In an era of White House government secrecy not seen since the paranoia of Richard Nixon swept across our great nation, it is particularly disturbing to see one of our local officials denying his constituency insight on his positions -- from stem cell research to rocketing property taxes.

NY State Senator Stephen Saland is the official at issue -- a seeming opaque and obsessively defensive legislator from the 41st district.

In an extensive search for information regarding Senator Saland's positions, I accidentally found more information about Dick Cheney's secret energy task force than I did about Senator Saland's positions on just about any issue.

Ironically, one thing I was able to find was an explanation of why I couldn't find any meaningful information about the Senator.

The American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), America's largest Seniors advocacy group, was dismissed by NY State Senator Stephen Saland by refusing to share with them, his positions on relevant issues.

Some suggest that incumbent Saland's 'seniors snub' was a defensive move to conceal his anti-seniors actions in the Senate. As a part of the Senate Republican majority, Saland blocked legislation for NY State drug bulk buying and other bills that would have lowered drug and healthcare costs.

Saland's challenger for NY's 41st District, Democrat Brian Keeler, found this an opportunity to highlight the differences between his support for America's seniors and Saland's pandering to corporate interests at the expense of his constituency.

Thus, Since Saland snubbed the AARP's request for information, we can provide only the respective policies and ideals of Democrat Brian Keeler below.