On the Comeback Trail: My Home Town Has a Message for the Nation by Gregory Hilton

Can you hear us now? Four special elections on Tuesday resulted in a net gain of two seats for the Republican Party in the New York State Assembly. These were minor elections on a national scale, but they have a major message. Independent voters are continuing to cross over in large numbers to the GOP.
My hometown of Armonk is within the 89th Assembly District, and Democrats outspent Republicans by a 3 to 1 ratio and they have a massive registration advantage. Democrats have held this seat for 17 years, and their candidate was endorsed by the district’s dominant newspaper.
The new GOP Assemblyman, Robert Castelli, was elected with a 55 to 45 percent margin. Castelli ran in this same district in 2004 when there was no incumbent and was defeated by a 59 to 41 percent margin. His 14 percent gain was almost entirely from independents.
Democrats still have a veto-proof majority in Albany, and Castelli did not win because of charisma. He emphasized that suburban Westchester is the highest-taxed county in the nation, and his opponent had voted for higher taxes.
The message in this district is common throughout Blue America, and the candidate said it best: “One-party government in Albany has given us record deficits, unconscionable taxes, massive job losses and a population that is fleeing our state. . . High taxes are driving hard working families out of New York, and raising taxes in difficult economic times is not a path to prosperity. . . Skyrocketing health care costs, overburdening regulations, and high corporate taxes are also driving small businesses out of the state.”
He also made it clear that one of his top targets is public employee unions. New York’s Triborough Amendment means there is unchecked salary increases and no effective collective bargaining with public employees. Unions have no incentive to offer concessions or to bargain in good faith because all the benefits they want are already locked in. New York is the only state in the nation to have such a contract this beneficial to public employees.
Last November high taxes, burdensome regulations and public employee contracts were key reasons the GOP elected County Executives in both Westchester and Nassau Counties. The change is coming.

The Rust Belt Deathfest by Gregory Hilton

‘Fastest Dying Cities’ Meet for a Lively Talk by Douglas Belkin, Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125011106498326993.html

Last year, Forbes.com used long-term trends of unemployment, population loss and economic output to devise a list of “America’s Fastest Dying Cities.” The cities include Cleveland, Dayton, Canton and Youngstown, Ohio; Detroit and Flint, MI; Buffalo, Scranton, Springfield, MA and Charleston, WV. They all realize manufacturing is not going to come back to save them.
These cities have natural resources, hardworking people, underutilized infrastructure, and land for expansion, but you can see the decline everywhere and the housing markets and crime are awful. What they also have in common is rejecting the obvious path to a turnaround. All of them are over-taxed and over-regulated with a one party political system which has led to heavy patronage and incompetence in local government. They all have several common denominators. Among them bad local political choices, lack of regional cooperation, and no vision to diversify 20-30 years ago. They are also controlled by unions which promoted policies destroying manufacturing jobs. Decades of anti-business policies have resulted in a migration of good jobs.
The companies that stayed in these cities saw their market share evaporate, as their ability to fend off foreign or non-union competitors waned. Union workforces became increasingly less productive as measured against hourly throughput. Now the laws of economics are holding true. Union leaders horribly failed their membership by not emphasizing productivity.
The leaders of these dying cities are meeting now but their problems have been around for a long time. For example, Detroit never recovered from its 1967 riots. I hope they will look at themselves to come up with an answer but I am skeptical.
This letter was published in Forbes: “I’ve lived in Flint, MI my entire life and I just recently began working at a GM factory. With the exception of a few people my co-workers are the laziest and most negative people I’ve ever seen. From what I’ve heard from the GM workers all my life and what I’ve recently seen first hand, the workers themselves have played NO SMALL PART in what’s happened to the automotive industry here.”
These observations were supported in a letter I received from Norina Mooney of California’s Silicon Valley; “As a member of the SEIU labor union I agree with you. Most union workers are lazy. They are complacent in their jobs but they know they will never be fired. I work for a government agency and I am the exception to the rule. Most workers do not go out of their way to do anything. I makes me so irritated but I guess I was placed there for a reason.”

A Presidential Visit to NYC’s Belasco Theater: Remembering the History of Lafayette Square by Gregory Hilton

Actress Bette Davis serves cake at the Stage Door Canteen in 1943. The Canteen was located in the Belasco Theater on Lafayette Square, across from the White House.

A Presidential Visit to NYC’s Belasco Theater: Remembering the History of Lafayette Square by Gregory Hilton–
Last night the President and Mrs. Obama had another “Date Night.” This time they visited New York City’s Belasco Theater, and because of the cost, the Republican National Committee criticized the outing. The Obama’s traveled in a small Gulfstream V jet rather than a Boeing 747. I am not joining the critics and the strong marital bond between the Obama’s is refreshing after some of the scandals of the past.
The Obama’s may not realize that for 70 years another Belasco Theater and its predecessor could be clearly seen from the front door of the White House. I first learned about the building in David Brinkley’s book “Washington Goes to War.” The six story structure was demolished in 1964 but it had an important role in DC history since its construction in 1895 as the Lafayette Square Opera House. Over the next fifty years, performers including Sarah Bernhardt, Al Jolsen, Will Rogers, Enrico Caruso, Ethel Barrymore, Katherine Hepburn and Helen Hays would grace its stage. It was the main venue for opera, plays, and ballet at the turn of the 20th century in Washington. In 1906, the Opera House became the Belasco Theater, one of the only venues in Washington to present African American acts to desegregated audiences.
The building had a soaring facade, with Ionic columns framing the main entrance on Madison Place. The auditorium could seat about 1800, and it included three balconies and thirty boxes. Live performances ended in the early years of the Depression, and by 1935 it was converted to a movie house specializing in foreign films. After America’s entry into WW II, the Belasco was reopened as the Stage Door Canteen for the entertainment of servicemen. Admission was limited to enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. The canteen offered servicemen nights of dancing, entertainment, food and nonalcoholic drinks, and even opportunities to hobnob with celebrities and lawmakers. Though the canteen served food to the servicemen free of charge, someone had to pay for it.
DC residents responded generously to appeals for aid. Bette Davis said volunteering at the canteen was one of the “few accomplishments in my life that I am sincerely proud of.” One of the many praiseworthy qualities of the canteen was its egalitarian credo. They were open to all servicemen of Allied nations, and segregation had no place in them.
By November 1945, Stage Door Canteens were operating in eight US cities and London and Paris. Together, they entertained and fed 11 million Allied servicemen. With the war over it was closed at the start of 1946, but it would re-open during the Korean War, when it was known as the Lafayette Square Club, again as a venue for entertaining servicemen.

The Belasco Theater was torn down in 1964 and the site is now the U.S. Court of Claims building

In the early 60s, with the reconstruction of Lafayette Square, many of the Belasco’s neighbors were razed, until finally, in 1964, the Belasco itself was torn down to make way for the new US Court of Claims Building.
Before it was a theater: the Rodgers House
The theater was built in 1896 on the site of the 1830s Rodgers House, which was one of Washington’s more famous 19th century residences before its demolition in 1894. The land was owned by Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky who ran for President three times. He traded it to Commodore John Rodgers who constructed a 30 room house in 1831. It was rented by Attorney General Roger Taney, who later served for 28 years as the Chief Justice of the United States. President James Polk was a resident while the White House was being restored.
The building was later a fashionable boarding house and was known as the Washington Club. It was also famously the site of the 1859 shooting of Phillip Barton Kelly, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was the son of Francis Scott Key, and he was killed by Congressman Daniel Sickles. Sickles shot Key, who had been having an affair with his wife, in full view of pedestrians and the White House. The case and subsequent trial of Sickles drew national media attention, further cementing the Square’s image as a neighborhood unlike any other in the country. One of Sickles’ attorneys was Edwin Stanton who would later serve as Secretary of War in the Lincoln Administration.
In a landmark decision, Sickles was acquitted of murder, based on his plea of temporary insanity, which was the first successful use of this defense. Sickles became a general during the Civil War, fought at the battle of Gettysburg and had his right leg blown off by a cannon ball. He had the presence of mind to tell the medical corpsmen to preserve the leg which they did and it can be seen at the Walter Reed Medical Museum in Washington.
After the fateful day in 1859 the Washington Club closed and the next occupant was Secretary of State William Seward of the incoming Lincoln Administration. A former governor of New York, Seward had campaigned for the Republican nomination in 1860 but lost out to Lincoln who promptly offered him the State position. Lincoln constantly visited Seward in his house to seek his advice on the progress of the war. On April 14, 1865 the Rodger’s House again witnessed violence as the site of the attempted assassination of Seward by Lewis Payne, a conspirator with John Wilkes Booth in the Lincoln assassination plot. Payne was hung in the courtyard of Fort McNair in July 1865. Seward survived and in 1867 in the parlor of his home he completed the negotiations for the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
The last person to occupy the house before it became a theater was Secretary of State James Blaine in the Benjamin Harrison administration. He leased the house in 1889 but tragedy struck again when first his son and then his daughter died in the house within a year. Blaine soon after became ill, resigned and then died in the house in January 1893.

NYC Terror Plot Demonstrates Value of the Patriot Act by Gregory Hilton

The arrest of four men in New York earlier this week for planning to bomb synagogues and shoot down military aircraft underscores the progress the U.S. intelligence community has made. The videotapes show the four men were enthusiastic participants in this plot. It does appear that the head Imam of the Masjid Al-Ikhlas mosque and others need to explain their actions. They were aware of offers of $25,000 payments to commit terrorism and they did nothing.
“It’s hard to imagine a more chilling plot. These were people who were eager to bring death to Jews, and they are extremely violent men,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder. FBI Special Agent Robert Fuller said, “The information provided by the informant during the course of this and other investigations has proven to be accurate and reliable and has been corroborated by other evidence.” NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said “I think we should walk away from this feeling better and safer about New York than ever before.”
Many stories such as this have appeared since 9/11. Potential terrorists are now in custody because the USA Patriot Act has been successful. Because of this legislation for the first time the FBI and the CIA can work together. Various federal law enforcement agencies are now collecting and sharing information, and they have gained access to information and communications of terrorists that was not possible in the past.
Before the Patriot Act, the FBI and the CIA were prohibited from communicating. The legislation enabled the monitoring of conversations among multiple terror suspects more quickly and efficiently. It was necessary because terrorists often discontinue their phones lines or change cell phones frequently.
It gave law enforcement agencies permission to listen in on any phone being used by a terror suspect. Prior to the Patriot Act’s passage in October 2001, law enforcement could wiretap only a landline — and authorities needed to acquire separate court approvals for every phone line they tapped. The Patriot Act recognizes modern technology, and blackberries and disposable cell phones are no longer safe for them. Voicemail can be accessed through a search warrant rather than a court order.
In March of this year FBI director Robert Mueller said the Patriot Act was “exceptionally helpful.”
As recognized in the Declaration of Independence, the first responsibility of government is to preserve the lives and liberty of the people. Within the boundaries of the Constitution, the Patriot Act has been an enormous success in stopping the people who want to kill Americans on U.S. soil.
Instead of providing a single example of the Patriot Act being misused, opponents make frightening, unsubstantiated claims that the Patriot Act is a virtual roll back of the First Amendment.

Left Wing Rhetoric Has Been Far Worse Than Limbaugh by Gregory Hilton

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Addresses the 2009 CPAC Conference

Rush Limbaugh’s anti-Obama rhetoric at yesterday CPAC conference was over the top, but the other side makes the same mistake. Far too many people avoid facts or a calm explanation of their viewpoint. They instead try to destroy another person’s character. There are people like this in both political parties and they little interest in compromising for the good of our nation.
Examples of this are easy to compile. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) gleefully said every 100 deaths in Iraq equaled another seat for the Democrats in Congress. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) called Bush a “loser” and said our troops “have lost in Iraq.” He also called the surge a failure BEFORE it even get started.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) called Osama Bin Laden a ‘freedom fighter’ and claimed he was more popular in Afghanistan because he “built schools, roads and hospitals.” She said we were the ones killing Afghani people and not Al Qaeda.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) compared American behavior at Guantanamo Bay to that of “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings.”
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) said Abu Gharaid, where no one died, was “just as bad as the 6 million Jews being killed.”
Sen. Bob Byrd (D-WV) said the American guards at Guantanamo were “no better than and no different than the Nazi concentration camp guards.” Not even one death had been reported at Guantanamo at the time of remark.
NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said there was no difference between “The American flag and the Confederate swastika”. Former Sen. John Glenn (D-OH) said “It’s the old Hitler business.” Garrison Keillor called our guards “Brownshirts in pinstripes.” Linda Ronstadt described them as “A new bunch of Hitlers,” and Al Gore used the phrase “Digital Brownshirts”.
This rhetoric is not constructive, and Adolf Hitler and the Nazi’s have no relation with a democratic United States and our humane military.
When Mohammed al-Qahtani, the suspected 20th hijacker of September 11, 2001, was experiencing chest and head pains he was given a CAT scan and put on a heart monitor. A radiologist was flown to Cuba for consultation, and an operation was scheduled right away. The Nazi’s did not do that.
The most unfortunate thing about the quotes I selected is that they were all from Al Jazeera broadcasts on both their English and Arabic news site. They were used to inflame our opponents in the Middle East. As far as political rhetoric is concerned, so much of the debate today involves personal destruction.
I know little about Michelle Malkin but she is in the political arena and it is fine to disagree with her viewpoint. I would not call her, or any other person, a pig. A liberal pundit did that today. I do not believe politicians are windbags, and practically all of them have good motives. I will disagree with lawmakers, but I will not question their intelligence if they are on the other side.
I sincerely admire many liberal lawmakers who disagree with me, and I would never say their election was an “insult to the human race.” That quote is from the same pundit. I address these lawmakers in a civil tone and with respect for the position they hold.

Wall Street Workers Leaving NYC for a Fresh Start

The stock market is expected to fall 50 percent in value

Many of my friends and colleagues are employed on Wall Street and this article is accurate. It is now expected that over 40,000 people in the NYC financial sector will be seeking new jobs. Bill Clinton was right in saying “Wall Street as we knew it is gone.” One of the most distressing factors is that the current crisis is global. Almost 70% of our growth in the last quarter was through trade, and if other nations are in a recession they will not be able to buy our products.

By VALERIE BAUMAN, October 26, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Bankers and brokers looking to escape the financial meltdown are scrambling to relocate their families, possessions and rarified talent far from Wall Street to places such as Florida, Chicago, Milwaukee, Virginia and Asia.

Travis Lacey left investment bank Jeffries & Co. and Wall Street behind in September to work for Baird in Chicago. He also left behind the nagging sense of worry that had plagued him since his company had started announcing layoffs earlier in the year. “Anyone in that environment, you never know what’s going to happen,” Lacey said. “There are a lot of good bankers that unfortunately are at the wrong place at the wrong time, especially in New York.” Corporate headhunters say Wall Street’s malaise will lead to a permanent talent loss for New York. It could help small boutique firms become bigger players with employees they would never have been able to lure from the city long-regarded as the world’s financial capital.

“We’re definitely hiring,” said Robert Escobio, chief executive officer of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Southern Trust Securities Inc., a broker-dealer and investment banking firm. “Right now we have the capital, and right now we’re looking to expand. And I think that’s what a lot of boutiques are looking to do, too.” Escobio said in the past few months, one out of every four or five resumes comes from top Wall Street firms – compared with about one out of 100 in years past.

Former Wall Streeters also tend to bring clients with larger net worth – another potential long-term blow to firms trying to recover from the meltdown – so boutiques and middle market firms stand to reap the profits. In turn they deliver something that’s currently elusive on Wall Street: stability. Jobs in the financial sector can pay anywhere from $100,000 to well into the seven-figure range depending on location, experience and the size of a firm, said Kimberly Bishop, vice chairman of Slayton Search partners, a Chicago-based headhunting firm. “There’s some talent available to some companies that wasn’t available before,” she said.

Wall Street workers who are thinking about relocating need to be flexible about income, Bishop said. Some junior Wall Street workers may be able to get more senior positions in smaller firms, getting comparable or better pay. But many more will make less while benefiting from a cheaper cost of living outside of New York City. “They are going to make less, most of them,” said Kurt Kraeger, the managing director of the New York Office of Robert Walters headhunting firm. “Even before this (economic downturn), the same type of positions overseas, let’s say, did pay about 20 percent less than you would make here … the people who go to smaller firms, often times the bonuses are smaller.”

New York is the top paying state for personal financial advisers, with an average salary of $131,660, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. Colorado followed, paying an average of $119,590, then Massachusetts, with an average pay of $116,170, according to the 2007 occupational employment survey. Idaho was the lowest paying state for financial advisers, paying an average of $50,980. West Virginia, North Dakota, Alaska, Nebraska and Kentucky all follow, paying an average below $60,000 a year for the same job.

Middle market and boutique firms are also appealing because they offer increased job responsibility and freedom, said Peter Kies, a managing director at Robert W. Baird, a Milwaukee-based middle market firm. “As every round of cuts occurred, we got an increasing flow of resumes,” Kies said. “You can have a Wall Street kind of experience and live in Richmond, Milwaukee or Chicago.”

Baird has seen roughly 50 percent more applications from Wall Street than they received last year, he said. European and Asian banks are also seeing the abundance of workers as an opportunity to strengthen their position in the U.S. market. “I’m noticing that people are willing to work places that they would have hung up on me if I had suggested it a year ago,” Kraeger said of his headhunting work.

More bankers are willing to go to Asia than ever before because it is still viewed as an emerging market, said James Constable, owner of Albany Beck Consulting, an English headhunting firm that places financial workers in jobs from London to Singapore. “Banks (in New York and London) are not looking to add to their work force in the short term,” Constable said in an e-mail interview. “This means that the volume is down, so instead the banks are opting to hire one senior candidate rather than a number of more junior ones.”

So far this month, Albany Beck has received 38 percent more resumes from Wall Street candidates willing to work overseas than they did in October of 2007, Constable said. New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli expects 40,000 Wall Street jobs could be lost by the end of the year. So far he said 13,200 people have lost jobs in New York’s financial sector since a year ago.

While some boutiques and middle market firms were hit hard by the economic downturn, larger banks had bought much more of the toxic mortgage-backed assets at the heart of the meltdown.

While headhunting to link new securities jobs with Wall Street casualties is one of the few growth industries these days, it’s not easy, said Robin Judson, managing director of Smiths Hanley Associates LLC, a New York City hiring firm. The finance job market is flooded with highly qualified executives and bankers, but “there aren’t enough jobs to go around,” Judson said.