Mabfan's Musings

Must be nice to have a state senator you want to vote for. My choice today is between one of the pack of good-for-nothing Albany incumbents; a guy who won the lottery and is using his winnings to fund his campaign and who is, from what I can tell, too far right to be running as a Democrat; and someone who has a poster in his office showing him in front of a sign from a local rabbinical group, and another sign stating that this group never endorses candidates (which makes me think he should have taken down the poster).

All three have spend absurd amounts of money running for the job, have sent out endless mailings smearing the other guys, and have pandered something fierce to the Jews.

I don't subscribe to the idea of "throw the bums out" since a lot of the time the incumbent is not that bad. I am willing to say that given Albany, this is a special case. But neither of the other candidates strike me as improvements. I think in the end, I will go with the devil I know. This really stinks.

Now I'm curious to know who those candidates are.

What's nice about Senator Creem is that not only are we mostly aligned politically, but she helped out the local Jewish community this year when an anti-circumcision bill was forced upon the senate to consider. She chairs the joint Judiciary Committee, and they gave the bill an unfavorable recommendation (freedom of religion, anyone?). So I became even more inclined to support her.

Huh. So I guess it does matter if someone is pro-Jewish. I just wish it didn't feel like they were running for the US Senate.

The incumbent is Toby Stavisky, and the opponents are Isaac Sasson and John Messer.

Running for the US Senate? I don't understand. Is that how it feels to you, and if so, why?

I don't see where you stand on Israel as being important at the state senate level. That should be reserved for US senators and maybe the mayor or the governor.

Not that it matters a lot, since there isn't any doubt all three candidates are pro-Israel and pro-Jewish.

Also, I have never seen this much being spent on a local race. I got more mail from these three than I did from the five candidates for Attorney General. It seems out of whack.

Ah. I see. No, our state senate candidates aren't debating anything about Israel in this election.

Obviously, you have three very enthusiastic candidates, all of whom want to represent you. It could be worse. They could have robocalled you all night.

Oh, of course they did. As did the candidates for AG. As will Cuomo and Schumer and Gillibrand. It's annoying, but no more so than calls from charities. At least you can hang up on a robocall and not have to be rude.

I suppose Boston is about the least likely place to do this, given the existence of Toscanini's, Herrell's, Cristina's, etc., but has anyone ever addressed the Senator as "Cold" Stone Creem [ery]"? : -)

Yeah, the joke has been made once or twice.

[whistles innocently, averts gaze]