By Dee Richard
Last week provided a slightly different twist on the political landscape. It started off pretty much the same as usual with the annual luncheon at the Sly Fox Inn hosted by Lois Marbach and her Political Alternative Club. They had a very good turnout – it is such a pretty place, and with the fireplace blazing away it gave a comfy cozy feeling. They had three guest speakers. One for Hillary Clinton, one for Barack Obama and one for John Edwards (who dropped out of the race a few days later). They were all very informative and passionate about their respective candidates. It turned out to be a most enjoyable luncheon for a Sunday afternoon.Here's where the scenario changes and differs from the usual routine: Early on Sunday evening it was off to Albany to see how wisely and well our electeds are spending our tax dollars.Mike Long, the New York State Conservative Party Chairman, was having his annual two-day convention seminar and get-together at the Holiday Inn of Wolf Road in Colonie, which is on the outskirts of Albany. This too was a most informative and enlightening series of discussions on the political prospects on New York State's future from a conservative point of view.After the Monday luncheon and discussions it was off to the Capitol Building in Albany. Would you believe a woman named Shawn, a member of the Conservative Party, when she heard I didn't have a car insisted upon driving me door-to-door from the Holiday Inn to the Capitol Building. She simply would not hear of me calling a cab. I am still in a state of shock, as that has never happened to me in Queens.Sen. Serf Maltese was having a fund-raising cocktail party in the Albany Room of the Capitol Building. As it turned out, I was no stranger in paradise – in fact, it was more like old home week. Some of the people at the Maltese cocktail party, as well as at the Conservatives cocktail party, were Tony Seminerio, George and Athena Onorato, Bill Scarborough, Glen Riddel, Audrey Pfeffer, Joe Bruno, Sandy Treadwell, Mike Long, Tom Long, Jay Rosensweig, Ellen Young and so many others that it is hard at this point to remember who was at which party, and we ran into some at both parties. Albany, it seems, is a party town.There seems to be a great deal of camaraderie among the politicos in Albany, which is great to see, because if they do not work together the results are constant gridlock. Their socializing together would seem to be a way of softening their differences and make it easier to compromise on various issues, or so it would seem. The next two years should certainly be interesting.From the It's A Small World Department, as I was walking down the hall in the Capitol Building I ran smack into Michael Ricatto and his assistant Vanessa as well as a couple accompanying them who were connected to the Italian American Museum, which is located in Midtown Manhattan.Michael Ricatto is the CEO and founder of the organization known as Better Leadership America. The five of us palled around together for the rest of the day and evening and had tons of fun in the process. After the cocktail parties, we all had dinner in the Wolf Road Diner – great food! That was the end of a long, tiring but fun day.For all you political junkies out there, how does Rudy Giuliani, the most popular Republican candidate for over a year (according to the polls), coming in number three and dropping out of the race affect his supporters? This decision leaves many of his supporters searching for an alternative candidate to vote for on Super Tuesday.Personally, I was looking forward to a Giuliani-Clinton match up this November.I wonder how this turn of events will affect Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision on whether or not to enter the Presidential race?That's it for this week.I always look forward to hearing from you directly with information on people, parties, politics or some plain old-fashioned gossip.I also like to receive your voice-mail at 718-767 6484, your faxes at 718-746-0066 and your e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.Till next week, Dee.
