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NY Dove Hunting is surveying the candidates in the special election held April 19, 2016. One of the regions where a special election is being held is senate district 9, which is around the towns of Garden City, Hemstead, and Long Beach. 

 

We sent the three candidates who we are aware of that are seeking this office our questionnaire.

 

I will post the actual questionnaire and then the responses we get.

 

We already got one - and the bottom line is do NOT vote for Seth (Lawrence) Hirsh! 

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NY Dove Hunting Candidate Questionnaire

 

 

Re: Primary Election New York State              District

 

Dear

As a candidate the                       District, you've indicated your views on a number of issues facing voters. NY Dove Hunting would like to better understand your position and feelings on mourning dove hunting, the state pheasant stocking program, and the hunting of woodcock, snipe, and rails.

 

In the early 1900’s most states banned wild turkey hunting and around 25 banned mourning dove hunting. Most of these bans were reversed between 1970 and 1995. Today, wild turkey hunting is allowed in 49 states and mourning dove hunting is allowed in 41 states.

 

NY’s first modern wild turkey hunting season was in the fall of 1959; one year after the Legislature granted the Conservation Department the authority to regulate turkey hunting. The Legislature has not however, authorized the DEC to set a mourning dove hunting season.

 

Never the less, there is an interest in dove hunting among some NY hunters and mourning dove populations can indeed sustain hunting in NY. Please refer to the attached Fact Sheet or go to : http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/mourning-dove-fact-sheet.htmlfor specific information.

 

Regulated pheasant hunting has occurred in New York since 1908. The Richard E. Reynolds state pheasant farm has been in operation since 1927. Pheasant hunting has been a tradition in New York for over 100 years. According to the latest national survey of wildlife dependent recreation; on average pheasant hunters spend $1,451 per hunter, per year. That is broken down into; $676 for non-dog hunting related expenses, and $775 dollars in hunting dog related expenses per hunter, per year. Reynold's Pheasant Farm supports 4 full-time jobs and 10 temporary jobs. The cost per hunter to support these jobs is between 33 cents and $1.30.

 

The cost of Reynold's Pheasant Farm, based on a 3 year average of 560,000 hunting licenses bought by both resident and non-resident hunters, is $1.30 per hunter. However, that does not factor in federal wildlife restoration grants. If the DEC applies for and receives a federal grant for its pheasant program, based on the matching dollars formula, the actual cost to operate the pheasant farm is 33 cents per hunter. 

 

NY Dove Hunting is a non-partisan group of men and women involved in bird hunting with gun dogs such as spaniels, retrievers, and pointers.  I'm a NYDH volunteer. Many other voters and I would like to learn more of your opinion of and relationship with so called "animal rights" organizations and other organizations such as the Audubon Society or its chapters. Please take the opportunity to review and respond to this questionnaire so that your potential constituents may better know your opinions on the important topics affecting us.

 

The April 19 primary is soon. Kindly reply before that date if at all possible. If this date isn't feasible for you, please indicate when I may look forward to your response.

 

* Do you or anyone in your immediate family hunt, with or without a dog?

* Do you or anyone in your immediate family hunt with a dog?
Do you philosophically support any animal rights or animal protection organizations? If so, please identify the organizations.

* Do any animal rights or animal protection organizations endorse you as a candidate or financially support your campaign?

* Do you support the states' prerogatives to manage their resident wildlife populations and establish local hunting regulations, without ideological interference?

 

What is your position on the following hunting related issues?

1. Reinstating mourning dove hunting in NY.
2. Protecting the state pheasant stocking program and Reynold’s State Pheasant Farm.
3. Preserving the traditions of hunting upland game birds, webless migratory game birds, and waterfowl.
4. Creating Gun Dog Training areas on DEC owned public hunting lands.

 

All candidate responses, with failures to respond noted, will be summarized and distributed to assist voters in determining which candidates they might support in the upcoming elections. Your timely reply will be greatly appreciated. Questionnaire responses may be emailed to the NY Dove Hunting from this link: http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/contact-us.html

 

Should you have any questions, please contact me at that same address. Thank you for your cooperation.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mike Rossi
NY Dove Hunting
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/

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Below is the one response we received from the three candidates so far. It is from Lawrence Seth Hirsch who is running as the green party candidate. 

 

April 15, 2016 at 12:22 PM

 

EQUUS BLOODSTOCK LLC.
LAURENCE SETH HIRSH
901 KILMER LANE
NORTH WOODMERE, NEW YORK 11581-3103
CELL:(516)448-7498
PH+FAX:(516)791-6625
E-MAIL:  @YAHOO.COM


* Do you or anyone in your immediate family hunt, with or without a
dog?   NO

 

* Do you or anyone in your immediate family hunt with a
dog?  NO

 

Do you philosophically support any animal rights or animal protection organizations? If so, please identify the organizations. 

 

YES.  I support PETA  (People for rthical Treatment of Animals), NSAL (North Shore Animal League), The Fund for Animals, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW),  several farm sanctuaries, & the ASPCA.

 

* Do any animal rights or animal protection
organizations endorse you as a candidate or financially support your
campaign?  NO.  NOT YET.

 

* Do you support the states' prerogatives to
manage their resident wildlife populations and establish local hunting
regulations, without ideological interference?  

 

YES, I support state's prerogatives to manage resident wildlife populations, but I don't support hunting in general.  I'm an animal rights activist,  and truly believe hunting is a cruel sport.

 

What is your position on the
following hunting related issues?

 

1.  Reinstating mourning dove hunting in NY.

2.  Protecting the state pheasant stocking program and Reynold’s State
Pheasant Farm.

3.  Preserving the traditions of hunting upland game birds, webless
migratory game birds, and waterfowl.

4. Creating Gun Dog Training areas on DEC owned public hunting lands.
           
I do NOT support the cruel sport of mourning dove hunting, or a pheasant stocking programming for hunting, and certainly NOT with Taxpayer money !!!.

Edited by mike rossi
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We automated this project - Here is a link to our politico questionnaire and a separate link were we publish the responses (1 so far), who we sent a questionnaire, and our Grade for each politician - we only gave out an F minus so far.....

 

These two pages will be interesting and useful reading as the data accumulates over the months. If you hear of any vacancies or contested districts, please gather as much information as you can and get it to me. Feel free to just send the candidate the link, just let me know so we do not duplicate each others efforts and send someone extra mail.

 

Here are the links:

 

Candidate Questionnaire: http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/candidate-questionnaire.html

 

Candidate Responses, List, and Grade:  http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/candidate-responses-or-lack-thereof.html

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NY Dove Hunting Special Election Summary, April 19, 2016

State Senate - DISTRICT 9 - Special  Election

CANDIDATES                                  PARTY                    VOTE                         PCT.                             

Todd Kaminsky                                   Democrat               24,721                      53.3%                     

Christopher McGrath                          Republican             21,149                      45.6                              

Laurence Hirsch                                 Green                      547                              1.2         Anti-Hunter

46,417 votes, 70% reporting (197 of 283 precincts)

Summary of State Senate District 9 Special Election: NY Dove Hunting sent Questionnaires to each of the three candidates. Laurence Hirsch was the only candidate to respond and we assigned a grade of F- to him based on his response. This candidate is an anti-hunting activists and hunters and hunting organizations in Senate District 9 and the corresponding Assembly District must keep an eye on Hirsh’s political aspirations and prevent him from becoming elected.

Todd Kaminsky, who won this election is a democrat –  this seat formerly held by a republican (Dean Skelos). Thus, the State Senate gained  a democrat, thereby changing the balance of power in the State Senate. Prior to this special election the State Senate was comprised of  31 republicans and 31 democrats. Now the composition of the State Senate is 31 republicans and 32 democrats. This is significant because the State Assembly is overwhelmingly democrat, especially downstate where districts are densely clustered. Kaminsky, however is presently a member of the State Assembly, so by becoming State Senator a vacancy is created in the Assembly. NY Dove Hunting will send questionnaires to candidates seeking this seat as soon as we determine who they are. All responses or non-responses will be reported on our website.

Neither Kaminsky nor Christopher McGrath had responded to our questionnaire. Therefore we cannot grade either candidate, except by examining Kaminsky’s voting record as an Assembly Representative. That however goes beyond our scope in surveying “candidates” in impending elections.  Failure to respond to our questionnaire is noted on our website, and although we do not assign a grade to non-responders, we do not consider candidates who do not respond to be favorable.
This election generated 46,417 total votes, and the winning margin was 7.7%.  As NY Dove Hunting acquires petition signatures we will use zip codes determine how many members we have in corresponding districts. In districts which our members / signatories approach historical winning margins, we can turn elections. 

State Assembly -DISTRICT 59- Special Election

CANDIDATES                                     PARTY                VOTE                         PCT.                             

Jaime Williams                                       Democrat            14,522                      82.5%                     

Jeffrey Ferretti                                      Republican            3,086                         17.5                              

17,608 votes, 100% reporting (87 of 87 precincts)

Summary: Overwhelming preference for the democratic candidate and 17,608 total votes cast. Neither candidate bothered to complete our questionnaire.

 

State Assembly- DISTRICT 62-Special Election

CANDIDATES                                          PARTY

Ronald Castorina Uncontested              Republican

Castorino ran unchallenged and he did not return our questionnaire.

State Assembly-DISTRICT 65-Special Election

CANDIDATES      PARTY                    VOTE                           PCT.                           

Alice Cancel           Democrat                     7,284                            41.1%

Yuh-Line Niou     Working Families         6,250                           35.3                              

Lester Chang           Republican                 3,520                         19.9                              

Dennis Levy              Green                         661                             3.7                                   

17,715 votes, 100% reporting (98 of 98 precincts)

The winning margin was not very large and 17,715 votes were cast. Thus, if it is deemed in our best interest, we may be able to “influence” this district in future elections. Since none of these candidates responded to our questionnaire, we do not know if Alice Cancel or any of the others who ran, would be harmful to our dove initiative and other agenda matters like the state pheasant farm.

Source: Election results from The Associated Press. Non-presidential races are called by A.P.

http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-york

NY Dove Hunting Questionnaire and Report on Candidates:

http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/candidate-responses-or-lack-thereof.html

http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/candidate-questionnaire.html

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