Second Breslin Challenger Finishes Listening Tour, Prepares to Launch Campaign
Most of the news of this developing primary challenge to Senate Assistant Majority Leader Neil Breslin has been out of the Luke Martland camp. Martland has mostly been hammering Senator Breslin left and right for the past couple months...
...but all along, as-yet-unsuccessful Albany politician Tim Carney has been running as well. In a news release yesterday, Carney announces that he's wrapped up a district-wide listening tour and is prepared to make a formal announcement that he's in the race on Monday. The full presser reads:
Tim Carney has completed his listening tour of all 19 municipalities in Albany County and the Albany County Legislature meeting's to listen to the people and the local elected officials to understand what the county is facing it these difficult economic times.
What he heard was not good at all, there are a lot of angry people in the county! One of the concerns that resonated throughout the county was, the trickle down of money from New York State to the County and then down to these municipalities is decreasing and the homeowners are going to pay the bill. Everyone is tightening the financial belts.
In his discussions with the people of Albany County, Mr. Carney heard, quite often, that we need a massive change in our New York State Government. That includes all of the current legislators.
The three major issues that were talked about were property tax reform, an Albany County owned nursing home and reform of state government.
This is why Tim will be making a formal announcement to his intentions for this year's race for New York State Senate on Monday May 10th. Tim has chosen to make this announcement at the Albany County Legislative Meeting because the 46th district covers all of Albany County from Cohoes to Rensselaerville.
Albany County Building - 112 State Street at 6:15 on Monday May 10th, 2010
Below the fold, Carney's introductory web-based videos that shouldn't be missed and a bit of analysis...
Attached to the press release are two YouTube videos the Carney campaign has produced, not to be outdone by fellow challenger Luke Martland's media center on his website. I can tell you they aren't as slick or polished as the videos produced by the Martland campaign (neither was the press release) but they do have a charm all their own, I promise you.
Carney has chosen to add some very recognizable background music for both videos. The first, set to the theme to 2001: A Space Oddysee, is a synopsis of all the dysfunction New York State has seen as far back as Spitzer's resignation featuring a creative play on the candidate's initials:
Carney's second video chronicles his listening tour. This time, instead of Alex North's film score, we get a number one hit from Brian Wilson and family:
I don't know about you, but both videos leave me at somewhat a loss for words. It is nice to see someone taking a more grassroots approach by visiting all county municipalities, yes. The current Senator rarely does so, and that's a serious point...
But I don't know about that Tea Party picture, and I have to admit the choice of soundtrack alone made things difficult to take seriously. I wonder what your thoughts are...
In any case, Carney has said he will make his announcement "surrounded by local elected officials" to unveil what he calls a "major initiative." This likely has something to do with a new addition to the issues page on his website where a graphic with the caption Eliminate School Taxes for ALL Residential Property Owners in New York State is now displayed most prominently. There are no details beyond that on the website now, but with Carney's background in real estate, I'm looking forward to a more fleshed out proposal at the announcement.
That's the candidate introduction, straight from the candidate himself. Stay tuned for Monday's post-announcement developments and press coverage wrap-up.
