Sharron Angle Says People Are "Spoiled" By Unemployment

Anyone who has spent some time speaking to people who have lost their job realizes that there are not only financial consequences, but some emotional ones as well. Whether you love your job or not, people don't want to sit around doing nothing -- they want to contribute to their family and community in a positive manner. Apparently, there are some folks who simply haven't taken the time to actually talk to people in their communities and are therefore buying into the rhetoric of the Republican Party and its Tea Party base.

A clear example of this can be seen an interview Sharron Angle (the Republican candidate for US Senate from Nevada) recently gave. When she was asked to clarify earlier remarks about how people on unemployment are "spoiled," Angle claimed that there are plenty of jobs to be found and that unemployment simply discourages people from rejoining the workforce.



I don't know about you, but I don't think anyone who so out of touch with reality deserves to be in the US Senate. Her statements clearly show that Angle doesn't understand we're still recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Plus, she's clearly also willing to blame the poor for our bad economy instead of the corporate greed that played such a large role in the economic turbulence our country is going through. Unfortunately, the current movement within the Republican Party has created a situation where we have candidates with such poor leadership skills in a position to potentially become a Member of Congress.

Mayoral Control Hearing on Friday at Rochester City Hall

When Bob Duffy was selected as Cuomo’s running mate, the word on the street was that mayoral control was essentially dead. It appears as though there is now some deal making going on as Malcom Smith has introduced the bill in the state senate and the rumor wheel in Albany is suggesting that if Duffy can get the votes using his new status, then bill will make it’s way to the floor. The interesting part of this is that it’s very unlikely that he’ll get enough votes from the Democratic caucus, so Duffy would have to reach out to some Republicans in order to get the votes for the bill.

The problem for Duffy here is that so many of the people from across the state will be looking at what local Rochester residents want for mayoral control. When you combine the fact that polling I’ve seen suggests that most Rochester residents oppose the bill and with the fact Sen. Joe Robach and James Alesi appear to be at least leaning against, it could be hard to get enough votes in the Senate. There will be a hearing in Rochester tomorrow, however, that advocates for mayoral control could attempt to use to rally up some support for the bill.

With that in mind, it’s incredibly important for folks to come to the public hearing at Rochester’s City Hall tomorrow. The meeting will start at 10am and will be held in the Council Chambers (room 302). If you want to speak out against mayoral control, you can sign up to speak at the hearing by following this link. Even if you don’t want to speak or just want to learn a little more about the debate, this is a great opportunity to come out and engage your elected officials.

I hope to see everyone there and will be providing some updates after the hearing afterwards.

Brockport Residents Stand Up For High Quality of Life

With the Tea Party activists getting a fair amount of press coverage across the country, it shouldn’t be too surprising that right here in Western New York there are some folks who might be willing to sacrifice services and a high quality of life in order to get a relatively small tax cut. It was through using the promise of small tax cuts and some of the anti-government rhetoric used by the Tea Party, after all, that the Brockport Taxcutters were able to get some momentum towards their efforts to dissolve the village. Fortunately, Brockport’s residents didn’t buy into their arguments and voted against the resolution to dissolve the village government yesterday by a margin of 911 to 645.

After the results were announced, I spoke with several of the activists from both sides of the campaign and the message was clear. They want the village to address some of the financial woes it’s been facing, but they clearly understand that “we’re in tough financial times” and that “communities across the country are facing similar problems.” With that it mind, one activist from Pro-Brockport told me she believed “it’d be simply ludicrous to give up the local services that a village can provide.”

While the results of yesterday’s vote can be considered a victory for Brockport residents who want to maintain a high quality of life, the vote was still relatively close. That is why the Brockport Taxcutters are claiming that “the landscape of the village is changed forever” and coverage of the vote is reminding the public that there are other villages throughout the state considering similar resolutions and that the Taxcutters could try again in Brockport in four years. In other words, there’s still a need to stand up for a high quality of life here in New York and to fight against those who want to take that away with the lure of slightly lower taxes.

Desperate for Momentum, Coalition Forms Supporting Mayoral Control

There’s been a lot of question about whether or not mayoral control would have enough momentum to keep moving forward now that Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy is running for Lt. Governor. Opponents of the policy have definitely been declaring mayoral control dead, especially when you consider that the bill Gov. Paterson just introduced a bill in both houses of the legislator is unlikely to be considered before the end of session. There are still some people who are not willing to give up on the Mayor’s office taking over the schools, however, as they’ve just formed a new coalition to support mayoral control.

At a press conference outside School 33 on Webster Avenue, founding members of Rochester Kids First Coalition — 18 in all — affirmed support for a bill introduced this week in the state Legislature.

The announcement came just hours after the Conference of Big 5 School Districts released a statement denouncing the legislation.

What’s important to note here is the plain and simple fact that the vast majority of the 18 people involved in the press conference had already voiced their support of mayoral control. In other words, the news here is that they’re now trying to bring their voices together since they can no longer depend on Duffy to be spearheading the movement for mayoral control while he’s campaigning for the Lt. Governor’s office. When you combine that with the fact that most people in the legislator have all but officially said the bill won’t be taken up this session, there is definitely a sense that supporters of mayoral control are getting a little worried about the fate of the policy.

UPDATE: While it's still rather unlikely that there will be action on the bill before the end of session, there are some rumors swirly around that the Senate might be taking up a vote before the end of session. I therefore encourage everyone to contact Senator Joe Robach's office at 518-455-2909 or 585-225-3650 to let him know that the people of Rochester don't support mayoral contract.