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Senate Dems Stage Ethics Forum
Apr 28th - 11:47 am
After failing in their effort two weeks ago to force the Senate Republicans to hold a public hearing on a package of ethics reform bills, the Senate Democrats are taking matters into their own hands.
The minority is technically not allowed to hold full-fledged public hearings, but the Democrats can put on a “forum,” which is more or less the same thing – minus some officials bells and whistles. The Dem forum will be held this coming Wednesday at noon, or immediately following the conclusion of the session, in Hearing Room A at the LOB.
A full slate of goo-goos is expected to be on hand, including representatives from: The Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens Union, Citizen Action of NY, Common Cause/NY, the League of Women Voters, and NYPIRG.
To do this, the Dems are citing Senate Rule VII and convening a forum on the following legislation under the jurisdiction of the Investigations and Government Operations Committee:
- Establishing an independent commission on governmental ethics (S31/Squadron).
- Increasing financial and client disclosure requirements (S382/Rivera).
- Stripping elected officials convicted of misusing office of pensions (S2333/Krueger).
- Restricting the personal use of campaign funds (S3053/Krueger).
- Eliminating Pay-to-Play (S1565/Addabbo).
“For Albany to do the people’s business, we must change the way Albany does business,” said Sen. Dan Squadron. “Halfway through the legislative session, we have yet to see any action on the fundamental reforms that almost every Senator has pledged to support.”
“This forum will offer an important public hearing on critical ethics reform. Passage of a real ethics package will lend much-needed transparency and accountability to our state government, helping restore New Yorkers’ trust and allowing us all to better tackle the dire challenges facing our state.”
‘Tough As Nails’ Corwin Threatened To Sue Ed Koch
Apr 25th - 12:10 pm
An interesting piece in today’s Buffalo News portrays Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, the GOP/Conservative contender in the NY-26 special election, as a ruthless behind-the-scenes political player who is often mistaken by her opponents – at their peril – as a meek as retiring back-bencher.
How tough are we talking here? Well, tough enough not to take any of this “enemy of reform” garbage from some 86-year-old downstater, apparently. Here’s how the story opens:
When former New York City Mayor Ed Koch came to town last year to stump for his Albany reform agenda, one of the first people he called out was Assemblywoman Jane Corwin.
The words “enemy of reform” were barely out of Koch’s mouth before the normally cautious and guarded Corwin was on the phone looking to set Koch straight.
What followed was a spirited exchange with a Koch aide in which a livid Corwin threatened to sue the former mayor’s reform group.
“He was wrong,” she said. “He was challenging my integrity, and that’s why I reacted so strongly. I was really angry because what he was doing did not allow for an adult conversation.”
That’s the Jane Corwin people rarely see.
That lawsuit never materialized – at least not that I’ve seen.
Corwin also gets props from Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb for standing up to the infamously tough-talking (and, at times, bombastic) former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, and for not shying away from talking about the “indiscretion” of her 2008 primary opponent, fellow Republican Michael Cole, who spent a drunken night on the floor of an Assembly intern’s apartment.
(The married father of two insisted nothing untoward happened, but was censured anyway).
Koch Accuses Silver Of ‘Bottling Up’ Redistricting Bill (Updated)
Apr 25th - 11:52 am
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is blocking a bill that would create an independent commission to redraw legislative districts, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch charged this morning.
Koch, speaking on The Capitol Pressroom this morning, called the powerful Manhattan Democrat “the key” to the measure’s passage.
“The key is Shelly Silver. He’s bottled up the bill by introducing it. I have a meeting scheduled with him shortly. We’re going to ask him to please allow a vote, because a majority of his members, Democrats, but there are Republicans as well who signed the pledge, would like to see the impartial redistriciting and the key is Shelly saying I will allow a vote.”
Koch has trained most of the fire from his New York Uprising campaign on Senate Republicans, whose leadership he accuses of reneging on the pledge which included creating the commission in time for 2012.
The Senate did approve a constitutional amendment for an independent commission to draw the lines back on March 14, but that would not in effect until at least 2022.
Republicans have also claimed the effort it is a partisan one meant to help Democrats, who hold an enrollment advantage in the state.
But Silver, unlike Senate Republicans, did not sign onto Koch’s pledge.
Koch said Silver was fearful of losing significant support in his lower Manhattan Assembly district during a fair redistricting process.
“What Shelly would like to do is draw his own lines,” Koch said. “He would have a much more difficult time in getting re-elected because there is a large Asian group that would be expanded into that district that would give him a contest.”
Update: A reader points out that a large swath of Silver’s district already includes Chinatown. In addition, Silver won his last election by a pretty comfortable margin. Indeed, it seems unlikely — but not totally impossible — a serious challenger could be fielded against Silver within his own district.
Samuels: Spitzer Was More Of A Reformer Than Cuomo
Apr 15th - 1:46 pm
ICYMI: Bill Samuels, Democratic donor and good government gadfly, questioned Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reform chops during a CapTon interview last night, saying former Gov. Eliot “Steamroller” Spitzer was more dedicating to overhauling Albany than the current governor is.
Samuels accused Cuomo of doing “nothing” to help the Senate Democrats maintain the majority last fall (which, of course, they didn’t), noting that Spitzer went out of his way to try to flip the chamber into Democratic hands, ruining his relationship with then-Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno – not to mention laying the groundwork for the Troopergate scandal – in the process.
There’s no doubt about it,” Samuels said. “(Spitzer), after he was elected, with support and comments like Greg Ball’s, went into Nassau – where (Jack) Martins is now a state senator – and supported Craig Johnson against Bruno’s wishes.”
“He got involved in all of the issues. And if he had still been governor, I can tell you that when we won in ’08 all the reforms would have been passed. Cuomo I hope in 2012 switches his priorities from the economic priorities to reform. And I think he may. But I need to see real action because a veto isn’t meaningful.”
Samuels was on the show to call on Ball, a self-professed maverick, to buck the Senate GOP and stick to his NY Uprising redistricting reform pledge. His New Roosevelt Initiative will be targeting Ball with a rally on May 16. (Martins was its first target, and was the focus of a similar rally on Long Island last month).
Samuels had hoped Cuomo, who, according to Ed Koch, recently reiterated his pledge to veto any partisan redistricting plans, would veto the money included in thie 2011-2012 budget deal for LATFOR, which essentially enables the continuation of the current (read: partisan) method of redrawing district lines.
You have to consider the source here: Samuels is a deep-pocketed donor, but he marches to the beat of his own drum. He ran for LG last fall and threatened to primary Cuomo’s pick, then-Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, before switching gears to focus on helping the Senate Democrats.
After the Democrats lost control of the chamber, he founded the New Roosevelt Initiative and helped topple former Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., whom Samuels says the Democrats should never have accepted back into the fold after the 2009 coup.
GOP Assemblyman: ‘Bully’ Koch In Cahoots With Silver (Updated)
Apr 13th - 11:46 am
Assemblyman Sean Hanna, a Rochester-area Republican, is speaking out against what he deemed the “bully tactics” of Ed Koch, accusing the former NYC mayor of being dishonest and disingenuous in his independent redistricting push.
Hanna took issue with being branded as one of Koch’s so-called “enemies of reform”, saying he should not be lambasted for refusing to support Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s redistricting bill, as introduced by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, because he never technically pledged to do so.
This argument is a little twisted, but basically what Hanna is saying is that while he did indeed sign the NY Uprising PAC pledge, said pledge did not actually require his support of THIS EXACT bill, but merely A bill that would establish a nonpartisan commission to redraw the congressional and state legislative lines in time for the 2012 elections.
“As Mr. Koch is well aware, I have joined Democratic Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries to sponsor A03432, a truly bipartisan, independent redistricting commission,” Hanna said.
“Our bill assigns the same number of commissioner appointments to the leaders of the majority and minority conferences in each house. So, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents have an equal say. By promoting this bill, I am fulfilling my pledge to reform the redistricting process.”
Hanna echoed an accusation first leveled at Koch by Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, suggesting the former mayor is actually driven by a partisan desire to see his party (the Democrats) control everything in Albany. (Koch has rejected that allegation).
Hanna released an email exchange between himself and the former mayor, which appears below. He also accused Koch of striking a “backroom” deal to amend the bill to address partisan concerns during a private meeting with the governor last week.
UPDATE: Hanna’s name doesn’t appear on the sponsor list for Jeffries bill, but an aide to the assemblyman said the pertinent paperwork was walked over to Jeffries’ office yesterday. As such, a Koch spokesman said, the statement that the mayor was “well aware” of this development is “flat out untrue.”
Senate Dems Try To Force The Ethics Issue
Apr 13th - 9:39 am
The Senate Democrats are again trying to use a 2009 chamber rule change to their advantage in hopes of forcing a public hearing on their reform agenda, which is contained in five ethics and campaign finance-related bills.
The minority will deliver to the GOP a petition signed by one-third of the Rules Committee members seeking a hearing on these bills. According to the ’09 change, a hearing must be held within two weeks unless the majority of Rules members (read: Republicans) vote not to do so.
The Democrats tried this with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s redistricting bill and got nowhere, although they did receive media attention, which is half the battle. The point, of course, is to force the opposition onto the record with “no” votes and then try to paint them as anti-reform.
The five bills in question are:
- Establishing an independent commission on governmental ethics (S31/Squadron).
- Stripping elected officials convicted of misusing office of pensions (S2333/Krueger).
- Increasing financial and client disclosure requirements (S382/Rivera).
- Restricting the personal use of campaign funds (S3053/Krueger).
- Eliminating Pay to Play (S1565/Addabbo).
Cuomo has been negotiating behind closed doors with legislative leaders over an ethics bill for weeks now (much to the chargin of the NY Times editorial page, which called over the weekend for these talks to go public).
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver insists his chamber has a two-way deal with the governor and the Senate Republicans are balking, but the GOP rejects that allegation.
NOTE: Cuomo said during a press conference last week that there is “no final agreement” on ethics with either house, although “conversations have proceeded further with the Assembly.” (At about the 1:20-minute mark in the video in this link).
Either way, we’ve yet to see any bill language.
Koch Unveils ‘Enemies Of Reform’ Robocall (Updated)
Apr 12th - 10:16 am
As promised former New York City Mayor Ed Koch today unveiled his list of Senate Republicans he’s targeting for public shaming over supposedly reneging on their promise to deliver independent redistricting reform.
Koch’s robocall targets 11 members of the Assembly and 31 senators (a full list is available after the jump) who have signed the Koch pledge, but have so far failed to act on the reform agenda. The call forwards recipients directly to their local legislators’ office.
Koch had all Senate Republicans sign on to his New York Uprising pledge, which, among other things, called for an independent commission to redraw legislative lines.
UPDATE: A comment from Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif appears after the jump.
Here’s the script and audio in the dolcett tones of the mayor himself:
Siena: Broad Support For Cuomo’s Post-Budget Agenda
Apr 11th - 9:30 am
Today’s Siena poll finds Gov. Andrew Cuomo heading into post-budget policy negotiations with a very strong hand, as New Yorkers strongly support his top agenda items – from instituting a property tax cap (83 percent) to creating an independent redistricting commission and legalizing same-sex marriage (both 58 percent).
Cuomo saw both his job performance and favorability ratings jump following the budget battle, even though voters believe their local schools and hospitals lost out as a result of the on-time spending plan passed by the Legislature.
“Andrew Cuomo starts his second hundred days as governor continuing to enjoy ‘rock star status’ among New Yorkers,” said Siena poll spokesman Steve Greenberg.
“His favorability rating is back over 70 percent, his job performance rating is up and, by a 61-9 percent margin, voters say he was a winner, not loser, in the just-completed budget battle.”
The governor is viewed favorably by 73 percent of voters and unfavorably by 18 percent, up from 69-20 last month. Fifty-four percent say he is doing an excellent or good job – up from 51 percent last month – and 41 percent say he’s doing a fair or poor job (unchanged).
Koch vs. Skelos, Round II
Apr 8th - 4:53 pm
Ed Koch fired back at Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos for his suggestion yesterday that the former NYC mayor’s push for redistricting reform is motivated by politics and not a desire to create a truly independent and nonpartisan system.
Skelos made his comments during an interview with YNN Buffalo while he was in the Queen City.
“The very fact that Senator Skelos is only capable of seeing this through a partisan lens is emblematic of everything wrong with Albany,” Koch said
“I understand that he feels like the best way to ensure his guaranteed control of the Senate would come from drawing politically advantageous districts for his members. But that’s the underlying problem with our state – too many public servants who are far more interested in serving themselves than the people they represent.”
“It’s a dishonorable act for a Democrat or a Republican to go back on his or her word. That’s what this is about, and that’s why New York Uprising will be contacting voters in Democratic and Republican districts, to let them know if their Senator or Assemblymember is reneging.”
“I’m a Democrat, but since 1965, I have crossed party lines when I thought it was in the best interest of New York.”
Koch is what I would describe as a conservative Democrat, particularly when it comes to anything to do with Israel – a subject on which he is downright Hawkish.
He endorsed and worked for George W. Bush in 2004, but then endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 after first backing Hillary Clinton, citing a fear of then GOP VP contender, Sarah Palin, whom he called “scary.”
The former mayor is also a longtime supporter of Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent Mayor Bloomberg. Other Republicans he has backed include: Former Gov. George Pataki, Rep. Pete King, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (the first time, he then had a change of heart in 1996 and has penned a book called “Giuliani: Nasty Man”) and former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato.
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