Show #024 Fund Drive Over Yay

Show Notes

This show was a rare live broadcast for me, as Sam Sebren and I were scheduled to do fund-raising for WGXC's June $10K Fund Drive. We celebrated the end of the fund drive (during the morning show with Petey Pete) and then got down to business, playing clips from my interview with State Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk of the 46th Senate District and discussing the issues raised. There is one twelve minute segment we didn't get to which will be featured on my next show. If you want to just listen to the interview, it can be downloaded here. Here's what we talked about, with some news articles from the previous months that I used as source material.

First we celebrated the successful completion of the fund drive:

Fracking

VIEW: Documents show fracking leaders met with Cuomo's political advisers - Politics on the Hudson:
Why does the department of Health need to redact schedules for a FOIA request? Homeland Security? Please.

Fracking critics call for moratorium, more-inclusive process - Politics on the Hudson

America: Europe and Canada's Willing Chump | naked capitalism:
My favorite quote from the past month:

“Since neither Keystone XL nor fracking are long term job creators, it isn’t even like the US is selling out on these issues. “Selling” would imply some kind of profit. American workers will have virtually nothing to show for either, and the economy will be similarly unmoved. Extraction industry executives will make out like bandits, and that’s about it.”

Well, that and the environmental cleanup costs. We'll get those.

Fracking critics keep pushing for state-backed health study - Politics on the Hudson:
Now there’s radon in the natural gas produced by fracking? This just gets better and better, no?

Campaign Finance

NYPIRG calls on Board of Elections to host donor limit hearings - Politics on the Hudson

Skelos sees ways to fund public financing without taxpayer money - Politics on the Hudson:
And that is? The only thing he says is a check off on … your … income taxes. So voluntary taxpayer financing rather than funding through the general fund. oy.

GOP comptroller candidate will opt in to public financing system: "We’ll happily participate" - Politics on the Hudson:
I’m sure his entering into this program has nothing to do with the fact that he doesn’t have a chance of actually winning.

Farmworkers

Green Party pressuring Tkaczyk to co-sponsor farmworkers rights bill - Legislative Gazette

Cuomo daughter lobbies Tkaczyk - Times Union

Casinos

most of the casino bids dropped out of the running this past month, including the one for Catskill's Point, due to lack of infrastructure.
Catskills casino project goes bust, citing competition in Orange County - Politics on the Hudson
NY racinos struggle in 2014 - Politics on the Hudson:

Racino revenues are down. Let’s build casinos!

West Point Project & Energy Highway

With Power Comes Ambivalence - NYTimes.com:
A very strange title. No ambivalence whatsoever in evidence in this NYT article about the power line project. Nothing but resistance from the folks interviewed from around here.
Residents demand lower tower heights at National Grid forum - Columbia-Greene Media: News:
Lots of questions, lots of stone-walling.

Unrelated to this particular project, FERC's decision to rezone parts of our listening area is raising electricity rates; Tennessee Gas Pipeline wants to run a pipeline through Ancram, New Lebanon and Canaan.

Didn't get a chance to play this either:
Full show can be downloaded here.
The full interview can be downloaded here.

Theme Music:
Drops of H2O ( The Filtered Water Treatment ) by J.Lang
Provided under a Creative Commons Public License