Over the past year and half, ePluribus Media hasn't done any interviews with candidates seeking office at the local level.
But Brian Keeler, known as NYBri to folks around here, is a special case and he's running for the 41st State Senate seat in New York.
ePluribus Media correspondent Timothy D. Smith met up with Brian, 53, at YearlyKos to get an exclusive interview with one of the first well-known bloggers to run for public office.
Go to the flip for some excerpts of the interview, or read it in its entirety here. You can also visit his websitehere.
After becoming involved in online activism (as a
dKos blogger and a co-founder of both
ePluribus Media and
Political Cortex) and then reading Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's'
Crashing The Gate, Keeler decided join the many who feel disenfranchised -- the Fighting Dems
Charlie Brown,
Bill Winter, and
David Harris; the academics such as
Alan Lichtman and
Bryan Kennedy; and even the old political hands such as
Sheldon Whitehouse --who are running this year for political office.
ePMedia: Education and finances are two of your major planks. How did that happen?
Brian Keeler: Well, the voters told me. Everywhere I go I ask people "What are your main concerns?" Property tax is usually the first answer.
ePMedia: It's not terror or gas prices?
BK: The property tax problem has repercussions on down the line. Let's say my parents own a home in Dutchess county, and let's say they're 85 years old. And let's say they bought that home 45 to 50 years ago, for $86,000. Now what's happened is that the value of the property has risen to half a million, and now the rate of the property tax has gone through the roof. They flat out can't afford their house anymore and they're simply forced out by the taxes. So they're forced to move. And their kids can't afford to buy a house in the area anymore, so it's having an amazing effect on the community and people's lives. People are uprooting their lives at the age of 80, 85 and families can't afford to stay and take care of their parents. So it's not just taxes it has a ripple effect throughout our whole system.
ePMedia: Your opponent, though, has become a fairly powerful person with his committee. You'd think he'd have brought some benefit for the community.
BK: Some people have said, "You know, he's the chairman of a very powerful committee" and my response is, "Yes, he is the chairman of a very powerful committee that doesn't seem to be doing its job very well." So I don't see that as an advantage.
ePMedia: What are the sunshine laws like in New York?
BK: Nonexistent.
ePMedia: Are they on the books but they're not followed?
BK: They're not.
ePMedia: They're not there?
BK: First of all they're not there. Let me give you a perfect example. There is an annual ritual that the legislature goes through as part of the budget process where they pass what's called "member items" which as it's written into the budget, designates $200 million to member items, and that's as far as the description of that allocation will go.
ePMedia: What are "member items"?
BK: Aha! What happens once it's passed they're voting this generic thing called "member items" what happens is the speaker of the assembly and the majority leader of the Senate, take that $200 million and write checks to the various legislators, based on how loyal they are, whether they've done a good job, and so the amount is directly dependent on their political support of them, and the legislators can take that money back to their district and spend it any way they want.
ePMedia: So what you're telling me is that if you beat the incumbent, you've just cut your district out of a boatload of money. I mean, it would seem to me that Saland has been around for so long and since he's done such a great job that he's probably getting a big check every year...
BK: If we do our job as Democrats and take back the State Senate, member item designations will be the first to go, and whether or not projects will be finished will stand or fall on their merit, not based upon political patronage.
Read the rest of this interview here
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