Suozzi Issues Scorecard for Albany Insider All-Star Team
Suozzi Issues Scorecard for Albany Insider All-Star Team
The Insider All-Star Team is led by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and features nine of Albany's biggest power- players, almost all of who are supporting Spitzer's campaign for governor. The rest of the starting line-up includes: State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Republican gubernatorial nominee and lobbyist John Faso, as well as top lobbyists Al D'Amato, Kenneth Shapiro, Patricia Lynch, Stuart Shorenstein, James Featherstonhaugh, and Suri Kasirer.
"Tonight in Pittsburgh, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game will pit the best players from the National League against the best from the American League," Suozzi said. "But in Albany, both teams are sadly playing for the same special interests. And pretty much every member of this exclusive ball club has put their money and their mouths behind their designated hitter, Eliot Spitzer."
The All-Star Cards list a compilation of facts about Albany insiders' political activities, as well as financial contributions from lobbyists to Eliot Spitzer's campaign
For example, lobbyist Pat Lynch and her clients donated or pledged a total of $314,964.06 to Eliot Spitzer's campaign, and her firm, Patricia Lynch Associates, reported earning over $4 million lobbying in Albany in 2005. She served as chief of staff to Silver. Lynch's firm once represented Nassau County - until Suozzi, the Nassau County Executive, launched his Fix Albany campaign to reform New York State government.
"If voters want to know why every year important government reform proposal gets stuck in the legislative on-deck circle, they need to look no further than this bipartisan collection of strike-out artists, who care far more about protecting their playing time than putting up wins for the people of New York," Suozzi said.
Suozzi also released a parody of the classic poem Casey At The Bat, describing the probable outcome of an insider-driven Spitzer Administration.
http://tomsuozzi.com/announcements/aiaspr061106/