Dean Skelos

Add Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to the list of lawmakers concerned with the memorandum of understanding struck by the Department of Taxation and Finance that would allow investigators in the state Inspector General’s office to access tax returns of state employees.

“They deputized I think 64 people including people that are former reporters that are now the communication director for the IG’s office. I don’t see why that type of person should have access to a person’s tax return,” Skelos told reporters this afternoon. “It should be very limited. I believe there should be judicial intervention if there’s a crime being committed.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday also said he was concerned with the arrangement.

Earlier this morning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State Director of Operations Howard Glaser told Fred Dicker on Talk-1300 that the concerns over the MOU were somewhat overblown. The IG’s office already has much of the power described in the initial Times Union story, he said.

“I saw that the MOU that was reported on does not expand or reduce power,” Glaser told Fred. “It sets up a process for a request of the information and sets up required training.”

The move is being seen, however, as something of a power play by the administration, which already has a reputation for increasing executive authority.

In the press scrum, Skelos also reacted to the comptroller’s report this morning that criticized the lack of transparency in the budget process from the Cuomo administration, namely the power being sought to move line items around the budget without approval.

“If the governor thinks it would be more efficient for the money to be spent another way, more efficient, then we’ll work it out,” Skelos said. “But the Legislature has to be part of that process.”

The Senate is also leaving town as two major items remain unresolved: setting a new primary date for state elections and allowing an exemption on religious groups in public schools. More from the scrum in the video below.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos insisted this morning the redistricted lines as drawn by the lawmaker-driven commission known as LATFOR are not partisan, despite the criticism from good-government groups, minority advocacy organizations and newspaper editorial boards.

“There are probably a majority of the districts in the state that are more Democrat than Republican. I don’t believe this has been a partisan redistricting process,” Skelos said after a news conference on the introduction of a bill that would expand the state’s DNA database.

Sen. Mike Gianaris, D-Queens, in the hallway just now called that claim “a joke.”

In his first public comments since the proposed maps, which include a 63rd Senate district, were released last week, Skelos said he expected some of the lines to be altered following the weeks of public hearings.

“We’ll be taking testimony and there’s certainly the possbility that some of these lines will be changed,” Skelos told reporters.

Skelos confirmed that there have been some preliminary talks “at the staff level” regarding the passage of a Constitutional amendment that would create some form of independent redistricting, but that would not take practical effect until the 2020 census in time for the 2022 elections.

“I have not had any conversation with the governor concerning a veto or no veto,” Skelos said. “There have been in the past, I believe that in order to truly follow the Constitution, you have to amend the Constitution. There has been at the staff level concerning a resolution that would pass this year, pass next year, that would go to voters, to amend the Constitution regarding the redistricting proces as it is now.”

Complicating the redistricting process has been U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe’s ruling that the state hold its Congressional primaries on June 26. Senate Republicans had pushed for August in order to comply with a federal law.

That ruling sets up the possibility of three primary dates this year: one for Congressional elections, one for state elections and a third for the presidential primary in April. Sharpe did leave some wiggle room in his ruling. The Legislature would have to act on the primary date and could change the Congressional date as well.

“It’s not my druthers,” Skelos said of the possibility of three primaries. “Certainly there will be two. The judge has said it shouldn’t be August, but that’s certainly something we’ll discuss with the Assembly.”