ISSUES, ISSUES, ISSUES

The real election season is almost here. Most good candidates have been out making the rounds, going door-to-door and leaving those annoying palm cards in your door, laying the groundwork for their campaign. Labor Day is the traditional starting point of the public campaign and according to my calendar, Labor Day is almost here.

The Democrats face an uphill fight in Troy and in Rensselaer County. A seat or two will not put them in a much better position than they're already in currently. How do they go about winning three or four seats on the Troy City Council and six or seven seats in the County race?

Individual races will have their own dynamic. To create a major change in power balance the Democrats need a few overall themes in this campaign. They will need to put forth their own ideas and vision of course, but they will need to attack the Republican Party as a whole. After all, that's how they won the city council in the first place, harping on the term-limits issue. It's not as if they were out there with any actually ideas. They attacked the Democratic Party for being arrogant on the term-limit issue. The Democrats were arrogant and the Republicans made a smart move.

South Troy

This is the forgotten part of Troy. Among a Do-Nothing city council, Collier and Krogh, South Troy's council representatives, have displayed a real gift for underperforming. Just a few years ago the area seemed to be getting better. Driving through South Troy in the daytime was much different than at night. Now, little if any difference. Add to that, Collier and Krogh's unwillingness to fight expansion of the county jail and you can see what a low priority this neighborhood is for the GOP. The Democrats should hit this area in force because it's ripe for the taking. Discontent is high and resentment among the residents towards the Lansingburgh-centered administration is growing.

Carignan

Back to this issue. Did Harry lie about saving the city $60,000? If the answer is yes, and we think it is, why did the council do nothing? Wait, they did something: they made sure that half of the commission came back to Troy while the other half stayed in Scotia. Good Show.

Weed 'n Seed

The County is pilfering Troy money and the administration and city council majority are silent. Why? Could it be because County Legislator Mirch is really running the show and he didn't want the County to look bad. Another example of our Do-Nothing Council.

Helping our Vets

Like most of the GOP, this bunch pays lip service to our men and women in uniform. When actions count, they are AWOL. There's the Owens issue: Why can Harry find raises for some of his most useless people but can't find $1,300 for a police officer and Iraqi War vet?

Then there's the Buck story. There, Harry promised to help World War II vet Buck. So far, nothing.

Finally, get The Record to do what they do for the Republicans: print press-releases verbatim.

Those are just a few ways to attack the GOP. Don't waste time on petty things. Go after them and hit hard. We're missing a number of issues here so feel free to pile on and talk about GOP misadventures and other issues that should be raises.