I started writing here as a front-pager in October 2007. Phillip was a busy man at the time (as he is now) and had posted an entry that asked for "those with the keys" to post freely. I did not have keys, but had plenty to say, so I reached out to Phillip.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The connections I have built here at The Albany Project are endless. I have met scores of candidates, elected officials and important activists who have provided me with access and information. Most of all, I have made many friends here and know that those friendships will continue on.
Last month, I received a call from the Auburn Citizen. They had an opening for a newly created position: Online producer. I applied for it and after nearly a month, finally heard back. They were interested in talking to me further about the position. After that initial interview, I was brought in for a second interview. I had a strong interview, provided my references (one was Phillip) and was offered the job on December 1. I accepted.
I start December 21 (next Monday). My girlfriend and I found an apartment in Auburn and will be making the move next weekend. It is exciting and I am eager to get started on this new adventure and an opportunity to make a difference at a newspaper that is going against all the trends we have seen with local newspapers (and newspapers in general). They want a strong online presence and that is why they have brought me aboard.
You may have noticed that over the last several months, I have been contributing a minimal number of posts. The reason was a job hunt that was exhausting at times. I needed employment and I needed employment that fit what I am good at. I didn't want to work anymore so-called "odd" jobs. I wanted to make a difference and do something I loved.
So with my new employment, I will be very busy. I won't be able to post very often but I will be reading.
I just wanted to thank you for your friendship and readership over the last two years. A big reason why I got this job was my work with The Albany Project. So without this, I don't know where I would be today.
Being that this is a secular progressive blog, I would like to wish all of our readers, commenters and contributors a happy and peaceful holiday.
On a personal level, I want to thank everyone for their support this year. This year was a tough one for me. Losing my dad and all of the health troubles he went through from mid-June until his passing on Nov. 22 was tough and this community was behind me the whole way. My great thanks for the support you showed me and my family.
I will be back to blogging on December 26, but you will be hearing from me a time or two more today. I have some more stuff to write about before attending two Christmas Eve parties and then celebrating Christmas with my family.
My best to all of you. Enjoy your holiday. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
Some have asked how we will handle this logistically...
I'll be sitting next to the Governor and I'll ask him your questions and do my best to transcribe his answers...
This is the first time that the Governor has done this and we are pleased he is coming here to speak with us. Let's have a great turnout so he will be encouraged to visit often.
This will be short and sweet...with more details later.
The skinny...Governor David A. Paterson will be here on The Albany Project...live blogging...on October 8 from 4-4:30 PM to answer questions and take part in the conversation.
On a related note, the Paterson for NY web site is now live. Not to spill any beans, but one could consider this a 2010 campaign web site...because, it, well, is.
Please join me in welcoming NY-21 Democratic candidate Tracey Brooks to The Albany Project. This is our second live blog featuring candidates from NY-21. I welcome all candidates from NY-21 to The Albany Project to discuss this race and the issues affecting the people of the 21st congressional district.
I interviewed Brooks last month and I found her to be a very intelligent candidate who wants to win this seat. She is very passionate about the opportunity to represent the 21st congressional district.
For some background, here are a few of Brooks' stances that she expressed to me in my interview with her.
On health care:
Health care is a mess. A single-payer plan is not going to happen quickly. We need a universal system that provides choices for all Americans. I am supportive of many different ideas. It has to be done. Whether we are looking at quick fixes to make sure children have health insurance or making sure every returning vet has health care or opening up the congressional plan to all Americans. We need to make sure every person has health insurance in this country.
On gas prices:
For gas prices, I have a seven point plan. When we got into this war, one of the reasons was to keep prices down. Now, gas prices have doubled since last year. We can't have our seniors choosing between driving to a doctor's appointment and eating. This has crippled every industry.
This is the seven point plan Brooks referred to:
- End tax loopholes for oil companies
- Investment money into alternative energy
- Increase miles per gallon standards
- Higher CAFE standards
- End unnecessary price gouging
- Create federal/state energy plan (address congestion)
- Invest more in renewable energy businesses
As promised, I will join with members of The Albany Project community in welcoming David Sirota to TAP. David can be best summed up as a writer. This is his second book after debuting with Hostile Takeover in 2006. He also writes a weekly column that reaches 1.6 million readers in the western United States. He has his own blog and recently authored a piece for the New York Times Magazine.
The reason David is here though is to promote The Uprising. The book received advanced praise from Matt Taibbi and Naomi Klein, as well as Joe Trippi. It centers around the populist movements on the left and right, from the Working Families Party and the successes of the WFP in New York to the Minuteman Project operating in the southwestern United States. David's introduction is comedic, yet intelligent. It tells the story of the moment where he discovered that these movements, while on different sides of the spectrum, are interwoven along the lines of said populist revolt. The place was the first YearlyKos convention and he was in a drunken state. I will leave it at that.
I have made it through a good portion of the book and it will not disappoint. As a lover of books and an owner of Hostile Takeover, this is by far the better of the two. Sirota brings the progressive populist movement and the conservative populist movement together to explain the whole populist movement, its meaning and its many parts.
As a final reminder, David will be in New York City for several events. Here is the full rundown from my earlier posts on David's appearances.
Sirota's tour will see him visit New York City for a few different events. From 7 to 9 p.m. Friday (May 30) at The Riverside Church (490 Riverside Drive), David will be one of the panelists in a discussion entitled, The Underground Uprising: Alternate Routes to Social Justice in the 21st Century. Joining David will be Bertha Lewis from New York ACORN and Leslie Lowe of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.
After making a couple of stops in Pennsylvania, David will return to New York City on June 2 for a couple of events. First, at 6:30 p.m. David and Air America's Sam Seder will be at an event with Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century. That event will take place at Red Sky, located at 47 E. 29th Street.
Later in the day, Sirota will be a guest on Lizz Winstead's Shoot the Messenger from 9 to 10 p.m. The studio is at 45 Bleecker Street and if you want to attend the live show, you can get your tickets here.
Finally, David will wrap up his swing through New York City with another panel discussion from 7 to 8 p.m. June 3 at The Strand Bookstore. David will be joined by New York State Senator Eric Schneiderman, Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Cantor, Joel Barkin of the Progressive States Network and Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute. The Working Families Party, Progressive States and DMI are all sponsoring the panel discussion.
Let's have a great discussion and please join me in welcoming David to our community.
(I'm not putting this on the front page because I agree with every word. I don't. I do however value the input from a longtime resident of SD-3. I hope this encourages some conversation about this race. I just ask that you keep it civil, play nice and not let this devolve into yet another piefight. - promoted by phillip anderson)
I read with utter fascination my fellow progressive bloggers comments regarding the potential Democratic nominee for this Long Island District that has been my home for forty years. I have read some patently partisan posts by supporters of the Democratic nominee of the past two cycles who regrettably used our progressive blogs to launch a preemptive-strike at the NYS DSCC and one of our local Democratic Islip Town Councilman, Chris Bodkin. I also read with great interest Phillip Anderson's excellent post regarding a potential primary. Phillip, who I respect greatly provided a very reasoned and sobering view of a primary challenge.
Today. Right now. Rudolph Giuliani, ex-mayor of New York City, is raking in millions of dollars and mounting a campaign for the President of the United States by exploiting the tragedy of September 11 and the people who leapt to their death from the burning twin towers.
Mr. "As I watched those towers come down, I thought, 'Thank God George W. Bush is our President,'" Giuliani has been charging $100,000 a pop to retell the awful details of that clear fall day in 2001.
In these addresses -- for which he charges a reported $100,000 apiece -- Giuliani regularly speaks at length about his first-hand experiences during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
It took a few years for the national party apparatus on both the left and the right to take the "netroots" seriously. Now they have become their own electoral machine. What used to be dismissed as a nuisance has become a serious threat to the power of the satiated incumbency. That movement has now landed in New York. Will Silver and his ilk take it seriously? Maybe not now, said Keeler, but their eventual wake-up call might be too late. "I think that is changing," said Keeler of the "netroots" perception in New York, "and those who don't will find themselves regretting it, I'm sure."
Albany, you've been warned.
BTW, hat tip to Blue Tiger Group for all the support they are providing for TAP. Many thanks.
That's a question we pondered on Valentine's Day, and the answer may very well be a resounding, "Yes."
The Post Standard is reporting that Team Steamroller is in negotiations with ex-NFL player and Republican fund raiser, Tim Green, to switch parties and run for the Senate in the Syracuse area.
Former NFL player Tim Green said he will meet Friday with Gov. Eliot Spitzer's representatives, who are courting him to change parties and run as a Democrat in 2008 against Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse.
--snip--
"I admire the reform agenda the governor is putting forward. It coincides with the things I think need to be done to help this state get turned around. I definitely want to hear what they have to say," said Green, who played football for Syracuse University and the Atlanta Falcons before becoming a best-selling author and attorney.
Governor Eliot Spitzer has a secret plan to shrink Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver into obscurity. It starts with a Democratic takeover of the State Senate.
The first step, according to a senior official in the Spitzer administration, will be an attempt to compel vulnerable Republican Senators to defect to the Democratic minority by threatening them with well-funded opponents.
The "senior official" goes on to talk about the three pronged plan to pick off three Republican Senators:
- Offer a job to a Republican Senator thereby creating another special election
- Lure a Republican Senator into switching parties
- Demand retirement, or face a hugely funded opponent in 2008
The Governor's threats will ostensibly leave Senate Republicans with the following options: retire; pledge to support Democratic Minority Leader Malcolm Smith over Republican Majority Leader Joe Bruno; or, for at least one lucky defector, take a job-like former Senator Michael Balboni of Nassau did-with the administration.
We are lucky enough to have with us tonight, former NYS Senator, Seymour Lachman, author of the book, Three Men In A Room.
We'll begin our talk at 6:30 PM, but I'm encouraging everyone to take a peek at this video of part of an interview we shot with Sen. Lachman in mid-January.
(Just wanted to keep this conversation going. There are some great suggestions here. Please add. I'll have a draft of TAPRA soon and we'll get cracking. - promoted by NYBri)
No need to keep this a secret.
There's a project that is in the works, and since this is a community (one that seems to be growing quickly), let me toss this out for your consideration and input. Also, in light of yesterday's appauling demonstration of cronyism, the timing seems to be right.
We are in the process of creating The Albany Project Relform Agenda (TAPRA). The agenda itself will be dedicated to returning New York State Government to its rightful owners, the people.We will do this through the advocacy of specific measures that would lead to transparent and accountable government...you know, Democracy.
Once in place, we would then approach every legislator and ask them where they stand on the agenda and publish our findings.
Also, in the future, we will be looking for TAPRA candidates to support.
Our goal, of course, is to establish this agenda as a clear, specific package of issues that, when embraced by a majority of the members of the legislature, we can be assured that the rule of the Three Men In A Room will end.
Yet another gracious statement ( via Times Union Capital Connection) from the Senate Majority Leader. I bet these guys are thrilled to be working for Bruno right about now. He also had this to say about about Sen. Robach, "He's staying a Republican for the rest of this life"
Well, that just means we will have to win the Senate Majority by electing good, progressive, reform Democrats! Explanation on the flip:
Gov. Spitzer drew GOP fire last week when he told Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, "I'm a [expletive] steamroller, and I'll roll over you." Appearing at a fund-raiser for State Senate candidate Craig Johnson, Spitzer quipped, "It's amazing how quoting a little James Taylor can get you in trouble. [Taylor's 'Steamroller Blues'] is such nice, placid music." The Albany Project event raised $60,000.
This election is anything but overrated. This election is on the front lines of the battle between the status quo and reform.
Spitzer isn't the only one who doesn't think this is "small potatoes."
Early on, the Republicans dumped almost $700,000 into Maureen O'Connell's war chest, including $100,000 from Bruno's campaign committee. The Republican Party did what they always do...dump tons of cash from their special interests with very deep pockets into the race and send out incredibly toxic mailings to scare and intimidate people...all to protect business as usual.
Eliot Spitzer has rallied his party behind the reform agenda 70% of the voters in New York want him to implement.
Here's video of new NY state Democratic party co-chair Dave Pollak addressing the crowd at Thursday's blograiser for Craig Johnson. When Dave was named the new co-chair a month or so ago, it was seen by many of us in the net/grassroots as something of a nod in our direction. I immediately believed that his taking the job could lead to something really positive somewhere down the road, that maybe the state party would one day cease ignoring this movement. I had no idea that this move would start paying dividends so quickly. The man has hit the ground running, and while there is still much, much work to be done, I think he's off to a fabulous start. The future of the relationship between the state party and the activists that so often felt alienated by the whole party culture appears so much brighter than it did just a few weeks ago. I give Dave a great deal of credit for that.
The first is that the good folks at BlogPac are moving forward with the formation of the 50 State Blog Network. This has been long overdue and the time is certainly ripe for networking all the new state level sites. We talk all the time about building a progressive infrastructure. Well, this what that looks like.
The second announcement is that BlogPac today announced grants for a dozen state level sites to pay for their server/hosting fees. The grants are modest ($180 bucks) but the money isn't what is significant to me. The very fact that an organization like BlogPac exists and is willing to put their money where their mouths are and support the emerging state blog movement is.
I am beyond happy to announce that TAP has been chosen to receive one of these grants. We're in pretty amazing company, too.
BlogPac has made some big announcements recently. This past weekend, we brought on Mike Stark as our new director of activism. Last week, Lane Hudson was the recipient of our first Citizen's Hero award, and quite a few more of those are to come. Over the past three weeks, we have told you that BlogPac is working on a project to bring community blogging to every state in the country (see here, here and here). Specifically, one of the things that meant was paying for the website hosting costs of 50 local, community blogs, which would help alleviate the burden on some of most our essential, local, progressive activists. Today, I am happy to announce that you have put together the resources to make it happen, and we can announce the first group of bloggers who about to receive your support:
That is a pretty impressive list of some of the best local blogs in the country. They all are a vital part of the emerging progressive media landscape, and help to build local activist scenes. Thanks to you, all of them will now find it a little easier to keep operating in the future.
It is truly humbling to be included with such company. I mean, this little endeavor of ours is barely two months old, after all. I want to thank all the folks at BlogPac for thinking of us and I also wish to thank everyone here in this amazing community that is coalescing here at TAP. We've got something truly special happening here and this grant is a recognition of everyone's efforts.
Just wanted to welcome everyone to this project. This is part of an ongoing effort to keep the New York State Legislature accountable as well as uncover the complete chaos that is our state government. There is some great work being done here, so sign up, do some reading and jump into The Albany Project community.
I also wanted to take a quick moment to thank our main man on this effort. Pictured on the right, lipris has done an amazing job getting this together. His dedication to the Keeler2006 campaign was complete and I couldn't be more grateful.
In the words of Tom Ball, "You Rock, my man!"
This diary is here for you to say hello, ask some questions and to hail the mighty lipris.
I 
As promised, I will join with members of The Albany Project community in welcoming David Sirota to TAP. David can be best summed up as a writer. This is his second book after debuting with 
Just wanted to welcome everyone to this project. This is part of an ongoing effort to keep the New York State Legislature accountable as well as uncover the complete chaos that is our state government. There is some great work being done here, so sign up, do some reading and jump into The Albany Project community.
