politics

The Michael Greene for Mayor campaign kicked off in earnest this weekend when volunteers assembled outside the Staffworks employment agency in Syracuse. Ten new volunteers and campaign staff began dropping leaflets on the doorsteps of East Syracuse residents.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon couldn’t avoid the devastating impacts of the COVID pandemic in his state of the county address Wednesday night.  But he also laid out plans to spend stimulus funds and restore parts of the community.

Prominent members of New York's congressional delegation including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on Governor Cuomo to resign today, and a majority of state legislators have called on him to do the same amidst allegations of sexual assault and harassment.  One democratic state Senator from Syracuse also says Cuomo needs to go.

  For much of 2020 Governor Andrew Cuomo was considered one of the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.  He was praised for his steady and focused daily briefings when national leadership was lacking. But recently, the governor has suffered a reversal of fortune, as a scandal over the suppression of the number of nursing home deaths dominates news coverage of his administration.

A Syracuse common councilor announced his bid to run for Mayor Tuesday. Democrat Michael Greene made his campaign launch in an admittedly uncommon location. 

The results of two undetermined State Senate and Assembly races are clear enough for Democrats to declare victory. Onondaga County is just about finished counting absentee ballots after a two-week delay. Assemblymember Al Stirpe will represent the 127th District for a seventh time after defeating the GOP’s Mark Venesky by more than 6,100 votes. 

The former Director of the National Securities Studies Program at SU’s Maxwell School says President Trump not conceding to Joe Biden and a continuation of a delayed transition to power can create an international security threat to the US. Bill Smullen says a poll last year revealed that only one-third of Europeans surveyed thought America was headed in the right direction and they trusted the US as an ally. 

Smullen believes President-elect Joe Biden will mend these frayed alliances, but says he won’t be able to do so until President Trump concedes.

Biden has not been able to begin the process to transition, which hinders his ability to prepare for his new position.

“Joe Biden can’t even have access to intelligence until Trump concedes. So, we’re in kind of a holding period here and this is not helpful; and the victims of this are you and I, the American people,“ Smullen said.

Part of the transition process includes filling critical positions in Biden’s new administration and cabinet, but he’s not allowed to make appointments until Trump concedes.  Smullen says Trump has been recently displaying his unrestricted power

“Trump has unrestricted, unconditional power in these last 70 days to do things that are not very helpful and one of them was when he essentially fired the senior leadership in the Department of Defense.”

Smullen also worries of the uncertainty America will be in as the country’s vulnerabilities are exposed to foreign nations, including countries with which America is not allies.

“This would be a very opportune time for any one of them to take a run at the United States in any way they would want to. They’re not going to attack the United States, but they can do things to make life very uncomfortable for America.”