Robin Yess has changed her tactics. Instead of fighting for smaller government she is backing county exec Mike Hein, a big government democrat.Right. It's all just a big game, people. There are winners and losers. And what it really comes down to is, which tribe gets to feed at the trough, right?
Why, you ask?
Simple. Terry Bernardo and Mike Hein have been feuding and Robin is stupid enough to believe that the enemy of her enemy is her friend. Trouble is, Hein is a politician. He helps people who can bring him votes. That's the way the game works. This doesn't make him corrupt, it just makes him a politician.
But there's another way of looking at this: It's known as "reaching across the aisle." In simple terms, elected officials in the U.S. used to respect the opposition even if they didn't agree with them most of the time. The reason was that both sides knew, at the end of the day, that the opposition wanted what was best for the nation. The disagreements were about how we would get there.
But all of this changed about 20 years ago with the ascendancy of New Gingrich-style politics. It's not about good governance, nor about winning elections. It's about destroying the "enemy." It's about demonizing the other side to such an extent that compromise is seen as capitulation.
And this is why our system is broken. How can you compromise with someone you want to destroy?
And we won't hear anything about good governance from Bernardo. Instead, all we hear is about how Yess is selling out because she thinks Hein is a reasonable, professional individual whom she feels she can work with.
That's Bernardo's argument against Yess. That's it.
Others, however, including some Republicans (see ToR Councilman Cilenti's letter), have no problem working with the opposition.
This is how government in this country is supposed to operate, folks. For Mocking Robin to ridicule Yess for doing what this nation's founders intended shows just how radical and out-of-touch Bernardo truly is.
The funniest thing is that Bernardo calls Hein a " Big Government" democrat. Last time I checked, Hein has cut the size of goverment and continues to find ways to make it even smaller.
ReplyDelete7:47 just what I was rthinking and hasn't Bernardo grown the goverment with just the legislative staff. And Bernardo thinks this is a GAME. Shame on her people lives, homes, retirement, pensions are at stake. Just because she was a goldigger( and not much gold with Len but the money) doesn't mean their are hard working people in Ulster County. Please play your games somewhere else!
ReplyDeleteBernardo stays awake at night, scheming and planning her next chess move. She fancies herself the queen of the board and regards sycophant legislators as her pawns. In Terry's game, Len is likely a knight, though, maybe if he's good, she'll promote him to bishop. So, does this make Chapman a rook? Any way you look at the Bernardo board, Queenie's got her sights set on mighty King Hein.
ReplyDeleteHello Cloakroom! Just catching up on my blog reading and had to chime in here. There's a lot of talk about me being a traitor and being disloyal because I support Mike Hein. Hopefully somebody snapped a picture of me in attendance at Mike's birthday party fundraiser, which was a huge success. I was there because I support him and his Party affiliation doesn't matter to me (for the 100th time!). His actions do and he continues to demonstrate that he IS trying to downsize government, cut spending and do things better and more efficiently.
ReplyDeleteBehind all of those efforts might be his own personal goal of moving higher up the political ladder, which I suppose is no different than someone trying to bring efficiency and cost savings to a private corporation in the hopes of climbing the corporate ladder. If Mike Hein keeps it up, he'll write his own ticket and that will be his gain and Ulster County's loss. When the Republicans in the Legislature start showing me that they are trying to cut, downsize and save our money, I'll be singing their praises. For now all I see is a circus.