tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59246493466698091882024-03-13T11:56:48.151-04:00LWVNYLWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-80312208558825479332010-05-28T13:54:00.003-04:002010-05-28T14:03:08.784-04:00Good-bye Jay Gallagher, League friend and blogger<b>DEAR FRIEND</b><br />
Barbara Bartoletti<br />
<br />
Not often in one's professional life, especially in politics, do you work with someone who epitomizes integrity and professionalism. Over the past 26 years I have had the privilege of working with Jay Gallagher, former Gannett Albany Bureau Chief and recent League blogger who died peacefully Monday night after an 11 month battle with pancreatic cancer.<br />
<br />
Jay was not just a reporter to me but a friend and a mentor. Early on in my tenure as the League's Legislator Director, Jay taught me the in's and out's of dealing with the press, such things as "off the record" and "background." We had a symbiotic work relationship as his paper was read in places where the League had many, many members and I needed to show League visibility in the places where we had many, many members. It worked well for us both and along the way we became good friends. He used to call me a "good quote" and I knew he would always get it right. Jay and I also shared a love for raw Albany politics, and sports (I was the dreaded Yankee fan and he was the ardent Red Sox fan). We had children the same age and so shared family stories as our children grew up and went out into life. He was one of the people I could turn to in the legislature during those awful years when my son was in Iraq.<br />
<br />
After Jay was diagnosed and his treatment permitted, he came to me and asked if perhaps the League could use a blogger. I said yes immediately and after conversations with the board, Jay put his rare talent to work for the League. It was so important for him to be involved again in state politics and it was so wonderful for the League to have this "Albany institution" bogging for us. It was also very special for me to be able to work with this good man in the last months of his life. <br />
<br />
Our thoughts and love are with his wife and daughters. And from me, thank you, dear friend, travel well down this new road.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-21600217260791986992010-05-19T10:11:00.001-04:002010-05-19T10:13:06.271-04:00The best laid schemes of mice and men…Tomorrow night was supposed to be the night when we had quite a gala - a Gannett Albany celebration! We were going to mark my retirement, Joe Specter's elevation to Bureau Chief, Cara Matthews' outstanding contributions over the last six years, and the hiring of Nick Reisman.<br />
<br />
Instead, I'm going to be spending the night in the St. Peter's Hospital ICU with nurses watching over me closely to make sure most of my current systems continue to perform adequately.<br />
<br />
The cause of this pivot in plans: the rough night I had last night throwing up blood, despite the fact that numerous tests had discovered no problem in recent exams. That's cancer for you.<br />
<br />
Doctors tend to take such things seriously, since rapid blood loss is a major cause of death. So this morning we called 911, had the neighborhood deluged with emergency trucks, and got transported to St. Peter's hospital.<br />
<br />
Best news is that they found some minor tears in the region of the stomach and esophagus that could have been caused by the deep retching I did. And the very clever gastroenterologists do have a way to stop the bleeding and heal the tears. Of course, it could also be that the tumor is causing the bleeding, which presents a whole new set of problems.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, we are hoping for the simpler explanation and cure.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-53400271851707392392010-05-17T20:31:00.002-04:002010-05-17T20:31:19.968-04:00You might want to vote tomorrowMost people don't know who is running in school-board elections tomorrow. In fact, probably many of us don't even know anyone who is VOTING in the elections, although arguably they are the most important local balloting held all year.<br />
<br />
According to an analysis done by the state School Boards Association, only about 10 percent of eligible voters (district residents who are 18 and U.S. citizens) will cast ballots tomorrow, when voters will decide whether to approve school spending plans as well as elect new members to school boards.<br />
<br />
And yet this is the time when voters get to decide directly how big their school property-tax bills will be as well as who will set educational policy.<br />
<br />
Part of the reason is undoubtedly that since the posts don't pay anything in most instances, they don't attract a lot of candidates to what seems like a totally thankless job.<br />
<br />
Maybe it will be different this year when there is an unusually high level of voter anger at school property taxes. The trouble with that, of course, is that the property taxes for all intents and purposes are set when the school board signs a contract with its unions, not at the budget vote. The process of ratifying new contracts by long tradition is kept secret in most districts until the teacher union OKs the deal.<br />
<br />
But tomorrow is the best shots voters have - and if they ever elected board members in large numbers who insist on letting taxpayers know what they're getting into before a contract is signed, the first tremors of a long-anticipated taxpayer revolt might be heard.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-28505810171602622162010-05-12T17:02:00.002-04:002010-05-12T17:02:51.832-04:00New weapon for gov in budget fightLawmakers left town today until Monday, guaranteeing that the<br />
budget will be more than six weeks late and furthering speculation<br />
that it may well be after November’s elections before a spending plan<br />
is in place.<br />
<br />
The rationale here is when faced with the decision of<br />
delivering a budget calling for painful spending cuts and/or tax hikes<br />
or just not doing anything, lawmakers may well opt for the latter.<br />
<br />
They might think they can get away with this, League<br />
legislative director Barbara Bartoletti speculates, because so little<br />
pressure is being put on them by Gov. David Paterson to abide by a new<br />
state law that is supposed to prevent long delays.<br />
<br />
“There have been no open leaders’ meetings held in the last<br />
several months,’’ she pointed out, and conference committees haven’t<br />
progressed beyond “planning’’ for them. And she said rank-and-file<br />
members have been reduced to asking lobbyists about the status of<br />
budget talks.<br />
<br />
All of these developments fly in the face of a 2007 reform law<br />
that was supposed to open up the process, but has been mostly ignored<br />
this year.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, Paterson has used a new weapon to try to get<br />
action: inserting policies that lawmakers don’t like in the weekly<br />
emergency-spending bills needed to keep the state operating while no<br />
budget is in place.<br />
<br />
They included first a freeze on pay raises due state workers April 1<br />
and then this week a plan to furlough 100,000 state workers for one<br />
day a week, effectively cutting their pay by 20 percent. (State<br />
workers went to court today to try to have that nullified). If<br />
lawmakers had failed to act, most state agencies, like motor vehicles,<br />
transportation and tax and finance, would have been shut down. What’s<br />
next? Might he try to ram through a tax on soda and other sugary<br />
drinks the same way?<br />
<br />
Paterson seems to be trying to enlist some powerful enemies of<br />
his budget initiatives into the fight to get lawmakers to vote for a<br />
spending plan, piece by piece. Until and unless courts intervene,<br />
Paterson may have come up with a powerful new weapon in his budget<br />
brawl with lawmakers.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-44425268892053250642010-05-10T18:15:00.000-04:002010-05-10T18:15:43.596-04:00Lawmakers can't wiggle out of furlough voteHow can you vote for a bill on the one hand but express displeasure with it on the other?<br />
<br />
The state Senate took a shot at it today.<br />
<br />
Without dissent, it approved a resolution asking Gov. David Paterson to withdraw a bill that would pay for the operations of state government for the next week and replace it with another one that would do almost the same thing as the bill that is now before them.<br />
<br />
The key difference: the existing bill calls for a one-day-a-week unpaid furlough for 100,000 state workers until a new state budget (which was supposed to be adopted by April 1) is finally passed. The new bill, the senators hope, would delete the furlough provision.<br />
<br />
The senators made this maneuver because they are between a rock - approving the furlough - and a hard place - shutting down state government.<br />
<br />
“No one expects us to close down state government,’’ said Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Delmar, who represents Albany County, which has the thickest concentration of public workers in New York. He sponsored the amendment. “It would cause chaos.’’<br />
<br />
That means that both the Assembly and Senate will adopt some time this evening the budget bill with the furloughs included, which Paterson says will save $30 million a week and help the state close its $9.2 billion budget hole.<br />
<br />
But Breslin and the other senators will be able to tell the state workers that they at least tried a new way for another solution that didn’t include a furlough.<br />
<br />
Paterson had no immediate comment, but has said he has no intention of withdrawing his furlough plan.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-90367413045221299652010-05-05T18:36:00.000-04:002010-05-05T18:36:13.703-04:00League members want answers on reform proposalsMore than 200 League members from as far away as Suffolk County and Buffalo were part of a crowd of greater than 300 people who gathered today in Albany to hear what legislative leaders and statewide elected officials plan to do to clean up state government.<br />
<br />
Much of the discussion focused on redistricting, which will take place in time for 2012 elections. The process has been oft-criticized by the League and other reform groups because they see it as a tool to increase majority-party chances of winning more seats.<br />
<br />
The heads of the Assembly and Senate majority legislative parties, Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan and Majority Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said they would look at any bills calling for a change in the process, which divides the Legislature and Congress into new districts based on the most recent census data. But they made no commitments.<br />
<br />
Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said he would back nonpartisan redistricting, even if his party wins back the majority in November.<br />
<br />
Silver insisted that his party enjoys such a large majority in the Assembly (106-42) because there are so many more enrolled Democrats than Republicans in the state. He also said Democrats are better at attracting voters who aren’t enrolled in a party.<br />
<br />
“Lassie could win a race in my district’’ if the canine of filmdom was a Democrat, he joked.<br />
<br />
Gov. David Paterson, whose term expires at the end of the year and is not on the ballot for another one, said he hopes to negotiate an agreement on a new ethics bill before he leaves office.<br />
<br />
Earlier this year he vetoed one passed by both houses because he said the enforcement powers weren’t strict enough. The League had urged him to sign it, on the theory it represented an advance over the status quo.<br />
<br />
Besides Sampson, Silver and Skelos, Minority Leader Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, also attended, and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli gave an address and answered questions via a television link to New York City.<br />
<br />
That left Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the presumptive Democratic candidate for governor this year, as the only legislative leader or statewide elected official not to attend. A staff member said he had a scheduling conflict.<br />
<br />
The meeting, which was streamed live statewide over the Internet, was sponsored by Reinvent Albany, a new York York City-based reform group.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-44866268540153136022010-04-29T16:29:00.002-04:002010-04-29T16:29:09.941-04:00Paterson passes on rapping ParkerGov. David Paterson today passed up a chance during an interview on a radio show to criticize Brooklyn Sen. Kevin Parker for calling some of his colleagues in the Senate “White supremacists.’’<br />
<br />
Susan Arbetter, host of the “Capitol Pressroom’’ show. pointed out to the governor that he had served for 20 years in the Senate with some of those Parker criticized, including Sen. John DeFrancisco, Dale Volker of suburban Buffalo and Thomas Libous of the Southern Tier.<br />
<br />
When she asked if he had considered any of the whites to be racists, he drew his answer carefully.<br />
<br />
“Not against any of those three individuals,’’ he said.<br />
<br />
He said Parker just may be frustrated that minority-owned businesses got only two-thirds of one percent of the contract work from state agencies, even though they accounted for 9 percent of the firms cleared for state work.<br />
<br />
He also wouldn’t get into the middle of whether Parker, who has a history of blowing up at people and just a year ago called the governor a “coke-snorting, staff-banging governor,’’ should be censured by the Senate.<br />
<br />
“I’ll leave it to the Senate to decide that,’’ he said. <br />
<br />
He also said he was glad that Mark O’Luck, the man appointed to the Power Authority whose nomination sparked an exchange between Parker and DeFrancisco, was confirmed by the Senate.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-3945265767414668912010-04-28T17:52:00.000-04:002010-04-28T17:52:59.390-04:00From bad to worse in AlbanyThe New York State Senate has not yet quite become the Ukraine Legislature, where fistfights broke out this week over whether to allow the Russian Navy access to Black Sea ports and members carry umbrellas to protect themselves from raw eggs being thrown at them. But it’s getting there.<br />
<br />
While no blows have been exchanged yet, words like “white supremacist,’’ “nuts,’’ and “political assassination’’ have been thrown around as the indictments keep flying and the lack of progress on a new state budget continued.<br />
<br />
Consider:<br />
<br />
- Sen. Kevin Parker, D-Brooklyn, already facing a criminal complaint for assaulting a newspaper photographer, went after Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, on a New York City radio station today.<br />
<br />
“There’s only one kind of racism that’s functional in the world and that’s white supremacy. And that’s what John DeFrancisco, and a lot of the Republicans are, and frankly, quiet as it’s kept, some of the Democrats,” Parker said. In a committee meeting yesterday, DeFrancisco had been asking some questions about the qualifications of an African-American to serve on the state Power Authority.<br />
<br />
Republicans were not amused.<br />
<br />
“I am calling on Sen (Democratic conference leader John) Sampson and every member of his conference to repudiate Sen. Parker’s comments,’’ said GOP leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County. “Sen. Sampson should immediately discipline or formally censure Senator Parker or our conference will be forced to pursue our own action.’’<br />
<br />
Sampson tried to find a middle ground.<br />
<br />
“Enough with the finger-pointing, name-calling and heated rhetoric,’’ he said. “New Yorkers want results. I need members in both parties to step back and focus on what’s important: balancing the budget, creating jobs and providing property-tax relief.”<br />
<br />
-- The “political-assassination’’ comment came from Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, who faces two lawsuits from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo - the latest for allegedly exploiting janitorial workers at the family's health clinic business by classifying them as "trainees," so they could be paid a small fraction of what state law would otherwise require. <br />
<br />
“I repeat, this is a political assassination or an attempt at a political assassination delivered in installments and deliberately so designed to keep you from asking him the tough questions about when he announces (his candidacy for govenor) and what his view and vision, leadership would mean to the budget process, again to the hard questions that face all New Yorkers,” Espada said of Cuomo, who had no immediate comment.<br />
<br />
-- The “nuts’’ remark came from Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association, the largest state-worker union. Paterson had asked the union to agree to a day-a-week furlough to help the state close a $9.2 billion budget gap. He has also asked them previously to forego a scheduled 4 percent raise and accept a delay in a paycheck.<br />
<br />
Donohue’s remark called to mind the answer of Gen Anthony McAuliffe in 1944 when Germans who surrounded the American troops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II to surrender. The Americans ultimately prevailed.<br />
<br />
“Now, this was a group that was really sacrificing during World War II when they were asked to surrender by the Germans,” Paterson said today. “They were about to commit the ultimate sacrifice and [Donohue] chooses the same words in what was a historic moment in American history," the governor said. <br />
“But this group not only doesn’t want to do anything, but they want to compare themselves as if they are making some historic sacrifice as if they are on the battlefield,” Paterson said.<br />
<br />
Oh yes, and the Legislature failed today to heed Paterson’s request for a vote on the budget, instead heading home for the weekend. When they return for the next scheduled session on May 3, the budget will be more than a month late.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-52499734925382703812010-04-27T15:25:00.004-04:002010-04-27T16:16:49.630-04:00Setback for campaign-finance reformCampaign-finance reform, a key priority of the league, suffered a rough day today in the Senate Elections Committee, with many important bills stalled, possibly for the rest of the year.<br />
<br />
Also today, Gov. Paterson said he wants to furlough state workers one day a week until there is a new budget and also intends to ask lawmakers to stay at the Capitol for five days a week, rather than three, until a new spending plan is in place.<br />
<br />
Measures that would have strengthened campaign-finance enforcement cut campaign-contribution limits, allowed public financing of campaigns, prohibit contributions by businesses that have been awarded state contracts and required the identification of “bundlers’’ who aggregate small contributions into large ones all failed to pass the Senate Elections Committee<br />
<br />
Measures that did pass include making it easier for members of the military to vote, prohibiting candidates from authorizing more than one political election and requiring the identification of the sponsor of political ads.<br />
<br />
“Clearly the important bills didn’t pass,’’ said League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti.<br />
<br />
Committee chairman Sen. Joseph Addabbo, D-Queens, said some of the measures “needed more public input.’’ But Bartoletti said league representatives have testified on them several times around the state.<br />
<br />
Another bill limiting the personal uses of campaign funds passed, but Brian Foley, D-Suffolk County, who faces a tough reelection race this year, just voted present, meaning other “marginal’’ Democrats also may not support it, Bartoletti said.<br />
<br />
Paterson asked for a up-or-down vote tomorrow on the furlough plan. There was no immediate comment from legislative leaders, but they're expected to resist the idea.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-60834651243017589542010-04-21T16:24:00.002-04:002010-04-21T16:24:32.467-04:00Another group seeking reformThe stage is getting crowded with good-government groups, which may bode well for their agenda this year.<br />
<br />
Just two days after former New York City Mayors Ed Koch and Rudolph Giuliani and former Gov. Mario Cuomo announced the formation of a political-action committee called New York Uprising to try to get candidates and elected officials to support non-partisan reapportionment, 26 good-government groups (including the League) today<br />
Announced another reform coalition.<br />
<br />
This one, called Reinvent Albany, plans to hold a session for the public in Albany on May 5 that will be shown on the Internet as well. (League members should check with their local leagues about free bus transportation to the event.)<br />
<br />
“Albany has serious ethical problems,’’ League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti said. “The more people involved in reforming the problems in Albany, the better.’’<br />
<br />
“New Yorkers are fed up,’’ the groups said in a letter to Gov. David Paterson. “Scandals have driven from office Gov. Spitzer, Comptroller Hevesi, Senate Majority Leader Bruno and a growing number of state legislators. Some elected officials are currently under investigation. Many of these abuses of power are rooted in the absence of effective and independent ethics and fiscal watchdogs, tough ethics laws and transparency in government.’’<br />
<br />
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, is the only elected official so far to agree to attend. Word is still being awaited from Paterson, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and the other legislative leaders.<br />
<br />
But Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Group said he thinks most will show up.<br />
<br />
“The place (the Capitol) is a mess and we didn’t do anything,’’ Horner said, reflecting the positions of top elected officials running for office this year. “That to me is a losing argument.’’LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-3859711390713954822010-04-20T19:11:00.000-04:002010-04-20T19:11:07.032-04:00Cuomo: Bronx senator ripped off taxpayersHow do you know it's Earth Day in Albany? When more dirt keeps getting shoveled on politicians.<br />
<br />
The target this time: State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, who was accused today of taking $14 million from his health-care clinic for his personal use, including $80,000 in meals and trips to Puerto Rico, Miami and Las Vegas.<br />
The lawsuit was filed today by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo against Espada, who is president and CEO of Soundview Health Clinic in the Bronx, a largely taxpayer-financed facility.<br />
Cuomo charges that Espada, D-Bronx, who switched parties last summer to give Republicans control of the Senate before switching back, of using the facility to secure a $9 million severance package for himself while running up $450,000 in credit card bills and $100,000 in campaign expenses.<br />
"Taxpayer money was given to this not-for-profit to provide health-care services to underprivileged patients, but our investigation has found the funds flowed into the pockets of Sen. Espada and his supporters," said Cuomo, a likely candidate for governor this year. "Siphoning money from a charity would be egregious under any circumstances, but the fact that this was orchestrated by the State Senate Majority Leader makes it especially reprehensible.''<br />
Espada refused to answer questions about the probe today, beyond calling it a “witch hunt’’ and saying Cuomo is retaliating against him for his role in last June’s coup that briefly gave control of the Senate to Republicans.<br />
Cuomo seeks removal of Espada as president and CEO of the institution as well as the ouster of other employees and board members, several of whom are related to the senator, who approved the deals. <br />
Among the findings of the probe, according to Cuomo:<br />
-- Soundview gave Espada a severance package worth an estimated $9 million. The provision unconditionally guarantees Espada the payment of one year's gross pay for every year of service. If the clause were triggered, Soundview would be forced into bankruptcy.<br />
-- Soundview paid about $80,000 in restaurant bills for 650<br />
separate meals for Espada or his supporters. This includes more than 200<br />
meals totaling more than $20,000 from two sushi restaurants. <br />
-- Soundview paid for trips for Espada, his wife and his family to<br />
such places as Las Vegas, Miami, and Puerto Rico as purported business<br />
trips.<br />
-- Soundview has provided Espada with what is essentially an unlimited<br />
line of credit on a corporate American Express card. From 2006 through<br />
mid-2009, Espada charged more than $450,000 in items he later identified<br />
as personal.<br />
-- Soundview gives Espada 14 weeks of annual leave on the first of<br />
each year and allowed him to convert it to its cash equivalent to pay personal expenses. In this way, Soundview extended Espada more than $75,000 in credit, a violation of the New York State Not-For-Profit Law.<br />
-- Espada created a company that offered janitorial services, put his<br />
son, Pedro Gautier Espada, in charge of it, and then Gautier rigged the<br />
bids to make sure it won the Soundview contract, which is worth almost $400,000 a year. In 2008, Pedro Gautier earned more than $150,000 from the for-profit company and from Soundview.<br />
-- More than 150,000 pieces of Espada's campaign literature at a cost of $100,000 were paid for by or funneled through Soundview.<br />
-- Soundview routinely pays for political campaign expenses put on Espada's American Express card.<br />
-- Soundview provides Espada, who lives in Mamaroneck, Westchester County, with a housing allowance of about $2500 a month to pay for a Bronx co-op which Espada claimed as his legal residence for purposes of his 2008 Senatorial campaign.<br />
<br />
Cuomo said the probe "is ongoing and developing.'' One Cuomo aide said he expected criminal charges will be forthcoming.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-475908736804225422010-04-19T18:05:00.003-04:002010-04-20T09:49:38.871-04:00New reform group debutsSome political heavyweights signed on today to the movement to clean up Albany.<br />
<br />
Chaired by former Mayor Ed Koch and including former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Gov. Mario Cuomo, the group, known as New York Uprising, wants lawmakers and other candidates for office to pledge to support non-partisan reapportionment - a goal of the League for years that has never made it through the Legislature.<br />
<br />
The group, which also includes the Citizens Union, wants candidates to support the creation of “an independent, non-partisan redistricting commission to draft advisory maps for the Legislature to review and approve.’’<br />
<br />
The group also wants the candidates to pledge to veto any plan that does not create “contiguous, competitive, compact legislative districts.’’<br />
<br />
The practice in Albany has for decades been for Republicans to draw lines for the Senate, which it controlled from 1965 until last year, and the Democrats for the Assembly, where they have had the majority since 1975. The two houses would compromise on U.S. House of Representatives districts. Redistricting is mandated by the federal government for the elections following each census.<br />
<br />
The custom had has raised the stakes in this year’s state Senate races, where Democrats hope to cling to their thin 32-30 majority or expand it so they can draw lines starting in the 2012 elections that would assure their control for decades. Common wisdom is non-partisan reapportionment would favor the Democrats, since there are three enrolled Democrats in the state for every two Republicans.<br />
<br />
Republicans, whose skill at drawing the reapportionment maps is widely credited with allowing them to control the Senate for decades even as their enrollment numbers slipped, are desperate to get back the majority to keep a hand on the knife that carves up districts.<br />
<br />
Governors, who have to sign the bill, have never seriously challenged the system, usually setting for some quid pro quo with lawmakers in exchange for their signatures. The idea of New York Uprising, as well as the position of the League and other reform groups, is to get candidates on the record ahead of time.<br />
<br />
Already signed up GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Rick Lazio, Carl Paladino and Steve Levy. Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, now far ahead in the polls but not yet an official candidate, signed a letter supporting the concept without specifically endorsing the Uprising position.<br />
<br />
League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti welcomed the new group to the fray.<br />
<br />
The League “welcomes New York Uprising to the reform movement,’’ she said. “Non partisan, independent redistricting has long been a League priority. We believe elections should be about an exchange of ideas not about the drawing of lines that benefit political parties and incumbents."LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-56853280505502419862010-04-14T17:10:00.001-04:002010-04-14T17:10:14.443-04:00Voting bill passes SenateThe Senate today gave final legislative passage to a bill that will make it easier for citizens to vote, and has been a priority of the League for almost two decades.<br />
<br />
The lawmakers voted 35-27 to allow people to vote by absentee ballot without presenting documentation why they couldn’t, or chose not to, show up at the polls.<br />
<br />
“People shouldn’t have to climb through hoops to exercise this fundamental right,’’ said League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti, who said the League has been pushing for the change since 1993.<br />
<br />
The chances for the measure to become law improved last year when Democrats seized control of the Senate for the first time since 1965. The politics of the situation are marginal voters - including those who may want to use absentee ballots - are more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans. So it has passed routinely in the Democrat-controlled Assembly for years but never came before the full Senate until today. ( A coup last year that briefly returned control of the Senate to the Republicans disrupted the bill’s chances.)<br />
<br />
Republicans argued today that voting is a privilege rather than a right and that the bar should not be further lowered to casting a ballot.<br />
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But three Republicans - Betty Little of Warren County, Charles Fuschillo of Nassau and Thomas Morahan of Rockland - joined all 32 Democrats in voting yes today.<br />
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As part of a package to make voting more accessible, the Senate also gave final approval to measures that allow absentee ballots to be faxed and that will include voter-registration forms on absentee ballots.<br />
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Gov. Paterson is expected to sign all three shortly.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-50833741405833951422010-04-13T18:10:00.000-04:002010-04-13T18:10:23.529-04:00"Like robbery without a gun"Ever get tired of working Fridays? Or wondered why state government is so expensive?<br />
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Me too.<br />
<br />
A couple of state watchdogs provided some potential answers today as to what happens when these two human traits collide.<br />
<br />
Comptroller tom DiNapoli and Inspector General Joseph Fisch charged in a report that a former state official Howard Dean blew off working Fridays - each and every one - for 17 years, but got paid as if he were working, costing taxpayers almost $230,000.<br />
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Moreover, he also received travel reimbursements for which he was not entitled, improperly used state for improper use of vehicles, gas and tolls, faked claims for hotels and meals and otherwise ripped off taxpayers to the tune of a total of just under $500,000.<br />
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“The findings of this audit are breathtaking,’’ DiNapoli said. Fisch called it “an outrageous scam’’ and “like a robbery without a gun.’’<br />
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Dean was director of the Department of Corrections’ Food Production Center in Rome, Oneida County from 1992 until he retired in 2008 at a salary of $112,000 a year. He headed up the facility, which is staffed by 140 inmates and 80 employees and provides meals to the entire 60,000-bed prison system. <br />
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The state is trying to get the money back and has referred the case to the Oneida County district attorney, who could press criminal charges.<br />
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Current prisons commissioner Brian Fischer pointed out that the entire 17 years of Dean ripping the state off occurred under the reign of his predecessor, Thomas Coughlin. He said soon after he was appointed commissioner in 2007, his staff got a tip about the situation and that he had a deputy commissioner, Gayle Paponik, started to review it. Dean’s travel status was discontinued that November.<br />
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“Since I became commissioner in 2007, I have repeatedly reminded all managerial staff…that they will be held accountable for all of their actions and that they must adhere to the highest ethical standards,’’ Fischer said in response to the audit.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-7235331450682003772010-04-07T18:08:00.002-04:002010-04-07T18:08:49.985-04:00Is this the time for reforms?No doubt reporters were a little belligerent today when confronted with another package of budget-reform ideas put forward by Senate Democrats.<br />
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Their collective response was whoa! First you ignore reforms passed just three years ago, then you can’t reach a deal on a new budget, so you want to start talking again about making changes in the process?<br />
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The answer, when the verbal political underbrush was cut away, was, yup.<br />
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The budget was supposed to be passed by April 1, but neither the Assembly nor the Senate can come up with enough cuts to close a potential deficit of more than $9 billion.<br />
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Democratic conference leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said “everything is still on the table.’’<br />
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But wait, said the AP’s Michael Gormley. You just got back from a seven-day vacation. Couldn’t you rule anything out in that period of time?<br />
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“I did a lot during my vacation,’’ Sampson said. “I reached out to a lot of individuals.’’<br />
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The new Senate Democratic plan includes, among other things, shifting the start of the state fiscal year to June 1, establishing budgets for two years instead of one, setting up an independent legislative budget office (like the Congressional Budget Office in Washington) and using the accrual method of accounting, which makes it harder to jigger the books.<br />
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In 2007, lawmakers approved a set of reforms that included mandatory open committee meetings to reach some spending decisions. But they didn’t do that either this year or last year.<br />
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So, Bill Hammond of the Daily News asked, since you just blew off those laws, why should we believe that you will live by these changes, even if they’re adopted?<br />
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Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, argued that you could still pass a budget without, say, having open committee meetings. But once you change the fiscal year, “you have changed the fiscal year.’’<br />
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In other words, the new changes would be harder to get around. Not exactly a great moral standard, but it had the advantage of sounding at least a little candid. That’s the way progress is measured in Albany these days.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-23107187503048501542010-04-01T17:08:00.001-04:002010-04-01T17:08:46.334-04:00Pause in the actionJay is ill. He will resume blogging when he has recovered.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-5360171823801276622010-03-31T18:27:00.002-04:002010-03-31T18:27:25.730-04:00Paterson on U-Tube: support your local legislatorJust hours before the new fiscal year is to begin, Gov. David Paterson today issued a plea on U-Tube for voters to contact their local legislators and tell them they support cuts in spending.<br />
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Lawmakers, who are on vacation until next Wednesday, are deadlocked over how much to cut spending for education, health care and other state programs, whether to raise taxes on cigarettes and whether to borrow more money to meet operating expenses.<br />
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Paterson today signed a temporary-spending bill to keep the state operating until April 11 while the haggling continues and another that will delay about $2 billion in aid to local schools due tomorrow until the state finds the money to pay for it.<br />
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"..to be fair, my legislative colleagues, the senators, the Assembly members and their leaders are working very hard in Albany to try to ameliorate this problem and I don't think that the barrier is their inability to grasp the gravity of our current financial woes,’’ Paterson said. “ Rather, I think my colleagues are nervous about the cost of making these tough decisions.”<br />
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He continued, "I served with them as a legislator for over 20 years, so I think I'm sensitive to the problems that they face. And so I urge all of you New Yorkers to contact your local legislators and not to criticize them, but rather to remind them that just as you have had to make the tough choices for yourselves and your families, now they have to make those difficult decisions for the state.<br />
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"Tell them that you will support that they make these difficult decisions. Encourage them to reduce spending so that we have a more affordable economy and let them know that you will be for them if they put us on the road to fiscal recovery,’’ he said.<br />
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So far, no word of phones ringing off the hook in lawmakers’ offices. Most powerful interest group at the Capitol, from the teacher unions to hospitals to public-employee unions and other groups, whom lawmakers depend on for campaign cash, are pushing the other way - against any cuts. That’s why some are predicting a long delay before any spending plan is approved.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-45607007474548500602010-03-30T18:56:00.002-04:002010-03-30T18:56:28.499-04:00The Big Apple StateAfter some exhaustive research, which included Google and Wikipedia, I am here to shed some light on why New York is the "Empire State.''<br />
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But not too much, since the answer seems murky.<br />
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The question came to mind this week when we were losers in the federal government’s “race to the top’’ for about $700 million in education aid. How could anyone not think the “Empire State’’ is the best.<br />
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But upon further reflection, I thought, what does it mean to be the Empire State?<br />
<br />
And for that matter, why can’t we be named after something simpler, like gardens (New Jersey), mountains (Vermont) rocks (New Hampshire), a tree (Maine), the ocean (Rhode Island) or a part thereof (the Bay State, Massachusetts)?<br />
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I also understand why Michigan, say, would rather be known as the Great Lakes State rather than say, the heart of the rust belt.<br />
<br />
Here’s the New York story.<br />
<br />
At some point in the 1780s, George Washington may have (nobody caught it on tape) made a reference to New York being the "seat of Empire.'' In those days, "empire'' apparently carried the connotation since lots of economic growth and progress, and not necessarily a system where one group dominates another. Back in those days (this was a long time ago) New York seemed to fit the bill.<br />
<br />
It must have seemed apt back in the days when we were building the Erie Canal, taming Niagara Falls and becoming an economic powerhouse. All that, of course, was a while ago now.<br />
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More recently, the nickname has given critics of the state a chance to have some fun over the years. Herb London, who was interested in running for governor in 1994, referred to it as the "Vampire State'' because, as he saw it, the state was sucking the life blood out of its citizens in the form of taxes. And this was even before the MTA surcharge and the plan to tax soda!<br />
<br />
Among suggestions from readers today included "Union State,'' since they seem to be piloting the ship of state these days, and "Umpire State,'' since then we would at least know to expect some bad calls, and we wouldn't be so stunned each time Albany screws up.<br />
<br />
My vote would go with "Big Apple State,'' since it is already the nickname of New York City (a sportswriter coined it, referring to big payoffs at tracks) and we're one of the leading apple producers in the country.<br />
<br />
But nobody asked me.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-13732090173758516972010-03-29T14:40:00.002-04:002010-03-29T14:40:48.744-04:00Senate approves temporary spending billThe Senate gave final passage to a bill this morning that will keep state government functioning through April 11 since there is now no chance a full budget will be adopted by the April 1 start of the new fiscal year.<br />
Most senators quickly left the Capitol today and are not scheduled to return until a week from Wednesday. The Assembly left town Friday.<br />
Most Republicans joined in with Democrats to pass the temporary spending bill that passed the Assembly last week and is all but guaranteed to be signed into law by the governor. The final vote was 54-6, with six Republicans voting no.<br />
One of them was Joseph Griffo of Rome, Oneida County.<br />
“There is an erosion of confidence,’’ he said. “Deadlines need to be met. It’s unacceptable. We should continue to meet.’’<br />
The Democrats could not have passed the bill without Republican support, since Democrat Ruth Hassell-Thompson of Mt. Vernon, who has a history of heart problems and was taken to the hospital last week, was not in the chamber this morning, and without her the Dems have only 31 votes - one shy of a majority.<br />
The lawmakers also passed, with a little more trouble, a bill that will allow teachers to retire as young as 55 without penalty during a three-month period this year if they have 25 years on the job. Otherwise they would have to wait until 62 or get a smaller pension.<br />
This provision was part of a deal that helped to buy the support of New York State United Teachers last fall for support of a bill that diminishes the pensions of newly hired teachers and other public workers. The vote on today’s bill, which has already passed the Assembly, was 49-11.<br />
No word on how much the provision will cost taxpayers.<br />
There was no progress reported after a weekend of talks on an overall budget. How much to cut school aid and health care and whether to borrow money for operating expenses are among the outstanding issues.<br />
In another budget matter, Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario Colunty, has suggested that Gov. Paterson have a sincere, frank discussion with public-employee unions about the state’s dire fiscal straits.<br />
So far unions have rejected any suggestion they put off raises, scheduled to go into effect as early as next week, that will cost taxpayers $3 billion a year, according to an analysis done by the Empire Center. Contracts are contracts, they say.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-67388702456016237642010-03-26T19:03:00.000-04:002010-03-26T19:03:02.443-04:00It was only a feintLawmakers made a feint at making progress on a new state budget today, but in the end didn’t seem to accomplish anything.<br />
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For the first time in two years, they held a legally mandated conference-committee meeting before TV cameras and the public, but reached no agreements.<br />
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The Assembly plans to pass a spending bill tonight to keep the state operating until April 11, while the Senate plans to do the same Monday morning. The current state fiscal year ends Wednesday at midnight, and with it the legal authority of the state to spend money unless the Legislature acts, passing either a budget (not likely) or the emergency bills (bet on it.).<br />
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The two houses differ on how much money to cut from education and health care, whether to raise cigarette taxes and whether to borrow up to $2 billion for operating expenses, among other items.<br />
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None of these were discussed today. Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County tried to get his Democratic counterpart, John Sampson of Brooklyn, to admit that the Dems’ budget plan doesn’t include goodies like property-tax rebate checks and a cap on state spending.<br />
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Sampson pretty much ignored his questions, responding instead that he was looking forward to see what Republicans want to cut (no dice there either.)<br />
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Only Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, brought up specific ideas, like merging state agencies. He said a whole list of cuts the Republicans have come up with will be distributed shortly to other lawmakers.<br />
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But he was widely ignored, since Republicans have only 42 votes in the Assembly, compared to 107 for the Democrats.<br />
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“The public is waiting for substantive debate on the budget,’’ said the League’s legislative director Barbara Bartoletti. “They didn’t get that today.’’<br />
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They might have a long wait.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-10844013435481773512010-03-25T19:51:00.001-04:002010-03-25T19:51:23.343-04:00Battle lines are drawn; who cares about openness?Even as taxpayers got a clearer look at the differences in how the Assembly and Senate would balance next year’s budget, just how they will work out their disputes became murkier.<br />
The Assembly yesterday passed its version of a budget plan. Here are the major differences with the Senate budget resolution that passed earlier in the week:<br />
-- Cut $800 million from aid to local schools, rather than the $1.4 billion the Senate and Gov. David Paterson want;<br />
-- Borrow $2 billion for operating expenses (Senate: nothing) but also don’t count on getting $700 million from refinancing state bonds as the Senate is;<br />
-- Raise the cigarette tax by $1 a pack, to $3.75. The Senate would leave it at $2.75;.<br />
-- Cut $126 million less from health care than Paterson proposed and the Senate OK’d.<br />
-- Approved mixed-martial-arts exhibitions, and taxes them. The Senate would leave a current ban in place;<br />
Neither house went along with Paterson’s plan to raise about $800 million through a tax on soda and other sugary drinks.<br />
State law calls for the two houses to resolve these differences in public conference committees. But none have been scheduled yet and lawmakers are due to leave town tomorrow and not return until Wednesday, April 7.<br />
The budget is supposed to be passed by April 1, but has been routinely late (sometimes a few days, sometimes months) in recent decades.<br />
Paterson yesterday proposed a temporary spending plan to keep the state running through early April. That’s necessary because after April 1 the state has no power to spend money unless the Legislature acts.<br />
The Assembly intends to pass the emergency bill tomorrow, but the Senate still hopes an overall deal can be worked out.<br />
League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti said lawmakers should work to resolve their differences in public - and in the meantime try to explain to their constituents how severe the budget problem is and what sacrifices will be needed to fix it.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-61085040322691835882010-03-24T18:03:00.002-04:002010-03-24T18:03:29.569-04:00'Pay to play' squared“Pay to play’’ is an old Albany tradition, long fought by the League and other reform groups. But an allegation that surfaced today seems to take it to a whole new level.<br />
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The New York Post reported today that Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, sent out a letter earlier this month to labor leaders, suggesting they contribute $50,000 to Senate Democrats to get “direct dialogue’’ with lawmakers.<br />
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These are the same Democrats who will control how much state money big union constituencies, like teachers and health-care workers, get in this year’s budget.<br />
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The invitation to join suggested that labor leaders could be members of the “2010 Labor Advisory Council’’ for $25,000, or council “chairs’’ for $50,000.<br />
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Klein’s letter promised that “the advisory council chairs will be invited to meetings with the Senate Democratic majority leadership.’’<br />
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Lobbyists get invitations to fund-raisers for lawmakers and other state officials incessantly, with sometimes as many as seven or eight events being held on a night when the Legislature is in town.<br />
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The problem, as League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti pointed out, is that “those that have the money get the access,’’ while those without fat wallets are left on the outside.<br />
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“The only solution,’’ she said, “is to have comprehensive campaign-finance reform,’’ including lower limits on contributions, more disclosure of donations and better enforcement of existing regulations.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-45019008911121031602010-03-23T18:54:00.002-04:002010-03-23T18:54:31.297-04:00Hoop still in placeReformists figured one of the slam-dunks they could count on when Democrats took control of the Senate last year was a measure known as a “no-excuses’’ absentee ballot.<br />
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New York is one of the few states that requires people who want to use absentee ballots to disclose personal information about why they can’t get to the polls Election Day’ like affidavits from their employers.<br />
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The politics seemed to break the reformers’ way because typically people on the edge of whether to vote or not tend to support Democrats, while Republicans do better among established voters. So the bill for years has been approved by the Democratic-controlled Assembly but never surfaced in the GOP-run Senate.<br />
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But it turned out not to be so easy after all even after control of the Senate changed hands last year. Some Democrats, reformers were told privately, were concerned that expanding the number of ballots might make them more vulnerable to primary challenges, mostly in New York City.<br />
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Still the bill, sponsored by Senate Elections Committee Chairman Joseph Addabbo, D-Queens, and approved by the Assembly, and was poised to pass the Senate last June when the coup gave power back to the Republicans temporarily, so it died. This year, in light of Republican opposition, Democrats told reformers they were waiting for the election of their 32nd member - who turned out to be Jose Peralta of Queens - to pass it.<br />
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He was seated last week, but so far, the bill hasn’t moved to the floor, and it’s unclear why.<br />
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League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti it’s important that the bill pass.<br />
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“This would drop a barrier for voters to participate in the process without having to jump through unnecessary hoops,’’ she said.<br />
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Unnecessary hoops? For voters? In New York? So far, this one is still in place.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-91232733093439839522010-03-22T18:02:00.000-04:002010-03-22T18:02:08.608-04:00Not all smoke and mirrorsThe Senate budget plan expected to be voted on tonight is, surprise, not all smoke and mirrors - it includes real cuts in spending, especially education and health care.<br />
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No new taxes and some gimmicks, but still somewhat fiscally sound.<br />
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The Senate made the first move in adopting a budget today, proposing a resolution that will be the basis of negotiations (supposedly in public) with the Assembly. Voting on a final budget package is still most likely weeks away.<br />
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Among the highlights of the Senate plan:<br />
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-- a cut of about $1.4 billion, or 5 percent, in aid to local schools. Education groups said it would mean the elimination of 1,400 jobs across the state.<br />
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-- a reduction in of $1.1 billion in expected health-care spending.<br />
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-- a $700 million “one-shot,’’ or one-time revenue, from refinancing state tobacco bonds.<br />
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-- no new taxes on sugary drinks or cigarettes and no wine sales allowed in grocery stores.<br />
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-- $250 million from collecting taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations.<br />
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-- three prisons would close, parks would stay open and college-tuition-assistance grants would be maintained.<br />
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‘We really are biting the bullet,’’ Senate Finance Committee Vice Chair Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, said today.<br />
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But the cuts also include deep reductions to some state agencies. League legislative director Barbara Bartoletti said she feared the Board of Elections may face such severe cuts that it won’t be able to do its job of monitoring the election process.<br />
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At least initially, the Senate Democratic majority has rejected Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch’s plan to borrow $2 billion for expenses. But much more water will go over the dam before a final plan is adopted.<br />
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The Assembly is also expected to adopt its budget resolution this week - also with no new taxes, but with deep cuts in education and other spending.<br />
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One thing clear right now: the thought-to-be-all-powerful education lobbyists have some work to do to get lawmakers to agree to just keep spending level next year.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5924649346669809188.post-89753158529282055582010-03-19T16:53:00.000-04:002010-03-19T16:53:23.878-04:00Stirrings among the GOPThe race for governor, which appeared to be likely to pit huge underdog Republican Rick Lazio against Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, was shaken up today when Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announced he is also running for the Republican nomination.<br />
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What makes the development doubly interesting is that, until today, Levy was a Democrat.<br />
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But in front of a smiling state GOP chairman Ed Cox and other party officials, Levy signed an application changing his enrolment (it won’t actually take effect until after the election, however.)<br />
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Levy, a former member of the Assembly, has headed the state’s largest county (about 1.5 million people) outside New York City since 2003, and was cross-endorsed by Republicans in 2007 when he was re-elected with more than 95 percent of the vote.<br />
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He said today he switched parties because “reckless spending that hurts people more than anything else,’’ and he blames Dems more than Repubs for that.<br />
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The Republicans also offer him a far easier route to the general election, since any Democratic governor-wannabe would have to tangle with Cuomo in a primary. Cuomo is expected to announce his candidacy next month. Gov. David Paterson has already said he won’t run.<br />
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Levy is more liberal than most Republicans on many social issues - he’s pro-choice on abortion, for example, but is fiscally conservative. He’s also known for his fierce opposition to illegal immigration.<br />
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“This year the issues will almost be totally fiscal,’’ he said.<br />
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To get on the September primary ballot, he has to get more than half of the weighted vote at the party’s June convention (rather than 25 percent, since he is not yet officially a Republican)<br />
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And in another twist to the race, friends say Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino plans to enter the GOP race for governor. He has the support of some Tea Party members and is reportedly ready to spend $10 million of his own money on the campaign. <br />
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So while a few weeks ago Cuomo and his $16 million campaign fund seemed to be scaring off potential GOP challengers, now it appears that there will be no shortage of candidates hoping to have a chance to run against him.LWVNYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17953178638134020583noreply@blogger.com2