On the ground

This is something along the lines of a public service announcement.

Click on this graphic and you’ll find a nifty little thing to play around with, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Delaware County is not doing so well with response rates, particularly when compared with either the national average or with the rest of upstate New York, as you can see if you click through and have a look at the aforementioned maps.

If you visit the web site and drill down to the township level, you’ll see that, internally, Delaware County is all over the map (no pun intended). Response rates range from a high of 62% in Sidney to a low of 31% in Andes.

You know why this matters, right? Census data helps officials figure out how many Congressional seats we get, because that is dependent on population in the House of Representatives. It also dictates how much federal funding we get for things like Medicaid, education and first responders.

We’re losing enough population already, the last thing we need is to be undercounted because people aren’t submitting their Census forms!

So, we’d like to encourage all of you to get those forms done and returned to the Census Bureau. It really does take just ten minutes (that’s how long it took me in a household with seven people, so you should be just fine) and it’s for a very worthy cause.

DCDC Chairwoman Cindy Lockrow-Schimmerling chats with Governor David Paterson during his 2009 holiday party in Albany.

Governor Paterson greets DCDC Chair Cindy Lockrow-Schimmerling at holiday party.

When she told us that she “luvs the guv,” we asked her why and this is what she wrote:

“I have been honored to work with our Governor over the past several months. I have found him to be responsive to the needs of Upstate and keenly interested in building relationships with the Upstate party leadership. He has had to make very tough decisions and I have found him to be a voice of reason and responsibility in these hard economic times for our state.”

We’ll be sure to hear more about all of the above over the next 11 months, during the Governor’s campaign for election!

Rep. Scott Murphy visited the Delaware County Fair on Tuesday, Aug. 18, and was a guest of the fair’s board of directors at their annual luncheon. While there, he got a chance to speak with all those who were present, and is seen here chatting with Supervisors Tom Hynes (D-Roxbury) and Jim Eisel (R-Harpersfield).

Note: Tickets are available for purchase from this web site — see the “Upcoming Event” section of the sidebar.

Yesterday, Scott Murphy was sworn in as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 20th Congressional District of New York.

Yay!

All sorts of folks were tickled about the way matters turned out (although we knew they would!). House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer released a statement for the press:

“I am thrilled to welcome our two newest members – Congressmen Mike Quigley and Scott Murphy. Both gentlemen come to Washington with extensive experience on the key issues confronting this Congress, and will be valued contributors as we work to get the economy back on track and address other important priorities. …

“I am also pleased to welcome Congressman Scott Murphy. With a background in both the private and public sectors, Mr. Murphy has a deep understanding of the impact the economic recession has had on workers and businesses, and will be a strong asset in Congress’s continuing efforts to create jobs and grow the economy.

“These challenging times call for leaders who are up to the task of working hard and getting the job done. I am confident Congressmen Murphy and Quigley will meet that challenge, and I look forward to working with them on real solutions to move this country forward.”

Very much more to the point, our very own Chairwoman, Cindy Lockrow-Schimmerling, was on hand to hobnob with the muckety-mucks as an acknowledged muckety-muck herself. After giving herself the pleasure of inspecting Congressman Murphy’s door plaque to make sure it was worded correctly, she attended the post-swearing in reception — where Vice President Biden was congratulating the new Congressman and playfully terrorizing small children.

* Phraseology loosely based on Lolcats.