Veritable Pastiche Endorses Andrew Russo

Most regular readers know that typically the only endorsement I give at election time is an endorsement of the power of voting itself.  But this year, I’m actually endorsing a candidate, Andrew Russo, in the race for NY Senate in my district.  

Like most Empire Staters, I’m fed up with the nonsense that passes for ‘government’ in Albany, particularly in the Senate.  The governor’s mansion and the Assembly have their own issues, but the poster children for bad behavior, selfish partisanship, failed promises and do-nothing-ness have to be our Senators (read more here, here, and here). 

My senator David Valesky and John DeFrancisco, who represents pretty much the rest of Syracuse, are both key players in their parties.  Both have had ample opportunity to make things better, to collaborate on behalf of the citizens of Central New York and all New Yorkers as a whole. 

Instead, both were involved in the disastrous, embarrassing, and paralyzing coup in 2009 and since then neither have acquitted themselves well.  While I can’t take part in voting out DeFrancisco (I can only encourage his constituents to do that), I can participate in sending David Valesky home. I believe now is the time to do that.

Why now?  Because he squandered the opportunity he had as a member of the Senate leadership, at a time when the Dems controlled all three houses of government in Albany, to really make a difference for New York, to enact real legislative reform, and to make the hard decisions we needed him to make to help secure our future. 

Why Andrew Russo?  Because he believes in term limits, pension reform, and he talks logically about campaign finance reform. He believes that legislators should have real jobs (as he does), and get their benefits from those jobs, rather than from our tax dollars. He believes that good ideas come from people, not from political parties, and that the way to govern is to bring people together to put those good ideas into place. And of course he’s in favor of more jobs, lower taxes, reduced spending and increased growth in our state.  

How do I know this?  Because I asked him, and he answered me. Which means that, even before he’s in Albany, he’s a couple rungs up in my book because Valesky has never had the courtesy to answer my email. 

I’ve always considered myself a centrist Dem, but over time, I’ve become more fiscally conservative. I still believe that when citizens truly need help, government should be there, but to offer a leg up, not a handout. We can’t afford to make promises to and protect every corporate interest, every constituent group, every union job, and remain solvent. And we certainly can’t continue to afford a legislature as dysfunctional as the one we have today.

Andrew Russo is not perfect.  I think some of his ads were on the negative side, I'm not excited that DeFrancisco was an early supporter, and I'm not thrilled with the money and support he got from the Republican machine. I'm concerned about his ability to say no to them, and to collaborate with Dems if his leadership doesn't want him to. And I told him that.  He says I'm more important than they are, and I hope he's sincere.  

But under the circumstances, I think we could do a lot worse, including maintaining the status quo.  And that's why I'm voting for Andrew Russo. I hope you'll consider doing the same.