Showing posts with label Darrel Aubertine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darrel Aubertine. Show all posts

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Did Vaugh Plagiarize Doheny or did Doheny Plagiarize Vaugh?

File this post under the "you can't make this stuff up" bookmark because it is bizarre. Read the two statements below from Nick Vaugh, running for the 118th Assembly district, and Matt Doheny, running for the 23rd congressional seat held by Bill Owens, and then tell me someone isn't plagiarizing.

Nick Vaugh's Fundraising Appeal to Republicans Posted on NewzJunky.com on March 4, 2010:

"I owe my values and success to my family. My mother and father along with my grandfather taught me firsthand the dignity of hard work, the sanctity of family, and the value of service to the community. It is with these values that I seek your assistance in representing the citizens of the 118th Assembly District and the rest of New York. It is with these values and experience I will aggressively work to create an economic environment in which businesses and families can thrive."

Matt Doheny's Letter to Local Republican Committee Members Dated January 21, 2010:

"The value of hard work in the North Country, the sanctity of family and the importance of service to the community was passed down to Matt at a young age directly from his parents. It is these values and the values that he learned from his work in the private sector that Matt will use to represent the citizens of the 23rd Congressional District."

These two paragraphs sound like outright plagiarism to us. And it appears that either Vaugh and Doheny are brothers, or one of them copied the other's campaign materials. Notice the terms that are intimately woven into each candidate's perspective biographies, words like: values, hard work, sanctity of family and service to the community. This could create a major problem for each candidate and they need to be honest with the voters about their backgrounds instead of spouting off vague, cookie-cutter generalizations and near verbatim wording. The website Famous Plagiarists.com sums the seriousness of this political foul on their site:
"A proven accusation of plagiarism can have serious repercussions for a candidate's political ambitions. Just ask Joe Biden. His borrowing of a British politician's campaign speech is perhaps the most famous instance of political plagiarism... This P-word sums up a number of qualities with which no successful politician would want to be assocaited: in-authentic, shortsighted, manipulable (by speechwriters), dishonest, criminal, deceitful, and so on... And if the plagiarism charges stick, the accused is forever tainted, corrupted, and sullied with the justly deserved stigma surrounding such reprehensible behavior. Even if the speechwriter is the real culprit! ["Your speechwriter did it?--yeah, right."]"
And there is a precedent for plagiarism among North Country politicians that never goes over well. Remember when Darrel Aubertine plagiarized a bill that his colleague, State Senator Elizabeth Little, wrote last year? A few weeks after Little had submitted a bill in early 2009 to regulate block-voting rights among co-ops in the New York milk market, Aubertine introduced near similar language amending the state agriculture and markets law. In a classic response to Aubertine, Senator Little took to the floor of the State Senate and said Aubertine's bill was essentially something she could support because she had already introduced it (the video can be found at the end of this post in case you missed the exchange). You may also remember this second instance of plagiarism by Aubertine reported by the Gouverneur Times.

The reason why today's instance of political plagiarism is particularly offensive is because each candidate involved in this scandal used language to describe the values and character they inherited from each of their respective families. It is fine to talk about your core values on the campaign trail and in your written correspondence, but in doing so you should never resort to copying another politician's rhetoric. Beyond sounding unoriginal, it raises questions about one's ethics and personal competence. And to borrow unoriginal language about the values handed down to you by your parents is just lame and embarrassing.

Voters expect candidates to be open and honest about their backgrounds. And this violation raises larger questions for each candidate because it is a safe bet that neither Doheny nor Vaugh will want to be associated with Democratic State Senator Darrel Aubertine for plagiarizing. Will Vaugh and Doheny clear the air with a public statement, an explanation or an apology?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Winners and Losers

We felt like it would be fun to point out some of our recent winners and losers in New York State politics over the last several days. We hope many of our readers will concur with our assessments. Feel free to add others to either category in the comments section, or debate why we are wrong in our analysis.

Biggest Losers:

Governor David Paterson - Putting Tiger Woods aside, we don't think anyone can deny that this guy wins the gold medal for the biggest loser. Our 55th Governor of the State of New York has racked up a long list of stupidness: pending ethics violations over accepting World Series tickets, covering up sexual abuse scandal with state resources and direct calls to police to save his body man, rumors of various affairs including one with a state employee that he admitted when he first came to office, proposed tax increases on all sorts of goodies, appointing Kirsten Gillibrand to a US Senate seat and a general gross mismanagement of the state's runaway budget deficit. Paterson's story is playing out like a bad scene from the Jersey Shore. Good riddance.

Congressman Eric Massa- Rumors are abound that the House ethics committee will investigate whether Massa had sexually abused a male staffer and will be retiring at the end of 2010. Just wait for the attack dogs and Democratic colleagues alike to call for his resignation. A special election like the one in New York 23 might be just around the corner.

Congressman Charlie Rangel - Rangel is caught up in some compromising ethics violation(s). Politico reported that, "the catalyst for Rangel's removal came last week, when the ethics committee ruled that he had broken House gift rules by accepting corporate-sponsored travel to the Caribbean." He has now lost his chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee that writes tax policy after serving the House for 39 years. Is there anymore to say about that? Owens is counting his lucky starts that he didn't have to vote on removing Rangel of his chairmanship.

New York State Democrats - How many Democratic Governors can New York blow through without looking ridiculous? Spitzer, Paterson, State Senator Monserrate, Massa and Rangel have seriously damaged the party brand in New York. Are these leaders a reflection of the Democratic party as a whole? The budget is a mess, taxes are high, businesses are moving out of state, party leaders getting greedy and Harold Ford said he got out of the primary race because the party in New York State Democrats aren't strong enough to deal with the pressure and still win. All bets are off in 2010.

Congressman Bill Owens - Our new representative is talking about jobs recently, but he is about to lose his own for voting for socialized medicine that includes all sorts of perverse carve-outs for other states, increased taxes and cuts to Medicare. If he flip-flops on the health care vote he will discourage his base of Democrat supporters. If he votes for it he loses the election to whatever candidate(s) that run against him. It is a tough spot to be in, but Pelosi and Obama are the ones who got him to Washington and he owes it to them. Ironically, Pelosi and Obama, the same people who got Owens elected, are the same people who are going to get him run out of office.

Assemblyman Will Barclay - His campaign will not answer our questions and the candidate is not being open with the public. Michael Baucus of the Barclay campaign responded to an e-mail request to get 3-5 of our 20 questions answered with this lame response: "Will Barclay would be more than pleased to answer each of those twenty questions if he becomes a candidate for Congress. If you live in the 23rd Congressional District, all you have to do is attend any scheduled candidates debate, stand up, identify yourself and state your question. Will Barclay would, of course, afford any district voter the same opportunity." So for our readers -- feel free to ask your questions when you see Barclay on the campaign trail. But good luck getting your questions answered.

Mayor Jeff Graham - If Mort Zukerman had given up control of his media empire to run for US Senate, Jeff Graham could have made a quick move to cut into the media mogul's huge national market. Graham is still doing well with his blog and radio show. But had Zukerman officially gotten into the race, Graham could have capitalized and made it big.

USA Men's Olympic Hockey Team - Team USA were the underdogs, no doubt. We played hard but only got the silver medal -- unfortunately, second place is the first loser. And you lost to Canada!

The Watertown Daily Times - The Times falls into the loser category because they are awful almost every week. Any objections?

Winners:

Andrew Cuomo - Love him or hate him or just don't care, this guy is undoubtably going to be the Democratic nominee for Governor. For the sake of our state, lets just pray he is better than Spitzer and Paterson.

Harold Ford Jr. - He got out of the Democratic US Senate primary just in time. The New York Democratic establishment was about to eat the guy up and spit him out. He saved his reputation and now maybe he can make a run for Charlie Rangel's seat.

Bruce Blakeman - Media mogul Mort Zuckerman is pulling out of the US Senate race against Gillibrand and that opening gives Blakeman a clearer shot at the GOP nomination. Gillibrand's negatives are so high that the Lewis county dog-catcher could make it a competitive race in year where Republicans were able to win in Massachusetts.

Ann Marie Buerkle - We haven't talked about our neighbor district to the south-west, but they have a battle brewing for the congressional Republican nomination to challenge Representative Dan Maffei in NY-25. Buerkle is winning Republican and Conservative endorsements for her race at a blistering pace. What's Up NY-23 isn't offering its endorsement yet, but is predicting Buerkle is on the best path to become the GOP nominee for that race.

Darrel Aubertine - Getting beat up by New York City press for opposing a liberal farm workers bill isn't always a bad thing for an upstate Democrat. He is also now a member of the fiscal watch force. Let's see what he does with it.

Mike Long - The Conservative Party Chairman has been gaining credibility across the state and has to be taken seriously by Republicans at every level because of the fusion voting system in the state and the conservative movement's ability to tap into voter discontent.

Patty Ritchie - Even though Ritchie has been attacked on the Lewis and Oswego blogs, she is still the frontrunner for the 48th Senate district race. Whoever gets the nod could make it a race for the ages against Aubertine. There is still a lot of time left, but Ritchie has positioned herself and it doesn't look like Matt Doheny is going to jump races as we move into the spring.

Assemblywoman Janet Duprey - Duprey seems to be handling her competition for the GOP nomination with stride. David Kimmel has yet to make the kind of impact that conservatives had hoped for, which may leave the door open for Paul Maroun or another candidate to jump into the race at this early stage. There is still time for Kimmel to make his case for the nomination, but each day that Kimmel lags is another day Duprey is counting her blessings.

NewzJunky.com - Just because they are better than the Watertown Daily Times.

SU Men's Basketball Team - First time the Orange have been ranked #1 in years. Congrats and Go Orange!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Will Barclay Wants to be a Looney Tune?

As Buggs Buddy I think I am in the best position to say this: State Assemblyman William Barclay’s knee-jerk reactions and absurd press releases are making him look like Wile E. Coyote trying to chase down the one he will never catch, Doug Hoffman, the one who looks more and more like the Road Runner speeding to victory in NY-23.

Tonight Barclay became the newest looney tune running for federal office when he issued an attack on Doug Hoffman. Barclay’s expensive new media consultant, rumored to be former unknown Congressman Fred J. Eckert of Eagle Communications, e-mailed the statement tonight at 8:16 pm to multiple news outlets.

In the release Barclay reveals his desperation by “urging” Doug Hoffman to renounce the idea of Ron Paul running for President in 2012. Not that Hoffman has any connection to the idea after having been endorsed by several other potential 2012 presidential hopefuls including: Governor George Pataki, Governor Sarah Palin, Senator Fred Thompson, Congressman Mike Pence, Governor Tim Pawlenty and others, but it is kind of silly to read Barclay’s disunity rant.

If you read between the lines of everything that Barclay sends out (the stuff that comes in complete sentences at least) all you find is negativity and knee-jerk reactions. It’s the kind of stuff that fills the Assembly Chamber in Albany where Barclay was infected with this vitriolic incumbent disease I like to call “Albany insider-osis.”

The positive press attention Doug Hoffman received from the Syracuse paper, National Review Online, several prominent Republican bloggers and the Washington Times, has clearly demoralized the Barclay camp. But to Barclay’s credit at least he realizes the need to do something to shake up this race quickly. He can only get away with being the guy who lost Republican control of the State Senate, to Darrel Aubertine, for so long without losing people’s attention.

However, the fact that Barclay chose to attack Ron Paul instead of (oh… I don’t know) Bill Owens or Barack Obama speaks volumes about what kind of Republican he is – a Republican of disunity, a looney tune Republican. Barclay’s attacks are a function of four key things that all voters should consider.

First, Barclay is consumed with the idea of purging Republicans instead of beating the Democrats in 2010. What Barclay doesn’t understand is that his recent call for a unity pledge in NY-23 was completely undermined when his next move was to call for a purge of any fellow Republican who he disagrees with on one particular issue. In this case it is Ron Paul’s opposition to the War in Iraq. Next week it will be his opposition to Tim Pawlenty’s position of being pro-life. The week after that it will be something else absurd. The real question is: why does Barclay want to make the GOP smaller instead of uniting Republicans of all stripes behind a common goal like winning back the House in 2010?

Second, Barclay’s focus on the 2012 presidential elections shows his priorities are in the wrong place. He should be focused on winning in 2010 and bringing prosperity and economic growth back to NY-23. Barclay’s attacks are a distraction from his lack of solutions and focus on what people really care about today: better jobs, lower taxes, less spending, more credit, improved education and market-based solutions to health care.

Third, Barclay’s attacks are a sign of desperation. Doug Hoffman has the lead on money raised, grassroots support, national endorsements, online media, local press, an organized campaign team and about every other metric that could possibly be used to judge a candidates viability in a Republican primary.

Finally, Barclay’s release was absurd on its face. To insinuate that Doug Hoffman is weak on terrorism is pretty lame. After all, Barclay never spent any time in the military. Hoffman has. Hoffman’s campaign website is clear on this issue.

“We are past the point of pointing fingers over how we got to where we are in Iraq and Afghanistan. The question for us now is where do we go from here? I believe we must continue to try and turn the security and governing of Iraq over to the Iraqis. I also believe we need to continue to go after the terrorist strongholds and training bases wherever they are located. The war against terror is not over and the terrorists’ goal remains the destruction of the United States and our way of life. We must never forget this fact.”

Hoffman understands the threats we face and is committed to being a strong defender of American interests. Unlike Barclay, Hoffman was never fed by a silver spoon and he wasn’t an heir to political power like Barclay was from his father’s hard effort. Unlike Barclay, Hoffman had to make something of himself. And Hoffman is the only candidate who has military experience. That is something that military families in Fort Drum will recognize and it is an insult that Barclay would attack a veteran with such vitriol.

Barclay should apologize for throwing other people under the bus to further his own political future. Barclay does not have a campaign that can win. It could have been, but it is evolving into a campaign in desperation mode, running out of fuel. And for that reason we are moving him back to the third tier of candidates with the rest of the other looney tunes.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Timing the Race for NY-23

Mayor Graham has an interesting take on the two-step campaign that will be waged for the NY-23 race this year. First, the Republican candidates will have a primary that happens on Tuesday, September 14th. Then the GOP winner will go up against incumbent Congressman Bill Owens on Tuesday, November 2nd.

The timing here is important because the district is so large and rural. Mayor Graham had it right that this race will take a lot of organization and old-fashioned shoe leather. While we are still seven months out from the primary, that is not a lot of time to build an aggressive grassroots team across a huge rural district like NY-23. And seven months is not a lot of time if you want to be taken seriously as a candidate who can beat an incumbent like Bill Owens.

It is also getting really late for any other candidates to get into the ring at this late juncture. At least three candidates: Barclay, Doheny and Hoffman, are building staff and attending some local events. It would be a fair prediction to suggest that no other candidate will be taken seriously as the campaigns shift into second gear. For some candidates, the longer they wait to officially get into the political ring, the harder it becomes to be competitive in building the name ID and trust that will be needed to bring down Bill Owens in November.

Doug Hoffman has a head start because of the momentum he built in the special election last year. He likely has an impressive file of donors, volunteers, and supporters who helped him become competitive in the last two weeks of the race last year. Hoffman is the only candidate with a campaign website and he is dominating the new political battlefront, online campaigning. Hoffman's infrastructure will go a long way because the file his campaign developed last year is fairly updated, having been created just months ago, and ready to be tapped into.

Will Barclay also an advantage as we move into the second half of February. He has good name recognition in the western end of the district where he is an incumbent Assemblyman. He also has some name ID in the central part of NY-23 from his failed State Senate run against Darrel Aubertine. Barclay's challenge is to become more well known in the eastern and central part of the state where he hasn't been as active in politics. That task can be accomplished in seven months, but he will need to start moving quickly.

It would be to Matt Doheny's strategic advantage if he officially entered the race sooner rather than later. Based on the context of Mayor Graham's blog post today, I would expect Doheny to make that move rather soon because of his political necessity -- he has to do something to shake this race up!

Doheny, the New York investor, has been away from the district for almost ten years, and while he has maintained two homes here (one in Watertown and one on an Island on the river) it will presumably be much harder for him to build the kind of infrastructure that already exists for the two other leading GOP contenders. Voters who have met Doheny that we have talked to have called him a candidate that is "a bit elitist and very mysterious." Getting into the thick of the campaign could help Doheny build new trust, stronger alliances and improve his low name ID. These negatives were evident in the latest poll that came out last month showing Doheny in 4th place with only 2% favorable name ID. NY-23 is a big district and it takes a lot of time to meet the voters, build their trust and introduce yourself. With that said, Doheny does have a team in place and is raising early money, albeit from Wall Street bankers and traditional Democratic donors.

These races, especially multi-candidate primaries, are hard to predict. However, with a protracted calendar the advantage would seem to lay with Hoffman and then Barclay, which may give us some insight into why both candidates have yet to make an official declaration of their intent to run yet. With less time to compete for voters, both Hoffman and Barclay (in that order) will have a competitive advantage in rallying their pre-existing networks of political support, compared to other candidates who are still on the sidelines and just now beginning to make their first-time introductions.

Certainly money means a lot, but all candidates have the same amount of time, which is finite in politics. How well each candidate choses to strategize the schedule will play a big part in who gets to face Bill Owens for the federal seat, which will always be remembered as Congressman John McHugh's old job.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Nick Vaugh's Twitter Crusade Against Addie Russell

Nick Vaugh, a candidate for New York State Assembly's 118th district, has taken to twitter to get his message out. And with a quick glance of his twitter page (@NickVaugh) it is clear that he is positioning himself to be the anti-Addie Russell vote. Heck, I would argue that the kid shouldn't run as a Republican. He should start his new party, the "Anti-Addie Party."

Upon review of Vaugh's twitter account almost all you can see is a blitz of charges against Addie Russell and company: corruption here and incompetence charges there, harassment regarding the soda taxes, upset about big state budgets, sportsmen are under Addie's thumb, she made cuts to local library funding, was against STAR rebates and wasn't there for us on education funding. The anti-Addie crusade goes on and on. But does anyone else see this kind of behavior juvenile? Is it going too far to write 37 negative tweets against a single candidate in under 4 months?

Then there is this post regarding the NY-23 race last year dated October 21, 2009:

Here in the 23rd we have three pitiful candidates

It's one thing to say you don't prefer a candidate and quite another to call all three candidates in a race "pitiful." It makes you wonder why Vaugh was against Scozzafava, Hoffman, and Owens. Where does he fall in the political spectrum? And what were the reasons for his acute disdain for each of these politicians? Are they too conservative, too moderate, or too liberal? Or is Vaugh just against any politician that isn't named Vaugh? His cluster of comments against Aubertine and Russell make him look like an obsessive maniac looking for any reason he can to get a political edge, not a fighter for real reform willing to work across the aisle to get things done. I sure would love to interview Vaugh so if anyone has his e-mail please send it over to whatsupny23@gmail.com.

Below are you'll find a collection of Nick Vaugh's anxious tweets on how Addie Russell is tearing our state apart:

Rally Against Albany's Soda Tax; Tell Addie Russell & Darrell Aubertine NO To Any of Their New Taxeshttp://bit.ly/cDAgez

Say NO to Addie Russell's Tax Increase http://bit.ly/a1AF9G
from Facebook

Addie Russell Is a Rubber Stamp for Albany/NYC Political Bosses Like Sheldon Silver; Here's Proof http://bit.ly/bZXqjT
from Facebook

Two-thirds of State lawmakers Like Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine Refuse to Reveal Their Outside Incomehttp://bit.ly/6q1qDZ
from Facebook

Gov's Proposal Shows Just How Weak & Ineffective Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine Are In Representing the North Country http://bit.ly/7hZ4b6
from Facebook

Addie Russell’s Votes Target of Outrage for Hiking Costs for Licenses & Fees On Sportsmen & Other Outdoor Enthusiastshttp://bit.ly/7STCqj
from Facebook

State Legislators Like Addie Russell Continue to Abuse the People's Trust As The Cover Up Continues In Albanyhttp://bit.ly/82rWHZ
from Facebook

With NO Effective Results In NY, The Federal Stimulus Fueled Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine's Tax & Spend Agendahttp://bit.ly/5ffoAc
from Facebook

Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine We Are Tired Of Your Tax & Spend Schemes http://bit.ly/8MS27r
from Facebook

Where is Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine? NYS Cannot Afford This 'Reform' http://bit.ly/877Tbs
from Facebook

Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine Have Made New York's Fiscal Situation Worse http://bit.ly/7TjzUK
from Facebook

Addie Russell's Culture of Corruption & Addiction To Higher Taxes & Spending Must Come To An End http://bit.ly/6sBlGp
from Facebook

Addie Russell "Rubber Stamps" A Tax & Spend Agenda Running NY Into The Red http://bit.ly/5teUEk
from Facebook

Our State Legislators Like Addie Russell Are Unfit To Deal With NYS' Fiscal Crisis http://bit.ly/79l99O
from Facebook

Aubertine & Russell's "Bigger Better Bottle Bill" Hurts Businesses Like Pepsi-Cola Bottlers & Also Consumershttp://bit.ly/5Dka0T
from Facebook

Addie Russell Is Part of A Culture of Corruption In Albanyhttp://bit.ly/7iHE98

Addie Russell Slashes North Country Librarieshttp://bit.ly/80tuNI
Tough Times Call For Tough Decisions; Unfortunately Legislators Like Addie Russell Just Can't Cut Ithttp://bit.ly/61hRn8
Addie Russell Lacks the Leadership & Political Courage Needed In Albany http://bit.ly/5M5rxn
Addie Russell Lacks the Political Courage to Completely Resolve the Midyear $3.2 Billion Budget Deficithttp://bit.ly/8wPn9X
The Albany Nightmare Continues Thanks to Addie Russellhttp://bit.ly/7G1mSv
Addie Russell Delivers a Disheartening Blow to Our Children's Education With Possible Midyear Education Cuts On the...http://bit.ly/56kfnN

Marist Poll: Addie Russell's Days in Albany are Numberedhttp://bit.ly/4NSxj7
Addie Russell's Drug Reforms Hurt the North Countryhttp://bit.ly/5zNlA3
from Facebook

Addie Russell Voted Against Your STAR Rebatehttp://bit.ly/6wWGEW
from Facebook

'Flip-Flopper' Addie Russell: I Was For It Before I Was Against It http://bit.ly/07O5oCT
from Facebook

'Albany's Finest' Addie Russell Continues to Waste Your Moneyhttp://bit.ly/07KdSzA
from Facebook

Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine's Lack of Leadershiphttp://bit.ly/2jy2Z7
from Facebook

'Out of Touch' Addie Russell Continues to Ignore Our Fiscal Crisis http://bit.ly/hHGyk
from Facebook

Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine Continue to Fail New Yorkhttp://bit.ly/NL9ir
from Facebook

'Flip-Flopper' Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine: For It Before They Were Against It http://bit.ly/2GHwPn
from Facebook

Sportsmen Outraged at Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertinehttp://bit.ly/3SG4Q

Thank Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine For Our New License Plates http://bit.ly/3OcsuB
Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine, Please Do Something About Our High Taxes http://bit.ly/27Ep3l
Addie Russell & Darrel Aubertine's "Bigger Better Bottle Bill," Another Blow to NY & North Country Businesses and...http://bit.ly/cMAEE

ADDIE RUSSELL VOTES FOR BILLIONS IN TAX HIKEShttp://bit.ly/EW1Pf