Had the former mayor’s former front man won the ’09 race , taxes would be raised, expenditures would be raised – just as they were every year he worked in the previous administration – and so would the flag that Matt Ryan raised the other day.

Had I won,  taxes and expenditures would go down significantly, because the people paying the freight can pay more, and no flag other than the American flag and the New York State flag would fly at City Hall, because those are the only two entities to which I would have sworn an oath. I also had my own ideas for City Hall signs regarding  the cost of war and government.

Unfortunately, that was not to be. Hopefully the people’s time to bust out of  just switching back and forth between the two parties will come someday, sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, all hail term limits, not only for setting an end to the current administration, and making the next election incumbent free, but for ending the previous administration as well. May they and their political progeny never return to power.

Even if it is true I got Matt Ryan elected mayor of Binghamton, which it is not, the term limits case I won in 1994, insures he cannot be elected in 2013.

So,  although you may subscribe to the notion I made Matt Ryan mayor,  you must recognize I also unmade him.

That makes me relevant, and makes those desperate to be relevant very resentful, because I am,  and they are not.

Most importantly, it’s a good reason to stop talking in stupid cliche’s about who was a “spoiler”, or who “split” “the vote”, because  term limits cancels it all out. Buck up. We’re even.

Higher and higher taxes were the rule under the previous Republican administration .  Taxes increased in nine of its twelve budgets from 1995 – 2006. Taxes rose  every year from 2001-2006, and did so at an average of 7.24%.  The average yearly tax hike from 2007 to the present under the Democrats is 7.85%.  0.61% isn’t much difference.

So those very unhappy people should dry their tears, and stop pretending  meaningful change would have come under a return to the previous administration. The political class would have come first, not the people paying the freight. Too bad that’s not going to change any time soon around here, but it was worth trying to do.

DWD

BINGHAMTON – October 29, 2009 – Independent candidate Douglas Walter Drazen is denouncing his opponents’ practices of having people associated with their campaigns or with former local political officials sending letters to the editor, without disclosing their interest or association. Numerous such letters have appeared in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin this week supporting the other candidates, or attacking Drazen, including one from current Binghamton City Republican Chair Chris Dziedzic, which omits any reference to his status as city chair.

“Having these people pretending to be ordinary citizens spontaneously expressing their opinions about the race is a deliberate effort to manipulate the public. Apparently, they can’t win on the merits, so they will cheat instead “, said Drazen.

Drazen also says if he was out of the race, or the other candidates were comfortably in the lead, such tactics would not be employed.

“Our information from within both major parties is similar to what it was in 2005, which turned out to be accurate, and this current development confirms, we are neck and neck with the incumbent, with the GOP candidate bringing up the rear.”

As to whether this type of campaigning just goes with the territory, Drazen said:

“Falsely accusing me of being against nuns, grandmothers, and kids, I can handle. Mischaracterizing my positions, or even trying to steal my ideas, I can handle, though I don’t like those things. But misleading the electorate in this manner is thoroughly dishonorable, and disrespectable. It deserves no place in politics, and should be exposed for what it is.

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Take a look at your tax bill. Take a look at Binghamton’s Census data. What has your party’s “unity” done for you,  your family, or your neighborhood? Are you really ready for four more years of Matt Ryan, for the sake of “party unity”? How much more “party unity” can the city take?

Whether it’s Democrat party unity or Republican party unity, it really isn’t unifying. It pits neighbor against neighbor, in some cases family member against family member. The real beneficiaries are party leaders, their families, friends and allies. If you aren’t one of them, you lose.

If 500-600 of you changed your votes last time around, I would be running for re-election right now. You have the chance to put this chapter in the city’s political history behind you. Don’t let vague notions that benefit party insiders only stand in the way.

Those of you that grew up admiring common sense Democrats like Harry S. Truman, Estes Kefauver, or Henry “Scoop” Jackson, those of you who worked, saved, and dreamed, and put all of those things into a home, only to see your hard earned investment go up in smoke; don’t be sucked into believing you have nowhere to go but back into the fold for four more years of west coast crystal worshiping kumbayaism.

There is somewhere for you to go. There is a candidate willing to put our hometown’s interest before any political party’s interest.

Understand, the interests of those calling for “party unity” are far different than people like you that pay the freight. They have taken you for granted, and will contiinue to do so. I will never do that. I will make sure the people paying the freight come first, every time. I owe nothing to any party organization, and never will.

Leave the “party unity” political players and their back room deals behind. They’ve done nothing for you but damage. Come with me, and we’ll forge a new political alignment with independent minded members of all parties that will protect people’s interests, not party patronage machines.

Breaking free of the habit of voting party line, and succumbing to appeals for “party unity” is not easy, but it must be done to save this city, and time is not unlimited. Do it now, by electing independent leadership.

Of course people should vote for the person not the party. But if the person has spent nearly his entire adult working life as a political appointee, and party insider, is that the person for whom people should vote? If the person is pretending to champion causes that only a short time ago he and his political sponsors were mocking as the product of mental illness, is that the person for whom people should vote? If the person is pretending to be someone he is not, is that the person for whom the people should vote?

Four years ago, Binghamton’s rank and file Republicans were had by city GOP leaders. They cynically chose to allow their rank and file to go to the polls thinking a vote for the GOP candidate was a vote to stop Matt Ryan, when it was actually a vote to elect Matt Ryan. Did the former GOP mayor and his former front man stand up and try to alert unsuspecting rank and file GOP voters?  They did not. Why?

They knew their candidate couldn’t win, but it didn’t matter to them. It didn’t really matter regular people, including many Republicans would suffer, because they knew Matt Ryan wouldn’t really change things, aside from the beneficiaries of the patronage swag. They knew if I won, it was all over. They knew that I meant the things I said, that I could not be bought, because I was not for sale, and that they could never own me. So they decided it would be better to have Matt, and just wait it out, until their turn came again to control things in the manner to which they had become accustomed. What they considered the party’s interest came first; politics before policy.

This year they know their candidate is all about politics before policy, just their kind of guy. They know when he came to Binghamton ten years ago, he was no champion of “back to basics” government. They know he joined in with the clique heaping mockery upon people like me advocating a back to basics approach, he joined in with those calling us mentally defective alarmists, and “negative”. They know he is posing as a “back to basics” advocate, because they saw how the message resonated in ’05, and now would like to palm it off as their own to regain power.  They know he is no “businessman”, and have concocted, contrived, and slickly packaged him as such in an effort to deceive unknowing members of the electorate.

The real question is, how many city Republicans will stand up, and say no to this latest shameless fraud being perpetrated upon them? Will they be had again? Or will they free themselves from the stranglehold of such cynical, thoroughly dishonest and corrupt leadership?

I urge all rank and file city Republicans to see the truth. The former mayor and his former front man care nothing about you or your interests. The only beneficiaries from their return to power would be a small circle of relatives, friends and allies, just like when they last held power.

The truth is as it was in 2005. There are only two people that can win this race, Matt Ryan, or me. They know it, and are willing to sacrifice your votes, and your best interests, to suit their political interests, and what they see as their party’s interests. They are ready to wait another four years, just so the spoils system that sustains their brand of politics survives. Is that what you really want?

If you believe things are alright as they are, choices are there for you. But if you recognize things need to change, and that your party leaders like the former mayor and his former front man will never change them, there is only one choice. Stand up and make it happen.