Two weeks before Christmas the state’s School Boards Association played Scrooge by selfishly clinging to the gold coins that rain on them every spring when we pay our property taxes.
The school boards loudly announced their opposition to a proposal by incoming Gov. Andrew Cuomo to cap New York’s out-of-control property taxes.
If anything, Cuomo’s proposal is long overdue. New York state property owners pay taxes 72 percent higher than the national average!
Of course the school boards oppose capping taxes. They rely on their ability to hike taxes at will, reaching ever deeper into our pockets.
They always get people to vote in favor of budget increases by saying, “it’s for the kids,” but a quick glance at school district finances reveal major pieces of the pie paying for soaring salaries, pensions and health care for administrators and teachers.
It’s not for the kids. It’s for the already well-paid employees.
Ann Marie making friends
New 25th District Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle doesn’t need Facebook in order to make friends. All she has to do is wander the corridors of the nation’s Capitol.
When Buerkle found herself stuck in a snowstorm on Onondaga Hill on Dec. 14, her top aide in Syracuse, Jason Feulner, spoke in her place at the town of Salina Republicans’ Christmas party at the Holiday Inn on Electronics Parkway.
Feulner said his boss was enjoying a warm reception in Washington. “When you haven’t made a vote yet,” he quoted her, “everybody wants to be your friend.”
Will Dems dis prez?
Could Barack Hussein Obama become the first standing president since Chester Arthur whose party refuses to re-nominate him for office?
Syracuse University professor of political science Grant Reeher doesn’t think so.
While admitting that the donkeys’ liberal wing is livid over Obama’s compromise with Republicans on the tax bill, Reeher believes that the Democrats will bury the hatchet and award the incumbent with re-nomination in 2012.
Gilbo = Elvis @ Damon’s
Elvis Presley’s would’ve celebrated his 76th birthday next month had he not died in 1977 at age 42.
Central New York Elvis imitator Tom Gilbo insists, however, that Elvis never really “left the building.” Gil;bo will channel the late King on New Year’s Eve, Friday, Dec. 31, at Damon’s Party House, on Route 31, in Cicero.
As he warbles “Hound Dog,” “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Jailhouse Rock,” Gilbo will be backed by The Blues Suedes, another incarnation of the band Southern Comfort, which will open the show at 8 p.m. The Blue Suedes feature guitarists Eric Will and Marty Dorschel, keyboardist Paul Ferguson, bassist Ray Hare, drummer Tony Kordova.
Gilbo takes the stage as Elvis at about 10 p.m. Admission costs $10 in advance or $15 at the door. For reservations, call 668-8600. For band info, visit thebluesuedes.com.
SU’s gridiron resurgence
We heard the rumblings when the SU Orange football squad beat West Virginia ion their own home turf down in Blacksburg. Then it got louder after two more road wins at Cincinnati and Rutgers.
If SU quarterback Ryan Nassib et al carry the day Dec. 30 over Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, Stephanie Miner better start watching her back:
Doug Marrone for Mayor!
