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Archive for June, 2010
All Is Not Quiet On The Budget Front
Jun 30th - 9:01 pm
Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson says he’s optimistic a three-way budget deal is in the offing.
The picture looks a whole lot different when you ask his Democratic colleagues in the Assembly or the Senate Republican Conference.
Capital Tonight’s Kaitlyn Ross caught up with Speaker Silver moments ago, who is none too pleased with the Senate’s decision to prolong the budget process beyond the July 4th holiday.
“I have no reaction. We are going to be here tomorrow and conclude the business of the budget tomorrow,” Silver told Kaitlyn.
“That is it for the Assembly, but we’re always on board if we need to get something done. We’re always on call.”
Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos just released this harshly worded statement:
“The whole budget process has been a failure of leadership by the Governor, Senator Sampson and Speaker Silver. They had no problem passing bills to increase spending, but now they are going home without passing a bill to pay for it. This is a Democrat-controlled government at its worst. This disastrous budget was negotiated by the Democrats behind closed doors, they refused to negotiate in public or in a bipartisan manner, they passed it in piecemeal fashion and now they are leaving without finishing the job.”
Vin’s Take On Kagan Hearings
Jun 30th - 9:00 pm
The hard part is now over for US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Over the past few days, she has been questioned by 19 Senators.
Asked about topics ranging from her refusal to let military recruiters on Harvard Law School’s campus, to a paper she wrote in college, to her favorite Twilight character. And through it all, it appears she has avoided making a mistake that would hurt her chances of confirmation.
UAlbany Professor and author of the blog, newyorkcourtwatcher.com, Vin Bonventre joined Liz Benjamin Wednesday to provide analysis on the hearings.
Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch
Jun 30th - 9:00 pm
Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch was brought on board to help the state cope with its financial problems. Now, though, as we’re in the midst of a drawn out budget showdown, he’s been described as sidelined.
He joined Liz Benjamin Wednesday to talk about that and a number of other issues.
Extras
Jun 30th - 7:11 pm
The Senate is leaving Albany without passing the revenue bill to return “one day” next week.
The Assembly is returning to the Capitol tomorrow, as scheduled, but won’t say whether it will take up the revenue bill. (No link).
Wayne Barrett catches Gov. David Paterson taking a break from all that vetoing to dine with Charles O’Byrne and Sean Patrick Maloney.
Congressional candidates raised money right up to the wire as the crucial second quarter deadline loomed.
The White House invited Mayor Bloomberg to attend President Obama’s immigration speech tomorrow.
Chris Gibson thinks NY-20 is a tossup. That’s not what the Cook Report says.
Some petitions in NY-13 lack a congressional candidate because Republicans are divided between Michael Grimm and Michael Allegretti.
Senate President Malcolm Smith says the Rochester mayoral control bill is just one vote short of passing.
The holdout is (who else?) Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky wants salary data from all public authorities.
Citizens Union released a report with 50 recommendations for the Charter Revision Commission.
Michael Garcia didn’t tell his former prosecutor colleague, now New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who Client 9 was.
Chris Cox is behind on his University Club dues.
The budget cuts haven’t hurt – or helped – Bloomberg’s popularity.
Harold Ford Jr. hasn’t given any thought to running against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2012.
The CBC weighs in on whether the state budget is balanced (based on actions taken up to this point and those expected to be taken, which are now in flux).
SEC members voted 5-0 to limit political contributions for investments advisors in the wake of pay-to-play scandals.
Sean Coffey is having a young professionals fundraiser.
The Albany Project games out the top state Senate races.
Krueger: No All-Nighter
Jun 30th - 5:30 pm
God bless Sen. Liz Krueger, vice chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
The Manhattan Democrat may just be the only person in Albany at the moment with solid information about what’s happening with the revenue bill (or, at least the only person with information who’s willing to share it with reporters).
The upshot: No, the Senate will not be sticking around until midnight tonight to pass the revenue bill. Why? Because, according to Krueger, the revenue bill is still under negotiations. Three ways, she said, in spite of Gov. David Paterson’s claim that he is done negotiating with the Legislature.
“I’d say we’re not leaving around 5,” Krueger laughed, noting that the 5 o’clock hour had actually passed when NY1′s Erin Billups caught up with her outside the Senate chamber.
“We have finished most of the budget bills. Obviously the big one left is the revenue bill. The governor’s not been here in New York State, in Albany. There is no message from the governor. There are still pieces being fought out debated between the Assembly, the Senate and the governor’s office. So, as of 5 o’clock, we believe we will not be completing the revenue budget bill anytime in the next few hours.”
“Of course, the version we had didn’t legally age until after midnight,” Krueger continued. “But the good news is we think there are serious negotiations between the Assembly, Senate and governor still to be accomplished. So we’re not attempting to rush through a two-way at 12:01 a.m. when we think we can actually get this last piece of the budget closed down successfully in three-way negotiations.”
Krueger said a number of things are still under discussion, including the SUNY empowerment plan and the education aid that the Legislature restored to the budget and the governor vetoed.
Krueger acknowledged that “tensions are high” and “people are frustrated,” but she insisted that everyone wants to get a deal and go home.
Another Paterson Commissioner Resigns
Jun 30th - 5:15 pm
Diana Jones Ritter, commissioner of the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, has resigned her post, multiple sources confirm.
Ritter is departing to take a job as the managing director of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. She was appointed to her state post by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in January 2007 at the same time Health Commissioner Richard Daines was tapped for the job he still holds.
Prior to her elevation to the commissioner’s job, Ritter served three years as an associate commissioner at OMRDD, two years as executive deputy director in DOH’s Office of Public Health and 10 years in senior leadership positions in the state comptroller’s office.
Considering that Paterson only has just over seven months remaining in his tenure as governor, it’s a safe bet that we’re going to see an increase in resignations after the budget is finally settled as people look to jump ship prior to the start of the new administration.
Gov: Without FMAP, Layoffs And Cuts
Jun 30th - 4:58 pm
Gov. David Paterson, who is in Washington, DC to lobby along with fellow governors in hopes of getting Congress to approve FMAP funding, said he’s “getting the signals” that perhaps some of the Medicaid cash will be approved after all, but warned: “It won’t be the full $1 billion.”
Asked what steps the state might have to take if the FMAP cash on which it (and NYC) have been counting in their respective budgets does not materialize, Paterson replied:
“Well, I can’t offer specifics because we haven’t decided where we would cut. We’re not going to borrow money to get out of this crisis.”
“We would probably have to lay off workers….In fact, we would have to lay off workers sooner than our plan of January 1, and we would probably have to have something like a one percent cut to all services across the board, which I don’t know, particularly in the area of health care, where we’ve cut over $5 billion now, and education, where we’ve cut over $2 billion, that they could sustain additional cuts to that extent.”
Here’s a link to the governors’ press conference in Washington. Paterson’s remarks start at 29:50.
Senate Approves Its Own Pay Bill
Jun 30th - 4:46 pm
While they can’t scrape together sufficient votes to pass the revenue portion of the budget, the Senate Democrats had no trouble passing the bill that authorizes legislators and members of the judiciary to be paid.
The bill, which is the last remaining piece of the budget aside from the revenue bill, which won’t be live until just after midnight, passed along party lines: 32-29.
The lawmakers won’t get paid until the budget is officially done, and haven’t been receiving their paychecks (although they have been collecting per diems) since they blew the April 1 deadline.
The Assembly hasn’t passed any budget bills today, and will take them all up tomorrow, according to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s press office.
The Senate Democrats’ press office stressed that the judiciary bill needed to be passed before midnight because the last extender didn’t include funding to keep that branch of government running.
The Legislature appropriated $219.94 million in FY 2010-11 for the Legislative Budget. This is a decrease of $1.92 million from FY 2009-2010.
Also approved was $2.656 billion to pay judges. This is a decrease of $53 million – 1.96 percent – from the proposed FY 2010-11 budget. This is an increase of $130.54 million – 5.17 percent over – FY 2009-10 levels.
More >
Flanagan On The Deadly Pension Sweetener
Jun 30th - 4:26 pm
Here’s Sen. John Flanagan, a Long Island Republican, railing against a pension sweetener bill that Democratic Sen. Diane Savino was forced to pull off the floor this afternoon when it became clear it did not have sufficient votes to pass.
(Apparently, Flanagan’s Long Island colleague, Sen. Brian Foley, a freshman Democrat, flipped to the GOP side and voted “no”).
“I think this is exactly the kind of bill that we will get killed for if we pass this bill and it gets chaptered into law. I can’t fathom going back to the people I represent and saying: Now somebody can buy five years worth of credit that they don’t have to work a single day to do that,” Flanagan said.
“I can just see the editorials now, it’s like air time and they’re going to be calling us airheads for doing something like this.”
“…This sends exactly the wrong message at the wrong time,” the senator continued. “I don’t see how anybody can look at this and in good conscience support it, particularly when so many of our constituents are hurting in so many different ways.”
Savino called Flanagan’s argument “nonsense,” and said she’s tired of people trying to “politicize the pension system.”
Demos: Starve Yourself For My Campaign
Jun 30th - 4:17 pm
Here’s one of the stranger fundraising techniques I’ve seen in my 15+ years of covering politics.
George Demos, one of three GOP candidates vying to take on Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop in Long Island’s NY-1 this November, is asking supporters to skip lunch and donate the money they would have spent on the meal to his campaign.
Demos has pegged the cost of lunch at $7, which seems a little arbitrary to me.
The candidate sent a message to supporters on Facebook, urging them to “Skip Lunch and Save Our Country.”
“George Demos for Congress is fighting to protect our freedoms that we are blessed to enjoy as Americans. By skipping lunch and donating only $7, you can help change the direction of our great nation.”
“If you want to elect a Congressman who will vote to stop the wasteful spending, reckless bailouts, and the outrageous takeover of our healthcare, please go to www.GeorgeDemos.com and make a donation of $7 or more. With this donation, your voice will be heard in Washington and you will propel a candidate fighting for integrity, reform and accountability!”
“Midnight marks the end of this critical filing period, and we need your support now more than ever.”
“PLEASE DONATE TODAY! Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to take a stand with you today! Every donation makes a difference, so skip lunch today and help save your country!”
Best Regards,
The George Demos for Congress Team”
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