Politics

Enough with Lame-O Candidates for NY Guv; Check out these Other Two!

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Earlier today, Jesse Walker did a quick gallop through the problems with Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino as candidates for the governor's mansion in New York. He might have added that Kennedy clan washout Andrew Cuomo (right) makes it a trifecta for lame-o contenders (and I regret having to say on my Grandma Guida's grave that outta three Italians, there isn't one decent pick!).

But if you're looking for other people to consider, there's always the LP candidate Warren Redlich, who vows to cut spending, eliminate corporate welfare, and cap public sector compensation and pensions. Which given stories like this one is no small boast:

"An orderly at a state psychiatric clinic has made an insane amount of overtime over a dozen years—about $1 million. Robert Henry is on track to be New York's overtime king again this year."

Through the first eight months of this year, the treatment assistant at the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center has made an eye-popping $70,244 in extra pay—dwarfing his actual $56,710 annual salary, according to figures provided by the state controller's office.

"I'm a consummate health care provider," Henry, who has been on the state payroll since 1983, told the Daily News. "This is my calling, man. What can I tell you."

I'm pretty sure Albert Schweitzer didn't rate that sort of overtime. And he was everbody's idea of "a consummate health provider."

And then there's the Anti-Prohibition Party candidate Kristin Davis, who is on the ballot as well, after jumping through more hoops than a dolphin at Sea World:

They don't make it easy to get on the ballot. Most people don't understand that the system, especially here in New York, is not geared toward letting the average person try to run for office. It's really geared toward continuing to empower the political class. 

Earlier in the summer, Reason.tv interviewed Davis, the former madam who supplied former Gov. Eliot Spitzer with prosititutes and ending up going to jail, where she unveiled a platform based on legalizing pot, poker, and prostitution. Take a look: