NY-Sen: The GOP's rich white knight has some splainin' to do

by: devtob

Fri Jan 06, 2012 at 23:34:32 PM EST

And time for that search is running short.

State GOP chairman Ed Cox, Nixon son-in-law and legacy 1-percenter, told county chairmen this week that Gillibrand is toast because he had "at least two highly qualified candidates" interested in a Senate challenge (obviously not including the only announced candidate so far, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos).

One of those is Marc Cenedella, the CEO of job-search firm TheLadders.com whose potential candidacy was first signaled in the Murdoch money-pit New York Post a month ago.

Cenedella arranged for this story today on CapitalNewYork.com, which has some interesting details, like Cenedella's contributions to Ron Paul and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and his current position on the leadership council (i.e., major donors) of the Club for Growth, which is dedicated to reducing taxes on the wealthy and repealing New Deal and Great Society social programs.

OK, Cenedella is a rich wingnut, lots of those running for office these days.

But the business that made him a 1-percenter, a job-search website that until very recently promised access to $100K-plus jobs for a price, is not squeaky clean.

I typed theladders into the Google today, and one of the suggested drop-down links is theladders scam.

I wondered what was there.

More, below.

NY-SEN: Gillibrand hits record high approval rating. Yes, again.

by: Adama D. Brown

Wed Feb 23, 2011 at 19:37:19 PM EST

The newest Quinnipiac poll out today shows Senator Kirsten Gillibrand with another record high: approval at 54%, disapproval at 20%. This is a six point rise in approval and a one point drop in disapproval since last month, drawing Qpac more or less even with the numbers coming out of Siena a couple weeks ago. In comparison, Chuck Schumer gets 60% approval and 26% disapproval in the same poll, an identical point spread.

Meanwhile, there's still the question of who the Republicans will put up against Gillibrand in next year's election, when she runs for her first full six-year term as Senator. And after Gillibrand won 56 of New York's 62 counties before her recent rise, and without the boon of running in a presidential election year...

Does anyone else here remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? The scene near the end, in the temple, when the bad guys are standing around deciding which of their nameless expendable underlings they're going to order to walk into the giant whirling blade of decapitation?

Yeah, I'm getting that image right now.  

NY-Sen: Serial liar Betsy McCaughey tests the waters

by: devtob

Sun Feb 13, 2011 at 15:57:44 PM EST

So it is remarkable that Betsy McCaughey, a renowned serial liar, is seriously considering a challenge to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand next year.

This month, McCaughey has been stumping at the state Conservative Party's conference and at CPAC, retelling her health care reform lies to credulous Obama-haters and basking in their applause.

After the state event, she was asked if she will challenge Gillibrand:

McCaughey, who seemed happy to be asked the question, said, "I would consider it."

McCaughey either changed her mind in two weeks, or has lied again -- so hard to tell with a serial liar.

Details, plus a telling Page 6 story, below.

NY-Sen: Poll finds Gillibrand's approval sharply higher

by: devtob

Sat Jan 29, 2011 at 16:35:31 PM EST

Since she was appointed in January 2009, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's approval ratings in the Marist College poll have never exceeded her disapproval ratings.

Until this month.

The poll conducted last week found 49 percent of respondents rating the job Gillibrand is doing as excellent/good, with 39 percent going with fair/poor.

The last poll Marist did about Gillibrand, the week before her easy election last November, found excellent/good at 36, and fair/poor at 48. That was the highest approval number in the Marist poll ever, before now.

More, below.  

Statewide Day of Action - Be There

by: Michael Bouldin

Sat Oct 23, 2010 at 08:41:02 AM EDT

NY Dems:

Gillibrand, Schneiderman, DiNapoli, & Jacobs to lead rallies in Manhattan, Nassau County, and Westchester County
This Saturday at 11 am Democrats will be holding a massive statewide day of action to build energy and spread the Democratic message.

Dubbed "Mobilizing for Victory," Democrats will hold simultaneous rallies in Manhattan, Westchester County, Nassau County, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Suffolk County, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo - followed by a coordinated canvassing operation to reach out to everyday New Yorkers on behalf of the entire Democratic ticket.  

The show of force comes as the Democratic coordinated campaign ramps up its efforts going into the all-important final stretch.  Since kicking off just three weeks ago, the Democratic Coordinated Campaign has already set up shop with 13 regional field offices, knocked on close to 200,000 doors, and called well over 100,000 voters.  

Check the link for a list of locations and get out there.

Vogue: 'In Hillary's footsteps'

by: Michael Bouldin

Wed Oct 20, 2010 at 09:48:31 AM EDT

Really, how does she do it? Here's Kirsten Gillibrand, fresh off stomping Harold Ford, currently eating fake CPA Joe DioGuardi for breakfast in the New York Senate race, and she still has time to do her job, raise boatloads of cash, campaign across the state, and impress the jaded hedonists at Vogue.

As the crowd files out of the barn, I express admiration to one of the senator's aides for his boss's ability to charm a roomful of Republicans, and he says, "She can do the same thing on derivatives, comfortably rapping about financial markets. She walks into these huge churches in Brooklyn and Queens and starts talking about the asthma rates and the environmental-justice movement. It's just her comfort level with so many subjects." This reminds me of something Tina Brown, the editor in chief of The Daily Beast, told me: "People underestimate how smart Senator Gillibrand is. I hosted a dinner for her to meet a number of CEOs and media figures, and in conversation she was brilliant in her analysis of the economic meltdown. And she is an amazing fund-raiser . . . an unstoppable machine when she works the room."

I'm not a big fan of David Paterson, walking embodiment that he is of why New Yorkers hold our state government in contempt. But if he's treated more kindly by history than he perhaps deserves, it will be because his choice to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat was nothing short of inspired.

[Update]: Devtob suggests, and I agree, that folks really should read the whole Vogue piece. So here you go.

Gillibrand in front of the U.S. Capitol. Michael Kors coat and dress. Miriam Haskell earrings.
Sittings Editor: Alexandra Kotur.
Photographed by Norman Jean Roy, Image © by Vogue

NY-Sen: Gillibrand rebounds in the polls

by: devtob

Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 08:42:04 AM EDT

Other contemporary polls (by Siena and Marist) disagreed, showing Gillibrand with double-digit leads.

SUSA and Quinnipiac came out with new polls this week, joining the consensus that Gillibrand is 20-or-so ahead of DioGuardi, who remains largely unknown, and has been, for good reason, out of office for more than 20 years.

Details about the new polls, and DioGuardi, below.

Teabagger Tax Cheat

by: Michael Bouldin

Tue Oct 05, 2010 at 14:30:31 PM EDT

teabagger [noun], [definition]

A whining fool shouting loudly for liberty but not willing to pay the bill.

- Urban Dictionary

The New York Senate race was a lot more fun when we still had Harold Ford to kick around. Today, unfortunately, we have to make do with reactionary dick Joe DioGuardi, going up against Netroots All-Star Kirsten Gillibrand.

But as it turns out, republic/tea party candidate Joe has a lot of potential for would-be mockers. Like all of his ilk, Joe is a big tax-cutter. What we're learning now is that he made his own tax cut by simply not paying them.

Regrettably, the Internal Revenue Service doesn't really like that.

NY-Sen: Gillibrand and the post-primary polls

by: devtob

Thu Sep 30, 2010 at 19:27:59 PM EDT

Though DioGuardi is largely unknown, and has been out of office for 20 years, the first two polls out showed that he was within single digits of Gillibrand -- SUSA had it 44-43, and Quinnipiac had it 48-42.

While the Murdoch NY Post, their GOP confederates, and DioGuardi loved those polls, subsequent polls from Siena and Marist found double-digit margins -- up by 24 in the Siena poll of registered voters, and by 11 in the Marist poll of likely voters.

What these numbers probably mean, below.

DioGuardi channels Palin on choice

by: Michael Bouldin

Wed Sep 29, 2010 at 17:35:29 PM EDT

This because one of the candidates has a significant problem with the right of women, as determined by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade and simple common sense, to determine whether or not to carry even a life-threatening pregnancy to term.

Needless to say, the candidate in question is a tea partier (and lobbyist, but that's gravy), former Representative Joe DioGuardi. Murdoch rag The New York Post:

Joe DioGuardi, a committed conservative with a fine record in Congress, offers an alternative that voters will find attractive. He's hampered by limited name recognition, likely still in the mid 30s.

What the Post leaves out, presumably because they know they're a deal-breaker in blue New York, are DioGuardi's troglodyte views on abortion rights even in cases of rape and incest.

(Original @ Daily Kos)

Gillibrand strikes

by: Michael Bouldin

Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 14:59:29 PM EDT

When you hear that sound, odds are that Kirsten Gillibrand has just felled another opponent. That's become as regular as the tides or barbecue on Labor Day.

She's been aided in that spotless record by the obvious fact that supposed political giants have all turned out to be pygmies. I'm thinking most fondly of Harold "Smelly Feet" Ford, Jr. His implosion, prodded in large part by the LGBT community and the blogosphere - including, with modesty, yours truly - was one for the ages.

Now comes the second round, the general. There's still a primary, next Tuesday, in which the Senator faces an by all accounts amiable, but largely unknown, opponent.

Gillibrand's first strike against her republican  tea party opponents - it's unclear who's going to get the kiss of death - is a devastating web ad. You can see that in all its ass-kicking glory over the fold.

NY-SEN: Forty-second verse, same as the first...

by: Adama D. Brown

Wed Jul 21, 2010 at 03:44:18 AM EDT

The inescapable feeling that I get from looking at Ms. Goode's record so far, and her website, is that this is a challenge based on a platform of, as BuffaloPundit puts it, "I'm not that northern woman."

Nearly all her campaign site holds is Gillibrand-bashing of the same tired and debunked sort already seen out of every other challenger from both parties; the only things that Ms. Goode has to say about her own stances are that she's for marriage equality, expanding the mass transit system, and more anti-terrorism money for New York. Reading it, I have to wonder not just if she's ever set foot north of Rockland County, but if she even knows there is anything north of Rockland County.

Goode hasn't yet provided a financial disclosure filing to the FEC, meaning that she hasn't been fundraising. So she would have to overcome the just over $6 million dollars that the Gillibrand campaign currently holds as cash-on-hand, from a standing start, with no name recognition.

Allow me to correct myself: "I'm not that northern woman," with a good dose of "dead on arrival."

Interestingly, she cites Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's comments about New Yorkers deciding on the race, apparently blind to the irony that Stringer himself pulled out of challenging Gillibrand and gave her his enthusiastic endorsement, one which debunked most of the talking points on Ms. Goode's website.

Then there's the just plain head scratchers.

As a Bronx Assistant DA, Goode examined the bodies of gun shot victims and witnessed first hand the terrible results caused by a lack of background checks on illegal guns.

In any event, good luck with your campaign. I don't mean that snidely, even though I support Senator Gillibrand. I'm quite confident enough that you're an utter non-threat that I'm happy to be jovial.  

NY-Sen: NYT promotes Bloomberg's GF, for 2012

by: devtob

Fri Jun 04, 2010 at 21:48:50 PM EDT

Despite the best efforts of the richest and most politically powerful person in the city and the silver-spoon publisher of the nation's most important newspaper, no Democrat is challenging Gillibrand in the primary, and the three Republican/Conservative challengers are third-rate nobodies who cannot win in November.

But oligarchs never give up wanting more power and/or revenge, as is clear from a Bloomberg/Sulzberger story in the Times today, about what a wonderful Senate candidate Bloomberg's girlfriend Diana Taylor would be against Gillibrand in 2012.    

Details, below.

NY-Sen: Gillibrand's best poll yet

by: devtob

Tue May 25, 2010 at 17:55:52 PM EDT

Her favorability number is 42, up from 34 in April.

Gillibrand's solid voting record, plus her leadership on issues like DADT and children's health and safety, is impressing more New Yorkers every month.

More numbers, below.

Pataki Takes A Pass On Challenging Gillibrand

by: phillip anderson

Tue Apr 13, 2010 at 20:14:19 PM EDT

Pataki Declines to Join New York Senate Race

Former New York Republican Gov. George E. Pataki has decided not to mount an election challenge against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand this fall.

Instead, he said in an interview Tuesday that he would create a new national organization aimed at building support to repeal the recently enacted health-care overhaul.

Mr. Pataki's decision to bypass the Senate race marks another major coup for Ms. Gillibrand, who has been enormously successful in knocking out competition on both sides of the aisle despite appearing to be vulnerable politically.

It seems that ol' Georgie still has presidential ambitions (for reals) and that he, the very dictionary definition of middle of the road northeast Republican, plans to try harness the teabagger wave of stoopid all the way to DC.

Best of luck with that, Georgie.

That said, it looks as if the GOP's last best hope of mounting a credible challenge to Gillibrand just decided better of that idea.

Oh, and can we finally dispose of the idea that Senator Gillibrand is "vulnerable politically?" If she truly is, her potential opponents, both Democratic and Republican, have a damn funny way of showing it.

Try To Act Surprised: Dan Senor Is Out

by: phillip anderson

Wed Mar 24, 2010 at 13:12:07 PM EDT

Senor Won't Run Against Gillibrand

In a sudden about-face, Dan Senor, who has been putting the pieces in place for a campaign against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, has just become the latest Republican to take a pass on challenging the Democratic junior senator.

Senor cited his family (his run would likely complicate things for his wife, CNN's Campbell Brown) and "business life" as the driving factors behind his decision.

His decision is a surprise, however. He was at the Monday Meeting just three days ago. There were reports that state GOP leaders wanted him to reconsider and challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer instead of Gillibrand - a move in which he showed no interest.

In recent weeks, Senor has been talking to New York and Washington, D.C consultants about a likely campaign and sources insisted he would announce this week - perhaps as early as today.

OK. Anyone else? Last Call!

NY-Sen: Ford's loss is a win for reformers.

by: Adama D. Brown

Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 21:07:03 PM EST

But Ford's timely demise isn't just a win for Senator Gillibrand, or liberals, or the netroots. It is, in fact, a win for the fledgling pro-reform movement in New York State politics.

New York politics operate on money. That's no secret, and it's not exactly different from politics anywhere else. But New York's almost total lack of campaign finance laws on the state level allow a disturbing amount of power to be wielded by a relatively small number of people who have money to burn.

Billionaire coup architect Tom Golisano is a perfect example. Golisano spent a lot of money in 2008 supporting candidates he liked. Some of them were good candidates, and good people. But when Malcolm Smith wasn't deferential enough, Golisano used his power to try and overthrow the state government.

Another example is Mike Bloomberg, the man who personified the corrosive force of money in American politics when, faced with a voter-approved limit on his term of office, simply bought all the votes he needed to stay in power.

Here's where Ford comes in. Make no mistake about it, Ford's base of support (such as it was, consisting mostly of the upper east side of Manhattan, but only above the 30th floor) was centered in and around the same kind of big money contributors who own and operate much of the dirtier side of the New York state legislature.

One of the ringleaders of this behavior (and one of Ford's major backers) is Mike Bloomberg.  Another is Steve Pigeon, the "Democrat" whose most undemocratic ideas and total lack of anything resembling the human emotion of shame landed him the seat as the man behind the curtain to Pedro Espada, and the operator of the massively corrupt Independence Party.

The power that Pigeon and those like him wield is, without a doubt, the biggest single opponent to fixing what's broken in New York State government. Why? Because the privileged power brokers like the concentration of control into their own hands.

What kind of power? The power to direct state money, yes. To bend and break laws, sure. To lie, cheat, steal, and get away with it. But moreover, it's just about raw power. The power to bring the state government screeching to a halt because Malcolm Smith checked his Blackberry during a meeting with you. The power to push elections one way or the other. The power to take home a seven figure salary without paying the taxes that the plebes have to.

In a system with no campaign finance laws, no term limits, and no demand by the people that the legislature do the public business or else, power has collected around the lowest common denominator--the people most shameless in their exploitation of that broken system to reward corruption and punish underdogs.

Call it whatever you want--the center, big business, the DLC, corruption--Ford's candidacy represented a money-first view of politics, that the guys on Wall Street mattered more than what was right for New York State as a whole. And New Yorkers rejected that: in the polls, in contributions, in their participation online and across the state.

Because of that, a strong ally of reform, populism, and a fighter for New York State has sent Ford packing. Now it's time to do the same for our legislature, and get this great state back on track.  

Ford helicopters away

by: Michael Bouldin

Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 19:39:51 PM EST

Tennessee transplant and former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. has decided not to challenge unelected incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand for her US Senate seat, sources said tonight.

"I heard from Harold Ford and he has decided not to run," said Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Kings County Democratic chairman who had strongly indicated a willingness to back Ford.

"After giving it considerable thought and talking it over with his wife, he reached the conclusion that he would not be running, although he said he would like to remain active in the Democratic Party here," Lopez continued.

And just when we were starting to have fun.

NY-Sen: Ford's salary at least $2 million dollars a year, plus bonuses.

by: Adama D. Brown

Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 01:41:41 AM EST

In response, Mr. Ford has said that he supports a system of pay in high finance that rewards profits and punishes poor returns. "I believe that people take risk, and there are rewards if they do well; they should lose if they don't," he said in an interview several weeks ago.

As a vice chairman at Merrill Lynch, however, Mr. Ford benefited from an unusual arrangement that paid him generously regardless of how he and his firm perform. In 2007, he began working at the firm under a contract that guaranteed him annual compensation of at least $2 million, according to two people with direct knowledge of the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreement is confidential. With a bonus, his pay could well exceed that figure.

His guaranteed pay was twice that of the Merrill Lynch chief executive who hired him, E. Stanley O'Neal. Mr. O'Neal's contract assured him a base salary of $700,000, with the rest of his compensation not guaranteed, and paid out only as a bonus, records show. In some years that bonus was quite large. In 2006, for example, Mr. O'Neal's bonus was $18.5 million in cash and nearly $27 million in restricted stock, according to Equilar, a compensation-research firm.

Boy, it must be nice to get a job you're unqualified for, and where you don't appear to need to actually DO anything, in exchange for $2 million dollars a year and God knows how much for a bonus.

I wonder how many New Yorkers, put out of a job by the financial meltdown created by Harold Ford and his employer, and made possible by the policies of unregulated greed and theft that Harold Ford supports, would love to have even one one-hundredth of the deal that Ford has--even just to have a stable job where they could ply their talents in exchange for a fair rate of pay, without the obscene wealth and sense of entitlement Ford and his Wall Street buddies display.

I don't have to wonder too hard--I'm one of those people whose last job was killed by Ford-style economics.  

Some questions for Harold Ford, Jr.

by: Michael Bouldin

Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 14:21:19 PM EST

welcome to New York. Make yourself comfortable. Have a bagel.

Okay, now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, I have a few questions for you. It appears you're considering running for the Senate from my state, and you know what that means? It means that you answer to people like me, voters, bloggers, that kind of grubby folk. And it appears you're speaking tonight to the Stonewall Democrats, the largest LGBT political club in the state.

So let's get started. I do have some questions.