For building grit and connecting with communities, valuable experience, they say
When the vote on the 1997 State Budget was called in August of that year, Assembly Member James Bacalles (R-Steuben/Yates) was in Virginia, attending the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree. His staff sent him a budget briefing, and a few days later, he was in the car, driving to Albany and voted the next day. After the vote, he got right back on the road and returned to ...
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New Senate No. 2 mulls plans to expand sales and production for his very own A.1.
One day every August, the focus of state Republican politics moves to Binghamton, to a golf course in suburban Endicott, where party members feast on grilled meat at State Sen. Thomas Libous' (R-Broome/Tioga/Chenango) annual steak roast. They also have the chance to purchase Libous' own line of steak sauce and seasoning.Libous has been hosting the annual steak roast for 20 ...
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Ryan McMahon (R)Syracuse City CouncilorAge: 28Many Syracuse students come from far away and leave after graduation, and of those who stay in the area, most soon move to the suburbs. Ryan McMahon, defying all trends, chose to stay in Syracuse and begin a career in politics. After narrowly losing an open race in 2003, McMahon captured the seat in 2005 and held on to it in ...
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Legal Linguistics Cuts Deep for Machete SwingerPeople v. Montilla Decided by: Court of Appeals, June 25One month after pleading guilty to third-degree assault, Franklyn Montilla had the bold wisdom to swing a machete in front of several police officers. While he did not threaten or harm anyone, he was indicted for third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. In New York, ...
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Look at how much some of the highest-rolling organizational donors headquartered in New York gave to candidates across the country this year, and the top three beneficiaries of each in the state.
THIS IS A CORRECTED VERSION OF THE POWER GRID WHICH APPEARED IN THE PRINT ...
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Dean Skelos retools the property tax debate and the SRCC in a high-speed effort to keep the majority
"How do you pronounce his name?""Is it Greek?""This is the guy that's going to take Bruno's place?""Yes," said New York City Council Member Anthony Como (R-Queens), helping State Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Queens) show Dean Skelos around the Glenridge Senior Center. "He already took it."After 14 years as the assistant minority leader, the floor manager and loyal deputy to former ...
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Former Erie chair courts more controversy helping Golisano in Senate battles
Steve Pigeon has spent over a decade as one of the most dominant and controversial Democratic names in Western New York politics. This year, he may become more dominant and controversial than ever. As the chief political advisor to billionaire Tom Golisano and co-chair of his Responsible New York committee, Pigeon will help shape this year's battle for individual State Senate ...
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In 1975, former Gov. Hugh Carey (D) came into office at a time when the state was on the verge of bankruptcy. In his first State of the State speech, he famously said that "the days of wine and roses are over," and then set out to bring business and labor leaders together to help steer the state through the financial storm. Today, in the face of expanding budget shortfalls, ...
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Springfield produced a presidential candidate—could Albany?
Experts rate the contenders.
Now he is the Democratic nominee and presidential frontrunner, but until just four years ago, Barack Obama was the state ...
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Prostitution ring will be implied, policies and power grab will be point of attack
Sightings of Eliot Spitzer since his resignation in February have been rarer than UFO encounters. He has been spotted in public only a handful of times, mostly ...
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Rethinking State Finances and the State Budget in a Struggling Economy
In the melee of Albany life over the last year and a half, Tom DiNapoli—himself the cause of an unusual amount of excitement and attention around the office of comptroller when he was ...
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Hearings and research statewide will focus on rebranding SUNY, promoting internships
Three young Republican Assembly Members are taking a statewide road trip this summer.Marc Molinaro (R-Dutchess), Jack Quinn (R-Erie) and Rob Walker (R-Nassau) are not out to party and hit the ...
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Chair Grilled
June O’Neill, St. Lawrence County Democratic Committee chair, was named co-chair of the Democratic State Party in 2006, and ...
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The influence of the Assembly Banks Committee has waned as financial institutions have elected to be regulated by federal law. But in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the committee has resurged, considering far-reaching lending legislation.The rising home foreclosures have highlighted the tension in Albany between the desire to protect the consumer, often championed ...
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Charlie King has been an attorney, a politician and a civil rights activist. After retooling following his third attempt for statewide office—he ran for lieutenant governor in 1998 and ...
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Bellafiore and Greenberg miss the collegiality, but say the rancor is good for business
Steven Greenberg and Robert Bellafiore, regular political commentators on “Capital Tonight,” rarely see eye-to-eye on the issues. Greenberg likes the Yankees and the ...
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Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers This Month
An Annoying Law to EnforceVives v. City of New York Decided by: United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, May 1Despite some anecdotal evidence to the contrary, it is illegal in the State of New York to intentionally annoy people. Carlos Vives learned this when the NYPD arrested him in 2002 for sending 2002 lieutenant governor candidate Jane Hoffman press clippings ...
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Watertown and East New York adjust to life without Assembly members
The doors were locked and the curtains drawn at former Assembly Member Diane Gordon’s (D-Brooklyn) district office in East New York. The lone office staffer who answered the door said all ...
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Session Daze
Why labor still rules in New York—and what that will mean this November
Election Day 2006 was a cold one in Albany, so Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), wore a sweatshirt when he went out to wave a sign above his head, urging drivers to head to the polls on their way home. The sweatshirt was from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s re-election campaign. The sign was from State Sen. Joseph ...
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The campaign pitting veteran 18-term Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens) against well-financed challenger New York City Council Member James Gennaro (D-Queens) has been quiet so far, but both candidates said the contest is heating up and each party expected to spend more than $1 million trying to win the seat that arcs from Whitestone, Bayside and Douglaston in the north to Jamaica ...
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Debating Dysfunction and Tackling Taxes, New and Old
Assembly Minority Leader James ...
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Leaders disagree over whether stressing local issues or Iraq War will win them the majority
Democrats in the New York State Senate are expecting that high turnout for the presidential election in November will give a boost to their efforts to retake the majority in the chamber, where Republicans currently hold a two-seat majority. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans five to two in the state.But this also creates a messaging challenge for the Democrats: how to ...
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Bruno will not attend Buffalo gathering, but Paterson will deliver keynote
David Paterson arranged the party. He found the location, he invited all the guests.But now he can only stop by to give a speech.Last year, in his inaugural year as a member of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA), Paterson was instrumental in securing Buffalo as the site for the group’s 2008 annual convention July 23-26.But with his ascension as ...
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Sunshine State Says Textbook Prices Fail Economics 101
College textbook prices are rising across the country and, spurred on by constituent complaints and a recent report by the Government Accountability Office in Washington, legislators across the country are taking action.Florida Rep. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) remembers dealing with the problem herself while a student less than a decade ago. She and her classmates were often ...
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Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers This Month
Actually, I’m Sharing My Broker’s Undivided AttentionRivkin v. Century 21 Teran Realty, LLC Decided by: Court of Appeals on a Certified Question from the Second Circuit, April 24In May 2004, Oleg Rivkin decided summers spent in New Jersey were less appealing than those spent in New York. In his search for a summer home, he contacted Century 21 Teran Realty of ...
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Their constituencies are often spread across many miles, but that has not stopped the next generation of New York State’s elected leaders from making themselves known and prompting intense speculation into their political futures.The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up-and-comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City. Ages were not ...
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Outside Man
Blair Horner, the longtime legislative director at the New York Public Interest Research Group, recently returned to his watchdog post after spending a year working for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) on Project Sunlight, the searchable database of lobbyist and campaign information. Sitting on the plush green velvet seats outside the Senate chambers, Horner discussed how ...
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This year’s state budget came in at $124 billion dollars. That makes New York the third-highest state spender in the nation, and represents about a $10 billion jump from last year.But considered per capita, New York ranks behind several other states, including Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming and Vermont.This position may yet change—the budget numbers used for the 49 other ...
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A former Special Ed teacher with an autistic son, Weisenberg works to make himself a resource for colleagues
Last October, at an extravagant ballroom in the affluent south Long Island town of Atlantic Beach, Assembly Member Harvey Weisenberg (D-Nassau) was commemorated for his 31 years of public service. But the guests—some 40 children with developmental disabilities—were the focal point of the night. The children performed songs for the crowd, showcasing the talents that ...
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Taking cues from Jack Welch, Chris Collins pursues his agenda in Erie
A year ago, no one thought a Republican could be elected the next Erie County Executive. A budget crisis, presided over by two-term Republican Joel Giambra, led to an unprecedented shut down of county government and the installment of a fiscal control board. In an already Democratic county, this seemed to make a Democratic victory all but certain. And with an unknown ...
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Kevin Tighe, head bartender at 74 State Street, said that his new drink, the David Paterson, could also be called the Silver Apple.Similar to a Bellini, the drink features all New York products: Glenora Brut, cortland apple puree and simple syrup infused with Madagascar bourbon vanilla.Tighe encourages that the drink be lightly stirred because of the sparkling wine.The David ...
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Ripped in the HeadlinesGuardian News v. AmiconeDecided By: New York Southern District Federal Court, March 3Yonkers Mayor Phillip Amicone was the subject of withering attacks in the Westchester Guardian, a free weekly newspaper, throughout his ultimately successful 2007 re-election campaign. He apparently did not want to read the coverage, and sought to make sure no one else ...
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Norm-ative Philosophy
At the beginning of the year, Norman Adler sold his ownership stake in Bolton St. John’s to his partners, entering what he calls his “semi-retirement” period. But he has not disappeared just yet, keeping on several high-profile lobbying clients and consulting with several politicians, including five Republican state senators.He took a break from his ...
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Smith on the Spitzer Surprise and Smooth Sailing for Senate Democrats
Hours before Eliot Spitzer resigned on March 12, State Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith was the featured guest at the first “On/Off the Record” Breakfast hosted by The Capitol. In a wide-ranging interview conducted at 74 State, Smith discussed how he first heard about the scandal that ended Spitzer’s political career, what the political earthquake meant ...
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Red State, Blue State
Nearly 50,000 new voters registered in New York in the six weeks leading up to the Super Tuesday presidential primary registration deadline, with some counties getting less than 100 new voters, and some close to 10,000.And they did not break evenly: though Republicans had a slight edge in some places, new Democrats outnumbered new Republicans by wide margins in many ...
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The fight over the State Senate could put Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in his strongest position yet
To most Albany Democrats, Darrel Aubertine’s win was an opportunity to crow about the Senate. The blue tide was at their backs, they said. They were on a roll, their control of the chamber assured by Jan. 1, 2009, if not before. To Silver, Aubertine’s win was another reason to brag about the Assembly. Once again, his conference had been the farm system for his ...
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Major profits and changes could be ahead for lottery,
though legislators question constitutionality of lease
All that stands in the way of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s (D) plan to lease the lottery to a private investment bank is the Legislature, and perhaps the State Constitution. In his State of the State address, Spitzer proposed building a $4 billion endowment for the State University (SUNY) and City University (CUNY) systems by making New York the first state to change the ...
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Although still considered something of an Albany backwater, the Assembly Real Property Taxation committee is taking ambitious steps into the territory of some of the more influential committees.Despite its name, the Assembly committee has not had much influence on property taxes or funding the overall state budget. It generally focuses on technical or targeted legislation, ...
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Their constituencies are often spread across many miles, but that has not stopped the next generation of New York State’s elected leaders from making themselves known and prompting intense speculation into their political futures.The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up-and-comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City and ...
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A trip back to the old block with Serphin Maltese
The outside of the red brick apartment building at 49 First Avenue in Manhattan is largely the same as it was when Senator Serphin Maltese was growing up there in the 1930s and ‘40s. Looking up at the building recently, however, Maltese pointed out one thing that had radically changed about the place.“My father was very unhappy when they raised the rent from $35 a ...
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Though Darrel Aubertine brought Democrats one step closer to wresting control of the State Senate from the Republicans by defeating Will Barclay in the Feb. 26 special election, the former dairy farmer insists that moving to the Senate after serving in the Assembly for six years is less about the balance of power and more about addressing the needs of his constituents. Now he ...
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By The Capitol
February 11th, 2008
They say love and politics do not mix. But in honor of Valentine’s Day, The Capitol sought out your picks for the single people in and around state government who should stay single no more. Here are the beautiful and the powerful, the brassy and the brainy, Democrat and Republican, young and old, divorced and never married, staffers and elected ...
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No back-ups in Syracuse if former footballer skips race
If deciding whether to run for New York State Senate were like football, Tim Green, a former defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons, would be at fourth-and-goal. But the clock is ticking, and Green may be running out of time. Green, now a Syracuse-based attorney, television commentator and novelist, is said to be considering a run against incumbent State Sen. John ...
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Once a rising star, Suozzi tries to find his political future
Tom Suozzi was one of the first elected officials to arrive at Sen. Hillary’s Clinton’s Super Tuesday celebration. He stood toward the front, chatting and clapping, primely positioned in front of the podium. Eventually, others started pouring in, including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan), New York City Comptroller William Thompson and Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Not long ...
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Assembly Member Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) may have been on the congestion pricing commission, but he certainly does not agree with its recommendations. In a 13-2 vote earlier this month, the commission approved a modified version of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (Unaff.) congestion pricing plan, which would charge motorists $8 to drive below 60th Street ...
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Allocation Arithmetic
By The Capitol
February 11th, 2008
Members of Congress are allocated north of $1.3 million to spend each year—committee chairs get slightly more. Only $169,3000 goes to their base salaries. The rest is divided up at their discretion, letting them each decide how much to spend on the basics: staff, travel and district office rent.Between them, New York’s 29 representatives spent almost $25 million ...
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Merriman says there should be no ‘cap’ on high-performing schools
James Merriman, the new CEO of the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, formerly served as Executive Director of the Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York (SUNY), the nation’s second-largest university-affiliated authorizer of public charter schools. In his previous role as authorizer of charter schools, Merriman was responsible for ...
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By John Celock
February 11th, 2008
Their constituencies are often spread across many miles, but that has not stopped the next generation of New York State’s elected leaders from making themselves known and prompting intense speculation into their political futures.The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up-and-comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City and ...
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Latimer, Magnarelli and DelMonte reflect on surviving the Spitzer attacks and rebuilding
By John Celock
February 11th, 2008
For the legislators Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) attacked in the wake of their votes to select Tom DiNapoli as the new state comptroller, the last year has been one of mending relationships and repairing the damage the governor may have done with their constituents.Spitzer went on something of a rampage in those first few weeks after the DiNapoli vote, calling the 150 members who ...
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No Set Powers or Meetings, But an Insistent Role
By Adam Pincus
February 11th, 2008
The Assembly Ethics and Guidance Committee is a unique and often misunderstood body charged with the narrow mission of upholding the rules and decorum governing its members—not necessarily the laws.The chamber's only committee evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, Ethics and Guidance rarely meets. Most of the issues brought to its leaders are the ...
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Since its founding in 2001, Patricia Lynch Associates has quickly become one of the state capital’s top lobbying firms, billing more than $5 million dollars in fees for clients in 2006. Much of that has to do with Lynch herself, who spent 30 years in various government positions—including eight working with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan)—before ...
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Cashew Chicken and Egg Rolls with Steve Israel
Ever wonder what happened to Rick Lazio Republicans? They voted for a Democrat, Steve Israel, who won the seat Lazio vacated to try his luck in the 2000 Senate race against Hillary Clinton. Voters have returned Israel to the House three times since. Israel recently sat down with The Capitol over Chinese food to discuss harmful Long Island stereotypes, his post-Congressional ...
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The Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee is chomping at the bit to review critical horse racing legislation this session.The 10-person committee, headed by Sen. Willliam Larkin (R-Orange/Ulster), expects to see a bill concerning the franchise with the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in the coming weeks, as the Jan. 23 deadline for an interim agreement looms.But NYRA ...
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Southern Tier
Their constituencies are often spread across many miles, but that has not stopped the next generation of New York State’s elected leaders from making themselves known and prompting intense speculation into their political futures.The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up-and-comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City and ...
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Fitting It All In; Lobbyist, consultant and legal counsel, Cunningham retains her clout
Jennifer Cunningham is no longer the executive director of 1199 SEIU, but she still has the union members’ interests very much on her mind. Though she is now with Knickerbocker SKD, a six-year-old consulting firm with a client list that includes many of New York’s political heavyweights, she continues to lobby for the large and influential labor union, which ...
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How David Soares believes he and the Albany DA’s office are showing New York the way on Rockefeller reform and public integrity
David Soares shakes his head. “The oldest working prostitute in Albany,” he says, pointing out the woman in caked-on makeup and a pink coat on the bench across the street. Soares is sitting behind the wheel of his black Dodge Charger—his Batmobile, as he sometimes calls it—complete with toy motorcycle and Teddy Grahams wrapper (as well as a few stray ...
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With a year to go before Election Day, several major congressional races in New York are starting to take shape. Both political parties will be looking to pick up seats, and the outcomes in New York could impact the national balance of power. Here are six contenders already putting together the campaigns and the resources to mount serious challenges in 2008.
By Elie Mystal
November 13th, 2007
Alexander “Sandy” Treadwell (R)District: 20thRunning Against: Representative Kirsten Gillibrand (D)Work Experience: New York Secretary of State; Chairman, New York Republican PartyFundraising to date: $821,714.46Sandy Treadwell views Rensselaer, Saratoga, Dutchess and Essex counties as prime Republican territory, though the district he wants to represent is ...
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While the state’s legislative taskforce on redistricting sharpens its pencils in preparation for the 2010 national Census, a debate is brewing over who should be responsible for redrawing district lines.The bipartisan legislative taskforce, which consists of four legislators and two others, is charged with preparing research and statistical models for the redistricting, ...
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A Power Broker, Still Plugged In; Rappleyea says retirement ‘didn’t take’
By Elie Mystal
November 13th, 2007
Clarence Rappleyea—or “Rapp,” as he calls himself—tried retirement for three months. “It didn’t take,” he said.Rappleyea, the former Republican minority leader of the Assembly, still works for a living in Albany, as he has for half a century. “I used to clerk for the Assembly in the mid-50s,” said Rappleyea ...
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Maziarz seat could be Dem pick-up if he makes rumored House run
By John Celock
November 13th, 2007
A series of possible moves on the Western New York political chessboard could move one State Senate race from safe Republican to political toss-up just as Democrats make a play for control of the Senate. Multiple sources in Western New York politics have confirmed that there is a strong possibility that Cong. Tom Reynolds (R–Erie) will not run for a sixth term next year, ...
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Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers This Month
By Elie Mystal
November 13th, 2007
Court of Appeals Kills Death PenaltyPeople v. TaylorDecided by: New York Court of Appeals, Oct. 24On Oct. 24, the Court of Appeals effectively ended New York State’s death penalty statute by overturning the sentence of John Taylor, the last death penalty case pending in the state. New York’s death penalty statute requires the jury to come to a unanimous decision to ...
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Minority Report
The Assembly Republicans made some headlines in July, when George Amedore (R–Montgomery/Schenectady) won the special election to replace Paul Tonko. Not that it changed the balance of power—James Tedisco’s (R–Schenectady/Saratoga) conference went from 41 to 42 members, and seems unlikely to grow much beyond that in the years ahead. Nonetheless, Tedisco ...
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Peering around the corner of a single-family home on 188th Street in Queens on a recent morning, Assembly Member Mark Weprin (D) tried to find his name in the brick siding.“I can remember scratching my initials into the brick here,” he said, looking in vain for his mark. The house, at 8209 188th Street, was where Weprin grew up with his older brothers, Barry (now ...
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Their constituencies are often spread across many miles, but that has not stopped the next generation of New York State’s elected leaders from making themselves known and prompting intense speculation into their political futures.
The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up and comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City and will profile each in this ongoing series. Ages were not taken into account in the development of these lists. What matters here is potential, which everyone in this group has in abundance.
REGION DE scri ptION:
Bounded by two Great Lakes, Erie to the west and Ontario to the north, Western New York is home to two of the state’s largest cities: Buffalo and Rochester. It is also home to one of the nation’s most-seen tourist attractions to international visitors—Niagara Falls.
With Democratic majorities in the urban areas and Republican domination of rural areas, the region is politically split. The economy has been in distress for years with the departure of the traditionally manufacturing economy leading to an exodus of residents for warmer climates. Most local races are dominated by the issues of economic development and property taxes.
By John Celock
November 13th, 2007
Antoine Thompson (D)State SenatorAge 37As the political fortunes of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown (D) have risen, so have the fortunes of his political protégé, Antoine Thompson, who has literally been a Brown follower for his entire political career. A former staffer for Brown on the Buffalo City Council in the 1990s, Thompson was selected to replace Brown as the ...
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Looking Out for No. 2
By The Capitol
November 13th, 2007
David Paterson has spent two decades in Albany, but there has arguably been more turbulence in Albany during the 10 months he has been lieutenant governor than in all the previous years combined. But while the fighting has continued in the capital, he has spearheaded a reorganization of the duties and responsibilities of his office which, according to the state constitution, ...
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Taxing Times
Pigeon Hopes For Political Coup As Architect of Responsible New York
Back and Forth: Back to Hugh
The State Senate Obameter
Gone But Not Forgotten, Spitzer to Be a Factor in Fall Races
State of the Unions
State Senate Watch: Padavan Claims Dirty Tricks on Mailers, Gennaro Points to Ignored Immigrants
No Lieutenant Governor, but a Lieutenant Governors Conference for New York
Man in the Middle
On Lotto Proposal, Spitzer May Need a Little Bit of Luck
In the Margin
Albany's Most Eligible Bachelors and Bachelorettes
Democrats Fret Over Green’s Delay of Game
Commission Impossible?
Making His Case
Rumored Reynolds Retirement Could Swing State Senate
The Streets Where They Lived: Mark Weprin
