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Skelos: (Still) Not Worried About Extenders, Doesn’t Like Power ‘Flaunting’
Mar 23rd - 12:19 pm
Despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ratcheting up threats to force the Legislature’s hand via extender bills if an amicable budget deal isn’t reached by April 1, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is continuing to express optimism that it won’t come to that.
“I’m not even going to focus on extenders because I don’t think there’s going to be a need for extenders,” Skelos told reporters this morning.
“And, you know, if there ever was an extender I think the Senate would certainly be more in line with the governor than the Assembly would be. Again, I think we can close some down today.”
“We’re pushing the speaker to get the general conference committee going, to make proposals. We think four or five of them, of the sub-conference committees can be closed today – general government, EnCon, transportation, mental health…the speaker is holding up some of these because of his emphasis on human services.”
ADDED, as per Jimmy V. at CapCon…Skelos doesn’t like the governor’s tone, apparently, saying:
“If you have power, I don’t think you have to flaunt it. We all understand that the governor has a tremendous amount of power…The idea is to use your power to govern and to effect a compromise and get results.”
“I don’t believe in flaunting power. I don’t believe the governor believes in flaunting power, or the speaker does. The idea of leadership is to get a result, and that’s where we are.”
Cuomo: Shutdown Will Be Legislature’s Fault
Mar 23rd - 10:14 am
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is upping the ante in his budget showdown with the Legislature, releasing a video message to New Yorkers in which he makes clear that he believes if state lawmakers reject his spending plan and force a government shutdown, the blame will rest squarely on their shoulders.
The video, posted on Cuomo’s government Website this morning, continues the tough talk he started during yesterday’s Red Room press conference.
“If the Legislature fails to pass a budget on time, the government will not have the funds to operate and it may be forced to shut down,” Cuomo says in the video.
“As your governor, I will make sure we are prepared for this contingency. I don’t want it to happen. I will do all I can do to get the budget accomplished. I’m working very hard to cooperate with the Legislature.
“But in the end I will not compromise on the important work that you elected me to do, and I will not back down from my promise to the people of this great state. Even if the Legislature causes a shut down of government, it will only be temporary, and it will only delay – not derail – our budget’s final passage.”
For the first time yesterday, Cuomo talked at length about the new paradigm created by the creative use of extender bills by his predecessor, David Paterson, during last year’s budget battle.
The governor said he’s willing to do “whatever it takes” to get what he considers a “good” budget – in other words, one that largely hews to the 2010-2011 executive plan he has put forward.
Cuomo has now made it crystal clear that he will won’t hesitate to force the Legislature into accepting his budget in the absence of an “amicable” deal by putting it into an extender and forcing lawmakers to choose between adopting his plan as-is and shutting down all but essential state operations.
The full text of Cuomo’s video message appears after the jump.
Cuomo The Budget Realist: ‘Whatever It Takes’
Mar 22nd - 5:01 pm
While insisting he remains optimistic about reaching an “amicable” and on-time budget deal with the Assembly and Senate leaders, Gov. Andrew Cuomo made it clear today he will have no qualms about letting the clock run out and forcing his entire budget on the Legislature through extenders.
The governor spoke at length for the first time about exercising the extender power first employed with great success (from a gubernatorial standpoint) by his predecessor, former Gov. David Paterson. He expanded – at considerable length – on an interview he gave yesterday to DN columnist Bill Hammond.
“I want a good budget,” Cuomo said. “On time, two men, three men, two men and a woman; it doesn’t matter. These are all means to an end. The end is what’s important. Either amicable on time or through the quote-unquote extender method or whatever it takes…Whatever it takes.”
“…I’m still an optimist…As a realist, I’m telling you a good budget is what is important as opposed to the quote-unquote methodology.”
Cuomo said Paterson’s novel use of budget extenders to force an end to what he deemed “ground hog day” late budgets of the past “changes the equation.” He seemed to almost dare legislators who are balking over education and health care cuts and key policy issues like prison closures and the med-mal cap to challenge him to a game of budget chicken.
“There’s a new option,” the governor said. “The three parties agree or they agree to disagree in a very dramatic fashion, which is the governor does an extender budget and if they really disagree they shutdown the government.”
“You really disagree, and you really want to stop it? You shut down the government. That’s a totally different option…Shut down the government and we’ll take the case to the people, and I’m confident in taking the cae to the people. Why? Because I already did (in the 2010 election).”
Cuomo said he doesn’t believe the property tax cap and rent control laws will be included in the budget deal, in spite of calls from advocates and Assembly Democrats to do so – at least where rent control is concerned.
He also said there’s a “lot of merit” to the concept of the so-called “rational” five-year tuition plan SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher received the go-ahead from the SUNY Board of Trustees this morning to negotiate with the governor and the Legislature.
Rent Law Advocates: Act Now Not Later
Mar 22nd - 3:36 pm
Affordable housing advocates gathered in front of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office this afternoon to call for renewal and strengthening of the rent laws, which are scheduled to sunset June 15, within the confines of the budget, fearing the issue will lose bargaining chip power if left to post-budget talks.
The advocates tried to deliver a letter containing their demands to Cuomo at his Manhattan office yesterday, but since he wasn’t there (he was in Albany and Westchester, with no public schedule), they traveled north to make a second attempt at the Capitol.
Cuomo said recently that he views the property tax cap and rent control as “connected” and believes both should be negotiated as part of the budget. The cap has already been passed by the Senate and is a priority for the GOP, while the rent laws are a significant issue for the downstate-dominated Assembly Democratic conference.
So, the governor’s comments would seem to be a win-win for both majority conferences – not to mention a bit of a shift for the administration, which is insisting Cuomo hasn’t abandoned the “no linkage” stance he took early in the budget talks.
However, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said this week he thinks the rent laws and tax cap should be discussed after the budget, which throws a bit of a wrench into the works.
Using Kids To Push The Millionaire’s Tax
Mar 22nd - 2:14 pm
…Considering Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s accusation last week that school districts and their allies are playing politics with kids in their opposition to his education funding cuts, this mailer seemed particularly pointed.
Maybe that’s just me, though.
It’s part of a statewide campaign launched today by the labor-backed Strong Economy for All coalition that targets nine senators with radio ads and mailers.
‘Wicked Walker Of The East’?
Mar 22nd - 12:47 pm
An Alliance for Quality Education contact graciously provided this photo from yet another demonstration taking place this afternoon outside the Capitol to protest Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed education funding cuts.
NYSUT projected some 2,000 people would attend today’s noon rally at which attendees are calling for the governor to heed the Assembly Democrats’ call to extend the temporary personal income tax increase on the state’s wealthiest residents, bumping the threshold up to $1 million.
The teachers union has a number of labor allies in this effort, including the new labor-backed Strong Economy for All Coalition, which is targeting nine senators around the state with a radio/mail campaign. CWA has its own campaign with the same theme.
NOTE: The “Walker” here refers to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who championed a measure to reduce public employees collective bargaining power in his state.
There have been some previous allusions to Wisconsin here in New York – particularly around the topic of repealing LIFO, although that cooled down after Cuomo proposed his compomise statwide teacher evaluation bill (still a topic of debate in the budget).
Up to this point, however, even the furthest left anti-Cuomo advocates have shied away from comparing Cuomo to Walker, noting the New York governor might be engaged in efforts unions don’t like, but he’s not touching their collective bargaining rights.
Grisanti Launches UB2020 Push, SUNY Moves On 5-Year Tuition (Updated)
Mar 22nd - 9:46 am
Sen. Mark Grisanti hasn’t given up hope that his “UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act” might get some legs in the Assembly prior to the end of this legislative session, and has launched an on-line petition in hopes of building grassroots support for the measure.
“Our fight for UB 2020 is not over,” the freshman Buffalo Republican said in a press release.
“We have been continuously letting the law makers across New York state know how important this issue is to our community here in Western New York. The next step is to let the lawmakers across New York State know how important this issue is to our community, I urge you to sign on and bring this home.”
The UB2020 legislation was Grisanti’s first bill. It passed the Senate, 55-1, on March 2. The lone “no” vote came from Sen. Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat, who expressed concern with taking control over the SUNY system away from the Legislature.
The bill has been modified to try to quell concerns in the Assembly Democratic conference that prevented the measure from passing last year despite efforts by a former WNY Democratic senator, Bill Stachowski, to hold up a budget deal in hopes of getting an agreement on what morphed into a SUNY-wide proposal.
The Senate GOP has been criticized by the chamber’s Democrats for failing to include UB2020 in its one-house budget proposal.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos insisted the plan is something he’ll fight to have included in the final bduget deal, but the Assembly Democrats don’t appear likely to go along with anything other than the procurement piece Gov. Andrew Cuomo inclued in his budget proposal – particularly since unions are in opposition.
Gristani is continuing to push for allowing SUNY schools to have tuition-setting power would put higher education out of reach for low-income students.
Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is championing a so-called “rational” five-year tuition plan that would arguably provide students and their families the ability to plan for annual increases. Her plan is supported by the Student Assembly, the Faculty Senate and a number of newspaper editorial boards, statewide, including the Buffalo News.
Sen. Ken LaValle, chair of the Senate Higher Ed Committee, said at a budget conference committee yesterday that the SUNY Board of Trustees is set to pass a resolution today to establish a five-year tuition plan at its meeting in Binghamton this morning.
That issue does not yet appear on the agenda, but SUNY spokesman Morgan Hook confirmed it will be addressed.
UPDATE: Hook emails: “It is being discussed currently in public session of the finance committee of the Board of Trustees. They just moved the resolution to be discussed in full board meeting.”
PSC-CUNY Joins Budget Air War
Mar 21st - 5:09 pm
The Professional Staff Congress, a NYSUT affiliate that represents 22,000 instructional staff at CUNY, added its voice to the chorus calling for the extension of the millionaire’s tax, launching 30-second TV and radio ads that says the city university system is “under attack” in Albany.
The ad, entitled “Opportunity,” is pretty straight forward, hewing to the “rich vs. everyone else” argument employed to date by supporters of the Assembly Democrats’ plan to continue taxing the state’s wealthiest residents (in this case, actual millionaires and not simply those who earn $200,000 or more) at a higher rate for at least the next year.
It began airing last week on broadcast and cable outlets in Albany and New York City during morning and evening news hours.
CSNY Mails On Superintendents’ Salary Cap
Mar 21st - 12:26 pm
The pro-Cuomo Committee to Save NY is backing up a recent TV spot supporting the governor’s proposed education aid cuts with a mailer that accuses school superintendents of going behind closed doors and “taking money out of classrooms – but putting hundreds of thousands of dollars in their own pockets.”
The mailer supports Cuomo’s proposed superintendents’ salary cap, which he floated in a program bill after unveiling his executive budget.
I received this copy late last week from the New York State Association of Small City School Districts, which called it “grossly misleading and especially misrepresentative of superintendents in small-city school districts.”
Superintendents in the association’s 56 districts earn an average of $167,000 – far below the $250,000 figure cited by the CSNY, according to its president, Peggy Wozniak, who serves as superintendent of the Binghamton City School District.
Wozniak reiterates the “this is a distraction (from the real fight over funding cuts) argument that has been floated by the state Council of School Superintendents.
State lawmakers – particularly in the Senate GOP – have argued rural districts upstate would be disproportionately impacted by the governor’s proposed funding cuts and are seeking to restore some of that funding. (The Senate reallocates competitive grants established by Cuomo in his executive budget, the Assembly would use funds generated by extension of the millionaire’s tax to boost education funding).
The committee has already run three TV ads in support of Cuomo’s budget, and are also paying for radio spots, mailers, consultants, research and canvassing. Jimmy Vielkind reported this morning the business-backed committee has spent some $2.9 million to date and initially pledged to raise and spend up to $10 million.
Libous On Economic Councils: We Can Do It Better Ourselves (Upstate)
Mar 21st - 12:05 pm
Senate Deputy Majority Leader Tom Libous defended his conference’s stance on eliminating regional development economic councils from the budget, saying he’s not sold on the idea because there have been a number of councils across the state in the past that have failed to generate much job growth.
The Binghamton-area Republican says he believes lawmakers themselves could do a better job in promoting development in their respective districts.
“I don’t know about other members, but I’ve gotten on airplanes and traveled and pitched CEOs to come to my community,” he said.
“I’m not afraid to do that. I’ve gone to companies, I give sales pitches because I believe in my community and probably I can give a better sales pitch than most people in economic development.”
Senate Republicans nixed the councils in their one-house budget bill.
The idea first appeared in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget, which would create 10 regional councils that would compete for state money to generate economic development.
Cuomo tapped LG Bob Duffy to spearhead this effort, which has yet to be fleshed out in much detail.
UPDATE: Senate Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran sent a response that appears after the jump.
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