Philadelphia, PA Mayor Race: In my opinion, the election already happened. Philadelphia is fortunately a leading Democratic city, thus the Democratic primary is pretty much the election. The current mayor, Michael Nutter, has yet to challenge the two-term limit policy bestowed upon the office of Mayor. With that in mind, James Kenney was able to win the Primary last May, and will be at least in an official manner be named Mayor-elect this Tuesday, My congratulations to Mayor Kenney, and hope that we have not seen the last of Mayor Nutter.
Mississippi Governor: Republican Gov. Phil Bryant will be re-elected. This should not come as a surprise.
Kentucky Governor's Race: The current Democratic Gov., Steve Beshear, is not running for re-election. One reason is last year Gov. Beshear was contemplating a run for the Senate for 2016 before electing not to run. In that point in time, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced his intention to run for the Governorship. Along with that announcement, late in 2014 Attorney General Conway received the endorsement of Sen. Wendell H. Ford, a former Democratic Kentucky Senator and Governor who spent 23 years (1974-1997) in the US Senate. Well, Sen. Ford passed away on January 22 at age 90, thus making Sen. Ford's endorsement one of his last for any candidate.
Jack Conway easily won the Democratic Primary, and should be likely to become the Governor on Tuesday. Indeed, until recently, most polling suggested a rather easy victory for Mr. Conway. However, Mr. Conway is facing a rather important Republican favorite in the state with the Republican nominee, Matt Bevin. Mr. Bevin, as you may know, ran in the 2014 Republican Senate Primary against Sen. Mitch McConnell, so a run for the Governorship was never out of the question. Mr. Beivn's campaign has made inroads with potential voters, turning a race that seemed likely to remain Democratic into yet another Republican pickup. The most recent polling suggests both Mr. Conway and Mr. Bevin in a statistical tie. So in this race, I am not sure who will be elected. As I mentioned before, Kentucky has not been a state easily suitable for Democrats since Sen. Wendell H. Ford declined a re-election bid in 1997. None the less, Sen. Ford was a titan among Kentucky politics, and was still well respected long after his Senate career ended. Jack Conway has become the most important Democrat in Kentucky this year, and has the potential to change the Republican grip hold on the state. Yet, now I am not so sure. It is possible Matt Bevin gets elected Governor. Should that happen, it would get more difficult for Democrats to get elected in years to come within Kentucky.
Louisiana Governor's Race: Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is leaving the Governorship to run for President of the United States, a race that is becoming rather quixotic as the days pass. This is an interesting race in that Louisiana has a system of elections wherein All candidates of any affiliation are on the ballot for this Tuesday. Thus there are multiple Republicans and multiple Democrats running for the same public office. Unless the leading vote getter receives 50% of the vote, which is not likely this year, the top two candidates will continue their campaigns ending in a runoff election to be held November 21. And as of now, the top two consist of a Republican and a Democrat.
The Democrat, state Rep. John Bel Edwards, is currently leading both the jungle primary and runoff polls. Interestingly, the Republican is Sen. David Vitter; a rather risky venture that was supposed to go over well without any problems. And yet, there is a problem; Sen. Vitter willing to trade in 11 years in the US senate for a more volatile elected office in being Louisiana's Governor. Sad to say at times, yet a Senator becoming a Governor rarely yields the same rate of impact and success as when in the US Senate. And in this case, there is an election for Sen. Vitter's Senate seat next year that needs to be considered.
You see, should Sen. David Vitter get elected Governor, he would be able to name his own successor to be appointed to the US Senate and likely have the benefits of incumbency against any potential Democratic or even Republican challengers. However, were Mr. Bel Edwards be elected Governor effectively this Tuesday, then Sen. Vitter will need to consider his political future. I would think Sen. Vitter will run for re-election to the Senate should he not be elected Governor; I do not know if his re-election would be a virtual lock. So, I think Sen. David Vitter will remain a Senator after both the jungle primary and the runoff, and John Bel Edwards will be elected Governor. I should point out thought that Louisiana is a Republican state; so this could change at the last minute.
Now I want to focus on elections far more closest to home. I live in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. Unfortunately, while New York is a Democratic State, much of Long Island including Nassau County, is quite obviously Republican. Quite obviously because Republican politics in this area of New York is terminally corrupt. In some functions, the local political scene has not gotten over Sen. Al D'Amato's re-election defeat in 1998; thus what once worked does not in this day and age. Do not get me wrong; Sen. D'Amato and his people have helped out Long Island over the years. Yet their political cronyism and neo-Tammany Hall outlook does not suit well with me.
Of course, now the Republican machine in this county is run by the likes of Kate Murray and John Venditto and Ed Mangano and their lieutenants. Decent people on a personal level, yes. I did appreciate Mangano, the Nassau County Executive, endorsing Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his re-election bid last year. I was classmates with Oyster Bay Supervisor Venditto's eldest son, Nick; I even talked with him on several occasions, including our high school 10 year reunion four years ago. My family and I have even met Hempstead Supervisor Murray and her family quite a few times. Yet, despite that, they are not to be trusted to do the right thing in our social, political and economic matters.
If you want to know why, there have been recent reports regarding the sheer audacity to continue obtaining contracts with a Mr. Singh, who has been negligent on his taxes involving his restaurants. This chiefly involves John Venditto and his seemingly iron grip on Oyster Bay leadership. There is a YouTube channel devoted to exposing these issues, with videos such as this one,
Concurrently, Kate Murray is running for Nassau County District Attorney, running against the current DA, Madeline Singas. DA Singas has had the experience of being a prosecuting attorney and is well versed in legal issues. Ms. Murray, simply stated, does not know the law as she think she does. And yet, here we are with both Murray and Venditto thinking they have their elections sewn to their liking. Mangano, by the way, is not running this year. And to compound these corruption revelations, the recent Venditto and Murray endorsements are rather troublesome. Particularly NuHealth endorsing Kate Murray; a clear violation of neutrality measures needed for hospitals! Including the same hospital where I was given birth and I got treated for lead poisoning!!
Needless to say, I have no intention of voting for any of these Republicans this year. Yet you probably already knew that. I am endorsing DA Madeline Singas to continue her tenure as District Attorney for Nassau County. I am also endorsing Democratic challenger John J. Mangelli to be elected Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor. As well, I am endorsing all Democrats running for the Town of Oyster Bay council and the offices of judges.
I do understand many who are reading this might think this may become a problem if the current Nassau Republican leadership is replaced. A number of them are involved with town offices and will point to my participation with the GAP program since 2012 and continuing, I need to mention; the corruption and ineptness needs to end. I hope and believe this will not change the status of Town of Oyster Bay workers and volunteers, nor would it derail the GAP program and related services. Yet, if changes will need to be made in order to end the corruption and allow for newer leadership; then we will need to adapt when the time comes.
Well, those are my thoughts on Tuesday's elections. I implore my fellow readers to take the time and vote on Tuesday; and if needed, register to vote as soon as you can.
One final note: As this was going to be published, I found word that Sen. and 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson passed away at age 73. I did not agree with Sen. Thompson's views; yet the Senator was a decent person that had a lifetime of service dating back to his involvement with the Senate Watergate Committee. My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones at this trying time.
We got the system to alter the system,
Robert
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