New York's Republican Party, once a national powerhouse that yielded presidential nominees such as Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey, is struggling through a seemingly continuous stretch of setbacks, infighting, embarrassments, and defeats, leaving Republican elected officials an endangered species and party stalwarts divided.
The "Gang of 3" Democrats offers the only hope to the Republican Party for any voice in state government. There are no Republican elected officials in the Bronx and Manhattan, only one state senator in Brooklyn and the Bronx. The Republicans have lost more than half of their congressional members in 2008. They have only one congressman on long Island and two upstate left. Republican incumbent Appellate Court Judges lost this year in third (Judge Carpinello), fourth (Judge Lifson) and fifth (Judge Lunn) judicial districts. In the 4th District Lake George area a Democratic Judge has not won in decades. The one time patronage rich Long Island Republican machine of Joseph Margiotta (which made D'Amato senator) is dead. Other Republican counties (once strongholds of the party) are voting increasingly democratic - Kingston, Columbia, Sullivan, Ulster and Rockland
Albany Project - The New York State Republican Party is in trouble, at its "lowest ebb in 70 years" *** Former Queens Republican Leader Surf Maltese (and the borough's only Republican councilmember) defeated in the 2008 General Election *** The Staten Island GOP remains factionalized and in disarray *** 2007 Craig Eaton the newly elected chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party, said that his goal is to breathe new life into a party operation that, even he admits, was on life support *** 2004 Republican Party Trouble: Demographic Change and a Thin Bench Put Them at Risk *** S.I. Candidate Has Trouble Courting Own Party *** Bloomberg Snubs Republican Party; New York’s Republican Party Snubs Giuliani *** 2001 New York’s Republican Party Crack-Up *** New York Republican Party Graveyard
Borough presidents could lose one of their last remaining powers: land-use review *** Obama taps Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion to head the White House Office of Urban Policy *** S.I. Republicans Brace for More Infighting *** Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks ducks D.C. bailout talks to hit Vegas *** Brooklyn DA upset as jailed former state Assemblyman Clarence Norman swung himself a sweet transfer from an upstate prison to a work-release facility in Manhattan *** Paterson administration's bad news 2009-2010 budget scheduled to unvail Tuesday *** Paterson signs statewide Plastic bag recycling law *** Behind the "three amigos"?
The reckoning of a deregulatory agenda: Schumer A Champion of Wall St. Reaps the Benefits
Schumer plays an unrivaled role in Washington as beneficiary, advocate and overseer of an industry. Schumer has led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the last four years, raising a record $240 million while increasing donations from Wall Street by 50 percent.
In building support, Schumer has embraced the industry’s free-market, deregulatory agenda more than almost any other Democrat in Congress, even backing some measures now blamed for contributing to the financial crisis. Schumer helped save financial institutions billions of dollars in higher taxes or fees. "So much of what happens in this town is because we are the world financial center”, Mr. Schumer said at City Hall in January 2007. “It helps support our museums, it provides the tax base for schools and health care. If we lose being the financial center, the rest goes down the drain.”
Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme superbly designed and executed , worldwide shockwaves*** Arnold and Joan Sinkin open up about being swindled *** Madoff's federal campaign contributions *** Disgraced Illinois Gov. Blagojevich Saturday spent four hours hunkered down with a top Chicago defense lawyer *** Republican senators whose procedural votes doomed the auto industry bailout bill crippling efforts to revive the U.S. economy *** Angry UAW members lash out at Southern senators.
BARACK'S inauguration will cost record $$$ *** Biden to shrink VP role - big time Hillary backers unwilling to forget Kennedy's endorsement of Obama in the primaries, rally against Caroline Kennedy .
A CONSTRUCTION manager who could face manslaughter charges stemming from the fatal fire at the Deutsche Bank building was employed after the fire doing similar work for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development *** New York City grew, but Traffic Didn’t *** Retired State Police Col. Dan Wiese is refusing to cooperate with a high-level probe into allegations that the State Police had been secretly compiling personal information on New York officials
