21st Congressional District Debate

Eight candidates to replace Mike McNulty showed up for the debate sponsored by Democracy for the Mohawk-Hudson Region and the RFK Democratic Club:

• John Aretakis,
Local lawyer representing kids who were victims of child abuse by priests. Scourge of the local diocese. Made a point that he'd committed $200,000 of his own money for the race and his family had committed another $100,000.

• Tracey Brooks.
Kind of got swamped. No mistakes, but didn't stand out.

• Craig Burridge.
Formerly with a pharmacist trade association. OK, but didn't stand out.

• Lester Freeman.
Charming and funny. Young.

• Darius Shahinfar.
Favorite of a number of DFMHR members, probably going back to the Kirsten Gillibrand race, when she beat John Sweeney. Gillibrand left an Albany County job to run Gillibrand's local office. Not a polished speaker yet, but rebounded with humor after suffering a brain cramp. Seemed like he memorized his speech, forgot a major point and then couldn't go on. But he handled the follow up well and with humor. It did highlight his relative youth and inexperience. This probably should not have been his first electoral race.

• Paul Tonko.
Former Assemblyman and head of the State's Energy Research and Development Agency. Did well and probably the heavy-weight in the room, but did not overwhelm his opponents. The emphasis on energy issues played to his experience in the field.

• Phil Steck.
Current Albany County Legislator. Emphasized his labor and civil rights oriented legal practice and his political skills in finally beating the Republicans in Colonie.

• Arthur Welser.
Showed up in a t-shirt. His big idea is to have a separate draft for school drop-outs. The evening's comic relief.

Pretty good event with a big crowd. Folks in the audience that wouldn't typically show up in these meetings, McNulty the elder, McEneny.

Number of the candidates that are former Republicans of fairly recent vintage surprised me. Only two have held elective office (Tonko and Steck). Given that it's a Congressional seat we're talking about, most of the candidates here are pretty green.

Lots of discussion of energy policy, maybe even more than health care. Also energy discussion had more variety than that on health care which except for a couple seemed pretty pro forma support of HR 676, the single-payer proposal.

Lots of opposition to the war, but far from unanimous on how to get out. All opposed restoring the draft, but Freeman mentioned Cong. Charlie Rangel's proposal to start it up again. Tonko made a point about the racial and ethnic mix of the current army, suggesting that it's minorities that are bearing more than their share of the cost of the war. True and proper that he noticed. But opposing the draft and having raised the mix issue, he didn't propose any response.

Treadwell. Well, that didn't take long

So another Republican rich guy pretends that he's got a snowball's chance. Couple years ago, that district was a Republican walk. No more.

Sweeney's thugishness and a tenacious smart campaign by Kirsten Gillibrand flipped the district this past fall. Gillibrand is impressing lots. Even traditional R's. And NOBODY wants to risk Republican control in Washington again for at least a generation. That's just too scary. And, I'll be damned if I'll bother giving that thug, Sweeney a link. If you don't know who he is, you're lucky. Besides, he's toast. If you're really desperate, go find him yourself.

So Treadwell, who's getting a real early start (hell, Gillibrand just took office a few months ago) will spend a year and a half and bundles of dough. For naught. I love it when Republicans waste their money on delusions (not so much when they waste ours).

Gerry Solomon, who dominated the district for almost 20 years, must be turning over in his grave.

And, yeah wiseguy, I know Gillibrand's district does not cover Albany. Duh. But when they find someone to run against Mike McNulty (if they do), it won't even be interesting. Like I said, we may as well fight among ourselves just to stay tuned up. And stay tuned for Gillibrand's campaign. Throw some shekels her way too. That money won't be wasted.