Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Go Figure:

A day after recommending New Yorkers put Democrats in complete charge of the State of New York; they’re today recommending that New Yorkers keep Republicans in power in the House.

So let me get this right. They think Eliot Spitzer and crew would be great for running New York’s financial affairs but they think Democrats would be bad for the country because what they would do if in charge, which is roll back the tax cuts.

Diseased tree or rotten apples?

One thing I have noticed through this election is the difference in opinion when it comes to corruption in both parties.

With Republicans the few rotten Republicans have created the view that the whole tree is diseased and need to be chopped down to its stump so there is nothing left.

When it comes to corrupt Democrats like Hevesi and McLaughlin, the problem is not the Democrat Party in New York but that these two are just a couple of rotten apples.

Even better, unlike the Republicans who everyone wants to see run out of office, with these two rotten apples the Democrat Party doesn’t want you to throw them away. Instead people like Spitzer want you to just ignore and cut away the bad parts and save the rest by voting them in. This way Spitzer and his buddies can take what’s left and make apple pie.

As an open-minded observer, you have to love the double standard.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Give them credit

I didn’t mention it last week but I should have. Though everyone has heard by now, last week the New York Times endorsed Chris Callaghan for Comptroller. Though I’m sure there were and still is a bunch of New York Times staff threatening a riot, the paper went ahead and did the right thing.

New York Liberals shouldn’t feel betrayed. Subjective papers like the NY Times need to seize as many opportunities as possible to show they can be objective and endorsing Callaghan over the corrupt Hevesi is as good as they come. Their endorsement is not like the knife in the back by the New York Post who endorsed Spitzer because Faso can’t win.

New York Post turns Trojan horse:

The New York Post for years has been the place regular Republicans could go to get the only dose of conservatism possible in this city. People like my dad, a blue-collar worker his whole life, is not Wall St. Journal material and thus has relied on the Post to show up on his doorstep everyday to give him the only Republican opinions available.

The Post though after spending countless issues on convincing people like my dad that they’re not like the Daily News and Newsday with their liberal propaganda, have done the unthinkable. The New York Post has endorsed Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton. While Republicans were sleeping and their gates were locked, the New York Post snuck into their homes and invaded them with ideas that make people like my dad sick to his stomach.

To make matters worse the Post’s reasons for endorsement is based on the idea that with Hillary “there really isn’t much of a choice” and with Faso that “he can’t” win. Whether true or not their still is such a thing as pride. The Post didn’t have to endorse Spencer but they also didn’t need to endorse Hillary. The Post could have abstained and said neither is worth having making an even bigger statement.

By endorsing Faso, which they would have if he could win, the Post would have made a statement that having the whole state run by Democrats, with no devils advocate, would be no better then having Republicans run all of Washington.

The Post instead chose to unleash their troops and burn the city of New York blue-collar Republicans down. Now that they have played their cards they can turn into the Daily News and Newsday that they always wished they could be.

Unqualified?

Last week when Eliot Spitzer pulled his endorsement of Hevesi he said he still wouldn’t vote for Chirs Callaghan because he felt he was “unqualified”.

Wasn’t Callaghan the one who uncovered Hevesi’s crimes and theft from the taxpayers? It seems the guy Spitzer thinks is “unqualified” did a better job auditing Hevesi then any Democrat, including King Spitzer.

Friday, October 27, 2006

He just can’t wait to be king:

Eliot Spitzer has finally pulled his endorsement of Alan Hevesi. However he still wants New Yorkers to vote for him. What Eliot is saying is don’t vote for Hevesi on election day but vote Democrat this way after the election me and my Democrat buddies can pick a Comptroller for you.

Do New Yorkers really want to trust Spitzer in picking a new Comptroller? Would the Republican candidate Chris Callaghan be that bad for the state? Considering the corruption that has run rampant under Spitzer in the Democrat Party with the recent crimes of Hevesi and don’t forget Brian McLaughlin, why should New Yorkers trust that Spitzer will chose someone that not only will not steal from the taxpayers but will do their job.

Considering that the job of the Comptroller is to review State contracts, having a Democrat in charge only increases the chances of fiscal irresponsibility since any problems he finds would mean having to call out a fellow Democrat. A Republican Comptroller would be a great devils advocate for the people keeping the Democrat run State honest.

Spitzer doesn’t want a devils advocate but instead someone who will play ball and allow Democrats to continue to do whatever they want. Allowing him to cherry pick his own person spits in the face of what the term “no taxation without representation” stands for and what thousands died for in the early days of our nation.

All hail King Spitzer!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Protest Hevesi Then Come Watch the Debate

HEVISI AGREES TO DEBATE!!! PROTEST HEVISI AND COME WATCH WITH THE NYYRC – TONIGHT~

FIRST: Protest ALAN HEVISI, SUPPORT CHRIS CALLAGHAN:
When: Tonight, Wednesday October 25th. Everyone should assemble at 6:30 pm
Where: The Main Entrance of the NY 1 Studio at 16th Street and 9th Avenue Why: Let's tell Hevesi how we feel about him stealing from the taxpayers of New York

THEN: NYYRC ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY - Wednesday, October 25
Join us for another Halloween Party and watch Chris Callaghan take on thief Alan Hevisi!!!
Location: Auction House, 300 East 89th Street , off 2nd Avenue .
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm

RSVP at rsvp@nyyrc.com

Hevesi shows New Yorkers, Spitzer’s true colors:

As of this morning Elliot Spitzer has still not called for the resignation of Alan Hevesi despite the states Ethic Commission finding that he violated state law.

In an article by the New York Sun this morning a Spitzer source tells the paper that Elliot has not called for his resignation in fear that doing so would hand the election of comptroller over to Hevesi’s Republican challenger Chris Callaghan.

New Yorkers should be disappointed that Elliot Spitzer so far has decided to choose party loyalty over doing the right thing for the people he plans on representing. Everyday that Spitzer chooses to not go after Hevesi is another day that New Yorkers must now question how can he follow through on his pledge to reform the state when the state is represented by the same Democrats he’s looking to protect.

Any New Yorker upset over President Bush’s blind defense of Donald Rumsfeld should not sing a different tune when it comes to Spitzer and Hevesi. Though the Hevesi problem doesn’t involve a war it does show that party politics is not only restricted to Republicans.

Spitzer has been given a chance to prove to New Yorkers that he wants to reform Albany and that it won’t be New York Democrat power politics as usual. So far he’s failing.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Crain's Readers Think Hevesi Should Resign

Crain’s New York Business is polling readers on whether or not Hevesi should resign:

“A majority -- 66% -- of over 400 people who have responded to the poll so far think the comptroller should lose his job, saying he broke the law and should be punished.”

But I thought he was “stupendous”?

With Alan Hevesi’s political world crumbling around him I wonder why the New York media has not asked Eliot Spitzer if he still thinks Hevesi is “stupendous”?

Remember it was during Spitzer’s debate with John Faso that Spitzer claimed Hevesi was a “stupendous individual” and has “done a stupendous job as comptroller”.

It must be nice to be Eliot Spitzer and continue to get free passes by the media. The writers of the Federalist Papers must be rolling over in their graves.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Ethics Commission: Hevesi Violated State Law

The state Ethics Commission found that State Comptroller Alan Hevesi violated state law by using a government staffer to chauffer his wife – apparently they found the reimbursement he gave after his Republican opponent Chris Callaghan revealed his inappropriate use of funds too little, too late.

Let’s hope the NY voters will hold Hevesi accountable for his inexcusable behavior.

Update: The New York Sun has all the gritty details and suggests Hevesi may have no choice but to resign.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

It Won't Be Easy

The other day I received in the mail a campaign flyer, which was paid for by the ‘committee to Re-elect Congressman Vito Fossella.’ Fossella represents New York State’s 13th District, which includes Staten Island and sections of Brooklyn.

The last time I checked I thought Fossella was a Republican but there was no way one could tell from reading the flyer. Now most of us know how intolerant a place like New York can be towards Republicans and Mr. Fossella is running for public office as the only Congressional Republican from the city. Therefore it’s somewhat understandable that he’ll want to include pictures of himself standing next to Hillary Clinton and emphasize how he’s an ‘independent’ and ‘bipartisan’ leader. However, for me personally, he goes a bit too far when he includes newspaper quotes that say things like “Fossella has shown his independence from the Bush Administration’s agenda by his unequivocal support for public broadcasting and stem cell research while opposing the idea of privatizing Social Security.” I find that disappointing because as an American I don’t like my tax money used for public broadcasting, stem cell research and I fully support the privatization of Social Security. The privatization of Social Security would create an explosion of new jobs in Wall Street and throughout the city. Also all Americans who invest their retirement savings in the stock market would get much more reliable and higher returns than they would under the current system. But I digress.

My point is, as a Republican voter, what meaningful choices do I have to vote for people who represent my interests? If my candidate loses then so be it. This is the nature of free elections and participatory government. However, from what I can tell Mr. Fossella is a Republican who votes like a Democrat. Why would I vote for him? Why would a Democrat who wants a genuine Democrat vote for him? Mr. Fossella may very well get re-elected, and despite all that I’ve said, I hope he does because the alternatives and consequences may be far worse. However, it is this type of political equivocation throughout the party that has caused it to unravel in New York State and stagnate in the national polls as we head to the elections in November. Bush and Congress’s lax treatment of immigration, perpetual spending and ambivalent treatment of the war in Iraq has left many conservatives uninspired, to say the least. Along with the Harriet Myers quagmire and the failed Dubai Ports deal the party is truly testing the endurance of voters who are loyal to the party’s goals and values. Unfortunately the timing of this test is inauspicious as we are dealing with international terrorism and are in desperate need to change judges such as the one who recently gave a 28-month sentence rather than a 30-year sentence to attorney Lynne Stewart for assisting known terrorists.

I'll still vote for Republicans like Mr. Fossella mainly because I fear a Democrat-run Congress, but it won't be easy.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Berkeley College Republicans Beat Out Cal Dems

The front page of the Wall Street Journal Today features my college club, the Berkeley College Republicans. People don't generally associate Republicans with the ultra-liberal UC Berkeley, but the BCRs have grown to become one of the largest student groups at Cal, and now boast more numbers than the Cal Dems. Conservative students may be outnumbered by liberals there, but someone has to hold the counter-protests!

On another note, Cal has scored a #10 BCS ranking and takes on Washington this weekend.

Go Bears!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Economist Gives Me Hope

Two articles in the latest edition of The Economist this agnostic, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, anti-god-in-public schools Republican found uplifting:

The Economist’s Lexington column this week muses on the myth of the conservative Christian values voter – among his points: terrorism and Iraq were of concern to more voters than values, some conservative Christian demographics are more likely to vote Democrat and 22% of conservative Christians are pro-choice.

Another article in this week’s Economist cites a Cato Institute study that argues libertarians may form the largest block of swing voters and may have the potential to bring victory to either party – but neither party is pursuing them because “Republicans are rallying their religious base with jeremiads about stem-cell research and gay marriage. Democrats, on the other hand, would put up taxes, block school choice and lead a witch-hunt against Wal-Mart.”

Forget the Evangelicals – let’s target the libertarians!

Does this make sense?

The NY Sun has an article about Hillary Clinton and how her voice was used to carry a recorded message to 250,000 people in California to oppose a ballot (Proposition 85) that if passed would require parental notification for teenagers who seek to get an abortion.

Is it me or does it seem crazy that some teenager who wants to buy a game for their Playstation or XBOX can’t do it if it has a M rating (M rating means the game contains violence like say Halo) but if they want to go across the state line to have some doctor perform surgery they can go right ahead?

NYYRC OCTOBER GENERAL MEETING - TONIGHT

Our featured speaker will be Michael Needham, Director, Asian Studies Center, The Heritage Foundation. Mr. Needham will talk about the North Korean nuclear proliferation issue. We will also hear from a number of Republican candidates as we head into the final days before the election.

Location: Union League Club at 38 East 37th Street, New York, NY.
Time: Meeting begins promptly at 7pm.
Business attire required.
Please turn off your cell phone upon entry.

Note: Those who attend will also have a chance to attend the premiere screening of "CONVENTIONEERS: One Republican. One Democrat. A Fair & Balanced Love Story.”

Location: City Cinemas Village East Theatre / 181 Second Ave. @ 12th Street

The award-winning independent film CONVENTIONEERS is an “unconventional love story” filmed in NYC during the 2004 Republican National Convention. After success at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival and numerous other independent film festivals since then, CONVENTIONEERS makes its theatrical premiere in NYC on October 20.
Group Ticket Sales: 212.529.6998.

NYYRC member Sandy Feder is in the movie.

The after-party is at NuBlu (62 Avenue C off 4th Street) and everyone is invited.

No Drugs for you!

Wal-Mart this morning announced that it's taking its $4 prescription drug program to 14 additional states, including New York. Well not everywhere in New York. New York City won’t benefit since there are no Wal-Mart thanks to our City Council and their continuous maneuvering to do everything possible to keep Wal-Mart and the hundreds of millions of tax dollars that would go with it, out of the area.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

John Faso in NY Times

Patrick Healy wrote a great profile of John Faso in The New York Times today.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Almost the pot calling the kettle black

Tonight Andrew Coumo called Jeanine Pirro a "career politician". It's arguable that Andrew Cuomo is not a career politician, but not for a lack of effort!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Air America files for Chapter 11:

Fox News just reported that Air America has filed for Chapter 11.

Why would we want socialist liberals running the country's multi-trillion dollar economy when they can’t even keep a radio station afloat?

Nuke? What Nuke?

It’s being reported that the bomb North Korea set off several days ago was not nuclear. Both the U.S. military and Japan are stating that samples of the air taken after the explosion showed no indication of radioactivity.

This would only confirm what was originally expected. Analysts had expected from the beginning that the device was not nuclear since the explosion was to small.

So the question is why would North Korea pretend to have one? The same reason Saddam Hussein pretended to have one. They believe that by showing a strong military defense that includes nuclear weapons will keep enemies, not just America but hostile neighbors, at arms length.

As Alexander Hamilton stated in Federalist No. 11:

“A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral”.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Is there a John Faso in the building?

With a few weeks left to go this season, Spitzer still has a 50 point lead over Faso (unfortunately). Why is that? The polls say that %75 of likely voters don't know much about Faso. If that's the case why does John Faso's latest commercial fail to say his name even once?

On the main Faso website they list an tv ad that shows a lightbulb, spitzer, and a black backgroung the whole time. The only mention of Faso his at the very end a sentence with his picture appears that says "Paid for by Friends of John Faso". Shouldn't his commercials be introducing John to New York State voters so they can knockoff some of that %75 and make this a real fight?

George Bush shouldn’t hold his breath waiting for China:

With North Korea going postal, President Bush has been calling for multilateral talks that include China. President Bush thinks China is a major stakeholder in the region and should be front and center in the talks. China on the other hand since some tough talk a few days ago is now backing away from hard sanctions. The reason is China is better off with a rouge North Korea then a fallen one.

A rouge North Korea keeps America preoccupied. It forces us to waste resources of men and money by promising to protect South Korea. China is not worried that North Korea is going to attack them anytime soon so it’s worth having a country be able to do what China wish they good but never would. Torture America. North Korea allows China to carryout a proxy war against America and it’s Asian neighbors similar to what Iran does with Hamas.

Secondly, if China was to get tough and North Korea was to collapse, South Korea would most likely have to embrace it creating one country. A unified Korea is not good for China. Merging the strongest economy is Asia, South Korea, with North Korea’s military power of soldiers, warheads and now nuclear technology would create a threat to China that they wouldn’t want to face. China would be frantic having what would end up being a mini America right next door.

The claim that South Korea couldn’t handle all those people from the North is false. Besides the military threat to China they now would have an economic one. A unified Korea would create an abundance of cheap labor, which companies would love to get their hands on that they currently are unable too. China would loose its biggest comparative advantage, cheap labor, as companies would rather have a factory in a country that they know they can trust instead of one that is unpredictable.

North Korea is the best thing that has happened to China in its battle with America and will stop at nothing to keep it standing. America has to do whatever it can to make it fall not continue to create policies that prop it up.

John Faso’s one chance:

Sports broadcasts are about the only program left where the viewer watches the commercials. With the New York Mets about to start their series against the Cardinals now would be the opportunity for Faso to unleash any TV ads he has up his sleeve.

The hell with stickers, buttons and all that other nonsense. Whatever money John has should be used to buy as many 30 second spots during the series as possible.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Rudy non-factor?

For the last couple of weeks New York’s hero, Rudy Giuliani, has been stumping and voicing very loudly his support for John Faso. Rudy has daily, including another big fundraiser last night, been telling New Yorkers John Faso is the man to vote for. Rudy has even endorsed John Faso’s prediction that Eliot Spitzer will raise our taxes.

What I would like to hear are some thoughts on why New Yorkers love Rudy but not his opinion when it comes to governor?

I mean this is the guy who single handedly saved New York from the depths of hell yet New Yorker’s have so far ignored his call that Spitzer is not what this state needs.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Dollars and sense:

Today an army of public school legionaries is heading to Albany to demand that New York’s taxpayers follow through on a clueless judges order to give public schools billions of more dollars in funding.

What I want to know is what do these people think money is going to accomplish? The state has been throwing more and more money at the system for years without any success. As Giuliani stated at an event I once attended while he was Mayor, “another billion dollars is not going to solve the problem…the problem is the system”.

I can’t agree more. My son’s parochial school costs me only $3500 a year where a child his age in the public school system costs $12,000. That’s almost 4X more! Yet my son’s education is just as good if not better. This weekend I was at a B-Day party talking to parents of another child who goes to one of the local public schools and is in the same grade as my son. They said quote: “We’ve been disappointed at the lack of homework the teacher sends home”. When I told them my son gets homework every night and has already had to do a book report, they said, “We wish our son had that”.

I would like Spitzer, Weingarten or any other Democrat to tell me why one school can teach kids in a sound safe environment for $3500 and another has to do it for 4x more.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Score another loss for the appeasement camp:

This morning the world is waking up to the news that North Korea has tested a nuclear device. As I read the reports I can’t help but wonder if things would be different today if President Clinton back in 1994 decided to get tuff with North Korea instead of rolling over.

This is just one more example throughout history why you just can’t appease countries that you know have no intention whatsoever to see through on their end of the bargain. Back in 1994 liberals hailed Clinton and his decision to send Jimmy Carter to cut a deal.

I don’t know about you but I’m not surprised at the end result.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Sing a new song, will you:

Am I the only one tired of these New York polls? Do they need to have a poll everyday about the Gov and Senate race? Ok I get it, Spitzer is killing Faso and Clinton is killing Spencer. I don’t need to constantly be reminded that by this time next year I’ll be getting even more taxed to death?

If a race is close then ok by all means take polls constantly but when someone is up by four touchdowns with 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, spare the trees you’re printing it on.

“Long on promises but short on strategy”

That was the comment this morning by the Financial Times (only the best financial paper in the world) in reference to Nancy Pelosi’s economic platform, which she presented at Georgetown University yesterday.

If you recall it was only three days ago where I said if Democrats take control in November they will want to raise the minimum wage and how it won’t help you. Sure enough the top priority on her list yesterday was to raise the minimum wage.

Pelosi’s “populist economic platform”, as the FT put it, is purely there to just get votes from a public that doesn’t understand markets and the invisible hand that makes them work. Unsurprisingly the FT reporter stated how Pelosi “avoided giving a clear diagnosis” of what economic problems were present in the economy. The reason she “avoided” it is because Pelosi knows that her platform is not the right medicine to make our economy stronger.

If Democrats take control in November and a typical liberal economic platform is put in place that would include a minimum wage hike, nationalized healthcare, tariffs on China and an expiring of the presidents tax cuts, the slowdown that will take place in our economy will be drastic.

As usual the FT nails it right on the head with their comment and synopsis of Pelosi’s plan, it’s just to bad that most American’s don’t read it.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

It’s nice to see liberals don’t believe in free speech:

The New York Sun has a story today that described a beautiful scene that took place yesterday at Columbia University. During an event hosted by the Columbia College Republicans, the founder of the Minuteman Project was preparing to speak when a group of liberal student stormed the stage to stop the event forcing security to quickly escort the conservative guest out the back door.

The President of the College Republicans, Chris Kulawik, said it best when he told the NY Sun that the protesters “rush to vindicate themselves with monikers like liberal and open-minded but their actions, their attempt to condemn the Minutemen without even hearing what they have to say, speak otherwise”.

For me this story has nothing to do with whether or not you agree with illegal immigration and everything to do with continued proof that liberal Democrats are the ones who are intolerant.

Will they or wont they?

If there is one thing that has been discovered in the last few elections, it’s that conservative Republicans far out number Democrats. With an ageing population this would make sense since as people get older they now have things to conserve. It’s not a big surprise that the Democrats biggest voting base are those aged 18-30. The only thing that group generally owns is a Che Guevara t-shirt.

In 2000 Karl Rove was the first to argue that the reason President Bush didn’t win with a huge majority is that 4 million conservatives stayed home. These people had been disenfranchised with government during the Clinton years and were making a statement. Rove made convincing these extra 4 million voters his top priority for the next four years so Republicans wouldn’t have to suffer through another close call. Rove was successful and in 2004 President Bush defeated John Kerry with a 2 million-vote landslide. No matter how many kids P Diddy registered to vote, conservatives continued to control the numbers.

If Republicans loose control this November it’s not going to be because more people are becoming Democrats but because conservatives are once again going to stay home. Conservatives take their voting seriously and events like Foley’s resignation is enough to stop them from voting unlike Democrats who were more than happy to look past Jerry Studds actual sexual encounter with a teenage page to reelect him 7 times. Though it might cost Republicans in November you have to respect conservatives for not being willing to compromise on their beliefs just for the sake of voting Republican.

In 2004 Democrats thought the election was all about the war but it wasn’t. The huge turnout and victory by President Bush and Republicans was about the Supreme Court. The conservative base didn’t want a liberal Democrat to pick the next two Supreme Court judges so they turned out in mass. Without that hot button and plenty of Republican disappointment, conservatives are asking themselves why bother. Fortunately for Republicans if they do loose the House and Pelosi takes over the hot button will return, as Democrats will confuse their victory for a green light for a liberal agenda. Conservatives will have a year and half to watch in horror giving conservatives the motivation they need to give Republicans a major victory in 2008 allowing them to keep the White House. Sometimes you need to take one step back to take two steps forward.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

I know it’s almost Halloween but:

With Washington Republican’s unable to get out of their own way, what would a Democrat led House look like?

Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi
Chairman of Ways and Means Committee: Charles Rangel
Chairman of House Judiciary Committee: John Conyers
Chairman of Appropriations Committee: David Obey
Chairman of Government Reform Committee: Henry Waxman
Chairman of Energy and Commerce Committee: John Dingell

According to an article in Forbes this month, this group averaged a score of 98 by the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.

I don’t know about you but that’s pretty scary! I know people in this country are upset that Republicans aren’t perfect but are they truly willing to bite off their nose to spite their face?

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Maybe Bloomberg should ban cars:

In the last week, it seems every day someone has been killed in some sort of car accident in the city. Last night another person fell victim as they were run down on Queens Blvd.

Considering Bloomberg is all about saving mankind, I think he should add the banning of motor vehicles to his list of smoking and eating.

What about the parents?

Last week Christine Quinn announced a summit on “strengthening nightlife safety”. Though I applaud her efforts to try and put a stop to minors heading to city clubs to get smashed I did have one problem with her summit.

Reading the press release I was immediately puzzled by the headline “Law enforcement, club owners, and city officials work to coordinate efforts, improve security”. What I want to know is what about the parents?

If parents did their job teenagers wouldn’t be sneaking into clubs or coming home at 3 o clock in the morning. The question that should be raised at this summit is why should business owners have to now play mommy and daddy because the real ones don’t want to. Sure you’re always going to have a coupe of kids who are going to do it no matter how involved the parents are but the snapshots by the NY Post of hundreds of teenagers hammered makes me think the parents are the ones who need to be sat down and scolded. Why are politicians so afraid to attack the parents? Even when it comes to students doing poorly in school, politicians like Quinn love to call for more money but never for parents to do something crazy like make sure their child is doing the work and understands it.

Quinn ends her press release by stating she’s “pleased to welcome…a diverse set of stakeholders” to the summit. It’s to bad that the most important “stakeholder”, the parents, is not the one Quinn is calling out.

Why Eliot Spitzer’s minimum wage rise pledge won’t help you:

One of the few things Eliot Spitzer actually said he would do if elected was raise the minimum wage in New York. When a politician promises that they will raise the minimum wage it must be realized that its purpose is simply to get votes from ill-informed citizens and not put more money in their paycheck. To prove my point I thought I would share an example based on personal experience.

My wife has worked in retail her whole life. Currently she’s the district manager for a large retail company overseeing a large portion of Manhattan and parts of Queens. As part of her job she is in direct control of approximately 140 employees. She decides who and how many to hire and what she is going to pay them when she does.

At the beginning of each year the company gives her this little thing called a budget. Her budget includes everything from rent, advertising, utilities, her own expenses and, you guessed it, labor. The company sets her budget based on what they project sales to be for the year breaking it down to a monthly basis.

The way this ties into minimum wage is that Eliot Spitzer can increase the minimum wage all he wants but my wife’s budget is still going to stay the same. What raising the minimum wage will mean though is that it will be just less that she can spread around in hourly labor as each employee who is getting paid a higher minimum wage will eat more of the slice of the budget that goes to labor.

To show how serious retail companies take labor costs my wife runs a system that gives her real-time labor demand for all her stores. The software at any given moment from her laptop tells her where her stores are in respects to there projected sales and if the percentage of labor required by the company is over what has been allotted for that amount of sales. For instance this past Saturday and Sunday morning after a slow week, my wife spent the morning calling stores to tell them they needed to cut certain people off the schedule for the day so the store can come in budget.

Hopefully I didn’t bore you but with Democrats set to take over New York’s highest position and maybe even Washington, a minimum wage boost will be all the talk. Just remember when they do start to talk about it, people like my wife won’t be allocating more of their budget to cover it, they’ll just be giving that person less hours.