Originally Posted - September 19, 2006

return home

I listened to the radio and read my e-mail this morning and wondered if I had tumbled through a wormhole getting out of bed and ended up in the Twilight Zone. Over the weekend the Swedish ended 75 years of Social Democrat rule, mostly over high taxes, and in France that venerable leftist paper Libertad is going bankrupt for lack of readers.

In liberal Europe venerable liberal institutions are fading away, and in liberal New York, the Republican party fell just short of turning out 6% of it's base to vote in the primaries. Way to fire up the base and turn out the vote.

Recently released poll results indicate a primary reason all major Republican candidates are dramatically trailing their rival candidates is rampant public ignorance of who they are and what they have done worth supporting.

Jeanine Pirro, widely known as a tough on crime District Attorney fighting domestic violence and violence against women, is the stand out exception, trailing opponent Andrew Cuomo by a mere 17 percentage points, despite the antics of her troubled husband. Ironically Mrs. Pirro might be most widely recognized for her aggressive prosecution of Internet sex offenders in liberal New York, where locally DA Patricia D'Angelo is being crucified for her aggressive prosecution of sex offenders.

Frankly ex-Assembly minority leader Faso and most of the Assembly Republicans also have exemplary records of battling their Assembly opposition for tougher better laws dealing with sexual predators, year after year. John Faso has a better record of fighting for this legislation than Elliot Spitzer, and if a weekend NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/nyregion/17spitzer.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin  is correct Spitzer will not be demanding a lot of change from Speaker Silver, nationally known as America's worst elected official for his record of obstructing such legislation.

John Faso has a story to tell for him, and his Assembly caucus. Assembly minority leader James Tedisco should not loose any seats and might gain a few if in the next seven weeks Republican Assembly candidates can get the constituents of their district to question their rivals about their record on tougher predator laws, and why they re-elected Speaker Silver to be Assembly Speaker knowing his record for obstructing such legislation, every time they gave him the power to do so. What was the rational for the Assembly Majority position, year after year after year?

An appreciation of the struggle for the safety of the women and children in one's life seems to motivate most people to take some stand to improve the situation. An understanding that the making of this into an election year issue would influence treatment of this issue for legislative sessions to come might be a sufficient motivator to mobilize an ambivalent base.

Again, Jeanine Pirro, the only major Republican candidate with in striking distance of her rival is widely known for what aspect of her crime fighting? What achievement of her entire career exceeds her High Technology Crimes Unit that targeted pedophiles and pornographers using the Internet to prey on children?

Reading the NY Times article above, was passage of the tougher legislation a bargaining chip not to be used until a Democrat governor could reap the credit? Are the facilitators of Speaker Silver that morally bankrupt? They should have a good simple explanation of their actions that defines the difference between the rival parties. They should be proud to defend their position and stand on their record if it is not a corrupt embarrassment.

Those who have struggled for this year after year may finally get the name recognition and appreciation they earned fighting a strangely ignored and unrecognized battle of character and principal to protect our most vulnerable. They deserve the benefits of having their character and principles appreciated, if they have the courage to stand on their strengths and tell their story. 9-19-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette