Oh, SmAlbany!

Ok, so I'm an idiot: Who knew that when you start sending out academic job applications, you start getting academic job interviews. Apparently not me. That means I'm spending my days trying to write job talks and practice classroom lectures. Sigh. So yes, Oh, SmAlbany will be taking a longer-than-expected break. But i promise you it will be back starting around the week of Monday, October 10th (although the entire fall schedule may be more limited - say 1 or 2 post a day instead of 3 or 4.)[You have got to be kidding me. Didn't Geisel just plea out yesterday? Didn't Soares put his foot back in his mouth again? Isn't all this right in your wheelhouse?-ed. I know, I know, trust me, no one wishes they were blogging 3,000 words/day right now more than me. Did you hear me, the Geisel case is over!?! -ed. I know, I'll have a full report next week. Geez, if i wanted that kind of reaction time, I'd read a newspaper.-ed. Ouch, low blow.]

On break this week: I'm swamped with job application deadlines, so Oh, SmAlbany! will be on break for the week. Regular posting returns Monday 9/26. As always, major events will be dealt with if necessary, and those posts will appear below this one. [um, do you really need to go on break 3 times in a 3 month span?-ed. I'd gladly quit school if you'd start paying me. Fair market value? -ed. I'm scared to ask what you think that is.]

Interesting offer for bloggers: I'm not one for online poker, but it appears that anyone with a blog can play in this rather lucrative poker tournament for free. I might give it a shot:

Above the fold, below the radar: Take a guess at the subject matter of today's TU, Page A1, above the fold, lead story? Go ahead.

Bush and his flood speech? Nope.
Something on the primary elections? Nope.
A break in the Geisel or Porco case? I wish.

Instead, we get this:

Age-old question's gray area

Nevermind that the headline makes limited sense. It's a story about old people in the world of entertainment- Andre Agassi, the Rolling Stones, etc!

Hey, fellas - I know the 'Stones are comign to town, but bury this somewhere in the Life-Scene section next time, ok? [yeah, like you have any clue what normal people think is worthy of spending a lot of time talking about. -ed. Well, I write for a niche audience. Is that how you explain your pathetic hit numbers?-ed. No, they are a result of me being a true artiste - few people understand me in my own time. That's for sure. -ed. Shut up.]

Well, maybe the TU is just sympathetic to old greying relics that are still at it...[cheap shot. -ed. But just soooo necessary.]

National embarressment: If you thought it couldn't get worse for Siena basketball, it just did. Both UAlbany and Siena have been selected by ESPN to take part in "Bracket buster Saturday" in February. This is a made-for-TV event in which top mid-major basketball teams play against each other a few weeks before the NCAA tournament. It gets them some national TV exposure and also gives them an extra game against a good team, which they can use to help show the tournament selection committee that they deserve an NCAA bid. For instance, Vermont was selected to play in Bracket Buster Saturday last year before going on to upset Syracuse in the NCAA tournament first round.

Normally, this would be a really good thing. The problem, howver, is that Siena is going to stink this year. They were only picked because ESPN has a contract with the MAAC and all the teams in the league are going to be in bracket buster Saturday. Siena might have a record like 3-19 when this game rolls around. Then they'll have to play one of the best mid-major teams in the country, on national TV. Great. That should boost recruiting.

And trust me, they have no chance in this game. Remember, Vermont was one of the best mid-majors in the country last year, and they lost their bracketbuster game. The only saving grace is that not all the selected teams will play on ESPN. Some games will not be televised. Say an extra Our Father on that one, ye Siena faithful.

UAlbany, on the other hand, might well benefit from a bracket buster game. They are predicted to be the best team in the America East conference this year, and they could certainly stand to benefit from some national exposure. Good for them.

You knew there was a catch: I've been excited for a while about the new recreation center that the Colonie Youth Center is planning to build in The Crossings park on Albany-Shaker road. They have been planning it for a while, and just yesterday they secured the final loan that they needed to go ahead with construction. The place just sounds cool: Awesome. Alas, the place is being built with private money by a private group (the CYC is not associated with the town) and thus there will be serious membership fees. Real serious: That's not cheap. It's probably enough to price me and SJC out of the running. Now, it's not outrageous - any gym membership is going to cost you at least a couple hundred a year anyway - but it's still a lot more than I expected. I don't think they are going to have an over-subscriber problem, although they are prepared for quite a crowd: I wonder if they will sell that many memberships? As Lebrun would say, I guess we'll have to watch and find out.

Jekyll and Hyde: Fred Lebrun, making a surprisingly sensible remark in his column in today's Times Union: I think that's an important part of the story here. Goodbee was a good reflection of a rising political interest in the city, but it's not yet mobilized into a coalition that can win the mayorship by brute force. It either needs to grow in strength or attract more uptown voters.

A few paragraphs later, Lebrun returns to his usual form: Hey Lebrun, stop doodling on your notebook and pay attention to the teacher. Oh, and then he ends with this junior high school style essay closer: Congratulations Fred, you just got a B on your 7th grade social studies essay. [it's not like your writing is superb everyday-ed. Yeah, but it's not like i'm getting paid by the paper of record.]

Brave new world: The new Times-Union high school sports blogs are up. So far there are only two blogs - one by a sophmore tennis player at Chatham and one by a junior football player at Rensselaer. It's not clear if these two were chosen in a competetive process, or if only two people signed up for fall sports blogging. The writing seems acceptable right now; it remains to be seen if the access that the writers have to their sports teams can be converted into compelling reads.

Usually, to make a blog "work," you need a seductive angle to the journalism. [what's yours - anti-urban cynicism?-ed. I was thinking more "local pop-culturalist." Keep dreaming. -ed. Shut up.] Clearly, the easiest way to do that is through the up close access these writers have to the sports teams. But high school sports is most compelling when either 1) the reader personally knows the team or 2) the team is very good. Absent either of those, you need something else. So we'll see how they do.

One thing the TU doesn't seem to be doing is allowing much creativity in blog design. Both blogs are visually identical. They have comments, categories, and small bios of the writers. And it looks like the posts will come out on a daily or every other day basis. Kudos to the TU for getting the ball rolling with this. Hopefully, both design creativity, and the number of blogs, will expand in the future.

As I've said before, I'm going to try and write at TU blog about Shaker basketball this winter.[and what the heck is your compelling angle? -ed. I've got a few months to figure that out, thanks.] I hope they still want people who don't currently play high school sports.

Well, good luck to you, sir: SUNY-Albany has just created a new position - the Vice President for Student Sucess. Now that sounds like a cushy position, especially since the salary is 185 large. But before you consider applying, note this aspect of the job description: Good lord, that's not my idea of fun. I mean, I hope James Anderson - the man hired for the job - spent some time downtown on a Friday night before he signed up for the gig. He might just be in for a rude awakeing, especially since he is making statements like this: Those are some pretty lofty goals. Then again, maybe by "national limelight" he means getting back that top national party-school status that they just recently lost. And perhaps "stretching the learning" has to do with teaching students not to leave trash everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, I'd take the job for the cool 185 large they we the taxpayers are going to pay Mr. Anderson to do it. But you got to believe he's going to be earning that cash, especially if he manages to show some improvements.

Too Goodbee to be true: Well, the primaries are over. It was pretty predictable. The TU headline - Jennings easily takes mayoral race - is technically true, but also a completely disingenuous spin on the story. Sure, Jennings got 68% and that's more than he's gotten in either of his previous primaries. But the last two were against Harold Joyce and Jack McEneny, serious politicos with serious cash and serious campaigns. Did Goodbee even run a campaign?

As I said Monday, less than 75% should be considered a wake-up call for Jennings and less than 65% would be an unmitigated disaster for him. He fell between those ranges. I mean, come on - the obvious story in this primary is that Albany's political culture is rapidly changing. A real candidate, who had the backing of hte WFP might have been able to pull a Soares on Jennings. I have no doubt that the Jennings coalition is going to fall apart in 2009, probably to the benefit of the progressive movement.

On the other hand, it wasn't like Jennings and the establishment rolled over. Dewitt flamed out against Barnette, and the Common Council was not overhauled very much. In fact, the results made DIA mad enough to head dangerously close to a "if the voters are this stupid, then they get what they deserve" response to the results here: That's not a great thing to say in a democratic system. It's an expected response when people are frustrated with democratic results, but it's ultimately counterproductive. It's similar to the attitude that crippled the national Republican party in the 1960's and is probably harming the national Democrcatic party right now - the idea that the people are simply too stupid and/or too stuborn to see the light and that, ultimately, if they want to be that dumb there is nothing the philosopher king can do about it.

This kind of thinking tends to do wierd things to a party. The 60's Republicans became bitter and defeatist; the current Democrats have adopted a bunker mentality, looked for hope toward the non-democratic institutions (like courts), and have become more radical. Neither formulation is a good one if you are looking for future electoral success. Whatever the merits of your philosophical cause, it's just political suicide to tell the voters how dumb they are after they reject it.

It's an easy impulse in politics to trash the intelligence of the voters - nothing is more frustrating than losing when you believe that your candidate/ideology is obviously superior - but it's not a productive attitude to bring to the table. You end up a cynic, and usually in an echo-chamber. I've been there.

DIA can be forgiven the day after an election; I just hope he/she returns to a more productive posture sooner rather than later. I'm sure he/she will.

The Predicatable Kinsella: After Beth Geisel pleaded not guilty yetserday, her lawyer David Kinsella finally came up with the defense I predicted almost 6 weeks ago: Beth Geisel was abused as a child. As reported by WRGB:
Well then. She obviously has problems. It may not seem like it, but i'm starting to feel bad for Geisel.

But not that bad. Let's get this trial going.

UPDATE (9/16/05): Welcome Captial Region People readers! If you'd like to see my full collection of Giesel-related posts, they are documented at the bottom of this recent post.

Today's the day: Regardless of which primary candidates you support, I would encourage you to vote today if there is a race in your town. Heck, if you live in the city of Albany and you're a Democrat, go ahead and vote three or four times, and bring your dog to vote too.

If you just can't be bothered, consider this: a few years back, my wife and I forgot to vote in the county legislature election, and the guy we would have voted for lost by 2 votes. I wouldn't say that it ruined my day, but it certainly was a weird feeling.

Then again, I can't even remember who the candidate was, so it obviously hasn't affected me long-term.

More importanly, it might be the case that if you do go vote, you might help defeat some idiot by 1 or 2 votes. I spent years hoping my individual vote would bring down Bob Prentiss. Very satsifying.

Inquiring minds: want to know why would you subscribe to Capital Region Living? While perusing their circuliation numbers, I noticed that a subscription to the print edition is $18 for the year, which is twelve issues. Now, it's not a bad magazine, by any means. In fact, I glance at it once in a while. But I read it online, where you can get the full content of the magazine for free. Oh wait, you say, what about people who don't like reading on a computer, or who prefer to have the physical magazine in front of them, or just like being able to see the pictures? Well, not only can you read it online, but you can pick up a copy for free at "over 500 locations" including "every Price Chopper and Hannaford" in the capital district.

P.S. I dont' want to pump the magainze up too much. They did include this clunker article this month about finding "time in your life to date" which includes such tips as "turning off your cell phone," "use a crockpot," and "don't make your bed," presumably because that will save you time that you could spend dating. I suppose the bed advice might save you some time at the end of a date, although probably not, given that you're getting dating tips from CRL.

P.P.S. Then again, I don't want to dump on the magazine too much. Sure, it's a little disingenuous to call itself the area's "premier magainze," but it does have some decent features, like this article on local chefs. And i thought the saratoga guide last month was decent. [Don't you occasionally call Oh, SmAlbany! the area's premier blog?-ed. I would never use that terminology. But you do think it's true?-ed. Shut up.]

REVIEW: Courtney's Pizza: Had dinner last night here ($$, 1, 87), located on Old Loudon Road about 1/4 mile from the Latham Circle. It's a small place, with maybe 10 tables and a bar that is separated from the dining area by a partial wall. There are numerous TV's around with sports on, but it doesn't feel like a sports bar. The walls are decorated with Adirondack pictures and the tables are glass top with moose-print tablecloths. It something like a cross between a sport's bar and a family pizza shack. The food is pretty good, excellent considering the price. There is a good selection of exotic pizzas - we had a large mottzarella pizza with Ricotta cheese and fresh tomatoes (12 slices), a large salad that we split, and two cokes. The total bill was $19. The rest of the menu is varied Italian fare, plus the usual pub food like Buffalo wings. They appear to have NFL Sunday ticket if you are looking for out of town games. Overall, a quick and tasty stop. Virtually no one there on the weeknights. Delivery available to the local area..

The TU's blogroll: Is Rex Smith reading Oh, SmAlbany? I don't know. But his editorial column in Saturday's TU gave me the errie sensation that I was reading my own writing. [Do you mean because it was an ego-stroking piece full of self-congratulation?-ed. I hadn't been thinking along those lines, but I guess that's true too.] Consider this passage from Smith's editorial: Does that sound familiar? Oh yes, it sounds alot like my opening paragraph in the FAQ definiton of SmAlbany: Not plagaurism, but errily similar. And then there's this, again from Smith's piece: Heading back over to the intro to my FAQ: Geez. Now that seems like a heck of a coincidence.

Look - I doubt that the editors and powers that be at the TU are reading my blog. And I'm positive they aren't plagaurising it. But you'd think that an editorial that both used the term SmAlbany (even if he used the less-interesting "two L" spelling) and made the same general point about how this area really isn't a bad place would at least throw me a bone over here while making the point. [I knew this whole post was just a ploy to get some publicity.-ed. I resent that accusation. And also a sucker-punch at Smith for not mentioning your blog in his column.-ed. Ok, you caught me.]

The blackout defense: You knew the Geisel case was coming to this! After her indictment by a grand jury last Friday, Geisel's lawyer, Thomas Kinsella, hinted at yet another twist in the ongoing series of trial-balloon-defenses. First, it was strictly "blame the booze." Then it was blackmail. And now it's that she doesn't remember the sex and/or she was physically coerced into it?!?:

Emphasis mine. Holy crap! Why the hell is the TU burying this paragraph - it's got to be the lead! Claims of physical coercion...but wait, didn't Kinsella explicitly deny that back in August, hinting at blackmail and away from physical coercion? Oh well, it's not like her defense has ever been consistent!

Ok, to sum up, Geisel's defense now looks something like this:

1) I have a drinking problem which
2) Led me to be drinking during school and on field trips and that
3) some students found out about my problem and blackmailed me to
4) buy them booze, which i reluctantly did, but then they
5) escalated the blackmail to sexual activity, which i consented to with
6) the students who were 17 (legal), but then they continued
7) the blackmail and physically forced me(?) to have sex with a 16-year old,
8) at which point I had totally lost it and was drinking even more, and thus
9) I don't even remember the other sexual incidents, including
10) having sex in the CBA football field's annoucing booth. So
11) therefore I'm not a criminal, just an alcoholic.

Wow. Am I missing anything? What a ridiculous leap-of-faith! Are we really supposed to buy this? I just don't see how you can mesh all of Kinsella's statements and not come to this accumulated defense. It's like they triangulated in on a story - no matter how implausible - that could proclaim total innocence. Is there any other possible way for the defense to explain away all of this case? Hey - juries believe a lot of things!

P.S. Isn't this a risky strategy? If the jury doesn't buy it, don't they come down a lot harder on you for making up such wild stuff? Just asking!

P.P.S. I think Soares managed to keep his foot out of his mouth in the latest news cycle - he simply disputed Kinsella's claims:

Good job, David. And thanks for getting an indictment so that we can get this thing to a public courthouse!

P.P.P.S Here's a recap of every major and semi-major previous Geisel post I've done. Enjoy:

August 1 - The New York Post takes this thing national.
August 3 - But your honor, I was drunk.
August 4 - No sex tape yet.
August 8 - The TU's disasterous coverage of Geisel.
August 9 - Here's come the phantom journalist.
August 11 - New twists: field trips and blackmail.
August 12 - Soares takes on the bloggers.
August 22 - Soares puts his foot back in his mouth.
August 19 - Geisel gets arrested again.
September 5 - Geisel, Soares, witnesses.

Election,er...primary day: Well, it's no secret that the Democratic party primaries - coming tomorrow to a ward near you - are the real elections in most Albany races. Thrilling coverage of the names and ages of the council candidates in the Times Union. [It's not like you've been doing anything speical in terms of coverage.-ed. Yeah, but i'm not the supposed paper of record around here. You act like you are.-ed. Shut up.] While we may or may not see some surprising results in the council races, the mayor's race is basically a question of how much Jennings will win by. But that's an important question! If he gets less than 75-80% of the vote, I think that's a political loss for him, and less than 65% would be an unmitigated disaster for his political capital in the city. It's funny how elections do more than just pick winners, but they do. A weak re-election (or a re-election by a margin smaller than expected) lets all the politicos know that it's safe to attack.** And that's important in politics!

P.S. This is all doubly true since Jennings is basically going to be a lame duck anyway for the next four years. One truism of politics is that as soon as people can see when your power will end, they stop doing favors for you and start looking for ways to position themselves in the coming new power structure. That's why presidents lose power in Washington during their second term, why lifetime bureaucrats and entrenched Congressmen don't get too attached or beholden to any president, and why mayors should generally refrain from announcing the end of their career four years ahead of time. It won't be more than a 12-18 months before the backbiting and power games begin, and that's within Jennings own circle!

P.P.S. Even though Albany Eye says you have to go online to find the Jennings campaign ads, I saw one on channel 6 during Meet the Press Sunday. Unimpressive! He's not even that tan...

**This is for a few reasons. First, they have less fear of the voters wrath in their own reelection or future runs for office. If you attack the most popular leader ever, the voters remember it and punish you. If you attack someone who's down, they don't care. Second, you don't have to fear political losses as much. Voters hate losers, so it's dangerous to oppose a guy when it's likely he will win many of the policy and power struggles. But a weak election means many people will be attacking, and thus it's less likely for him to win a policy battle, and thus less likley you look like a loser in public! It's a kind of herd mentality.

Basement Party: I'm surprised they are going to show their faces, but apparently you can meet with Siena's basketball team this Tuesday evening outside the Pepsi Arena. As I've written before, they have no chance of a winning season. I previously have stated that 12 wins would be a huge positive this year but, all things considered, I now think 10 wins would be simply amazing. Such is life when your best player is hurt, all your prospects leave, and you weren't any good before anyway.

The only question is how low the attendance goes down at the arena by March. I'll set the over under at 4900/game for February (although that includes the hordes of season-ticekt seats that will have been paid for, but empty.)

Dropping the ball: All week long the TU has been doing its daily previews of various high school sports: cross-country, soccer, etc. And they've been promising that on Friday they would do "other sports." I took this to mean that we'd get coverage of golf, field hockey, crew, swimming, and tennis. I was actually looking forward to it. So you can imagine my shock when I opened up the paper today and found just one short article by Bill Arsenault, about the Burnt Hills girls volleyball team.

What gives, TU sports? I hope the "focused coverage" you are promising for high school sports starting next week isn't as disappointing as today's preview. The TU has really been hyping it's expanded coverage of this stuff as part of the revamping of both the print and online paper. So far, I can only classify it as a disappointment - like why are you moving all the boxscores and such to "online only." But i'm willing to hold judgement for a bit longer. I just want to see some results. Right now it just looks like the same crappy coverage repackaged in a new way.

P.S. And when are those high school sports blogs starting up? [you seem to care quite a bit about high school sports? -ed. You have to, given Siena's prospects this year.]

A republic, not a democracy: Charter reform is dead for this year. Honestly, I can't get all in a twist about it like some people can. It's not like this was landmark change. And it's not like it was a huge favorite to pass the voters either. Furthermore, it's not like the common council isn't a democratic body - they can be voted out of office if people don't like their stance on reform. And besides, if the ACA has the citizen support it claims, then the normal democratic process of elections will see that they achieve their goals eventually. You can't hope to govern through initiative and referenda. Eventually, any movement must turn to candidate production and electoral victory. Personally, I would have voted to put it on the ballot, but it's disingenuous to call this an undemocratic result. The elected representatives of the people are at least as important as a 3500 person petition. At any rate, I've said it before - losing in this manner may be the best thing that could have happened to the ACA/Progressive movment.

But on it's face, the score at the end of one inning: Jennings 1, ACA 0. [But they did get a few hits.-ed Sure, just nothing with runners in scoring position. And it looks like the opposing pticher is tiring quickly-ed. That seems true. Agreed. And they have a great farm team...just wait till next year! -ed. Enough already.]

In other political news, the TU endorsed Morris for CC president (yawn) and the Albanyeye is laughing at (lamenting?) Goodbee (and discussing Albany Toast!).

I mean, thanks, but..: I don't think you'll ever see a less enthusiastic endorsement of a candidate than this TU editorial today supporting Betty Barnette for city Treasurer: Remember, that was all about the candidate they are supporting! Of course, they have their reasons not to like Barnette's opponent, Ward Dewitt: Well, that clears things up, I guess. Each candidate has their faults, to be sure. But since when do you endorse a candidate just for the sake of endorsing a candidate? Hey Rex, incoming memo: you don't have to endorse anyone if you don't want to. P.S. Inexplicably, the Times Union doesn't see Dewitt's faults as precluding him from other types of political office: Say what? I mean, come one. That's just high comedy. We don't think you're trustworthy enough with money to be treasurer, but how about a different political office?

Ahh, TU - you've done it again.

Let's get ready to rumble: So tonight the Albany Common Council is set to have a vote on whether or not to put the charter reform initiative on the november ballot, after it gained a new lease on life in the state court system. As you may recall, a citizens petition was completed (and then held up in a court battle) that would give the city voters an opportuinty to reform the city charter in November through a ballot vote. The reforms would marginally reduce the mayor's power in favor of the city council in a few administrative areas of governance. Now the council must approve the petition as a final step to getting it on the ballot. If they approve, the voters will vote on the reforms in November, with a bare majority needed for passage.

I don't have a whole lot to add - i've already said my peace on the substance and the politics before - my thoughts on strong mayors vs. strong city councils and how this might be a classic political win-through-losing situation (also here).

I guess I don't think the proposed charter reforms are substantively bad ideas - in fact I think at the end of the day this is rather much ado about nothing, at least on the merits of the substantive changes in power distribution between the council and the mayor. But i'm always skeptical of any monkeying with the institutions of government for political purposes. As I've written before, there are good and bad aspects to having a strong mayor. There are also good and bad aspects of having popular participation in the form of ballot intiatives. [why haven't you written about that?-ed. This isn't my day job. What do you do?-ed. Shut up.] But it is worrisome to me when people are changing institutions not because the institutions are bad, but because they dislike the people within the institutions. That's what happening here. People don't want to reduce the mayor's power, they want to reduce Jennings' power. And that makes me a skeptic, just as I'm skeptical of the Clifton Park redistricting, though i think it's a good idea substantively.

But, realistically, political philosophy has nothing to do with this anymore (despite the pleas on both sides) - this is a sheer test of wills between a controlling political faction and a rising one. The political stakes have long since dwarfed the ramifications of the institutional changes. But it sure is fun to watch! It is also important to remember that this is an insanely complicated political thicket. There are at least four layers: how you feel about the substantive changes philosophically, how you feel about the initiative method of changing things, how you feel about the likely political results of the changes, and (if you are a current politician) how you think supporting/opposing the measure will help or hurt your own fortunes. Throw in the possibility of strategic voting (i.e. vote yes tonight at the council meeting because you think the measure will fail in November and you want to bury its proponents) and it just becomes crazy.

If you'd like to enter the fray, jump on over to Democracy in Albany, where you can get the pro-reform side of things, and also read an anti-reform letter from Jack McEneny.

It certainly has been fascinating to see the political cogs-a-grinding downtown. I wonder what old Dan O'Connell is thinking right now?

Of wards and at-large seats: Ok, political science 101 returns. Today's lesson is about the different ways you can divide up a geographic area into districts for electing a legislature. I bring this up because Democrats in Clifton park are trying to get an initiative on the November ballot that would shift the town from a 5 person town board elected at-large to a 5 person town board with 4 wards and 1 at-large supervisor. Let's start with the basics:

1) How you draw the lines is philospohically important, part I: Once upon a time, people who believed in democrcacy thought that geographic regions deserved equal representation, so local election lines were often drawn to match county lines or to give different areas of a town equal representation, based on things like traditional neighborhoods or types of commerce in an area. In the 20th century, it became common belief that individuals should have equal representation, so lines are usually now drawn such that the same number of people live in each district.

2) How you draw the lines is philosophically important, part II: The question in this case, however, isn't one of equal individual representation. It is a question of the part vs. the whole. At-large districting is the practice of electing all of the representatives from one big district (i.e. the whole town votes for the whole board), such that each representative has the same constituency. Imagine if everyone in New York State got to vote for all of our Congressmen. That's at-large districting, and it was very common in the 19th century. Many states did indeed use this method for selecting their Congressmen back then - if the state had 7 members in Congress, then there were state-wide votes for 7 different races (note that you could use a "top-7" system in which there was one race and the top 7 vote getters won, but no state every used that). Ward districting, or just districting for short, is the practice of sub-dividing states or towns into distinct parcels for the purpose of elections. This is how every state now picks their Congressmen, and how almost all cities hold elections for city council. It became popular in the early 19th century in America and is very common today. Albany, for example, has a ward system for common council elections. Only the mayor is chosen by an at-large vote of the city residents.

What are the advantages of at-large districting? There are three distinct advantages: first, you tend to produce better representatives in terms of candidate quality, since there are simply more people to choose from for each race. Second, the people who win elections tend to represent the whole, instead of just a factional part of the town. Their interests lie with their constituency, and their constiuency is the whole town, not just one neighborhood. Third, you don't have to deal with the political mess of drawing ward lines, but more on that below.

What are the advantages of ward-based districting? Again, at least three advantages: First, localities can be better represented, particularly if they have strong preferences that are different than the rest of the legislative area. Secondly, politicians who are elected can be more in touch with their communities because they represent a smaller area and a smaller number of people. And finally, you avoid the political mess of having a party with a slim-majority across the whoe region dominating the town board or legislature, but more on that below.

3) How you draws the lines is politically very important: Most people have a sense of this from past national debates about gerrymandering congressional lines. But consider a town with the following dynamics: four distinct areas of town, all equal in population. In one area, it is 90% Republican and 10% democrat. In the other three areas, it is 53% Democrat and 47% Republican. Under a system of ward representation, we would get 3 Democrats and 1 Republican (plus a republican supervisor if that was chosen at-large). But if we did at-large voting for all the seats, we would get 4 Republicans and no Democrats! (Plus a Republican superivisor if that was chosen at large). So you can obviously see how the drawing of the lines is crucial to the outcome of the board elections. If you think about it for a bit, it can be a bit scary. And that's what's going on in Clifton Park. The Republicans have a slight edge overall in the town, so they wan't at-large seats. The Democrats probably have slim majorities in several sections of town, so they want a ward system so that they can get some representation on the board.

But wait, it gets worse! Go back to our hypothetical 4-ward town. But put the republicans in control of drawing the lines. By putting a portion of the 90% republican ward into each of the other wards, the republicans can win all the seats without resorting to at-large districting! This is why the line drawing for the congressional districts is so hotly contested. It's not simply a matter of wards vs. at-large, it also matters how the lines are drawn in the ward system!

P.S. - As I've noted before in detail, it's often the case in a democracy that institutional change of this sort is desired because of political goals of factions or parties, not because of any philosophical interest in the merits of the change.That's exactly the case here - neither party really cares about the districting system, they just both know that they can do better politically under one of the two systems, so that's what they support. Take this for example, a prominent Democrat extolling the virtues of the ward system if it came to Clifton Park: True enough, but that's not why they support it. For this reason, I'm very hesitant to monkey with the institutional rules. Although in the case of town boards, I think a ward system is philosophically better.

Cermak on NYRA: Marv Cermak's "covering Schenectady" column in today's TU asks why NYRA lets 150 trackside parking spots at the track sit fallow everyday in August, when they could be making $10 a pop and be cutting a bit into their ginormous financial defecit. A better question is why did they shift the general admission lots to being free, when they could be making $2 a pop on thousands of cars a day? [An even better question is why is Cermak writing about this now instead of the first week in August, when it was relevant?-ed. And an even better one is why is this obviously blog-level story being covered in the papers? That's my turf you're standing on, Mr. Cermak! And still better is why are you still trying to squeeze out track-related posts at this late date? -ed. Ok. Shut up.]

Sign of the times (union): Communities TU runs a story today about the Burma-Shave-esque lawn signs being used by Craig Waltz in the 8th ward race for the Common Council. A few points:

point #1: What a classic no-content campaign story by the TU! They use, what, almost 35 inches and the only actual information we get about the campaign is that it's a) an open seat race being contested by three people and b) Mayor Jennings has endorsed John Rosenzweig. That's it. Now, I know that very few people care about the 8th ward race, but couldn't the TU at least let people know something about the candidates? [don't we now know that Waltz is a little kooky? -ed. Because he got a bit too creative? No, because he said "lawn spam." -ed. Fair enough.] Yes, the Burma-shave signs are fun and psuedo-creative, but let's remember here that they are part of a campaign, not just some summer fair spectacle.

point #2: I'm not so sure about the signs as a campaign gimmick. They definitely attract attention, good. But they also make you seem a bit silly, bad. They get your name out, good. But they also make your camapign seem something less than serious, bad. From a machiavellian win-at-all-costs viewpoint, it might be a clever calculated risk: if you have little or no chance of winning otherwise, you might as well go for something like this. I'm not so sure about Waltz's explanation of the signs, either: Seems more likely that he had no money for real signs and making a homemade sign with your name on it just looks pathetic. But I love the effort. I will, however, resist the temptation to write a quick stanza as part of this post. [Coward.-ed. It's 5:30 in the morning, please.]

point #3: Wasn't Democracy in Albany on top of this like four weeks ago?

Speaking of DIA...: I got in a bit of a tiff with him/her yesterday after DIA posted this response to my recent post about Jennings' plan to step down after the next term.

Backfill: I casually remarked that I "was no Jennings-hater" and that "It's hard to see Albany as worse off than it was 12 years ago." This unleashed a torrent of attacks on my point of view from the DIA faithful, some legitimate and some a bit ad homenim. Read through the posts, it certainly reveals how deep the Jennings hatred is among some.

In my defense, a few points:

point #1: Even if it is true that Jennings is only helping out certain parts of the city, that would still mean that he's doing something for the city. This goes counter to the notion that "he's done nothing for Albany." No, he has done something, he just hasn't had the agenda that some people want him to have. I don't think anyone honestly evaluating Albany can say the city as a whole has gone backwards in the last 12 years. If you want to argue that certain parts of the city have been neglected, fair criticism. I'll even back you up on it. But remember - 20 years ago those same parts of the city were being neglected and the city as a whole was going the wrong direction.

point #2: I never even meant to light the fire I did. Truth be told, I don't think Jennings is a particularly good mayor. I simply think he'll be hard to run out of office because he's done enough good things to keep him in there. And that's the truth of city politics - to beat an incumbent takes either a firestorm of political activism or a really bad screw up from the man in office. The main point of my original post was that Jennings was getting out of the way in four years. Maybe because he sees the firestorm coming. Maybe not. But either way, 2009 is going to be a grand opportunity for those seeking change to achieve it.

point #3: The class warriors are out in full force! At various points in the post and comments I'm told that a) I couldn't understand the problems of the city because I was from the suburbs, b) that obviously i held my point of view because of my socioeconomic class and c) everyone who doesn't live in the city supports Jennings, ostensibly because of (a) and (b). I think all three of these statements are rather rash and opportunisitic - would they really be said if I hated Jennings and was pontificating on that? I can understand and discuss city politics without living there. People without kids discuss education policy and people without houses discuss property taxes. Why? It directly affects their lives! The same with Albany city politics - it directly affects my life! Sure, I can't vote in the city elections and I don't live downtown, but Albany - believe it or not - is a metropolis, and city politics is crucial to everyone in the metropolis. That city politics should somehow be the domain of people who simply live downtown is silly. You can't simply exclude people who disagree with you from the debate. It's hackish. P.S. Be careful what you wish for! Class warfare is often not the best dimension to fight politics along. Pretty soon you might get what you perceive - no one in the suburbs will support you! And that simply isn't the case right now...

I hope our little tiff results in some more debate, of the constructive kind. God knows we don't get it in the newspapers...

"Pointy hair so sharp it could hurt someone": Ah, a new academic year and a new round of revamped dress codes in the local high schools. These articles are always just so good for a laugh. We'll start with the problems in Ravena: Of course you can't. Although you'd probably be wishing the kids were shopping at Victoria's Secret if you had this apparent problem at Burnt Hills: Nice. But before you going blaming the parents, consider this revelation: Three outfits? I guess when your pajamas counts as one of them, it's not that tough. Then again, the schools have probably made it hard on themselves in some ways: I understand the impulse against the alcohol, tobacco, and drug-wear, but it doesn't really seem worthwhile to me to get all up in a twist about high school kids wearing a Budweiser t-shirt. And i certainly don't remember them worrying about it 10 years ago when i was in high school. Especially if kids are wearing lingerie to class. That's got to be a more urgent problem.

Varsity Blues? Not at the TU!: Well, school starts tomorrow for most high schoolers around SmAlbany. And the TU seems to be making good on its intention to ramp up coverage of high school sports. There's a nice roundup of cross-country in today's paper, and the high school football coverage has been better than usual. The TU web section for high school sports has always been good, and it continues to be the best place to find out about stats, rosters, and schedules.

I'm still waiting to see how the TU blogger coverage of high school sports will be. It may or may not have started - i'll be damned if I can find any blogs on the website, although they continue to advertise it heavily. I suspect when it does get up and running that we'll find mostly cruddy coverage. But I also can imagine that there will be a few diamonds among the cow chips.

I actually signed up to write a blog about Shaker basketball this year [Do you suspect it will be a diamond or a cow chip? -ed. I'm sure you'll hate it. Why?-ed. Just a hunch.] It was something I was going to do anyway, and the TU outlet was as good as any, I figured. God knows we'll all need a diversion from Siena's train wreck this winter.

By total chance, I got my first interview last night.

I was grocery shopping in Latham, and I ran into Shaker's star center, 6' 11" senior Brad Sheehan, who is being recruited by national basketball powerhouses, and also happens to have a summer job working at the grocery store. So I took the opportunity to find out if he had settled on a college yet for next year. Rumor had it that Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Providence, and NC State were all in the running. Brad told me that he hadn't made any kind of decision yet, but that Georgia Tech was his current favorite. [And they say bloggers aren't real journalists - what a scoop!-ed. Give me a break, we were in the check-out line. But one little sorta-fact? That's it?-ed. I didn't want to bother the kid.] Maybe Paul Hewitt will start reading my blog this winter.

Bag it, Tag it, Send it to the butcher: Another 'toga summer has come to an end. Overall, it looks like the Saratoga Race Course was down a bit this year. Overall attendance this year was down 3%, but on-track handle was up overall. A quick glance through the TU today will give you a multitude of good and not-so-good expalantions for this: Tim Wilkin thinks they should bag the final week of the season from now on and end the meet Travers weekend: Well said. The cap region section of the paper is blaming high gas prices: I guess so. But wouldn't high gas prices reduce attendance and reduce the on-track handle? I assume that even people who do manage to come to the track figure real tangible variables into their expenses, no? [Shouldn't all this be another gas non-story from WNYT? -ed. You'd think so, but instead their running this insightful anti-conventional wisdom gas story...] I feel like "high gas prices" have become the "el nino" of 2005 - just blame anything that happens on it.

Of course, if they didn't move the Hopeful to Travers Day, they might have been able to cut down on post-Travers blues, which put an even greater than usual sag in attendance the last week:

No job at 'toga is unaffected post-travers: I doubt it helped that they raised admission prices for Travers Day, although it probably didn't have that much of an effect.

As usual, the track season went pretty smoothly. Things did get off to a bad start when the power went out opening day, costing NYRA some rediculous amount of lost on-track handle. But the track was pretty good - again, as usual - at quickly implementing patron suggestions when things did get rediculous. This year's key headache - the blanket day fiasco - will be alleviated next year by an EZ-Pass lane for patrons who don't want to spin. This was directly suggested jus weeks ago in a letter to the TU. Nice job, SRC.

The downtown scene was as alive as ever, although many people did note that the "trashiness" level had increased a notch over past years. I didn't mind. The revitalization of the IceHouse was a pleasant surprise, i suppose.

Ah, Saratoga. You did it again. We'll see you next year.

A poor man's Ron Guidry Night: I wasn't in town, but I'm not sure I would have gone over to the Valley Cat's game just to see Roger Clemens in the stands, as 5200 people did on Thursday night. Just seems a little bit too much of a stretch. My brother-in-law was surprised at the lack of coverage, espeically compared to RGN in 1986, but i actually thought it was overblown. The guy was just sitting in the stands. We're not that provincial here in SmAlbany. Then again, I wasn't in town. Maybe I'm just jealous I didn't get to go.

On the other hand, it is probably worth it to go over there and catch Koby Clemens before the season ends. That way you can give it the old "I saw him way back when" when he's in the majors. [Don't you do that all the time? -ed. Yes, that's why i suggested it. So that wasn't sarcastic?-ed. Take it how you want to.]

2009 just heated up: Someone - let's just say he's got a really good tan - knows damn well how to read the tea leaves. Looks like the tanman is planning to get out right as the Democracy in Albany crowd is planning on getting in: Not that I think the progressive coalition is necessarily going to win the mayor's office. But they'll certainly get the fight they want. Paging some moving trucks to get Soares a city address? Or not - The TU seems to think that there are obvious non-Soares front-runners: A few points here about "heir apparents":

point #1: We don't have a whole lot of data to work with - since 1942, we've had exactly three mayors - Corning, Whalen, and Jennings. It's hard to justify using "heir apparent" language when you have no data. It's true that the Common Council president becomes mayor if the mayor is assassinated or dies, but that doesn't really speak to his/her political future. It's not like the vice-presidency of the United States is a particularly extraordinary stepping stone to the presidency. It's not - only 5 VP's have won presidential elections in 225 years.

point #2: Jennings himself was not the annointed candidate of the machine in 1993, Harold Joyce was. It may seem like Jennings represents a political machine, but it isn't the political machine. True, Jennings was common council president - but at the time it was the conventional wisdom that the "heir apparent" was not the common council president, but the hand-picked party man!

point #3: Albany politics is still in the denoument of the strong machine era. The political culture is changing at a rapid pace, and to try and predict the power posts and the power people based on anything from the past is rather silly. Here's a nice Metroland piece from a bit back on the slow fall of the machine over the past generation. Of course, if you want to see the machine in action, just get Oh, Albany! or Mayor Corning.

I guess my point is that there is absolutely no telling what is going to happen in 2009, except that it will be exciting. One theory is that a strong progressive coalition will finally re-open (or just "open") the door for the rise of two party politics in Albany, instead of a factional one-party system. I suspect that the stronger the progressive coalition, the more likely this becomes. And I guess that's something of which I would be in favor. I don't love the progressive coalition, but I admire their interest in shaking up city politics, which can only be for the better of everyone who is skeptical of a stagnating machine.

On the other hand, I'm no Jennings-hater either. He certainly has connected Albany to a endless slush-fund of state money, and I generally think his revitalization program for the city has been a positive. It's hard to see Albany as worse off than it was 12 years ago, and that counts for a lot.

But I guess the tanman doesn't want to go for the longevity record. Then again, he'd need another 25 years just to pull even with Erastus.

Geisel, Soares, and those mystery witnesses: So yes, it has come to fruition. Kinsella's early trial balloons of blackmail and victim status for Sandra Geisel have become a full-blown defense. As reported over the weekend in the TU: As you might imagine, Kinsella's spin-machine was on high: Yawn. This isn't anything we didn't see coming - a predicatable outcome of a stalled grand jury and stalled negotiations between the DA and the defense. However, this was far more interesting: Doubling the list of witnesses? Who does it make sense to pull in front of the grand jury now that Geisel is talking, but was useless to the case prior to her talking? I'm not sure, maybe the phantomjournalist? Unfortunately, for the first time in what seems like ages, P. David Soares is tight-lipped: I suppose that Soares now has the upper hand, with Geisel in jail and all. That really puts pressure on the defense to get a disposition, whereas beforehand they could have stalled and stalled as long as there was no indictment.

This is impressive: A decent-sized donation to Hurricane relief in the Gulf from...the backstretch workers at the track! As the TU reports today : Most people prefer not to think about the conditions in which the workers at the track live. If you really want to understand the magnitude of a donation like this, consider this: Impressive donation indeed.

Well, you can sleep when you're dead: I'm still in DC, off to a wedding in western New York this afternoon - my 6th wedding this summer. At least these people had the courtesy to get married somewhere close to SmAlbany. Paging the open bar!

Posting will be sporadic - although not gone - between now and Labor Day. Anything that does go up will be below this message. [What about that "state of the SmAlbany economy" piece your promised earlier this week? -ed. It'll have to wait. See, this is why you could never be a real journalist. -ed. Shut up.] See you soon.

You knew it was coming: A published argument in favor of not prosecuting Geisel, this one claiming that not only did the boys blackmail Giesel, but the parents of one of the boys tried to blackmail CBA with the story after their son was expelled for various criminal mischief. Lovely. The final analysis: Ouch. I'm not ready to approach that point of view yet, but my evaluation of the case is definitely shifting. More on this when i get back to SmAlbany next week. [are you finally ready to get off Soares' back about this?-ed. I didn't say that...]