By Mark David Blum, Esq.
There are not words sufficient or a voice loud enough to declare my opposition to Jeffrey Brown being elected to the New York State Senate. He is the wrong man for the job and would do no good if he should take office.
I have known Jeff a lot of years and he is the kind of man you would want to marry your daughter. When he first ran for the Assembly in 2002, I was a strong supporter of his candidacy. Being a Republican in the Democrat controlled Assembly was, in my opinion, a plus and an opportunity to speak loudly on issues relevant to all of us. I was notably interested in his ‘out-of-nowhere’ proclamation that he would seek to bring about the power of Referendum.
Make no mistake: Jeff and I will never agree on anything political and do not travel in the same circles. My blood is not blue enough to qualify me. He does however have bad counsel, which may explain his political impotence these past years in office.
By the time the 2004 election came, Jeff had failed in his promise to take up the cause of giving New York citizens the power that is theirs originally; the power of the referendum. Jeff also sat on the all-powerful Assembly Health Committee but took no steps to help passage of the Medical Marijuana Act. He takes campaign donations from the pharmaceutical companies to make sure you do not get Canadian drugs.
Currently, Brown is running commercials that tout his having “brought in the budget on time” as if doing so was a single handed Herculean effort that only he could have done. But, on April 10, 2004, I heard Brown on radio WSYR who advised me, a constituent, that once again the New York State budget was going to be late. Counties, cities, school districts, police and fire services, and public service agencies cannot finalize their budgets. The entire State hung in limbo while our State Government was running months late in getting the budget done.
Instead of sticking around and doing his job, Brown and his colleagues took off for a twelve-day “Spring Break.” My eighth grade daughter does not get a twelve day ‘Spring Break”. I could never take a 12-day Spring Break. We, as your constituents, voters and citizens of New York had to sit tight and hold our collective breaths until Brown and Co. got their fill of ‘Girls Gone Wild’.
I also remember during that radio interview how Brown lamented and whined about his disappointment in not being able to make any changes in the two years he had then been in office. He was making excuses and issuing an election year mea culpa. Instead of fighting hard to change the existing Status Quo, Jeff opted to keep his nice offices and pretty staff and other gravitas over doing the People’s business. I believe he should have been far more effective taking the fight to the floor.
On May 5, 2005, Jon Alvarez, a regular guest on the then Bill Colley Show of WFBL was discussing how offended he, Alvarez was that the Syracuse Peace Council had been invited to speak at some of the area high schools. Mr. Alvarez said he called then Assemblyman Brown’s office to complain. According to Alvarez, Brown “promised to look into it.” The seriousness of this use of his political office to interfere with the Constitution and political free speech is way far a field from anything that would relevant to Mr. Brown’s professional responsibilities. New Yorkers need independent minded strong leaders who do not change their opinion to pleasure our ears but who remain firmly attached to their convictions.
I also question upon the graves of how many police officers is Jeff Brown going to stand upon to pander to voters? The way he rushed to get out front on the Todeschini Law; he nearly trampled the widow and her children to grab the spotlight. It is appalling how in haste to make political hay and not with the quiet reflection of a dispassionate lawmaker, Brown rushed through a law that is going to cause great harm to innocents.
Today in the newspaper and all week, Brown has likewise been using the conviction of a cop killer as the battle cry for a death penalty. Right or wrong, the question becomes why does Brown wait until a handful of weeks before the election to make noise on the issue? If he truly felt so strongly and was willing to call out his opponents in the public arena, why was Brown not doing so every day for the past four years?
Ultimately what really fries me about Jeff Brown is how his candidacy is a complete sham. It is a marketing game being played upon the citizens of this Senatorial district and like sheep to the slaughter; good people are being misled into voting for Brown.
Consider his own arguments: He “never” voted for a tax increase. He started the “come home to Syracuse” program. He has fought for this and worked for that and accomplished so much. The question I have that has never been answered (because the answer is so obvious) is if Jeff is so effective at what he does, then why did he QUIT? If Mr. Brown speaks the truth about his accomplishments and capabilities, then why did he give up his seniority and position and just quit his job. Nobody could have beaten him in this year’s Assembly race.
But Jeff did quit. Not only did he quit, but he has launched a campaign to unseat a popular and effective State Senator. Dave Valesky, like Brown himself, was a minority party member in his House. But Valesky worked and made noise and did what he could to bring about change.
My discussion here is not about the merits of Valesky. Nothing he has done or that I have heard since Valesky took office makes me want him gone.
But Brown wants Valesky out. Actually, I doubt that Mr. Brown came up with the idea by himself. What really irks some about Valesky being in office is that they feel he took the office by default when Hoffman and Dadey got into a fight. The State Republican Party Machine wants to take back the district from a Democrat (Valesky) and return it to Republican hands. Brown is just the pretty face they put out front.
Brown has not shown me or anybody a single reason why he quit the Assembly and why he feels it is more important to unseat Valesky. From all that I can tell, Brown is nothing but an empty suit, lapping morsels from Republican hands who are also working feverishly to install Brown in office.
If Brown wins this election, only one thing happens. Josef Bruno’s Republican Party stranglehold over the State Senate intensifies. This is the sole reason why Brown quit the Assembly.
How sad it is indeed that instead of having two effective and strong voices for Upstate New York, one in each House, Jeff Brown and the Republicans quit one seat and seek to trash the holder of the other. From what I recall, it is the best interests of ALL New Yorkers which should be paramount. The last things we need are quiet little soldiers for Bruno. Haven’t we all suffered enough? The hard cold lesson we have learned is that Republican self interest always rises above the interests of the People and serves only the few.
Jeff Brown and the State Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.
