Editorial: Holding a grudge, plus endorsements

“Some of the most deeply unpleasant people in the world are the ones who bear grudges.....They can’t let anything go.....Not nice. Still, there are some situations where holding a grudge is not only useful but quite desireable. More on that in a moment.”

“Have you ever heard it said that voters have short memories? It’s true. They do. And voters have another fault, as well. No matter how lousy they know everyone else’s elected official to be, when it comes to their own person, well, he’s not so bad or she’s not so bad.”

“Here’s where the holding-the-grudge thing comes in. Next Election Day, and the one after that: Throw. The. Bums. Out.”

“...After the fiasco in Albany ... the perfect, just outcome would be for there to be an entirely new Senate sworn in over the next few years. As each of the current clowns comes up for re-election, Hold. A. Grudge. And toss them out on their fannies, free to seek other employment.”

We’ve expanded our horizons a little and would very much appreciate a sea of new faces in the Assembly too. Specifically, we’d like every elected official to sign the pledge formulated by former NYC Mayor Ed Koch promising to support non-partisan, independent redistricting, responsible budgeting and ethics reform. You can read all the details online at nyuprising.org. Koch has more than enough political gravitas to prop up a project like this, and elected officials who refuse to sign, such as Harvey Weisenberg, Dov Hikind and Speaker Shelley Silver, among many others, should be given the heave-ho, once and for all.

The issue of experience should be put aside. The need for a new way of doing business in Albany is simply too pressing.

For that reason we endorse Jeffrey Toback in the Democratic Primary for the 20th Assembly District. That, and the fact that we find Weisenberg’s salary-pension double-dipping to be completely intolerable. He collects a pension yet continues to serve in the Assembly, collecting his full salary. Then, he goes around saying that it’s a labor of love and that he doesn’t need the job but Toback does. If so, perhaps Weisenberg ought to have offered to accept a nominal $1 a year, like NYC’s billionaire mayor. If Weisenberg truly doesn’t need the job then $1 plus his pension ought to do just fine.

Weisenberg has given many years of service to the community and deserves thanks for his dedication, but he is now well past the point of sounding as though he feels entitled to his position. That, too, is a signal that it’s time for a change.