Two Weeks Until Election Day!

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

Ever since I entered the political world, October has been a crazy month. I have been helping candidates in campaigns or running myself every year since 1992. (Plus, Barbara Keating for U.S. Senate in 1974 and Frank Garito for Mayor in 1975 as a kid). When you are in October of a campaign, your life is upside down. Any serious candidate is out there campaigning about 15 hours per day. I have accomplished some very difficult things in my life such as Marine Corps boot-camp, passing the bar exam and litigating trials, and the last month of a campaign ranks up there with those tough chores.

So first, let me remind anyone nice enough to read this post that we are very lucky to have so many committed and caring people out there working so hard to become elected officials. These candidates are a terrific tribute to our free and democratic society. The least the voters can do to honor them is to take the time to review all the candidates and vote on November 8. Throughout history around the world, millions have put their lives on the line for freedom and the right to vote, and regrettably, we will be lucky to see about 33% of the registered voters come out to vote in two weeks. If you do not vote, shame on you.

And when you vote, be open-minded. Please spend some time reviewing the campaign literature, check out the websites and vote for the best person. I am always shocked by the number of people that just vote the party line. Frankly, we can teach a child to just fill out all the boxes across a straight line. Even though I am an elected Republican official, I never vote a straight Republican ticket – I can always find at least one impressive Democrat to vote for. I believe that voting the straight ticket for your own party is a “dumbing down” of the electoral process.

Also, with two weeks to go, why don’t you call a campaign and volunteer? I guarantee it will be an interesting and rewarding experience. Contact me if you would like to volunteer.

This year, I am extremely lucky to be unopposed in my re-election campaign. I had an opponent for a couple of months, but he decided not to run. This is my 8th campaign for county legislator for District 11 in New Rochelle and Pelham. In our first legislative campaign back in 1997, we were not even sure we would win and could never have imagined that I would still be around for an 8th term.

I only survived all these elections (this is my 10th campaign!) because of the hundreds of people that worked on my campaigns. I often boast that I have the best supporters in the county because I truly believe it. Sadly, we lost my best campaign worker – my mom – a few years ago, but she is now up in heaven keeping an eye on us. My mom, my wife Jean and our friends built up an impressive campaign operation on our own, made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents. We always worked hard, always had fun and had the good fortune to win most of our races!

Unfortunately, half the candidates will not win on Election Day despite their commitment and diligence on the campaign trail. Please remember to thank both the winners and losers after the elections for making democracy work. Please also thank their families who had to put up with so much during the campaign.

Even though I am unopposed, I am still working hard to help elect several outstanding candidates that I think are currently or would be terrific public officials. One interesting thing to watch in the election returns is the composition of the Westchester Board of Legislators. There are some election analysts that believe the Republicans have a chance to take back the Board for the first time since the 1997. Since I have served on the Board for 14 years in the minority, this is an exciting opportunity, although a few of the Democratic legislators in close races are my friends, and I will miss them if they lose. However, that is our process and good people lose elections.

I believe one reason I survived so long in public life is that I always placed a priority on professional, independent and bipartisan service. I respect my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and try to work with them to govern, pass thoughtful legislation and make our county a better place to live. I certainly will continue to serve in this manner for my next two-year term. I am convinced most voters want elected officials to serve this way and are deeply troubled by the never-ending partisanship they see in Washington.

Good luck to all the candidates, their families, and the volunteers. And most importantly, get out to vote!

County Legislator
Jim Maisano
JimMaisano@gmail.com
914-636-1621

7 thoughts on “Two Weeks Until Election Day!”

  1. Let me get this straight?
    Maisano is the problem – that is a joke right? I don’t always agree with him but that guy has served this community honorably for a long time and always stood up for NR. There has never been a shred of scandal with him, and he was elected in the 1990s. St. Paul worked for Pedro Espada, filed for bankruptcy, didn’t pay child support or his his loans. And Hudson Park tries to compare the two. Give me a break, Maisano did not throw anyone under the bus. I think he showed some guts saying the St. Paul should end his non-campaign. St. Paul does not even have a sign up. I have lived here for a long time and never has a mayor candidate not put up signs. I have also not got a mailing from St. Paul. I think Maisano is protecting the other GOP candidates, and he is probably right to do so. Hopefully, there will be 4 Republicans on council and then it matters less who is mayor. Sounds good to me.

  2. Reply
    Thanks Fifth Ave Guy for a thoughtful post, although I think Doug Colety has done the best he could as our leader in a very Democratic city.

    And to Hudson Park: 1) It is laughable to say the GOP has “doomed” New Rochelle when all of the decisions made that have damaged our city were made by Democrat led councils; 2) There are about 13,000 more Dems than Reps in New Rochelle (there are only 40,000 voters). That is a tremendous edge and the fact that we have elected 3 members on council and 2 county legislators is incredible and noted all over the county; 3) You are right, our screening for candidates is weak and must be dramatically changed going forward. If any of the GOP leaders knew that Richard had not paid child support and medical bills for his kids and filed for bankruptcy, we would not have supported candidacy; 4) It is Richard who has thrown the New Rochelle GOP “under the bus” by refusing to halt his campaign, which is hurting the party and his running-mates. I have been walking door to door for our candidates and the voters are all saying this; 5) There is not a person in this city that has worked harder to elect Reps in New Rochelle over past two decades than me. Many hundreds, if not more than a thousand, of hours of my life have been dedicated to helping 30 to 40 Rep candidates in NR over the years. If you don’t believe me, ask the Dem leaders, who will confirm in a second. Don’t dare question my loyalty to NR GOP, while you hide here like a coward with an anonymous name; and lastly, 6) I said hello to every candidate and person in the room at the debate on Wed night that I walked by regardless of party and criticizing me for that shows you to be petty and small-minded.

    1. Jim Maisano
      Jim Maisano is a credit to his party, his City, and has served us unselfishly and well. He is also a straight shooter and a genuine tough guy as his posst suggests.

      I worked for him last year. I would be happy to do so again. I’m not as spry as I would like to be and he is assured of a seat, but Jim, his wife and his staff run a clean, open campaign.

      Jim, you have my email address. Let me know how I can help.

      Warren

  3. Why Post
    Jim your party has doomed New Rochelle,how is it that you and doug and the rest of the republicans in this had no knowledge of St.Paul?Maybe the republican party should check out its canidates more often. You guys are the first to throw anyone not your so called FRIEND under the bus. Maybe it’s time for a change of the leadership in this party. You and some republicans have all but doomed this city by not finding the REAL canidate’s to run.Oh and while i’m on the subject it was real nice of you Jim to go over to Noam after the NCAA debate last nite did you wish him good luck.Why did you not go over to Mr. St.Paul or have you changed parties????

    1. Let’s be fair here.
      My take

      Let’s be fair here.

      My take is that Republicans are in limited supply in NR and of those, few are willing to run for office. The Republicans haven’t fielded a serious candidate for Mayor since I moved here in 1998. Not 1!

      Why? Because there weren’t any Republicans on City Council except O’Boyal & Fosnia and Fosnia voted w/Idoni on many many issues. O”Boyle at least stood up & fought for the little guy (or girl) before he retired. So there were no local Republicans with any kind of name recognition that could run for higher office.

      Now we have 3 Republicans on city council that fight like hell for us little people and 1 of them is running for Mayor. This stuff takes time, money & name recognition, the latter maybe being the most important. You can’t just run anyone for mayor, the Republicans tried it the last 3 or 4 cycles and they got trounced every time.

      Now we have a candiate running for Mayor who’s done a great job on city council but has baggage that no one realized. But at least we have the strongest candidate in years. I don’t think he’ll win, but we have a strong candidate unlike the last 3 or 4 elections and we should all support him rather than run away. Whats that going to accomplish?

      Hopefully the Republicans will get at least 3 but perhaps 4 seats on city council this year and start grooming more potential mayorial candidates so that a strong candidate without baggage can run in 4 years. If the Republicans win 3 or 4 seats, Bramson won’t be able to accomplish much of his agenda and will have to live within the tax cap. I call that a major win for the taxpayers of New Rochelle.

      Unfortuantly, Jim’s elected on the county level and not at the city level. He may have sway, but I don’t think he calls the shots. If you want to find fault with someone, I’d blame our party leader Doug Colety. He got hoodwinked by St. Paul but he also selected that guy (Jim something or other) to run against Nita Lowey last year. Anyone remember that disaster? Colety ought to be tarred & feathered for not properly vetting candidates running for office.

      1. It all about MONEY
        The tale of the tape is MONEY; the dems have it and the reps don’t. The New Rochelle Democrats buy elections. They spent over $200,000 on a NYC political consultant. The most recent campaign filings are proof positive. Here are the latest campaign balances as reported to New York State;

        Noam Bramson $204,105
        Richard St. Paul $ 5,315

        Democratic City Committee of New Rochelle $49,918
        New Rochelle Republican City Committee $ 1,337

        The Republican Party can’t afford the private investigators to vette candidates let alone dig up dirt on opposing candidates like the Democrats.

      2. But that’s no excuse for
        But that’s no excuse for someone not putting together a 2 page questionnaire that all candidates wanting party support should have to fill out.

        You know the basics, like applying for a job or jury duty. First last & middle names, have you changed your name in the last 10 or 20 years, SS #, address, are you married, wife’s name, children’s names, education, work history, have you ever been arrested, have you ever filed bankruptcy, have you ever been involved with a lawsuit.

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