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Brian Kolb
Kolb: The Fix Might Be In On Redistricting
Jan 6th - 8:27 am
ICYMI: Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said last night on CapTon that he’s not convinced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s repeated claims he’ll veto any redistricting plan drawn up in the traditional, political manner by state lawmakers.
Cuomo has admitted a veto would likely cause “chaos,” putting the redistricting power in the hands of a judge who (theoretically) is politically beholden to no one.
The governor has also insisted – with varying degrees of certitude – that anything other than an independently drawn plan won’t receive his approval. Cuomo reiterated that claim in the written version of his State of the State address, but skipped over the topic in the delivered version of his speech.
That caused some observers – including Kolb – to question Cuomo’s motives.
“I’m not sure that I believe that yet – that he would actually veto a legislative plan,” the minority leader told me last night.
“Maybe I’m a little cynical because I’ve been around a little bit longer now. Maybe deals have already been constructed or talked about or set up as far as how the redistricting maps role out, advisory panel named. Do they cut a deal for 10 year from now? There are all sorts of things that politically could unfold with this process.”
“So I’m just, shall we say, waiting to see exactly what’s going to happen. But I wouldn’t guarantee anything. Something could create a change in what he has said so far because politics are at work or deals were struck with the two leaders.”
(It’s worth noting that Kolb and Cuomo had a bit of a falling out recently, and the minority leader said he hasn’t discussed redistricting – or anything else – with the governor).
The 10-year plan – in other words, making the redistricting process independent in time for the next Census through a constitutional amendment – is what the Senate Republicans want to do, even though they all signed ex-NYC Mayor Ed Koch’s reform pledge to support an independent commission this year.
I asked Koch last week if he could support a deal that kicks the can down the road; his response: Absolutely not.
CapCon’s Jimmy Vielkind wondered this morning whether the governor’s decision to include a call for campaign finance reform in his delivered SoS while omitting redistricting indicated a willingness to horse trade one for the other – particularly when it comes to the Senate GOP, which is VERY interested in redistricting, but has balked at campaign finance reform in the past.
Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey rejected that suggestion, telling Vielkind:
“Redistricting is going to be off the table fairly soon, one way or another.”
“There’s been a lot of advocacy around the need for campaign finance reform, and the governor wanted to focus his reform agenda on ethics and redistricting before getting to it. Now there’s plenty of room to pick up the gauntlet on it.”
Kolb: It’s About Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Jan 3rd - 4:56 pm
Why do I get the feeling we’ll be typing the word “jobs” a lot in 2012?
It’s a theme that Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb hopes to hear in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s second State of the State address on Wednesday and the governor has already hinted that he’ll focus on the expansion of casino gambling and infrastructure improvements, two items that could be linked to long-term job growth and economic stability.
Kolb, speaking after the swearing-in of newly minted Assemblyman Ray Walter, said he hoped the year would focus on private-sector job growth.
“We could start by creating more private sector jobs — jobs, jobs, jobs, I think the governor’s key to economic development or the focus on economic development is important because that’s the way we’re going to grow our way out of an economic recession is focusing on putting businesses in the state and expanding here and staying here,” Kolb said.
Cuomo made job creation the focus of the last half of the year, pushing the Open For Business campaign, which also included a rah-rah celebration in November of distributing economic-development grants to different regional councils around the state.
The State of the State will most likely focus on broad strokes like job creation, with the meat and potatos coming in the state budget presentation on Jan. 17.
What Brian Kolb Wants To Hear
Dec 30th - 3:37 pm
Job creation, mandate relief and a fair shake for low and medium-wealth school districts is what Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb hopes will be a major component of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s second State of the State address.
“I look forward to working with the Governor to achieve these critical priorities during the coming Legislative Session,” Kolb wrote in his legislative column. “We still have a lot of work to do, but I believe we hit the “reset” button last year and will continue to reform and rebuild the great state of New York. Even through the hardship of a tough economy, our Conference will work with the Governor and the Legislature to deliver results worthy of a finish line celebration.”
Kolb, R-Canandaigua, also wants a further consolidation of state government bureaucracy and operations, writing that it is “imperative” to examine every aspect of state government.
Cuomo delivers the speech Wednesday in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center.
He’s already expected to discuss one aspect of job creation: expanding casino gambling, which may include casinos and table-top gaming in New York City.
The governor may also make a broad pitch for investing in the state’s infrastructure and creating a construction fund. At the centerpiece of that effort may be a plan to build a new bridge to replace the aging Tappan Zee.
Kolb Defends JCOPE Pick
Dec 13th - 2:55 pm
There’s a lot of defending going on in the wake of yesterday’s JCOPE appointments announcement, which revealed a number of politically connected individuals have been tapped to serve as Albany’s top ethics watchdogs.
I reached out to Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, who is under fire for filling his one allotted appointment with Watertown attorney Dave Renzi, who ran an unsuccessful state Senate campaign in 2008.
The Watertown Times reported this morning that Renzi’s wife works for Republican Sen. Patricia Ritchie (48th SD), setting up a potential conflict of interest – particularly if JCOPE ever were to find itself investigating the freshman North Country lawmaker.
Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey said Renzi’s selection is legal, but “crosses the line ethically,” adding: “It doesn’t look good to have such a tight association between an appointee and a state senator, over whom one has oversight.” Renzi himself acknowledged the possibility of a conflict, and also said that if there is indeed one, he will not accept the JCOPE post.
It would be pretty problematic if Renzi resigns. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he wants JCOPE to start immediately, and it wouldn’t be an auspicious beginning to lose a commissioner right off the bat.
But Kolb told me he doesn’t believe that’s necessary.
“Let’s say if something, God forbid, were to happen with Senator Ritchie; he would have to recuse himself,” Kolb said. “But that’s no different from anybody else on the commission having some sort of dotted line connection to someone.”
Kolb noted that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan just recused herself from considering the Obama administration’s challenge to Arizona’s immigration law because dealt with the issue in her previous job as solicitor general.
The minority leader said he chose Renzi both because he is an attorney and because he is no stranger to the political system with which he’s going to have to deal as a JCOPE member, adding: “It’s not like he’s walking in there having never been in the political world.” Kolb said he asked memmbers of his conference to recommend potential JCOPE appointees, and Ritchie (who is a senator, mind you, not a member of the Assembly) had no input into the selection process.
So far, we’ve heard from Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Kolb and Cuomo (sort of) on the JCOPE appointees. But we have nothing but a one-line statement from the man who appointed the most controversial member – attorney Ravi Batra. That, of course, would be Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson.
Kolb Won’t Discuss Call
Dec 9th - 5:51 pm
Assembly Minority Brian Kolb told me in a phone interview late this afternoon that he would not discuss the contents of his Wednesday night chat with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Multiple lawmakers who were in the closed-door conference prior to a debate on the tax code measure said Kolb told them that the governor had threatened to campaign against them if they voted no.
But Kolb, who said he was in constiuent meetings all day and was unreachable by phone, said he would not divulge the details of what was said.
“I had a conversation with the governor and we talked about legislation and all that and it went back into a members only meeting. My policy in all sincerity, I just wish it had been going on earlier, is I never reveal details about private phone conversations or members’ only meetings. I would be constantly be responding to those sort of things. I don’t think it’s in our conference’s interest to disclose what’s going on in the conference.”
Kolb added that he was not upset with the members who publicly discussed what happened in conference Wednesday night. And he said the conference’s relationship with Cuomo’s office remains a strong one.
Tedisco Mystified By Cuomo Call (Updated)
Dec 9th - 3:15 pm
It’s like deja vu all over again for Jim Tedisco.
The Schenectady Republican was famously at the receiving end of an angry rant from then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer who referred to himself as an f-ing steamroller during a phone call back in 2007. (Tedisco was minority leader at the time).
The call placed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to Minority Leader Brian Kolb by all accounts did not include such colorful language, although we don’t know for sure since Kolb hasn’t returned anyone’s calls…(or perhaps gone into witness protection? – LB).
As the Times Union scooped today, Cuomo threatened to campaign against the Republican no votes, a story that the governor disputes.
But Tedisco, Kolb’s predecessor as leader, knows what it’s like. I asked why a governor would bother to bully the Assembly minority, which, sorry to say, is quite powerless.
“It’s not a comfortable feeling to get a call like that from the governor,” Tedisco said in a phone interview. “It didn’t work for past governors.”
Tedisco said he was surprised, mainly because Assembly Republicans have backed the governor when it comes to paying down the previous $10 billion deficit without raising taxes.
“We partnered last year on closing the ten billion dollar deficit. Maybe he just got off track,” Tedisco said. “I can only extenuate that I was not on the phone call.”
Tedisco added that Cuomo should have been happy to get such a large bill through both chambers and signed into law in a record amount of time.
He got 42 of our votes, he got most of our votes. We didn’t get everything. I think he should have been happy, but I guess he’s pretty competitive; his dad is pretty competitive. It’s the strength of your ideas, not the power of your polls.
LB adds: I spoke to an Assembly Republican who asked not to be named out of respect for Kolb, who, as Nick noted, is holed up in an undiclosed location today – a very odd turn of events, since he’s a pretty chatty guy. Anyway, this legislator said he believed Kolb’s account of Cuomo’s call, adding: “I have no doubt that what he said to us is true; he was very mad when he got off the phone.”
“I was so ticked I had to calm myself down before I voted, although I realize that in a court of law this would be heresay,” the legislator told me. “This is what kolb said he said. It was completely unnecessary. It was never going to pass unanimously. I hope the governor understand that.”
In my experience, Kolb is a pretty straight shooter – maybe the straightest shooter at the Capitol. He doesn’t have a history of lying, or even bending the truth to suit his needs. Why he would start now is hard to fathom.
Now, if he would only return my call(s). Or Nick’s. Or someone’s.
Assembly GOPers For Romney
Dec 9th - 7:56 am
On the heels of Newt Gringrich’s high-profile NYC visit, two dozen Assembly Republicans – including Minority Leader Brian Kolb – have announced their support for the ex-House speaker’s top rival for the 2012 GOP nod (this week, anyway): Former Massachusetts’ Gov. Mitt Romney.
“Mitt Romney is the one candidate with the values and experience that will be needed to go up against President Obama in November,” Kolb said in a statement released by the Romney campaign.
“Throughout his life, Mitt Romney has displayed leadership in tough situations – that is exactly what will be needed to turn around our economy.”
Also backing Romney are the following Assembly members:
George Amedore, William Barclay, Phil Boyle, Dan Burling, Marc Butler, Nancy Calhoun, Robert Castelli, Jim Conte, Jane Corwin, Janet Duprey, Gary Finch, Joe Giglio, Al Graf, Steve Hawley, Tony Jordan, Daniel Losquadro, Marc Molinaro (departing to become Dutchess County executive), Mike Montesano, Dean Murray, Bob Oaks, Theresa Sayward, Lou Tobacco, Ray Walter. UPDATE: I just received an email from Assemblyman John Ceretto was accidentally left off this list. He’s supporting Romney, too.
Romney is quickly amassing support among New York’s Republicans. (Heading up his efforts here is a seasoned GOP consultant, Rob Cole, who spent a number of years working for ex-Gov. George Pataki).
Late last month, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos announced his support for the two-time presidential hopeful, and sources familiar with the GOP conference say the majority of its members are likely to follow suit soon.
(ICYMI: I asked Skelos during a CapTon interview Wednesday about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s potential 2016 run, and he said if he were a Democrat, he would be taking a careful look at the governor. He stopped short of crossing party lines to endorse Cuomo, however, saying simply: “I’m a Republican).
While President Obama’s approval rating has hovered just under the 50 percent mark here in New York, few really consider the Democrat-dominated state in play next year.
The selection of a GOP contender is of particular interest to the Senate Republicans, who need to get as much of their base as possible out to vote next year as they battle to retain control of the chamber following the redrawing – and if Cuomo has his way, ungerrymandering – of lines for the 62 (63? 61?) districts.
Kolb Declares Victory In 148th AD
Nov 9th - 12:33 pm
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb just issued a statement declaring Republican Raymond Walter the winner in the hard fought (and rather short-lived) race for the seat vacated by former GOP Assemblyman Jim Hayes, who departed in early September for a job in the private sector.
“Based on the unofficial vote results turned into the Board of Elections last night, our candidate Ray Walter maintains close to a 900 vote lead in the Special Election for the 148th Assembly District,” Kolb said. “We anticipate that once all the absentee and military ballots have been opened and counted next week that Ray Walter will be the next Assemblyman for the 148th District.”
“On behalf of our entire Assembly Republican Conference, I congratulate Ray and his family on all their hard work and tremendous win. We look forward to working with him as our Conference continues advancing real solutions to fix our economy, grow private sector jobs and deliver real tax relief to families and job creators.”
Keeping the 148th in GOP hands was a big deal for Kolb. Had the Democratic candidate, political newcomer Craig Bucki, succeeded, the Assembly majority would have seen its veto-proof majority restored – albeit at a rather precarious 100 seats. The race was close enough for DACC to take an interest and spend significant resources on this race.
Kolb told CapConf he’s confident his 51-member conference will hold, although he’s going to have to go through this whole exercise again when Assemblyman Marc Molinaro resigns to take the Dutchess County executive job he won last night.
In addition, the Democrats lost two members of their conference: Mark Schroeder’s seat (145th AD) out in Western NY up for grabs, as the WNY Democrat (and thorn in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s side) stepped down to run for Buffalo comptroller; and Republican-turned-Democrat Mike Spano (93rd AD) will be giving up his seat to start his new job as mayor of Yonkers.
Westchester is a battleground. The state GOP put a lot of resources into trying to help County Executive Rob Astorino end the Democratic grip on the local legislature by breaking its veto-proof majority. The fate of that effort hangs in the balance at the moment. It’s all coming down to a likely recount in a single district, which, I believe, is in Astorino’s home turf.
Silver: OWS Is Following Our Lead On Millionaire’s Tax
Oct 31st - 12:38 pm
ICYMI: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver did not take particularly kindly to the suggestion that the Occupy movement has provided momentum to his push to extend the so-called millionaire’s tax, or, in a nod to those (like Sen. Chuck Schumer) who argue the $250,000 threshold is too low, an increased levy on New Yorkers who make $1 million a year and up.
“I think we started our position on that long before anybody thought of Occupy Wall Street, and, you know, we obviously welcome the message and the ratification and all the polling across the country and certainly across the state indicates that the public supports us on that overwhelmingly,” the speaker told me during a Friday CapTon interview.
“And Occupy Wall Street has been very effective in putting that message out as well. But, we are not adopting their message. If anything, they are adopting what we did.”
(NOTE: Silver, who is an observant Jew, was insistent that I inform viewers/readers that this interview was taped before sundown, even though it ran shortly after 8 p.m. The main focus of the discussion was the speaker’s proposal to ban companies and people with investments in Iran’s energy sector from doing business with governments in New York. The speaker also expressed support for striking a balance between the needs of the protestors in Zuccotti Park, which is in his Lower East Side district, and those of the surrounding community).
The Occupy protests have raised the profile of the millionaire’s tax push, and also brought additional pressure on Gov. Andrew Cuomo – particularly after his failed effort to get Albany officials to evict demonstrators from Academy and Lafayette parks.
But Cuomo so far hasn’t shown any signs of weakening his opposition to the state-level millionaire’s tax (the federal level is OK, he says), and today he got some extra back-up from Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, who said he wouldn’t go along with a veto override, in the unlikely event that things get that far next year.
Although the Assembly Republicans are still, proportionally speaking, the least-powerful legislative conference, Kolb has won enough seats in recent years to break the Democrats’ veto-proof majority, whittling their number to 99. Silver has repeatedly downplayed the whole veto-proof majority thing, noting that past overrides have always included both Democrats and Republicans.
Kolb Mails Cuomo: Vision Policy ‘Inexplicable’
Sep 30th - 4:08 pm
Add Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb to the growing list of officials who have concerns about allowing drivers to opt of the vision tests at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Kolb, in a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, points out that the administration has sounded the right notes so far when it comes to driver safety, including the tough texting while-driving-measure.
All of these steps have made a positive difference as traffic fatalitiesin New York State have been on the decline.
However, this latest, inexplicable policy reversal by the State DMV could undo years of success by allowing motorists with questionable, poor and even bad eyesight to remain behind the wheeland continue driving when they clearly should not be doing so without corrective measures.
The Cuomo administration earlier today put a hold on the policy, which took effect Wednesday, while it reviews the merits.
Letter From Leader Kolb to Governor Cuomo Requesting Reversal of DMV Policy Change, Sept 29, 2011
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