Brewing Coffey
Sean Coffey is okay with being the “other guy” in this year’s attorney general race—the lone non-elected or appointed official, the man with the least recognizable name. For Coffey, a Navy veteran and noted litigator who won his clients over $6 billion in the WorldCom class action lawsuit in 2004, running to succeed Andrew Cuomo as attorney general is ...
Read more »
While other local governments are cut, a Hudson Valley county expands authority
From his office window, Michael Hein can see a 450-year-old church in downtown Kingston where George Washington once spoke.A year into his job as the first Ulster County executive, Hein said he feels some communion with the first president.“We’re a very new form of government, too,” Hein said. “We understand that our role is not that well ...
Read more »
Tom Reynolds was first elected to Congress in 1998, and quickly shot through the ranks of the GOP leadership. He retired in 2008, following the 2006 Democratic wave, which some blame him for, given his role as head of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee that cycle. But now Reynolds has taken on a new electoral challenge. As vice-chairman of the Republican State ...
Read more »
By The Capitol
February 17th, 2010
Where does all that coin come from?We know, we know, there is no real governor’s race (yet) but the furious fundraising has already begun. On this map, the biggest coins represent the biggest hauls for both Gov. David Paterson and his supposed Democratic opponent, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Unsurprisingly, Cuomo has pulled most of his money from Manhattan’s ...
Read more »
When Rep. Gregory Meeks reached out to Gov. David Paterson last September to convey concerns the White House was having about the governor’s re-election, many saw the move as the Obama administration’s most overt attempt to muscle Paterson out of the race, in favor of a much safer candidate in Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. But Meeks said it was merely his role as ...
Read more »
Cops Can Be Reckless Drivers Like Anyone Else; Unlike Guns, Sex Offenders Are Part Of Interstate Commerce; Lead Chips In The Hallway Are As Bad As Lead Chips In The Apartment
Cops Can Be Reckless Drivers Like Anyone ElseAyers v. O’BrienDecided by: Court of Appeals, Dec. 17, 2009On July 31, 2005, as Broome County Deputy Sheriff Marc Ayers drove his patrol car in the Town of Chenango, he noticed a speeder heading in the opposite direction. In the middle of a U-turn to pursue the speeder, Ayers’ car was sideswiped by James ...
Read more »
Beneath Albany’s four-way good-government force, some strains, puzzlement
When legislative leaders rolled out their compromise ethics bill on Jan. 13, three of the state’s leading good-government leaders took to the podium, offering the legislation their blessings. But it was their ally not in attendance at the Capitol press conference, Susan Lerner of Common Cause, who attracted most of the media attention.Following the press conference, ...
Read more »
Governor’s initiatives to increase renewable energy and green economy fall short, critics claim
During his State of the State address, Gov. David Paterson unveiled a sweeping new energy plan that would make New York a pioneer in renewable energy and help green its economy.But many energy experts and elected officials wonder if the state will ever see the results of Paterson’s vision.“I think these are good objectives and it’s important for the future of ...
Read more »
‘Rational tuition policy’ facing strong backlash from Legislature, unions
Gov. David Paterson is calling his plan to reform the way students at CUNY and SUNY pay tuition one of the most “significant public higher education reforms in a generation.” But initial reactions in the State Legislature indicate that the governor’s plan will have a steep battle in the coming months.In the past, legislators have balked at approving such ...
Read more »
In wake of court decisions, legislators look to re-empower property owners through state law
Bill Perkins, chair of the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, is proposing sweeping new laws that would severely cramp the state’s eminent domain ability to seize private property. Perkins wants to put some power back into the hands of property owners and create greater transparency when governments seek to invoke eminent domain.“The ...
Read more »
Power Grid
By The Capitol
December 15th, 2009
Extispicy is the name for the study of slaughtered animal entrails to divine the future. Fortunately for PETA and other animal lovers, the practice died out in ancient Rome, leaving modern political analysts to study numbers and maps to predict future events in place of sheep livers and bull intestines.The results of this past election have been widely interpreted as ...
Read more »
Social moderate wins Sue Kelly’s backing in race to take on John Hall
By Selena Ross
November 20th, 2009
For nearly a year, Republican Assembly Member Greg Ball has been crisscrossing the Hudson Valley in his effort to unseat incumbent Rep. John Hall. He has raised money, assembled a staff, and met with GOP operatives in Washingon.But the sudden entrance into the race of Nan Hayworth, a wealthy ophthalmologist from Mount Kisco, has upended Ball’s trajectory.Hayworth has ...
Read more »
Most conservative Assembly member pushes radical proposal on every pol he meets
By Sal Gentile
November 17th, 2009
Everywhere Michael Fitzpatrick goes, he carries a message.The Suffolk assemblyman has made it his mission to speak to every single elected official in the state of New York about his plans to reform the state’s pension system by taking away lawmakers’ generous retirement benefits. “I would say, ‘He’s a relentless advocate’ would be an ...
Read more »
By Selena Ross
November 17th, 2009
On the pavement of 47th Street in midtown Manhattan, below the offices of Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, toddlers waved balloon animals in the air, signs reading “Senator Schumer, Stand Up for Children’s Health” strapped to their strollers.“We need to reward the states like New York that have done well,” said Marian Wright Edelman, ...
Read more »
By The Capitol
November 17th, 2009
When Dede Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens for Congress in upstate New York, most of her voters went with her.The returns from the North Country, where Owens narrowly defeated Conservative Doug Hoffman, provide a few valuable takeaways about the strength of the Republican base, and the Democrats’ ability to win competitive elections in traditionally conservative ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Rob Astorino
By Sal Gentile
November 17th, 2009
Rob Astorino knows how to communicate.The radio host and sports enthusiast has just delivered an unequivocal message to incumbents everywhere: Beware the wrath of the voters.Astorino was propelled to the Westchester county executive’s office earlier this month by a wave of voter frustration, defeating three-term incumbent Andy Spano in their rematch by close to 15 ...
Read more »
A Day To End The “No Date” ExceptionGarth v. Town of RichmondDecided by: Court of Appeals, Oct. 15New York’s top jurists this month eliminated a technicality that municipalities have used for decades to stop taxpayers from challenging property assessments.In 2006, Leonid Garth disputed the Town of Richmond’s tax on his real estate property. One portion ...
Read more »
Johnson, Foley on rails as debate over capital plan looms
Stuck in a precarious political position, Craig Johnson and Brian Foley have been reluctant to take a position on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed five-year capital plan. The two suburban senators are caught between Republicans who are eager to attack, city Democrats who want the plan fully funded and a governor who seems to have lost control over his ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Mark Schroeder
Mark Schroeder has only been in the Assembly for five years, but it was this fall when he started to really cause a stir. First, he made news by calling Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada “a thug” and demanded that he step down. Later, he became the sole Democrat to sign on to Minority Leader Brian Kolb’s bill calling for a constitutional convention. Then he ...
Read more »
By The Capitol
September 29th, 2009
Paralysis May Paralyze Federal CourtsShomo v. City of New YorkDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court, Aug. 13Few issues divide the Courts and the U.S. Congress more than the propriety and desirability of prisoner litigation. There is a predictable ebb and flow with Congress and state legislatures limiting litigation, and then judges finding new exceptions to keep the ...
Read more »
Power Grid
By The Capitol
September 29th, 2009
For some lawmakers, earning $80,000 a year is not enough to pay the bills. Even with some earning lucrative lulus on top of their base salary, over 60 senators and Assembly members are pulling double-duty, representing their districts in Albany while holding down other jobs. And while it is legal for legislators to hold outside jobs, there is a call for more disclosure. Senate ...
Read more »
With more Albany turmoil, Jeff Klein plots his exit strategy
Jeff Klein, Senate president? It almost happened, right after the coup threw everything into a food processor and hit puree. Klein floated the idea of a power-sharing agreement, with himself as president pro tem and Dean Skelos as majority leader. But he lacked the votes or enough of the power players behind him to make it a reality. Instead, Pedro Espada and John Sampson got ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Ed Cox
By Sal Gentile
September 29th, 2009
In the late 1960s, a muckraking Harvard Law student under the tutelage of Ralph Nader detailed the unsavory activities of the Federal Trade Commission, sparking a series of congressional hearings and the involvement of the president of the United States.He also happened to be the boyfriend of Tricia Nixon.Thirty years later, Ed Cox, one of the original Nader's Raiders, is ...
Read more »
In swing district, challenger takes hard, early swings at two-term incumbent
“Ladies and gentleman, an important day here at Croton Harmon Station,” intones a man, carnival-barker style, as he hands out palm cards to commuters hurrying to catch the train, their hands already full with Nature Valley granola bars and Netflix envelopes. “Greg Ball for U.S. Congress.”It is July, a full 16 months before Ball will actually stand for ...
Read more »
Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers
Federal Courts Could Now Veto State Courts On Taxes And MoreCloverleaf Realty v. Town of WawayandaDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court, July 15Seventy years ago, the United States Supreme Court set forth the now-famous “Erie Doctrine.” Under Erie, federal courts in New York (or any state) must apply the law of the state in which they are located when ...
Read more »
Finishing up his remarks as he announced the school supplies funds that the state began distributing from a mixture of stimulus dollars and a grant from George Soros in August, David Paterson explained why he took the issue so personally.“When children come to school that aren’t prepared, they feel separated from the rest of the class. How do I know? I’ve ...
Read more »
Plans for more changes in Finance and the Senate leadership from the top amigo
In Sheepshead Bay, among the Russian hair salons and clam bars, sits the El Greco diner, a gleaming silver artifact straight out of the 1950s. Inside, only half of the diner’s seating is open for breakfast, while the other half is reserved for the larger dinner crowd.But when Carl Kruger arrives for his blueberry muffin and coffee, the velvet rope is lifted. Kruger ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Richard Ravitch
While judges up in Albany may have sealed his fate, Richard Ravitch sat at his desk in Midtown Manhattan, trying to figure out how to save the state. Ravitch says he is focused on his task at hand. He talked to The Capitol about the budget, the governor’s sliding poll numbers and a certain 1970s movie icon to which some people have compared him.What follows is an edited ...
Read more »
BY ASSEMBLY MEMBER J. GARY PRETLOW, STATE SEN. JOSESPH ADDABBO, JR., AND JOHN ...
Read more »
Governor Kills Legislature’s Medical Marijuana Buzz
For several months, lawmakers in New Hampshire tried to hash out a bill that would have made their state the 14th in the nation to legalize medical marijuana.The bill, which would have permitted doctors to prescribe the drug to their patients, had passed 232-108 in the New Hampshire House and 14-10 in the Senate in late June.Advocates said the bill’s passage in the ...
Read more »
Court Of Appeals Takes DiNapoli To School Over ChartersNew York Charter Schools Assoc. v. State Comptroller Decided by: Court of Appeals, June 25From their beginnings in the state back in 1998, New York’s charter schools (146 in all) have carefully (and controversially) traversed the public-private entity line. As independent and autonomous “public” schools, ...
Read more »
The newest incarnation of the East Coast-West Coast rivalry played out not in the hip-hop world, but in the state legislatures of Albany and Sacramento. New York (incapacitated for a month by the Senate coup) and California (paralyzed by a partisan stalemate that went on for months) were in what amounted to an unofficial competition to be the nation’s most ineffectual ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Jay Jacobs
Jay Jacobs has overseen an unprecedented period of success for Democrats in Nassau County. They control the County Legislature. Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi is considered likely to win a third term. And for the first time in history, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the county. Now Jacobs has been asked to replicate his success at the state level as chair of ...
Read more »
What coming back means for Pedro Espada and the Senate Democrats
A little before 1 a.m. on the first full-session day of the re-established Democratic majority, State Sens. Pedro Espada (D-Bronx) and Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) sat in the antechamber to the Senate as their colleagues made their way to the floor from the conference room.“There wasn’t enough appreciation for you in there,” Monserrate said, glancing back ...
Read more »
Hope floats for a recovery as Dennis Mullen takes the wheel
The six members of the Empire State Development Corporation board squirmed in their seats. Brooklyn resident Robert Puca was using his allotted two minutes for public comment at a recent hearing on the controversial Atlantic Yards development project to do nothing but sit in mute, silent protest while the board and the dozens of attendees stared back at him. After all, he ...
Read more »
Running for re-election in 2009, Suozzi jockeys to be Paterson’s ally—or successor in 2010
Few Democrats have leapt to Gov. David Paterson’s defense in recent months, much less appeared with him in public.Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, running for re-election in one of the most conservative counties in the state, has done both.“I think that people have to wake up to the reality that the governor of New York State is the governor of New York ...
Read more »
Proposal to merge both houses dismissed by State Senate
New York is not the only state wondering about what its State Senate does all the time. Maine Rep. Linda Valentino (D-Saco) sponsored a bill in her state, not surprisingly killed by the Maine Senate earlier this month, aimed at replacing the two houses of the state’s government with a unicameral legislature.The consolidation of the Maine Senate and House of ...
Read more »
Party Pics by Barry Sloan
On June 17, elected officials, staffers and others from across the political community (including a certain New York governor) gathered at 74 State in Albany to celebrate the 2009 Rising Stars, profiled in the June issue of The Captiol. Photos by Barry SloanNYSUT's Becky Tetreault, Frank Maurizio and Alissa Lubanski. ...
Read more »
Supreme Court Overrules Assembly, Saves Prison LitigatorsHaywood v. DrownDecided by: United States Supreme Court, May 26Prisoners seem to have a comparative advantage at two things—license plates and lawsuits. Unfortunately for locked-up legal beagles in New York, the State Assembly only wants the former and, for many years, has sought to limit prisoner litigation. Chief ...
Read more »
Vanessa Gibson and Marcos Crespo grapple with the transition from staffers to electeds
When newly elected Assembly members Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx) and Marcos Crespo (D-Bronx) reflect on their first week on the job—a week that was marked by unprecedented confusion in the upper house—both pause for a second before answering.“Hectic,” Gibson tactfully described it. “A rollercoaster,” said Crespo. “I don’t know that ...
Read more »
Power Grid
During the four decades of Republican rule in the Senate, the position of Senate president was a fairly stable one. Joe Bruno held the job for 14 years. Warren Anderson presided for 15. But since Bruno left the position under a cloud last year, the office has been in flux. Dean Skelos had one of the shorter terms in recent memory, with Democrats taking the majority in last ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Barbara Bartoletti
Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the League of Women Voters of New York State, has been preaching good government in the halls of the Capitol since 1978. But she has never seen anything quite like the recent Senate coup. In the midst of it all, Bartoletti has been trying to revive a reform agenda that seemed to be progressing under the new Democratic majority, but ...
Read more »
Should New York prepare for a bright new day in state government? Reconfigure everything with a constitutional convention? Get rid of the State Senate entirely?
The Albany circus has not lacked for moments out of an absurdist comedy: • the older Republican senators, in the long wait to be counted in the run-up to the coup needing to prop up their raised rights hands with their left ones;• a screaming match erupting between Greg Ball and Cathy Nolan over in the Assembly chamber in the middle of the debate over the farm bill ...
Read more »
Democrats look to draw strength from new leader’s attentive style, change of approach
On the night the Senate Democrats took the majority, Malcolm Smith handed out a number of nicknames. For John Sampson, he had a simple one: “my conscience.”Now Smith’s Jiminy Cricket is the new conference leader, and a man colleagues expect to bring a tempered, attentive and accommodating leadership style that will diverge significantly from Smith’s. ...
Read more »
Field narrows to two even as Mondello insists on plan to run again
Joseph Mondello may say he is running for another term this fall, but that has not deterred the two leading candidates to replace the embattled state GOP chair from quietly campaigning for his job.The field of potential Mondello successors once included at least a dozen names, but has by many accounts now narrowed to two: Niagara Chair Henry Wojtaszek and former GOP ...
Read more »
Cynics tell us that Albany is a place that can extinguish the brightest of stars. To them, we say simply, “Read on.”What follows are 40 leaders in politics, government and advocacy whose talent, tenacity and passion quiet those detractors and give us hope that the future of state politics is bright indeed.The list here, a first for The Capitol and one that follows ...
Read more »
Michelle Paterson diagnoses state health care and her husband’s low poll numbers
First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson can effortlessly rattle off statistics about childhood obesity. One in four children are overweight, she says. One in three in communities of color. More kids today have an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes or cardiovascular problems than ever before.For Paterson, who also works as an executive at EmblemHealth, a statewide health ...
Read more »
In his previous job at NASA, Andrew Hoppin was able to convince a bunch of aging scientists to start Twittering.After that, trying to change the culture of the New York Senate may not seem so daunting.“That’s why I got the job: Because I was able to help turn around a large entity that was stuck in the past,” said Hoppin, the Senate’s new chief ...
Read more »
Albany is awash in ideas for reforming what is often called the most dysfunctional state government in the country.But Leonard Roberto, a conservative activist from Western New York, believes the only answer is to scrap the State Constitution, abolish the government and start from scratch.A business owner (and former pastor) from rural Alden, a village with one main road and ...
Read more »
Sue Them in Your Own CountryMatar v. DichterDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court, April 16In July of 2002, Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) aircraft targeted an alleged leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas as he worked on the top floor of a residential apartment building in Gaza City. The bomb the IDF used, which killed the Hamas official, ended up ...
Read more »
Statue of Liberty may be beacon for otherwise lost tourism dollars in recession
The Statue of Liberty’s crown was closed after the Sept. 11 attacks due to concerns that the winding stairway did not provide adequate means for evacuation in case of an emergency.That will change on July 4, when The Department of Interior will re-open the crown to tourists. Ten visitors at a time, chosen through a lottery system, will be able to climb the 354 steps. ...
Read more »
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s first trip in the ship Half Moon up the river that now bears his name. New Yorkers are celebrating the occasion with events and exhibits across the state all year long. Some of the most notable:The Glory of Dutch Bulbs: A Legacy of 400 yearsThrough June 7New York Botanical GardenBronx River Parkway at Fordham ...
Read more »
Power Grid
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s widening investigation into alleged pay-to-play schemes set up in former Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s office has exposed what many say is an inherent weakness in the state pension fund system: It only has one trustee. No other state comparable in size to New York puts its retirement money in the hands of one person, as shown by the ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Assembly Member Jack Quinn
Assembly Member Jack Quinn (R-Erie) kicked off the debate over same-sex marriage earlier this month by peppering the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell (D-Manhattan), with questions about whether the bill would force public accommodations with a religious focus, like the Knights of Columbus, to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. Quinn says he took a ...
Read more »
Republicans and Democrats read the tea leaves of the 20th District win
Scott Murphy is only out on the street in front of his Saratoga office for a few minutes before a woman rushes up to him.Breathless, she corners him and asks what he is going to do about gun control.“We can’t have another Wesleyan,” she implores, referring to the shooting at the Connecticut campus a few days earlier.She does not introduce herself, does not ...
Read more »
Campaign for both Democratic and Republican lines under consideration
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, one of the more controversial figures in New York Democratic politics, is mulling a run for governor in 2010, according to people familiar with his plans.Levy has approached some of his major backers about the prospect of running in the Democratic primary next year, possibly against Gov. David Paterson, according to associates, who did not ...
Read more »
GOP survival and oedipal politics at play in county executive race
Larry Schwartz has a mess on multiple fronts to contend with in running Gov. David Paterson’s (D) administration in Albany.But what he left behind in Westchester County is becoming a multi-layered mess of its own.Before accepting the job with Paterson, Schwartz was the top advisor and political “brain” to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano (D). Without ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr.
State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. (D-Bronx) recently had reason to celebrate, as his son Ruben Diaz, Jr., was elected Bronx borough president. Still, it is the recently introduced gay marriage bill that is on the forefront of the senator’s mind these days. During an interview at his Bronx office, Diaz, Sr. spoke about his son’s victory, gave a counterintuitive ...
Read more »
The Power Grid
States across the country are rushing to demonstrate their ability to quickly get stimulus money into the economy, especially since further federal stimulus money could become available.In raw numbers, New York has fared well, coming in seventh for most funding for highway and bridge projects out of all the states. When that funding is taken as a proportion of the overall ...
Read more »
Overcrowding, cuts make changes necessary, backers say
A staggering 30,000 New York City students now sit on a waiting list to get into charter schools.The waiting list, created when 30,000 students applied for 8,500 slots, is by far the largest ever in New York City and is expected to grow to at least 50,000 by next year. But state money for charter schools was just frozen at last year’s level in the budget, leaving many ...
Read more »
There are 95 Assembly members and 36 state senators who represent areas of the state outside of New York City. Yet these 121 men and women will determine the fate of the city’s one million school children and its $21 billion budget when they decide whether or not to renew mayoral control of the city’s schools later this year.Not a single upstate member, though, ...
Read more »
Former Assembly education chair, Klein foe, charges chancellor with “freelancing”
Most people do not keep copies of the mayoral control law in their offices. Steve Sanders does. “I wrote the law, so I know what’s in the law,” said Sanders, who chaired the Assembly Education Committee from 1995 to 2005, jabbing a finger at the leather-bound book containing the text. Keeping a copy nearby is handy as Sanders levels his criticisms at how ...
Read more »
Joel Klein puts his experiment and himself on the line in the battle for city schools
In Michael Bloomberg’s world, the debate about who should be in charge of the education of more than one million New York City school children would center less around the who and more around the education. In our world, mayoral control of schools has always been about this mayor, the one who ran on it and rammed it through the Legislature, and the man he hired to manage ...
Read more »
Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers in April
Searching for Results in Combating GoogleRescuecom Corp. v. GoogleDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court, April 3What if you searched Google for Apple Computers but Microsoft’s website appeared instead? Google’s selling of company names for its Ad-Words advertisements makes situations like this occur every day for every type of company. When it happened ...
Read more »
With PAC in place, politics picks up
These days, there are more greenbacks backing the green agenda in New York. After more than 20 years advocating for environmental causes, the League of Conservation Voters has pumped up its PAC to expand its political operation. “It’s a sea change in how we see ourselves in an organization,” said Marcia Bystryn, the group’s executive director.Originally ...
Read more »
The last time most people saw George Pataki (R), he was sitting on stage at Eliot Spitzer’s (D) inauguration, being compared to Rip Van Winkle. What a difference the most tumultuous two years in state political history makes.Of the Democrats elected in 2006, Spitzer, Alan Hevesi and Hillary Clinton are gone, as is their mandate and most of the reserve of good will. In ...
Read more »
Shortened race could give advantage to candidates with money in the bank
Questions about Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) these days usually fall into two categories: “Will he?” or “Won’t he?” But there is also the more puzzling question: Who will succeed him if he decides to run for governor in 2010?With Cuomo’s poll numbers sky high, potential successors (who are not Eliot Spitzer) are already being sized up. ...
Read more »
Democrats aim for Nassau, Skelos reaches out to possible replacement
At a black-tie fundraiser for the Nassau Democratic Party earlier this month, the guest speaker, Gov. David Paterson (D), confessed that he had one regret about the 2008 elections: Not spending enough money to beat State Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Nassau).“He basically said that he was sorry that he couldn’t put the resources behind it,” said Jay Jacobs, the Nassau ...
Read more »
Part-time legislators try to juggle businesses and budgeting
A four-day work week may not inspire pity for the legislators among the public, but for those who hold to the Legislature’s official part-time definition and have second jobs away from the Capitol, life becomes much more complicated when most of the week is spent in Albany. Lawmakers balancing two jobs credit Blackberries, cell phones and late nights for their ability to ...
Read more »
Last fall, Martin Connor (D) was forcibly retired from the State Senate by Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan), a well-connected 28-year-old upstart who was backed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.).Now, he longs to return the favor.“I certainly don’t trust anything Bloomberg says,” said the former Senate minority leader and 31-year veteran of ...
Read more »
Driving Law Puts Brakes on Medical PrivacyPeople v. ElyseeDecided by: Court of Appeals, Feb. 17At 5:00 a.m. on Christmas 2003, Fritz Elysee was involved in a four-car accident in Brooklyn. A passenger in a small truck was killed and several others, including Elysee, were severely injured. When Elysee arrived at King’s County Hospital for trauma care, a nurse drew a vial ...
Read more »
New York consistently introduces the largest number of bills per year, even beating out Massachusetts, the only state in the union that allows for citizens, not just lawmakers, to introduce bills in their legislature. With New York averaging 17,000 to 18,000 per session, Massachusetts is a distant second, coming in at roughly 7,000 on average. As a sampling of other ...
Read more »
Hints of 2010 races seen in Tedisco-Murphy special election
For the GOP, this was to be the moment.The Democratic tide had finally started to ebb, with the governor’s sinking poll numbers and no way out of the desert of fiscal deficits in sight. A special congressional election in a Republican stronghold pitting a celebrity of the state party against a relative unknown was supposed to be an easy shot at flipping a seat and ...
Read more »
Camara calls out for reform, but gets no response from colleagues
Assembly Member Karim Camara (D-Brooklyn) is a Baptist pastor, and he believes in preaching, even if that means getting thrown to the lions.“The role of the prophet is to address the conditions,” Camara said, “not to think about the consequences.”An upcoming “white paper” Camara is set to release—suggesting a number of radical Assembly ...
Read more »
State budget cuts threaten a shortfall of up to $300 million for health care in New York City, and stimulus spending could affect an even greater amount. With deadlines looming, Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, and Alan Aviles, President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) traveled to Albany to make ...
Read more »
Balancing schedules and competing interests in advocating for budget reform
In the mid-1970s, when the city’s finances were collapsing, Lewis Rudin convinced many developers to prepay hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate taxes. The city was saved from bankruptcy, and the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) was born.Now, with the city and state once again on the brink, Rudin’s son, William, who succeeded his father as ABNY ...
Read more »
By Julie SobelFrom taxing pornographic internet downloads and iPods to non-diet soda, almost no stone was left unturned by Gov. David Paterson as he looked to raise revenues to fill the state’s rapidly emptying coffers. But while New York’s dire fiscal straits—the once $5 billion budget gap grew to $13, then $14 billion—have prompted Paterson to propose ...
Read more »
Brennan Center report co-author now says waiting makes sense
By Chris Bragg
February 24th, 2009
When Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform 2008 Update, a scathing report on dysfunction in state government, came out last month, Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) dismissed it as “nonsense.”But Silver’s counterpart Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) apparently had the opposite reaction. Weeks into his tenure as Senate majority leader, ...
Read more »
If Israel moves on, Jon Cooper hopes to become first gay congressman in state
By Sal Gentile
February 24th, 2009
Ah, to be Jon Cooper:The 54-year-old majority leader of the Suffolk legislature is fabulously wealthy from a fortune made in manufacturing, has a beautiful young family, and, due to an early endorsement of Barack Obama, is now one of the most sought-after men on Long Island.“He could write his own ticket,” said Suffolk Democratic Chairman Richie Schaeffer, who ...
Read more »
Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers this month
From Nuremberg to NigeriaAbdullahi v. PfizerDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, Jan. 30In April 1996, three physicians from the drug company Pfizer traveled to Nigeria to test a new antibiotic, Trovafloxacin (Trovan), during a spinal meningitis outbreak. Pfizer recruited 200 children sickened with meningitis and, without alerting the families or children that ...
Read more »
Democrats in Dells Promote Minimum Wage Push
Wisconsin Democrats introduced a bill at the start of this legislative session which, if passed, could index the minimum wage to inflation. Wisconsin would be the eleventh state to tie the minimum wage to an ever-fluctuating national economy. New Yorkers might see similar legislation passed out of the State Assembly within the next few years, and an indexed minimum wage by the ...
Read more »
A political return likely impossible, former governor seems to chafe as policy wonk
By Chris Bragg
February 24th, 2009
Three months into the experiment, Eliot Spitzer’s new bosses at Slate say they are quite happy they hired the disgraced former governor to write for them. Their readers seem to be, too.“What’s been striking to me is that the reaction to Eliot’s columns have been like the reactions to all of our columns: Very focused on the arguments for and against the ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Marc Humbert
By Chris Bragg
February 24th, 2009
After 30 years covering Albany for the Associated Press, Marc Humbert seemed ready to ride off into the sunset in July 2007. But after six months in retirement, Humbert decided he could not leave just yet, and took a job writing the biweekly New York State School Boards Association newspaper On Board, which covers education issues around the state. Even in that job, though, he ...
Read more »
Inside the Minds of Assembly Republicans on life after Tedisco, the GOP Senate and having enough members to matter
Jane Corwin got to the Assembly after beating Mike Cole, he of the night spent sleeping on an intern’s floor, in a primary which focused quite a bit on the proper conduct for an elected official. So when Ethics and Guidance Committee Chair William Magnarelli (D-Onondaga) invited her to participate in the ethics seminar he was holding for new members, she eagerly ...
Read more »
State senator says he will ultimately overcome the shadow of “the incident” and persevere
Few have arrived in Albany with as dark and as deep a cloud hanging over them as Hiram Monserrate.First, he muscled an incumbent Democrat out of office. Then, a non-profit group headed by his chief of staff was accused of misdirecting hundreds of thousands of city funds to his campaign coffers. Next, after becoming the first Latino state senator from Queens, he joined a group ...
Read more »
Jon Cohen, the vascular surgeon who says he has Paterson’s ear on everything
With Gov. David Paterson’s (D) poll numbers slipping amid reports of inner turmoil within the executive chamber, new light is being shined on those senior advisors that seem to have less well-defined job de scri ptions.Jon Cohen, a top aide to Paterson, is one such enigma. A vascular surgeon from Long Island, Cohen was instantly catapulted from an unpaid position in ...
Read more »
Funding cuts threaten site and effort to publicize transparency project
One year ago, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) said let there be light, and there was Project Sunlight, the government transparency website he had promised on the 2006 campaign trail that allows the public to browse campaign finance disclosures, state contracts, legislation, charities and more. Since its launch in December 2007, the site (www.sunlightny.com) has spawned two ...
Read more »
Doug Forand reflects on 2008’s mistakes and the source of his competitive spirit
Doug Forand, the so-called chemist of the Democratic takeover of the State Senate, is not really a chemist. In fact, he majored in biology at SUNY-Binghamton, but says the nickname bestowed upon him by Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) is definitely more to his liking. “Biology tends to happen,” says Forand, sitting in a noisy Tribeca café a ...
Read more »
A Printer, Lunch and Ethics Reform All Tackled on Day One of Session
“I’d offer you water but we don’t have any cups. I’d offer you coffee, but we don’t have any,” said John Raskin, chief of staff to newly minted 28-year old State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) as he led the way into his boss’ new office on the duo’s first day in session at the statehouse.“I’d offer to ...
Read more »
At 85, James Buckley reflects on beating the last appointed senator
“I’m always surprised when someone remembers me,” said James Buckley when reached at his Sharon, Conn., home one recent afternoon.Now 85, the former U.S. Senator from New York is accustomed to being overlooked. Born on an elevator of the New York City Women’s Hospital in 1923, Buckley never achieved the fame of his younger brother William F. Buckley, ...
Read more »
Back and Forth: Paul Tonko
Paul Tonko waited to the last second to enter the very crowded race to succeed Rep. Michael McNulty (D-Albany), but he was always favored to win, which he did, cruising to a nearly 30 point win over a Schenectady County GOP legislator. A former chair of the Assembly Energy Committee and former head of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Tonko wants to ...
Read more »
David Paterson tries to find his inner governor
The decision was never going to be easy.Mix in all the insanity inherent in anything involving Hillary Clinton, the national media firestorm thanks to Caroline Kennedy’s throwing down the gauntlet and the backdrop of Rod Blagojevich’s mini-Mafioso-approach to filling Illinois’ own vacancy, and the task in front of Gov. David Paterson (D) in picking the new ...
Read more »
A key member of the inner circle, Smith’s consigliere lays out her big plans
Ask around the state about Shelley Mayer, the new counsel to the Senate Democratic majority, and a conflicting portrait begins to emerge.She is “a warm, friendly person of sterling character,” said Robert Abrams, the former attorney general who hired Mayer as an assistant prosecutor in his office, charged with crafting housing and civil rights legislation. ...
Read more »
Intellectual resurgence budding at the GOP grassroots
A few weeks ago, Ed Cox and Bill Powers were sitting on the set of Fox & Friends—the morning gabfest on the cable home of conservative politics—when conversation turned to the intellectual sclerosis affecting the Republican Party.“Give me one good idea,” Cox, son-in-law of Richard Nixon and chair of the McCain campaign in New York, challenged Powers.So ...
Read more »
Changes to public authorities may prove ground for bipartisan compromise
Gov. David Paterson’s (D) bare-bones budget has already begun to fracture the Legislature across regional lines, with his proposed cuts to school aid angering suburban legislators across the state, his cuts to municipal aid vexing city advocates and his package of layoffs and fringe-benefit revisions antagonizing public-employee unions.There is also the ideological ...
Read more »
Meet The New Members
After six years in the State Assembly, Roy McDonald moves to the State Senate, taking the seat vacated by former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Like many of his legislative colleagues, McDonald said the state’s finances will dominate the discussion for the time being.“These economic issues dwarf everything else,” he said.As described by McDonald, the ...
Read more »
Labor aims for greater sway over power and politics, despite losing GOP allies
With the Democratic takeover of the State Senate, New York’s influential but politically fragmented labor unions have a shot at expanded influence in Albany’s corridors of power. But experts say they will have to overhaul their political strategies as they head into budget negotiations and wonder if disparate unions will unite to push for common goals, like a ...
Read more »
By The Capitol
December 15th, 2008
They left us too soon. Some were the victims of their own self-destruction. Others went out on a high note, leaving people wanting more. A few may still have a second act in the works. But while every year has its share of martyrs, this year, for whatever reason, seemed to have more than most. Some of the politicians whose faces we will see no ...
Read more »
From Loss to Boss
By Dan Rivoli
December 15th, 2008
In 2006, Dan Maffei came extremely close to toppling his Republican predecessor, retiring Rep. James Walsh (R-Onondaga/Wayne/Monroe). But with Walsh choosing retirement this year, the second race was the charm for the young Democrat. Running for the open seat, Maffei scored a decisive victory against a former Onondaga County lawmaker.Maffei entered Congress as one of four new ...
Read more »
After decades of Republican dominance, Democrats have the old stronghold in the crosshairs—and it may tip the balance of power in New York for good
By Sal Gentile
December 15th, 2008
For 16 years, Nassau Republican Chairman Joe Margiotta was the king of the Long Island GOP and, by extension, Long Island.The old myths about his influence were true: all the time, countless Nassau residents approached him in supermarkets and restaurants, in airports and on the street, thanking him for changing their lives. Most of them were strangers.For decades, he and other ...
Read more »
Fallout Boy
Coxswain
Ball Rolls Down On Hall In Congressional Run
The Road Ahead
King Kruger Surveys His Realm
The Fixer
Majority? Leader?
Leadership Turnover And Deepening Recession Add To ESDC Woes
The Man With Two Races
The Aftermath
In Judiciary Chairmanship And Past Races, Search For Clues On Sampson
GOP Chair Jockeying Coalesces Around Faso And Wojtaszek
40 Rising Stars Under 40
Why Scott Murphy Matters
Levy, Controversial Suffolk Executive, Mulling 2010 Run For Governor
In Schwartz’s Wake, Spano Gets a Two-Way Challenge in Westchester
The Return of George Pataki
Not Waiting for Cuomo, Quiet Speculation About Successor Sprouts
Early Interest Mounts for Hannon Seat
In the 20th District, a Test for Paterson, Gillibrand and State GOP
The Lonely Preacher
Minority Report
Monserrate, Defiant, Says He Has Been Pummeled for Being Progressive
Paterson’s Mystery Advisor Diagnoses and Defends
Spin Doctor
Mayer Takes on Central Role to Spearhead Senate Democrats
Republicans Reassess, Reflect, Reconsider
Legislators Join in Resisting Budget Cuts, Insisting on Reform
Welcome To The Big Leagues
Unions Look To Consolidate and Build Power with Switch in Senate Control
The Battle for Long Island
