As the debate over gay marriage continues to broil in Albany, one Clinton County legislator has made his position perfectly clear.

Sam Trombley is against gay marriage.

“I’m surprised the health department has not come out against this because we are going to have an HIV epidemic if this passes,” Trombley (R-Area 2, Ellenburg) said at Wednesday night’s legislature meeting.

It gets better:

Trombley went on to say that even the animal world understands that same-sex relationships are not natural.

“You don’t see two male dogs sleeping in the same dog house together,” he said.

Yes. Really.

Over the past month and into this coming evening, Albany, the wee capital of New York State has been making headlines over the back and forth haggling between legislators on the issue of marriage equality. It’s a tale as old as time: Some want it, some don’t. We’re just sitting around obsessively refreshing the state Senate website and Twitter to see if this measure gets a fair shake via up or down vote. If so, New York would be the largest/most-populous state to allow same-sex couples to marry. I must say that being from Albany and living in walking distance from where all of this is going on, makes me At the same time, I cannot help but have in the back of my mind the knowledge that there are people like Mr. Trombley above who are so willfully uneducated and oblivious to reality. Of course one person’s asinine views will not keep me from being at least someone excited to be on the cusp of something so huge.

I’m also loving the comments on this post from the Times Union’s Capitol Confidential Blog

The day Chris Lee resigned I felt for his constituents first and his staff second. His constituents in need of someone to handle their Medicare, Immigration, Medicaid and flag requests. Then the staff that is now subject to possible ridicule for working for a man who managed to be so very irresponsible in his actions with little regard for who might be affected. This ‘I feel for you’ quickly turns to anger as I questioned why a member of congress might attempt to get their swerve on via Craig’s list and think that they won’t get caught. The balls on these men – the Lees, Vitters, Edwards and now Weiners of the world – to exploit not only themselves but their positions is not only disgraceful to the office they hold and the people they represent but also to those around them.

That is where Anthony Weiner finds himself today wrapped in shame, which is where he should be. He is part of rather close knit delegation of 31 – including the House and both Senators – and right now he finds himself the odd man out. The head of the DCCC also happens to represent the western part of Long Island and now he must stand with Leader Pelosi to say that a House Ethics investigation will proceed against a colleague who represents a district just a few miles away. Trace amounts of shame always ends up on those who are even in the periphery. As such he will remain an untouchable to the rest. No one else wants that on them.

What I keep going back to though, as I write this and as these sex scandals continue, is that they’re all men and always are men. That coincidence is not lost on me but I find myself wondering why. Is it a power trip in them? They’ve been elected and feel powerful and thus omnipotent? Is it something about what they are already offered to vote and do certain things (money) so that transfers into sexcapades? What is it about these men who are so brazen with their willingness to share photos of their genitalia but upon getting caught it’s hush, hush and suddenly hiding on the sidelines. How interesting that Weiner step out yesterday afternoon while in New York because the House is in recess this week. How do you go back to just doing your job – a job that requires interacting with people and deal with the sideways glances. How can you shake your constituents’ hand or hold their baby claiming that you will work for them in Washington but when you’re in Washington, you are doing this? How?

I wonder if things would be like this if women ran the world. I really do. I wonder if more women should run for office because they might take it a little more seriously and the power wouldn’t get into our heads in manifest in such a destructive way. Sure we have power trips but we end up Divas who want crushed ice not cubed in our water. Is there a natural something in our make up that makes it more difficult to exploit our power or our sexuality in such a public fashion? I suppose that what I am asking is what makes men and women so…different? For me It’s not just that this a politician and not just that my respect for politicians diminishes when a scandal like this occurs but it’s wondering if a woman would find herself in a similar situation and if so how would it be handled?

I guess more women are going to have to run for office and show these men how it’s done. Fingers crossed that this is how it ends.

It’s not as catchy as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and there’s no devilishly handsome Jimmy Stewart. But, see that wee plane in the background above? You might have to squint to see the lettering but it says ‘United States of America and it landed at Albany International on Friday afternoon as I was chipping ice from my windshield. There I was pounding away, putting my back into it and whoosh! da plane, da plane!

Prior to the President’s trip to the Albany area I’d been so full of mocking of the choice of Schenectady. It’s not a glamorous city by any means and while those of us living in Albany or Troy even guffaw at it’s nothingness. It’s so harsh and that is the point one would suppose, of visiting a city that is long past its heyday and only looking for that chance to pull a phoenix. In the end it makes me sad to see the devastation when heading west on I-90.  Things that were once are no longer and once vibrant places, hit hard by even harder economic conditions.

Have you been to the southern tier? Or Corning? It’s vast emptiness of what was before is shown in boarded up shops and buildings. There are spots of revitalization in bars on the main streets and yet…It’s sad. The thing you must know about New York is that it’s segregated. Not in the Birmingham 1955 kind of way but in the Upstate v. Downstate: What matters more? way. What people from the outside see is the thriving metropolis of the island of Manhattan. There’s still hustle and bustle and when they were down and out on their luck there was TARP to save them. But west of Albany is a different story starting with Schenectady. It’s like no one cares and so I mock in jest knowing that those who do live there stay because they do believe that State street headed towards Proctors only needs the volt of a crash cart to get it going again. Hence the President’s visit there to a GE plant that made it the Electric City but has since lost its flicker.

Tomorrow evening is the State of the Union where the President will talk jobs, jobs and more jobs and why the economy is slowly rising and yet continues to suffocate some of our most deserving citizens. It’s hard? You know. To see these hard hit areas who seem to continue with their struggle. So what to do, what to do? A speech won’t help, will it? There’s that SOTU bounce back that the administration hopes for but I hate playing with the politics of polling when it comes to people’s livelihoods. Wait and see what happens I suppose. Knowing that these cities didn’t fall in a day and it will take much more than 90 minutes of pomp and circumstance to bring them back to their feet.

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”  ~Alexis de Tocqueville

Two weeks ago I was on a conference call on policy which quickly turned into politics. In particular the House and what they would get or could get done before the end of their brief fall session. We all guffawed at that one. They’re much too focused on themselves right now, someone said through laughter. I’m sure there were nods in agreement because “focusing on themselves”, their futures, their aspirations; is what got so many of the current members of the House into the trouble they find themselves in today. It’s hard not to question whether their focus was on their constituents, a higher authority, or perhaps 2012, 2016 and 2020.

As far back as I can remember I have wanted to be a member of the House and now I am realizing that I could never do it. No way, not ever. I couldn’t be pulled in – literally 70,000 – different directions. Are they even allowed to listen to their gut or is it tainted by all of the other opinions? You and I would go with gut and find the outside chatter superfluous but members of congress rely on the ‘superfluous’. Crazy (some) or not, they are the voters. Whatever it is, right now everyone hates the incumbent.

In New York, the details of which I will get to shortly, I have the immense – and I mean that – pleasure of knowing some stellar members of the House. They’re just nice people. And I’d be quick to call someone out on their bullshit or falsies but nope, they’re kind and seek me out in a crowd. They even ask how my mother is doing. OK fine, it might be BS on their part but it’s well played if it is. I am inclined to believe that a majority of members of the House of Representatives want to do right by the people in their districts. They are there because they really do want to help with the Upstate economy. But of course the few bad apples give the rest a bad name. But the others – the masses – believe in a higher authority that isn’t the will of Nancy Pelosi but representative democracy. That is what I’ve encountered and it is what I will believe until proven otherwise. Yet so many have not had that experience.

Joe is angry about his health care costs and “socialized” medicine. He expressed his anger, loudly, at a Town Hall meeting last summer. Unfortunately his congressman voted for it.

Susan’s a public employee who is recently laid off. She needed that $10 billion bail out or else she would surely drown. Unfortunately her congressman voted against it. It passed but she deserves to be angry.

People are scared. The recession, though supposedly over, is still felt across the country. There are still so many questions to be answered – TARP, Afghanistan, how the Affordable Health Care Act will affect families. But what people are finding is that those who voted for these proposals don’t necessarily have the answers.

The above is what House incumbents face and right now it seems as if they are failing while bearing the brunt of Americans’ anger. Even members who have been considered safe for so long are feeling the heat. For the last several weeks polling has been quite the indicator of voter dissatisfaction; showing most incumbents (most of whom are Democrats as they are in the majority) trailing or without a comfortable lead against a challenger. When Larry Sabato and Charlie Cook, two powerhouses in handicapping races, said that the GOP would take the HOuse by 40-44 seats…well…that’s when my heart sank. Only 37 seats are needed to flip the House. And then comes the “we’ll shut down the government…” threats.

Things are not good. So what now? Well now we wait and see. There’s that whole polling hubbub that keeps people on their toes but I prefer someone with cool calculation like Nate Silver of the famed FiveThirtyEight blog. It’s another good place to keep your eye out and check to see how your member is doing and whether or not they have a fear of falling or failing.

Now to New York (courtesy of the New York Times):

You guys, you don’t hear this often, or ever but I have so much respect for my congressional delegation. I cannot say it enough. So much of the policy that happens in Washington cannot be done without the House going first (of course then that starts a whole back and forth between the House and the Senate where the House gets shit done and the Senate likes to filibuster. Say it with me now, “I love democracy”.) These are the races in  New York that everyone is talking about. The ones to watch, if you will.

(click through to see a description of each race)

CD-1 Tim Bishop. He’s whip smart on policy and will ask you questions to which you must answer “I don’t know, Congressman”.

CD-13 Michael McMahon. Voted against health care reform but voted for a recent education jobs fund that would provide public employers in his district with funds to hire back laid off employees. Public employees like teachers and firefighters. That’s a good thing.

CD-19 John Hall. He recently jammed with Pete Seeger and hangs out in my favorite downstate town, Beacon.

CD-20 Scott Murphy.  As far as elected officials go, I totally dig him. He’s a genuinely good guy and smarter than I will ever be. Smart and nice. That doesn’t happen very often in Congress.

CD-24 Michael Arcuri. Another good guy who wants to do the right thing but is also a Blue Dog Democrat, so doing the right thing shouldn’t put us even further in the red.

CD-23 Bill Owens. He’s like magic. He won out of the blue in a race that everyone thought he would lose. And now he’s that guy who likes to sit and chat about everything going on and always, always, always wants to find the best solution for the people he represents.

CD-25 Dan Maffei.  Another nice guy (do you see a pattern here?). Amiable. In tune to his constituents which is a key factor in getting elected.

CD-29 Eric Massa resigned from this seat. There are two gentlemen running and I can’t even begin to tell you who might win.

So there you have it…FOR NOW…There will be changes and I will do my best to keep people updated on the happenings of the midterms in New York State and other fun (I use that term loosely) things.

Any questions?

It has come to my attention that not everyone lives their lives in two year cycles waiting patiently for the next election. There are even people who (gasp) are blissfully unaware that there is a rather competitive Midterm election going on. And if they are aware, they find it so easy to just change the channel and ignore the back and forth shots between candidates and political parties that they have no idea of how much the DCCC is paying for airtime. Sometimes I imagine that it might be nice to be one of those people. On the other hand, I’ll be able to fall asleep on the evening of November 2nd knowing that not only did I take the time to vote but I also took the time to read up and have some understanding of who I voted for and why. I could never completely disengage from a life ensconced in politics and so I will forever – OK, for the foreseeable future – speculate about presidential candidates anytime anyone steps foot in Iowa. Seriously, did you go to DeMoines last week? You did? Well then you must be running for President. But that’s just me. My hope of hopes isn’t for everyone I encounter to feel that deep sense of urgency and poll watching that befalls me starting January 1 of an even number year. My simple hope is for people to find themselves more aware and at least once a week perusing their local news to see what will be voted on and when.

This all is in response to a conversation with a dear friend who mentioned that she had no idea what was going on in New York state this election cycle. Short of falling face first off a bar stool and/or rolling my eyes dramatically; I told her that I would write a little something to help her out. Now, I’m not one to pretend to know everything that is going on in every single state which is why Washington Post’s Midterms 2010 coverage is absolutely phenomenal. It quite literally has everything short of holding your hand and walking you to the polls. It is one of my top – not too inside baseball – places to go for information this cycle.

What else should you know? Hmm…oh yes, everyone hates the incumbent. Which isn’t a shock since discontent towards elected officials isn’t unheard of but oh mah gah. This year the disdain is turned up to 11. People think that congress is a waste of space and that someone else, anyone else, could do better. Personally, I’m not inclined to feel that way but I also can walk up to my congressman and complain if the spirit so moves me. I  am also aware of how much the members of the New York congressional delegation do while under tremendous pressure and scrutiny and so, no, I don’t feel all that strongly. I believe that the average person is angry about this sucktastic economy and since congress is voting on bailouts and stimulus packages totaling in the billions , yet the money is not exactly flowing, they – Average Joes and Janes – need someone to lash out against and congress has a giant bulls-eye on its back. Where the money goes no one knows and that’s really fucking scary.

Over the next 50 (thank God) days I’ll be writing more about the 2010 Midterms; things I’m seeing and hearing and will be doing a series of interviews with some pundits and the like to give a better sense of where things are now and where they appear to be going. I’m excited about this if only for one – albeit selfish- reason: to finally hear from someone other than my peers and my select group of locals  who are admittedly far more liberal and biased than someone on the street. This will grant me the opportunity to hear what others – including a conservative or two – have to say about the direction this country is headed in. Right now we seem to be between a rock and hard place with a lot of very pissed off people. Where do we go from here?

Now, about New York:

As promised here is what is going down in New York. There’s a gubernatorial race, two senate races (which is rare and due to the appointment of Senator Gillibrand to replace Secretary of State Clinton. Gillibrand is running to complete the former Senator’s term and bonus! She gets to run again in 2012 for a full term), the entire House delegation as well as the state Senate and Assembly. I’m going to leave the latter two off for right now and focus on more nationally focused races.

Governor

The front-runner has been Andrew Cuomo, son of former Governor Maria Cuomo, for such a long, long time. Seriously. Since the second his name was thrown out as a possible contender for Governor he’s been winning. In a recent Quinnipiac poll he’s headed towards ‘landslide’. This probably has something to do with the fact that he isn’t David Paterson and that he’s been eschewing normally “liberal” view points. Also, after the disastrous turn of events with the most recent Governors, anyone with a pulse and hasn’t spent time in prison seems like a good idea. He also comes with name recognition as the current Attorney General.

United States Senate

Chuck Schumer is running against someone and I have no idea who that someone is. If that tells you anything it’s that I’m living under a rock or Chuck Schumer is so freaking popular that he’s going to win. Go with the latter.

At this point last year there were 17 Democrats running against Senator Gillibrand. Now? Zero. This is a woman who went from having opponents making national news including one Harold Ford, Jr. whose possible candidacy infuriated me not because of him as a person but because I already had people asking me how on earth I would choose between the woman and the black man. It was like Clinton v. Obama all over again with the pain of people’s ignorance. Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 14) is primary day and she currently has no serious opponent and none for November 2nd either. Once again I found myself living under a rock when until yesterday evening I had no clue what David Malpass looked like. Quinnipiac says that she will have ‘smooth sailing’.

United States House of Representatives

Forthcoming.

This is already long enough and I don’t want to bore you too much. But spoiler alert! Bloodbath. More on the House later.

Every election there’s the inevitable Thing – from here on known as The Thing. It’s The Thing that drums up controversy but has nothing to do with what is actually going on in the real world. It gives something a little more exciting and enticing for voters to talk about: This Thing that can either make or break an election to an unwitting candidate. Could you imagine being Kendrik Meek in Florida and being forced to comment on something that is located a thousand miles away nowhere near the Gulf of Mexico where you have actual problems? But alas not, this Mosque and positions on it will be the cross to bear of politicians this year. Well, the Mosque and jobs but unemployment figures don’t pack quite the wallop as “Did you hear that they’re building a Mosque ON Ground Zero?”

You can read anywhere that the Mosque isn’t physically on Ground Zero. It is near Ground Zero and requires walking and perhaps a stop at Duane Reade on the way there. But who cares about those minor details. The Mosque is not being built because the ‘terrorists will win’ it’s being built because there was probably space. I dunno, cheap space, perhaps? It is Manhattan after all. And they figured why the hell not? I truly do not know. What I am very well aware of is how this Mosque that is NEAR and not DIRECTLY ON TOP OF Ground Zero is taking away from the real situation at hand. It’s a diversion of sorts where the magician wants us to focus on his right hand as he pulls a bunny out of hat with his left.

This midterm seems not more volatile but more out there and in yo’ face than any other midterm I have experienced and there are still 77 days to go! Midterms are usually quite boring unless you a) are in politics for a living or b) there is a brand new President and this midterm is the bellwether for his entire presidency. Or something. But that is an entirely different post. What happens to be driving me crazy right now is not just general discussion about Mosque and the debate on the Mosque from the right (They aren’t real Americans and people who agree with having a Mosque ON Ground Zero aren’t patriots) and the left (Well, everyone has their freedom of religion and they should be able to worship where they’d like) and the Tea Party (Well, I mean, yeah that whole defend the constitution thing but do we still want to defend the constitution when Muslims are allowed to practice the First Amendment? Have we decided on that one yet, guys?) It’s just that it seems so very constant. So! Instead of discussing a real solution to the unemployment problem, whether or not a July 2011 is actually feasible to be out of Afghanistan, what USDOE would like to do to public education or did I mention the 9.5% unemployment? Instead of discussing all of these very real issues we keep talking about the Mosque that realistically will not directly affect 97% of us. Because quite frankly the former aren’t all that sexy but a Mosque? HOOO BOY! Pass me a fan.

I have received several emails about the Mosque and my feelings on it and whether or not I wanted to debate the merits of “Having Hamas right next to Ground Zero” and I have to politely decline. To me it’s just The Thing. It had to happen soon enough and if we’re lucky we might get another Thing in the next 70 plus days but right now just watch and listen and politely turn the conversation back to jobs, jobs and more jobs.

Mosque related reading if you are so inclined (or bored):

Ted Olson, Former Bush Solicitor General and Husband of 9/11 Victim, Backs Obama on ‘Ground Zero Mosque’

Pelosi’s Preposterous Pontificating On the Ground Zero Mosque

Gibbs: Mosque by Ground Zero a Local Matter