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Lieutenant Governor
Cuomo Sets Economic Council Meetings (Update)
Aug 1st - 1:49 pm
Gov. Andrew Cuomo today announced the first meetings for the 10 regional economic development councils, with the inaugural events being held this week.
Update: These won’t be public meetings. Rather, the councils will hold an organizational meeting and then follow that with a media availability. At the news conference, they’ll announce future public and private meetings. It’s all a bit questionable, since they’re talking about dividing up $1 billion public funds for economic-development aid.
The first meetings will be held Wednesday in Buffalo and Monroe County (a full schedule is after the jump).
Cuomo created the councils as a “bottom up approach” to job creation. The councils will compete for a $1 billion pool of money for tax credits and grants.
The competitive process will create both winners and losers, Cuomo said, with some regions losing out on the funds.
Cuomo, along with Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy, crisscrossed the state last week promoting the councils and announcing who would serve on them.
Duffy will be the councils’ chairman.
Cuomo also announced last week a sort of super committee that will oversee all 10 of the regional committees, which was set up to manage and streamline the process.
“The members of the state’s Regional Councils are true leaders in their respective industries,” Duffy said in a statement. “Involving community stakeholders and focusing on local economies will finally allow New York to identify and take advantage of the assets offered by different regions in the state. As Chair of the Regional Councils, I look forward to beginning our work together to open New York up for business and make our plans for economic development and job creation a reality.”
Senate Considers Lt. Gov. Appointment Bill (Update)
Jun 7th - 10:14 am
The Senate will consider a bill today that would create a succession plan for the lieutenant governor, fixing an issue that could have ended the 2009 leadership coup early.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Joe Griffo, R-Rome, would allow the governor to fill the lieutenant governor’s office if there’s a vacancy. The pick would be subject to Senate approval. There is no Assembly same-as measure.
The lack of a succession plan went into relief in 2009, when two Democratic lawmakers — Sens. Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate — joined with Republicans to overthrow the Democratic majority.
When Monserrate switch back to the Democratic fold, the Senate was tied 30-30. Because Eliot Spitzer had resigned in disgrace leaving Gov. David Paterson in charge, the temporary president of the Senate became the acting lieutenant governor.
It was unclear during the coup if Dean Skelos was filling that job or if it was Pedro Espada — that latter of which was an especially horrifying prospect for good-government groups and Democratic lawmakers. Paterson tried to appoint Richard Ravitch to fill the job, but then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said the appointment was illegal.
The Court of Appeals, however, ruled in favor of Paterson.
From the bill memo:
The recent vacancy in the office of Lieutenant-Governor has called attention to the fact that under current law, there is no method available to appoint a new Lieutenant-Governor. This bill would enact a system identical to the one used under the Federal Constitution to fill a vacancy in the office of the Vice-President. Requiring separate votes from each House of the Legislature, rather than a single vote in joint
session, ensures that no single House has enough votes to confirm the nomination by itself.
UPDATE:
Senator Griffo tells CapTon that he is going to lay the bill aside today, because it doesn’t have an Assembly sponsor. He has introduced this bill for the past 4 years, even before the Senate coup. He tells us that the inspiration for the bill actually came from Alfred DelBello’s resignation back in 1985.
Duffy Made More Than Cuomo In 2010
Apr 18th - 3:43 pm
Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy last year made more money in 2010 than his boss, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, thanks in part to his Rochester police pension.
Cuomo and Duffy both made available their tax returns today, something of a change from last year when the then-attorney general filed for an extension on his tax returns.
Cuomo reported an income of $148,609 and is due to receive a return from the feds for $8,050. He owes $3,582 in state taxes.
The governor listed the Westchester County residence of his girlfriend, TV chef Sandra Lee, as his full-time address. But he also paid $6,397 taxes for being a full-time New York City resident “out of an abundance of caution,” spokesman John Milgrim said.
Cuomo donated $10,000 to Help USA, the anti-homelessness organization he founded.
Duffy, who filed jointly with wife Barbara, reported $193,134 in income, with $122,879 from his job as mayor of Rochester and $70,255 from his police pension.
Barbara Duffy worked as a human resources consultant for St. John Fischer and reported a $42,600 in income.
The Duffys owed the federal government an additional $3,323 and are due to receive a $840 refund from the state.
Duffy reported donating $2,825 worth of clothes to Goodwill (quite a bit more than the $150 worth of clothes David Paterson gave) and gave $3,445 in cash donations. Details of the cash donations were not immediately available.
Dept Of There But For The Grace Of (Insert Preferred Deity Here)
Aug 2nd - 3:07 pm
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown released the following statement today:
“My son Byron was arrested this past Saturday, charged with petit larceny and issued an appearance ticket. My wife and I are greatly disappointed by this extremely poor judgment by our son.
“Although this is a private family matter, I want to make it clear that my son Byron will cooperate fully with the authorities throughout the ensuing legal process.”
The Buffalo News has more, reporting that Byron Brown Jr., 19, was accused of trying to shoplift items from the A.J. Wright store in Delaware Consumer Square in North Buffalo. He was accused of attempting to take clothing and an electronic device.
Also, there’s some history here, the News reminds us:
Ravitch And Gov To Meet
Jun 21st - 10:26 am
LG Richard Ravitch is scheduled to meet in Albany this afternoon with Gov. David Paterson amid multiple reports in recent weeks that the relationship between the governor and his hand-picked No. 2 has been strained almost to a breaking point.
A Paterson administration source confirms the get-together is scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. and the LG is traveling from NYC, where he has been spending the bulk of his time, at the governor’s request.
Neither Ravitch nor Paterson has been shy about confirming they are at odds over the mulit-year borrowing/budget reform plan the LG proposed in March.
More >
Duffy Stands with (Some) Union Members
Jun 16th - 3:29 pm
As we reported yesterday, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Robert Duffy met with striking workers at the Mott’s processing plant in Williamson, NY this afternoon.
YNN’s Mike Hedeen reports the Rochester Mayor told the striking employees he supports their cause and will do what he can to get them back to the negotiating table with Mott’s parent company, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.
Some may see this as Duffy riding both sides of the fence when it comes to union support. Rochester police and firefighters have been working the last two years without a contract. As mayor of Rochester, Duffy (who is the city’s former police chief) is putting his foot down when it comes to overtime for police and firefighters.
Duffy insists the Mott’s situation is different.
“You need businesses to thrive in New York State, you need workers to make those businesses thrive,” Duffy told Hedeen. “It is a two way street. This situation is far different than things I’ve dealt with in Rochester where you’re talking about overtime. This is people that are working, they need to work, they need to put food on the table.” Duffy went on to say, “I think there’s a lot of honor here in terms of what’s going on and a lot of loyalty. It’s different than some of the things I’ve dealt with in my career in terms of the public sector, it’s far different.”
Mott’s employees walked off the job May 23 after rejecting what the company called its final contract offer. That included a $1.50 an hour pay cut and a decrease in other benefits. Duffy told the striking workers that he and his running mate, AG Andrew Cuomo, will do whatever they can to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table.
‘Loose Cannon!’
Jun 8th - 4:41 pm
Ahem. Apparently someone didn’t get Team Cuomo’s memo on keeping a low press profile.
Here’s Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy being downright contrite with the local media earlier today, apologizing for being AWOL after he was officially tapped to be the Democratic gubernatorial nominee’s LG running mate and promising to be back to his old accessible self going forward.
My favorite moment is when he refers to himself as a “loose cannon” – Bidenesque!
I am a big fan of this unfettered LG contender – (that invite to come on the show is still open, Mr. Mayor) – but something tells me this state of affairs might not last long.
Samuels Drops LG Bid
Jun 5th - 11:16 am
In a move that doesn’t come as a big surprise, Bill Samuels will announce this afternoon that he’s suspending his campaign for lieutenant governor to focus solely on his New Roosevelt Initiative PAC’s efforts to elect reform-minded state senators.
Samuels, who announced his long-shot LG bid back in April, plans to un-announce this afternoon at a rally being held outside Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr.’s Mamaroneck home in mock celebration of the Senate coup’s one-year anniversary.
(Takeout sushi menus from the Bronx/Westchester Democrat’s favorite purveyor of raw fish will be distributed).
Espada is New Roosevelt’s first target. Jay Strell, a PR consultant who has worked with Samuels for some time, said the PAC will broaden his focus to include four or five other races. He declined to say immediately which incumbents will be in the crosshairs.
At one point there were two declared Democratic LG contenders – Samuels and Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence.
More >
Levy, Paladino Will Go Stag To Conservative Convention
May 27th - 5:24 pm
So far, two of the gubernatorial candidates – the Democrat and one of the four Republicans – have announced their preferred running mates in advance of their respective nomination at major party conventions.
Former Rep. Rick Lazio made his selection of Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards known far in advance of both tomorrow’s Conservative confab and next week’s GOP get-together.
Conservative Chairman Mike Long has already signaled his support for the Lazio-Edwards ticket, and it’s expected that the duo will get the nod for Row D tomorrow (although, with the way things have been going of late, nothing’s done until it’s done).
AG Andrew Cuomo took the wraps off of his super-secret LG selection, Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, just 24 hours before his scheduled convention nomination. Duffy was nominated that very day by his fellow Democrats, but didn’t show up until this morning – along with Cuomo himself – to give his acceptance speech.
That leaves Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and Carl Paladino still without running mates. And, as it turns out, they will both be flying solo at tomorrow’s Conservative convention.
More >
Jennings Will Stay Mayor, And He’s OK With That
May 26th - 3:30 pm
Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings’ name was added to the LG speculation list late in the game.
As it turns out, his profile – upstate Democrat, longtime AG Andrew Cuomo supporter – wasn’t all that different from the man ultimately picked, Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy.
I ran into Jennings outside the ballroom here in Rye (he was being interviewed by News Channel 13′s Benita Zahn, who was kind enough to let me listen in), and asked him if he minded being passed over for the No. 2 job.
“I’m still the mayor of the City of Albany, which is a job that I wanted I pledged myself to; it was an honor, Liz, being mentioned as an potential lieutenant governor, but I’m happy for Bob Duffy.”
“He brings a lot to the table, from our perspective as mayors, that sometimes gets lost in the Capitol. It’s a good move for him. It’s a great move for Andrew, and I’m going to work with him very closely.”
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