Wednesday, October 22, 2003
There was actually a time, in my lifetime, even, when New York Republicans were the reform party. It is tempting to say that what happened was that they started getting elected, but it wasn't as crude as that: Louis Lefkowitz was a reform AG until the day he retired; State Senator Roy Goodman was a straight shooter all along; and although you can certainly question the wisdom of Jacob Javits' decision to run one more time, he was the real deal, too, and as good a US Senator as New York has had. Actually, what I think happened was that in deciding to run one more time, Javits unleashed Al D'Amato on us. Al was old school, and Republicans since then, in New York, anyway, have been every bit as given to cronyism and sleaze as the Democrats ever were. Since I stand with the Dems on social issues, if the Republicans are going to make an appeal to me, it has to be on political reform and economics. This they fail to do, for the most part. Although I believe that judicial elections are a terrible way to pick judges, I'd give a long look at the Republican judicial slate if I lived in New York County. Since I don't, I'll be voting Democrat this go round-- that's where the most capable candidate is in the Eighth Judicial District.
// posted by Bill @ 4:14 PM 
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