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Bob Duffy
Duffy: We Need To Change Situation In Buffalo
Jan 4th - 4:46 pm
As Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s speech gave a lot of ink to Buffalo and a $1 billion (“with a ‘B’”) investment in the poverty-wrecked western New York City, the Rochester-based Eastman Kodak is reportedly getting ready to file for bankruptcy.
But Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, the governor’s go-to man for supportive quotes and economic development, said the situation is so dire in Buffalo that the investment was being made.
“I think one of the things you’re going to see a lot of positive projects not only for the Rochester region but across the state,” he said. “The governor hit the point that Buffalo is third in the nation in poverty and we have to change that.”
Duffy, a former mayor of Rochester who said he grew up in a “Kodak neighborhood” added that the silver lining in all the jobs reductions over the years is that Rochester continues to have a vibrant workforce of people well-versed in technology and engineering.
“Whatever the outcome will be, one of the things I’ve always found is the downsizes and reductions at Kodak have gone and created a whole new economy in Rochester,” he said.
‘The Birth Of Something Incredibly Beautiful’
Nov 29th - 3:17 pm
Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy was sanguine today in his assessment of the competitive regional economic development council process, saying the job-creation plans are just the start of an ongoing process.
“I think what you’re seeing is the birth of something incredibly beautiful,” Duffy said.
The 10 regional councils are competing for $200 million in economic-development funds and incentives in exchange for job-creation ideas. Officials from around New York are in Albany this week to discuss the finalized plans.
Only five of the councils will receive the aid based on their plans. Duffy, who chairs the super council overseeing the process, said the work of the regional councils will continue into the new year.
“While the competitve process is one part of it, I think what we’ve seen already is the true value is the way people come together and form these regional partnerships and bonds,” Duffy said.
While some lose out on the aid, the importance of the partnerships formed by the committees shouldn’t be dismissed, Duffy said.
“Nobody wanted to get to together and collaborate. This council brought them together. In almost every sector you’re seeing that. Regardless of the outcomes of the competition and however that is gonig to be managed in the end, I think all 10 regions are incredible winners… The most important thing is this is just the beginning. The councils don’t go away Dec. 1.”
The Cuomo administration seems to be training its fire and attention on reviving the state’s economy, particularly after perceived dysfunction on the federal level has been blamed for the inability of the country to turn the corner in the Great Recession.
Duffy Defends Closed Door Meetings
Aug 9th - 5:44 pm
This morning, Lt. Governor Robert Duffy held the first meeting for the Capital Region economic development council – his 6th overall.
Last week, he made stops in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Potsdam, and was criticized for having the first meeting behind closed doors. Today, the Lt. Governor didn’t wait for the press to ask the question – instead using part of his opening remarks he explained why he has decided to keep these first meetings closed.
“The first meeting was closed. It was my decision to close it, so I will accept full responsibility. It’s closed for one reason. It’s closed to allow us to go through all of the mechanics of getting this thing up and running,” Duffy said.
The meetings are not subject to state open meeting laws, so the administration is doing nothing wrong by holding these closed door meeting. The Lt. Governor went on to assure the press in attendance that future meetings will be open to the public, and that there would be public input sessions by all of the regional economic development councils.
Cuomo Sets Economic Council Meetings (Update)
Aug 1st - 1:49 pm
Gov. Andrew Cuomo today announced the first meetings for the 10 regional economic development councils, with the inaugural events being held this week.
Update: These won’t be public meetings. Rather, the councils will hold an organizational meeting and then follow that with a media availability. At the news conference, they’ll announce future public and private meetings. It’s all a bit questionable, since they’re talking about dividing up $1 billion public funds for economic-development aid.
The first meetings will be held Wednesday in Buffalo and Monroe County (a full schedule is after the jump).
Cuomo created the councils as a “bottom up approach” to job creation. The councils will compete for a $1 billion pool of money for tax credits and grants.
The competitive process will create both winners and losers, Cuomo said, with some regions losing out on the funds.
Cuomo, along with Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy, crisscrossed the state last week promoting the councils and announcing who would serve on them.
Duffy will be the councils’ chairman.
Cuomo also announced last week a sort of super committee that will oversee all 10 of the regional committees, which was set up to manage and streamline the process.
“The members of the state’s Regional Councils are true leaders in their respective industries,” Duffy said in a statement. “Involving community stakeholders and focusing on local economies will finally allow New York to identify and take advantage of the assets offered by different regions in the state. As Chair of the Regional Councils, I look forward to beginning our work together to open New York up for business and make our plans for economic development and job creation a reality.”
Duffy: ‘I’m A Rule Player’
Jul 15th - 1:13 pm
Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy today responded to some of the criticism he received this week after we first reported that he was using his private campaign donations for $1,900 a month apartment when he’s Albany, saying it’s better than using taxpayer money.
“I had a decision to make, whether to use per diems, taxpayer money, to use like every elected official with the exception of the governor, uses in Albany or use funds, my private campaign funds before making a more permanent decision down the road,” Duffy said.
Duffy, according to his campaign filing, has been using his campaign fund to finance his apartment at The Alexander at Patroon Creek, an apartment complex in Albany.
Though it’s within the law to do so because of a often-criticized loophole in the campaign finance law, the news puts him at odds with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pledge to reform the system.
Cuomo wrote in his campaign book last year that the laws governoring the use of campaign funds by elected officials needs to be clarified and possibly strengthened so that donations are used for campaign-related purposes.
Duffy reiterated that he checked with the Board of Elections to make sure he was following the law, adding “I’m a rule player.”
“That was the option rather than using taxpayer money and that was the decision that I made,” he said.
Duffy Using Political Funds For ‘Housing’ (Updated X2)
Jul 11th - 5:03 pm
The early-bird posting of Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy’s campaign-finance report shows the Cuomo administration’s number two has used his fund to pay for what is described in the filing as “housing,” with payments going to a company owned by a major Republican contributor.
The report shows that Bob Duffy 2010 has spent $1,902.93 a month since January on housing, with payments going to AG Spanos, a real-estate company owned by San Diego Chargers owner and prolific GOP donor Alex G. Spanos. The payments total $13,320.51.
The purposes for the expenses are listed under “housing.”
Update: Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto responds, saying the use of the funds doesn’t violate state law because it’s related to the holding of a public office.
“The Lieutenant Governor does not take taxpayer funded per diems to cover the cost of his housing when he is working in Albany, saving New York taxpayers thousands of dollars. The law clearly states than an official can use campaign funds for activities related to the holding of their office. That is clearly the case here. And, upon taking office, the Lieutenant Governor in fact checked with the Board of Elections and they confirmed the above.”
The website for AG Spanos shows the company owns residential and commercial properties around the country and the only property in New York the company takes credit for building is a 300-unit luxury apartment complex called Patroon Creek near Washington Avenue in Albany, where Duffy stays when he’s in town for legislative business.
The company’s owner and namesake, Alex Spanos, is also the owner of the San Diego Chargers and a major Republican contributor in California and in the 2000 and 2004 presidential cycles.
In fact, the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets website calls Spanos “professional football’s most prolific political bankroller.” Spanos has not made any major contributions in New York races.
Duffy, the former Rochester mayor, has been a visible presence in Albany since Gov. Andrew Cuomo took office Jan. 1 and frequently presides over the state Senate, one of the few official duties for the lieutenant governor. Cuomo has also deployed Duffy to travel the state and drum up support for the legislative agenda.
Good-government groups have railed against the use of the campaign funds for personal use.
“While we don’t have any detailed information on these expenditures, the issue of using campaign funds for purposes other than running for office is something that should get addressed in the campaign finance reform bill which we hope to see next year,” said Bill Mahoney of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
The report does not show any major fundraising for Duffy in the last six months.
The New York campaign finance law is notoriously gray on this area. Lawmakers and public officials on both sides of the aisle have used political funds to cover a variety of items, including car leases. The law itself states that,
“Campaign funds for personal use
Contributions received by a candidate or a political commit- tee may be expended for any lawful purpose. Such funds shall not be converted by any person to a personal use which is unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position.”
Update X2:
I checked over Cuomo’s campaign book that discussed the need for campaign-finance reform. At the time, Cuomo wrote,
“New York’s vague prohibition on the use of campaign funds for personal expenditures has resulted in their use for such non-campaign related expenses as country club memberships, purchases of television sets and personal wardrobe items. Permissible and non-permissible uses of campaign funds must be clarified, and non-campaign related, personal uses of any kind prohibited and enforced.”
Cuomo Deploys Duffy To Woo GOP Senators
Jun 2nd - 2:05 pm
LG Bob Duffy isn’t merely carrying Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s message (along with fellow cabinet members) on the “People First” tour, he’s also assisting with the lobbying of Senate Republicans on the governor’s top agenda items.
Duffy dined last night with seven majority conference lawmakers at the Ft. Orange Club just a stone’s throw from the Capitol.
The group was dominated by upstaters, which makes sense, considering that Duffy himself hails from Rochester (he’s the former mayor, as you’ll recall). Present were Deputy Senate Majority Leader Tom Libous and Sens. Mike Nozzolio, Cathy Young, Joe Griffo, Mike Ranzenhofer and Greg Ball. The lone downstater was Jack Martins of Long Island.
Ball confirmed the get-together during a brief telephone interview this afternoon following the Senate session. He called the dinner a “smart” strategy, but also said Duffy didn’t deviate from the script.
“He just laid out the governor’s aenda and pushed on the importance of all the issues, including (gay) marriage,” said Ball, who is one of a handful of GOP senators in the “on the fence” column on that particular topic.
“It was definitely a productive meeting in the sense of talking about how the Legislature can work productively with the governor on issues where we share objectives: The property tax cap, ethics reform, job creation. It was a good conversation.”
“…It was a free-flowing conversation. We spoke a lot about economic development, which is smart because a lot of members want input on that.”
Duffy was tapped by Cuomo to head up the still-in-formation regional economic development councils.
Another lawmaker who was in the Ft. Orange Club last night, but not to meet Duffy, spotted the group trooping down the stairs last night. So, it sounds like they had a room to themselves.
It doesn’t sound like the menu was terribly fancy. I asked Ball what he had eaten – a question he seemed to find rather odd – and he replied: “Bread and water, and something that resembled chicken.”
Duffy: Comparing Cuomo To Spitzer An ‘Overreaction’
May 16th - 1:28 pm
Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy said this morning that he rejects the notion that Gov. Cuomo is adapting the “steamroller” style made famous by Eliot Spitzer to push the Legislature in his direction, calling it an “overreaction” by critics.
“I think [Gov. Cuomo] has been very clear and very specific in terms of his expectations and he’s also been respectful,” Duffy said.
“I have listened to him speak. He is not calling out individual legislators; he’s not embarrassing anybody. He’s stating facts that I think everybody understands. I don’t think there has been a governor in recent memory who has done more to create relationships with the legislature.”
Lawmakers have been pushing back on the governor in recent days for his criticism of the Legislature. Last week on Capital Tonight, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said ethics reform should include the executive branch, and today, Speaker Sheldon Silver called the effectiveness of the governor’s tour across the state “irrelevant.” Silver also said over the weekend that his members would rather cut deals “than listen to speeches.”
Duffy spoke to reporters following a speech to the NYS Coalitions of Community Development Financial Institutions at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany.
Duffy: County Execs Should Look At Their Own Spending
May 11th - 11:04 am
Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy this morning called on county executives to take a hard look at their own spending before sounding alarms over mandate relief.
Duffy told Fred Dicker on Talk 1300-AM that that a strict limit on local property tax increases should be in place before mandate relief is approved — a reiteration of the Cuomo administration’s position.
“I would say that for the chief executives of the county, look at spending first,” Duffy said. Look at your own spending first. This is the first step. The mandate relief will come. The mandate relief isn’t easy. Some of this is in legislation. I hear a lot of excuses. My sense is you can’t take credit for dropping taxes and then blame someone else.”
School districts and local governments have voiced concerns that a 2 percent cap as proposed by Cuomo — and approved by the Republican-led Senate in January — would be too difficult to live within because of required spending for debt, health care administration and distribution and pensions.
But Duffy, the former mayor of Rochester, suggested as Empire State Development Corp. Chairman Kenneth Adams said yesterday that the cap would force a needed discussion on spending.
“We have a spending addiction, we have to curtail that spending,” he said.
Cuomo has sharpened his rhetoric toward legislators in recent days, saying on Tuesday in a web video they should approve a cap or “don’t go home.”
The governor and members of his administration are traveling the state to drum up support for the cap, along with an ethics bill and same-sex marriage legalization. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, has said he would introduce his own tax cap with some exemptions.
Silver said on Tuesday that the bill’s introduction would be soon rather than later.
Duffy: Cuomo Has ‘Horrendous’ Schedule
May 9th - 2:44 pm
Lt. Gov Robert Duffy said Gov. Andrew Cuomo couldn’t make today’s Equality and Justice rally because of his “horrendous” schedule.
Duffy, who spoke before 500 or so people at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center this morning, said the governor’s absence didn’t mean support for gay marriage was faltering.
Instead, the deployment of Duffy was the beginning of the governor’s plan to deploy members of his administration around the state to drum up support for a tax cap, ethics bill and gay marriage.
Moments before we spoke to Duffy on camera, he attended to woman who had fallen down the Million Dollar Staircase here at the Capitol. Duffy, a former cop, rushed to the woman’s side calling for help and stayed until an ambulance crew arrived.
Duffy said the woman would be OK.
“These stairs can be unforgiving,” he said.
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