Caroline town supervisor becomes Democrats’ surprise top second-tier candidate
Caroline Town Supervisor Don Barber’s (D) challenge to State Sen. Jim Seward (R-Oneonta) is turning into the sleeper race of this year’s cycle. Seward’s first serious opponent in 12 years, Barber is gaining attention statewide with his aggressive challenge in a district previously not on anyone’s radar screen. Barber said he started planning the race ...
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Democrats unworried, but Peter Koo claims to have shaken complacency in district
Democratic State Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Queens) is set to face her first Republican challenger this November since first being elected nearly nine years ago.GOP pharmacist and businessman Peter Koo said he has shaken her out of complacency and forced her to become more involved in the community.“The current senator is more or less out of touch with the average New ...
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As state studies changing system, Japan continues studying current system
While legislators in Albany prepare to debate reforming the state’s local government structure, local governments in Japan have been looking towards New York as a role model.The Japan Local Government Center, which opened in New York in 1989, has as its mission studying local administration issues and sending best practices to Japan for implementation. Funded by local ...
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Instead of Article X, the ‘Maziarz-Cahill Bill,’ and a hope for better results overall
Assembly Member Kevin Cahill (D-Ulster/Duchess), a playful man in his early 50s, seems to light up when talking about getting more energy from the sun.Since being named Paul Tonko’s replacement as chair of the Assembly Energy Committee in February, Cahill has secured a $6.5 million dollar grant for the state’s Solar Energy Consortium to attract solar energy ...
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Gasoline has risen to more than $4 per gallon in New York, and there is no sign that prices will go down. But Assembly Member Kevin Cahill (D-Ulster/Duchess) and Sen. George Maziarz (R-Niagara/Orleans), chairs of their respective chambers’ energy committees, believe that New Yorkers can use biofuels, like switchgrass, to offset the price of fossil fuels. But while ...
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Gavin Donohue says New York must weigh environmental concerns against cost
Gavin Donohue can remember the days spent at his family’s summer home in the Adirondacks as a child. He can also remember the environmental degradation wrought there by unregulated greenhouse gas emissions: water pollution, acid rain.And yet, even then, he claimed he saw the need to generate power.“The reality is that energy policy and environmental policy are ...
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Will a New Yorker ever get into the White House again?
The last time Americans picked a New Yorker for president, they did not have much of a choice: in 1944, there were not one, but two empire state politicians at the top of their ticket. The state, apparently, had reached too far. Franklin Roosevelt won that race, but died not long after. His opponent, Thomas Dewey, ran again in 1948, but despite all the indications in his favor ...
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To some, larger spotlight made her stronger at home, to others, more vulnerable
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s quest to become president is over. Her quest for a third term in the Senate, however, may only just be beginning.When she returns to her regular workday on Capitol Hill, Clinton will hardly be the only senator nursing the wounds of scuttled presidential ambitions. But after two lopsided wins for a Senate seat that was largely seen as a ...
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Three Chairs, One Message, but a Multi-Faceted Effort
Malcolm Smith split the responsibilities of chairing the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) among three of his members at the end of 2006, but all three came together at 74 State on May 21 for an On/Off the Record Breakfast sponsored by The Capitol. The topic was simple: “The DSCC and the Year Ahead.” Fundraising co-chair State Sen. Jeff Klein ...
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In his first major interview as AG, Andrew Cuomo makes his opening statement
For the second time, they ask the reporters to move. This is Andrew Cuomo’s first press conference out on the street that any of ...
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Upstate lawmakers applaud ESDC pick, but say jury is still out on new governor
For Gov. David Paterson (D), two heads were not necessarily better than one. Paterson’s decision to eliminate the two-chair, Upstate-Downstate structure at the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) sparked an initial blowback from the Upstate business community. Several Upstate legislators also expressed concern, urging the governor to preserve the two-chair ...
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Paul Newell and Luke Henry battle speaker and each other in long-shot race
“Hi, I’m Paul Newell and I’m running for New York State Assembly.”Standing outside the Grand Street subway stop in Chinatown on a sunny May afternoon, Paul Newell’s sales pitch was not generating much response.After a dozen or so people ignored his extended hand and smiling, bespectacled face, his aide, Alex Li, suggested he start with “ni ...
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No challengers emerge for freshman Republican in contested year
If State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) keeps facing general elections like the one scheduled for this fall, he may be set for a career like that of his rarely challenged predecessor, John Marchi (R), who retired after 50 years in 2006. Without Lanza in the race, however, the seat could be in competition—which helps explain why Republicans in Staten Island seem to ...
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Nine-term senator focused on governing, Dow on studying, but race set for fall
Though Columbia County Democratic Chair Ken Dow, also a former county elections commissioner, is seen as likely to give State Sen. Stephen Saland (R) a more competitive race than usual, he is not viewed as among the Democrats’ top-tier challengers this year. Dow said his reasons for entering the race were simple: he opposes the agenda of the Republican majority and wants ...
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Seeds of new power plant fast-track legislation may sprout after five years
Gov. David Paterson’s (D) administration has indicated that a new power plant siting law to replace Article ...
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Fewer Veterans Than in Years Past, and Few Legislative Battles
Albany has always been a place where some conversations, most famously budget negotiations, are carried out in private, away from the prying eyes of voters and reporters.But there is a state Senate committee that holds occasional meetings in secret, too.The Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs committee holds confidential meetings several times a year to discuss ...
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Clyne prepares for rematch, charging mishandling on public integrity cases
Eliot Spitzer may be gone, but for Albany District Attorney David Soares (D), running for re-election this year, Spitzer’s Troopergate scandal has not been forgotten. Soares’ handling of the case has emerged as a potential political liability as he seeks a second term this year.Evidence of Soares’ tenuous standing in Albany was seen in April when a steering ...
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Despite Health Concerns, Onorato to Seek 14th Term
Prostate cancer treatment last year was successful, senator says
Rumors that veteran State Sen. George Onorato (D-Queens) is in poor health, which have been circulating for the past six months, are not quite true, said the 79-year-old senator, and certainly not the kind enough to keep him from seeking re-election this fall. Onorato has been voting and introducing legislation in Albany this session, and attending community meetings in the ...
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Republicans keep quiet on their candidate to challenge longest-serving Senate Democrat
Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Rockland), longest-serving Democrat in the State Senate, is preparing for her 13th bid for re-election. With a generally high approval rating in her district and a good working relationship with the Republican majority, she said she is looking forward to kicking off her campaign in mid-May. But in an election year as unpredictable as 2008 is already turning ...
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With two candidates in the wings, Republicans play up senator’s Spitzer connections
State Sen. David Valesky (D-Madison/Onondaga/Oneida) won a surprise victory in 2004, defeating a longtime incumbent in a closely watched race. In 2006, Valesky held onto his seat.He has yet to start campaigning for re-election this year, but he is definitely running. And Republicans are already gearing up to mount a challenge, though a heavyweight like Valesky’s last two ...
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Advisors hint at a run for governor, but say being Bloomberg’s LG could be perfect match
Now that the steamroller has been steamrolled out of Albany, the man who was on the receiving end of that famous comment more than a year ago appears to be feeling out the possibilities for a run for governor himself. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Saratoga/Schenectady) is mulling a statewide campaign in 2010, according to several people close to him. His eyes are ...
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Determined to give Democrats control of the State Senate, the WFP steps up its statewide operations
Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party, is in a good mood these days. Party enrollment across the state is higher than ever. The February special election victory of Darrel Aubertine (D-Oswego) was attributed in large part to the WFP’s young and energetic ground operation. And with control of the Senate up for grabs in November, scores of candidates ...
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Right after it happened, no one seemed to notice. Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation at 11:44 a.m. on March 12. By 3:20 that afternoon, Aurelia Greene (D-Bronx), Assembly speaker pro tempore, was sitting in her spot in the speaker’s chair, her pencil hovering over a crossword puzzle, while a few determined Republicans went through the motions of arguing for their ...
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Despite Clinton’s declining chances, new potential list reflects changing political calculus under Paterson
Eliot Spitzer’s resignation upturned the conventional wisdom that had David Paterson as Spitzer’s all-but-certain appointee to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton (D), should she be elected president. Even as Clinton’s path to the Democratic nomination appears increasingly difficult, the question of who Paterson might pick if Clinton does get to the White House has ...
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Paterson expected to make few changes in consultants, but hire full-time fundraiser
The wild ride state politics has been on since March 10th shows no signs of stopping, as speculation runs rampant in the political world about which consultants will be in and which will not. Eliot Spitzer’s circle of advisors, many from outside Albany and personally loyal to him, is almost entirely gone, being replaced in many cases by veterans of legislative battles ...
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By David ColonNot many lieutenant governors have ever risen to become governor in New York or elsewhere around the country, despite the recent history of changes in the tri-state area.Then there is Alabama Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, Jr. (D).Back in 1993, Folsom was a two-term lieutenant governor when Gov. H. Guy Hunt (R) resigned after being convicted of misusing campaign funds. ...
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By Carl WinfieldEliot Spitzer has resigned from the state’s top job and may yet be disbarred if indicted, but his professional life need not be over, according to several top professionals. “He’s rich, famous and, frankly, does not need the work,” said legal recruiter David B. Sarnoff, a partner at Morandi, Taub & Sarnoff. “But he has a Rolodex ...
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Etiquette Experts Must Insist
By David ColonWhile late-night comedians and tabloids can make jokes about “Client Number 9,” “Tainted Gov” and the “Luv Guv,” polite society cannot. So said etiquette expert Letitia Baldrige, former White House chief of staff to Jacqueline Kennedy, when considering how people should now refer to Eliot Spitzer. Former elected officials are ...
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By Daniel Macht Eliot Spitzer’s resignation last month upended Albany’s political universe, reset the clock on budget negotiations and left Gov. David Paterson (D) with less than five days to prepare for his new job. But the state’s bureaucracy churned onward. “It was our normal work that had us panicked,” said Karl Felsen, a ...
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The other thing Spitzer did in Washington
A lot of attention has been spent and will continue to be spent on what Eliot Spitzer was up to at the end of the day on Feb. 13 in Room 871 of the Mayflower Hotel. But officially, at least, Spitzer was in Washington to kick off his Valentine’s Day morning with testimony to Congress, using his prominence as governor to warn of an impending massacre of the municipal bond ...
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Paterson plans a less active and extensive role in her husband’s administration
New York did not just lose a governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned. The state lost a first lady, too. Like her husband, Silda Wall Spitzer came into Albany as a strong-minded reformer. She did not have another job, intent instead on transforming the first lady’s office to enhance its responsibility beyond the kind of advocacy work her predecessors had done. Two of Wall ...
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Dollinger’s attempt to return to seat ceded to Robach may be foiled by Frankel
Rochester area Democrats are poised to compete in a primary for the right to take on a vulnerable Republican senator in a race that could be key to Democrats taking control of the Senate this fall.Former State Sen. Richard Dollinger and Brighton Town Supervisor Sandra Frankel are both seeking the right to challenge Sen. Joseph Robach (R-Monroe) this fall. Neither shows signs ...
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At least nine candidates campaign to succeed McNulty, redistricting fears aside
The race to succeed Rep. Michael McNulty (D-Albany) is getting more and more crowded—already, there are seven Democrats and two Republicans vying for the seat, and presumed powerhouse Paul Tonko is still mulling an entry. They all want to win. They all want to stay in Congress for at least a few terms. But with standing to lose one or two congressional seats when ...
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New York GOP wonders whether McCain, instead of Giuliani, can be its savior
Rudolph Giuliani was going to be the Republican nominee, and with him at the top of the ticket, New York’s GOP was confident that they could keep control of the State Senate and several contested House seats across the state.That was then. Now, though some incumbents were privately banking on Giuliani to be their savior and some candidates made their entry into races ...
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Local party politics overshadowing scramble between boxer, county legislators and several unknowns
Sen. Mary Lou Rath’s (R-Erie) retirement announcement has sent both parties scrambling to find candidates for the seat. Republicans have lost their two top prospects for the seat, while three Democrats have tossed their names into the fray.Republicans were left reeling following last month’s decision by Assembly Member Jim Hayes (R-Erie) not to seek the Senate ...
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NYSERDA president opting for McNulty seat puts party in search of candidates
Riding high after Darrel Aubertine’s special election win that narrowed the Republican majority to a single seat, Democrats are sizing up a potential challenge to State Sen. Hugh Farley (R-Schenectady)—who some believe may soon announce his retirement. The search for a candidate intensified in early March, as the man generally viewed as the Democrats’ best ...
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Sen. Craig Johnson (D)2007 Special Election Results:Craig Johnson (D-WF): 27,632Maureen O’Connell (R-I-C): 23,995Fundraising to date for expected candidates:Craig Johnson: $278,871.90Barbara Donno: N/AEver since Craig Johnson won his special election last January, Republicans have been gunning for this seat, long held by Michael Balboni, before he stepped down to become ...
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Proposed legislation to expand and extend reach of New York City’s Executive Order 41
New York already has 10 sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants. Now State Sen. José Serrano (D-Manhattan/Bronx) wants to extend these laws’ reach and make all of New York a sanctuary state. Serrano has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state employees to disclose the status of any illegal immigrants they encounter while on duty. The bill, modeled ...
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As two Democrats pass on ‘08 King race, DCCC ponders waiting until 2012
National Democrats are targeting every House Republican in New York. Every one, that is, except for Rep. Peter King (R-Nassau). Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) and Rep. Steve Israel (D-Suffolk), the DCCC Northeast coordinator, made clear at a February event discussing Democratic prospects that finding a challenger for King ...
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Bloomberg proposal to take samples at arrest may drive Senate, Assembly further apartGov. Eliot Spitzer (D) is taking another crack at expanding New York’s DNA databank, a computer database of individual genetic profiles based on DNA samples. But though there is broad agreement on Spitzer’s core proposal, this year the Senate and the Assembly are even further apart ...
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Appellate ruling could provide precedent, impetus for legislative action
By Rachel Breitman
Last month, the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court unanimously found Patricia Martinez’s 2004 Canadian marriage to her lesbian partner to be valid in New York.For some gay rights advocates, that decision, which forces New York State to acknowledge same sex marriages performed elsewhere, felt something like entering a mansion through an open window: while the ...
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Major Court Decisions
Impacting New Yorkers This Month
Safety Sergeant Not Free to Talk About SafetyRuotolo v. City of New York Decided by: Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Feb. 6Existing interpretations show that the First Amendment prohibits government employees from being fired for speaking out on matters of public concern. But the 2006 Supreme Court case Garcetti v. Ceballos created an exception to this rule, holding that the ...
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By Elie Mystal
February 11th, 2008
Profiling, Alive and WellCousin v. BennettDecided By: Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Jan. 4Though it is illegal for attorneys to select jurors on the basis of race, this law continues to be nearly unenforceable in New York State. Cousin v. Bennett centers around a prosecutor who rejected the only African-American potential juror out of a pool of 58 Suffolk County residents ...
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Developing divisions appear more partisan than regional
In the first-ever “State of the Upstate” address, delivered Jan. 16 in Buffalo, Gov. Eliot Spitzer outlined his reasoning behind pumping $1 billion into upstate cities and towns. “It was just a few short decades ago—in the late 1970s—when New York City was in crisis,” Spitzer said in the speech. “Yet when the people of New York City ...
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Judges charge that pay raise delay is forcing them off state bench
By John Celock
February 11th, 2008
With the state’s judges entering their ninth year without a pay raise, the Judiciary is continuing to pursue extraordinary measures to get the raise. While the state’s Supreme Court is one of the oldest courts in the country, it also has the distinction of going the longest in the country without a pay hike. Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who will leave office at the end ...
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Move to change laws before budget is passed seems unlikely
By Elie Mystal
February 11th, 2008
Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) is trying to convince the citizens of New York that he was wrong.Admitting that last year’s $5 billion Middle Class STAR program failed to address the core issues that make New York’s property tax burden the highest in the nation as he barnstorms around the state on his “Bringing Home the Budget” tour, Spitzer says he has changed ...
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Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers This Month
Snacks on a PlaneAir Transport Association of America v. CuomoDecided By: United States District Court: Northern District of New York, Dec. 20Judge Lawrence Kahn upheld New York’s Passenger’s Bill of Rights, a state law passed last year that requires airlines to provide adequate food, water, ventilation and waste removal services for passengers stranded on the ...
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Israel bill would ease visas for Iraqis who worked for the American military
An Iraqi translator nicknamed Jeff who fled to Syria after four coworkers were killed and he received death threats said he was getting scant assistance from the American government despite putting his life at risk on its behalf.While chain-smoking cigarettes in a café in Damascus, the 29-year-old Shiite from Diwaniyah said his 25 months working for U.S. forces made him ...
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Lalor, Powers and Zeldin are first who served in Iraq war to seek office in New York
Three veterans of the Iraq war have launched races for Congress, hoping to unseat incumbents across the state.Democrat Jon Powers is challenging Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-Erie), while Republicans Lee Zeldin and Kieran Michael Lalor are challenging Reps. Timothy Bishop (D-Suffolk) and John Hall (D-Orange), respectively. They are the first three Iraq war vets to seek congressional ...
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Call for more investigation and stiffer penalties for violators
As new buildings climb into the sky across New York, more and more construction work is going underground, with costs reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a new report.An estimated 50,000 construction workers—nearly one in four—are either misclassified as independent contractors or employed completely off the books, says a report by the Fiscal ...
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Among retirement rumors, longtime state senator draws an unwanted challenger
A popular Republican state senator from the Buffalo suburbs could face a primary challenge as rumors swirl about her pending retirement.Businessman Robert Newman, who lost in a landslide last year for Tonawanda town supervisor, has announced that he is exploring a run against State Sen. Mary Lou Rath (R-Genesee/Erie) in the September primary. Citing last year’s election ...
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Action and inaction on higher education commission recommendations could impact local elections
The recent preliminary report released by Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s (D) higher education reform commission is being called a jumping off point for what some are saying is a long overdue debate in Albany on public higher education issues.Spitzer is expected to make higher education one of his signature issues for 2008, and he spent much of his State of the State address Jan. 9 ...
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To reshape the comptroller’s office, Tom DiNapoli says his personal connections will once again make all the difference
Hannah Montana was playing in Albany Jan. 9, but the biggest cheer of the day probably went to Tom DiNapoli (D). Though legislators had gathered to hear Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) give his second State of the State address, the person they seemed happiest to see was DiNapoli, their friend and former colleague, introduced for the first time as comptroller to a joint session to take ...
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No Rudy, no Spano—and no back-up in place
For former State Sen. Nick Spano (R-Westchester), the new year may be a good year to run again. But Spano said his decision to challenge Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D), who unseated him in 2006, will depend on the residents of Westchester County. Having former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the Republican presidential nominee wouldn’t hurt either. “I do ...
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Though health care proposals may circulate this year, no action expected until 2009
As the presidential candidates spar over the specifics of their health plans, several New York leaders are beginning to make their own diagnoses of the problems with the state’s approach to providing medical care. Laying out his general priorities in his State of the State address, Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) pledged to make insurance affordable for every New York child, ...
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Democratic and Republican candidates look to environmental agenda to increase their appeal
By Dan Rivoli
January 14th, 2008
Polls generally show that voters rank the environment low among their driving concerns. But as Democrats and Republicans in New York angle for control of the State Senate and several House seats, candidates may try using the environment as a wedge, particularly when they can expand the environmental agenda to include issues not normally associated with conservation.Marcia ...
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State legislators can agree on legalizing medicinal marijuana, but not how to work the regulations
By Dan Rivoli
November 13th, 2007
Assembly Member Tom Kirwan (R–Ulster/Orange) has formed an odd political ally in legalizing medicinal marijuana in New York State.Kirwan, a self-described “right-wing screwball,” co-sponsored a bipartisan bill, drafted by Assembly Member Richard Gottfried (D–Manhattan), to legalize medicinal marijuana.“Who am I to second-guess a doctor if they ...
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With Dec. 31 deadline looming, political atmosphere blamed for delay in final decision
By Adam Pincus
November 13th, 2007
With less than two months to go before the deadline to choose an operator for the state’s three largest horse tracks, leaders in Albany are playing a game of chicken with the future of the Thoroughbred racing industry, those following the complex process said.The test of wills comes as Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R–Rensselaer) ...
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The Strategist
In the Wilderness of Upstate, Paterson Attempts to Forge a Path
Silver’s Opponents Try to Get Ready for Prime Time
Troopergate Investigation Weighs on Soares Re-election Race
The Spitzer Legacy: Spitzer's Wake
The Spitzer Legacy: Now Who Would Get the Senate Seat?
The Spitzer Legacy: Silda Wall Spitzer’s Effects and Michelle Paige Paterson’s Prospects
State Republicans Look for Seats on the Straight Talk Express
Mr. Nice Guy
GOP May Skip Stewart-Cousins
Pre scri ption for Politics
