A Blatant Rope-A-Dope

So Democratic Legislator Roger Corbin wants to be Presiding Officer. To do so he needs a majority of votes in the legislature to beat current PO Judy Jacobs. In order to do so, Corbin is making a deal with the devil in the guise of Peter Schmitt. In a news conference, Schmitt announced he is forming a "coalition" with Corbin and makerick democratic legislator Lisanne Altmann.
Schmitt cries like a little girl that he and the Lazy 8 have been "completely shut out of the legislative process for the past six years under Judy Jacobs."
Interestingly Schmitt doesn't understand that being in the minority, like the Democrats were for the first four years of the legislature, means not having the power. It works like that.
Were the Democrats from 1996-2000 goven a seat at the table? Heck no.
Schmitt says "The Nassau County Legislature has become dysfunctional. We have been reduced to a rubberstamp for the county executive." I
t's like a flashback to 1996-2000 when Schmitt as Deputy Presiding Officer and the rest of the majority republicans approved whatever Gulotta wanted which led to the financial downfall of the county.
Far from being a "rubberstamp," the Democratic legisltors have consistantly challenged County Executive Suozzi.
Keep in mind, Schmitt is a Liar.
Now comes the math. Sorry.
Schmitt pledges his caucus' votes for Corbin giving Corbin 11 votes (9 reps plus Corbin and Altmann) and Judy Jacobs gets 8 votes. Corbin is Presiding Officer.
But wait! Schmitt is an untrustworthy liar.
Schmitt takes his 9 votes for himself as normally would happen, Corbin gets 2 votes (Corbin and Altmann) and Jacobs gets 8 votes.
Guess who is Presiding Officer?
Peter Schmitt.
Corbin can't be stupid enough to fall for such a poorly executed rope-a-dope.
And Altmann? It's a power-play for her. She's the "maverick." She gets the attention for going against her party. Altmann is lying low to let her "moves" sink in.
Schmitt wants power, not a "coalition."
Schmitt is such a tone-deaf political tactician (see his managing the losing Sabellico campaign) he thinks in the end he can pull off a blatant rope-a-dope.
Nice try, Peter.

Five Borough Republicans Take Notice of US

I guess this post from Urban Elephants is flattering. Urban Elephants is a republican-centric website out of the five boroughs. I've read through the site a few times in the past but not on a regular basis. The posts that I have read aren't ignorant angry screeds typed out hunt and peck style each key smashed in with ungainly sausage fingers like we've seen from other sites. Urban Elephants is well-written (not that we agree with the writing) and thoughtful.
Seems there is a worry that local websites/blogs from Democrats have the advantage. So far we do. There are some Long Island republican sites we plan on covering the next few days but they fal into the angry screed style. Here is the post:

"The New York Political Blog War
Readers here should be aware of the growing movement of energetic liberal bloggers setting up space online targeting specific Republican elected leaders. These are not the occassional rants/criticisms lumped into larger blogs, but blogs dedicated solely to one person.
Veto Vito
Peter King Watch
Schmitt Watch
Nassua GOP Watch
Now this does not mecessarily mean such easily-set up sites can make an impact, but there is residual impact. The larger media loves fights. They will never write about a general blogger bashing Fossella, but the will not a single blog dedicated to fighting Fossella. A one-person crusade against everything is not news. A one-person crusade against one politician has the potential to become Cindy Sheehan-ized in the wrong hands.
Readers should consider proper defenses. Pro-candidate blogs? Anti-Dem elected officials blogs? Counter posts? Etc.
We cannot lose the blog war in New York.
Scott Sala's blog"

As far as impact, we and our sister site have contributed to news stories in various media on Long Island. Wish it was more though, but it's still early.
I welcome more blogs added to the fray but it would be nice if the sites stuck with facts and avoid making stuff up as I will be pointing out in future posts and did point out about the Coalition for Long Island's Future website.

Thanks to Urban Elephants for the mention.