No Change In The Status Quo

The elections are finally over. Enough money was spent on advertising the candidates to balance many local budgets. In Greenburgh, we could pay off all the guilty verdicts brought upon us by Mr Feiner's illegal activities. Accusations flew and junk mailings found postal employees lining up at chiropractic offices in droves. Let's hope the candidates will pick up and properly dispose of all of their yard signs. literature and assorted paraphernalia. In the end though, nothing really changed.
 
The governor's race found Cuomo defeating challenger Astorino. The voting percentage was 55% to 42%. The television and political pundits all said Cuomo handily took this (re)election. But did he? Cuomo received 114,533 votes and Astorino received 86,493. The numbers don't lie but they do tell a story. Given the roughly two to one ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the state, the numbers tell us that Astorino crossed party lines and was attractive enough to some Democrats that they voted for him; or that some Democrats were dissatisfied or mad at Cuomo (and others) and simply voted against the status quo.
 
Yes, Astorino still lost. But did he? As we just said, the numbers don't lie and Cuomo did win. However, this election wasn't as much about Astorino winning as it was to position himself for the next gubernatorial election. Compared to New York's last election's upstate Republican candidate Carl Paladino, Astorino has that Richie Cunningham, aw-shucks demeanor and is very likeable. Having his adorable family in tow doesn't hurt either. He's comfortable with a variety of media and he is fluent in Spanish. He now has name recognition throughout the state, a cadre of people who are willing to stump for him the next time around, greater statewide awareness of state-wide issues and ties to the big money donors. Ultimately, he now has a wider breadth of supporters than he had before.

Locally, we saw sitting Democratic Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, sponsored in part by big Pharma, defeat Republican challenger Mike Duffy. The tally was 62% to 38% (20,765 to 12,787 respectively). In this race, the numbers are pretty much what they were when Thomas Bock challenged Abinanti in 2010, telling us two things: Abinanti has a Greenburgh Democratic base willing to vote the party line regardless of any wrong-doing or lack of knowledge on the issues. Or, simply, the democrats vote for their own and the Republicans do the same. Everyone continues to try to figure out how to capture the Independents and undecided voters to side with them without much success.

In other races, there were a few close calls but nothing radically different. We were watching the Attorney General race because the outcome could have been important for Greenburgh taxpayers. There have been several attempts by different organization to have our Supervisor investigated for multiple wrong-doings with little success. Had incumbent Attorney General Eric Schneiderman lost, we may have been more likely to finally make some headway than previously attempted. 

Propositions 1, 2, and 3 all passed - no surprise there. Each time propositions are put forth, the media blitz to convince the electorate to support them on behalf of the incumbents is untiring and often bereft of information that presents both sides of the argument. ABG wrote about the three Propositions and tried to give the counter-points to make the case to the voters to really think about not voting in favor of them. 

Overwhelmingly, the votes for either status quo or a populace that is unhappy with the dysfunction of government proves at all levels that people want change and deserve better .The northeast seemed to be entrenched and a bit immune to the wave across the nation for change. With Democrats holding onto their seats but spending much more money than ever before to do so, this should be a wake up call for many of them. Contrary to Mr Cuomo's ads, NY and New Yorkers are not doing better and people are still leaving. Now that the shift in the US and NY Senates has happened, our leaders may really be forced to cross the aisle and actually work together. Isn't that what they all tout before they get elected? Let's hope they do. Then, maybe we'll see A Better Greenburgh.