COMMENTARY
Donn Esmonde: Paladino A-1 as attack dog on Albany
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Igot a huge kick out of the news that Carl Paladino, Buffalo’s wild-man developer, is thinking about running for governor. Local tea party types are trying to talk him into it.
I hope he does it. Albany deserves the abuse Paladino is notorious for dishing out. And the rest of us could use the entertainment.
BuffaloNews.com Live: Listen to Carl Paladino telling The News he's "coming to get" Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
The tea party movement, populated with folks who are mad and not gonna take it anymore, has in Paladino its perfect frontman. Despite mass voter frustration, I doubt that a prospective Paladino run would last much beyond the dropping of his first couple of f-bombs. But as they say in the Lottery commercials— hey, you never know.
Paladino is the unleashed pit bull. He is an attack dog eager to be sicced on a state government that—with its crippling taxes and deference to special interests— victimizes everyday people. He is the gloves-off street fighter who starts brawling before the bell rings. He is a shot of Wild Turkey on a bar filled with political sarsaparillas. He is the kick to the groin at the supper club. He is the flaming id set loose during afternoon tea. He is the polar opposite of Miss Manners.
Paladino is no bigger than a middleweight, but he hits like Mike Tyson in his prime.
If we can’t beat Albany—and, by now, it is clear that our three-men-in-a-room state government is immune to reform— we can at least get Paladino to beat up on it.
It is easy to understand his appeal to the ticked-off, the frustrated, the disgusted and the disillusioned. Which, at this point, covers just about all of us. Decades of upstate job flight and ever-higher taxes have made folks ripe for revolution.
People want somebody to go for the throat of a state government that sacrifices the interests of most people to the aims of special-interest lobbyists. People want a champion to take on the army of state legislators who go along to get along; who play lap dog to party leaders in return for a pat on the head and a chew toy.
The 212 state legislators—19 of them from Western New York—rig the system in various ways to protect themselves from voter rage. Paladino’s verbal flamethrower would at least leave scorch marks on I-got-mine politicians who serve what amounts to lifetime terms.
He already earned a reservoir of public gratitude by leading the successful fight a few years ago to take down the Ogden and Breckenridge toll barriers. I say a silent “thank you” every time I drive by the sites without having to donate at the shrines of bureaucratic greed.
All of which does not make him a perfect candidate. Paladino is a study in contradictions, a hard-edged guy who sometimes shows his gooey center, with anonymous donations to worthy causes and from-the-heart testimonials.
He also is someone who—as mainline politicians already are noting—has often been rewarded by the system he attacks. He indirectly benefited from tax breaks for his recent waterfront condo project and over the years has scored some sweet downtown deals—including buying the Berger’s building for a buck, with the city throwing in a parking lot. I can picture him squirming once the major-party attack machines rev up and the media microscope is activated.
Beyond that, Paladino’s penchant to personalize any issue is hard to take. He can be the nicest guy in the world, or the nastiest—depending largely on whether or not you agree with him. As appealing as his bluntness can be, there is often an ugly side to it that detracts from the message.
But if you are looking for an attack dog, he is your man. As far as I am concerned, when it comes to taking on Albany, the sharper the fangs, the better.
Sic ’em, Carl.
desmonde@buffnews.com
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