Rotterdam makes perfect sense. It's controlled by town and city police, who take their marching orders from the Conservative Party.
The Republicans are very poor tacticians. They got out-maneuvered in 2009 and again in 2011. First, let's recall 2009. The party had every opportunity in the world to reign in the No New Tax Party faction. But instead, they refused to compromise. And thus, they lost to a weak candidate who was basically a sock puppet for the Democrats up until he got a taste of what it was like to have control.
Now they could have learned from that election. They could have started anew. But instead, the kept warring all through FDG's first pathetic year in office. They fought over REMS. They fought over leadership. They fought for the sake of fighting. The landmark moment in this election was when Buffardi announced his run EIGHT MONTHS before the election and the Republicans couldn't get together behind a candidate until June. When they finally did choose a candidate, they picked a guy whose only name recognition is with the same Tommasone supporters who openly loath McGarry for tanking the 2009 race.
This race should have been a slam-dunk for the GOP. And it was up until Buffardi's announcement. Hell, he even has acknowledged that he DIDN'T want to run; that he was prodded by the party until he did. Yet the GOP couldn't muster a candidate until more than three months after his announcement?
Even sadder is the GOP attack dogs who post their rhetoric here, thinking somehow it'll sway the voters. For all intents and purposes, the party is less influential now than the Conservative block, which is a sad state of affairs. Now the town's got a popular politician as supervisor. The chances the Repubs be able to muster anything anytime soon is slim to none.
Now the town's got a popular politician as supervisor.
He only received 46% of the vote. He may have been popular County wide as Sheriff, but it didn't carry into Rotterdam - WHERE HE LIVES. He does not have a majority. With a resume like his, and a Rotterdam resident, you would have thought he could have run away with this election. He didn't. More people voted against him, not for him.
A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier. ~ H.L. Mencken Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. ~ H. L. Mencken The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~H. L. Mencken
Buffardi, Viscusi, Mercoglan, Santabarbara and Jasenski all would have won without the conservative line. Most of them would have won even if the majority of the conservative votes went to the Republican candidates. Marco and Calder where the only two who needed the cons to win. Whine about a defeat anyway you want to. It doesn't change the results. The right thing to do would be to man up and admit the GOP has a serious problem and then look for a way to fix it, not blame some intangible.
Cicero - 47 percent is still a majority. More so than 36 percent or 15 percent. Perhaps the 36 percent should have conducted a meeting with the 15 percent and realized their message was essentially the same(cut spending). Then maybe they could have had a 51 percent, which would have been a PLURALITY. Not necessarily a mandate, but a plurality.
Again, I fall back to the egregious errors in election tactics on the part of the GOP. Either that or the 15 percent simply refused to get in bed with them. And I find that hard to believe.
Considering that it was a 3 way race --- Mr. Buffardi won a very respectable plurality. The WHOLE Democratic team did well --- even if we did not win every contest. The nayboobs were saying that the Democrats couldn't win without Frank DelGallo's money and that either Del Gallo or McGarry were going to win huge victories.
In the end, DelGallo's money could not buy him a second term and McGarry's (and the whole NNTP's) reliance on conservative talk show buzzwords and platitudes couldn't get them elected. Even the lies and distortions spread by DelGallo in his newspaper ads and the Nayboobs here and and elsewhere couldn't save the sinking dinghies of the Pool Party and the Tea-Party/NNTP.
The people of Rotterdam voted for competence, experience, straight forward leadership and a slate of candidates who embody in their own lives the ethic of positive community spirit and encourage all of us to invoke the better angels of our being.
“And yet our opponents tell us not to interfere with abortion. They tell us not to impose our morality on those who wish to allow or participate in the taking of the life of infants before birth. Yet no one calls it imposing morality to prohibit the taking of life after a child is born. We’re told about a woman’s right to control her own body. But doesn’t the unborn child have a higher right, and that is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” – Ronald Reagan
DVOR - I find it hard to believe there was much thought put behind the voters who elected MV. He was the weakest of all the major party candidates, but received the most votes.
A correction in what you said: The only candidates receiving a plurality(more than 50 percent) were Marco and Mercoglan. Everyone else one by simple majority. There's no problem in championing your victory. But calling it a mandate is a falsehood.
Cicero - 47 percent is still a majority. More so than 36 percent or 15 percent. Perhaps the 36 percent should have conducted a meeting with the 15 percent and realized their message was essentially the same(cut spending). Then maybe they could have had a 51 percent, which would have been a PLURALITY. Not necessarily a mandate, but a plurality.
I agree with you on this. It's more than the other candidates, but not a majority of the electorate. All I am saying is, this election didn't bring the town together any more than 2 years ago, they did not "re-unite" anything. It's the same divided town, and possibly more-so.
What remains to be seen is, will this newly elected town board govern with arrogance like it is a mandate.
A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier. ~ H.L. Mencken Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. ~ H. L. Mencken The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~H. L. Mencken
DVOR - I find it hard to believe there was much thought put behind the voters who elected MV. He was the weakest of all the major party candidates, but received the most votes.
A correction in what you said: The only candidates receiving a plurality(more than 50 percent) were Marco and Mercoglan. Everyone else one by simple majority. There's no problem in championing your victory. But calling it a mandate is a falsehood.
A plurality means that the candidate won more votes -- but did not get a majority
Marco and Mercoglan got majorities --- Buffardi, Calder and Viscusi got a pluralities.
As Mike, I believe he was among the STRONGEST of the candidates -- I witnessed Mike's interaction with voters during the door-to-door campaign -- he truly has the gift of good listening skills and connecting with the voters.
As for "mandates" --- in politics winning the election is the difference between being able to govern and not being able to govern. Even if the slate had won each contest by 1 vote -- I would say that they had a mandate to govern. Furthermore - with all the trash talk heaped on our Democratic slate by the tea-partiers and the pool-partiers ---------- and they couldn't even carry one office ? (Longo is neither a tea-partier nor a pool-partier.)
I think this election shows how ineffective Kelly Rhinesmith, John Mertz, Joe Surhada and Tom Buchanan are at recruiting candidates and winning elections.
“And yet our opponents tell us not to interfere with abortion. They tell us not to impose our morality on those who wish to allow or participate in the taking of the life of infants before birth. Yet no one calls it imposing morality to prohibit the taking of life after a child is born. We’re told about a woman’s right to control her own body. But doesn’t the unborn child have a higher right, and that is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” – Ronald Reagan
u should have conviced mcgarry to get delgallo to endorse him.. your campaign made a major tactic/strategic error by not working with the former super.. his help could have won your guy the race. instead, u spent your time attacking harry. loser . loser . loser
I have only met Tracy Donovan once -- she seemed like a very nice person when I met her. I won't lump her nto the same category as Buchanan, Surhada, Mertz and Rhinesmith.
“And yet our opponents tell us not to interfere with abortion. They tell us not to impose our morality on those who wish to allow or participate in the taking of the life of infants before birth. Yet no one calls it imposing morality to prohibit the taking of life after a child is born. We’re told about a woman’s right to control her own body. But doesn’t the unborn child have a higher right, and that is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” – Ronald Reagan
your judgement stinks....know the person from inside...not what appears to be on the outside....
then you can claim the win.
It would be a class act to acknowledge that until 12/31 Mr. Del Gallo be given the respect he deserves...
he has taken everything on the cuff and is a better man for it.....
Cut the slam and disrespect as one human being to another....after 12/31 the rest of us will be vigient to make sure the Dems get the same respect as Mr. Del Gallo got when he sat in the Supervisor's seat...along with the Council members....good ol' boys club....or will one of the TB members be standing on a chair giving commands.....
Cut the slam and disrespect as one human being to another....after 12/31 the rest of us will be vigient to make sure the Dems get the same respect as Mr. Del Gallo got when he sat in the Supervisor's seat...along with the Council members....good ol' boys club....or will one of the TB members be standing on a chair giving commands.....
Good luck with that...
This post above is the reality of the election results. There are over 1000 FDG supporters that hate this Democrat ticket for personal reasons, and over 2000 McGarry supporters that don't like this ticket for policy reasons. There is over 50% of the Rotterdam electorate that doesn't support this "re-unite" ticket for one reason of another. These Town Board meeting will be just as ugly as the past two years.
A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier. ~ H.L. Mencken Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. ~ H. L. Mencken The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~H. L. Mencken
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