5/23/08 - Albany GOP Suggests Alternative Topics for D.A.’s Speech to Cornell Club - News that Albany County District Attorney David Soares plans to soon deliver a speech on “political integrity,” has prompted City Republicans to suggest a list of topics that he may be more comfortable talking about.  According to a copy of an invitation to the Cornell Club of the Greater Capital Region’s 2008 Annual Meeting, Soares, is the featured guest at the June 5 event and has chosen to use his keynote address to talk about political integrity.    “Given his lack of experience in the topic, David Soares talking about ‘political integrity’ is like Bill Clinton preaching about fidelity,” said Dan Farrell, political director of the City Republican Committee.     Instead, the City GOP suggests that Soares consider one of the following topics of which he may be more comfortable.  Read more... Click Here:  NY Post chooses City GOP statement as their "quote of the day" 5/21/08 - Big Names To Headline NYGOP Annual State Dinner - The New York Republican State Committee will hold its annual State Dinner on Thursday, May 29th in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City, highlighted by Special Guests Vice President Dick Cheney and Rudy Giuliani and remarks by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Republican Leader Jim Tedisco.  “Last year’s dinner was a tremendous success, and this year’s event is shaping up to be even better. We are particularly honored to have such a distinguished group of Republicans-- led by our Vice President Dick Cheney-- who have served their constituents here in New York and across the nation with dedication and character,” said Chairman Mondello, who reinstated the State Dinner with much success last year after nearly a decade hiatus. For more information, contact Mary or Allison at Republican State Committee (518-462-2601) or visit www.nygop.org. 5/15/08 - The GOP Must Stand for Something - Noted political strategist Karl Rove writes that Tuesday's election results highlighted challenges for both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right.   Rove says such tactics demand that Republicans strive to articulate the views they hold on two key issues: Iraq and the economy.  Read more... 5/7/08 - State Senate pushes for gas tax holiday- With gasoline prices nearing $4 a gallon, Newsday reports that the state Senate planned to pass a bill today that would suspend the state's gasoline taxes for the summer months. But the Republican-backed measure faces opposition in the Democrat-controlled Assembly and reservations in the governor's office. The proposed legislation would abolish the 32-cent- per-gallon tax from Memorial Day through Labor Day. "Higher prices at the pump coupled with higher costs on everyday items like milk, bread and eggs are making it more difficult for middle-class families to make ends meet," said Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.  Read more... 4/28/08 - McCain runs strong as Democrats battle on - Susan Page of USA TODAY writes that despite low poll numbers for President Bush and the national Republican Party, John McCain is running strong in his bid for the White House.  McCain could face a more difficult political landscape than any presidential candidate in a generation. Only 39% of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party he represents, the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows. A record 63% say the Iraq war he defends was a mistake. The disapproval rating for President Bush, the incumbent McCain has embraced, has hit 69%, the most negative assessment of any president since Gallup began asking the question 70 years ago. Yet in what seems to be a promising election for Democrats since 1976, the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows the presumptive Republican presidential nominee within striking distance of either Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Read more... 4/25/08 - Rev. Wright on Race: Obama's "Old Uncle" Breaks His Silence - ABC News reports that more than six weeks after Barack Obama attempted to downplay the furor created by anti-American statements made by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeramiah Wright is still in the news and his re- emergence on the public stage this weekend will almost certainly ensure that he stays in there through the May 6 primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. On Friday night, Wright sits down with PBS' Bill Moyers in his first interview since the controversy erupted. Read more... 4/2/08 - City GOP To Air Controversial Hillary Expose - It has political pundits across the country buzzing and her campaign complaining.  And now, Hillary: The Movie - the controversial documentary exposing Hillary's lifetime of lies and moral misconduct - is coming to the Capital Region. The City GOP Committee will air the movie on Thursday, April 24, 2008 as part of a low cost fundraiser for the organization.  The event will be held at The University Club, at the corner of Washington Ave. and Dove St., beginning at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $20.  RSVP by sending an email to dan@capitalgop.com 4/2/08 - Soares now under investigation for "whitewash" of Spitzer Dirty Tricks Scandal - In another bizarre twist to the Dirty Tricks Scandal, The NY Post reports that a state commission yesterday announced it will "investigate the investigations" - including those by Albany DA David Soares - into whether Gov. Spitzer and his top aides misused the State Police to smear a political rival. The State Investigations Commission said it will look into the handling of the different probes by Soares, who has been heavily criticized for issuing two contradictory reports, as well as the Spitzer-controlled state Public Integrity Commission and Spitzer-appointed state Inspector General Kristine Hamann.  Read more... 3/31/08 - Remembering McCain's heroic past -  In today's edition of Newsday, Elaine Kamarck provides a glimpse of  John McCain's heroic military service - a past that young Americans need to learn and his Democrat opponents need to fear.  Kamarck writes: When his father became head of U.S. forces in Vietnam, the North Vietnamese offered to let John McCain out of the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison camp. But he refused to go unless all the POWs went home with him. That meant remaining in captivity for another six years.  He came home having suffered numerous broken bones. To this day he is unable to raise his arms above his head because of his injuries. The McCain story is unambiguously heroic. Whoever emerges as the Democratic presidential nominee will face a Republican candidate who can't be swift- boated. For John McCain, patriotism is as simple as biography; for the Democrats, it is a much more complex matter.  Read more... 3/28/08 - Soares' Spitzer Probe is a "Grand" Illusion - Fred Ricker of the NY Post reports that Albany County District Attorney David Soares misled the public by suggesting - as recently as Monday - that a grand jury is probing the Dirty Tricks Scandal, when the actual "prober" is only Soares himself, who is a close Spitzer supporter.  Soares failed to allow his most important witness - former top Spitzer aide Darren Dopp - to appear before a grand jury, which could have considered criminal charges against the aide, it was learned. Dopp testified instead before two of Soares' deputies under what Dopp's attorney has said was a grant of immunity - meaning no criminal charges could ever be brought.  Read more... 3/26/08 - THE PHANTOM SNIPER  - The NY Post editorial board writes: Who's surprised when a Clinton lies? The surprise is when one tells the truth. "I remember landing under sniper fire," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week. "There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."  It was 1996, the war was in Bosnia, the president was her husband - and, no surprise here, the story is totally bogus. In point of fact, as a CBS News video demonstrates, there were no snipers and there was no mad dash for cover - but there was a pig-tailed Bosnian 8-year-old on hand to greet the first lady. Her aides say she "misspoke." We say she lied. And not only that, she lied in a way that trivializes and dishonors all the American soldiers and Marines who have fallen to a sniper's bullet since the Iraq war began five years ago.  Read more... 3/26/08 - The 'other shoe' falls on Spitzer: lying over Troopergate - The Daily Gazette writes that: "As upsetting and intolerable as Eliot Spitzer’s patronage of high-priced prostitutes was for most New Yorkers, the notion that he may have lied about his involvement in the “Troopergate” scandal — raised by a New York Times story Monday — should be even more infuriating. And these wouldn’t be little “white” lies concerning minor details of the scandal, in which his aides planted an embarrassing story about Spitzer’ s chief political adversary in the Times Union. They would be bald-faced whoppers concerning Spitzer’s fundamental role in the political dirty trick on Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.  Read more... 3/24/08 - Spitzer Pushed Staff’s Effort to Smear Bruno - Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer was deeply involved in his administration’s efforts last year to discredit Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, holding detailed discussions with senior aides, ordering damaging information about Mr. Bruno released, and calling an aide at home repeatedly to check on the progress, according to several people with direct knowledge of the investigation.  The former governor has previously said he was not personally involved in the effort, but testimony and other information gathered by Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares, indicate that his participation was extensive and reflected Mr. Spitzer’s intense desire to damage Mr. Bruno.  Read more... 3/21/08 - Albany Starts To Wonder About Paterson's Ability To Carry Out the Governorship - The NY Sun reports that concern is growing in Albany over the prospect that Governor Paterson's disclosure of his private sexual affairs has damaged — perhaps irreparably — his capacity to execute the state's highest office. Dogged by suspicions that his campaign expenditures and his extramarital relationships were improperly entangled, Mr. Paterson heads into his second week on the job no longer the fresh face who symbolized a return to civility, but a weakened politician. Read more... 3/18/08 - Another Democrat Scandal - New Governor Admits Affair - The NY Daily News reports that while the applause from his swearing in ceremony was still ringing in his ears, the state's new governor, David Paterson, admitted that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.  In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with "a woman other than my wife," beginning in 1999.  Read more... 3/12/08 - SPITZER RESIGNS! - Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned this morning, effective Monday, after news broke this week that he had frequented prostitutes for as long as 10 years. Word began circulating of his decision in state political circles earlier this morning. The decision came after what one source called "an agonizing night," as the governor's wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, and the governor's lawyers went over a possible plea deal offered by federal prosecutors, sources told The NY Post.  Read more... 3/7/08 - McCain begins to take charge at RNC - According to Politico, the Republican National Committee will announce the appointment of three top John McCain loyalists to help coordinate the party's effort with McCain's campaign and to lead the joint voter contact program.   Also involved in the effort will be Rudy Giuliani's former campaign manager. The moves further signal that McCain is now the leader of the Party.  Read more.. 3/5/08 - McCain Clinches GOP Presidential Nomination - Sen. John McCain clinched the Republican presidential nomination last night, and immediately castigated his potential Democratic rivals as liberals who lack the experience and wisdom to lead a country facing economic distress at home and engaged in war abroad. The senator from Arizona easily won primaries in Texas and three other states, becoming the new face of the Republican Party and, at last, capturing the prize that had eluded him for a decade.  Read more... 3/4/08 - GOP's Buhrmaster eyes run for Congress - Times Union columnist Marv Cermak reports that Republican insiders say Schenectady County Legislator Jim Buhrmaster will be the GOP candidate running for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike McNulty. Word has it Buhrmaster has the support of GOP chairmen from various counties in the 21st Congressional District to represent the party in the November election.  Read more... 2/22/08 - Blog item leads to fraud claim against top Guilderland Dem - Guilderland Democrat Supervisor Ken Runion may need a microphone and whip to help him be a better ringmaster. In today's Times Union's 'Inside Politics' column is a report that the Guilderland GOP is asking Albany County District Attorney David Soares to investigate Town Hall.  The local Republicans allege "fraud and abuse" by the town's economic development director, Don Csaposs, who is a top political ally of Runion. They accuse him of posting political attacks on the Times Union Local Politics blog while on the job. More disturbing, they say, is that Runion signed a time card for those hours.   Read more... 2/22/08 - N.Y. Times Gets Flak From All Sides on McCain "smear job" - The Washington Post examines the waves of fierce criticism the New York Times is facing over a recent "smear job" article, which cited anonymous sources in questioning the integrity of Republican presidential frontrunner John McCain.   Read more... 2/21/08 - 80% Say Spitz is the Pits - Eighty percent of New York voters say Gov. Spitzer has done nothing to improve the state or has made it worse since promising that "on Day 1, everything changes," a devastating new poll showed yesterday. The NY Post's Fred Dicker writes that the Siena College survey found a mere 15 percent of voters believe that Spitzer has made New York a better place to live since taking office on Jan. 1, 2007, after a historic landslide election victory, while 22 percent said things have gotten worse. Fifty-eight percent said Spitzer had made no difference at all.   Read more... 2/18/08 - Graziano: "Work together for Colonie's financial stability" - Albany County Republican Elections Commissioner John Graziano writes in a letter to the editor of the Albany Times Union that blaming an administration or a political party for the town's massive budget shortfall will not solve the problem at hand.  Graziano calls on town residents to set politics aside and work together toward re- establishing the fiscal stability of the town. Read more...