Kristia Cavere, from Tuxedo in Orange County, is the Tea Party and a Republican candidate for New York’s 19th Congressional District seat held by Hall. Cavere thinks that the Democrats have co-opted Republican values and claims, among other things, that:

“The Republicans are the ones who liberated Europe in World War II.”

She continued by saying that the Republicans have always initiated “every” advancement of freedom in our history.

“Unfortunately, today there are many Republicans in office who are cowards and who are bad communicators,” she said. “We have the right ideas, the right principles, the right philosophy and history on our side.”

Her comments appeared in the April 23 edition of the Record-Review, a newspaper that serves Pound Ridge and Bedford, NY. The newspaper has not printed an online version of the article.

Ms. Cavere is only 30, but that does not excuse her for having poor grasp of American history. The last thing I would ever want to do is to politicize something as significant as our victory in World War, or at least the European end of it, as she sees it.

Yes, this is the last argument I would ever want to have with anyone, but this is what it’s starting to boil down to: defending our values against lies by the far rightwing when they attempt to discredit and demonize the Democratic Party. There is no honor or logic to making such a partisan claim, no matter what party you’re affiliated with. I would be just as ashamed if someone said the Democrats won World War II because FDR and Truman were the presidents during the war—that’s just wrong!

Thousands of Democrats died in the Battle of the Bulge right next to the thousands of Republicans who also gave their young lives. This is true for all the battles. It was true in World War II, it was true in Vietnam, and it’s true today.

George McGovern was a World War II hero, having won the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and three oak leaf clusters during the war. I guess George McGovern’s heroism doesn’t count in Ms. Cavere’s world, as he’s one of the iconic faces of American liberalism today. To be fair, let me honor a great Republican who fought in World War II. John Paul Hammerscmidt also won the Distinguished Flying Cross and became a Republican Congressman from Arkansas.

No party holds claim to the heroism that Americans showed in that war. In fact, Ms. Cavere dishonors the memory of all those who lost their lives in World War II by cheapening the war as some sort of partisan victory rather than the desperate but noble cause that this country was united under

After trying to discredit those on the left but going way off target, Ms. Cavere then had the audacity to speak of American unity:

“We have to unify and become Americans together and not just identify with a political party,” she said. “America and principles must come before our party. There is common ground that can be found.”

Ms. Cavere, you have no right to talk about unity until you apologize to the families of all those who wore the uniform during WWII. Your comments were an attempt to cheapen the honorable military service hundreds of thousands of men and women who served who did not, or currently do not, share your political values. Shame on you, Ms. Cavere.

Well, this is good news that the Putnam teabagger, Greg Ball has dropped out of the race. (Although the timing, right after the Republican ballyhooed a poll showing him within striking distance of John Hall, makes the timing slightly suspect.)

Still, this isn’t great news. Westchester Opthamologist Nan Hayworth will not have a Republican primary opponent and Rep. John Hall (D) still has a tough race ahead of him.

Ball announced Saturday that he’s abandoning his campaign for the 19th Congressional District seat held by Hall, and will run instead for State Senate in 2010.

In a press release Saturday afternoon, Ball, who is from Putnam County, said he’ll run for the the 40th District State Senate seat currently held by Republican Vincent Leibell.  The State Senate district includes parts of Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties.

John Hall’s congressional district includes a portion of northern Rockland and southern Orange Counties on this side of the river.

Mt. Kisco opthamologist Nan Hayworth later today is expected to unveil a new website and disclose that’s she’s already got more than $300,000 for her congressional run.

Hayworth is said to be well known in the area due to her years working as doctor, and her husband Scott Hayworth is an OB/GYN and CEO of the Mt. Kisco Medical Group.

She has reportedly been talking with Sue Kelly, the former longtime 19th rep, who Hall unseated Kelly in 2006 with 51 percent of the vote.

This candidacy makes for some interesting scenarios.
I’d first like to report that Hayworth is targeting independent and Democratic voters in her initial emails. Yesterday, I got three emails from her, each one sent to a different address. Other progressive voters that like in the 19th (I do not) said that they have already been contacted by her campaign. This early move tells me that Hayworth will be targeting socially liberal but fiscally conservative Republicans, like many of those that you would find in northern Westchester County.

Her campaign Web site is not up yet, but a blog called Hayworth for Congress has already been launched. In it, Hayworth (the woman on the left in the photograph) attacks John Hall mostly for his support of the stimulus bill, although many of the assumptions she makes about the lack of job creation on her Web site are misguided or erroneous. There is no mention of social issues such as gay marriage or abortion that one would typically find from a staunch conservative candidate. So I think it’s safe to say that Hayworth will run to the left of Ball in the primary.

And Hayworth has a lot of cash behind her campaign already. She already has $168,247 in contributions and has loaned herself $150,000. This war chest of nearly $320,000 is substantial.

What little I know about Scott and Nan Hayworth is that they have many connections to money and power in Westchester. They’re on boards and donors lists of many civic and benevolent organizations and are the quintessential Westchester power couple. They’ll have no problems finding friends willing to write them $2,000 checks and names like Pataki, Giuliani, and Bloomberg endorsing Nan.

The good news is that this will be devastating for Greg Ball, as he’ll have to much of his cash on a tough primary battle. As Ball’s primary opponent, Hayworth will also expose his Achilles Heel if not pierce it. The bad news is that I worry that Hayworth can win the primary and she’d be a much stronger candidate against John Hall come November as she doesn’t have the baggage that Ball does. While Hayworth won’t inspire any loyalty from teabaggers as Ball does, she is a moderate and can appeal to independents and moderates.

As many of you know, Hall has two possible Republican opponents for his Congressional seat. One, Assembly member Greg Ball (AD-99), is already campaigning vigorously, but his message is dubious at best. Our friends at Take19 will be setting the record straight over the coming year and the Rockland Progressive Dems is glad to be part of this effort as many of our members live in NY-19.

Please vist Take19′s site and keep in mind that we will have one tough Congressional battle in Rockland County next fall.

Ball narrates an incident from his childhood that sowed the seeds for his passion. “My godmother was personal secretary to Joseph Kennedy, the father of Jack Kennedy. As an infant I had cat-scratch fever, and Jean Kennedy- Smith, Jack Kennedy’s sister, asked my parents to take me to a hospital. When my parents said they couldn’t afford it, she said she would take care of everything. And, within five minutes, there were 10 doctors around me. I think those little interactions that I had as a kid with that family in particular showed me how well power could be used.”

He feels that people should use their abilities to impact others positively, because there is both good and evil in this world. “Evil exists, and we have to fight it at every turn.”

I must say, what a compassionate clan the Kennedy family has been, and despite their wealth they took it upon themselves to care for a small baby who was, at the very best, tenuously connected to them. And this interaction with the Kennedy family taught Ball to demonize a healthcare system with a public-option? I’m not sure how such compassion teaches someone to be so selfish and uncaring.

What’s even more amazing is that Joseph Kennedy was dead for some eight years before Greg was born in 1977, but the compassionate Kennedy clan, according to Ball, cared enough to keep in touch with their deceased patriarch’s secretary’s godson. Had not Ball’s blue-collar family had this distant connection, what would they have done?

And what a great bit of irony, considering that Greg is now campaigning against American families getting the health care that they need with his so-called town halls, which are nothing but homespun demagoguery, fake outrage, and misinformation directed at the people he hopes to serve.

Unforunately, I, like most every American, don’t have connections to the Kennedys or any other ultra-wealthy family.

My son, who is on the autistic spectrum, has had more than $30,000 in medical bills that two health-insurance companies refused to cover. It put my family on the brink of financial ruin. Assemblyman Ball and his family should feel blessed to have such friends to pay for his health care when he was a child. Wouldn’t Greg Ball want every child to have an opportunity to have to see a doctor when their health is imperiled without bankrupting their families?

I think it’s time that this Congressional candidate did some sincere soul searching before he spreads more fear and lies about the health-care reform that Ted Kennedy so wanted for all American families.

Engel told Politico: “Without that [public] option there will not be enough votes in the House to pass that bill.”

The Congressman, who represents parts of the Bronx, Westchester, and Rockland, also chastised Senate Democrats, particularly Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) for holding the legislative process hostage:

“The Senate needs to understand that they are one-half of the process, not the entire process,” said Engel. “This is not a matter of [Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max] Baucus or anybody else negotiating a bill, than coming to the House and saying, ‘take it or leave it.’ That’s not how it works.”

While Engel’s words are a strong warning to the Administration and Sen. Baucus, he is not among the 57 House members that sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week and 18 more that took a pledge stating that they would vote against any health care reform bill that didn’t include, at the minimum, a robust public option.

It is not clear whether the White House is shifting away from the public option, but the rhetoric has been softened as of late. President Obama said on Saturday that the public option is just a “sliver” of the overall package, followed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius commenting that it wasn’t essential. However, administration spokespersons are now backtracking and saying that the alleged shift away from the public option is no shift at all and that President Obama still insists that the public option is the best way to provide needed competition with the insurance industry.

Along with Engel, representatives Nita Lowey (D, NY-18) and John Hall (D, NY-19), who also represent parts of Rockland, support the public option and according to Rockland Business Digest, all three will hold public forums on the health care plan. Spokespersons for Lowey and Engel say they plan to hold town halls sometime in late August, with times and venues to be announced. And although his staff did not confirmed it when talking with Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus members, it is rumored that Hall will hold four town-hall style events across his widespread district.

This article is cross-posted at the Nyack News and Views Web site.

“This is a bill that is still in a state of flux,” Hall said, noting he’s working to make sure small businesses are not harmed.

It’s not like all of our taxes will be raised to help pay for health care. Only high-wage earners will be affected, and then, this income-tax surcharge will be nominal:

The plan, which would impose a surtax on individuals making more than $280,000 and couples making more than $400,000, is part of a bill the House could vote on by the end of the month.

Hall, is of course, worried that the current plan might have negative effects on many of his constituents. The House Ways and Means Committee reported that some three-quarters of small businesses aren’t incorporated and some of those business owners will have to pay the tax surcharge. The committee estimates that a surcharge would affect 4.1 percent of small businesses. That’s a very small percentage of small businesses—I also find it odd that any small business would not incorporate, especially those making more than $280,000 a year.

Overall, this plan help the vast majority of small businesses, not hurt them. A public-option health plan will encourage entrepreneurship; people who have stayed in corporate jobs because they need health-care benefits will now be empowered to venture into self-employment. Small businesses that have not been able to provide health-care coverage for their employees will now be able to draw from a deeper talent pool as potential employees won’t have to weigh the option of entering into a job with out proper benefits. Thus, this health-care plan would stimulate small businesses, instead of dragging them down.

Furthermore, Rep. Hall should understand this tax surcharge on America’s top earners would be negligible. For example, a family earning wages of over $500,000 would pay just $1,000 in income tax. A great majority of families in Hall’s district make less than half that number. So I, for one, am a bit dumbfounded by Rep. Hall’s reservations.

I may be reading too much into the Journal piece, but I’m still worried about Rep. Hall getting cold feet. Please call  him at (202) 225-5441 and let him know it.

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site are the individual opinions of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.

It has 106 cosponsors in the house. None of our local representatives is on that list!

More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062403282.html

and: http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site are the  individual opinions of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.

On the occasion of the official bankruptcy of General Motors after taxpayer bailouts and reluctantly partnering with the UAW, Hall renewed his call for an increase of alternative energy, green technology and forward thinking.

Hall quotes GM’s head of Research & Development who wishes he could go back in time (wasn’t that a DeLorean?) to prevent his bosses at GM from killing their own electric baby. Many forget we had a GM plan nearby in Tarrytown that was abandoned in 1996, making the area more sleepy and hollow, indeed.

Hall, in part:

“…all this might have been avoided if technologies that GM had already created had been allowed to flourish. In 1996, GM introduced the first modern production electric car, the EV1, and followed that with the EV1 Hybrid in 1999. Both had a fuel economy equalling 60 miles per gallon. However…these projects were shelved and patents for the battery technology were sold to oil industry giant Texaco, now merged with Chevron, who have so far refused to license or share the designs.”

Hall tied GM’s woes to the healthcare crisis in the U.S., noting GM was “competing with BMW and Toyota and other companies that manufacture cars in other countries with universal health care”, citing “an uneven playing field, and we’re at a disadvantage.”

But Mr. Hall’s email modestly leaves out other recent activities, so I did a simple round-up using Google News. For example, Hall very recently introduced a bill that enables vets with any “enemy combat” duty to qualify for PTSD treatment. Currently, soldiers must procure supervisor and witness affadavits attesting to a specified traumatic event.

Last month, Hall denounced Bush’s “mistaken” war of choice in Iraq while supporting greater diplomacy and economic development in Afghanistan. Another May item details Hall’s attempt to help the Highland Falls school district, losing staff due to cuts that disproportionately affect West Point families because of the area’s unique military demographic. Hall mentioned this in a brief “stairway” pitch to the U.S. Secretary of the Army, but as it happens President Obama nominated a familiar colleague of Hall’s to replace the Secretary, in Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY).

Hall embarked on a healthcare listening tour, meeting with local providers and professionals who said middlemen profiteers “have become monsters”. He called for a night curfew at a local airport, hosted a panel seeking to develop low-income housing and assist in preventing foreclosures using federal stimulus funds, while also advocating stimulus funding be directed towards clean water projects in the Hudson Valley.

Rep. Hall also endorsed Sonia Sotomayor for the SCOTUS and gave an early endorsement to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Lastly, Hall signed a letter to Obama’s “Car Czar” Steven Rattner, asking why profitable auto dealerships must be closed in the industry’s bankruptcy restructuring. But if this article is accurate, Citibank and JP Morgan Chase are not particpating in the misery shared by UAW workers, GM and Chrysler dealers or taxpayers, securing full cash payback thanks to Rattner improperly directing reimbursement from already paid-in retirement funds, a first that would set precedent allowing corps to raid these previously untouchable funds.

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The news and diaries posted on the Rockland Progressive Dems site are the individual opinions of the members of the Rockland Progressive Democratic Caucus. They appear on this Web site to provide a progressive forum for Rockland County residents. While the Executive Committee of the caucus may edit some of these posts for clarity, length, and accuracy, it does not necessarily endorse the contents of each post. All members of the Rockland County Democratic Caucus are invited to share their viewpoints and comment on those viewpoints on this site.