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Lame Duck Governor Keeps Busy
August 14th, 2006

After twelve years behind the wheel of state government, Governor George Pataki has less than five months left in office.  While technically a lame duck, Pataki still has full gubernatorial powers to effect change across the state through legislation, executive orders, appointments, and other tools of the office.  As he eyes the White House, Governor Pataki’s actions these next couple of month are all the more intriguing.
 

This weekend, news outlets across the state covered Pataki’s latest actions:
 

The Daily News reports that on Monday, August 14 Governor Pataki is expected to sign a set of laws addressing the health problems suffered by the rescue workers after 9/11. These new laws would allow workers who became sick after the two-year workers’ compensation deadline passed in 2003 to resubmit claims for consideration; grant full line-of-duty death benefits to the families of uniformed workers who died after participating in the rescue efforts; allow recovery workers to have their retirement status re-labeled as “accidental disability” if health problems arise; and form a commission to study the long-term health impacts of working at Ground Zero.
 

The Albany Times Union reports that Governor Pataki is considering trips to China, Japan and India this fall, perhaps to explore setting up a trade office in Shanghai with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. In his executive budget, Pataki set aside $225,000 to set up the office, which he says would allow the state to develop relationships with both the Chinese government and Chinese businesses, but the Legislature removed it from the budget. Pataki’s office has not confirmed any travel plans as of yet. 
 

The Staten Island Advance reports that the Legislature passed a seven-bill package of on organ donation, which now await Governor Pataki’s signature. The package includes measures to change organ-donation registrations from records of intent to records of consent; to commission a study on presumed consent to organ donation; fund a public awareness program for donation; establish tax credits for donors and their families; provide for voluntary contribution from drivers license applications to donation research and awareness; change the drivers licenses of donors to display the status on the front; and rename the state’s organ registry to the Donate Life Registry. Pataki has not said publicly whether he intends to sign or veto the legislation.
 

The Mercury News reports that while on a visit to Iowa to campaign for Congressional candidates, Governor Pataki stated that in order to succeed in this fall’s midterm elections, the Republican Party must return to core conservative themes that distinguish them from Democrats. He also stated that national security will be a big issue in the fall elections, and that Republicans have a clear advantage in that area. It is speculated that the visit was also meant to test the waters for a possible presidential campaign, and so Pataki could begin to dispel the perception that he is a northeastern moderate in New York, where the Republican Party is staunchly conservative.  
 

The North Country Gazette reports that Governor Pataki has officially launched the Restore NY initiative, a program that is meant to aid cities across the state in financing efforts to revitalize urban centers, promote economic development, and improve housing. In the 2006-07 budget, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) was granted $300 million to implement the program. Pataki has directed that ESDC officials hold meetings with local authorities across the state to discuss and explain the new initiative, and these meetings are expected to begin next week.

By Doug Israel on August 14, 2006, 4:29 pm
In category: Eye on Albany | No Comments »

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Keeping an Eye on Pataki
July 17th, 2006

 As the twelve year run as Governor of the State of New York comes to a close for George E. Pataki, speculation is that he has his sights set on a presidential bid.  However, as the governor woos New Hampshire electeds and national political donors, he still has more than five months left in office.  Lame duck or not, Pataki still has the power to leverage the office to impact local, regional and statewide issues through allocations, executive orders, appointments and a range of other tools at his disposal.  Over the coming months Pataki will also have to sign, or veto, the bills sent to him by the Legislature.  What he will do with his final five months may say a lot about his priorities on the campaign trail.
 
This weekend news media around the state highlighted the following latest Pataki endeavors:

  • The Post-Gazette.com reports on Governor George Pataki and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s announcement of the opening of a new $30 million, 35,000-square-foot Natural History Center of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake, New York.  The center was designed to teach the public about the park’s ecosystems, and offers lessons on every aspect of the region’s natural history. The museum also includes an outdoor amphitheater, a movie theater, various exhibits, aquariums, a hiking trail, a cafe, an observation tower and 31 acres of preserve.

 

  • The Daily News reports that Governor Pataki hosted a dozen New Hampshire GOP activists to a taxpayer-funded salmon dinner at the Executive Mansion last month as lawmakers scrambled to wrap up the legislative session.

 

  • The Journal News takes a look at the failure of the Governor and the State Legislature to enact meaningful reform to how the state government operations.  The New York Times also reported on the end of the 229th legislative session and the  role of the Governor in budget negotiations.

 

  • The Times Herald Record reports that activists gathered this weekend to urge Governor Pataki and federal lawmakers to stop a private company from taking property by eminent domain to build a power line, the New York Regional Interconnect, which would run from Utica to New Windsor.  Pataki has yet to act on a bill passed by the Legislature that stops the company from using that power.

 

  • The New York Times reports on Governor Pataki’s pledge to cover the local portion of expenses for infrastructure repairs as part of a package to help upstate communities recover from the devastating floods that hit three weeks ago.  Estimates put total recovery costs for New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey at $1 billion.  The Mid Hudson News Network also reports that Governor Pataki waived Department of Motor Vehicle fees for replacement motor vehicle documents for victims of the devastating floods that occurred last month.

 

  • The Albany Times Union reports on Pataki’s announcement of $1,056,787 in Environmental Restoration Program grants for the investigation or cleanup of environmental contamination in seven counties across New York State.  The funds come from a bond act passed a decade ago by New York State voters.

 

  • According to the Journal News, Governor Pataki announced Thursday that the state would contribute $24.8 million in homeland security funding to the New York City area to help offset an $83 million cut in funding to the metropolitan area from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The $24.8 million is the state’s mandated 20 percent share of the $124 million awarded to the region through the federal Urban Area Security Initiative program.

  

By Doug Israel on July 17, 2006, 7:07 pm
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Secret Pork Barrel
June 19th, 2006

On Friday, Fred LeBrun of the Albany Times Union called on Albany County District Attorney David Soares to start “poking and prying” into the state legislature’s secretive pork barrel spending projects. According to LeBrun “hundreds of millions of dollars” each year go to projects that don’t ever receive the light of day. 
 
Pork barrel projects, known as “member items” in the New York State legislature, are commonly believed to be rewards that legislators give to the donors who fund their campaigns.  And these rewards are funded with taxpayer dollars.

As LeBrun points out, many of these projects may be worthwhile, and many legislators who request funds for them may be well meaning. But the justification for these projects – and the allocation of money for them — are shrouded in secrecy. 

In the last round of budget negotiations, Senate Democrat Liz Krueger called out the State Senate on this issue and forced Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno to agree to provide an accounting of these projects — after budget negotiations were completed.

Krueger’s action was a good first step. Now, taxpayers and voters should demand that both houses provide more sunshine and better accounting for taxpayer dollars by requiring reporting before the budget is finalized.  A little help from District Attorney David Soares wouldn’t hurt.

By Doug Israel on June 19, 2006, 1:50 am
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Reform New York Lobby Day — Road Trip To Albany
May 8th, 2006

Tuesday May 9 will mark the second year in a row that New Yorkers will converge in Albany as part of Reform New York Lobby Day to press for government reform.  Activists and everyday New Yorkers will make their case for a more transparent, accountable and democratic state government.

Building on the success of last year’s effort the group will focus on the key issues of campaign finance and election reform, greater budget transparency and accountablility, ethics reform and reform of how the state draws legislative district lines. 

Last year’s efforts served as a catalyst for much needed legislative rules reforms that were announced by legislative leaders immediately following the event providing citizens that made the trip to Albany a valuable sense of victory. 

This year’s Reform New York Lobby Day events will begin at 10:30 am at the Hart Lounge, Egg Theater with issue briefings and appearances by legislative leaders and gubernatorial candidates.  

At 1:00 pm the group will split into teams that will meet with legislators to make their case for reform of how government operates.  This will be followed with a rally on the East Side of State Capitol at 3:00 pm. 

All are invited to attend.  

For more information or to register for the event contact larbetman@verizon.net, call 1-800-300-8707, or visit www.commoncause.org/reformnyday 

(The coalition of groups co-sponsoring the event include:  Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Business and Professional Women of New York State, Capital District Alliance for Democracy, Center for Governmental Research, Center for an Urban Future, Citizen Action of New York, Citizens Budget Commission, Citizens for Better Government in New York, Citizens Union of the City of New York, Common Cause/ NY, Coro New York Leadership Center, Democracy Matters, Demos, Environmental Advocates of New York, Hunger Action, Network of New York State, The Interfaith Alliance of Rochester, League of Women Voters of the City Of New York, League of Women Voters of New York State, League of Women Voters of Westchester, New York Citizens for Clean Elections, New York Civic, New York City Americans for Democratic Action, New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), New York Statewide Senior Action Council, People for the American Way, Plainville Farms, Professional Staff Congress, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, Tenants and Neighbors, Urban Justice Center, Welfare Rights Initiative, Women’s City Club of New York. )

By Doug Israel on May 8, 2006, 7:15 am
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The Real Solution For City Schools
April 3rd, 2006

For years we’ve heard about the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit and the inability of parties to reach agreement on who would pay to provide New York City school children with a sound, basic education.  Press coverage to date has almost exclusively focused on how large the amount of money that the state was going to hand over to the city, and if they’d ever do it.  This month, a state appellate court ruled that city schools are entitled to at least an extra $4.7 billion a year – plus about $9 billion for school construction.  The state legislature has proposed doing so through the issuance of bonds by the state’s Dormitory Authority. 

While a one-time cash infusion, or an infusion of cash phased in over five years, is long overdue, it is not a long-term solution.

This will require taking a hard look at the formula for state education fund disbursement.  According to the New York Times in their article “School Aid: Meet the New Math, Same as the Old” (a reference to The Who’s “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” anthem of post-revolution discontent with the status quo), these formulas, in all their obscurity, have been manipulated and massaged to ensure the money flows in adherence to political calculations, not the needs of the schoolchildren or the school districts. 

To those that follow Albany politics this is nothing new.  Everyone else should be outraged.  With the entire state legislature up for reelection borrowing billions of dollars from the future through a quasi-governmental authority to pay for schools is not courageous.  What would be? Reworking the formula for the distribution of funds and ensuring that the needs of less affluent school districts are met, in perpetuity.  

 

By Doug Israel on April 3, 2006, 7:17 am
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Campaign Contributions Fund Senator Connor’s New Car
March 13th, 2006

It is practically a given that incumbent legislators in New York State are going to win reelection.  Despite this lack of competitiveness, or maybe because of it, donors are still forking over thousands of dollars to their elected officials’ reelection campaign. 

If the elections aren’t competitive, where is that money being spent?

In the case of Senator Martin Connor the money is being spent on his new car.

Last week Common Cause-New York reported that since July 2003, Connor has spent $71, 837 from his campaign account on automotive expenses, including $34,582.08 on a new car.  (When he was the Senate Minority Leader, Connor had the use of a state-provided car and driver, but he was recently deposed).

Senator Connor paid $11,966 out of his campaign account to park the car at a garage a block from his house and over two miles from his office and $11,763 on car insurance.

The former minority leader also spent a total of $8,558 on repairs and maintenance costs, including $5,422 out of his campaign account on repairs in July 2004 – just one year from the original purchase date.
 
Senator Connor also spent $2,773 on miscellaneous “car expenses” that were paid directly to — you guessed it — Senator Connor.

The funds spent on his car amount to 35 percent of his campaign expenditures during that time.  What’s interesting is that the Senator didn’t even face an opponent in the general or primary election in 2004. 

These expense reports raise several important questions:
1-Why are donors giving this guy money?
2-What does spending over $70,000 on a car have to do with Senator Connor’s re-election when he faced no opponent in 2004?
3-Why does the law allow contributions to be used in this manner?
4-What happened to the senator’s warranty?

Senator Connor is not alone in using campaign funds for expenses like a car, but as the Common Cause report does show, it is one of the more egregious uses of campaign funds.  The report and Connor’s purchase of a car and use of donor funds for what seem to be personal use show how lax our campaign finance law is here in New York State.  One couldn’t buy a more fitting example of the need for reforming the campaign finance law than this.

By Doug Israel on March 13, 2006, 7:08 am
In category: Eye on Albany | 4 Comments »

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Choosing Judges: So What Now?
February 6th, 2006

US District Judge John Gleeson’s finding that the selection of Supreme Court judges was a sham should surprise no one by now who lives in New York State.  The fact that it took so long for the judiciary to intervene isn’t surprising either. 

What might be surprising though is that our elected leaders have been so quiet on the subject.  But it shouldn’t be. 

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Minority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Governor George Pataki, the three men who hold the strings in Albany, and have the power to legally change the way judges are selected in New York State, have been largely mum. 

As we know, grandstanding is part of the political culture in Albany and inaction the reality.  But what gives?  Where are the proclamations that they’re going to take action to address the situation?  Where are our leaders defining a vision for a judiciary free of corruption, influence-peddling, and incompetent judges that made their way to the bench by sucking up to the political big-wigs?  Where is the bill that ensures a fair and honest judiciary for the people of New York State?

It would be easier to understand if it was only a New York City issue.  Albany overlooks the city on any number of issues – most notably in recent years the level of funding provided to educate the city’s school children — but this is a statewide issue. 
 

While Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes’ pursuit of indicted former county boss Clarence Norman got all the press, Supreme Court candidates have been chosen by political insiders and party chairmen and paraded at farcical nominating conventions around the state.
The Buffalo News reports on some of the shenanigans that historically were associated with the selection of judges in Western New York: “Western New York parties often charged judicial candidates as much as $7,500 for judicial nominating ‘expenses,’ while forcing most candidates to buy tickets costing as much as $5,000 for other candidates favored by party headquarters”.  While they’ve since changed their ways, the judges “nominated” under the former system remain on the bench. 

An editorial in Newsday reports that on Long Island ,Suffolk Conservative chairman Pat Curcio has been accused of demanding that judicial candidates that receive the party’s endorsements buy expensive ads in his party’s publication.

Maybe our leaders are gathering their thoughts.  Maybe they are considering the idea by the New York City Bar Association  to move away from election of judges — which could be fraught with ethical issues of its own as candidates hustle around the district raising money from lawyers and others who’d like to see them on the bench — and instead adopt a system of selecting judges based on merit and qualifications, and not political ties and ability to fundraise.

Or maybe they are lamenting the demise of the carefully scripted nomination process that ensured that there were powerful positions of patronage to be doled out to those who paid their dues.

Who knows?  But somehow the silence is not surprising.

By Doug Israel on February 6, 2006, 7:36 am
In category: Eye on Albany | 1 Comment »

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