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Fuschillo: Time To ‘Re-Evaluate’ PA Leadership
Aug 18th - 12:52 pm
Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Charles Fuschillo is calling on Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie to re-evaluate the leadership at the Port Authority.
The statement from the Long Island Republican doesn’t go as far as calling for Executive Director Chris Ward to step down, but he does say Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s unflattering overtime audit, combined with the proposed toll increases shows the authority’s management needs to be scrutinized.
And Fuschillo points to the recent stories about the costs for rebuilding the World Trade Center running $2 billion over budget under the authority’s watch.
All this adds up to a bad trend for Fuschillo.
“Families and businesses have been tightening their belts and doing more with less to make ends meet. They’ll have to work even harder to do that if these toll increases are approved. That’s the example the Porty Authority should be following, but clearly is not,” Fuschillo said in a statement.
Cuomo, who denied that he knew about the proposed steep bridge and tunnel increases, has sidestepped questions about Ward’s future with the authority, saying he wants facts before making a judgment.
DiNapoli: Port Authority Not Watching Overtime (Update)
Aug 17th - 3:42 pm
In what could be bad news for Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office revealed in an audit today that the PA has failed to curb excessive overtime.
The report from DiNapoli’s office comes as the Port Authority has proposed steep toll increases for its bridges and tunnels leading into New York City.
“Overtime flows like water at the Port Authority and management has no clear strategy to achieve its own benchmarks and goals for curbing costs,” DiNapoli said. “Every agency in this state is tightening its belt. Before the Port Authority asks for more money to fund its operations, the agency should take a long, hard look at whether its business model for managing overtime really makes sense.”
In 2010, the authority paid $85.7 million of overtime to 5,360 of its 6,977 employees, with the majority going to PATH train and public safety employees. Meanwhile, 24 employees in 2009 had their salaries effectively doubled thanks to their overtime pay.
The overtime came despite a 2010 directive from both New York and New Jersey that called for a 20-percent reduction in overtime costs at the authority.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has declined to comment about Ward’s future leading the Port Authority. With the Sept. 11 anniversary less than a month away, it is unlikely Cuomo would seek a change at the top of the PA, however.
Update: PA spokesman Ron Marsico responds.
“The Port Authority just received this report and we take it very seriously. We will continue to cut costs and make sure we value every dollar as we work to meet the region’s needs.”
NY Dems Want Obama To Rethink S-Comm Mandate
Aug 16th - 3:37 pm
Led by Sen. Gustavo Rivera, 20 NYC Democrats have written a letter to President Obama, calling on him to reconsider his decision that mandates state participation in the federal Secure Communities program – regardless of what their governors want.
Back in June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo temporarily suspended NY’s participation in what has come to be known as “S-Comm,” which compels local law enforcement officers to share information about new arrests with federal immigration authorities.
The goal is to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records. But S-Comm critics like Rivera say the program has disproportionately impacted immigrants who have committed either no offenses or relatively minor crimes, but are deported anyway.
Two other governors – Deval Patrick, of Massachusetts; and Patrick Quinn, of Illinois – also quit S-Comm. The Obama administration, however, quietly decided to scrap the S-Comm contracts signed by the states, basically rescinding their ability to opt out of the program.
During a CapTon interview last week, Rivera, who worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign, largely declined to slam the president for this decision, other than to say he was “disappointed” by it. He also side-stepped questions about what impact this might have on Obama’s standing with Latinos – an important voting bloc heading into the 2012 election.
Rivera did say that everything is on the table in terms of fighting the S-Comm decision – including a lawsuit, which is a route at least one organization in Obama’s hometown of Chicago has already taken, filing a class action suit against the Department of Homeland Security.
The list of signees on the letter than appears below isn’t terrible surprising, although it’s worth noting that all four of the most-mentioned Democratic 2013 NYC mayoral contenders – Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Manhattan BP Scott Stringer – are on there.
Still no word from the Cuomo administration about S-Comm, although, to be fair, I don’t believe the governor has been asked about it yet, either.
The Schumer Factor
Aug 16th - 1:38 pm
Two Democratic special election hopefuls – congressional candidate David Weprin and Assembly contender Phil Goldfeder – are touting their endorsements by Sen. Chuck Schumer today, hoping the powerful senior senator’s name recognition and popularity helps carry them to victory on Sept. 13.
In his statement in support of Weprin, Schumer hewed to what has become the campaign’s standard line of attack (without naming names, in this case) against his GOP opponent, Bob Turner, saying Weprin is “the only candidate” who will stand up for the middle class and protect entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security against “extreme right-wing Republican policies.”
Schumer is likely to make an in-person appearance on Weprin’s behalf as the election draws closer. He discussed his support of Weprin today with YNN’s Bill Carey during a stop in Syracuse. (We’ll be bringing you that video in a moment).
The senator did appear for Goldfeder at a press conference in Lindenwood yesterday. This makes sense, since Goldfeder was, until this campaign began, the senator’s director of intergovernmental affairs.
“I’ve seen Phil in action. He’s a hard worker, a fighter and he has a deep passion for public service,” Schumer said.
“Phil will take that energy to the state Assembly and he won’t rest until he tackles the number one issue on everyone’s mind – which is jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Goldfeder is running for the seat vacated by former Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, who gave up her seat to become Queens County clerk.
Weprin, who essentially traded his old NYC Council seat for the Assembly seat that belonged to his brother, Mark, after losing a 2009 NYC comptroller bid, is running for the seat of disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner.
A recent Siena poll found Schumer, who held a version of NY-9 prior to the last round of redistricting, has a high favorability rating in the district (over 60 percent), and his endorsement is likely to hold some weight there.
Trouble is, the same goes for former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, who is backing Turner. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has not yet formally endorsed Weprin, but has said he’ll do whatever he can to be helpful, is also very popular in NY-9.
Theoretically, Schumer also might help move Jewish voters. Both Goldfeder and Weprin, who, according to Siena, was leading among Jews, are observant.
Turner has not ceded the Jewish vote, however. He spent last weekend campaigning in the Catskills in hopes of swaying Orthodox Jews vacationing upstate.
NRCC Robos Rep. Bishop (Updated)
Aug 16th - 8:52 am
The National Republican Congressional Committee is out with a new robocall targeting Democratic incumbent Tim Bishop in the tightly contested NY-1 congressional seat.
In the robocall, the GOP accuses Bishop of “punishing the middle class”.
“Rep. Bishop’s refusal to cut spending and balance our budget is hurting our economy, leaving families with higher prices for everyday items during these tough times,” said NRCC Spokesman Tory Mazzola.
“We plan to hold Rep. Bishop accountable for his failed tax-and-spend record that is stifling job creation, punishing small business owners and helping only Nancy Pelosi’s big government agenda.”
Bishop was one of 95 House Democrats who voted for the final bill that raised the debt ceiling, and created the super committee that is going to look at ways to cut spending over the next few months.
Before that, he voted against all of the other debt ceiling votes on the House floor, which Democrats criticized as a waste of time.
That included the so-called “Cut, Cap and Balance plan,” which only 5 House Democrats supported. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid didn’t let it come to the floor for a vote in the Senate. Also, President Obama said he would have vetoed the plan if it came to his desk.
Rep. Bishop is one of the NRCC’s biggest targets for 2012. In 2010, Bishop defeated Randy Altschuler by only a few hundred votes.
Altschuler is running again this year, but it appears he is going to face a primary (yet again) against George Demos – something both the state Republican Party and the state Conservative party want to avoid.
In 2010, a 3 way Republican primary appeared to hurt Altschuler’s campaign and his chances of winning the election, even though he handily defeated by Demos and Christopher Cox, the son of state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.
Complete text of the call is after the jump. UPDATE: You can listen to it here.
Cuomo: Butts Out On MTA Platforms
Aug 15th - 12:28 pm
In what will surely bring a howls of “you can’t smoke anywhere in New York” (at least they’ll be howls from clean lungs!) Gov. Andrew Cuomo today approved a measure that would ban smoking on outdoor MTA platforms.
The ban approved by the governor would cover all ticket booths, boarding and platform areas, including the Long Island Railroad. Smoking is already banned on subway platforms in and around New York City.
The new measure is aimed at further curbing second smoke in public areas, Cuomo said in a statement
“It is important that commuters are not unwillingly subject to the dangers of second-hand smoke while waiting on train platforms,” Governor Cuomo said. “Exposure to second-hand smoke can lead to serious health problems for non-smokers and this law will make outdoor MTA train platforms, ticketing and boarding areas a cleaner, healthier place for all commuters. We must continue to work to protect New Yorkers and improve public health, and I thank Senator Fuschillo and Assemblywoman Jaffee for sponsoring this important legislation.”
The measure was sponsored by Sen. Charles Fuschillo and Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee.
Queens Dem Condemns Turner Mosque Ad, Demands Apology
Aug 12th - 12:17 pm
Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, a Queens Democrat who says he was a responder to Ground Zero on and after 9/11, released a statement today condemning GOP NY-9 candidate Bob Turner for using footage of the burning Twin Towners in his first campaign ad.
DenDekker accused Turner of not only employing what he deemed a “cheap campaign trick,” but also stooping to “a form of emotional manipulation that just isn’t appropriate on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in world history.”
“As a responder on and after 9/11, I was distressed to see how Mr. Turner and his campaign twisted the tragic events of that day to suit his own insensitive purposes,” DenDekker continued.
“I was attached to the New York City Office of Emergency Management, and I don’t remember seeing Bob Turner anywhere on 9/11 – but I do recall seeing scores of firefighters, police officers, first responders, and civilians all heroically working together to save lives without regard to their personal safety.”
DenDekker then turned Turner’s own words against him, calling for the businessman to practice the “personal responsibility” that he preaches by removing the “insensitive and embarrassing ad” from the airwaves and apologizing to everyone who lost someone on 9/11 as well as to first responders and civilians who are still struggling to recover from the horrific memories of that fateful day.
DenDekker is clearly acting as a surrogate here for Turner’s Democratic opponent, Assemblyman David Weprin, (who, for the record, I don’t believe rushed to Ground Zero on 9/11, either – but, then again, he’s not the one trying to exploit this issue for political gain).
Weprin also never said he supported construction of the so-called Ground Zero mosque, per se, but rather that he backed the right of the individuals behind the Park51 project to build wherever they wanted.
However, he also said he would prefer to see a “compromise” of the sort then-Gov. David Paterson was pushing, which would have resulted in a new site.
Much was written yesterday about whether it’s even wise for Turner to be resurrecting this whole mosque mess, since the undeniably polarizing issue didn’t work so well for last year’s GOP/Conservative gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio.
No Holding The Olives For Klein
Aug 11th - 4:41 pm
Here’s Sen. Jeff Klein bringing some labor-themed pizza to protesting CWA workers outside of Verizon offices in the Bronx.
Tireless Klein spokesman Rich Azzopardi says the IDC senator stood in solidariy with the workers and also brought them some water.
Naturally, in Albany, there’s no pizza, but the inflatable rat made an appearance at Verizon’s State Street offices. So there’s that.
RIP Hugh L. Carey, 1919-2011
Aug 11th - 1:31 pm
Here’s the program from the late Gov. Hugh Carey’s very moving funeral service held at St. Patrick Cathedral this morning. Archbishop Timothy Dolan was the celebrant for the funeral mass, but the man who really stole the show (so to speak) was his predecessor, Edward Cardinal Egan.
Egan recalled Carey as a friend, a family man, a person of strong faith and convictions and a “political leader par excellence.” He also spoke of Carey’s less serious side, particularly his love of song, joking that he was certain the former governor is already under contract with the Seraphim in heaven and leading them all in joyful praise of the Lord.
Also present was Albany Catholic Diocese Bishop Howard Hubbard, who was close to Carey during his two, four-year terms in the governor’s office. (For those not in the know, the executive mansion is the next-door neighbor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Albany’s Eagle Street).
Many current and former elected officials attended Carey’s funeral mass, including, but not limited to: Gov. Andrew Cuomo; former Gov. Mario Cuomo and his wife, former First Lady Matilda Cuomo; former Gov. George Pataki; Sen. Chuck Schumer; Mayor Bloomberg; former Mayor Rudy Giuliani; former Mayor David Dinkins; Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings; Reps. Peter King and Charlie Rangel; former LG Richard Ravitch.
None of these political luminaries spoke, however. The service was very much a family affair. A number of Carey’s 11 surviving children and a few of his 25 grandchildren either did readings or offered up very personal recollections of their father/grandfather. (He also has six great-grandchildren and many extended family members – so many that Dolan gently joked they probably filled half of St. Patrick’s all on their own).
While Mario and Matilda Cuomo went up to take holy communion, Gov. Cuomo did not.
(This has been an issue of contention, thanks largely to a professor/blogger/consultant to the Vatican’s highest court, Edward N. Peters, who has said the governor should be denied communion because he lives with his longtime girlfriend, Food Network star Sandra Lee, without being married to her. Lee was not at St. Patrick’s today. Hubbard has said Cuomo’s right to communion is a private matter).
I don’t believe Giuliani took communion, either. The former mayor and Egan had a rather public tiff over communion back in 2008.
At the time, Egan, then still the head of the New York Archdiocese, accused Giuliani, who was both a former mayor and ex-presidential contender by then, of breaking their “understanding” by taking communion during the Pope’s visit to the Big Apple.
At issue was Giuliani’s support of abortion rights, not his marital status (his first marriage was annulled; he divorced his second wife and is now married to his third), which, for the record, Gov. Cuomo also supports.
Egan briefly mentioned during his remarks that Carey, who personally opposed abortion yet championed Medicaid coverage for them while he was in office, later said he deeply regretted that stance.
Carey will be buried today on Shelter Island, the site of his family vacation home, where he died last weekend at the age of 92.
Bloomberg Challenges Census, Seconded By Gillibrand
Aug 10th - 2:45 pm
Apparently the federal government didn’t account for all the hipsters moving into Bay Ridge.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg today challenged the Census count for parts of Brooklyn and Queens, including Bay Ridge, Bensonhurts, Astoria and Jackson Heights — “which are among the most vibrant areas in New York City,” the mayor’s office said.
Bloomberg sent a letter to Census Director Robert Groves to challenge the findings.
“It is our expectation that the City’s population could increase by tens of thousands of New Yorkers if the errors from those two Census offices alone were corrected,” he writes.
Bloomberg notes in a news release that the count will not mean the city loses a seat in the House of Representatives. However, it does appear possible New York would lose one upstate district as well as a seat in one of the outerboroughs if the Census numbers hold.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, meanwhile, seconded Bloomberg’s call for a challenge and wrote a letter of her own to Groves.
“While I am aware that extensive measures were taken by the Department to ensure that Census 2010 was the most inclusive in our history, I along with the Mayor, maintain that there is a significant undercount of New York City population growth,” she said.
Asked for his reaction, Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier today said he was yet to see Bloomberg’s challenge to the Census data.
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