Editorial Great Choice, Governor [Editor’s note: This week’s edition goes to press just as the news about Rep. Delgado is breaking; we offer here a brief analysis of the situation as it stands on the morning of May 3.] For Otsego County, Governor Kathy Hochul’s May 3 announcement appointing Rep. Antonio Delgado as her new second-in-command in Albany is nothing short of politically seismic — a move that could send aftershocks throughout the entire state and even into Washington, D.C.…
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Letter from Mitchell Owens Editorial Unfair! The editorial that appeared in The Freeman’s Journal/Hometown Oneonta on Thursday, April 28, 2022, regarding the Otsego County Democratic Committee’s Ukraine fundraising, sparked many a reaction in my mind. Most important of them: What an astonishing example of performative outrage, high dudgeon, and holier-than-thou-ness. I do hope that the newspaper will apply equally outraged scrutiny when any seemingly altruistic local Republican initiative comes to your attention — and then devote an equal number of…
Column by Ted Potrikus Mayhem! Poor Kathy Hochul must feel like she’s smack-dab in the middle of the television commercial with that guy Mayhem; there she is, crawling from the wreckage amid a heap of smoldering cars and destroyed streetscape. Walking through the disaster, a little bruised, scarred, bandaged, and battered himself, is a guy in a suit, smirking and warning that maybe she should have thought twice before taking that deal that seemed too good to pass up. Portraying…
Commentary: Don’t be fueled A few weeks back I wrote in this space about New York’s gasoline tax; predicting lawmakers from various corners would be calling for its temporary roll-back as a means to relieve the price at the pump. If I remember correctly, I confidently wrote that it couldn’t be done – that lifting the sales tax on anything, however temporarily, is too complicated, too much of a political and logistical lift. I also picked Iowa and Gonzaga for…
Gas tax holiday, drinks-to-go a part of New York’s new state budget It appears drivers fueling up in New York will get at least a partial break from the state’s gasoline tax beginning June 1. The gas tax holiday looks like it will be part of a new state budget lawmakers expect to approve beginning later in the evening of April 7. Under the details available Thursday afternoon, it appears the deal will knock 16 cents off the price of…
New York’s GOP, Democrats choose slates for November Primary challenges await candidates New York’s 2022 political season begins in earnest this month after both Democrats and Republicans convened in February to select their party-backed slates for statewide offices. In the top of the ticket race for governor, Republicans this week chose Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin as their choice to take on Democrat incumbent Kathy Hochul. Both face potentially difficult primary challenges, though, as Republican Harry Wilson – who narrowly…
THIS WEEK’S NEWSPAPERS The Freeman’s Journal • Hometown Oneonta February 17, 2022 PHOTO OF THE WEEK FRONT PAGE American Irish Historical Society plots move from NYC to Cooperstown Blood shortage has impact on local supply Inside The Paper Mayor Drnek says it’s Oneonta’s “light-switch moment” State Police recruitment tests underway Bassett begins to lift visitation restrictions Perspectives Editorial “We’re following the science.” COLUMNS The Driftwoods — Then and now and why Legitimate Political Discourse by a Loving Crowd? Otsego Land…
Oh, there’s a surprise! By Ted Potrikus We New Yorkers used to leave it up to our state Legislature to fulfill the once-a-decade duty of redrawing congressional and state election district lines. They got so good at it they made the map of the state’s voting boundaries look like the inside of a lava lamp. We New Yorkers got a little tired of it, so we voted in 2014 to amend our state constitution to establish an Independent Redistricting Commission.…
Don’t underestimate her By Ted Potrikus Her beloved Buffalo Bills lost in a weekend heartbreaker, but aside from that, Governor Kathy Hochul has had a pretty good couple of weeks. She’s able to talk about turning the corner against the winter Omicron surge, with seven-day averages for new hospital admissions, new cases, and cases-per-100,000 declining in every part of the state. She laid out a blueprint for New York’s upcoming fiscal year, a $216 billion bonanza adorned with property tax…
Commission fails to agree on lawmakers’ district lines Outside temperatures might be hitting their January lows, but June’s heat and humidity aren’t too far away. Nor are June’s political primaries — those all-important preliminary contests that determine a party’s slate for next November’s ballots. Yet the boundaries of the congressional and state legislative districts remain a mystery for would-be candidates. That includes a measure of uncertainty for voters in the congressional contest that comprises Otsego County.…