Note: This will be my only post for this week as I am on vacation.
For what it is worth, Upstream is endorsing Phil Steck for the Democratic primary in New York State’s 21st Congressional District race and Steven Vasquez for the Republican primary.
The endorsement of Phil Steck came about by a process of elimination. Sullivan is too conservative and has little chance of winning. Shahinfar has little that makes him stand out from the pack, and he too has little chance of winning. Tracey Brooks, although seemingly a woman of principle, is the most liberal of the five Democratic candidates and too liberal for my taste. Paul Tonko has spent a quarter century being part of a system that has brought New York State to the edge of an economic abyss. He would serve the state better by going back to NYSERDA. That leaves Phil Steck, who is probably the Democrat who would most likely continue the Stratton/McNulty legacy of the 21st Congressional District.
Endorsing Steven Vasquez was not a matter of elimination. Indeed, Steven Vasquez stands out as the most unique and most fit candidate among all seven candidates. His commitment to smaller government, more individual freedom, less spending and less taxation goes beyond the commitment of all of the other candidates. His candid answers to questions and his commitment to the United States’ Constitution set him apart from candidates who give evasive answers and candidates who while attempting to appear pure by renouncing PAC money, revel in the endorsements of special interest groups to which they will be beholden if they get elected.
2 Comments
August 27, 2008 at 9:40 am
So you justify not voting for Tonko because he “has spent a quarter century being part of a system that has brought NYS to the edge of economic abyss”, but feel that Steck would most likely continue the Stratton/McNulty legacy? Somehow McNulty is exempt from being part of the system that has brought NYS to the edge even though he has also been entrenched in upstate NYS politics for that same quarter century. McNulty has left a ‘legacy’ while Tonko has left a ‘mess’.
Can anybody say ’selective historical interpretation’? It is lazy demagoguery to characterize a man’s political legacy and career as a reflection of all the woes that have befallen our beleaguered upstate cities. Negative forces have been conspiring against our old industrial cities for decades and to expect our politicians to perform the houdini-like act of resurrecting them overnight is both unrealistic and unproductive. Much like the devolution of our post industrial economy which has slowly, but inexorably, weakened our communities, we need someone who has been part of its recent evolution. The slow, start and stop, process of figuring how private-public initiatives can spur development in areas where private industry has all but abandoned. Gone are the days when a factory magnate will employ a thousand families, fund the local hospital and nursing home, and oversee a housing development for nearby workers.
Today’s problems and solutions are far different for our little cities, and I’d much rather have a guy who knows these issues firsthand than someone who is rooted in suburbia and relates more to the soccer mom who is having trouble fueling her SUV these days.
August 29, 2008 at 12:41 am
Well said, Upstream. The reasoning behind your endorsements is sound, and your coverage of the race commendable. It takes great effort and many hours to produce that kind of coverage without pay, especially from a more remote area of the district.
I agree with your slate. That would be an excellent election. Mr. Vasquez may be a little green and I may be more than a bit liberal. But he is young, has energy, and the Ron Paul wing is not without its good ideas, nor undeserving of respect. Mr. Steck is, of course, a candidate that resonated with me early on and I have done much work for. He is not at all of the Washington system, like Mr. Vasquez, and is firm in his stances, which is what we’ll need in a Congressman serving in either an Obama or McCain administration. In that respect, I endorse the latter.
Keep up the good work, Upstream. I sincerely hope that it has a positive impact on the process by which people make their decisions for primary day.