Maury Thompson: Treadwell's Cheerleader
By Upstate Blue, Section News
Posted on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:17:14 PM EST
Maury Thompson, the political editor of The (Glens Falls) Post-Star has published another article, now with Johnsburg Supervisor Bill Thomas endorsing Sandy Treadwell for Congress and offers a few quotes of him praising Treadwell's (not so) accomplished work (I just want to gag when the article opens up with Treadwell being "just a special person"). My big question - is it even relevant or newsworthy when supervisors of hamlets which practically aren't even on the map make endorsements? Worse, Maury was writing a few days ago about the Thurman supervisor endorsing Gillibrand. Yes, Thurman where half the roads aren't even paved. (It almost seems like this is an effort amongst The Post-Star publishers to try to do whatever they can to start to build momentum behind the Treadwell campaign)
It is very tough to try to work to build a Democratic majority in our region when much of the area?s major media sources only appear to be working to ensure continued dominance of the area?s Republican machine. For once it would be nice to see The Post-Star and The Saratogian no longer cave into their Republican-fundraising advertisers and start to deliver more accurate, unbiased political content. Recently, it?s appeared almost as if Maury Thompson and The Post-Star have become literal cheerleaders for the 2008 Treadwell and Wager campaigns, parroting almost anything the local GOP bosses in Saratoga and Warren Counties want them to say.
Kirsten Gillibrand has been the biggest threat (or nuisance) the local Republican machines have faced in a long time. Because nearly 90% of the area?s political offices have traditionally been held by the GOP, the Republicans have been able to easily continue their one-party fiefdom throughout the Tri-County region, as nearly no local Democratic officeholders have even been around to positively reinforce the progressive brand or offer constituent services in the area. Not to mention the fact that for many years, registering Republican in the Tri-County region was the only way for many people to advance their career prospects or avoid getting their assessments jacked. Now that Gillibrand has been getting quite a positive response in the area, there certainly has to be a major angst amongst the Republican establishment in Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties that Gillibrand?s popularity could eventually lead to increased Democratic victories at the local and county levels. For a political party that?s basically had a monopoly on all the area?s political offices, as well as controlled most of the patronage jobs for nearly a century and a half perhaps it?s not so easy to deal with the reality that a more open-minded, two-party political system may be in the process of emerging in the Tri-County Region. (This could be why the machine is now making such an early, aggressive effort to take down Gillibrand)
But it?s more than just this - Maybe these old archaic conservative dinosaurs that currently rule don?t want (or are afraid of) a system where women would finally have equal representation on our county legislatures, or where environmental conservationists rule instead of the anti-APA wingnuts who could care less if the Adirondack Park starts to look like Germany?s Black Forest. (Let?s see what the wingnuts have to say when the economy of northern Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties go even further into the toilet because they can no longer get revenue from the tourists. Besides this, it would also be whether the wignuts take pride in the fact Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties received some of the lowest scores in the state for lack of gender diversity from the Susan B. Anthony Center)
However the ramifications of electoral change would be even larger than policy change - it would mean that for once the people in most towns and villages throughout Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties may actually have a choice of two candidates to choose from on the ballot, instead of the current system where Jasper Nolan, Mike Bittel and Mike Grasso basically hire all the local officeholders. Think about it ? for the first time in years, there may actually be a real political democracy around here. We many actually become like most places in America with two-party contested elections for a change.. One person sent me an e-mail last year and said something along these lines - ?Colin, living in Washington County is like living in Saddam Hussein?s Iraq. For every office, we usually only have the choice of one candidate who we can either pull the lever for on the Republican line or the Conservative line. Do we really want to continue to feel like we?re living in a third-world nation politically??
It is very tough to try to work to build a Democratic majority in our region when much of the area?s major media sources only appear to be working to ensure continued dominance of the area?s Republican machine. For once it would be nice to see The Post-Star and The Saratogian no longer cave into their Republican-fundraising advertisers and start to deliver more accurate, unbiased political content. Recently, it?s appeared almost as if Maury Thompson and The Post-Star have become literal cheerleaders for the 2008 Treadwell and Wager campaigns, parroting almost anything the local GOP bosses in Saratoga and Warren Counties want them to say.
Kirsten Gillibrand has been the biggest threat (or nuisance) the local Republican machines have faced in a long time. Because nearly 90% of the area?s political offices have traditionally been held by the GOP, the Republicans have been able to easily continue their one-party fiefdom throughout the Tri-County region, as nearly no local Democratic officeholders have even been around to positively reinforce the progressive brand or offer constituent services in the area. Not to mention the fact that for many years, registering Republican in the Tri-County region was the only way for many people to advance their career prospects or avoid getting their assessments jacked. Now that Gillibrand has been getting quite a positive response in the area, there certainly has to be a major angst amongst the Republican establishment in Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties that Gillibrand?s popularity could eventually lead to increased Democratic victories at the local and county levels. For a political party that?s basically had a monopoly on all the area?s political offices, as well as controlled most of the patronage jobs for nearly a century and a half perhaps it?s not so easy to deal with the reality that a more open-minded, two-party political system may be in the process of emerging in the Tri-County Region. (This could be why the machine is now making such an early, aggressive effort to take down Gillibrand)
But it?s more than just this - Maybe these old archaic conservative dinosaurs that currently rule don?t want (or are afraid of) a system where women would finally have equal representation on our county legislatures, or where environmental conservationists rule instead of the anti-APA wingnuts who could care less if the Adirondack Park starts to look like Germany?s Black Forest. (Let?s see what the wingnuts have to say when the economy of northern Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties go even further into the toilet because they can no longer get revenue from the tourists. Besides this, it would also be whether the wignuts take pride in the fact Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties received some of the lowest scores in the state for lack of gender diversity from the Susan B. Anthony Center)
However the ramifications of electoral change would be even larger than policy change - it would mean that for once the people in most towns and villages throughout Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties may actually have a choice of two candidates to choose from on the ballot, instead of the current system where Jasper Nolan, Mike Bittel and Mike Grasso basically hire all the local officeholders. Think about it ? for the first time in years, there may actually be a real political democracy around here. We many actually become like most places in America with two-party contested elections for a change.. One person sent me an e-mail last year and said something along these lines - ?Colin, living in Washington County is like living in Saddam Hussein?s Iraq. For every office, we usually only have the choice of one candidate who we can either pull the lever for on the Republican line or the Conservative line. Do we really want to continue to feel like we?re living in a third-world nation politically??
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