Page 10 Paladino Continued from page 1


of his own money in his bid for governor. His platform includes cutting taxes by


10 percent within the first six months of taking office, cutting state spending by 20 percent and creating an eight-year term limit for local and state elected officials. Paladino attributes his primary win to the


enthusiasm of the people, which he said was not limited to Republicans. He spoke of some neighbors who complained they were not permitted to vote for him in the primaries, not realizing that as registered Democrats, they were unable to. “The people have spoken, the message


rings and the people are disgusted with their parties,” he said. Paladino, who will run on his own


Taxpayers line as well as the Republican line, said he will bring transparency to Albany and end what he calls a dictatorship in the Capitol. “I am going to use transparency. We are


going to talk about the people’s business in front of the people. We are going to turn the light on and see the rats scurry.” Paladino has wasted no time in taking on


Cuomo, his Democratic rival in the general election, by demanding a debate. “I expect Mr. Cuomo to debate me every day leading up to the general election.” Cuomo has yet to respond to this request. A similar request to debate was extended


to Lazio, but that challenge was never answered during the primary race.


Photo courtesy of Carl Paladino


GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino attributes his primary win to the enthusiasm of voters. Paladino predicts Cuomo will divide the


Democratic Party “right down the middle,” pitting the “entitlement group versus the working man.” Paladino hinted as to what he’ll use as


fodder against Cuomo if the two eventually debate. “Cuomo has to answer for his conflicts.


He has to answer for Obama care.” “We are going to show that the working


Democrats are being taken advantage of by liberal progressives,” said Paladino. Paladino seemed confident he can defeat


Cuomo in a debate. “He’s gonna’ get vetted. He’s never been vetted before.”


Carl Paladino’s greatest ‘hits’


The Associated Press  In October 2009, a local newspaper quoted him as saying of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver: “If I could ever describe a person who would fit the bill of an anti-Christ or a Hitler, this guy is it.”  He acknowledged forwarding


Fight Continued from page 3


in New York that had the support of the governor was passed in the Assembly but failed by eight votes in the Senate, with 38 senators voting against it, compared to 24 voting in favor of marriage equality. Michael Cole, a spokesman for the Human


Rights Campaign, said it is particularly important that marriage equality becomes law due to the current economic climate in New York and the rest of the country. Cole said, “There are a lot of issues weighing on families in New York: economy, jobs, health care … what is important to realize is that same-sex couples and their families don’t have the same opportunities to protect themselves the way heterosexual couples do through marriage. We want to level the playing field and give everyone an equal shot to have the same rights and responsibilities to protect their families.” Cole said it is important same-sex couples


win marriage equality and not merely recognition of civil unions. “The only true way to equally protect people is to have the same status for all families,” he said. “Just as opposite-sex couples enter into marriage, the same name and rights and benefits should come with it for same sex- couples. Everyone at the end of the day should have the right to marry the person they love, and we shouldn’t be creating separate status to tell one group of people that they are less than or not equal to the rights supported to everyone else.” The organization has also been involved


e-mails featuring images of bestiality. Another showed an altered photo of President Barack Obama and the first lady cast as a pimp and a prostitute.  He proposes renovating prisons


to provide jobs and “life lessons” to welfare recipients, including personal hygiene habits.


in several political races across the state, trying to support candidates who are in favor of marriage equality or who are running against lawmakers who strongly oppose such legislation. So far, the Human Rights Campaign has


raised more than $150,000 for election- related activities. Cole said, “We’re involved in a lot of


races right now; we’re targeting folks who voted against the bill where we have opportunities to replace them with fair- minded candidates.” In particular, the Human Rights Campaign cites vocal marriage equality supporter Tim Kennedy’s victory in last week’s Democratic primary over 30-year incumbent Sen. William T. Stachowski, D-Lake View, as an important success in the fight to secure marriage equality. The other two candidates the Human


Rights Campaign had tried to unseat, Sen. Shirley L. Huntley D-Queens, and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. D-Bronx, won their primary elections. Paul Guequierre, deputy press secretary


for the organization, said, “Victories like Tim Kennedy’s are huge steps towards the passage of equality in New York. We expect to pick up some seats, and we hope to change the hearts and minds of not only state senators but New Yorkers in general.” Cole is confident public sentiment is


swaying in their favor. “It’s a long-term campaign,” Cole said. “In every new poll that comes out, there is an increase across the board for marriage equality. As more and more states adopt it, it becomes less of a foreign concept.”


For advertising information call (518) 473-9739.


Although the ballot for November’s general election will not be finalized until Sept. 27, the candidates expected to appear on it as gubernatorial candidates, according to the state Board of Elections, are: Cuomo on the Democrat, Working Families and Independence lines; Paladino as the Republican and Taxpayers Party candidate; Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins; Jimmy McMillan on the Rent is Too Damn High line; Kristin Davis for the Anti-Prohibition Party. It is unclear whether Lazio, who was endorsed by the Conservative Party, intends to continue campaigning for governor.


Debate Continued from page 1 “I thought it was important to be there, to


stand up shoulder to shoulder with people from the grass roots,” said Sinding. Opponents to fracking in New York


cite drinking water contamination from chemicals used in the fracking process, well blowouts and fires, and the possibility of disease as possible consequences. Jim Smith of the Independent Oil and


Gas Association of New York, a group that represents gas and oil drilling companies in New York, conceded that the EPA is free to conduct the study in any manner it wants but the federal agency in the meantime should not stop progress in New York. “New Yorkers have a right to use their


land the way they want to. This is an economic opportunity for New York that it hasn’t seen in decades,” Smith said When asked about public concerns over


the safety of fracking, Smith said “the public doesn’t understand and when they don’t understand they get frightened. … The debate has been hijacked by environmental extremists,” he added. Wes Gillingham, director of the Catskill


Mountainkeeper, said the highlight of the day for him was when Victoria Switzer of Dimock, Pa. spoke out against fracking. Switzer had her well water contaminated with chemicals associated with hydraulic farcturing by a nearby natural gas well. “Her statements really stood out against


other testimony; it wasn’t emotional. This was for her potentially becoming a case study. This will be important down the road,” said Gillingham. The Marcellus Shale formation, which


stretches underneath New York’s Southern Tier, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, contains an estimated 168 trillion to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. New Yorkers use 1.1 trillion cubic feet of


gas a year according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The federal government estimates that shale gas will make up 20 percent of the U.S. gas supply by 2020. The DEC has been conducting its


own survey on fracking for the past two years as it attempts to come up with


The Legislative Gazette


September 21, 2010


Paladino sends stinky mailing blasting Dems


The Associated Press S


omething stinks in Albany, and in about 200,000 mailboxes around New York.


A garbage-scented campaign mailing


by Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor, features the photos of seven Democrats, including six who have been investigated and two who have resigned in scandal within the last four years. “Something STINKS in Albany,”


the mailer says. Paladino spokesman Michael


Caputo tells The Associated Press Thursday that the mailer is scented with a “landfill” odor. He says the smell emanates from a material that will get worse the longer it is exposed, just like Albany. The mailer doesn’t name Cuomo, the attorney general and his Democratic opponent for governor. But Paladino has been trying to link Cuomo to the Democrats now in control of every statewide office and both chambers of the Legislature.


permitting regulations for expanded natural gas drilling in the state. The DEC reports that horizontal fracking in the Marcellus Shale formation would require millions of gallons of water, as opposed to the 80,000 gallons of water used in vertical wells. Horizontal drilling is not a new process.


According to the DEC there are roughly 40 wells in New York that drill horizontally. There are 15 vertical wells active in the Marcellus Shale formation and no horizontal wells. Bill A.11443-b/S.08129-b, which


would place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until May 2011, passed in the Senate last month under the sponsorship of Assembly Environmental Committee Chairman Robert Sweeney D- Babylon and Sen. Antoine Thompson D- Buffalo, Environmental Committee Chairman in the Senate. The Assembly is expected to act on the bill when it reconvenes. “Personally, I wouldn’t mind making it longer than next May,” said Sweeney. Sweeney, who was not at the hearing in


Binghamton, said he believes the overall costs of fracking will exceed the benefits in the long run. “This could affect drinking water everywhere,” Sweeney said. “As an environmental advocate, my


first concern is the safety of our water and environment. I think the one-year moratorium is critical, because it gives the DEC and the Legislature the necessary time to investigate the effects of hydrofracking,” said Thompson in a statement. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver,


D- Manhattan, said in a statement: “I strongly believe New York state should take no further action towards the approval of permits in any drinking water sensitive area anywhere in New York state until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completes its study of hydrofracking and companies are required to fully disclose all chemicals used in the drilling process.” There are 13,000 active oil and gas wells


in New York, half of which have used hydraulic fracturing in the past several decades, according to the DEC. The EPA projects that its gathering of


testimony should be completed by October. The study itself is expected to be released in 2012.


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