Friday, April 28, 2006

If New York only had a brain:

Everyday New Yorkers get one step closer to discovering who the new governor will be. For Republicans it’s one step closer to learning who will be the David to take on Goliath. Last night the Queens County Committee voted to endorse John Faso giving him a nice boost to his chance of getting to slay the dragon.

Despite endorsements within the party the real question is are New Yorkers smart enough to recognize the talent when they see it or have they been so blinded by the Rep. before the name to be able to make an informed decision. A couple of weeks ago John Faso outlined his proposed business plan to strengthen New York’s economy. With 200,000 people leaving the state a year a strong business plan would make sense. The plan, which focuses on workers comp reform, tort reform and tax cuts for businesses are really good. For economists and those familiar with how to grow an economy, his plan is nothing revolutionary but instead simple common sense to get this state going. Unfortunately common sense is something average New Yorkers are buckets short of.

John Faso and his plan are like the New York Yankees. On paper they look great and should take it all but that’s why you play the game. The question is can Faso or even Weld convince not just diehard republicans but also the clueless New Yorkers who make up the majority and by default vote for the Dem.

On May 9th John Faso will be speaking at a breakfast with Crain’s. I’ll be there with the rest of the business community to hear what he has to say but preaching to the choir is not going to win him votes. Winning votes and the election will require convincing people that Spitzer is more of a risk to the state then an asset. To do that he should start questioning the strenght of Spitzer’s relationship with big business, which like it or not are the ones that will create the jobs. Based on Spitzer’s attacks on industries of all sorts that shouldn’t be to hard, which if done right might even get brainless New Yorkers to think straight and look past the Rep.