Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Let's Not Forget the 116th District . . .

Marcy councilman to run for Assembly seat --
Greg Johnson, a Marcy town councilman, said he’s running to represent the values of the people in this region and to create an environment for better job growth.

“New York state is bankrupt and the legislature is dysfunctional,” he said. “Somebody has to go in there and take a look at that and make hard decisions.”

What skills would he bring to the desired seat?

“Common sense,” he said. “That’s about all you need.” . . .
OK. This guy looks good on paper. . . . But it's easy to say that NYS is bankrupt and the legislature is dysfunctional. "Common sense" is certainly needed . . . It is a commodity in short supply in Albany.

But one needs more than "common sense" to solve our self-inflicted problems, and thinking "that's about all you need" is not a good sign.
Johnson plans to make his official announcement 4 p.m. Thursday at the Fort Stanwix Tea Party event in Rome
Does Mr. Johnson really understand the Tea Party movement? Or is he just co-opting it for political gain? He will be in for a rude awakening if it is the latter.

The last Republican endorsed candidate turned out to be a fake candidate or a sacrificial lamb.

Hopefully that does not happen again.

The only thing that would be worse is if he is an "insider" beholden to our policy-bankrupt Oneida County elite.

Tea Party people are fed up with party labels and business as usual. Issues, hopefully, are what campaigns are going to come down to.

If Mr. Johnson really wants to help this area, he will make himself thoroughly familiar with the issues. He will not accept what party bosses tell him, but make up his own mind after first seeking out and weighing facts on all sides of an issue . . . and he will be able to defend his positions in a logical manner with respect for opposing viewpoints . . . and he will be willing to change positions when shown to be wrong (no one expects perfection, and a bit of humility would be a welcome change).

Time will tell if Mr. Johnson is the "real deal" . . . an "insider" . . . or just another fake candidate.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

One word can be used to describe the NYS Legistlature. Corrupt. They are fighting tooth & nail against any real ethics reform, which should tell the citizens of N.Y.S. where they are coming from. I say throw out the whole bunch, no matter what the opposing candidates qualifications are.

Strikeslip said...

I understand your frustration Anon . . . and I used to feel that way myself . . .

But I think people may have learned their lesson on voting merely for "change" during the last election.

Without vetting candidates thoroughly on the issues, you just don't know what mischief they will create if the change agents somehow get elected.

Greens and Beans said...

The voters cannot afford another Manchurian Candidate that will take up precious political space and confound the already entirely goofed-up political process. We have an obligation to warn the TEA Party (Taxed Enough Already) members if we suspect that a candidate of being such an obstructionist, or worse yet, a lazy good for nothing uninformed imposter. I hope our suspicions are wrong, but the 116th Assembly district is in dire need of a genuine Assemblyperson who will represent the people instead of seeking to amass wealth for the family businesses. The voters of the 116th deserve a real candidate.

swimmy said...

TOKEN CANDIDATE

courtesies of those devoted to keeping destito in office.

Anonymous said...

Agreed.There is no way under the sun that the Rome Republican faction which includes the County Executive will truly work and contribute to defeating Mrs. Destito. Follow the money.That is perhaps why,Mr. Johnson is in great need of the Tea Party people's support.

onjeesun said...

Greg is the real deal. He is smart and articulate. He is not an insider nor a token. I have spoken to him myself and perhaps you all should too before casting aspersions.

Greens and Beans said...

Just wait one minute here . . . Onjeesun said; “Casting aspersions?” “I have spoken to him myself and perhaps you all should too before casting aspersions.”

It was the perspective candidate, Marcy Councilman Greg Johnson, who used the cookie cutter clichés like “dysfunctional” and ““Somebody has to go in there and take a look at that and make hard decisions.” These are okay to use but the devil is definitely in the details. The candidate needs to be articulate in answering the questions as to how, as a freshman Assemblyman, he is planning to accomplish the task of transforming the dysfunctionalism of the State Legislature. How does he feel that, in these precarious financial times, that simply bringing “common sense” to the floor of the Assembly is “. . . about all you need” to miraculously turn around the deficits that the State of New York is facing? What plan of action, if any, does he have to address the undue financial burden placed upon all of the citizens of the 116th Assembly district by the lopsided power brokers that pull the political strings of the ultra-powerful downstate Legislators?

Please realize that nobody here is out to cut the candidates legs off before he can get running, but by simply being articulate is not enough to win this seat. This Candidate is seeking an approximately $100,000 per year position that will require him to maintain fully staffed offices within the 116th district, as well in Albany. This is not some small town political seat. By simply using the “off of the shelf” clichés in small vignettes and sound bites will not win over the informed voters. We should not have to seek out the candidate to speak with him. Rather, it is expected for the candidate to get his platform out to the voters with well thought out plans that spell out how he will intelligently attack the damaging “dysfunctional legislature” that has placed the 116th in the mess that it is in today.

I truly wish him well, but we have been burned in the past. In the last election, the imposter candidate took away any chance of having a legitimate choice for the voters. Times are even more serious now and the 116th Assembly District cannot afford to have another bogus candidate. This is why these posts seem to be hammering the candidate, but all of the preliminary indicators from the candidate prompt many of us, who genuinely care for this area, to become skeptical and worriedly cautious.

If Councilman Johnson is the “real deal,” I wish him well and hope that he can convert me into becoming one of his supporters. But his expert election team will first need to lay out an intelligent and comprehensive platform on just how he intends to address the issues of the 116th before he can be recognized as a serious contender.

Anonymous said...

And the Dems will run a token candidate against Griffo. The whole process is a farce.

onjeesun said...

Why don't you go back and read what was written and then tell me again how nobody is trying to cut this guys legs off before he can even start running.

"obstructionist, or worse yet, a lazy good for nothing uninformed imposter",..... "TOKEN CANDIDATE".

The way he is being trashed here you'd think he was an incumbent! All I'm saying is to give the guy a chance before you throw him to the curb.

Strikeslip said...

I'm certainly not trying to cut this gentleman's legs off . . . but the Republican party leadership needs to be given a strong dose of reality:

Their endorsement of this candidate, while necessary to place him on the ballot, comes with the baggage of having fielded a TOKEN candidate the LAST time.

It is unfortunate and even unfair that the party endorsement negatively reflects on Mr. Johnson. . . but that is something that the party is going to have to accept because it was of their own making.

On the other hand, I have heard from some "insiders" (the ones whom I still hold in high regard) that Mr. Johnson IS the "real deal" and will make a fine assemblyman.

We will wait and see what happens.

swimmy said...

Typical. Token candidate appears to be the real deal. A moron is duped into believing the same sound bites from previous token candidates and we're all declared obstructionists. For starters, this particular "obstructionist" has followed the history of the politics here. Every election year, some "real deal" pops up on the radar screen as a small blip. They say all the same sound bites, as already pointed out earlier. Then they disappear from radar. All the while, the incumbent is in the limelight resting on their "records" for their campaigns. As election day approaches, the "real deal" candidate is no where to be heard, and the media runs articles asking where this "real deal" is. Still, nothing but silence, not even a ghost image on the political radar screen remains. Election day approaches and we all learn the "real deal" was nothing but a token. Year in and year out this is how politics in this region is done. Forgive this obstructionist for being burned by previous "real deals," but I'm not falling for another token.

Anonymous said...

Instead of guessing what Mr. Johnson intends, why don't you check his positive record as a Marcy assemblyman as to what his intentions and actions really show ???

onjeesun said...

You can't complain about apathy AND trash someone before they're out of the gates.

Anonymous said...

No one is disparaging the candidate. It is clear, however, based on relationships and past performance that a swath of the Republican Party leadership will deliver support and votes to Destito. Mr.Johnson may deserve better but he will not get the patronage based votes of his own party.

Anonymous said...

So, where is this token candidate? No website, not political ads, no fundraisers, no facebook pages, no platform clearly visible... Oh right, still not out of the gates? Enjoy the history lesson, boys :-)

Greens and Beans said...

This breaks my heart, but the above Anonymous appears to be correct. What is one to think, when after a prospective candidate announces their intent to run for a major political office, locks out any other serious candidate by getting a major political party endorsement, and then fails to do anything? When honestly seeking to unseat a very powerful member of the NYS Assembly, at this point we should be seeing the candidate with full Internet exposure, a staffed public accessible campaign headquarters, and all of the early media appearances one can badger for. But where is there any evidence that the prospective candidate is indeed a serious contender? Nice guy or not, I sincerely hope that we have not been duped again for the same Assembly seat with another Manchurian Candidate. The serious prospective candidate cannot afford to sit back while a well financed and extremely entrenched incumbent attends every public photo op and all of the events being held by the organizations with members voting in the 116th Assembly District. What are we to realistically think? This is what alarms those of us who seek to have the best candidate run for political office. I will probably be taken to the virtual blogger woodshed for this, but this begs the old proverb . . . “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, then darn it . . . it must be a duck.”

I have blogged in the past on how it should gall all of us as the Oneida County Democrat and Republican Parties appear to be amalgamated into one monopolizing political party. No black, no white, just an ugly democracy crushing shade of gray. I often wonder if the seemingly quid pro quo law of political reciprocity we see here in Oneida County, somehow rewards these candidates for their participation in holding democracy at abeyance to advance the favored political elite? Our Founding Fathers of democracy realized that we all lose when the intended checks and balances are taken away from us. I hope this will not be the return of a fixed election. We cannot afford another two years of aggrandizing fanfare over empty promises with nothing but huge bills to show for it.

Anonymous said...

It takes a lot of money to run for most public offices. If a candidate can't self finance and if his party does not assist, a full campaign is impossible. This is a huge advantage to incumbants and to the entrenced poliotical interests and cross party relationships. This is what those in power understand and perpetuate. That is why Mr. Johnson stands no chance of winning.

Anonymous said...

No, he stands a chance, if he wasn't a token candidate. With the Internet age, you can do a lot more for a lot less! It's been almost two weeks and still nothing!

Anonymous said...

The internet approach is interesting and has been very effective elsewhere. It may, some day play a key role in political change around here. I wonder, however, what the proportion of pc owners and users to voter is in this area. Does anyone know? The old age and economic level of the population may limit the effectiveness of the net as a political tool.

Anonymous said...

You would be surprised. And with today's youth, they educate the elders on the candidates. It works, even here in little ol' oneida county.