This is a list of EVERY REPUBLICAN NYS ASSEMBLYMAN AND SENATOR WHO VOTED FOR THE SAFE ACT!
NYS SENATE:
Skelos, Libous, Flanagan, Fuschillo, LaValle, Marcelino, Hannon, Boyle, Golden, Grisanti, Lanza, Martins
NYS ASSEMBLY: Curran, Losquadro, Lupinacci, Malliotakis, McDonough, McKevitt, Ra.
Dear Governor Cuomo, Senators Klein, Marchíone, Skelos, Stewart-Cousins, and Chairman Cox:
By this correspondence, the Saratoga County Deputy Sheriffs’ Police Benevolent Association (SCDSPBA) would like to announce our strong opposition to the passage of the SAFE Act and the manner in which is was negotiated and subsequently voted upon. The SCDSPBA represents the sworn men and women police officers of the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office.
Our objections to the legislation are numerous and begin with the process under which the bill was voted on in the Senate. It is deeply disturbing to our membership, as public servants and Citizens of the state of New York, the manner in which this legislation was brought to the Senate for vote. It is our understanding that many Senators had approximately 20 minutes to read the legislation before being forced to vote on it and note that the bill was brought before the Senate and voted on so quickly that its authors failed to make provisions for the exemption of police officers or the National Guard with respect to the new magazine-capacity requirements. Having reviewed the legislation and given the time constraints, it is our conclusion that there is no possible way any normal person could have read the entire bill and understood its implications prior to voting on it. They most certainly could not have requested and received the input of their constituency and considered their opinions in the matter which is the most basic tenet of a representative government. The entire process was one of secrecy and of intentional withholding of information from the public. We condemn this in the harshest terms. Had there been an opportunity for the public to exercise their right to be involved in the legislative process prior to the bill being voted upon, We would have offered a letter of opposition. Instead, we find ourselves in the rather unique position of opposing legislation after it has been passed. Our membership believes we were denied one of the most basic rights of a democracy by this process and we cannot and will not accept this type of behavior from our elected officials.
In our opinion, there was absolutely no reason for the Governor to use a message of necessity to bring this bill to vote. We note that the Governor has used the message of necessity 35 times since taking office and for nearly every major piece of legislation he has sought to pass. This particular bill has 56 sections; 53 take effect in 60 days, 2 take effect in 1 year and 1 section, which requires owners of certain firearms to register them within 1 year, takes effect immediately. In other words, given the language of the bill itself, there is no emergency. As the message of necessity is to be used solely in the case of a true emergency that warrants the waiver of the 3 day maturing process for all legislation, the Governor’s actions were questionable at best and a deliberate attempt to bypass the Constitutional process and thus opposition to the bill at worst. The evidence strongly suggests the latter.
The Senate Leadership also had a responsibility to negotiate this legislation publicly and to call the Governor out on his excessive use of the message of necessity. Unfortunately, they chose not to do either, thus depriving approximately 19.5 million citizens the opportunity to offer meaningful comments and criticisms of the bill, and to exercise their rights under our system of government. In short, the Senate Leadership allowed the Governor to force legislation upon the citizens of our state. Instead of offering a check-and-balance against the Executive Branch, the Senate Leadership condoned and authorized what may fairly be described as ruling by fiat. Whether one is for or against the new legislation, all citizens should be truly concerned by the manner in which our allegedly representative government behaved and we condemn this in the harshest terms.
As a predominantly rural county in upstate New York, the lawful ownership of firearms is and has been a valued tradition enjoyed by many of our citizens.
Sadly, the legislation effectively turns countless law-abiding gun owners into criminals for absolutely no reason. Many of our membership are gun-owners and have gone through the same licensing process as non-police officers and it is our belief that this process has served our citizens well. Mandating law-abiding gun owners to now have to register certain types of firearms on a yearly basis, in addition to registering them on their permits (which now must be renewed every 5 years), accomplishes nothing in the area of public safety and is unnecessarily burdensome to a citizen who has done nothing but abide by the laws of our state.
The SCSDPBA reminds the addressees that “assault weapons,” which are banned under the new legislation if they have 1 military-type feature, were responsible for 5 out of 769 homicides in New York last year or .007% – hardly a public safety crisis for our state. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted 4 cases involving assault weapons last year none of which involved their use in the commission of a crime and a recent FBI report showed that hammers and clubs were responsible for more deaths than rifles and shotguns. Given the foregoing, our membership questions why there was a need to ban the lawful use, possession, and sale of these firearms at all. Again, many citizens of our county previously enjoyed the use of these rifles for activities such as hunting and target shooting, and are now being forced to register these firearms, on a yearly basis, when they have done nothing wrong. In addition, any semi-automatic pistol that has 1 “military-type” feature will, under the new law, be considered an assault weapon. While it may come as a surprise to the authors of the legislation, most semi-automatic pistols do in fact come with a pistol grip, making nearly every semi-automatic pistol an assault weapon and thus subject to registration on a yearly basis. This registration is in addition to registering the pistol on one’s pistol license every 5 years. The SCDSPBA believes this is absurd, serves no public safety interest in the slightest, and crosses the proverbial line from reasonable restrictions on gun ownership to outright harassment of law-abiding gun owners.
As police officers who encounter criminal activity on a daily basis, our membership finds the notion that a criminal might somehow wait in line to turn in his or her high-capacity magazines or sell them to someone out-of-state to be so ridiculous as to be not based in reality. It is beyond shocking that a member of a body entrusted to legislate the very laws that govern our society could, with a straight face, argue this point. Our membership believes, as do most people of sound mind, that the only persons who will abide by the new high-capacity magazine ban are the law-abiding, leaving the same high-capacity magazines in the hands of those who choose not to obey the law. Additionally, from an ethical and moral standpoint, we question why, if high-capacity magazines are as destructive and deadly as the legislature contends, they would be allowed to be sold to someone out-of-state. Certainly, they would be as dangerous in New Jersey as they would be in New York. Since 85 to 90% of guns used in crimes in New York originate from out-of-state, it is nothing short of incredible to us that the authors of this legislation could not have foreseen the possibility of these magazines finding their way back into New York. However this is the proposed solution offered by our elected officials, for which we can find no discernible logic.
Whíle there are some areas of the legislation that the union finds encouraging, such as addressing glaring shortcomings in the mental health system, by-and-large, our membership finds the legislation to be little more than a thinly-veiled attempt at regulating lawful gun ownership out of existence. From the manner in which the legislation was negotiated in secret, to the fashion in which it was brought to the Senate floor for vote, there was nothing about the process that was transparent or that took into consideration what cannot be disputed that law-abiding gun owners are not and have not been the source of criminal activity.The legislation fails miserably to offer any meaningful solutions to the epidemic of gun violence and places the blame squarely where it does not belong on the shoulders of law-abiding citizens. One need look no further than the embarrassment of New York’s Combined Ballistic Identification System that devoured $44 million in taxpayer money over ll years to regulate lawful gun ownership and which resulted in no convictions of anyone for anything to illustrate the non-complicity of lawful gun-owners in recent events.
In recent days, we have also become aware of published reports describing a large and growing movement within our state of citizens who have apparently announced their intention of non-compliance with the new statutes as they relate to assault weapons and registration. With an estimated 1 million assault rifles in existence throughout New York, it is beyond comprehension that the legislature and the Governor would needlessly place police officers in a position where they might be called upon to confiscate the previously lawfully owned property of an American citizen. There can be no denying the potential danger this prospect places law enforcement in and once again strongly suggests a bill that was rushed to passage without aforethought or any regard for its potential implications. We cannot excuse this and do not appreciate our very safety being sacrificed for political gain.
In conclusion, we would be remiss were We to not mention our outrage at the conduct of the Senate Republican Coalition. Many of our membership contacted Senator Skelos’ office on a regular basis to voice opposition to additional regulations of firearms and were assured that the senator’s office was being flooded with similar calls. We have, in the past, always looked to the Republican party to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens much in the same way we place our lives on the line every day to protect the rights of all citizens. To have them negotiated away in secret and to be stripped of them in a clandestine vote is both appalling and unforgivable. It will most certainly give pause to many of our individual members when considering their voting choices in the future and we condemn this in the strongest possible way. For the foregoing reasons, we cannot offer our support for this legislation. We encourage members of the legislature to hold hearings where the public is afforded the right to participate in the legislative process, to address the issue of gun violence in a way that might actually produce meaningful results, and to stop holding law-abiding citizens who choose to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment hostage for the criminal behavior of another, and the political aspirations of the Governor.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Fuller
President – SCDSPBA
As representatives headed back to Washington, D.C. this week, U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, said for the sake of small businesses, the need for overall repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains.
On the other hand, Nate Shinagawa of Ithaca, his Democratic opponent in the Congressional race said the act will help small businesses. The tax credit small businesses in New York state get under the act will increase in 2014, he said...
Shinagawa noted the Affordable Care Act doesn’t require small businesses with under 50 employees to get health insurance for their employees. He said he would like more businesses provide healthcare insurance to their employees.Tom Reed grew up in Corning and is a graduate of Horseheads Central School. Nathan Shinagwa, son of a tenured professor, touted his urban Los Angeles upbringing when he last ran for office in leftist-dominated Tompkins County.
Pete Richardson of Wappingers Falls said he spends roughly $94 a week filling up his 2010 GMC Terrain.
“I’m obviously not happy about (gas prices) because it constrains my family and what we can do together,” he said.
Richardson, 32, said it’s frustrating with the economic situation that employees aren’t making more but are being asked to pay more.
Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said pump prices will be part of their political messaging, alongside other staples like jobs data. “We are going to be talking about every economic factor,” she said.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, vows to hit vulnerable Senate Democrats – such as Claire McCaskill (Mo.) – and Obama over the prices.
“The NRSC fully intends to highlight the disastrous effects President Obama’s EPA has had on our nation’s energy prices including their rejection of the Keystone Pipeline,” said spokesman Lance Trover.Unlike corruption at the Export-Import Bank, gas prices are an issue that most voters can instantly understand. Let's see if the Republicans can can make the easy shots.
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| Pals Sharpton and Gillibrand |
To encourage investors, a complete exclusion on all capital gains is offered if you hold the stock of a company with under $50 million in gross assets for five years. There is also a provision that allows small businesses to write off up to $500,000 in tangible property, and all in one year, rather than over the lifetime of the equipment.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., toured Eileen Yager’s Dunlap Road farm in Richland Thursday afternoon, announcing support for a $4.3 million federal grant to encourage New York farmers to grow shrub willows as a renewable energy source.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has earmarked more than $4 million under the USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program to pay farmers to plant up to 3,500 acres of willow in 2013 and 2014. Land preparation will start this year.
Shrub willow? Kirsten Gillibrand made big bucks short selling sub prime mortgage companies after she and her pal Andy Cuomo at Bill Clinton's HUD forced banks to make the bad loans. Now she's spending four million of your hard earned tax dollars to plant weeds.  |
| Allen West |
“Now we have a federal government that has unlimited taxing authority and power based upon the precedent that was just established by the Supreme Court,” West said, “So that if I want to tell you that all runners in the United States of America must buy New Balance running shoes and if you don’t buy New Balance running shoes, I’ll tax you for it.”
West said that there is now literally "nothing that the government cannot do" by imposing a tax.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a top surrogate for GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, suggested Wednesday night that controversial Tea Party freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) could be a "good" choice as the party's vice presidential nominee.
Nikki Haley, Sarah Palin "You've got great ones. You have heard Gov. Palin talk about West, and he's good," Haley told Fox News. "Of course, Marco Rubio is great, and Chris Christie. We know he can be the fighter, and I think there are so many really great ones out there. I think Romney is going to have a hard time picking."
Palin told Fox on Tuesday night that she hoped Romney "goes rogue" and picks someone like West for the nomination.
"Top of my list is Allen West," Palin said. "I love that he has that military experience, he is a public servant willing to serve for the right reasons. When I talk about going rogue, what I want is to encourage the GOP nominee to not think that they have to go with somebody necessarily safe."
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| Harry Reid, Joe Biden |
“Although I have yet to read fully all the opinions in this complicated ruling, I respectfully disagree that Obamacare’s individual mandate is justified as a tax. But now that the Court majority has called it a ‘tax,’ as New York’s next United States Senator, I will work to repeal this tax and replace it with a sensible plan to improve health insurance coverage for all Americans.”
The main purpose and idea of my campaign is not original. I can't claim authorship. An inspired group of New Yorkers and other Americans came up with the idea, about 225 years ago.
It's called limited self-government, of the people, by the people, and for the people.
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| Wendy at the range |
With so many serious issues and responsibilities before the United States Senate, New York needs a Senator who thinks for herself - not just someone who rubber-stamps the Obama agenda or checks with Chuck Schumer and says, "Me too!"
Independence is a quality that New Yorkers used to count on in our Senators, regardless of party. Think of names like Kennedy, Buckley, Moynihan, Clinton, D'Amato: a lot of political differences come to mind. But they have something in common, too: they are names associated with purpose, with ideas, and with stature worthy of a Senator from New York, not a cheerleader on the sidelines of an administration whose policies have so clearly failed.
And this brings me to the heart of my candidacy.
The main purpose and idea of my campaign is not original. I can't claim authorship. An inspired group of New Yorkers and other Americans came up with the idea, about 225 years ago.
It's called limited self-government, of the people, by the people, and for the people.
You didn’t see it in the mainstream financial media Wednesday morning. But stocks loved Governor Scott Walker’s spanking of public-sector unions and Democrats in Wisconsin. The Dow jumped about 165 points right at the opening on Wednesday, and was up over 200 points later in the day. There really was no other news. There was some speculation about central bank stimulus in Europe and the United States. Blah, blah, blah. But there was nothing specific or concrete.
So it’s an easy point to make: Markets love the Scott Walker landslide.
Bitter about paying artificially high prices for the non-artificial sweetener everyone uses just so a politically connected family can enjoy the sweet life? It's time lawmakers put a lid on the honey pot.
An Iowa State University study has found that the federal sugar program costs U.S. consumers roughly $3.5 billion a year and deprives the workforce of 20,000 jobs. This New Deal-era framework of barriers on sugar imports and of price supports for domestic sugar is a racket that benefits only a few, in particular the Fanjul family of Florida.
There’s no one working in the former Nestle chocolate plant, so there’s no need for the parking restrictions around the plant, according to city of Fulton officials.
This week, lawmakers approved the elimination of 30 minute parking restrictions and a no-stopping order on Fay St., which runs along the front entrance of the closed plant, and 2 hour restrictions on a block of Lyons St. and several blocks of S. Fifth St.
“When Nestle was operating, they asked us to enforce the parking,” said Mayor Ron Woodward. The 30 minute parking made it possible for Nestle’s customers and visitors to find a convenient place to park, he said.
A top official at the state Thruway Authority on Wednesday didn't rule out a potential toll increase as the authority develops a long-term financial plan.
Milstein, a billionaire banker and real estate businessman and a major donor to Cuomo and other state Democrats and Republicans, is the governor’s choice to head the Thruway Authority. Cuomo rejects the notion that Milstein’s donations had any link to his appointment, and maybe that’s possible. What does a billionaire want with a high-level patronage job, anyway? Defending the appointment, Cuomo said, “He’s an extraordinary businessman and having a private sector businessman who’s successful in real estate and finances makes total sense for the Thruway Authority.”
Well, maybe. First, though, you have to define successful. The fact is that Milstein’s real estate record in Niagara Falls has been abysmal. Milstein and his brother, Edward, have purchased about 441 parcels in downtown Niagara Falls over the last 12 years under the company name of Niagara Falls Redevelopment.
The Milsteins have done virtually nothing with these properties. They have outsized influence over economic development in Niagara Falls and that influence is shown in a swath of vacant, unimproved properties. Now—from the perspective of Western New Yorkers, at least—that disastrous record is being rewarded with a plum assignment from the governor. It’s deflating.
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| AES Cayuga |
This proposed legislation, titled S.6842, recommends the establishment of a power purchase agreement with the New York State Power Authority. The legislation would ensure that the AES Cayuga plant reopens and remains operational for a minimum of three years.
Under the legislation, energy purchased from the AES Cayuga plant would be directed to supplement the state's ReCharge NY program. The ReCharge NY program allocates low-cost power to New York State employers.
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| Harker |
The latest brick in the wall is the predictably named "Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century Act," also known as Senate Bill 1813. (See here for the full text of the bill itself; the relevant section is 31406.) This legislation -- already passed by the Senate and likely to be passed by the House -- will impose a legal requirement that all new cars made beginning with the 2015 models be fitted with so-called Event Data Recorders (EDRs). These are the "black boxes" you may have read about that store data about how you drive -- including whether you wear a seat belt and how fast you drive -- ostensibly for purposes of post-accident investigation.
In fact, sure as the rooster crows in the morning, you can bet the next step will a law requiring older cars not originally fitted with the technology be fitted with it -- or else decommissioned. It is inconceivable that they -- the government and its insurance company cronies -- will allow anyone to drive a vehicle not subject to this monitoring and control. They will insist it's not "safe" -- and of course, "unfair" that owners of older cars not equipped with EDRs are able to "get away" with "speeding" and not wearing their seat belts.
President Obama's approval rating has hit the lowest level ever in CBS News polling, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times survey. The drop may be partially attributable to rising gas prices.
Just 41 percent of Americans approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president, according to the poll, conducted from March 7 to 11. Another 47 percent disapprove of his performance, up from 41 percent last month.Mr. Obama's approval rating was 50 percent last month.
The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 12 cents over the past two weeks. The poll found that most Americans, 54 percent, believe gas prices are something a president can do a lot about.
