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July 2002 Archive
July
31, 2002
Andrew M. Cuomo, the former federal housing
secretary and a Democratic candidate for governor, started
broadcasting a 30-second advertisement last weekend on New
York City stations, which Cuomo aides say reach 70 to 75
percent of likely primary voters. A series of commercials
had appeared upstate in recent weeks, focusing on the
economy. Read the transcript and a brief analysis.
(New York Times)
With six weeks left until the Democratic
gubernatorial primary, H. Carl McCall finally took his
campaign to the airwaves with a television advertisement
that depicts his rise from poverty to success in government
and business.
(New York Times)
(Albany Times Union)
(Newsday)
Staunch Republican Gov. Pataki wooed top
Democrats yesterday - asking them to bring their party's
convention to New York City in 2004.
(New York Daily News)
The Democratic race for governor took an
unexpectedly personal turn yesterday when Carl McCall's
campaign attacked a Cuomo - not rival Andrew Cuomo, but his
dad, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
(New York Daily News)
A Conservative Party candidate for
lieutenant governor appears to have broken the law by voting
twice in the most recent mayoral and presidential elections,
records obtained by The Post reveal.
(New York Post)
July
30, 2002
The McCall campaign stepped up its attacks
on Andrew M. Cuomo's credibility today, and this time Mr.
Cuomo's campaign gave them the ammunition, wrongly claiming
the endorsement of a group of upstate Democrats.
(New York Times)
(Albany Times Union)
The high price of prescription drugs that
forces elderly people to forgo food to afford medication or
to buy cheaper pills in Canada is "tragic," and government
should do more to bring drug costs down, H Carl McCall and
Senator Charles Schumer said Monday.
(Albany Times Union)
Andrew Cuomo unveiled a new television
advertisement on Monday featuring Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass.
(Albany Times Union)
(Newsday)
Andrew Cuomo launched a TV ad yesterday
featuring testimonials from the children of two prominent
black leaders: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Adam
Clayton Powell Jr.Cuomo also announced that he hired a top
black political operative - Jacques DeGraff, who managed the
Rev. Al Sharpton's 1997 mayoral bid - to be a senior
campaign adviser.The moves reflect Cuomo's strategy of
trying to win black votes in his Democratic primary race
against state Controller Carl McCall, who is vying to become
New York's first black governor.
(Daily News)
Andrew Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign is
about to roll out a "secret weapon" - his famous father,
former Gov. Mario Cuomo, The Post has learned.
(NY Post)
Meet New York's least-known power couple.
Assemblyman Vito Lopez and city Planning Commissioner Angela
Battaglia sit atop a massive network of
government-subsidized social-service and housing agencies in
impoverished Bushwick, Brooklyn.
(NY Post)
July
29, 2002
In embarking on his third bid for governor,
B. Thomas Golisano, a billionaire entrepreneur and founder
of the state's Independence Party, has unleashed a campaign
of lavish spending, a multipronged strategy to get a spot on
the ballot and a goal apparently of frustrating Gov. George
E. Pataki at every turn.
(New York Times)
State Comptroller H. Carl McCall picked up
the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter on Sunday,
giving him the backing of 10 of the state's 19 Democratic
members of Congress in his bid to become governor.
(Albany Times Union)
The end of plastic and glass recycling has
left the streets of Gravesend strewn with garbage and a
magnet for rats, says Assemblyman William Colton.
(Daily News)
July
28, 2002
Last week, as corporate chieftains were
arrested and the stock market churned, Andrew M. Cuomo
invited reporters to a Midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom
stocked with his supporters and delivered a formal half-hour
speech based on a four-page proposal on corporate ethics. It
was a kickoff to a four-city tour by Mr. Cuomo with
appearances by laid-off employees whose savings have
evaporated.
(New York Times)
The 225th annual session of the New York
State Legislature dragged quietly to a tentative close on
July 2, after six months of partisan posturing and wrangling
and very little real action. This article summarizes the
key legislation that either passed of failed before the New
York State Legislature.
(New York Times)
July
27, 2002
As the legislative session winds to a close
in this election year, Gov. George E. Pataki has quietly put
the brakes on several popular measures, including a minimum
wage increase and a ban on smoking in restaurants, according
to legislators and lobbyists of all political stripes.
(New York Times)
Building on support he's already received in
the Hispanic community, Gov. George Pataki accepted an
endorsement Friday from the Grand Council of Hispanic
Societies.
(Albany Times Union)
July
26, 2002
Thousands of complaints about poor care at
nursing homes in New York were ignored or not properly
investigated by the State Health Department last year,
according to an audit released yesterday by State
Comptroller H. Carl McCall.
(New York Times)
Today, it became official - almost - that
there will be a Democratic primary for governor, as Andrew
M. Cuomo produced a six-foot-high stack of petitions to get
his name on the primary ballot.
(New York Times)
(Albany Times Union)
The Brooklyn Public Library will get
$150,000 worth of snazzy new books and services - and
spruced-up facilities - thanks to a grant from the state
Assembly's Brooklyn delegation.
(Daily News)
July
25, 2002
The leaders of the state Legislature opened
the door yesterday to restoring New York City's
$400-million-a-year commuter tax, which was repealed three
years ago.
(New York Post)
Andrew M. Cuomo and H. Carl McCall looked
beyond September yesterday, spending the day campaigning
against the man that only one of them is likely to face in
November, Gov. George E. Pataki. Ê
(New York Times)
Andrew Cuomo yesterday took his campaign for
"corporate responsibility" upstate, charging Gov. Pataki and
Comptroller Carl McCall are engaging in "ethically
unacceptable" behavior.
(New York Post)
(Newsday)
July
24, 2002
The possibility of a transit fare increase
after the election in November has been in the air for
almost a month now, ever since Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
began to mention the issue in interviews. Yesterday, it
began to resonate louder in the governor's race, as H. Carl
McCall, the state comptroller and a Democrat hoping to
unseat Gov. George E. Pataki in the fall, challenged the
governor to assure New York commuters that an increase was
not looming.
(New York Times)
Accusing Pataki and GOP of inaction,
gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo calls for "code of
ethics," tougher fraud penalties, state commission to combat
white-collar crimes. Ê
(Albany Times Union)
As part of NY1's coverage of the upcoming
governor's race, Andrew Kirtzman followed State Comptroller
Carl McCall to a campaign appearance in Manhattan this week,
where he found a private man thrust into a public role.
(NY1)
July
23, 2002
United States Senator Charles E. Schumer
took the unusual step yesterday of jumping into the hotly
contested Democratic primary for governor, endorsing H. Carl
McCall, the state comptroller, over his opponent, Andrew M.
Cuomo.
(New York Times)
(Daily News)
(New York Post)
Democrats gathered Monday to demonstrate
their unity in the face of a contentious gubernatorial
primary just hours after one of the party's top elected
officials announced he had chosen sides in the race.Ê
(Albany Times Union)
State Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. found himself
embroiled yesterday in yet another controversy. Espada, whom
Bronx Democrats have been trying to kick out of the party
for switching his loyalty to Albany Republicans, funneled
$745,000 in so-called pork-barrel funds to a Soundview
community group that he heads and from which he draws more
than $200,000 a year in salary.
(Daily News)
Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue, eyeing a Conservative
Party primary, has launched a "crusade" to put "under God"
back in the Pledge of Allegiance.Ê
(New York Post)
July
22, 2002
On the last day of the Legislature's 1999
session, Gov. George Pataki garnered front-page headlines by
proposing that New York considerably restrict for the first
time how much money wealthy individuals, corporations and
labor unions could donate to political campaigns. In the
succeeding three years, however, there has been little
evidence that Pataki has tried to make good on that pledge.
The governor's bill never has made it out of a committee in
the State Senate, even though Pataki's Republican allies
control that chamber.
(Newsday)
Senator Charles Schumer is endorsing Carl
McCall in New York's race for governor. The state's senior
senator is expected to officially announce his support for
his fellow Democrat at a news conference on the steps of
City Hall Monday.
(NY1)
The New York State Legislature has approved
a budget that included $745,000 in grants to a nonprofit
community group that State Senator Pedro Espada Jr.
of the Bronx heads, and that pays him more than
$200,000 a year. The grants were among Mr. Espada's "member
items," the discretionary pork-barrel money legislators get
to dole out as they see fit.
(New York Times)
As accounting scandals roil the stock market
and stimulate a wave of regulatory bills in Congress, New
York State lawmakers have also begun to ponder ways to
tighten oversight of accounting firms and eliminate
potential conflicts of interest.At the same time, campaign
finance reports filed last week show that the nation's
biggest accounting firms began pouring more money than ever
into the state's political races.
(New York Times)
Two years ago, State Assemblyman Roger Green
survived a strong challenge from Hakeem Jeffries, a
lawyer, who managed to win 41 percent of the vote in the
primary, an unusually impressive showing for a political
novice running against one of the Assembly's long-serving
and most influential members. In the two years since that
race, Mr. Jeffries, 31, has devoted a great deal of energy
to organizing and preparing for this year's primary.
(New York Times)
Less than two months after his company was
involved in separate oil spills in the East River and the
Port Jefferson harbor, a Long Island businessman donated
$10,000 to the re-election campaign of Gov. Pataki, The Post
has learned.
(New York Post)
She's been accused of anti-Semitism,
anti-Americanism and fraud - but to Gov. Pataki and Mayor
Bloomberg, Lenora Fulani is a powerful political ally.
(New York Post)
July
21, 2002
It's been a rough few weeks for John "Jack"
Cheevers, a little-known outsider who tried to take on the
two top Democratic candidates in a gubernatorial campaign
this year. Cheevers received a reminder of his failed
campaign last week when a state Supreme Court justice in
Albany dismissed a lawsuit against the Legislature that he
filed last year to kick off his campaign.
(Albany Times Union)
July
20, 2002
B. Thomas Golisano on Friday launched a $5
million statewide television and radio advertising blitz, a
move supporters say demonstrates the billionaire
businessman's seriousness about running for governor.
(Albany Times Union)
A look at the chief criminal justice
positions taken by former federal Housing Secretary Andrew
Cuomo and state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, the two
Democrats vying for the nomination to oppose Republican Gov.
George Pataki.
(Newsday)
July
19, 2002
State Comptroller H. Carl McCall picked up
the endorsement of a powerful union today in his quest for
the governor's office: the Civil Service Employees
Association.
(New York Times)
(Newsday)
Gov. Pataki yesterday said he hopes to avert
a transit-fare hike despite fiscal woes that have Mayor
Bloomberg threatening to cut city funding to the MTA.
(New York Post)
July
18, 2002
A group of unemployed workers who
distributed fliers critical of Gov. George E. Pataki were
ejected from the Dominican Day Parade in the Bronx on
Sunday, after the governor's re-election campaign questioned
the workers' presence.
(New York Times)
Gov. George Pataki and his rivals are
spending very heavily, including almost $2.4 million already
laid out by the Republican incumbent for television and
radio advertising, a review of records Wednesday showed.
(Albany Times Union)
Carl McCall yesterday belittled the campaign
of Andrew Cuomo, saying his Democratic rival's candidacy is
"in decline," based on its fund-raising figures.
(New York Post)
Seven of the 10 real estate developers
chosen for a prestigious panel advising Gov. George Pataki's
administration on how to rebuild the World Trade Center site
- some with their own financial projects at stake - are
significant donors to re-election campaigns of Pataki and
his Republican allies.
(Newsday)
July
17, 2002
Andrew Cuomo focused on preschool children
and literacy as he announced an education plan yesterday,
echoing the plan released on Sunday by H. Carl McCall, his
opponent for the Democratic nomination for New York
governor.
(New York Times)
Financial filings became the focus of
controversy and confusion Tuesday because of errors in the
campaign-contribution and expenditure reports of the state
Republican Party and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Andrew
Cuomo.
(Albany Times Union)
July
16, 2002
Gov. George E. Pataki, already leading in
polls, far outpaced his Democratic rivals in fund-raising
over the last six months, taking in about $12.7 million in
contributions, according to campaign filings.
(New York Times)
(Albany Times Union)
July
15, 2002
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver accused Governor George E. Pataki Friday of damaging
downtown recovery efforts by planning to send jobs out of
the area. Silver, whose district includes the World Trade
Center area, sent Pataki a toughly worded letter urging
Pataki to rescind his plan to relocate 271 state workers
from offices in Lower Manhattan to Harlem.
(New York Post)
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew
Cuomo called for the immediate closing of the Indian Point
nuclear plant yesterday, warning that it was "the only true
way to protect New Yorkers" from a terrorist attack at the
site.
(New York Post)
(Daily News)
July
14, 2002
Andrew Cuomo has returned to New York to run
for governor, picking up where his father left off when he
was rushed out of politics in 1994 by George E. Pataki, in
the one gubernatorial campaign that Andrew Cuomo did not run
for him.
(New York Times)
July
13, 2002
Raysa Castillo, the Bronx Democratic Party's
nominee to oppose State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., officially
announced her candidacy yesterday. Castillo, a lawyer who
has worked with several nonprofit advocacy groups, said
yesterday that her effort to become the state's first female
Dominican senator would be a broad-based campaign with
support throughout the mostly Democratic 32nd Senate
District, which includes Mott Haven, Morrisania and
Soundview in the Bronx.
(New York Times)
A 32-year-old doorman who was trying to take
on a veteran state lawmaker in an East Side Democratic
primary was ousted yesterday from the party. After a
hearing, a four-member jury of Democratic district leaders
unanimously voted to boot Christopher Spuches, thwarting his
bid against Assemblyman Steve Sanders.
(New York Post)
The New York State Legislature's failure to
lower the legal limit for drunken driving already has cost
New York more than $30 million, and the tab could surpass
$120 million if the delay continues.
(Albany Times Union)
July
12, 2002
Manhattan Democrats are moving to boot one
of their own out of the party - a 32-year-old doorman at a
hot nightclub who's challenging a veteran state lawmaker.
Chris Spuches is facing political excommunication from
Democrats who are trying to thwart his bid against
influential East Side Assemblyman Steve Sanders. Spuches was
notified this week by Manhattan Democratic boss Timothy Gay
that a hearing has been set for today to consider nixing his
party membership because of Spuches' critical remarks about
the party.
(New York Post)
The New York State AFL-CIO announced yesterday that it will remain neutral
in the governor's race at least through the September10 primary. If the
AFL-CIO fails to make an endorsement it would deprive the Democratic Party's
nominee - State Comptroller H. Carl McCall or Andrew Cuomo - of a valuable
ally in what is sure to be an uphill battle against Pataki, a Republican.
(Newsday)
(Daily News)
Supporters of Democratic gubernatorial hopeful H. Carl McCall held more than
200 house parties statewide Thursday, raising funds for McCall's campaign.
While McCall, the state comptroller, was raising money, his Democratic
rival, former U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, unveiled a trio of
education initiatives. Governor George E. Pataki was in Brooklyn receiving
endorsements from Haitian-American community leaders.
(Albany Times Union)
Diverting briefly from the usual Democratic focus on the condition of the
state's poorest schools, gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo traveled
yesterday to the wealthy Nassau suburb of Roslyn Harbor to pitch his plan to
help parents track their children's school progress through the Internet.
(Newsday)
Governor George E. Pataki yesterday continued to make inroads with
Democratic groups - holding an endorsement rally with Haitian-Americans in
the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Pataki has been endorsed by the
Haitian-American Law Enforcement Fraternal Organization, which has 300
members in New York.
(New York Post)
In an attempt to streamline and reform local governments, Governor George E.
Pataki has created a task force designed to come up with ideas to help
village, town, city and county governments become more efficient and
cost-effective.
(Albany Times Union)
Governor George E.Pataki visited downtown Brooklyn yesterday to promote a
$200 million project intended to upgrade the 97-year-old Atlantic Terminal.
The work - set to be completed in December 2006 - includes renovation of the
Long Island Rail Road and Transit Authority facilities at the 3.6-acre
complex at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, as well as the construction of a
375,000-square-foot retail complex atop the terminal.
(Daily News)
July
11, 2002
Democratic gubernatorial candidates Andrew
Cuomo and H. Carl McCall launched separate attacks yesterday
demanding Governor George E. Pataki push through stalled
legislation that, if passed, would increase the minimum wage
and soften harsh drug laws.
(Daily News)
(The Journal News)
Republican Governor George E. Pataki
released a Spanish-language television ad on health care
Wednesday while his Democratic challengers assailed him on
minimum wage and drug law reform. The ad, which began airing
on Spanish-language stations statewide, boasts that the
state-funded Child Health Plus program's enrollment has
risen by more than 500,000 since Pataki took office in 1995.
(Albany Times Union)
Trying to get a political boost, Democratic
candidate for governor Andrew Cuomo is restructuring his
campaign and increasing the role of several aides, including
two ex-employees of his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo.
(New York Post)
More than seven years after Governor George
E. Pataki first said he wanted to revise the Rockefeller-era
drug laws, only three people - the governor and two
legislative leaders - know if they're ready to make a deal.
(New York Times)
After an outcry from several groups that use
public borrowing for construction projects, the Pataki
administration has decided to waive some newly imposed fees.
The fees, which could add thousands of dollars to projects,
will be passed on to project sponsors such as colleges,
hospitals, nursing homes and a variety of commercial
businesses and not-for-profits that use public authorities
and agencies for financing.
(Albany Times Union)
Democratic candidate for governor Andrew
Cuomo took time out yesterday from issues like the minimum
wage and education reform to propose that former Mayor Rudy
Giuliani be named commissioner of baseball.
(Daily News)
July
10, 2002
Saying that scandal-plagued companies have penetrated Albany, Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Andrew M. Cuomo, called for the overhaul of New York
State's ethics laws and campaign finance system yesterday.
(New York Times)
(Albany Times Union)
Democratic candidate for governor and New York State Comptroller H. Carl
McCall said on Monday that President Bush must reassure American investors
that corporate crooks will be dealt with severely and that tougher federal
oversight is on the way. McCall's statement comes after New York State's
$112 billion public employee pension fund, of which McCall is sole trustee,
suffered some large losses as a result of the corporate accounting
revelations.
(Albany Times Union)
Roger Stone, the top political adviser to billionaire B. Thomas Golisano,
said the Rochester-based businessman may soon begin broadcasting television
ads critical of Governor George E. Pataki's ties to Lenora Fulani, the
former head of the leftist New Alliance Party.
(Albany Times Union)
July
9, 2002
This year, Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat from
Manhattan, is facing a primary battle of
his own that is viewed as among the most challenging of this
election year in New York City. His challenger is Guillermo
Linares, a city councilman from northern Manhattan for 10
years before term limit laws prevented him from running last year.
The district in which Mr. Schneiderman is running has a
population that is nearly 60 percent Hispanic - principally
Dominican - compared with his old district, which was less
than 20 percent Hispanic. Linares was formerly a city councilmember
from the neighborhoods now sitting squarely in Schneiderman's district.
(New York Times)
Among the many pieces of unfinished business
at the end of the legislative session this year, a bill that
would have restricted smoking in restaurants seemed among
the most likely to succeed. But the session has pretty much
ended, and the bill was not brought up for a vote. Its
apparent demise demonstrates how in Albany, it is much
easier to stop a bill than to make it into law.
(New York Times)
New York State Democrats quietly borrowed
$700,000 from an obscure Queens bank in the last weeks of
the 2000 elections, hoping the cash would help them win
enough seats to wrest control of the chamber from
Republicans. But the Democrats not only failed to pick up
seats, they still owe the bank nearly $400,000 -
complicating their goal of capturing the Senate in this
year's legislative elections.
(New York Post)
Governor George E. Pataki unveiled details
of his $100 million upstate economic development initiative
on Monday, revealing that it relies heavily on Indian
casinos and gives municipalities a tight deadline to apply
for grants.
(Albany Times Union)
July
8, 2002
Democratic candidate for governor H. Carl
McCall accused Republican Governor George E. Pataki
yesterday of failing to reform the controversial Rockefeller
drug laws and stalling lawmakers' efforts to revise them.
(New York Times)
(Daily News)
(New York Post)
After objections from Governor George E.
Pataki’s top aides, the Democratic party’s advertisement,
called "Stolen Lives," which urges changes to the
Rockefeller-era drug laws, was pulled off the air by two
Spanish-language television stations.
(New York Times)
A bill passed by the New York State
Legislature and scheduled to be signed into law soon by
Governor George E. Pataki will restore residential education
status for thousands of undocumented immigrants.
(Albany Times Union)
Six months into the legislative session with
no clear end in sight, the November election -- particularly
the gubernatorial race -- is having a major impact on the
passage of legislation. Some say Governor George E. Pataki
has built such political dominance that he doesn't need to
press allies in the Republican-dominated Senate to negotiate
with the Democrat-led Assembly. Nor does he need to work to
resolve conflicting bills in the two chambers.
(Albany Times Union)
The New York State Legislature has been in
session since early January but New Yorkers still do not
know whether lawmakers will revise the Rockefeller drug
laws, raise the minimum wage, approve a gay rights measure,
extend unemployment insurance, or require clergy members to
report allegations of child abuse.
(New York Times)
Governor George E. Pataki paddled down
Manhattan's west side yesterday, joining a flotilla of
kayaks to raise awareness about the cleanup and recreational
uses of the Hudson River.
(New York Post)
In just three weeks Rochester businessman
and Republican candidate for governor B. Thomas Golisano has
established himself as a statewide candidate, launching a
website and setting up his headquarters.
(Albany Times Union)
July
7, 2002
With rent laws, which affect more than one
million households, facing sunset on June 15, 2003, and the
gubernatorial election just four months away, the debate
over how much, and even whether, government should
counteract free-market forces to regulate rent is stirring
once again.
(New York Times)
July
5, 2002
Democratic gubernatorial candidates H. Carl
McCall and Andrew M. Cuomo marched up and down Main Street
in Yonkers yesterday, campaigning at the Hudson River
Festival. But Governor George E. Pataki, the Republican who
is running for re-election, was nowhere in sight.
(New York Times)
New York State Assemblyman Robert A.
Straniere, one of the longest-serving Republicans in Albany,
has become something of an outcast within his own party.
Straniere is heading into his 12th Assembly campaign without
a single endorsement from an elected official in the city's
most heavily Republican borough. Officials in his party say
they have decided to sit this one out, taking the unusual
position of not endorsing one of their longest-serving
figures.
(New York Times)
New York State Senator Frank Padavan wrote
in a letter to lottery director Margaret DeFrancisco this
week that he found the New York State Lottery's new Double
Eagle game, whose tickets picture two American bald eagles,
offensive.
(Newsday)
On Thursday, a small group of politicians,
including Democratic candidate for governor H. Carl McCall,
joined members of several different political groups in
declaring their support for campaign finance reform.
(Albany Times Union)
For the second straight year, a session of
the New York State Legislature is petering out, each chamber
engaged in seemingly half-hearted attempts to conclude deals
on pressing issues, including the state's mandatory drug
laws to steer more nonviolent offenders into treatment;
improving the state's minimum wage and outlawing
discrimination based on sexual orientation.
July
4, 2002
Governor George E. Pataki announced
yesterday that he is throwing a broad blanket of security
over New York for the Independence Day holiday.
(Albany Times Union)
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew
Cuomo came out Wednesday against spam, the unsolicited, bulk
junk e-mail computer users have come to know and hate, while
his Democratic rival, H. Carl McCall stuck to more
traditional campaign issues, holding a news conference in
New York City on Friday to call for approval of legislation
that would raise the state's minimum wage from $5.15 to
$6.75.
(Newsday)
July
3, 2002
For 15 months, the New York State Superfund
program that is supposed to clean up toxic waste sites has
not received a penny for investigating and sanitizing
polluted ground because of a political standoff between
Governor George E. Pataki and Assembly Democrats. Today, the
Republicans in control of the Senate passed the governor's
bill, but complicated matters by tacking on an amendment
intended to clean up tire dumps. Now it is not clear whether
the two sides will reach an agreement at all this summer.
(New York Times)
State Senators returned to Albany yesterday
for a one-day session, but left untouched several major
pieces of proposed legislation, including increases in the
minimum wage and workers' compensation, a revision of the
Rockefeller drug laws, a requirement that priests report
suspected child abuse and protection of gay men and lesbians
from discrimination. The New York State Senate did approve
several bills that the governor and the Assembly have agreed
to, including one that would forbid the use of state money
to fight or encourage unions, one that extends $2,000 tax
credits for certain hybrid vehicles, and an anti-sweatshop
bill that requires the state to buy uniforms produced under
fair-labor practices.
(New York Times)
Yesterday, the New York State Assembly came
up with $37 million in extra school aid to help every New
York City classroom connect to the Internet. The money,
which came out of a construction fund controlled by Speaker
Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), was an addition to the $163
million state-budget increase allocated for city schools.
(New York Post)
The New York State Senate passed a
garment-industry "preference" bill last night designed to
aid businesses harmed by the World Trade Center attacks. The
measure, approved by the Democrat-controlled Assembly last
week and expected to be quickly signed by Governor George E.
Pataki, waives low-bid requirements on state contracts for
garment manufacturers whose businesses were damaged by the
September 11 tragedy.
(New York Post)
The New York State Senate yesterday passed a
bill meant to protect elderly and low-income homeowners from
banks and mortgage brokers who peddle deceptive, abusive
loans. But even as they approved the bill, already passed by
the Democrat-controlled Assembly, they attached amendments
that advocates said dilute its power.
(Newsday)
Responding to substantial pressure from
special interest groups, the New York State Senate passed
two measures Tuesday while leaving a host of legislation
unresolved. The Senate passed a bill to regulate high-cost
home loans and approved extending the state Superfund,
designed to clean up toxic waste sites.
(Albany Times Union)
Governor George E. Pataki's campaign team
has put together a strategy to fill the Independence Party
with voters who favor the Republican governor. The goal is
to beat billionaire Tom Golisano in the party's September 10
primary, a win that would give Pataki an extra line on the
November ballot.
(Daily News)
Billionaire Thomas Golisano hasn't put much
of a dent in Governor George E. Pataki's bid for reelection,
and the Republican incumbent is still trouncing his
Democratic rivals, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows.
(Daily News)
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew
Cuomo has widened his lead over rival H. Carl McCall to 15
percentage points, the Quinnipiac University survey showed
yesterday. The poll found Cuomo ahead of McCall among
Democrats, 47 percent to 32 percent, with 16 percent
undecided.
(New York Post)
The New York State Democratic Committee
launched its first radio ad of the campaign season Monday,
knocking Governor George E. Pataki's record on the upstate
economy. The new ad comes as Pataki continues to command a
2-1 lead in the polls over each of the Democrats seeking to
oppose him, former federal housing secretary Andrew Cuomo
and state Comptroller H. Carl McCall.
(Newsday)
Looking for legal help to sue WorldCom,
state Comptroller H. Carl McCall selected two firms
yesterday whose lawyers have donated close to $200,000 to
his campaign coffers. McCall, who filed a motion
in Manhattan federal court that seeks to make New York's
pension fund the lead plaintiff against the
telecommunications giant, estimated that the pension fund
has lost a record $300 million in the WorldCom collapse.
(New York Post)
(Albany Times Union)
July
2, 2002
Concerned about recent controversies over
spiraling dropout rates and tough state graduating
standards, state lawmakers are planning a series of hearings
this fall. New York State Assembly Education Committee
Chairman Steven Sanders (D-Manhattan) said that with dropout
rates rising, there have been enough questions raised over
the direction of the state's education system to warrant a
legislative review.
(New York Post)
New York State Democrats announced an
advertising blitz yesterday, blaming Governor George E.
Pataki for the lagging upstate economy in a radio spot that
uses a paid actress who masquerades as a New York
"grandmother."
(New York Post)
(The Journal News)
More than 100 demonstrators gathered in the
parking lot of a Metro-North railroad station not far from
Governor George E. Pataki's home on Sunday to demand the
closing of the Indian Point nuclear plant.
(New York Times)
(The Journal News)
July
1, 2002
The New York State Legislative session that
formally ended last month was defined by two events: the
terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the upcoming
state elections, which will be held on November 5, 2002.
Last fall's terrorist attacks debilitated the Wall Street
profits and income the state had relied upon to underwrite
its last several state budgets, while electoral politics
drove the state's legislative agenda.
(Newsday)
Democratic candidates for governor want to
use the clout of the massive state pension fund to reform
Wall Street. Today, McCall will announce sweeping rules for
the pension fund that will bolster accountability and
disclosure from corporations in which the fund is a major
stockholder.
(Albany Times Union)
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver took exception yesterday to Governor George E.
Pataki's plan to build a memorial at the World Trade Center
site, saying that Pataki was too quick to make plans for a
memorial. Silver says any plans for the site should be
subject to public hearings and discussion.
(New York Post)
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