With Governor Cuomo and the Assembly Democrats on board for an ostensibly non-partisan redistricting reform law, the fight is now in the State Senate. The Republican hypocrites, many of whom went on the record before the election in support of a non-partisan, anti-gerrymandering redistricting law are now blocking the law from debate in the Senate and using a pathetic delay tactic to say that they are trying to end gerrymandering with a constitutional amendment. That sounds great, but remember that a constitutional amendment needs to be passed in two consecutive legislative sessions and then put to a referendum, aka no change until the 2020 census. So this Saturday is the time to call out the Senate Republicans for their obvious delay tactics and breaking of a campaign promise:
This Saturday's event will be held in Nassau County, where New York State Senator Jack Martins, a Republican who ran as a "Hero of Reform" in support of non-partisan redistricting, has since gone back on his campaign promises. We'll be talking to his constituents and to local media about the Senator's pledge and about the importance of redistricting reform to democracy in New York State. Join us and make your voice heard!
As you may remember, Jack Martins barely defeated Craig Johnson in 2010, by only a few hundred votes. I bet at least a few hundred of the voters in his district took his campaign promises at his word and didn't expect them to be bald-faced lies. So this Saturday there is going to be a press event led by the New Roosevelt Institute and co-sponsored by several groups, including Act Now NY, (full disclosure: I am on the Organizing Committee for Act Now NY), who will help arrange transportation from NYC to Nassau this Saturday via buses from Madison Square Garden. You can RSVP at the link- hope to see you there and we can't let the Senate GOP get away with this!
Yesterday, it surfaced that the Republican candidate for Nassau Country Executive, Ed Mangano, had several federal state and local tax liens stemming from a business that he claimed "has nothing to do with me". Well, apparently, it does:
Jacobs released parts of a March 1998 partnership agreement for the printing firm listing Edward Mangano as a partner and secretary of the company who, with his brother, could cosign checks. The document specified that while the other partners would work full-time, Mangano, a county lawmaker from Bethpage, would serve part-time.
Jacobs also produced a 2008 form listing one tenant of the Bethpage building as the printing firm, with Edward Mangano as president.
Jacobs also released copies of Mangano's financial disclosure forms, which, through 2008, listed him as the company's "secretary."
Mangano is proving that not only is he another typical patronage and corrupt Long Island Republican, he's also a LIAR.
Kudos to Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi for calling local GOP operatives exactly what they are- thugs:
Here's Suozzi's take on the day: "They're yelling like an angry mob, which is how Republicans have acted over the past 50 years. They don't have any ideas. They yell and scream, and the big thing they yell and scream is 'No. No. No.''" On his Twitter, he added: "GOP sent out the thugs."
Suozzi also expanded on his searingly accurate account of the GOP, extrapolating from the national to the local levels:
"This was a perfect symbol of what's wrong with the Republican Party from the national level to the state level to the local level," Suozzi said. "We don't need yelling and screaming. All I ever hear is no, no, no. All President Barack Obama hears on a national level is no, no, no. It's the same thing on the state level. Someone in that party has to have ideas and trying to scream and intimidate new candidates won't work."
What actions drew this response from Suozzi? Apparently it was another example of continuing exodus of all non-brain-dead individuals from the Christian Nationalist Republican Party; Nassau Democrats were announcing that the former chair of the Nassau Young Republicans, Nina Petraro Bastardi, is now running for the Nassau Legislature as a Democrat. This defection caused the adolescent, extreme right-wing base of what's left of the Nassau GOP to resort to outright thuggery, including pushing Bastardi's mother, challenging Dave Mejias to a fistfight, interrupting the press conference, shouting that Bastardi is "dumb as a rock," a "bitch," saying she "won't even get the minority vote" and threatening to bring their "friends" to Suozzi's next meeting.
If you don't believe me, just watch this shocking video of these sexist, racist blathering lunatics:
(Add this to the "we're the only thing standing between you good people and the Big City interests in NYC" argument that got torpedoed last week with Mayor Mike's $500 large and apparently is only good for scaring people with. Actions speak louder than words. That one and the "Dems will rob our schools" are both BS arguments. This proves it. Again. - promoted by phillip anderson)
After last weeks dog and pony show rally in Farmingdale for more state aid (I will have a post about that later today), you would think that Fuschillo and the gang would want more money for Long Island schools.
