SamPratt.com

Instant takeaways from the NY-19 Democratic primary

The results of this highly unusual seven-candidate regional primary will take a long time to fully digest, but here are some immediate takeaways:

• As predicted, the projected winner is in line for victory without a solid mandate. Antonio Delgado as of 11:15 pm on Tuesday is ahead with less than 1/4 (22%) of the votes cast, with some results still rolling in.
• Looked at one way, this means that 78% of Dem primary voters go to bed disappointed.
• Gareth Rhodes was in second place as of 11:15 pm. He won Columbia County, with Delgado second.
• Turnout in Columbia was about 30% among registered Dems; turnout districtwide was more like 26%. About 35,000 participated, much better than the less-contested Teachout-Yandik primary in 2016. But that still means almost 100,000 Dems did not bother to make a choice.
• Delgado appears to be a candidate virtually all Dems will get behind, especially with the fever to blunt Trump and the GOP in Congress. His GOP opponent, John Faso, can be expected to go after his heavy funding from by New York City law firms and lobbying connections.
• Erin Collier’s belated attempt to capture the women’s vote fizzled, earning less than 5% despite women making up more than 50% of the electorate.
• Brian Flynn’s campaign underperformed many expectations, coming in 5th slightly behind firebrand ex-CIA agent Jeff Beals as of 11:15 pm.
• Many of the candidates may look tomorrow at Dave Clegg as the spoiler in the race. Clegg garnered the vast majority (over 70%) of his votes in one County, Ulster. His votes in Ulster alone would have put any of the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th contenders into contention with or ahead of Delgado. While this could be said of some others as well, Clegg is the only one whose support came pretty much exclusively from his home turf.
• Thankfully, corporate spook Pat Ryan did not win. (Maybe now he will be liberated to get back to his true passion, getting paid by big business and spy agencies to snoop on union leaders, journalists and activists.)
• Beals, once expected to finish near the bottom of the heap, did a good deal better than expected, most likely due to extensive late exposure via an “This American Life” profile. (One suspects that a large number of likely primary voters are also WAMC listeners.)
• One is left wonder what would have happened in a two- or three-way race between Delgado and one of the other top contenders. He might well have won narrowly, but with so many candidates cannibalizing each others’ support, it is very hard to say whether the best candidate won, or just the best-funded.
• Notably, pretty much none of the candidates had any district-wide profile prior to running, and little if any experience serving in local elected positions. One again wonders what would had happened if, say, someone like New York State Assembly member Didi Barrett had run. Would as many challengers have come forward, if any? That the Dems fielded seven new faces could be a sign of fresh blood, or a symptom of not having much of a bench from which to draw.

Eyes of the Storm

Everyone likes to scoff at “social media,” even those who use it most... as if its use consists of nothing but narcissists tweeting about their toddlers, or posting pics of their pedicures.

Which, usually, it does.

But during disasters, social media proves its worth. As Hurricane Irene progressed up the Hudson Valley, Facebook, Twitter, and the liveblogs which build upon them filled up with on-the-scene reports and pictures which, in a least a few cases, may have actually saved lives. The traditional media did its part, but mostly couldn’t keep up with the hoi polloi.

Above, you'll find links to a sampler just a small portion of the countless Irene photos posted online over the past 24 hours in the Hudson Valley. Wherever possible, the photographer has been credited, though a few were hard to pin down. (If for any reason you want your photo removed, just ask.)

A power line runs through it?

Plans to lay a 335-mile, 2,000 megawatt transmission line from Canada to New York City and Connecticut were just announced, with a major portion of the line proposed to be buried in the muck of the Hudson River starting near Selkirk and Castleton south to the Bronx.

Calling the project the Champlain-Hudson Power Express, developers at Transmission Development Inc. (TDI) are making a public presentation from 6-8 pm next Tuesday (March 9th) at the Holiday Inn Express at 300 Broadway. The project would involve burying four five-inch-diameter cables in the River, skirting the PCB cleanups now underway north of Albany. A PDF document showing the full route can be downloaded by clicking here.

TDI’s principle backers are The Blackstone Group based on Park Avenue, a major investor in Hilton Hotels, Orbitz.com, Michaels craft stores, and various communications companies. The company has been the subject of several recent controversies, outlined here by CNN. Among other things, Blackstone owns Sea World, where a trainer was recently drowned and mangled by a killer whale. Billionaire CEO Steve Schwarzman also came under fire for his $3 million birthday party in 2007 before the stock market crash.

The Catskill Daily Mail repeats unchallenged TDI’s claim that "neither commercial nor recreational current use of the Hudson River will be affected by the line’s presence." (Note the word “current,” which would suggest it might affect future uses.)

Kirsten’s Catskill casino caper

In a speech not much covered by the protective mid-Valley media, New York’s junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand touted casinos as an economic solution for Sullivan County. Here’s an excerpt from the Kingston Daily Freeman’s report:

Gillibrand told local business and community leaders on Friday that she supports the creation of Indian-run casinos in Sullivan County and said she has asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to reverse a decision handed down by the Bush administration that such casinos be forbidden on off-reservation land. "They serve as an economic generator for a region," said Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

Really, Kirsten?* Casinos tend to suck the life out of a community—by concentrating economic activity under their own roof, taking business away from locally-owned establishments on nearby main streets, destroying families by fostering addiction, and attracting only other bottom-feeders to the community.

Casinos don't want you spreading your money around town. They want you to stay at their own hotel, eat at their own restaurants, shop at their own gift shop, and leave the remainder of one’s disposable income (the part that should be spent on or saved for one’s kids) in their coffers. 

And casinos also encourage a socially-destructive habit, much like the lottery does. As a commenter named “Markmyword” at the Freeman’s site succinctly put it:

Senator Gillibrand is obviously ill-informed when it comes to the effects of casinos on the community. What she also doesn’t seem to know is that the Turning Stone Casino in Verona has been operating illegally for many years. What she also disregards is the fact that casinos have a very negative impact on local business, family life and the environment. Casinos rely heavily on gambling addiction which results in a rise of crime. Lastle, the tribe that owns Foxwood Casino is on the brink of default and is trying to restructure $2.3 billion in debt. The debt is $1 billion more than the tribe can sustain, and it is at risk of defaulting on a $700 million line of credit with lenders. Does the Senator really want these kinds of problems for Sullivan County. If she likes casinos so much why not put them in Columbia County?

There are many other telling comments at the Freeman’s site. For example, “sallygee1220" writes:

Visit Oneida to see a dead village. The only thing that lives is the Turning Stone. Businesses have gone under! Daily bus loads of seniors who are seduced by free buffets, free tokens and something to do with their time arrive from Syracuse. The Catskills do not need this scene.

Meanwhile, Gillibrand managed to work against the speech’s goal of demonstrating her keen awareness of local issues by getting the location wrong of the Turning Stone casino. (It’s in Verona, not Rome, New York.) instead of in Verona. The Utica Observer-Dispatch notes that

[...] some local officials said the possible gaffe shows Gillibrand, appointed as senator by Gov. David Paterson a year ago and facing re-election this year, needs to spend more time in the Mohawk Valley. Some even said Gillibrand’s praise of the casino and its impact is misguided.

State Assemblyman David Townsend, R-Sylvan Beach, said Gillibrand should drive from Utica into Madison County and look at all the mom and pop stores and gas stations that have closed because they couldn’t compete with tax-exempt Nation enterprises.

According to Hank Gross’s Mid-Hudson News service, she also used this speech to suggest that the controversial proposals to drill the Marcellus shale for natural gas would be fine, if there are “environmental safeguards.” Uh-huh. Which safeguards would those be, exactly?

(Maybe Kirsten would be happier representing the people of Wasilla; I’ve been there, and it’s not unlike Greenport, actually.)

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* NOTE: I call her Kirsten instead of Senator because I that’s how I knew her before she ran for office. She’s a perfectly nice person, at least when she’s not bashing immigrants. But not my favorite New York Democrat, not by a longshot. Just because she’s a member of one’s party, knows one’s first name and lives nearby isn’t reason enough to be blindly loyal, when she’s wrong on the issues. And yet that’s the attitude of many Hudson Valley Dems: She's ours, so she's beyond criticism.