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Andrew Cuomo
Schumer Returns To His Roots
Jan 9th - 2:49 pm
Sen. Chuck Schumer paid a rare visit to the state Capitol today and spent some time reminiscing about the three terms he served in the state Assembly (from 1975 to 1980, after which he went on to the House).
“I love it here,” Schumer told reporters during an impromptu gaggle outside the LCA on the Capitol’s third floor. “This is where I got my start and I have good relationships with most of the people.”
“I would be third in seniority had I stayed, behind (Dick) Gottfried and (Joe) Lentol. (Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver) and I used to go play basketball together when he came in two years after I did. The lounge is much improved they used to have six kinds of Lipton soup in the packet. Chicken. Tomato. Now they have many other better things to eat…I love the Assembly. I miss it, it’s where I got my training.”
Schumer, who is now the state’s senior senator and one of the most powerful and influential Democrats in the country, showed up to his old stomping grounds to support the Assembly’s passage of the Iran Divestment Act to bar companies that invest in Iran’s energy industry from doing business with the state.
(Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos joined Silver at a press conference this afternoon to announce his house would also pass the bill, but Schumer didn’t mention the GOP-controlled Senate while chatting with reporters).
Schumer was also scheduled to meet with leaders of the Senate Democratic conference to discuss their re-match with the Republicans this fall for control of the majority. Schumer is a prodigious fundraising and well-known figure in New York. His assistance would undoubtedly be greatly appreciated by the Democrats, who have yet to receive – at least not publicly – a confirmation that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be 100 percent in their corner come November.
Plus, there’s the little problem of the IDC, whose four members could be kingmakers next year and have not only made it clear that they won’t support either Democratic Leader John Sampson or DSCC Chair Mike Gianaris should the Democrats come within shooting distance of the majority, but also are trying to grow their own ranks – perhaps even through primaries.
Schumer said he was not scheduled to meet today with Cuomo, even though the governor is in town. He said the two of them talk on the phone all the time, and he wanted to focus on the Legislature today.
Cuomo Defends Convention Center, Buffalo Investment
Jan 9th - 11:37 am
Gov. Cuomo this morning defended many of the bold and controversial proposals he floated in last week’s state of the state address.
Cuomo said on TALK 1300 that the role of this state government is to bring dramatic change when speaking about building the nation’s potentially largest convention center at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
“I don’t want to be an incremental governor,” said Gov. Cuomo.
“Change brings controversy. Change excites people, it threatens people.”
Cuomo says the 3.8 billion-square-foot center would create “tens of thousands of construction and permanent jobs” and could open the area up to an economic boom down the road–comparing it to the successful redevelopment of the Battery Park City.
“The Javits [Convention Center] reuse, which has been advocated by many planning associations for many years, could open up a new generation of development for the west side of Manhattan.”
The governor also defended the decision to award the Buffalo area with additional $1 dollars in economic development money, saying the region has suffered from “long, festering problems people knew needed attention.”
“We are one tax base, we are one balance sheet,” said Cuomo.
“If buffalo is not contributing to the balance sheet, they’re costing the balance sheet.”
The Western New York region was also recently awarded more than $100 million in Regional Economic Development grants.
Cuomo Spox: Intervention Not The Answer
Jan 6th - 2:57 pm
After Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he would like to see Gov. Andrew Cuomo get involved in the ongoing dispute between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the United Federation of Teachers over how to evaluate teachers, the Cuomo administration is batting down the idea.
From Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto:
“The Governor was very clear in the State of the State that the teacher evaluation system is flawed,” Vlasto wrote in an email statement. “The answer is not that the Governor should intervene in a specific dispute between a mayor and a local union, but rather that we need a better system statewide.”
Silver was on Fred Dicker’s show earlier today saying that the dispute over teacher evaluations, which is costing the city schools millions of dollars in School Improvement Grants, is troubling.
Silver said, “I’m disappointed, first of all, that the unions and various school districts couldn’t come together on an agreement. I would like to see the governor intercede and bring the various parties together.”
Was Buffalo’s $1B Politically Motivated?
Jan 6th - 2:54 pm
Monroe County GOP Chairman Bill Reilich thinks so.
There has been a lot of complaining by upstate leaders since Gov. Anderw Cuomo announced in his State of the State address Wednesday that Buffalo would be singled out for special treatment. The “what about us” chorus started up almost immediately, particularly from officials in Rochester (hometown of former mayor-turned-LG Bb Duffy), who feel they’ve been particularly screwed by the state of late and were also reeling from the news of Kodak’s likely bankruptcy filing.
Cuomo told The Buffalo News the city is deserving because it has “unique needs,” and he recognized there would be the inevitable complaints from other upstate communities.
“You look at newspapers today, and you’ll see I’m criticized by other parts of the state for focusing on Buffalo,” the governor said. “I say, ‘You’re right. I’m focusing on Buffalo because I believe Buffalo has a great need and I believe Buffalo’s needs have been ignored for a long time.”
Reilich, whose county is home to the city of Rochester, was in Albany for the State of the State. He told YNN’s Casey Bortnick he was surprised to hear the governor call for $25 billion worth of new spending, even though that’s intended to be a mix of state, federal and private dollars, saying he’s unsure New York is in a position to spend that kind of money.
In addition, the chairman was predictably unhappy to see spending at either end of the state – Buffalo and NYC, where Cuomo wants to see construction of a 3.8 million square foot convention center that theoretically would be attached to a casino – with nothing in between. He suggested politics might have motivated this move.
“Buffalo has newly elected county exec, a Democrat, and maybe that’s why those dollars are going there,” Reilich said at about the 8:08 minute mark in this video.
NOTE: This is a rather lengthy interview, that focuses mostly on state GOP Chairman Ed Cox’s announcement that this year’s convention will be held in Rochester. Reilich is, not surprisingly, very pleased by this turn of events, and hinted there will likely be a “nationally known figure” attending to drum up interest. He did not reveal who that might be.
Klein Heartened By DNA Database Proposal
Jan 6th - 2:01 pm
Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, is encouraged by the news that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is focusing on an expansion of the state’s criminal DNA database.
Klein, the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, was the author of a 2009 report that recommending DNA collection upon arrest for certain felonies.
Cuomo proposed in his State of the State address on Wednesday that law enforcement collect the DNA of those found guilty of any felony or Penal Law misdemeanor.
“New York has the dubious distinction of having more than 10 percent of the country’s cold cases, and less than 5 percent of criminal DNA profiles in the U.S. That’s why I sponsor legislation that would expand New York State’s DNA Databank,” Klein said. “I applaud Governor Cuomo for making DNA Databank expansion a priority this legislative session. By expanding the Databank, we will give law enforcement one more tool to bring criminals to justice, clear those who have been wrongly accused, and prevent more New Yorkers from becoming future victims of horrible crimes.”
Cuomo Deploys Cabinet To Spread SOS Message
Jan 6th - 10:23 am
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is sending cabinet members around the state today to spread the message of his State of the State address, with events scheduled in different corners of New York.
Some of the commissioners, many of them former elected officials and lawmakers, are heading to their geographic home bases — Deputy Secretary for Local Government Dede Scozzafava is heading to Plattsburgh, OGS Commissioner RoAnn Destito is going to Utica — in order to discuss this next set of priorities.
Cuomo proposed what’s been framed by some — quite confusingly — as either an ambitious second-year agenda that includes job creation with a convention center in Queens and a billion-dollar investment in Buffalo or a scaled-back set of goals compared to last year’s successful push for same-sex marraige and a property tax cap.
There’s no word yet if the governor himself will hit the road as he did last year following his first State of the State address.
Recall that last year Cuomo went on something of a whirlwind tour of the state, not unlike a president does following the State of the Union, to give addresses tailored-made to the region he was in.
Another tour was made following the approval of the budget, with Cuomo pushing for a property tax cap, the extension of rent control, same-sex marriage and an ethics overhaul (he ran the table on all those).
The deployment of the cabinet yet again is also a hallmark of the Cuomo administration: The governor has used his cabinet members in very public rolls to promote his agenda and certainly the familiar faces of a city’s former member of the assembly doesn’t hurt.
A full schedule of today’s events after the jump. More >
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.”
Well, Doesn’t This Look NICE
Jan 5th - 2:56 pm
Here’s an interior shot of the bridge of the USS Enterprise proposed convention center adjacent to the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
They’re calling it the The New York International Convention and Exhibition Center, or “NICE.” Expect to that acronym thrown around a lot in the coming months. 
As Ken L. reported in The DN this morning, Genting New York and the state have actually been planning this for a while, with a letter of agreement inked on Tuesday. (Update: I incorrectly reported when the letter was signed earlier.)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his second State of the State address yesterday that the new convention center would be a major economic boost to Queens, while providing for an alternative to the Jacob Javitts Center.
Here’s a fact sheet via Genting.
Cuomo, The Preacher Man (Updated)
Jan 5th - 1:34 pm
Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., one of the few lawmakers who hasn’t been shy about publicly voicing his criticism of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (and pretty much anyone else – and there are many – with whom he disagrees), had some rare words of praise for his fellow Democrat after the governor delivered his second State of the State address yesterday.
“He’s a good preacher; he preaches better than I do,” a jovial Diaz Sr. said. “He should become a rabbi or a priest or something.”
Since Cuomo is an Italian Catholic, becoming a rabbi would be a real trick. Diaz Sr., as you’ll recall, is a Pentecostal minister.
In reviewing Cuomo’s speech, the Bronx lawmaker also managed to get in a dig at another fellow elected official he often singles out for criticism: Mayor Bloomberg.
“Education, I hope, I honestly say this, I hope that he could do better than Bloomberg because what he said today he’s going to do, Bloomberg said that he was going to do that,” the senator said. And Bloomberg was a fiasco in education. So I hope that Governor Cuomo means what he said and that our children will finally, finally our children will get someone to defend them.”
UPDATE: Now that he has had more time to think about Cuomo’s speech, Diaz Sr. has apparently found more he doesn’t like. He released a statement expressing his “ardent” disagreement with the governor’s call to expand casino gambling in the state and also to expand the statewide DNA database to include anyone convicted of a felony or penal law misdemeanor. (Specifically, Cuomo said he wants NY to become the first state to collect DMA on “all crimes”).
“Governor Cuomo has already legalized gay marriage,” Diaz Sr. said. “Now he wants to legalize casino gambling. What’s next – legalizing prostitution and marijuana and drugs – all in good ‘faith’ to make money to raise tax revenues for the State?”
The senator’s full statement appears after the jump.
State Of The State Slideshow
Jan 4th - 4:44 pm
Check out some of the moments from Gov. Cuomo’s second State of the State address.
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