Big Brother Speaks

If you live where I live in the city of Albany, and you want to have cable TV in your home, You call Time Warner. You might say there is FiOS or satellite, why not go there? Well, the simple answer is that FiOS isn’t available, and, I don’t want a dish on top of my house. In Albany, if you want to read a newspaper, you have only one choice, and that’s the Times Union. Which brings to mind an idiom: One Horse Town. The phrase “one horse town” is American; we use the expression disparagingly to designate a town of such limited resources, so sleepy and dole-so, that one horse might be able to do all it’s necessary transportation. In this case we’ll change the last word in that phrase to two words: news reporting. People of voting status that vote because it’s their constitutional right, are very likely not to keep in touch with current affairs, and rely on it’s only newspaper for guidance. In this years local elections it is becoming glaringly apparent who’s side they are on. In Albany over the recent years, there has been a steady turn away from the ”old school machine” we’ll call it, in favor of the ”progressive” Democrats. This week the progressive newspaper has come out in support in the races of mayor and treasurer in favor of Kathy Sheehan and her lackey Darius Shahinfar, respectively. In this city, where Democrats enjoy an 11-1 enrollment, one must wonder: is Sheehan really a Democrat at all? Sheehan even went on further to ignore the Democratic Party’s endorsement of her because she didn’t want to be associated with the Party’s choice of Gary Domalewicz, and circulated her own petitions. Mind you Shahinfar is just a tag-along to Sheehan’s campaign who has been unsuccessful in seeking another citywide post. The Times Union hedged just some on saying that the two candidates for treasurer had basically the same views in issues, but in my mind went the other way just to hold the progressive line. Domalewicz is a long time electorate in county politics; which does not make him a bad guy. Call me old school, but what’s wrong with old school. In earlier times, morning radio was filled with professionals like Bill Edwardson, and Bill Patrick with cognac voices that had their opinion, but also had real colleagues doing the news, not just someone you hand copy to and say ”read it.” Now, the local airwaves consist of self-serving loud-mouths mostly unwilling to hear the opinions of others. In print, the Times Union, with no other competition, no other Editorial Board to consider, is ”Big Brother.” In the race for mayor, they seem to give no credence to Corey Ellis’ campaign. Corey wants to extract some well needed and well deserved funds from some of the tax-exempt entities like the State of New York, and Albany Med. Why isn’t that not an option? Yes they employ a great deal of people in the Capital District, but what are they going to do? Move the Capitol to Utica? Ellis wants to give a concentrated effort concerning the blight in our city neighborhoods, and while a clear cut solution is not clear, the landbank proposed by Sheehan is not an option for the simple reasons: it won’t work, and it won’t work. However it’s the ”progressive” thing to do. You need to do the right thing, Albany. Don’t listen to Big Brother; put Corey Ellis and Gary Domalewicz in City Hall.