public interest that I am at.

I see the Senator and his staff active in helping to get good Democrats elected, and was proud to make calls along-side them to help get Senator Peralta elected to office. Where were Luke Martland and Tim Carney? Out stumping for themselves and trash-talking an honorable fellow Democrat.

Don't hate those in power just for the sake of hating those in power. Of all the issues facing the NYS Government right now, the most minuscule is this "pay-to-play scandal" which nobody seems to care about in the grand scheme of multi-billion dollar budget deficits and gridlocked government.

Get out there and take down some Republicans, or DINO's like Pedro Espada, and leave the legislating to talented policy-makers like Senator Breslin - not perennial candidates like Tim Carney and what's his name? Yeah...

by: PineHillsResident @ Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 13:18:02 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Yes, seriously. (0.00 / 0)

I'm afraid I must disagree.

First because of your confrontational and disrespectful demeanor. Not only do you use the ugly "teabagger" word, but you associate it with those of who who'd like to see change in government, starting with all of our representatives. This is very short sighted and I have compassion for you if your initial reaction is to be like that.

Second, I really don't care who supported who in what race. Neither does a majority of the electorate; I believe the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" politics doesn't really do much for the people.

On the whole "trash talking" thing, I think you have once again fallen down the hole of incivility. Just because primary opponents want to point out how they would conduct business differently by pointing out the way the incumbent is acting, that does not amount to "trash talking." This is an unconstructive gut-level reaction very much akin to calling people names like "teabagger."

And I don't hate Sen. Breslin. I simply dislike him. You have read too far into this, it seems, and internalized it, and acted out in anger. Hence, the anger-laden language.

I'm sorry you disagree, but we must refrain from disagreeing so vehemently. I believe that Sen. Breslin's ship has sailed; I believe that he's taken too much money from the insurance industry while serving as Chairman of the Insurance Committeee; I believe it's no good to have one county with three brothers in control of three branches of grovernment. I believe it's time for fresh blood and seek out new names.

By the way, this presser was about Luke Martland. You were able to type it in the body of your comment, but at the end, you write him off as "what's his name?" This is biased inconsistency, and is disrespectful of the candidate.

I would advise you to remain open-minded on the matter and perhaps learn a little bit about Sen. Breslin's challengers before writing them off or calling me names. We can have a much better discussion if that's the way things go.

Ball in your court.

by: Soundpolitic @ Tue Mar 30, 2010 at 21:50:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]