Proposal to merge both houses dismissed by State Senate
New York is not the only state wondering about what its State Senate does all the time. Maine Rep. Linda Valentino (D-Saco) sponsored a bill in her state, not surprisingly killed by the Maine Senate earlier this month, aimed at replacing the two houses of the state’s government with a unicameral legislature.The consolidation of the Maine Senate and House of ...
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Party Pics by Barry Sloan
On June 17, elected officials, staffers and others from across the political community (including a certain New York governor) gathered at 74 State in Albany to celebrate the 2009 Rising Stars, profiled in the June issue of The Captiol. Photos by Barry SloanNYSUT's Becky Tetreault, Frank Maurizio and Alissa Lubanski. ...
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Supreme Court Overrules Assembly, Saves Prison LitigatorsHaywood v. DrownDecided by: United States Supreme Court, May 26Prisoners seem to have a comparative advantage at two things—license plates and lawsuits. Unfortunately for locked-up legal beagles in New York, the State Assembly only wants the former and, for many years, has sought to limit prisoner litigation. Chief ...
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Vanessa Gibson and Marcos Crespo grapple with the transition from staffers to electeds
When newly elected Assembly members Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx) and Marcos Crespo (D-Bronx) reflect on their first week on the job—a week that was marked by unprecedented confusion in the upper house—both pause for a second before answering.“Hectic,” Gibson tactfully described it. “A rollercoaster,” said Crespo. “I don’t know that ...
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Power Grid
During the four decades of Republican rule in the Senate, the position of Senate president was a fairly stable one. Joe Bruno held the job for 14 years. Warren Anderson presided for 15. But since Bruno left the position under a cloud last year, the office has been in flux. Dean Skelos had one of the shorter terms in recent memory, with Democrats taking the majority in last ...
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Back and Forth: Barbara Bartoletti
Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the League of Women Voters of New York State, has been preaching good government in the halls of the Capitol since 1978. But she has never seen anything quite like the recent Senate coup. In the midst of it all, Bartoletti has been trying to revive a reform agenda that seemed to be progressing under the new Democratic majority, but ...
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Should New York prepare for a bright new day in state government? Reconfigure everything with a constitutional convention? Get rid of the State Senate entirely?
The Albany circus has not lacked for moments out of an absurdist comedy: • the older Republican senators, in the long wait to be counted in the run-up to the coup needing to prop up their raised rights hands with their left ones;• a screaming match erupting between Greg Ball and Cathy Nolan over in the Assembly chamber in the middle of the debate over the farm bill ...
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Democrats look to draw strength from new leader’s attentive style, change of approach
On the night the Senate Democrats took the majority, Malcolm Smith handed out a number of nicknames. For John Sampson, he had a simple one: “my conscience.”Now Smith’s Jiminy Cricket is the new conference leader, and a man colleagues expect to bring a tempered, attentive and accommodating leadership style that will diverge significantly from Smith’s. ...
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Field narrows to two even as Mondello insists on plan to run again
Joseph Mondello may say he is running for another term this fall, but that has not deterred the two leading candidates to replace the embattled state GOP chair from quietly campaigning for his job.The field of potential Mondello successors once included at least a dozen names, but has by many accounts now narrowed to two: Niagara Chair Henry Wojtaszek and former GOP ...
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Cynics tell us that Albany is a place that can extinguish the brightest of stars. To them, we say simply, “Read on.”What follows are 40 leaders in politics, government and advocacy whose talent, tenacity and passion quiet those detractors and give us hope that the future of state politics is bright indeed.The list here, a first for The Capitol and one that follows ...
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Michelle Paterson diagnoses state health care and her husband’s low poll numbers
First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson can effortlessly rattle off statistics about childhood obesity. One in four children are overweight, she says. One in three in communities of color. More kids today have an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes or cardiovascular problems than ever before.For Paterson, who also works as an executive at EmblemHealth, a statewide health ...
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In his previous job at NASA, Andrew Hoppin was able to convince a bunch of aging scientists to start Twittering.After that, trying to change the culture of the New York Senate may not seem so daunting.“That’s why I got the job: Because I was able to help turn around a large entity that was stuck in the past,” said Hoppin, the Senate’s new chief ...
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Albany is awash in ideas for reforming what is often called the most dysfunctional state government in the country.But Leonard Roberto, a conservative activist from Western New York, believes the only answer is to scrap the State Constitution, abolish the government and start from scratch.A business owner (and former pastor) from rural Alden, a village with one main road and ...
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Sue Them in Your Own CountryMatar v. DichterDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court, April 16In July of 2002, Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) aircraft targeted an alleged leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas as he worked on the top floor of a residential apartment building in Gaza City. The bomb the IDF used, which killed the Hamas official, ended up ...
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Statue of Liberty may be beacon for otherwise lost tourism dollars in recession
The Statue of Liberty’s crown was closed after the Sept. 11 attacks due to concerns that the winding stairway did not provide adequate means for evacuation in case of an emergency.That will change on July 4, when The Department of Interior will re-open the crown to tourists. Ten visitors at a time, chosen through a lottery system, will be able to climb the 354 steps. ...
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This year marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s first trip in the ship Half Moon up the river that now bears his name. New Yorkers are celebrating the occasion with events and exhibits across the state all year long. Some of the most notable:The Glory of Dutch Bulbs: A Legacy of 400 yearsThrough June 7New York Botanical GardenBronx River Parkway at Fordham ...
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Power Grid
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s widening investigation into alleged pay-to-play schemes set up in former Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s office has exposed what many say is an inherent weakness in the state pension fund system: It only has one trustee. No other state comparable in size to New York puts its retirement money in the hands of one person, as shown by the ...
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Back and Forth: Assembly Member Jack Quinn
Assembly Member Jack Quinn (R-Erie) kicked off the debate over same-sex marriage earlier this month by peppering the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell (D-Manhattan), with questions about whether the bill would force public accommodations with a religious focus, like the Knights of Columbus, to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies. Quinn says he took a ...
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Republicans and Democrats read the tea leaves of the 20th District win
Scott Murphy is only out on the street in front of his Saratoga office for a few minutes before a woman rushes up to him.Breathless, she corners him and asks what he is going to do about gun control.“We can’t have another Wesleyan,” she implores, referring to the shooting at the Connecticut campus a few days earlier.She does not introduce herself, does not ...
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Campaign for both Democratic and Republican lines under consideration
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, one of the more controversial figures in New York Democratic politics, is mulling a run for governor in 2010, according to people familiar with his plans.Levy has approached some of his major backers about the prospect of running in the Democratic primary next year, possibly against Gov. David Paterson, according to associates, who did not ...
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GOP survival and oedipal politics at play in county executive race
Larry Schwartz has a mess on multiple fronts to contend with in running Gov. David Paterson’s (D) administration in Albany.But what he left behind in Westchester County is becoming a multi-layered mess of its own.Before accepting the job with Paterson, Schwartz was the top advisor and political “brain” to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano (D). Without ...
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Back and Forth: Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr.
State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. (D-Bronx) recently had reason to celebrate, as his son Ruben Diaz, Jr., was elected Bronx borough president. Still, it is the recently introduced gay marriage bill that is on the forefront of the senator’s mind these days. During an interview at his Bronx office, Diaz, Sr. spoke about his son’s victory, gave a counterintuitive ...
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The Power Grid
States across the country are rushing to demonstrate their ability to quickly get stimulus money into the economy, especially since further federal stimulus money could become available.In raw numbers, New York has fared well, coming in seventh for most funding for highway and bridge projects out of all the states. When that funding is taken as a proportion of the overall ...
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Overcrowding, cuts make changes necessary, backers say
A staggering 30,000 New York City students now sit on a waiting list to get into charter schools.The waiting list, created when 30,000 students applied for 8,500 slots, is by far the largest ever in New York City and is expected to grow to at least 50,000 by next year. But state money for charter schools was just frozen at last year’s level in the budget, leaving many ...
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There are 95 Assembly members and 36 state senators who represent areas of the state outside of New York City. Yet these 121 men and women will determine the fate of the city’s one million school children and its $21 billion budget when they decide whether or not to renew mayoral control of the city’s schools later this year.Not a single upstate member, though, ...
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Former Assembly education chair, Klein foe, charges chancellor with “freelancing”
Most people do not keep copies of the mayoral control law in their offices. Steve Sanders does. “I wrote the law, so I know what’s in the law,” said Sanders, who chaired the Assembly Education Committee from 1995 to 2005, jabbing a finger at the leather-bound book containing the text. Keeping a copy nearby is handy as Sanders levels his criticisms at how ...
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Joel Klein puts his experiment and himself on the line in the battle for city schools
In Michael Bloomberg’s world, the debate about who should be in charge of the education of more than one million New York City school children would center less around the who and more around the education. In our world, mayoral control of schools has always been about this mayor, the one who ran on it and rammed it through the Legislature, and the man he hired to manage ...
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Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers in April
Searching for Results in Combating GoogleRescuecom Corp. v. GoogleDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court, April 3What if you searched Google for Apple Computers but Microsoft’s website appeared instead? Google’s selling of company names for its Ad-Words advertisements makes situations like this occur every day for every type of company. When it happened ...
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With PAC in place, politics picks up
These days, there are more greenbacks backing the green agenda in New York. After more than 20 years advocating for environmental causes, the League of Conservation Voters has pumped up its PAC to expand its political operation. “It’s a sea change in how we see ourselves in an organization,” said Marcia Bystryn, the group’s executive director.Originally ...
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The last time most people saw George Pataki (R), he was sitting on stage at Eliot Spitzer’s (D) inauguration, being compared to Rip Van Winkle. What a difference the most tumultuous two years in state political history makes.Of the Democrats elected in 2006, Spitzer, Alan Hevesi and Hillary Clinton are gone, as is their mandate and most of the reserve of good will. In ...
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Shortened race could give advantage to candidates with money in the bank
Questions about Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) these days usually fall into two categories: “Will he?” or “Won’t he?” But there is also the more puzzling question: Who will succeed him if he decides to run for governor in 2010?With Cuomo’s poll numbers sky high, potential successors (who are not Eliot Spitzer) are already being sized up. ...
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Democrats aim for Nassau, Skelos reaches out to possible replacement
At a black-tie fundraiser for the Nassau Democratic Party earlier this month, the guest speaker, Gov. David Paterson (D), confessed that he had one regret about the 2008 elections: Not spending enough money to beat State Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Nassau).“He basically said that he was sorry that he couldn’t put the resources behind it,” said Jay Jacobs, the Nassau ...
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Part-time legislators try to juggle businesses and budgeting
A four-day work week may not inspire pity for the legislators among the public, but for those who hold to the Legislature’s official part-time definition and have second jobs away from the Capitol, life becomes much more complicated when most of the week is spent in Albany. Lawmakers balancing two jobs credit Blackberries, cell phones and late nights for their ability to ...
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Last fall, Martin Connor (D) was forcibly retired from the State Senate by Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan), a well-connected 28-year-old upstart who was backed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ind.).Now, he longs to return the favor.“I certainly don’t trust anything Bloomberg says,” said the former Senate minority leader and 31-year veteran of ...
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Driving Law Puts Brakes on Medical PrivacyPeople v. ElyseeDecided by: Court of Appeals, Feb. 17At 5:00 a.m. on Christmas 2003, Fritz Elysee was involved in a four-car accident in Brooklyn. A passenger in a small truck was killed and several others, including Elysee, were severely injured. When Elysee arrived at King’s County Hospital for trauma care, a nurse drew a vial ...
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New York consistently introduces the largest number of bills per year, even beating out Massachusetts, the only state in the union that allows for citizens, not just lawmakers, to introduce bills in their legislature. With New York averaging 17,000 to 18,000 per session, Massachusetts is a distant second, coming in at roughly 7,000 on average. As a sampling of other ...
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Hints of 2010 races seen in Tedisco-Murphy special election
For the GOP, this was to be the moment.The Democratic tide had finally started to ebb, with the governor’s sinking poll numbers and no way out of the desert of fiscal deficits in sight. A special congressional election in a Republican stronghold pitting a celebrity of the state party against a relative unknown was supposed to be an easy shot at flipping a seat and ...
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Camara calls out for reform, but gets no response from colleagues
Assembly Member Karim Camara (D-Brooklyn) is a Baptist pastor, and he believes in preaching, even if that means getting thrown to the lions.“The role of the prophet is to address the conditions,” Camara said, “not to think about the consequences.”An upcoming “white paper” Camara is set to release—suggesting a number of radical Assembly ...
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State budget cuts threaten a shortfall of up to $300 million for health care in New York City, and stimulus spending could affect an even greater amount. With deadlines looming, Linda Gibbs, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, and Alan Aviles, President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) traveled to Albany to make ...
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Balancing schedules and competing interests in advocating for budget reform
In the mid-1970s, when the city’s finances were collapsing, Lewis Rudin convinced many developers to prepay hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate taxes. The city was saved from bankruptcy, and the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) was born.Now, with the city and state once again on the brink, Rudin’s son, William, who succeeded his father as ABNY ...
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By Julie SobelFrom taxing pornographic internet downloads and iPods to non-diet soda, almost no stone was left unturned by Gov. David Paterson as he looked to raise revenues to fill the state’s rapidly emptying coffers. But while New York’s dire fiscal straits—the once $5 billion budget gap grew to $13, then $14 billion—have prompted Paterson to propose ...
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Brennan Center report co-author now says waiting makes sense
By Chris Bragg
February 24th, 2009
When Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform 2008 Update, a scathing report on dysfunction in state government, came out last month, Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) dismissed it as “nonsense.”But Silver’s counterpart Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) apparently had the opposite reaction. Weeks into his tenure as Senate majority leader, ...
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If Israel moves on, Jon Cooper hopes to become first gay congressman in state
By Sal Gentile
February 24th, 2009
Ah, to be Jon Cooper:The 54-year-old majority leader of the Suffolk legislature is fabulously wealthy from a fortune made in manufacturing, has a beautiful young family, and, due to an early endorsement of Barack Obama, is now one of the most sought-after men on Long Island.“He could write his own ticket,” said Suffolk Democratic Chairman Richie Schaeffer, who ...
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Major Court Decisions Impacting New Yorkers this month
From Nuremberg to NigeriaAbdullahi v. PfizerDecided by: Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, Jan. 30In April 1996, three physicians from the drug company Pfizer traveled to Nigeria to test a new antibiotic, Trovafloxacin (Trovan), during a spinal meningitis outbreak. Pfizer recruited 200 children sickened with meningitis and, without alerting the families or children that ...
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Democrats in Dells Promote Minimum Wage Push
Wisconsin Democrats introduced a bill at the start of this legislative session which, if passed, could index the minimum wage to inflation. Wisconsin would be the eleventh state to tie the minimum wage to an ever-fluctuating national economy. New Yorkers might see similar legislation passed out of the State Assembly within the next few years, and an indexed minimum wage by the ...
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A political return likely impossible, former governor seems to chafe as policy wonk
By Chris Bragg
February 24th, 2009
Three months into the experiment, Eliot Spitzer’s new bosses at Slate say they are quite happy they hired the disgraced former governor to write for them. Their readers seem to be, too.“What’s been striking to me is that the reaction to Eliot’s columns have been like the reactions to all of our columns: Very focused on the arguments for and against the ...
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Back and Forth: Marc Humbert
By Chris Bragg
February 24th, 2009
After 30 years covering Albany for the Associated Press, Marc Humbert seemed ready to ride off into the sunset in July 2007. But after six months in retirement, Humbert decided he could not leave just yet, and took a job writing the biweekly New York State School Boards Association newspaper On Board, which covers education issues around the state. Even in that job, though, he ...
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Inside the Minds of Assembly Republicans on life after Tedisco, the GOP Senate and having enough members to matter
Jane Corwin got to the Assembly after beating Mike Cole, he of the night spent sleeping on an intern’s floor, in a primary which focused quite a bit on the proper conduct for an elected official. So when Ethics and Guidance Committee Chair William Magnarelli (D-Onondaga) invited her to participate in the ethics seminar he was holding for new members, she eagerly ...
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State senator says he will ultimately overcome the shadow of “the incident” and persevere
Few have arrived in Albany with as dark and as deep a cloud hanging over them as Hiram Monserrate.First, he muscled an incumbent Democrat out of office. Then, a non-profit group headed by his chief of staff was accused of misdirecting hundreds of thousands of city funds to his campaign coffers. Next, after becoming the first Latino state senator from Queens, he joined a group ...
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Jon Cohen, the vascular surgeon who says he has Paterson’s ear on everything
With Gov. David Paterson’s (D) poll numbers slipping amid reports of inner turmoil within the executive chamber, new light is being shined on those senior advisors that seem to have less well-defined job de scri ptions.Jon Cohen, a top aide to Paterson, is one such enigma. A vascular surgeon from Long Island, Cohen was instantly catapulted from an unpaid position in ...
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Funding cuts threaten site and effort to publicize transparency project
One year ago, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) said let there be light, and there was Project Sunlight, the government transparency website he had promised on the 2006 campaign trail that allows the public to browse campaign finance disclosures, state contracts, legislation, charities and more. Since its launch in December 2007, the site (www.sunlightny.com) has spawned two ...
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Doug Forand reflects on 2008’s mistakes and the source of his competitive spirit
Doug Forand, the so-called chemist of the Democratic takeover of the State Senate, is not really a chemist. In fact, he majored in biology at SUNY-Binghamton, but says the nickname bestowed upon him by Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) is definitely more to his liking. “Biology tends to happen,” says Forand, sitting in a noisy Tribeca café a ...
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A Printer, Lunch and Ethics Reform All Tackled on Day One of Session
“I’d offer you water but we don’t have any cups. I’d offer you coffee, but we don’t have any,” said John Raskin, chief of staff to newly minted 28-year old State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) as he led the way into his boss’ new office on the duo’s first day in session at the statehouse.“I’d offer to ...
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At 85, James Buckley reflects on beating the last appointed senator
“I’m always surprised when someone remembers me,” said James Buckley when reached at his Sharon, Conn., home one recent afternoon.Now 85, the former U.S. Senator from New York is accustomed to being overlooked. Born on an elevator of the New York City Women’s Hospital in 1923, Buckley never achieved the fame of his younger brother William F. Buckley, ...
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Back and Forth: Paul Tonko
Paul Tonko waited to the last second to enter the very crowded race to succeed Rep. Michael McNulty (D-Albany), but he was always favored to win, which he did, cruising to a nearly 30 point win over a Schenectady County GOP legislator. A former chair of the Assembly Energy Committee and former head of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Tonko wants to ...
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David Paterson tries to find his inner governor
The decision was never going to be easy.Mix in all the insanity inherent in anything involving Hillary Clinton, the national media firestorm thanks to Caroline Kennedy’s throwing down the gauntlet and the backdrop of Rod Blagojevich’s mini-Mafioso-approach to filling Illinois’ own vacancy, and the task in front of Gov. David Paterson (D) in picking the new ...
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A key member of the inner circle, Smith’s consigliere lays out her big plans
Ask around the state about Shelley Mayer, the new counsel to the Senate Democratic majority, and a conflicting portrait begins to emerge.She is “a warm, friendly person of sterling character,” said Robert Abrams, the former attorney general who hired Mayer as an assistant prosecutor in his office, charged with crafting housing and civil rights legislation. ...
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Intellectual resurgence budding at the GOP grassroots
A few weeks ago, Ed Cox and Bill Powers were sitting on the set of Fox & Friends—the morning gabfest on the cable home of conservative politics—when conversation turned to the intellectual sclerosis affecting the Republican Party.“Give me one good idea,” Cox, son-in-law of Richard Nixon and chair of the McCain campaign in New York, challenged Powers.So ...
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Changes to public authorities may prove ground for bipartisan compromise
Gov. David Paterson’s (D) bare-bones budget has already begun to fracture the Legislature across regional lines, with his proposed cuts to school aid angering suburban legislators across the state, his cuts to municipal aid vexing city advocates and his package of layoffs and fringe-benefit revisions antagonizing public-employee unions.There is also the ideological ...
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Meet The New Members
After six years in the State Assembly, Roy McDonald moves to the State Senate, taking the seat vacated by former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Like many of his legislative colleagues, McDonald said the state’s finances will dominate the discussion for the time being.“These economic issues dwarf everything else,” he said.As described by McDonald, the ...
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Labor aims for greater sway over power and politics, despite losing GOP allies
With the Democratic takeover of the State Senate, New York’s influential but politically fragmented labor unions have a shot at expanded influence in Albany’s corridors of power. But experts say they will have to overhaul their political strategies as they head into budget negotiations and wonder if disparate unions will unite to push for common goals, like a ...
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By The Capitol
December 15th, 2008
They left us too soon. Some were the victims of their own self-destruction. Others went out on a high note, leaving people wanting more. A few may still have a second act in the works. But while every year has its share of martyrs, this year, for whatever reason, seemed to have more than most. Some of the politicians whose faces we will see no ...
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From Loss to Boss
By Dan Rivoli
December 15th, 2008
In 2006, Dan Maffei came extremely close to toppling his Republican predecessor, retiring Rep. James Walsh (R-Onondaga/Wayne/Monroe). But with Walsh choosing retirement this year, the second race was the charm for the young Democrat. Running for the open seat, Maffei scored a decisive victory against a former Onondaga County lawmaker.Maffei entered Congress as one of four new ...
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After decades of Republican dominance, Democrats have the old stronghold in the crosshairs—and it may tip the balance of power in New York for good
By Sal Gentile
December 15th, 2008
For 16 years, Nassau Republican Chairman Joe Margiotta was the king of the Long Island GOP and, by extension, Long Island.The old myths about his influence were true: all the time, countless Nassau residents approached him in supermarkets and restaurants, in airports and on the street, thanking him for changing their lives. Most of them were strangers.For decades, he and other ...
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Hopes emerge that Bills playing in Toronto will help Ontario change the game for region
By Karen Zraick
The Buffalo Bills will play their first regular season home
game in Toronto this month, marking
a new chapter in a long history of links between the economies of Western
New York and Ontario.
To observers, the team’s efforts to build a fan base in a city so close and
prosperous is smart business—as it stands, Canadians make up 15 to 20 ...
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By The Capitol
December 15th, 2008
Triggering a New Definition of Attempted MurderPeople v. NaradzayDecided by: Court of Appeals, Nov. 21In February 2004, Jason Naradzay wrote out a “to-do” list detailing his plan to break into a home and kill a Syracuse woman, her husband and their three kids. The woman, who Naradzay met on vacation, had recently informed Naradzay that she no longer wanted to see ...
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Carl Kruger explains his rebellion, and himself
For someone who is causing such a big commotion, State Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) occupies a very small office. The room is roughly eight by eight feet. There is a picture on a bookshelf of Kruger smiling with Bill Clinton, a bust of John F. Kennedy, various letters scattered across his computer-less desk, two purple chairs for visitors and room for little else except ...
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With $3 billion in assets, agency looks to clean up its records after scandal
After almost 100 years in the shadows, the New York Liquidation Bureau is looking forward to a little sunlight.The agency, which manages impaired or insolvent insurance companies in New York, issued its first audited financial statement in late October. The analysis came back clean, showing the bureau, whose assets exceed $3 billion, to be operating in an open and transparent ...
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Breaking Bread With the New Leader
By The Capitol
November 13th, 2008
Three days after Democrats took the majority in the State Senate, apparent incoming Majority Leader Malcolm Smith joined City Hall and The Capitol for an On/Off the Record breakfast sponsored by Finklestein, Newman Ferrara LLP and held at the TD Bank on 42nd and Madison in New York City. In his first at-length interview since the election, Smith discussed many topics, ...
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By The Capitol
November 13th, 2008
Over the summer, Gov. David Paterson (D) began to put together a team to run the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), first appointing M&T Bank chief executive Robert Wilmers to chair the economic development agency. Two months later, he nominated former Citi executive Marisa Lago to be president and CEO. Since then, Lago has been traveling to communities upstate and ...
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By The Capitol
November 13th, 2008
What Happens in Louisiana Stays in LouisianaBoudreaux v. State of LouisianaDecided by: Court of Appeals, Oct. 28In 1981, the State of Louisiana constructed a new bridge for Interstate 12 in Tangipahoa Parish, 30 miles north of New Orleans. Two years later, heavy rains caused the Tangipahoa River to flood, leaving numerous local homes deep under water. By building over the ...
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With $3 billion in assets, agency looks to clean up its records after scandal
After almost 100 years in the shadows, the New York Liquidation Bureau is looking forward to a little sunlight.The agency, which manages impaired or insolvent insurance companies in New York, issued its first audited financial statement in late October. The analysis came back clean, showing the bureau, whose assets exceed $3 billion, to be operating in an open and transparent ...
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On/Off The Record With Sheldon Silver
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was the featured guest at the On the Record-Off the Record Breakfast held by The Capitol and City Hall and co-sponsored by the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and the New York Affordable Reliable Energy Alliance (NY AREA). Among other things, Silver discussed what he thinks of people who call state government dysfunctional, what ...
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Your Honor, Please Excuse My Death Threats Against YouIn re BascianoDecided by: Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Sept. 17The Bonanno crime family has a rocky relationship with United States District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. Judge Garaufis, who sits in Brooklyn, sentenced former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino to life imprisonment in 2005. The judge is now preparing to hear the ...
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Power Grid
Over the past four presidential elections, overall voter turnout in New York has steadily dropped, culminating in one of the lowest turnouts in 2004 of any state in the nation. A closer look at figures from the New York State Board of Election reveals how the balance of power in the state's congressional delegation and in the State Senate relate to voter turnout during ...
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The legacy of Chief Judge Judith Kaye
Back in the early 1800s, the chief judge of New York really got to call the shots. As a member of the Council of Revision, he-and until 1993, the chief was always a he-along with the governor, chancellor and one other judge had the power to preemptively veto any legislation which they deemed unconstitutional. Instead of wending through the judicial system, laws could be ...
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To some state Republicans, success as U.S. Attorney makes the case for 2010 run
Michael Garcia, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, has certainly had a busy year. He busted the prostitution ring that ensnared Eliot Spitzer (D), brought corruption charges against several state and local elected officials and their aides, and aided in the arrest of a United Nations employee for selling fraudulent visas. Garcia's prosecutorial zeal is ...
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BACK AND FORTH with Tom Golisano
Tom Golisano once again sent shockwaves through the political world this year by creating Responsible New York, an organization which has put millions toward the primary and general election campaigns of candidates-money which could prove decisive in determining the party control of the State Senate. Taking a break from the proceedings of the September annual meeting of the ...
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Rockefeller veteran Richard Rosenbaum publishes political memoir
Growing up in the North Country, two things prepared Richard Rosenbaum for a long and noteworthy career in New York politics: being Jewish and having no hair. Rosenbaum held several different roles in New York politics during the '70s and '80s: chief of staff to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, head of the state GOP for four years, New York State Supreme Court judge and one-time ...
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Back and Forth
Michael Balboni shocked many political observers in late 2006 when he left the State Senate to accept then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's (D) invitation to become the state's deputy secretary for public safety, overseeing all criminal justice and homeland security agencies. Giving up life in the Republican majority was no easy task for Balboni, who then watched as his seat in Nassau ...
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Malcolm Smith's quiet plan to win in November and govern in the majority
THERE THEY ARE, JEFF KLEIN AND DIANE SAVINO, STANDING outside Nice Guy Eddie's on Houston Street in Manhattan, where the primary night party for Martin Connor is taking shape. Doug Forand, the chief strategist behind the Democratic Senate campaigns, arrives by himself, quietly sidling up to the two out of three senators running this year's Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. ...
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Picking the last Democratic majority leader took five weeks and 25 Republicans
MALCOLM SMITH DISMISSES the rumors that even if he helps the Democrats get to the majority in November, he may not get to be majority leader, saying he has not worried about doing anything over the past few months to solidify the support within his conference. "That stuff probably comes from the other side of the aisle," he said. "Remember, when you're losing on all fronts, ...
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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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The Aftermath
In Judiciary Chairmanship And Past Races, Search For Clues On Sampson
GOP Chair Jockeying Coalesces Around Faso And Wojtaszek
40 Rising Stars Under 40
Why Scott Murphy Matters
Levy, Controversial Suffolk Executive, Mulling 2010 Run For Governor
In Schwartz’s Wake, Spano Gets a Two-Way Challenge in Westchester
The Return of George Pataki
Not Waiting for Cuomo, Quiet Speculation About Successor Sprouts
Early Interest Mounts for Hannon Seat
In the 20th District, a Test for Paterson, Gillibrand and State GOP
The Lonely Preacher
Minority Report
Monserrate, Defiant, Says He Has Been Pummeled for Being Progressive
Paterson’s Mystery Advisor Diagnoses and Defends
Spin Doctor
Mayer Takes on Central Role to Spearhead Senate Democrats
Republicans Reassess, Reflect, Reconsider
Legislators Join in Resisting Budget Cuts, Insisting on Reform
Welcome To The Big Leagues
Unions Look To Consolidate and Build Power with Switch in Senate Control
The Battle for Long Island
For Buffalo’s Future, Western New Yorkers Look to Canadian Connection
Anatomy of a Senate Renegade
On/Off the Record with Malcolm Smith
Bench Mark
Michael Garcia-GOP Candidate for Governor, Attorney General, Congress?
Responsible Responses
Playing It Close
The Kruger-Diaz-Espada-Squadron-Monserrate-Klein Conundrum
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
