In 1962 Ronald Reagan said, “I didn’t leave the Democrat party. The party left me.” In 2004, Zell Miller said, I didn’t leave the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party left me.” For the first time this lifelong Republican is contemplating voting for a Democrat for mayor of this great city because like Reagan and Miller, I feel that, as least locally, the GOP has left me.

When I learned that the Richmond County Republicans were going to endorse Michael Bloomberg, I spoke to a county official who told me, ‘better the devil you know, blah, blah, blah.” Considering the fact that Staten Island is essentially a bedroom community populated by homeowners who’ve been socked with substantial water and property tax increases, this reasoning is simply unacceptable. In addition, supporting a candidate who railed against Rudy Giuliani’s possible third term as going against the voters’ wishes then turned around and muscled his way to the self same, is reprehensible and an abdication of core principles.

As a resident of Staten Island, the greenest borough with the most parks in the city, I’ve puzzled over the mayor’s ordering the recent flood of tree plantings during these tough economic times. I also wondered why on earth the city found it necessary to put bike lanes up and down busy Bay street this winter only to have them erased by the snow and street salting. I know that the mayor has been trying to eliminate cars from Manhattan but when I saw people sitting on lawn chairs in the middle of Broadway last week I wondered if the Mayor’s motive was to convert it into another Champs Elysees. This is insanity, pure and simple.

Unless the Conservative Party comes up with a different candidate than Bloomberg (who is definitely not conservative) I’ll consider voting for the devil I don’t know rather than vote for a megalomaniac who is balancing the budget by raising all licensing fees and nuisance fines on law abiding citizens.

I have never voted for a Democrat mayor. Nor did I vote for the popular Ed Koch even when he ran on the Democrat and Republican line. I was too young to vote for Robert Wagner who was mayor when Democrats were still God-fearing and anti-Marxist. Now the spineless Republicans are backing a man who used them to get elected in 2000 but never really had any principles in common with the GOP.

The billionaire mayor is spending a fortune of his own money running campaign ads trying to convince us that he has the answer to our economic crisis. In fact, he claims that this crisis and his crucial leadership was the reason he decided to run for a third term. Excuse me, Mr. Mayor, but it seems to me that the attacks of September 2001 were far more devastating to the city than the economy yet you were adamant that the voters’ wishes were more important than maintaining the Giuliani leadership.

I am left with two possibilities; voting for a Democrat or staying at home come Election Day. The latter is not an option and never will be. The former may not be so unlikely. I have never met Bill Thompson but I hope to do so before the election.

In February, 2008, I interviewed Tony Avella when he was a City Council member and was pleasantly surprised to learn he considered himself a conservative Democrat. I wrote: “Mr. Avella comes across as a man passionate about the public good, and when I asked him what would be the first thing he'd do if elected mayor, he said, "Reduce taxes." Cynic that I am, I recalled hearing that same pledge from Mayor Bloomberg when I first supported him. But the Council member was adamant that there were plenty of ways to raise revenue instead of taxes. When he plunged into a litany of examples of how the city wastes money, he reminded me of Clifton Webb's efficiency expert in the original 1950 "Cheaper by the Dozen" movie. His suggestions on how we can raise millions of dollars simply by adjusting certain wasteful agency procedures are innovative, but I wonder, "Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?"

Of course, just as a president can only wield power through Congress, a mayor can be hampered by a resistant City Council. The good news is that Council members are also up for reelection and new blood can be elected to take their place. We need more Republicans on the City Council to thwart the megalomaniac of he wins.

I refuse to sit back and let my city and state be governed by corrupt politicians on both sides of the hill who are only concerned with remaining in power rather than what their constituents need.  It may be too late to do anything this year but next year it seems that every powerful New York politician is up for reelection Schumer, Gillibrand, Silver, Rangel, Nadler and many, many more.

Because of this I’m launching my own website-ChangeNYin2010.com- this week to inform voters about issues the mainstream media ignores. It doesn’t cost anything to take back the government; just one day in November. Remember 1994. It can be done.

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