One doesn’t often see the words “enacted,” “repealed’ or “passed” in the campaign literature of downtrodden, lower-than-whale-spit minority members of the state legislature. Majorities rule inAlbany, with a vengeance.
But there in last week’s weekly mailing was two-and-a-half-term minority party assemblyman and sate Senate candidate George Amedore Jr. taking credit for capping property taxes, repealing the MTA payroll tax, passing pension reform, enacting ethics reform and balancing not one but two budgets “delivered on time.”
Amazing. Even the governor can’t do it by himself. Here was a backbench minority member of the Assembly sounding as though the government couldn’t function without him.
As told by Amedore, his is a record that would make even braggadocios like former assemblyman John Guerin (1995-1998) blush, Even Tom Kirwan, the sadly remembered mouth from the south (Newburgh), couldn’t have topped it.
In fact, Amedore, who seeks a seat in the new (Ulster-Montgomery) 46th State Senate district, merely voted for all those measures, as did overwhelming majorities in both houses. To suggest that Gov. Andrew Cuomo consulted with any member of the minority in any meaningful way as Amedore intimates is to say that at long lastAlbany has been reformed. It hasn’t been. Anybody who pays even passing attention to the goings on in Capitaland knows that.
Amedore, in this his fourth campaign for state office, is being disingenuous in leading voters to conclusions that ain’t necessarily so. Though the state Republican Campaign Committee puts out these flyers, a candidate remains ultimately responsible for his own literature.
Amedore scores when he talks about running a construction business and putting people to work and into new homes. There should be more people in the legislature like that, fewer BS artists.
As the campaigns idle through the summer, Amedore would be wise to follow the sage counsel of a long-time and now long-retired public servant from the city he hopes to represent in January. It was former Kingstonalderman Tony Crespino in a memorable malaprop, who once advised his colleague, “The people aren’t as stupid as we think they are.” They’re really not.
Meanwhile, Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk officially announced her candidacy against Amedore on the well-trod county courthouse steps inKingston on Tuesday. I no longer find it odd that candidates campaign up and down their would-be districts for months, gratefully accepting official endorsements from various political committees, and then “officially” announce they’re running. And we thought new people would do things differently?
Correction: Tkaczyk called to advise she was raised on a dairy farm inNew Jersey, not upstate Duanesburg, where she currently herds sheep. My baaad. With a background like that, she could be a leader in the state Senate some day.
Tracking Julian
Now that he’s running for Congress in an 11-county district, we don’t see much of our Wall Street neighbor Julian Schreibman. Sure, there’s some fresh-faced kids staffing his campaign headquarters across the street, but the man himself is out on the hustings.
Ergo, on a lovely Sunday morning, I found an excuse to put the top down and take the scenic route to Catskill for a Schreibman meet-and-greet sponsored by the Greene County Democratic Committee.
Join the family! 
