Posted on 05/26/2010 9:14:47 AM PDT by IndePundit
At the state level, governors like New York’s George Pataki and California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger pandered to government-employee unions and opened the spending spigots, to taxpayers’ ongoing horror.
Other culprits include the state-level influence peddlers who seem more interested in cash than in free-market and conservative principles.New York ’s former U.S. senator Alfonse D’Amato is a perfect example of this breed. “Senator Pothole” personally discovered an obscure state senator, George Pataki, from Peekskill, N.Y. After being muscled through the state GOP convention, Pataki scored the party’s nomination and won the governorship in 1994. After some limited first-term tax cutting, Pataki’s spend-o-rama began, swelling the state budget 79.5 percent — from $63.3 billion in 1994 to $113.6 billion in 2006. This was nearly double the inflation rate. D’Amato served as Pataki’s chief cheerleader and arguably has become New York’s most influential Republican — to the degree that party label still fits.
D’Amato most recently raised eyebrows while he stood shoulder to shoulder with prominent New York Democrats as Gov. David Paterson introduced Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand as the Empire State’s new U.S. senator. Gillibrand replaced Hillary Clinton after she departed for the State Department.New York Republicans thought D’Amato looked perfectly at home among the state’s top donkeys.
As Wayne Barrett reported in the January 27 Village Voice, D’Amato hosted a $1,000-per-plate fundraiser for Paterson last November 2. D’Amato’s ambidexterity also led him to host a benefit for GOP senator John McCain last March.
D’Amato’s New York- and Washington-based lobbying firm, Park Strategies, has served him well. He famously earned $500,000 for making just one phone call in 2004 to persuade former Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman E. Virgil Conway to help facilitate a $230 million loan to the company that owns the bus and subway agency’s headquarters building. D’Amato’s client in that transaction, Tamir Sapir, is a partner in a company called Bayrock/Sapir. It, in turn, donated $5,000 to Paterson last September.
Hee Haw Republicans.
It would be nice if all the RINO fixers would go join the Democrats and moderate them a little bit. The Conservatives and Libertarians could do just fine dividing the GOP all by ourselves. (And, yeah, I have a foot in each camp.)
Americans need to start electing candidates who will:
1. Cut government spending!
2. Cut the size and scope of the federal government
3, Champion states rights
4. Lower taxes
5. Incentivize small businesses to create jobs
6. Enter into fair trade agreements especially with countries friendly to the US
7. Stop supporting the UN, defund it and kick it off our shores forever
8. Support and fund our military
9. Uphold individual property rights against government coercion and encroachment
10. Upholds the second amendment and champions individual gun ownership rights
11. Secure our borders against all illegal immigrants
Just remember this next time you see good ‘ol RINO Tim (It’s a FEE, not a TAX) Pawlenty trying to prove that he’s actually a conservative.
I do not think there is enought time to stop the Obama devastation fro occurring. If we even get the House in Nov. Impeachment will take two more years anywy. The amount of damage he can do in that time is unlimited.
Lord Haw Haw Republicans: always promoting the side that pays them.
Yes!
SARAH PALIN - STOP BACKING RINO McPain!
Sarah, YOU are part of the keep the RINO in position problem.
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