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Michael Johnson
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Posts by Michael Johnson
Special Elections Set For 9/13
Jul 1st - 12:29 pm
Governor Cuomo has just announced, as expected, that the state will hold special elections for the 6 open Assembly districts and the Congressional seat vacated by Rep. Anthony Weiner on September 13th – which coincides with primaries that are already taking place.
We expected this to happen for several reasons. First, they argue that it will save money because you won’t have to prepare for another election. Secondly, as the Buffalo News points out, if he didn’t call the election before July 6th, then it would have opened the races up to primary candidates.
By calling the elections now, the party leaders can control who gets on the major lines of the ballot. Some good government groups have criticized this policy, and had called on the Governor not to call special elections.
Here are the races that will be held on Sept. 13:
- 9th Congressional District
- 23rd Assembly District
- 27th Assembly District
- 54th Assembly District
- 73rd Assembly District
- 116th Assembly District
- 144th Assembly District
Cahill: DEC ‘Misguided And Premature’
Jul 1st - 11:29 am
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, who chairs the Energy Committee, just fired out a press release harshly criticizing the DEC’s decision to let the hydrofracking process go forward, calling it “misguided and premature”.
“For the last several years, we have known that certain aspects of fracking pose serious, negative environmental consequences. Among the vexing issues still unresolved is that New York currently has no sure and safe way to dispose of spent fracking fluid,” Cahill said in the statement.
“Serious concerns have also been raised about the impact on the water supply for residents proximate to wells. Exempting the New York City and Syracuse watersheds from drilling does not address the legitimate apprehensions of those who live outside of these regions, yet face the same risks of dangerous contamination.”
Cahill goes on to call for the state to wait for the EPA’s studies to come back before moving forward with issuing any permits. He invokes ‘Enron’ in a criticism of the economic benefits, and also urges the state to support the moratorium the Assembly passed earlier this year.
Here is Cahill’s complete statement.
More >
Hydrofracking Panel Members Released
Jul 1st - 11:19 am
Here are the members of the DEC’s High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel.
These people are going to develop recommendations to make sure the DEC can properly oversee fracking, help local governments deal with the impacts of fracking, and also evaluate the “current fee structure and other revenue streams” to make sure there is funding for the oversight of the industry.
- Stan Lundine, former NYS Lt. Governor
- Kathleen McGinty, Former Chair of White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Clinton
- Eric A. Goldstein and Kate Sinding, Senior Attorneys, Natural Resources Defense Council
- Robert Hallman, Board Chair, NY League of Conservation Voters
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President of the Waterkeeper Alliance
- Robert Moore, Executive Director, Environmental Advocates
- Mark Brownstein, Chief Counsel, Energy Program, Environmental Defense Fund
- Heather Briccetti, Acting President & CEO, Business Council of New York State, Inc.
- Robert B. Catell, Chairman, Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at SUNY Stony Brook
- Mark K. Boling, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Southwestern Energy
- Senator Tom Libous, Deputy Majority Leader
- Assemblymember Donna Lupardo
Ruffalo Rips DEC Guidelines
Jul 1st - 11:07 am
Actor and leading anti-hydrofracking activist Mark Ruffalo just fired out a statement blasting the DEC guidelines, saying they won’t protect New Yorkers. He focuses on the fact that the regulations only protect the watershed for NYC and the Syracuse area, and doesn’t take steps to protect other watersheds.
“The DEC apparently thinks only residents of New York City and Syracuse deserve protection, and it’s acceptable for everyone else to become collateral damage. There are thousands of watersheds in New York State. All of them are at risk, and all of them should be protected. Instead, the DEC appears to be playing divide and conquer along upstate/downstate lines.”
Now, we have yet to see the full report, but there are several things in the press release that would indicate that there will be protections for drinking water in many other areas without a full out ban on drilling in any watershed.
Ruffalo’s complete statement is after the jump.
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Hoyt Officially Announced
Jul 1st - 10:13 am
Governor Andrew Cuomo has just made it official, announcing that Assemblyman Sam Hoyt is going to serve as the Sr. Vice President for Regional Economic Development at the ESDC.
Hoyt’s resignation was submitted at midnight Wednesday, and yesterday he announced he was leaving the Assembly to join the administration.
“Sam Hoyt has dedicated his life to serving the people of New York,” Governor Cuomo said. “During his almost 20 years in the New York State Assembly, Sam has proven to be a dedicated public servant who puts the needs of his constituents and community first. He has demonstrated the type of dedication and enthusiasm required for this new challenge.”
Hoyt becomes the 4th member of the Assembly to join the administration, and will be the 6th vacant assembly seat that will need to be filled by special election.
Complete release after the jump.
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Here And Now
Jul 1st - 7:52 am
We should learn more about the DEC’s recommendations for hydraulic fracturing today at 11am when Commission Joe Martens addresses the media.
The plan is expected to allow for drilling in 85% of the Marcellus shale.
Both supporters and opponents are waiting to see the final report before making final judgement.
NYLCV President Marcia Bystryn, who will be a guest on CapTon tonight, says “the devil is in the details.”
The Post writes “Frack, baby, Frack.”
Governor’s prison closure plan spared the North Country.
Senator Dave Valesky will see 2 prisons in his district shut down.
Even with the news about hydrofracking, and the release of the prison closures, Cuomo’s property tax cap tour still got a lot of press.
A former Auburn Mayor says state leaders missed the mark when it comes to mandate relief.
The Journal News agrees that more needs to be done.
Some state workers were given hours to decide if they wanted to be bumped to a lower paying job or risk being laid off, before PEF stepped in to delay the process.
Some in the liberal press still have some beef with Cuomo.
Matilda Cuomo says her son is still her “little man”.
More >
Obama Treading Water In Marist/McClatchy Poll
Jun 29th - 9:30 am
A new McClatchy-Marist Poll shows that 43% of Americans are planning on voting against Barack Obama in 2012. Only 36% say they will definitely support him with 21% of those surveyed unsure how they will vote in November 2012. The numbers are similar to what a Marist poll found back in April when 44% of people said they were planning on voting for someone other than the president.
The key demographic is independent voters. 43% of them say they’d prefer someone other than Obama in 2012, while only 29% say they are securely backing him.
But the President’s numbers improve when you start to put him up against some of the potential Republican nominees. Obama beats former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 46% to 42%. Against former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, Obama is up 48% to 41%. And against the newest face in the race, Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, Obama holds a strong 49% to 37% lead.
As for who Republicans favor as their nominee, Mitt Romney is leading the large field. Here’s the list.
- 19% for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
- 13% for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
- 13% for Texas Governor Rick Perry
- 11% for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
- 8% for Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann
- 5% for former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
- 5% for Texas Congressman Ron Paul
- 5% for businessman Herman Cain
- 2% for former Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich
- 2% for former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman
NYSUT Sues State Over Teacher Eval Policy
Jun 28th - 9:38 am
The state’s largest teachers union, NYSUT, has filed suit to block the teacher evaluation system that was pushed by the Cuomo administration earlier this year.
The lawsuit specifically alleges that the Board of Regents and State Education Commissioner overstepped their authority when they put into place a system that allows some school districts to double the weight of state standardized test scores when evaluating teachers, instead of using “locally selected measures” for the other part of the evaluatin.
When this was adopted back in May, Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch told Capital Tonight that doubling the state scores was only an option for some school districts, and that the local districts could choose to use tenure and other methods to make up the other half of the evaluations.
NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi called Tisch’s comments “disturbing” when she first voiced support of this plan. In today’s press release he said:
“New York was poised to take the lead in developing a thoughtful, comprehensive evaluation system developed in collaboration with teachers and other stakeholders. Instead, the Regents chose politics over sound educational policy and the cheap way over the right way, doubling down on high-stakes tests of dubious worth instead of requiring school districts and teachers unions to collaborate in ways that would really strengthen instruction in our classrooms.”
The implementation of an evaluation system is necessary for New York to collect the nearly $700 million dollars in federal money that it won as part of the Race to the Top program. Part of the application process was demonstrating a willingness of labor groups to work with the state to implement changes to teacher evaluation.
The legislature passed a bill in May of 2010 detailing what the system would look like. As NYSUT points out in their press release, the bill states that a teacher’s annual performance will be based on an effectiveness score where 20% of the evaluation is based on “state assessments” and another 20% on “locally selected measures.”
Grisanti Explains His Vote
Jun 27th - 12:09 pm
Over the weekend, our colleagues at YNN Buffalo were able to do a phone interview with Senator Mark Grisanti who was the 32nd, or 33rd Senator to support same-sex marriage (depending on how you look at it). The Senator says he struggled with the decision, but had actually made up his mind a few weeks ago.
“About 2 or 3 weeks ago, I was reading books on both sides of the issue,” Grisanti said. “Legally I could find no reason why I should stand in the way, whether you are a taxpayer or worker, of having the same rights that I have with my wife.”
“And on the Catholic side, I am not here as just a Catholic senator. I am a senator that represents all of New York State and not everybody is Catholic. And, yeah I do practice Catholic religion and it was tough to separate it out.”
Grisanti also talked about the decision to bring the bill to the floor. He says the conference didn’t decide to bring the bill to the floor until Friday when the religious exemptions were complete, and members saw that there was an inseparability clause that says if one part of the bill is struck down, the whole bill becomes invalid.
Cuomo At NYC Pride Parade
Jun 27th - 10:17 am
Here are Governor Cuomo’s comments from the Pride Parade yesterday. Also interviews with City Speaker Christine Quinn, and Senator Tom Duane.
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