Thoughts From the Fishbowl

What is with this Erin Quinn broad? This amateur New Paltz times writer really is something else. We hear Erin uses her articles to go after Zimet's political enemies, first Sennett and now Brittany Turner. In a recent article in the Sunday NY Times regarding the NP town board race, Quinn went after Turner's DWI, which had no relevance to the story at hand but the attack on Britt did make Zimet all wet and wild (yuck)! Why the NY Times allowed Quinn to correspond for them is still a mystery to us. I mean really what ever happened to responsible journalism that tries to be remotely fair and even handed?

Speaking of Sue Zimet we hear this blog was mentioned at a Criminal Justice committee meeting last week after Zimet whined over the treatment she has received on this blog. Zimet was just trying to cover the comments that she made against the fine hard working members of the URGENT task force. Zimet's beef was that her comments were leaked to this blog by someone on that committee....umm, it's a public meeting, you making a political gaff is not privileged, so think twice before you attack the police or make asinine comments. We can't wait until someone primaries Zimet, word on the street is a team has already been formed.

We are happy to see that Elliott Auerbach has taken a small lead in the race for County Comptroller and we hope that it holds up.

Moving to the City of Kingston what is going on with council Democrats? Does loyalty mean nothing to them? Of course we speak of the Democratic Aldermen throwing Mayor Jim Sottile under the bus during the budget process these past few months. Funny last year, they all had their hand out asking him for money and support for their respective campaigns. Jim Sottile is the leader of their party and deserves their support, it's disgraceful to watch these guys attack him to score a few points in the Daily Disappointment. It's called leadership, my friend, man up like Sottile has and show some.

Young Dems in Ulster County ?????

What is going on with the Young Democrats in Ulster County? In a year where youth was mobilized all over the country, here in Ulster County it was dismal at best. That was thanks to the leadership of Shannon Schreibman and crew.

Under Schreibman's leadership, the Ulster Young Dems really took a nose dive and they are now without a chair or any real leadership, which is again a shame because there were some great people involved.

The first thing that needs to be done is reorganizing and electing a new chair, Jay Mahler, Jeremy Blaber and Stefanie West immediately come to mind as possible people that can do the job effectively. While a Mahler or Blaber chairmanship is tempting we think Stefanie West, of New Paltz is the person at this time to do the job.

Stefanie is currently the vice-chair of the YD's and like Blaber and Mahler, a member of the Ulster County Democratic committee. Again, any one of them would do a credible job but we feel Stefanie is in a position to move the organization forward and make it one that will be active and EFFECTIVE in local elections. Her work on behalf of Sennett, Hein and Auerbach gives her the necessary experience to that.

No matter who gets in office the UC Young Dems need to something with the age limit, while, it's been awhile since the staff at the UC Fishbowl has been eligible to be considered a "young Dem", word on the street is if we hold off in a few years we may be eligible!!! It seems that every time Shannon and Julian have a birthday, the age to be a young Dem keeps going up! Everywhere in NYS it's 30, in Ulster County 39...the same age as Julian and Shannon. We hear soon that Senator Byrd will be appointed for member outreach.

REDUX-- Zimet at it Again

Have you ever heard of a group of people that are not happy unless they are miserable? Meet the queen of that Village, Ms. Susan Zimet as well as her husband Steve Auerbach who can only be described as the Village's idiot.

Zimet is notorious for her attacks against her political enemies, the smear campaign against John Parete and Mike Hein come to mind almost immediately and now she continues her assault against former DA candidate Jonathan Sennett. Her husband, the Village idiot, also seems to be a big telephone tough guy from the living room of the over priced house he has for sale.

The difference between Parete and Hein is that Sennett has been nothing but nice to Ms.Zimet, giving her thousands of dollars on her embarrassing bid for the state Senate and even supporting her when she ran for Executive. While others stood on the sidelines and laughed at Zimet's joke of a campaign, the Sennett family stood there with her out of pure loyalty...to most people that is important.

So we were a little taken back to read the New Paltz Times this week and find that Zimet blames everything wrong with the New Paltz committee on Sennett and claims that he has torn the party apart.WHAT??? Nah, Zimet that would be your chair who mysteriously lost the paperwork on a candidate neither one of you supported. Zimet's husband takes the craziness to another level. After Sennett donated hours of time to try and fix the deliberate error, Steve says that Jon should not be paid for his work and compares what Jon did to stuffing envelopes and making phone calls for candidates.

Hmmmmmmmm, I did not know it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to be educated to fold envelopes these days. The comments are beyond insulting! Not surprisingly, Steve acted just like his wife does when confronted on something, quiting the committee....good riddance.

The bigger part of this story is just the pattern of behavior on Zimet's part of being a scumbag. How can someone really be so disloyal and have absolutely zero integrity...the staff at Ulster Fishbowl are truly amazed but not at all surprised by Zimet.

Another outrageous Susan Zimet attack.

With her latest accusation, loudmouth legislator Susan Zimet continues to show her stupidity.

Sources tell us that a recent meeting attended by Ulster County Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum, District Attorney Holly Carnright, and loudmouth Zimet. Sue made some serious for the record statements about Ulster County's law enforcement officials and officers. Zimet told her audience that New Paltz Police and the Ulster County Sheriff's Office (URGENT team) are allowing drug sales to take place directly in front of the New Paltz police station. We are told Susan said that high level people in the Sheriff's office and New Paltz police department are directing officers to allow drug sales and not arrest anyone. Zimet said illegal drug sales are happening in broad daylight and police are looking the other way.

We did a little research and found that Ms. Zimet was opposed to the hiring of the new Police Chief in NP and is trying to have him ousted. There is a power struggle between Legislator Zimet and New Paltz Supervisor Toni Hokenson.

One has to really question the mental fitness of a public official when they make these sort of accusations against others with absolutely no proof.

We here at the Fishbowl appreciate the hard work of the law enforcement community and we resent the big mouth's accusations against Sheriff VanBlarcum and the men and women of his department and those who work for the New Paltz PD.

Zimet--go after someone else to score your political points.

Will Julian Be Smart for 09 and focus on Sennett's 2011 Bid?

I know that we are barley over this past election but as we look ahead to 2009 what will Julian do in the County Clerk's race? Nina Postupack is almost a lock for reelection and should probably switch parties and be cross endorsed for another term but will Julian, the clown prince of the radical left go for it? We doubt it and it's a shame, Postupack is not a bad clerk and if we don't play our cards right Dems will have a lot to lose.

Next year we have the legislature up, and if Uncle Al Spada feels Postupack is in trouble he will throw a ton of money in the race and it may cost Dems the legislature.

Another benefit of a cross endorsement is that if we do not have a county wide campaign to worry about it can give us a head start on a county-wide campaign the Dems CAN and WILL win. Of course, I speak of the office of District Attorney and it will give our next DA, Jonathan Sennett an opportunity to get a head start on fundraising and allow him to trample over the very vulnerable Holley Carnright in 2011.

Now, the staff at the Fishbowl realize that the party is bigger than one person and there should not be special favors given for specific people but the benefit of cross endorsing is much bigger than just Jon Sennett and the DA's race. Unless Dems put up a candidate like Rich Parete or Brian Cahill for county clerk, they will lose, which hurts them in future races and in the local races that will take place next year.

Julian is in a tough spot, if he runs a Sue Zimet candidate and loses the clerk race and legislature, he will be out on his ear next year but if he cross endorses, the radical left that put him in office will turn on him. Will he stand up and show leadership or will he pander to people who really have no clue about politics, only time will tell.

Dumbest post election comment of 2008.

Less than 48 hours after the polls closed we have one of the most ridiculous post election comments ever, by none other than Democratic Chairman Julian Schreibman. In today's Kingston Freeman he asses the Comptroller's election results and says "what we have is essentially a tie". No Julian, you have a 7000 voter enrollment edge, you had super popular President-Elect Obama, more popular Maurice Hinchey, and Kevin Cahill leading the ticket. Plus, most Republicans despise their current leader George Bush. If you think your Comptroller candidate being 600 votes behind is "essentially a tie" then I feel sorry for the Democratic Party in Ulster County.

Jim Quigly's now probable victory opens the door for Republicans in the next election and many more. It was a lost opportunity for Democrats. Not only do Republicans have confidence in getting out the vote and winning. Quigly will make a name for himself on Fair Street and is able to finance any other office he desires. A loss for Auerbach will have a lasting effect in Ulster County politics.

Stupid comments from Schreibman don't help.

Outcome of Tuesday Election--Our Predictions

I have to say I am happy that election season is ending. Presidential candidates have been campaigning for nearly two years. Our predictions will not make everyone happy but we are fairly confident that we will get it correct.

President---Obama wins 2-1 in Ulster County

Congress--Hinchey also by 2-1

Assembly--All incumbents win--Cahill 2-1, Kirwin 55-45, and Lopez is unopposed. Kirwin may lose Ulster County section of district but we believe he will hang on. His opponent was in trouble last year and Kirwin has not brought that up. This tells us that Kirwin's polling numbers are fine.

Senate--Bonacic breezes in like last year. Larkin wins but the Obama effect will make this closer. We think 55-45.

State Supreme Court--McGrath wins Ulster County by around 57-43. Judge Carpinello has support from both sides but Obama's coattails will help everyone.

Executive--Both candidates have been visible the past several months. Neither has run a particularly good race and are lucky there were no primaries, because neither would have survived. The race is going to be won by Mike Hein and I'd say it will be 60-40. Again the Obama effect will be to much to overcome for Bernardo.

Comptroller--For both parties this is the only race that could go either way. We predict an Auerbach win with about 55% of the vote. I know some are going to jump up and down screaming at this, but we believe the Obama wave will sweep Auerbach into office. Quigley has better credentials and would be all over the Democrats (which is good) making sure each penny was spent wisely. But it is hard for us to see any non incumbent Republican winning. If Quigley returns next time we could expect a different outcome.

The news is not all that glum for Republicans. They ran credible campaigns in an extremely tough environment for them. They will be disappointed election night but the groundwork has been laid for the 2009 election cycle.


When we say "09" cycle we feel that Republicans have shown they are alive in Ulster County. It will be nearly impossible to beat Nina Postupack next year and with the right candidates Republicans will have a good shot at taking over legislature.

Enough for today. Best of luck to all Tuesday.