Another Democrat paying his “fair share” of taxes:

Gov. David Paterson’s chief of staff blames depression for failing to file income taxes for five years.

Charles O’Byrne, who earns $178,500, has paid more than $200,000 in back taxes.

The tax debt came to light when New York’s Department of State filed an outstanding warrant against O’Byrne last year.

He says he’s ashamed, but told the New York Post he’s aware that his failure to pay taxes was a consequence of an illness over which he had no control.

UPDATE: Senate GOP calls for an investigation:

The Senate’s Republican majority, fighting to keep its slim, decades-old control, is calling for an investigation into Democratic Gov. David Paterson’s top aide who repaid $200,000 in back taxes and penalties but didn’t include the debt on his ethics disclosure report.

Over the weekend, Paterson Chief of Staff Charles O’Byrne said he has paid the taxes and penalties he owed from 2001 to 2005. During that time, O’Byrne said he was clinically depressed and had informed Paterson, then the Senate Democratic leader, of his debts and medical condition.

In that five years, records show O’Byrne contributed $3,500 to the Democratic National Committee and Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign. In New York, he contributed just $5 during that time, but $750 the following year.

The New York Post first reported the story Saturday based on public tax records portraying O’Byrne as a deadbeat whose excuse, according to the front-page headline, was, “HE’S CRAZY.”

On Monday, Senate Republicans seized the issue to fight back against a Democratic governor who, riding high in polls, has sought to get the Legislature to agree to spending cuts to stave off billions of dollars in deficits. In recent weeks, Paterson irked Senate Republican leaders when he endorsed and raised funds for Democrats.

The office of Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island said Monday that “serious questions are being raised here.”

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Looks like Baby Joe isn’t really interested in fighting for lower taxes.

The state’s projected $9 billion budget gap for next year didn’t stop State Senate candidate Michael H. Ranzenhofer from suggesting a massive, across-the-board cut in taxes last week.

Ranzenhofer said his tax plan — a 10 percent cut in the state’s personal income tax for people earning less than $200,000 and a doubling in the STAR property tax exemption — are essential to helping middle-class families hit hard by the stock market crisis.

But can the state afford it? “Difficult times require dramatic action,” the Amherst Republican said.

In a new 30-second TV ad, Ranzenhofer, an Erie County legislator, touts his tax plan as “real relief.”

His Democratic challenger says its naive and irresponsible.

“It’s basically a lot of fluff,” said Joe Mesi, the former professional boxer. “We agree on the need to cut state spending. The difference is, I can tell you where and how. I’m not sure he can.”

Now, Baby Joe also claims he wants to cut taxes, hardly a sentiment shared by his fellow Democrats. But clearly, he’s less serious about cutting taxes as Mike Ranzenhofer. But I guess we’re just supposed to accept higher taxes because Baby Joe used to be a champion boxer.

Baby Joe not be a career politician, but he’s also not willing to fight for the the tax relief we deserve. High taxes and overregulation are the things driving people out of Western New York… but apparently Baby Joe isn’t serious about keeping people and jobs in Western New York.

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I’ve noticed a lot of ads on TV for the tight race Senate District 61 between Mike Ranzenhofer and Baby Joe. So, I’ve decided to weigh in on two of those ads, one from each campaign, that features the candidate talking to the camera.

First, here’s Mike Ranzenhofer’s:

Next, here’s Baby Joe’s:

The differences between these ads can be distinguished simply as substance vs. style. They both pretty much say the same thing, but Ranzenhofer’s ad gives specifics about what his positions are (i.e. cutting taxes, spending, and capping property taxes) while Baby Joe avoids specifics on how he plans to keep jobs and people in Western New York, and instead presents himself as an average guy who is likable.

Each ad is effective for different reasons.

Ranzenhofer’s is effective because the message of lower taxes, cutting spending and property tax caps will resonate in the district. Baby Joe’s ad is effective because it’s hard not to like him after watching the ad.

Baby Joe is trying to sell himself as a personaility with his ad. Mike Ranzenhofer is running on issues and specific proposals.

Now, normally I would give the edge to an issues-based campaign, however, as the presidential race this year has shown, issues are far less important than personality and buzzwords. If, God forbid, Barack Obama wins in November, it won’t be because of issues, it will be because he sold his image effectively, not because most people really agree with his Socialism-style plans or defeatist attitude on the war on terror.

Now, if I were advising both candidates, I would give them both the following advice. To Baby Joe, I would say he has to be more specific about his positions on the issues in his ads. I’d like to believe people will want to know how he thinks he can keep people and jobs in Western New York. 

Mike Ranzenhofer has to present himself as equally likable as Baby Joe, but also use his past experience as proof he has the ability to actually accomplish the goals he presents. He needs to explain the reasons why people and jobs are leaving New York, and demonstrate he’s the one in the race that can actually do something about it.

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Buffalo 14228 makes this weak argument against Mike Ranzenhofer:

He’ll do what Mary Lou Rath, the current Republican state senator for 14 years, was unable or unwilling to do…get something done. No sense going through the list of all the previous ineffectve Republican predecessors. All you need to know is that the State Senate has been controlled by Ranzenhofer’s Republican Party for the last 75 years. Electing him won’t correct what amounts to a Republican institutional problem.

The fallacy of this argument is that the New York state government is by no means a Republican institution. If Republicans lose control of the state senate, then the Democrats will have control of the Assembly, the Senate, and the governorship. That, my friends, would mean the Democrats would have an unfettered rubber stamp to impose more regulations and higher taxes, which ultimately leads to driving out the population and driving out businesses. You don’t have to take my word for it… it’s happening right now in Massachusetts.

If that’s what the netroots want, then by all means they can vote for Baby Joe. But, I think this state deserves better than a dysfunctional one-party government.

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Isn’t it great that Nancy Pelosi, who promised to lead the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history, won’t strip Charlie Rangel of his chairmanship?

Even when Rep. Charles Rangel tries to explain how he got into his tax mess, he mangles the facts so much it’s easy to see how his accounts - and accountants - are muddled. And this from the lawmaker who has such a big say in determining who pays taxes and how much.

The chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee spent the past week reeling from a series of embarrassing revelations: He failed to report about $75,000 in rental income over two decades from a beach villa he owns in the Dominican Republic; he owes about $5,000 in back taxes to the government; he never knew he paid no interest on the villa’s mortgage for more than a decade.

Rangel’s actions are not just innocent omissions or minor blunders. There is no excuse. He needs to either step down or be stripped of his chairmanship.

Rangel’s basic defense is that he paid little or no attention to a building he bought, the mortgage he got to buy it or the rent it earned to pay the mortgage. Or the taxes due on someone else paying his mortgage. He claims to have no idea what the house is even worth.

Davis says that will change now that he has hired a second lawyer to monitor “all his tax and financial statements going forward and be sure they are meticulously correct.”

Republicans say Rangel had to have known exactly what he was doing.

“It is a sick irony that the top legislator on tax policy in the House is circumventing the very tax laws that he himself has authored,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the GOP’s House campaign committee.

The fact that he is being protected by his party should bother all voters, regardless of whether they’re a Republican or Democrat. We’re supposed to expect more of our political leaders and hold them to a higher standard. Charlie Rangel has violated the trust of his constituents and the American people. 

UPDATE: Even the New York Times is calling on Rangel to step aside.

Mounting embarrassment for taxpayers and Congress makes it imperative that Representative Charles Rangel step aside as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee while his ethical problems are investigated.

[...]

Mr. Rangel has hurt his case with clumsy, combative pleas of ignorance of the facts and law involving his Dominican villa. “We do make errors, even though we consider ourselves experts in terms of tax policy for the nation,” said the lawmaker, who has three decades’ experience on Ways and Means.

His excuse of “cultural and language barriers” with Dominican officials was, simply, offensive. “Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish,” complained Mr. Rangel.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. For once, I agree with the New York Times. Mr. Rangel, step aside.

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With the golden boy of the left-wing bloggers defeated, the netroots of Western New York are now trying to drum up enthusiasm for Alice Kryzan.

For those Democrats who might be upset that Powers or Jack Davis didn’t win, let’s look at the other option: Chris Lee. In today’s Buffalo News, Lee gave us a lot of fodder. He said he supports the Bush tax cuts, which doesn’t surprise us as Lee is a millionaire and has received the tax breaks while the rest of Western New York’s middle class has picked up the slack for him. He also said that while he supports a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, he believes the timetable should be made by the military and not the politicians (even though it is the politicians who will need to set such a timetable). Lee also supports the same free trade practices that have hurt Western New York and shipped many of our jobs out of state or out of the country.

Okay, this is fairly standard Democrat talking points here. First, what Harding doesn’t see to understand is that Bush’s tax cuts took many lower income families off the tax rolls all together. Second, it was the Bush tax cuts that helped bring our economy out of recession and into a period of record breaking economic growth. Recycle these old ant-tax cut talking points even when they’ve been proven wrong repeatedly doesn’t exactly help your credibility.

Harding also ignores the positive impact of free trade on our economy while ignoring what really hurts it. Our economy, while currently struggle has staved off a recession, in part because of trade. Erecting economic barriers to international trade would most certainly worsen the problem, not make it better. As I’ve noted in the past, the raising of tariffs during the Great Depression did just that.

That’s just the facts.

Harding continues with a classic liberal straw man argument, blaming Tom Reynolds for everything he believes is wrong with the district:

So, as a Democrat, you have to ask yourself: Do you want two more years of Republican representation that has done nothing for NY-26? Do you want another representative in the mold of (and endorsed by) Tom Reynolds? If not, the only option is to vote for Alice Kryzan. If you want to continue the abysmal Republican leadership here in NY-26, you will vote for Chris Lee. It’s that simple.

Harding may not like Tom Reynolds or the Republican Party, but that’s no reason to claim that he’s poorly represented the district or should be blamed for all the things Harding sees as wrong. The fact is, the local economy in Western New York is largely affected by local/state government. Western New York’s economy is being slowly suffocated by overregulation and overtaxation. And since the Democratic Party pretty much runs the state, Harding out to be directing blame towards his own party… but instead finds it more politically convenient to blame Reynolds, in the hopes that his readers will just swallow it up and repeat it.

But, facts are facts. And the liberal netroots will eventually figure out that if pointing fingers erroneously at Tom Reynolds is the best way they can drum up enthusiasm for Alice Kryzan,

It’s clear from Harding’s post that he thinks economic issues will be a big factor in the race for the 26th District. Well, then they out to start writing their concession speeches now. When it comes time to vote in November, who does he think voters will trust on economic issues? A successful businessman who understands what’s best for business, or a liberal trial lawyer who stands for the the same old overregulation and overtaxation that has kept Western New York’s economy down?

My money is on the successful businessman. 

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…according to left-wing blog, Rochester Turning.

Something unfortunate has happened: the two Democratic frontrunners to be the candidate for the 26th congressional district (Jon Powers and Jack Davis) have succeeded in beating up each other rather than beating up the Republican candidate, Chris Lee. I am afraid- and this is my own personal opinion, so take it for what it’s worth- that the primary campaign has gotten so negative, that neither of them will be able to win the district this November.

You know, Democrats like to say they’re the ones who want to talk about issues. Well, the Democrats of this race have dominated this election, not with issues, but with attacks.  It doesn’t matter who started it. They both continued it.  And now, i’ve heard, Alice Kryzan has decided to jump into the fray and attack her opponents, quite directly, with a new ad.

When a member of the liberal netroots is willing to concede that the Democrats chances to take the 26th district are lost, then I think that says a lot.

So, while the Democrats in the race put personal attacks before the issues, I call on my liberal blogger friends to put party loyalty aside and give a serious look at Chris Lee. Look at his experience. Look at his vision. If you can put the country and the 26th district before your party, you will see that Chris Lee is the right person to send to Congress.

The race for the 26th district doesn’t have to be about party loyalty. It should be about sending the right person to Congress. I’m new to Western New York. I came from a state that is being crippled by loyalty to a party that has driven out the population and businesses. I left a state of increased taxes, not increased opportunity. I’ve come to a state being crippled by overregulation, high taxes, a corrupt political establishment. and ridiculously powerful unions.

Jon Powers isn’t going to put the district before party loyalty. He’s got the endorsement of local Democrat party leaders and the unions that have been a part of the problem. He’s already got the support of the Democrats in Washington, salivating over the idea of a new yes-man to join their ranks.

Jack Davis is as bad a Democrat as he was a Republican. He sees this race as being about him. He truly is his own special interest.  But, the attacks he’s engaged in with Jon Powers, and now Alice Kryzan, have shown that personal ambition trumps the issues and concerns of the voters.

I may be new to the area, but I see there is hope for Western New York. Just as Chris Collins has been able deliver real reform as Eric Country Executive, Chris Lee can deliver real reform in Congress. 

If all is lost for the Democrats in NY-26, it’s time to get on board with Chris Lee.

UPDATE: Here’s Alice Kryzan’s latest ad.

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Bowing to pressure from the unions, the New York State Assembly approved a tax hike on millionaires in lieu of a property tax cap. New York’s teacher union has been relentless in fighting the proposed tax cap.

Robert Harding over at  The Albany Project noted liberal groups were pretty psyched by the news. Unfortunately, a tax hike on millionaires doesn’t “address the issue of high property taxes” as Harding suggests. Instead of addressing high property taxes, it shifts the burden of paying those taxes to the wealthy. If such a bill were to be signed by the governor, it would certainly dissuade wealthy people (business owners who employ people) from coming to the state, and encourage those that are here to leave.

Instead of raising taxes, the state needs to be more efficient and responsible with our money. High taxes drive people out and hurt businesses. Union bullying can’t blind people to the truth.

UPDATE, 8/20/08, 4:01 PM: The left-wing pro-union “Working Families” Party sent out an email moments ago, declaring victory in the Assembly, 

Over the last few months, the WFP and its allies have pushed for a new approach to the property tax crisis. With the help of over 15,000 calls and emails from supporters like you, we got the message to Albany that New York needs real tax solutions.

It worked. In a rare bi-partisan vote, the State Assembly rejected the ‘tax cap’ gimmick and instead passed a groundbreaking bill that would give immediate property tax relief to working families without threatening our schools.

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Because New York State just doesn’t get it.. they can’t solve their budget problems by raising taxes.

Amazon.com, the online book retailer, and electronics Newegg.com has filed suit against New York in response to a new law requiring online retailers to collect sales tax from buyers in the state.

Rival Overstock.com took a less complex measure: it has canceled relationships with its 3,400 New York-based affiliates, according to the The New York Times.

“We can’t afford to have our New York affiliates up online if it subjects us to New York sales taxes,” said Jonathan Johnson, SVP of corporate affairs for Overstock.

The company seeks to “[show] the New York governor and legislature that this is bad for New York businesses.”

And guess who also isn’t happy about this? Me. I frequently make online purchases at Amazon.com and other places. This evening I noticed the new tax when buying a few books. As a former resident of Massachusetts, my default address on my Amazon.com account is my former Massachusetts address. So, I switched the shipping address to my current New York address, and lo and behold, I was then charged taxes. Amazon and other online retailers had to start collecting sales taxes from buyers from New York state on June 1. This comes just as the cigarette tax in New York claims the honor of being the highest in the nation.

UPDATE: Overstock.com follows suit…

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Senecas rally against collecting taxes for New York State

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