It sounds good on a bumper sticker even if it's never been a reality.

it's as real as reality gets...

unions and corporations donate to every politcal campaign...it doesn't necessarily make them beholden to them...depends on the integrity of the office holder.

Yes, the Wall Street fatcats throw all kinds of money at the 1%-lovin' Republicans. Oh, wait...
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638

We in Kings Park will rarey see taxes go down regardless what Bellone says. I agree that the candidate choices were limited and fault the republican party for always backing weak unknown candidates. As to Bellon's proposed projects, KP will never benifit from it. Why? Because 90 percent of the taxes are paid via property taxes and mostly to the school district. Until KP gets sufficent industry to offset the burden on home owners, regardless what Bellone will try to accomplishm we will not see any great reductions to our taxes. I will give Bellown a chance and see what will take place. Running a town is a bit different than runny a county. I wish him well.

Keep in mind most taxes are due to things like schoo ltax which the county executive does not control.

THe biggest problem is the Capital Gains Tax system in place since Bush. By reducing the Capital gains tax on investments under a year to 15% from 35% it promoted this reactionary and headline driven volatile market. It used be 35% for under a year, 20$ for 1 to 3 years and 15% for over three years. Back in the day you invested for the long term to save money on taxes, now we are promoting making your money on the day and cashing out at the end of the day. The only people that gain from the current capital gains tax system are the day traders , hedge fund guys, millionaires that spend half their day tracking stocks or paying someone to do it for them.

I personally think the lowest taxes should be paid for people that earn w-2s and the investors should pay the higher taxes because while yes they take on the most risk they also aren't working for it either. Right now W-2s are taxed at 3x the rate of investors.

Love it , Thomas ...

I think you should stop watching fox news. Look at carpenter. She was more democrat then bellone is . She even publically admitted to creating jobs for friends . The AME union was also backing her and shes a republican.

All the news paper articles about bellone stated he was willing to atually work with the unions to get the budget mess sorted out . Some articles stated he was more anti union then carpenter was.
Keep in mind the BANK bailout was enacted and signed by BUSH as his last thing he did. Stop watching fox news and stop listening to the republicans. They publically lie to everybodies faces.

Stop drinking the Kool Aid Nassau has been run by Republicans for decades and we have the problems we have now because of it. If you can't connect the dots. you just aren't looking.

Mr Montes, only right wing radicals are afraid of unions. Why? Because unions fight for working people while you and your party fight to destroy them. Your ideology has been rejected by voters nationwide. The tea party is over.

Carpenter also had the AME union supporting her because bellone is more to do what has to be done when it comes to unions then carpenter was and she is supposedly republican.

Glenn, there is NOTHING like a WORKING FAMILIES PARTY endorsement to tell a Voter WHERE a Local Pols allegiances are !

"On Long Island, we’ve endorsed Steve Bellone for Suffolk County Executive. During the decade that Steve’s been serving as a Town Supervisor in Babylon, he’s led the way on Energy Star standards, comprehensive green building codes, and clean energy initiatives. Steve would be one of our strongest allies for our statewide Green Jobs initiatives in New York if elected County Executive. We’ve also endorsed Eva Pearson in Nassau County’s 14th Legislative District. ."

http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/2011/11/election-day-matters-even-without-famous-names/

AS YOU WROTE...

"Think I'm being a little paranoid?

Read this quote from the State Committee of the New York State Communist (yes Communist) Party:

""There are many in the Democratic Party, and even more in its
orbit, who are part of this fight: the labor movement, especially the transport
workers, the service workers, SEIU 32BJ and 1199, and the teachers;…the
progressive Democratic clubs, the peace movement and so on…Many of these important progressive forces are working within the Working Families Party. -State Committee New York State Communist Party"'

http://westislip.patch.com/blog_posts/steve-bellone-in-bed-with-radicals

Not afraid of unions Mary Beth. If unions "fight for working people" why is it in States like New York, people have to be forced to join them or pay dues to them in order to work? I say let workers make the choice with Right to Work laws and see how strong unions remain when people are given a choice. The fact is, when given the opportunity the majority of workers reject unionization in Right to Work States because in this day and age people realize that many unions have been taken over by radical left wingers with more of a political agenda than one that is worker centered.

Unions that automatically collect dues are basically a money-laundering operation. Those dues ultimately come from taxpayers who pay the salaries of these state workers. The dues are used in ads promoting democrats who aide and abet higher and higher union pay and benefits. It's a vicious cycle that must be stopped. NY should learn from Wisconsin. Cuomo is picking up on this somewhat, but he's no Scott Walker.

The only issue with that quote is that the election of Bellone means I did get the government I deserve, but there are plenty who do not deserve such good fortune.

as opposed to the Koch bros... what a myopic hypocrite!

Yeah that's hilarious because people are leaving Nassau for Suffolk.

I think that is the real theme of this years local election, the voters were underwhelmed by the choices.

It doesn't look like it is going to change anytime soon if people keep voting for who's signs they see, which means contributors still have the biggest say in Town and County Policy.

Good for you. Unforunately, most people around here either vote the name they know or the party line regardless of who's running or their track record in regards to incumbents. I found some incumbents messages to be the exact opposite of their record and yet people still voted for them as if, like the mother of a drug addict, this time they really are going to change. Many people on this board and around the county vote based on the ideology and/or platform of the party the people are running under even if the candidates actions are the antithesis of that ideology or platform.

There is NO discernible difference these days between political parties.

And it's no coincidence either. It's how The Political Elites have turned this republic into a VENEZUELA and CUBA, and have consolidated their power over Tax Payers !

Cross endorsements are part of the game...there is NO DIFFERENCE !

His association with SEIU and the endorsement Working Families Party will bring him up on the "radar". These entities are money laundering operations for "campaign contributions".

I'm sure he will be kept in line by Tom Spota, and Good Ole Tom will find something...he always does !