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$723 million in subsidies on the Washington chopping block, deadline Sept. 30
2010-08-30 13:46:00
When Congress finally passed an extension of Medicaid and education funding relief for states earlier this month, New York legislators breathed a sigh of relief. But another, lesser-known program that also came out of the federal stimulus package—and one that has won the praise of even Republican governors, like Mississippi’s Haley Barbour, who have otherwise ...
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Many layers of overlaps and connections in many jobs for top Sampson aide and childhood friend
2010-08-30 13:20:00
A few months ago, Michael Cohen paid a courtesy call to New Jersey State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, the reform-minded “feisty Jewish grandmother” who was former Gov. Jon Corzine’s lieutenant governor running mate last year.Cohen, the district office chief of staff for Senate conference leader John Sampson and one of his most trusted aides, told Weinberg he wanted ...
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Unclear prospects for New York Uprising and New Roosevelt Initiative, despite climate
2010-08-18 13:16:00
New York Uprising and the New Roosevelt Initiative—two organizations that have emerged as the most prominent Albany reform groups this year—share the goal of ousting lawmakers that they perceive as opponents of their good-government causes. But beyond their basic shared aims, the groups’ methods have differed widely: New Roosevelt has narrowly focused their ...
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Real estate industry finds new love with majority party and fissures with Independence
2010-08-18 13:07:00
Three years ago, tenant activists were so eager to help Democrats pick up a Republican seat that more than 50 of them trekked northwards to serve as ground troops in Darrel Aubertine’s special-election campaign. But with a number of pro-tenant initiatives stuck in the Senate logjam, tenant activists say that enthusiasm has waned dramatically. When expelled State Sen. ...
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Independent expenditures, rather than cash to DSCC, bring money and controversy to State Senate races
2010-08-18 11:39:00
In early July, the Washington, D.C.,-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC) waded into New York’s same sex marriage fight, announcing the launch of a new political action committee focused on booting anti-gay-marriage senators. A press release quoting a number of prominent LGBT leaders and officials in New York lavished praise on the group and its newly minted senior ...
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Overlapping structure of non-profits and PACs fuel education reform support for legislative candidates
2010-07-27 16:46:00
At a small Spanish restaurant in midtown, then-Assembly Member José Peralta was peppered with questions by a group of about a dozen hedge fund managers. What was his battle plan to defeat recently expelled State Sen. Hiram Monserrate, whom Peralta was taking on in a special election? What were his specific positions on the issues surrounding charter schools, the hedge ...
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Back and Forth: Roger Stone
2010-06-30 14:45:00
Roger Stone, the self-described GOP hitman and master of the dark political arts, has surfaced again as the force behind the campaign of Kristin Davis—the Manhattan Madam, not the prostitute who called herself Kristen—for governor. Ostensibly a campaign for the legalization of prostitution, marijuana and gay marriage, Stone acknowledged that it also contains a hint ...
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Inside the Senate Republicans’ weary war room
2010-06-30 14:02:00
State Sen. Kevin Parker rose to introduce a bill that he said would keep the state’s disabled population safe in the case of another terrorist attack or a natural disaster.Across the chamber, Senate Republicans were audibly cranky.“The state would be safer if he weren’t here,” State Sen. John Bonacic muttered as Parker spoke.Bonacic is not the most ...
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Comptroller’s office claims approach could lead to privatization of pension fund
2010-06-30 13:51:00
For the past 20 years, the State Comptroller’s office has assumed that the state’s pension fund investments would grow at 8 percent annually, with every penny needed to keep up with New York’s soaring pension costs.During the ’90s boom, those growth expectations were met and often exceeded. But over the past decade, the stock market has risen and ...
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No luck so far for SRCC in narrowing field for well-funded pianist over local mayor
2010-06-02 08:04:00
In 2004, 10-term incumbent State Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann narrowly fended off a Republican primary victory from her right by Thomas Dadey. Then she faced Dadey again in the general election, with him coming at her on the Independence and Conservative Party lines. The move split the Republican vote, allowing Democrat David Valesky to pull out a 1,000-vote victory, and ...
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Michael Cohen And Elnatan Rudolph: NY Staffers, Well-Paid Consultants, NJ Candidates
Splits Among Gay Political Activists Rankle Efforts To Flip Seats
Charter School Bundlers Help Favored Candidates With Donor Math
Avoiding Oblivion
Unclear Answers On Wilson’s Pension Fund Growth Adjustment Proposal
