Brian Kolb

Kolb to Bloomberg: Apologize To Indians

Sep 1st - 2:52 pm

Posted by Liz Benjamin in Albany

2 comments

Here’s Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb telling me during an interview that will air this evening on “Capital Tonight” that Mayor Bloomberg – a major donor to the Assembly GOP – should consider apologizing for his cowboy hat and shotgun comment that so enraged upstate Native Americans.

Kolb said he agreed with Gov. David Paterson that Bloomberg’s comment was “totally inappropriate.” The mayor has so far refused to heed calls for him to apologize, even though he has been lambasted and protested on his home turf by the Indians.

“You know, the mayor is sort of a free-wheeling, free-thinking sort of guy, and sometimes he, I think maybe, was trying to be funny, and I don’t think that was a funny or appropriate comment whatsoever,” Kolb told me.

“You’re not going to resolve really, these emotional issues by making further emotional statements, and that’s why I’m saying that everybody needs to calm down.”

So, an apology would be in order then?

“If it would help calm, shall we say, the sensitive, the sensitivity of people, yes,” the minority leader said. “It doesn’t hurt to say: ‘Hey,, I shouldn’t have probably said that. I’m sorry.’ And then we could move forward. I don’t think that would hurt one bit.”

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Jun 22nd - 1:14 pm

Posted by Liz Benjamin in Albany

3 comments

The legislative leaders – Democrats AND Republicans, minus Senate Democratic Conference Leader, due to a scheduling snafu – and Gov. David Paterson met at noon today for a quickie closed-door confab and came away with…no deal.

Sadly, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s prediction that there would be a final agreement by yesterday or today is looking less and less likely. Scuttlebutt around the Capitol is that negotiations could drag on into July.

(That would be the second Glorious Fourth I spend working in Albany – last year we were all held hostage by the Senate coup).

Capital Tonight’s Kaitlyn Ross staked out the meeting, but she didn’t have to wait long. Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb summed it up thusly: “We said hello, and then we said goodbye.” However, there was one bright spot, since, as Newsday’s James T. Madore noted, the leaders managed to pronounce Kolb’s name right.

Silver said on a scale of one to 10 – with one being close to Planet Deal and 10 being, well, maybe Mars? – the leaders and Paterson are at “about three, maybe two.”

The fivesome – with Sampson this time – is now settled into leaders meeting No. 2. Perhaps this one will be more fruitful.

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