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Joint Budget Hearings Turn To Local Governments
Jan 24th - 9:41 am
Mayors from the state’s largest cities, along with local government lobbyists, are testifying today in Albany on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has allied with the governor on the issue of teacher evaluations, is up first.
nysenate_joint_budget on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free
Hinchey Stepping Down, Won’t Discuss Wife’s DWI (VIDEO ADDED)
Jan 19th - 2:13 pm
Retiring U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey wouldn’t address his wife’s Wednesday night DWI arrest in Albany at the news conference announcing he wouldn’t seek re-election in November.
“No ma’am,” Hinchey said when asked about Allison Lee Hinchey’s arrest supporters and aides jeered the question. Though Hinchey’s daughter was present for the news conference, Lee Hinchey was not there.
Hinchey, a Democrat, did say that redistricting was not a major factor in his decision to step down.
Hinchey says he’s “very aware” of the redistricting process and called for the district to be left “largey intact.”
“It’s going to be a challenge,” he said of redistricting. “If the district were to be maintained, it would have to expand in a lot of ways.”
The lawmaker also went through a litany of battles fought and won, including the dredging of PCB-laced muck from the Hudson River
Hinchey did cite his age (he’s 73). He was also diagnosed with colon cancer, making the rigors of a campaign all the more difficult.
“I said to myself, this is very clear, this is the end,” Hinchey said. “Twenty years is along enough.”
But the cloud hanging over his announcement today was the Wednesday night arrest of his wife, Allison Lee-Hinchey, who was charged with a DWI and a suspended licenses by Albany police. She was also charged with driving while using a cell phone.
Update: There’s more in the arrest report. Lee Hinchey told the officer at the scene that she had a glass of wine at a “work function” and had been texting when she rear-ended another vehicle. She was also wearing high heels and full-length coat.
She was previously arrested for drunken driving in May.
According to the arrest report, a police officer smelled alcohol from Lee Hinchey’s breath and she appeared unsteady on her feet.
Lee Hinchey released a two-sentence statement while the news conference was being televised through her employer, the public-relations shop DKC.
“I am committed to addressing this both legally and personally,” she said. “I am deeply sorry and apologize to my colleagues and friends.”
Here is Hinchey’s complete press conference:
On Eve Of Husband’s Retirement Announcement, Allison Lee Arrested For DWI (Updated)
Jan 19th - 11:30 am
The night before her husband formally announces he’s not running for re-election, the wife of Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey was arrested Wednesday and charged with driving while intoxicated and a suspended license.
Albany police said Allison Lee, 49, rear-ended a car at the intersection of Lark and Lancaster streets in the Center Square neighborhood of Albany, shortly after 9 p.m. (our own Liz B. spotted Lee dining at 677 Prime, a downtown Albany restaurant, before the reported car accident).
Lee failed a sobriety test and police later determined she had a blood-alcohol content of .14, well above the legal .08 threshold for a DWI.
She was arraigned in Albany City Court this morning, police said, but it was not immediately clear what she pleaded.
The DWI arrest is the second for Lee, a lobbyist with DKC, who was arrested last May for drunken driving in the town of Hurley.
The arrest comes the day that her husband’s office announced he was not seeking re-election. Hinchey plans a formal announcement on his retirement this afternoon.
Update: Lee has released a two-sentence statement through DKC.
“”I am committed to addressing this both legally and personally,” she said. “I am deeply sorry and apologize to my colleagues and friends.”
Cuomo Takes A Pass On Sharpton Event – Again
Jan 16th - 8:11 am
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s press office announced this morning that the governor will be attending a 10 a.m. MLK Jr. Day commemoration at the Empire State Plaza in Albany.
That means Cuomo will not be attending National Action Network’s Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton – generally a must-do event for New York elected officials (especially Democrats seeking to curry favor with Sharpton and the all-important African-American voting bloc) held at the House of Justice in Harlem. (1:30 p.m.)
Both Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sent out schedules indicating their plans to be on hand for NAN’s annual MLK fest. It’s a safe bet many, many other currently sitting pols and aspiring candidates will be on hand, too. After all, it is an election year.
It’s not the first time Cuomo has skipped a gathering hosted by Sharpton.
Bill Would Let Fido Keep His Bark
Jan 13th - 3:40 pm
A bill in both the Assembly and Senate would prohibit the practice of “devocalization” of both dogs and cats — a process that involves removing an animal’s vocal cords.
Lawmakers supporting the measure say it is a cruel practice that has long-term health impacts on animals.
From the bill memo:
The devocalization of animals is an invasive procedure that involves the surgical removal of a dog or cat’s vocal cords.
This procedure often leads to serious and long term respiratory and throat ailments. It silences the dog or cat and prevents communication between other animals and their owners.
This bill will outlaw “convenience” devocalization and restrict the invasive surgery for cases where it is medically necessary to treat or relieve an illness or injury.
An October 2010 AP poll surveyed over 1,040 pet owners nationwide and found that 90% think it is “not okay” to devocalize a dog or cat.
The measure is being carried by Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D-New City, and Sen. Lee Zeldin, R-Suffolk County, and proves that the best way to bring the parties together truly is animal issues. Zebrowski this afternoon tweeted out a link to an animal advocacy website that includes a video of devocalized dog trying to bark and will make you feel very sad indeed.
Only time will tell if this bill will be 2012′s version of the bear gallbladder bill.
Sen. Maziarz – Part Peacemaker, Part Cheerleader
Jan 13th - 12:49 pm
ICYMI. During a CapTon interview last night, Sen. George Maziarz expressed frustration with the stand-off between Seneca Nation President Robert Odawi Porter and Gov. Andrew Cuomo on a number of sensitive topics, including the Senecas refusal to pay the state its share of casino revenue and the governor’s proposal to expand non-Indian gaming in New York.
Maziarz, a Western New York Republican who started the Select Committee on State-Native American Relations last year, said he’s been acting as a go-between for Porter and Cuomo, who have not had a face-to-face meeting since the governor took office last January, although the Seneca president has meet with members of Cuomo’s executive chamber staff.
“There’s a lot of ill will going back many, many years, before Rob Porter and and before Andrew Cuomo, it’s going to a while, I think,” Maziarz said.
“…They’re both, I think, good people who want to do the right thing. And maybe, and I’m not a lawyer and they’re both lawyers, and I know that there’s always this concern about the legalities of everything, if the two of them got in a room, I’m telling you, from someone who knows both of them and has dealt with both of them, the two of them could get in a room and within two hours they would have an agreement.”
The senator suggested CapTon could host the Porter-Cuomo summit, and, we are, of course, quite game. Porter has come on the show several times. Cuomo has not, but he does have, as Maziarz put it, a “standing invitation” to do so.
Maziarz full of praise for retiring Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, telling me “I’m going to miss her, to be quite frank with you.” (Oppenheimer and Maziarz live in the same building when they’re here in Albany; she’s the lone Democrat in a co-op full of Republicans, he told me).
His words were a stark contract to the comment sent out yesterday by Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif, who said Oppenheimer’s decision to depart was proof she had seen the writing on the wall that the Democrats would remain in the minority come 2013. Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy called this statement “crass.”
“Any time an incumbent retires, an open seat, there’s always fertile ground there. I mean, I hope a Republican wins it. I think we’re going to be in the majority, in fact I can almost guarantee we’re going to be in the majority…I just think 2012 is going to be a good Republican year. Wouldn’t you be shocked if I predicted to you that we weren’t going to be in the majority? I mean, wouldn’t that be shocking news? It would be more shocking to Senator Skelos, I can tell you that. My good friend Mike Gianaris would love it, though. He spends way too much time in Buffalo, by the way.”
Maziarz was quick to reject my suggestion that perhaps the Senate GOP had cut some sort of redistricting deal with the governor, even though that belief is widely held around the Capitol. His jab at Gianaris, the DSCC chairman, is in reference to the Democrats’ search for a candidate to take on Democrat-turned-Republican Sen. Mark Grisanti, who ousted ex-Sen. Antoine Thompson in 2010 in one of the most Democrat-dominated districts in the state.
Unshackle Upstate Wants To ‘Unlock NY’
Jan 13th - 10:21 am
The word “reduce” comes up a lot in Rochester-based Unshackle Upstate’s 2012 policy agenda.
Namely, the business-friendly lobbying organziation wants to reduce taxes, local mandates, spending and state debt.
Meanwhile, the group also wants to stimulate private-sector job growth.
“While progress has been made to strengthen our economy and communities, our leaders in Albany must do more to help New York regain its title as the Empire State,” said Brian Sampson, Executive Director of the organization. “In 2012, we will closely monitor the actions of every legislator on the key issues outlined in this agenda. Make no mistake – those who fail to support measures that will help businesses and families thrive will be held accountable. We will ensure that promises made are promises kept.”
The group is also part of a larger effort to reduce mandated spending now that 2 percent ceiling on local property tax levy increases is in place, along with a repeal of the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law.
The business lobby, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo successfully rallied last year, is probably coming off its most successful legislative session in decades. In addition to the property tax cap, Cuomo has mad a concerted effort to recast the state as a business friendly destination.
The governor’s main thrust has been businesses respond to efficient government and this year he wants to have the private sector invest more in New York in order to spur job growth.
Enviros: Listen To People On Transit For TZB
Jan 12th - 1:38 pm
Gov. Andrew Cuomo should “listen to the people” when it comes to including a mass transit component to a replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge, environmental advocates said at a news conference this morning.
The environmental lobbying is gearing up for a new legislative session with a “playbook” that includes not just warning New Yorkers abuot the “dangers of fracking” but also a push for investments in renewable energy, anti-climate change legislation and investments in public transit.
Nadine Lemmon, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign Albany Legislative Associate, said meetings with community members (she counted 200-plus) have all called for transit on the new bridge. Cuomo’s Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said in the last week that a transit component would delay the new bridge.
County executives Rob Astorino and Scott Vanderhoef, of Westchester and Rockland respectively, both want transit on the bridge, and told me back in December that the administration was keeping them in the dark on the proposal’s progress.
The Cuomo administration is pushing to have the bridge construction start this year.
“There is a large and growing number of organizations and community members that support getting transit on the bridge from day one,” Lemmon said at a news conference. “It’s our belief that it isn’t built one, it’s never going to get built.”
“We’re working hard on this issue, really believe the governor should listen to the people,” she added
A new bridge is expected to cost $5.2 billion.
Iannuzzi: $800 Million Is ‘A Place To Get Started’
Jan 12th - 1:00 pm
ICYMI: NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi told me last night on CapTon that he considers the four percent education funding increase Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pledged to include in his executive budget proposal next Tuesday a floor and not a ceiling.
What’s more, the teachers union, which I think it’s fair to say is in the opening battles of what could become a prolonged war with Cuomo over funding allocation and the teacher performance evaluation systems, is counting on BOTH the Assembly and Senate majorities to push the governor to increase aid this year.
And yes, the union will not be shy about reminding lawmakers they’re all up for re-election this fall – and in new district to boot.
“I expect education to be a battle. It always is,” Iannuzzi said. “I mean, no one wants to walk away from four percent. But four percent, $800 million, is a half a billion dollars less restored than the the cuts from last year. So, $800 million is a place to get started. There’s a lot more than has to be done.”
“And then the question becomes: How is that earmarked? How much is going directly to a classroom? You could probably take $250 million of that and just write it off to transporation. You take another $50 million that the governor talks about in terms of his competitive grants. You’re now down to talking about $500 million dollars. How are you dividing that? How are you using that. How much more do you need if you really want to address the achievement gap that goes on in the classroom?”
“…I would expect that my allies in the Assembly Democratic conference and in the Republican Senate will push for more because they understand the needs of their constituents…And we will probably remind people that it’s an election year as well.”
Former White Plains Mayor Shelling Out Campaign Funds For Legal Bills
Jan 12th - 10:46 am
Adam Bradley, the former White Plains mayor and Democratic assemblyman, has spent $4,918 from his former campaign account on legal bills stemming from his conviction the attempted assault of his wife.
Bradley resigned in December 2010 following his conviction for attempted assault and harassment of his wife, Fumiko Bradley.
Bradley was again arrested this past November after allegedly violating an order of protection. According to the filing on gthe Board of Elections webiste, Bradley used the money just after he was arrested on that charge.
He’s taking advantage of a loophole in the state’s campaign finance laws that allow even ex-office holders to spend their money in a variety of ways, including legal bills, restaurant tabs and other perks.
It’s been a major bugaboo of good-government groups, who have tried unsuccessfully to close the loophole.
According to Bradley’s campaign-finance report, he still has $138,186.79 in the bank.
H/t to the estimable Bill Mahoney of NYPIRG for tweeting this earlier.
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