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Archive for February, 2011
The Weekend That Was
Feb 27th - 8:48 pm
GOP officials told AP New Gingrich will take a formal step toward getting into the 2012 presidential race within the next two weeks.
“We have said for weeks now that Newt will decide whether or not to move to an explore phase by late February/early March. We are sticking to that schedule. In response to what has been said: Newt will make up his mind in his time,” a Gingrich spokesman told NY1. (No link).
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has put his friends in high places.
State legislators are returning to Albany this week. Are they ready for a fight?
NJ Gov. Chris Christie defended First lady Michelle Obama’s effort to combat childhood obesity.
Ditto, MIke Huckabee.
“You know, I’ve struggled with my weight for 30 years, and it’s a struggle. And if a kid can avoid that in his adult years or her adult years, more power to them, and I think the first lady’s speaking out well,” Christie said on “Face the Nation.”
Erie County Executive Chris Collins shares an ideology with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and is keeping a close eye on the union battle in his state.
The number of NY state workers who earned more than $100,000 grew by almost 5 percent in 2010.
A government shutdown, should it occur, would result in a number of iconic NYC landmarks shutting their doors.
Rep. Tom Reed said a shutdown is “a reality we have to prepare for.”
Weekend Open Thread
Feb 26th - 10:02 am
Between the Medicaid redesign team’s surprise vote Thursday, the GOP leaders’ selection of Assemblywoman Jane Corwin to run in the still-uncalled NY-26 special election, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s dust-up with a canon lawyer/Vatican adviser, it has been a busy week in NY politics.
And next week promises to be even busier, as the Legislature returns to work after its mid-winter break, budget hearings resume, the Mandate relief team issues its report (on Tuesday), the governor issues 30-day budget amendments – including the 79 cost-cutting/reform proposals approved by the Medicaid redesign team, and the budget clock officially starts ticking down to the April 1 deadline.
Some headlines to consider today:
- The Medicaid redesign team’s plan to hold spending in the health care program for the poor at $52.8 billion also includes some provisions that will increase costs – and the administration hasn’t put dollar amounts on those.
- Even as unions all over the nation are under fire, the powerful SEIU/1199 healthcare workers union managed to wring big victories out of Cuomo’s austerity budget by cooperating with his Medicaid redesign team.
- Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver are on a collision course over the new governor’s push to curb medical malpractice suits.
- House Republicans have proposed a stopgap measure to avoid a government shutdown. It would extend funding until March 18, and the Democrats have signaled it’s acceptable.
- The Bloomberg administration is preparing for a shutdown – just in case.
- The Cuomo administration has appointed the IG to investigate the troubled Nassau County crime lab after a judge rejected DA Kathleen Rice’s attempt to select a special prosecutor (her former AG primary opponent Eric Dinallo) to do the job.
- Cuomo sees two possible paths to an on-time budget: “Either I will come to an agreement with the legislative leaders through the budget process and then we’ll stand up and we’ll announce one. Or it will be done through a different mechanism, without an agreement by the legislative leaders.
- Gawker offered to pay a prostitute called “Holly” who said former Rep. Chris Lee had respond to a “Trans for Men” ad she’d posted on Craigslist, but she balked, saying she felt “sorry for him.”
- Nassau County GOP Chairman (and former state GOP chairman) Joe Mondello had hip surgery.
The Ongoing Battle Over Native Cigarette Sales
Feb 25th - 9:00 pm
For decades, the relationship between the state and Native American tribes have been strained, to say the least.
In 1997, Governor Pataki’s attempts to collect taxes on cigarette sales and gasoline led to protests, with members of the Seneca Nation setting fire to tires and shutting down the Thruway. In recent years, both Governor Spitzer and Paterson have also stepped up efforts to collect these taxes – only to be blocked by the courts.
This year, Governor Cuomo has said he plans to continue talks over this contentious issue, and earlier this week his aides sat down for the first time with the president of the Seneca Nation, Robert Odawi Porter to address this issue, among others.
Hy Rosen’s Legacy
Feb 25th - 9:00 pm
We learned Friday of the passing of long time editorial cartoonist Hy Rosen. For those who don’t know, he spent 44 years at the Albany Times Union – producing more than 10 thousand insightful and thought provoking cartoons – many aimed at the people walking the halls of the capitols here in Albany and to the south in Washington, D.C.
Paul Grodahl was a colleague of Rosen’s. And he penned the obituary for his friend in the paper.
Breaking Down The Medicaid Proposals
Feb 25th - 9:00 pm
Stephen Acquario is a member of the Medicaid Redesign team, and voted to support yesterday’s recommendations. He is also a member of the Governor’s mandate relief team. The only person to hold a seat on both task forces.
Acquario is the Executive Director of the New York Association of Counties. He joined Liz Benjamin in studio Friday.
Extras
Feb 25th - 5:03 pm
Two transgender women claim to have exchanged e-mails with former Rep. Chris Lee, who allegedly posted a Craigslist ad seeking a “sexy ts/cd that i can spoil.”
Donald Trump’s dislike of shaking hands could put a damper on his presidential campaign.
Roger Stone dished on The Donald over linguine with Maggie Haberman.
Richard Perez-Pena does right by Wayne Barrett.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo took a shot at Assemblyman Richard Gottfried.
Rep. Anthony Weiner kept his promise.
Housing Works accused the Cuomo administration of ambushing its own Medicaid redesign team with last-minute recommendations and then pushing – successfully – for swift passage.
President Obama appointed the first male and first openly gay social secretary at the White House.
The head of the Oneida Nation is heading to the Oscars.
A national LGBT organization is urging House Speaker John Boehner to reduce spending by not defending DOMA.
Cuomo isn’t at the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington.
Newt Gingrich is within two weeks of making a 2012 decision.
Forty-six percent of Americans say it’s a bad thing that most teachers are unionized.
An on-line common application for NYC charter schools.
Not all state worker salaries are created equal.
The Illinois Federation of Young Republicans want Gov. Pat Quinn to “take action” against the 14 Democratic state senators from Wisconsin who are “hiding out” as “fugitives on the run” in his state.
Gottfried Backs Down
Feb 25th - 4:08 pm
Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who has been the most outspoken critic of the Medicaid redesign task force and abstained from voting on its 79 recommendations yesterday, just released a joint statement with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver that walked back his previous statements (including what he told me on CapTon) considerably.
Here’s what the speaker had to say:
“I commend the members of the Medicaid Redesign Team for their work to find substantial savings in Medicaid while preserving quality care for New Yorkers.”
“We look forward to reviewing the MRT’s final report and reiterate the Assembly’s commitment to delivering an on-time budget that reflects the overwhelming consensus that emerged from the MRT process.”
…And Gottfried, chair of the Assembly Health Committee, said:
“Despite the concern I voiced yesterday about the speed with which the MRT voted, I believe, on the whole, that the final report contains needed reforms that will place our Medicaid system on a path to long term financial sustainability while safeguarding quality healthcare for New Yorkers in need, the elderly and the disabled.”
Just to remind you, Gottfried said in no uncertain terms yesterday that he didn’t think the cuts and reforms passed by the redesign team would result in $2.3 billion in savings in the 2011-2012 budget as the governor and his aides claimed.
And then Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto teed off on Gottfried in the Times, accusing him of protecting the status quo. Adding insult to injury, the governor himself went on Talk 1300 with Fred Dicker this morning and personally called Gottfried out.
Now, just a few hours later, we see the Manhattan lawmaker coming back into line.
Spitzer Goes Solo (Updated)
Feb 25th - 2:49 pm
As has been widely speculated for weeks now, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer is jettisoning his co-host of the past four months, newspaper columnist Kathleen Parker, and going solo.
Effective Monday, the program will be renamed “In The Arena,” the executive in charge of CNN/U.S., Ken Jautz, told staff members on Friday afternoon. Several people will join Mr. Spitzer in the aforementioned arena, including E.D. Hill and Will Cain and “others within and outside the CNN family,” Mr. Jautz said in the memo.
(Snip).
CNN executives emphasized that they were not turning the 8 p.m. hour into “The Eliot Spitzer Show.” But it is almost certain that the reformatted and renamed program will further elevate Mr. Spitzer, the former New York governor who resigned the governorship in 2008 after being ensnared in a prostitution scandal.
Mr. Spitzer did not respond to a request for comment Friday. But he said in a statement provided by CNN, “I wish Kathleen all the best in continuing on with her spectacular career. It has been a joy working with her as a teammate, and I continue to be a huge fan of the wisdom that jumps from her written work and the wit, charm and insight she brings to all that she does.”
UPDATE: Here’s Jautz’s memo:
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