The Cletus Vote -


By DIA, Section News
Posted on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 04:37:03 AM EST

To warm up the upstate crowd he was addressing yesterday Eliot Spitzer did a quick rendition of Cletus, the slack jawed yokel's theme song.
Some folk'll never eat a skunk
But then again, some folk'll
Like Cle-tus the slack-jawed yokel
Apparently it went over pretty well. Then Spitzer broke the news to them that apparently he mispoke when he compared upstate NY to Appalachia because..well..you see...Appalachia actually has been doing better economically than Upstate NY.
According to the Business Council, Upstate poverty rose during the 1990s, while Appalachia’s declined.
Leading Republican candidate for Governor William Weld stated that he knew for a fact that things weren't going well "down there" in Appalachia because he had personally bankrupted a trade school in Kentucky and wanted to go on record that he has yet to bankrupt any schools in New York. But if he becomes governor he will support charter schools and thus can keep his school bankrupting streak alive. Apparently he just missed bankrupting a school in Mass but he quit his job before he could make it. He also claims to love "a good pan fried skunk".

Update [2006-3-22 6:26:2 by DIA]: In case you hadn't seen the basis for these comments.

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The Cletus Vote - | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
YYYYYYEEEEE HHHHHHHAaaaaaaaaaaawwwwww (none / 0) (#1)
by alfrednewman on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 07:27:34 AM EST
The fact that upstate is a economic mess is beyond question and isn't a result of just Pataki.

The seeds of economic decline were planted in the 1950s, 60's and 1970s when New York State drastically increased the amound of governmental spendings and entitlements.

It doesnt really matter what Pataki's economic policies are. It is largely too late. Almost all of the major employers have go out of the state or are out of business and the ones that remain do so because of tax breaks and subsidized.

GE gets basically free power to stay.

 
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"

Weld (none / 0) (#2)
by Citizen McLain on Wed Mar 22, 2006 at 11:00:55 AM EST
"But if he becomes governor he will support charter schools and thus can keep his school bankrupting streak alive."

Also suggests an open enrollment systems within the state.  School choice within the public school system (not just the charters). I think Minnesota has something like that, plus charters.

Hypothetically, speaking, if you passed the Saland proposal, which would effectively pre-empt anymore charters being opened in Albany AND you began allowing students to choose which public school they could attend - let's just say within the Albany School system - I wonder what the response of the public school advocates would be?

In other words, what if the charter school issue was mitigated and the issue was simply about school choice among Albany City schools.

Regarding the "Appalachia" comment, it probably wasn't the wisest comment to make, the point could have been made more diplomatically without the comparison.  

The Cletus Vote - | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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