THE "PORK" IN NEW YORK, Thoughts of an older American on Constitutional Government in the USA Options

[Livyjr]

AND HERE IS A TASTE ....

OF WHAT HAPPENS ....

IN A CORRUPT EMPIRE ....

WHERE THE CITIZENS THEMSELVES ....

HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IS OR MEANS ....

AND THEN GET WHIPPED UP ...

INTO A SNARLING FRENZY ....

BY A "CAUDILLO" ....

LIKE ELIOT SPITZER ....

THE SELF-PROCLAIMED "VOICE OF THE PEOPLE" ....

IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ....

WHICH IS ONE OF THE REASONS THIS THREAD IS RUNNING, TO BE TRUTHFUL ....

AS I PERSONALLY DO NOT LIKE LIVING IN A STATE OF "WAR" ....

HERE IN MY OWN HOME STATE .....

A WAR CAUSED BY EXPLOITATION OF IGNORANCE ....

BY "CAUDILLOS" LIKE ELIOT SPITZER ...

And so ....

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

As Revised, with Amendments Adopted by the Constitutional Convention of 1938 and Approved by vote of the People on November 8, 1938.

As Amended and in Force January 1, 2002, but with November 2003 results included

ARTICLE V - Officers and Civil Departments

Section 1. The comptroller and attorney-general shall be chosen at the same general election as the governor and hold office for the same term, and shall possess the qualifications provided in section 2 of article IV.

The legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in the office of comptroller and of attorney-general.

http://www.senate.state.ny.us/lbdcinfo/senconstitution.html

"Legislature ignored interests of the people"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, February 15, 2007

I am appalled at the arrogance of our state legislators regarding the election of a new comptroller.

How dare they presume that the individual need come from their ranks?

Why would I want a politician in the position?

I want someone who knows what they are doing.

I do not know any of the individuals involved, but I would have been happy with any one of the three recommended by the special committee, since they all appeared to have financial experience.

The gentleman picked by the Legislature, Thomas DiNapoli, has none.

And he's a better choice than Christopher Callaghan?

Our legislators need to take a hard look at themselves.

The last election was not about getting the Republicans out of office; it was about serious change.

It just so happened that the Republicans fell on the wrong side in the election.

This doesn't mean the Democrats have a cushy job.

The expectation that many New Yorkers have is that we will have significant improvements in the quality of life in New York.

If you don't deliver, you are out, regardless of what your tagline says.

This is just another example of what people in this state are fed up with.

We have a government that is protecting its own interests, not the interests of its constituents.

When you look at why people leave the state, add this one to the list.

ELLEN CORCORAN D.

Niskayuna

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/15/2007

end quotes

FOR THE RECORD ....

People who run for elective office ....

Such as the COMPTROLLER of the State of New York .....

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ....

ARE POLITICIANS .....

And so ....

The question posed by this letter-writer to the Albany, New York Times Union ....

Why would I want a politician in the position?

Betrays a lack of understanding of how OUR constitutional government in OUR state really is supposed to work ....

And as long as we have an ignorant electorate in this state ....

There never will be any true REFORM .....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

"Mr. Silver's olive branch - He reaches out to an angry Gov. Spitzer, but his deeds must match his words"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, February 13, 2007

It's no mystery what needs to be done to make state government more representative and accountable.

A speaker so eager to work with the governor would of course be an ally of equal intensity in the quest to turn the power to draw legislative district lines over to a nonpartisan commission.

FOR THE RECORD ....

People who run for elective office ....

Such as the COMPTROLLER of the State of New York .....

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ....

ARE POLITICIANS .....

And so ....

The question posed by this letter-writer to the Albany, New York Times Union ....

Why would I want a politician in the position?

Betrays a lack of understanding of how OUR constitutional government in OUR state really is supposed to work ....

And as long as we have an ignorant electorate in this state ....

There never will be any true REFORM .....

And so ....

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

We The People of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE III - Legislature

Section 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in the senate and assembly.

§ 2. The senate shall consist of fifty members, except as hereinafter provided.

The senators elected in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five shall hold their offices for three years, and their successors shall be chosen for two years.

The assembly shall consist of one hundred and fifty members.

The assembly members elected in the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, and their successors, shall be chosen for two years.

§ 3. The senate districts described in section three of article three of this constitution as adopted by the people on November sixth, eighteen hundred ninety-four are hereby continued for all of the purposes of future reapportionments of senate districts pursuant to section four of this article.

§ 4. Except as herein otherwise provided, the federal census taken in the year nineteen hundred thirty and each federal census taken decennially thereafter shall be controlling as to the number of inhabitants in the state or any part thereof for the purposes of the apportionment of members of assembly and readjustment or alteration of senate and assembly districts next occurring, in so far as such census and the tabulation thereof purport to give the information necessary therefor.

The legislature, by law, shall provide for the making and tabulation by state authorities of an enumeration of the inhabitants of the entire state to be used for such purposes, instead of a federal census, if the taking of a federal census in any tenth year from the year nineteen hundred thirty be omitted or if the federal census fails to show the number of aliens or Indians not taxed.

If a federal census, though giving the requisite information as to the state at large, fails to give the information as to any civil or territorial divisions which is required to be known for such purposes, the legislature, by law, shall provide for such an enumeration of the inhabitants of such parts of the state only as may be necessary, which shall supersede in part the federal census and be used in connection therewith for such purposes.

The legislature, by law, may provide in its discretion for an enumeration by state authorities of the inhabitants of the state, to be used for such purposes, in place of a federal census, when the return of a decennial federal census is delayed so that it is not available at the beginning of the regular session of the legislature in the second year after the year nineteen hundred thirty or after any tenth year therefrom, or if an apportionment of members of assembly and readjustment or alteration of senate districts is not made at or before such a session.

At the regular session in the year nineteen hundred thirty-two, and at the first regular session after the year nineteen hundred forty and after each tenth year therefrom the senate districts shall be readjusted or altered, but if, in any decade, counting from and including that which begins with the year nineteen hundred thirty-one, such a readjustment or alteration is not made at the time above prescribed, it shall be made at a subsequent session occurring not later than the sixth year of such decade, meaning not later than nineteen hundred thirty-six, nineteen hundred forty-six, nineteen hundred fifty-six, and so on; provided, however, that if such districts shall have been readjusted or altered by law in either of the years nineteen hundred thirty or nineteen hundred thirty-one, they shall remain unaltered until the first regular session after the year nineteen hundred forty.

Such districts shall be so readjusted or altered that each senate district shall contain as nearly as may be an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, and be in as compact form as practicable, and shall remain unaltered until the first year of the next decade as above defined, and shall at all times consist of contiguous territory, and no county shall be divided in the formation of a senate district except to make two or more senate districts wholly in such county.

No town, except a town having more than a full ratio of apportionment, and no block in a city inclosed by streets or public ways, shall be divided in the formation of senate districts; nor shall any district contain a greater excess in population over an adjoining district in the same county, than the population of a town or block therein adjoining such district.

Counties, towns or blocks which, from their location, may be included in either of two districts, shall be so placed as to make said districts most nearly equal in number of inhabitants, excluding aliens.

No county shall have four or more senators unless it shall have a full ratio for each senator.

No county shall have more than one-third of all the senators; and no two counties or the territory thereof as now organized, which are adjoining counties, or which are separated only by public waters, shall have more than one-half of all the senators.

The ratio for apportioning senators shall always be obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, by fifty, and the senate shall always be composed of fifty members, except that if any county having three or more senators at the time of any apportionment shall be entitled on such ratio to an additional senator or senators, such additional senator or senators shall be given to such county in addition to the fifty senators, and the whole number of senators shall be increased to that extent.

The senate districts, including the present ones, as existing immediately before the enactment of a law readjusting or altering the senate districts, shall continue to be the senate districts of the state until the expirations of the terms of the senators then in office, except for the purpose of an election of senators for full terms beginning at such expirations, and for the formation of assembly districts.

§ 5. The members of the assembly shall be chosen by single districts and shall be apportioned by the legislature at each regular session at which the senate districts are readjusted or altered, and by the same law, among the several counties of the state, as nearly as may be according to the number of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens.

Every county heretofore established and separately organized, except the county of Hamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of assembly, and no county shall hereafter be erected unless its population shall entitle it to a member.

The county of Hamilton shall elect with the county of Fulton, until the population of the county of Hamilton shall, according to the ratio, entitle it to a member.

But the legislature may abolish the said county of Hamilton and annex the territory thereof to some other county or counties.

The quotient obtained by dividing the whole number of inhabitants of the state, excluding aliens, by the number of members of assembly, shall be the ratio for apportionment, which shall be made as follows:

One member of assembly shall be apportioned to every county, including Fulton and Hamilton as one county, containing less than the ratio and one-half over.

Two members shall be apportioned to every other county.

The remaining members of assembly shall be apportioned to the counties having more than two ratios according to the number of inhabitants, excluding aliens.

Members apportioned on remainders shall be apportioned to the counties having the highest remainders in the order thereof respectively.

No county shall have more members of assembly than a county having a greater number of inhabitants, excluding aliens.

The assembly districts, including the present ones, as existing immediately before the enactment of a law making an apportionment of members of assembly among the counties, shall continue to be the assembly districts of the state until the expiration of the terms of members then in office, except for the purpose of an election of members of assembly for full terms beginning at such expirations.

In any county entitled to more than one member, the board of supervisors, and in any city embracing an entire county and having no board of supervisors, the common council, or if there be none, the body exercising the powers of a common council, shall assemble at such times as the legislature making an apportionment shall prescribe, and divide such counties into assembly districts as nearly equal in number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, as may be, of convenient and contiguous territory in as compact form as practicable, each of which shall be wholly within a senate district formed under the same apportionment, equal to the number of members of assembly to which such county shall be entitled, and shall cause to be filed in the office of the secretary of state and of the clerk of such county, a description of such districts, specifying the number of each district and of the inhabitants thereof, excluding aliens, according to the census or enumeration used as the population basis for the formation of such districts; and such apportionment and districts shall remain unaltered until after the next reapportionment of members of assembly, except that the board of supervisors of any county containing a town having more than a ratio of apportionment and one-half over may alter the assembly districts in a senate district containing such town at any time on or before March first, nineteen hundred forty-six.

In counties having more than one senate district, the same number of assembly districts shall be put in each senate district, unless the assembly districts cannot be evenly divided among the senate districts of any county, in which case one more assembly district shall be put in the senate district in such county having the largest, or one less assembly district shall be put in the senate district in such county having the smallest number of inhabitants, excluding aliens, as the case may require.

No town, except a town having more than a ratio of apportionment and one-half over, and no block in a city inclosed by streets or public ways, shall be divided in the formation of assembly districts, nor shall any districts contain a greater excess in population over an adjoining district in the same senate district, than the population of a town or block therein adjoining such assembly district.

Towns or blocks which, from their location may be included in either of two districts, shall be so placed as to make said districts most nearly equal in number of inhabitants, excluding aliens.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the division, at any time, of counties and towns and the erection of new towns by the legislature.

An apportionment by the legislature, or other body, shall be subject to review by the supreme court, at the suit of any citizen, under such reasonable regulations as the legislature may prescribe; and any court before which a cause may be pending involving an apportionment, shall give precedence thereto over all other causes and proceedings, and if said court be not in session it shall convene promptly for the disposition of the same.

§ 5-a. For the purpose of apportioning senate and assembly districts pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this article, the term "inhabitants, excluding aliens" shall mean the whole number of persons.

§ 6. Each member of the legislature shall receive for his or her services a like annual salary, to be fixed by law.

He or she shall also be reimbursed for his or her actual traveling expenses in going to and returning from the place in which the legislature meets, not more than once each week while the legislature is in session.

Senators, when the senate alone is convened in extraordinary session, or when serving as members of the court for the trial of impeachments, and such members of the assembly, not exceeding nine in number, as shall be appointed managers of an impeachment, shall receive an additional per diem allowance, to be fixed by law.

Any member, while serving as an officer of his or her house or in any other special capacity therein or directly connected therewith not hereinbefore in this section specified, may also be paid and receive, in addition, any allowance which may be fixed by law for the particular and additional services appertaining to or entailed by such office or special capacity.

Neither the salary of any member nor any other allowance so fixed may be increased or diminished during, and with respect to, the term for which he or she shall have been elected, nor shall he or she be paid or receive any other extra compensation.

The provisions of this section and laws enacted in compliance therewith shall govern and be exclusively controlling, according to their terms.

Members shall continue to receive such salary and additional allowance as heretofore fixed and provided in this section, until changed by law pursuant to this section.

§ 7. No person shall serve as a member of the legislature unless he or she is a citizen of the United States and has been a resident of the state of New York for five years, and, except as hereinafter otherwise prescribed, of the assembly or senate district for the twelve months immediately preceding his or her election; if elected a senator or member of assembly at the first election next ensuing after a readjustment or alteration of the senate or assembly districts becomes effective, a person, to be eligible to serve as such, must have been a resident of the county in which the senate or assembly district is contained for the twelve months immediately preceding his or her election.

No member of the legislature shall, during the time for which he or she was elected, receive any civil appointment from the governor, the governor and the senate, the legislature or from any city government, to an office which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time.

If a member of the legislature be elected to congress, or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the government of the United States, the state of New York, or under any city government except as a member of the national guard or naval militia of the state, or of the reserve forces of the United States, his or her acceptance thereof shall vacate his or her seat in the legislature, providing, however, that a member of the legislature may be appointed commissioner of deeds or to any office in which he or she shall receive no compensation.

§ 8. The elections of senators and members of assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, unless otherwise directed by the legislature.

§ 9. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business.

Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members; shall choose its own officers; and the senate shall choose a temporary president and the assembly shall choose a speaker.

§ 10. Each house of the legislature shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same, except such parts as may require secrecy.

The doors of each house shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy.

Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days.

§ 11. For any speech or debate in either house of the legislature, the members shall not be questioned in any other place.

§ 12. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature, and all bills passed by one house may be amended by the other.

§ 13. The enacting clause of all bills shall be "The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows," and no law shall be enacted except by bill.

§ 14. No bill shall be passed or become a law unless it shall have been printed and upon the desks of the members, in its final form, at least three calendar legislative days prior to its final passage, unless the governor, or the acting governor, shall have certified, under his or her hand and the seal of the state, the facts which in his or her opinion necessitate an immediate vote thereon, in which case it must nevertheless be upon the desks of the members in final form, not necessarily printed, before its final passage; nor shall any bill be passed or become a law, except by the assent of a majority of the members elected to each branch of the legislature; and upon the last reading of a bill, no amendment thereof shall be allowed, and the question upon its final passage shall be taken immediately thereafter, and the ayes and nays entered on the journal.

§ 15. No private or local bill, which may be passed by the legislature, shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.

§ 16. No act shall be passed which shall provide that any existing law, or any part thereof, shall be made or deemed a part of said act, or which shall enact that any existing law, or part thereof, shall be applicable, except by inserting it in such act.

§ 17. The legislature shall not pass a private or local bill in any of the following cases:

Changing the names of persons.

Laying out, opening, altering, working or discontinuing roads, highways or alleys, or for draining swamps or other low lands.

Locating or changing county seats.

Providing for changes of venue in civil or criminal cases.

Incorporating villages.

Providing for election of members of boards of supervisors.

Selecting, drawing, summoning or empaneling grand or petit jurors.

Regulating the rate of interest on money.

The opening and conducting of elections or designating places of voting.

Creating, increasing or decreasing fees, percentages or allowances of public officers, during the term for which said officers are elected or appointed.

Granting to any corporation, association or individual the right to lay down railroad tracks.

Granting to any private corporation, association or individual any exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise whatever.

Granting to any person, association, firm or corporation, an exemption from taxation on real or personal property.

Providing for the building of bridges, except over the waters forming a part of the boundaries of the state, by other than a municipal or other public corporation or a public agency of the state.

§ 18. The members of the legislature shall be empowered, upon the presentation to the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly of a petition signed by two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature, to convene the legislature on extraordinary occasions to act upon the subjects enumerated in such petition.

§ 19. The legislature shall neither audit nor allow any private claim or account against the state, but may appropriate money to pay such claims as shall have been audited and allowed according to law.

No claim against the state shall be audited, allowed or paid which, as between citizens of the state, would be barred by lapse of time.

But if the claimant shall be under legal disability the claim may be presented within two years after such disability is removed.

§ 20. The assent of two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the legislature shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or property for local or private purposes.

§ 21. Sections 15, 16, and 17 of this article shall not apply to any bill, or the amendments to any bill, which shall be recommended to the legislature by commissioners or any public agency appointed or directed pursuant to law to prepare revisions, consolidations or compilations of statutes.

But a bill amending an existing law shall not be excepted from the provisions of sections 15, 16 and 17 of this article unless such amending bill shall itself be recommended to the legislature by such commissioners or public agency.

§ 22. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax shall distinctly state the tax and the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.

Notwithstanding the foregoing or any other provision of this constitution, the legislature, in any law imposing a tax or taxes on, in respect to or measured by income, may define the income on, in respect to or by which such tax or taxes are imposed or measured, by reference to any provision of the laws of the United States as the same may be or become effective at any time or from time to time, and may prescribe exceptions or modifications to any such provision.

§ 23. On the final passage, in either house of the legislature, of any act which imposes, continues or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money or property, or releases, discharges or commutes any claim or demand of the state, the question shall be taken by yeas and nays, which shall be duly entered upon the journals, and three-fifths of all the members elected to either house shall, in all such cases, be necessary to constitute a quorum therein.

§ 24. The legislature shall, by law, provide for the occupation and employment of prisoners sentenced to the several state prisons, penitentiaries, jails and reformatories in the state; and no person in any such prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory, shall be required or allowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade, industry or occupation, wherein or whereby his or her work, or the product or profit of his or her work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation.

This section shall not be construed to prevent the legislature from providing that convicts may work for, and that the products of their labor may be disposed of to, the state or any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state, or any political division thereof.

§ 25. Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution, the legislature, in order to insure continuity of state and local governmental operations in periods of emergency caused by enemy attack or by disasters (natural or otherwise), shall have the power and the immediate duty (1) to provide for prompt and temporary succession to the powers and duties of public offices, of whatever nature and whether filled by election or appointment, the incumbents of which may become unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such offices, and (2) to adopt such other measures as may be necessary and proper for insuring the continuity of governmental operations.

Nothing in this article shall be construed to limit in any way the power of the state to deal with emergencies arising from any cause.

http://www.senate.state.ny.us/lbdcinfo/senconstitution.html

[Livyjr]

"And in the meantime, I have been doing some investigating on my own ..."

"Seeing if I can make some connections ..."

"Or not ..."

"Connect a bunch of dots, as it were ...."

"To see if an independent investigation can place all of these various actors in here into the same room together with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the New York State Business Council on September 21, 2006 up at posh Bolton Landing on Lake George in the State of New York ....."

"And what I did ..."

"Was to go to the website for this New York State Business Council that New York State GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was so obviously courting and pandering to and currying favor with on September 21, 2006 ..."

http://www.bcnys.org/

"And from there, I went to the list of members ...."

http://www.bcnys.org/members.htm

"And looking under members under the letter "R" ..."

http://www.bcnys.org/inside/membershp/rmembers.htm

"Lo and behold, Livyjr ..."

http://www.renscochamber.com/

"THERE IS THE SELF-SAME RENSSELAER COUNTY REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THAT WAS REPRESENTED AT THAT MARCH 1, 1988 MEETING AT THE OFFICES OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH BETWEEN THIS STEVEN ANDERSON AND JIM DECKER AND DR. LEO HETLING OF THE NEW YORK STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT WHERE GUTTING THE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW PROTECTION IN RENSSELAER COUNTY AND SELLING OUT YOUR PLAINTIFF APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN THE TOPICS OF DISCUSSION ......"

"And looking for members of the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of commerce under "R" ..."

http://www.renscochamber.com/directory/dir...t.cfm?company=R

"ONE COMES ACROSS THE COUNTY OF RENSSELAER ..."

"AND THE RENSSELAER COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE ..."

"And looking for members under "N" ..."

"Once again ..."

"LO AND BEHOLD, LIVYJR ..."

http://www.bcnys.org/inside/membershp/nmembers.htm

"THERE IS NORTHEAST HEALTH ..."

http://www.nehealth.com/

"THE PROPRIETORS OF THE SECURE MENTAL FACILITY IN TROY, NEW YORK THAT YOUR PLAINTIFF WAS SUPPOSED TO DISAPPEAR INTO ON AUGUST 22, 2001, THANKS TO THAT FALSE DIAGNOSIS OF HIM BY THIS DR. JOHN CHRISTIAN BRAATEN OF NORTHEAST HEALTH, INC. ..."

"And looking for members under "H" ..."

http://www.bcnys.org/inside/membershp/hmembers.htm

"There, Livyjr, is the HEARST CORPORATION ...."

http://www.hearstcorp.com/

"PARENT COMPANY OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ..."

"THE ALBANY NEWSPAPER THAT BURIED NEWS OF THE PSYCHIATRIC TAKE-DOWN WHEN NORTHEAST HEALTH, INC. ATTEMPTED IT ON AUGUST 22, 2001 ...."

"AND GOT YOUR PLAINTIFF INVOLUNTARILY INCARCERATED AT THE STRATTON VA HOSPITAL IN ALBANY, NEW YORK ..."

"AS AN ALLEGED DANGEROUS MENTAL PATIENT ..."

"BASED ON NOTHING MORE THAN A FALSE DIAGNOSIS OF YOUR PLAINTIFF ..."

"THAT NORTHEAST HEALTH, INC. PROVIDED TO RENSSELAER COUNTY ON AUGUST 22, 2001 ...."

"AS A BASIS FOR A NEW YORK STATE POLICE RAID ON YOUR PLAINTIFF'S HOME THAT DAY ..."

"TO CAPTURE HIM FOR TRANSPORT TO THE SECURE MENTAL FACILITY OF NORTHEAST HEALTH, INC. IN TROY, NEW YORK ..."

"WHERE YOUR PLAINTIFF HAD ALREADY BEEN PRE-ADMITTED ...."

"And so, Livyjr ......"

"That seems to connect some dots for me ..."

"AND I HAVE TO WONDER IF NORTHEAST HEALTH, INC. IS NOW OFFERING THIS SAME SERVICE TO ALL OF THE MEMBERSHIP OF THIS NEW YORK STATE BUSINESS COUNCIL ..."

"AS IT OFFERED IT TO JEFFREY PELLETIER ...."

"GETTING RID OF YOUR PLAINTIFF AS A WITNESS AGAINST HIM ..."

"BY THE SIMPLE EXPEDIENT OF PROVIDING JEFFREY PELLETIER WITH A FALSE DIAGNOSIS OF YOUR PLAINTIFF ..."

"RENDERED SIGHT UNSEEN ..."

"BACK ON AUGUST 22, 2001 ..."

"THAT NOW HAS YOUR PLAINTIFF PERMANENTLY BRANDED HERE IN AMERICA WHEREVER HE GOES AS AN ALLEGED DANGEROUS MENTAL PATIENT ..."

"NOW THAT IT HAS THE ARMS OF NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ELIOT SPITZER AND THE FEDERAL SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FIRMLY AROUND ITS SHOULDERS TO PROTECT IT ..."

"And so, Livyjr ...."

And as the New York City-based HEARST CORPORATION continues ....

TO PREACH THE GOSPIL OF ENVY, HATRED AND UNREST .....

HERE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ....

DICTATING to us ....

THE CITZENS OF THIS STATE ....

How OUR government here in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK MUST FUNCTION ....

IN ITS VIEW, ANYWAY ....

DESPITE OUR STATE CONSTITUTION ....

We have ....

“We’re an industry in transition."

"Like all media, we’re competing in a world of greatly expanded consumer choice."

"Across our 12 dailies, we understand that we can’t see ourselves as one-product media anymore.”

–George Irish, President, Hearst Newspapers

Facing circulation declines and advertiser uncertainty, the newspaper business offered its usual assortment of challenges in 2005.

But for Hearst, it brought some tests that couldn’t have been accounted for in even the best strategic planning.

“We have to build our core newspaper product with better content and better design."

"We have to continue launching spin-off products to target demographics and segments of interest,” said Irish.

"But at the same time, we have to think beyond newspapers to build new businesses—both print-based and electronic—using the advantage of our community presence.”

http://www.hearstcorp.com/newspapers/

[Livyjr]

“We’re an industry in transition."

"Like all media, we’re competing in a world of greatly expanded consumer choice."

"Across our 12 dailies, we understand that we can’t see ourselves as one-product media anymore.”

–George Irish, President, Hearst Newspapers

http://www.hearstcorp.com/newspapers/

And of course .....

Through Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt .....

Who started out his political career ....

As an Assemblyman in the New York State Legislature ....

William Randolph Hearst .....

And his Hearst Corporation newspapers .....

Play a somewhat prominent role ....

In both New York State history .....

And politics, as well ....

And this role is mentioned .....

In an excellent history ....

Of Teddy Roosevelt's early years in politics ....

Entitled I ROSE LIKE A ROCKET - The Political Education of Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Grondahl, himself a staff writer for the Albany, New York TIMES UNION .....

And one particular vignette from that book ....

Or perhaps INCIDENT is the better word ....

Involving William Randolph Hearst .....

AND THE MURDER ....

OR ASSASSINATION ....

Of a United States president ....

Might be ILLUSTRATIVE .....

Of how we citizens up here .....

View the Albany, New York TIMES UNION

As something to be wary of .....

In our midst .....

As a HEARST CORPORATION STALKING HORSE ....

And without further ado ....

From pp.368,369 of I ROSE LIKE A ROCKET - The Political Education of Theodore Roosevelt by Paul Grondahl ......

Roosevelt (Teddy Roosevelt, then vice president of the United States, September 1901) shared none of McKinley's (President William McKinley, who lay dying from an anarchist assassin's bullet) feelings of forgiveness toward the assassin.

"It was in the most naked way an assault not on power, not on wealth, BUT SIMPLY AND SOLELY UPON FREE GOVERNMENT, GOVERNMENT BY THE COMMON PEOPLE, BECAUSE IT WAS GOVERNMENT AND BECAUSE IT YET STOOD FOR ORDER AS WELL AS FOR LIBERTY," Roosevelt wrote.

Three days later, in a letter to Lodge (Henry Cabot Lodge), Roosevelt railed against the anarchistic climate of the times that led to the unthinkable act on the part of Czolgosz, whom he called a "Judas-like dog" and wanted to punish in the most severe way.

*****

Roosevelt expressed incredulity to Lodge about how "it did not seem possible that just at this time in just this country, and in the case of this particular president, any human being could be so infamous a scoundrel, so crazy a fool as to attempt to assassinate him."

ROOSEVELT ISSUED A CALL TO BATTLE AGAINST ANARCHY, THE AUTHORS OF ITS NIHILISTIC TRACTS, AND THOSE WHO SUPPORTED THE PHILOSOPHY OF LAWLESSNESS.

"WE SHOULD WAR WITH RELENTLESS EFFICIENCY NOT ONLY AGAINST ANARCHISTS, BUT AGAINST ALL ACTIVE AND PASSIVE SYMPATHIZERS WITH ANARCHISTS."

"MOREOVER, EVERY SCOUNDREL LIKE HEARST AND HIS SATELLITES WHO FOR WHATEVER PURPOSES APPEALS TO AND INFLAMES EVIL HUMAN PASSION, HAS MADE HIMSELF ACCESSORY BEFORE THE FACT TO EVERY CRIME OF THIS NATURE, AND EVERY SOFT FOOL WHO EXTENDS A MAUDLIN SYMPATHY HAS DONE LIKEWISE."

Roosevelt was alluding to Hearst's newspapers' relentless attacks on President McKinley's policies and on the politician personally.

HEARST'S JOURNAL REACHED A NADIR IN ITS BARRAGE AGAINST MCKINLEY IN APRIL 1901, SHORTLY BEFORE MCKINLEY'S SECOND INAUGURATION, BY EDITORIALIZING IN FAVOR OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATION.

"IF BAD INSTITUTIONS AND BAD MEN CAN BE GOT RID OF ONLY BY KILLING, THEN THE KILLING MUST BE DONE."

Yellow journalism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yellow journalism is a pejorative reference to journalism that features scandal-mongering, sensationalism, jingoism or other unethical or unprofessional practices by news media organizations or individual journalists.

The term originated during the circulation battles between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal from 1895 to about 1898, and can refer specifically to this period.

Both papers were accused by critics of sensationalizing the news in order to drive up circulation, although the newspapers did serious reporting as well.

The New York Press coined the term "Yellow Journalism" in early 1897 to describe the papers of Pulitzer and Hearst.

The newspaper did not define the term, and in 1898 simply elaborated, "We called them Yellow because they are Yellow."

Origins: Pulitzer v. Hearst

Joseph Pulitzer purchased the World in 1882 after making the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the dominant daily in that city.

The publisher had gotten his start editing a German-language publication in St. Louis, and saw a great untapped market in the nation's immigrant classes.

Pulitzer strove to make The World an entertaining read, and filled his paper with pictures, games and contests that drew in readers, particularly those who used English as a second language.

Crime stories filled many of the pages, with headlines like "Was He A Suicide?" and "Screaming for Mercy."

In addition, Pulitzer only charged readers two cents per issue but gave readers eight and sometimes 12 pages of information (the only other two-cent paper in the city never exceeded four pages).

While there were many sensational stories in the World, they were by no means the only pieces, or even the most dominant ones.

Pulitzer believed that newspapers were public institutions with a duty to improve society, and he put the World in the service of social reform.

During a heat wave in 1883, World reporters went into the Manhattan's tenements, writing stories about the appalling living conditions of immigrants and the toll the heat took on the children.

Stories headlined "How Babies Are Baked" and "Lines of Little Hearses" spurred reform and drove up the World's circulation.

Just two years after Pulitzer took it over, the World became the highest circulation newspaper in New York, aided in part by its strong ties to the Democratic Party.

Older publishers, envious of Pulitzer's success, began criticizing the World, harping on its crime stories and stunts while ignoring its more serious reporting — trends which influenced the popular perception of yellow journalism, both then and now.

Charles Dana, editor of the New York Sun, attacked The World and said Pulitzer was "deficient in judgment and in staying power."

Pulitzer's approach made an impression on William Randolph Hearst, a mining heir who acquired the San Francisco Examiner from his father in 1887.

Hearst read the World while studying at Harvard University and resolved to make the Examiner as bright as Pulitzer's paper.

Under his leadership, the Examiner devoted 24 percent of its space to crime, presenting the stories as morality plays, and sprinkled adultery and "nudity" (by 19th century standards) on the front page.

A month after taking over the paper, the Examiner ran this headline about a hotel fire:

HUNGRY, FRANTIC FLAMES.

They Leap Madly Upon the Splendid Pleasure Palace by the Bay of Monterey, Encircling Del Monte in Their Ravenous Embrace From Pinnacle to Foundation.

Leaping Higher, Higher, Higher, With Desperate Desire.

Running Madly Riotous Through Cornice, Archway and Facade.

Rushing in Upon the Trembling Guests with Savage Fury.

Appalled and Panic-Striken the Breathless Fugitives Gaze Upon the Scene of Terror.

The Magnificent Hotel and Its Rich Adornments Now a Smoldering heap of Ashes.

The "Examiner" Sends a Special Train to Monterey to Gather Full Details of the Terrible Disaster.

Arrival of the Unfortunate Victims on the Morning's Train

— A History of Hotel del Monte

— The Plans for Rebuilding the Celebrated Hostelry

— Pariculars and Supposed Origin of the Fire.

Hearst could go overboard in his crime coverage; one of his early pieces, regarding a "band of murderers," attacked the police for forcing Examiner reporters to do their work for them.

But while indulging in these stunts, the Examiner also increased its space for international news, and sent reporters out to uncover municipal corruption and inefficiency.

In one celebrated story, Examiner reporter Winifred Black was admitted into a San Francisco hospital and discovered that indigent women were treated with "gross cruelty."

The entire hospital staff was fired the morning the piece appeared.

New York

With the Examiner's success established by the early 1890s, Hearst began shopping for a New York newspaper.

Hearst purchased the New York Journal in 1895, a penny paper which Pulitzer's brother Albert had sold to a Cincinnati publisher the year before.

Metropolitan newspapers started going after department store advertising in the 1890s, and discovered the larger circulation base, the better.

This drove Hearst; following Pulitzer's earlier strategy, he kept the Journal's price at one cent (compared to The World's two cent price) while providing as much information as rival newspapers.

The approach worked, and as the Journal's circulation jumped to 150,000, Pulitzer cut his price to a penny, hoping to drive his young competitor (who was subsidized by his family's fortune) into bankruptcy.

In a counterattack, Hearst raided the staff of the World in 1896.

While most sources say that Hearst simply offered more money, Pulitzer — who had grown increasingly abusive to his employees — had become an extremely difficult man to work for, and many World employees were willing to jump for the sake of getting away from him.

Although the competition between the World and the Journal was fierce, the papers were temperamentally alike.

Both were Democratic, both were sympathetic to labor and immigrants (a sharp contrast to publishers like the New York Tribune's Whitelaw Reid, who blamed their poverty on moral defects), and both invested enormous resources in their Sunday publications, which functioned like weekly magazines, going beyond the normal scope of daily journalism.

Their Sunday entertainment features included the first color comic strip pages, and some theorize that the term yellow journalism originated there, while as noted above the New York Press left the term it invented undefined.

The Yellow Kid, a comic strip revolving around a bald child in a yellow nightshirt, became exceptionally popular when cartoonist Richard Outcault began drawing it in the World in early 1896.

When Hearst predictably hired Outcault away, Pulitizer asked artist George Luks to continue the strip with his characters, giving the city two Yellow Kids.

The use of "yellow journalism" as a synonym for over-the-top sensationalism in the U.S. apparently started with more serious newspapers commenting on the excesses of "the Yellow Kid papers."

Spanish-American War

Pulitzer and Hearst are often credited (or blamed) for drawing the nation into the Spanish-American War with sensationalist stories or outright lying.

In fact, the vast majority of Americans did not live in New York City, and the decision makers who did live there probably relied more on staid newspapers like the Times, The Sun or the Post.

The most famous example of the exaggeration is the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington telegrammed Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and "There will be no war."

Hearst responded "Please remain."

"You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

The story (a version of which appears in the Hearst-inspired Orson Welles film Citizen Kane) first appeared in the memoirs of reporter James Creelman in 1901, and there is no other source for it.

But Hearst was a war hawk after a rebellion broke out in Cuba in 1895.

Stories of Cuban virtue and Spanish brutality soon dominated his front page.

While the accounts were of dubious accuracy, the newspaper reader of the 19th century did not need, or necessarily want, his stories to be pure nonfiction.

Historian Michael Robertson has said that "Newspaper reporters and readers of the 1890s were much less concerned with distinguishing among fact-based reporting, opinion and literature."

The yellow press covered the revolution extensively and often inaccurately, but conditions on Cuba were horrific enough.

The island was in a terrible economic depression, and Spanish general Valeriano Weyler, sent to crush the rebellion, herded Cuban peasants into concentration camps and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Having clamored for a fight for two years, Hearst took credit for the conflict when it came:

A week after the United States declared war on Spain, he ran "How do you like the Journal's war?" on his front page.

In fact, President William McKinley never read the Journal, and newspapers like the Tribune and the New York Evening Post, both staunchly Republican, demanded restraint.

Moreover, journalism historians have noted that yellow journalism was largely confined to New York City, and that newspapers in the rest of the country did not follow their lead.

The Journal and the World were not among the top ten sources of news in regional papers, and the stories simply did not make a splash outside Gotham.

War came because public opinion was sickened by the bloodshed, and because conservative leaders like McKinley realized that Spain had lost control of Cuba.

These factors weighed more on the president's mind than the melodramas in the New York Journal.

Hearst sailed directly to Cuba, when the invasion began, as a war correspondent, providing sober and accurate accounts of the fighting.

Creelman later praised the work of the reporters for exposing the horrors of Spanish misrule, arguing, " no true history of the war . . . can be written without an acknowledgment that whatever of justice and freedom and progress was accomplished by the Spanish-American war was due to the enterprise and tenacity of yellow journalists, many of whom lie in unremembered graves."

After the war

Hearst placed his newspapers at the service of the Democrats during the 1900 presidential election.

He later campaigned for his party's presidential nomination, but lost much of his personal prestige when columnist Ambrose Bierce and editor Arthur Brisbane published separate columns months apart that called for the assassination of McKinley.

When McKinley was shot on September 6, 1901, the Republican press went livid, accusing Hearst of driving Leon Czolgosz to the deed.

Hearst did not know of Bierce's column and claimed to have pulled Brisbane's after it ran in a first edition, but the incident would haunt him for the rest of his life and all but destroyed his presidential ambitions.

Pulitzer, haunted by his "yellow sins," returned the World to its crusading roots as the new century dawned.

By the time of his death in 1911, the World was a widely-respected publication, and would remain a leading progressive paper until its demise in 1931.

In popular culture

In many movies, sitcoms and other works of fiction, reporters often use yellow journalism against the main character, which typically works to set up the reporter character as an antagonist.

This is done so often that it is sometimes considered to be a cliché.

For instance in the Spider-Man franchise, publisher J. Jonah Jameson spitefully and constantly smears the superhero in his Daily Bugle despite having his suspicions repeatedly proven wrong.

Likewise, in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, an evil media magnate tries to start a war between Great Britain and China via sensationalized news stories; in the movie, the villain even alludes to Hearst's role in the Spanish-American War, using the apocryphal quote "You provide the pictures and I'll provide the war."

In Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon, from the Hannibal Lecter series, a sleazy yellow journalist named Freddy Lounds, who writes for the National Tattler tabloid, is tortured and set aflame for penning a negative article about serial killer Francis Dolarhyde.

In the movie Bob Roberts, Senator Roberts characterises media investigations into his business dealings (and particularly the links between his anti-drugs charity and CIA drug trafficking) as "yellow journalism".

In Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Rita Skeeter acts as an yellow journalist.

Currency

The term has largely fallen into disuse as the media world has grown both in scope and in complexity.

The gentler pejorative "infotainment" was coined more recently to refer to generally inoffensive news programming that shuns serious issues, but blends "soft" journalism and entertainment rather than emphasizing more important news values.

When infotainment involves celebrity sex scandals, dramatic (or dramatized) "true crime" stories and similar trivia, it borders on the tricks of old-fashioned yellow journalism.

Corporate media is another recent pejorative, when applied to news conglomerates whose business interests critics see as counter to the public interest.

For example, such media may avoid incisive reporting on influential corporations or limit public information about proposed government regulation of media industries.

Collusion between political, business and media worlds sometimes brings allegations of illegal or unethical practices ranging from fraud to antitrust violations.

While bland infotainment and unethical corporate media practices may be considered "yellow" in the sense of "cowardly," the term yellow journalism traditionally refers to news organizations for whom some combination of sensationalism, profiteering, propaganda, journalistic bias or jingoism takes dominance over factual reporting and the profession's public trust.

Yellow journalism is not as subtle a concept as media bias.

Some claim that a Fox News internal memo uncovered in late 2006 reveals evidence of that organization's bias in favor of the Republican Party.

With some exceptions, most journalists have built their careers and reputation through consistent and thorough professionalism, gaining respect and prominence.

Although presentation, appearance and personality is important for News anchors, a perceived lack of journalism skills (as with Peter Jennings during his first stint as an ABC News anchor in the 60s, or more recently in Connie Chung's stint behind the desk at CBS) will ultimately hinder a career.

A current perceived rift is therefore more akin to a segmentation according to definitions of "news."

The public still attaches to "news" the connotations of "journalism."

Because of these developments, the common definition of "news" no longer belongs in the domain of journalists, but to wider television and internet media outlets over a vast spectrum of target issues and audiences.

The proliferation of web media has in a certain sense re-validated journalistic ethics: reports that conform best tend to be treated as more authoritative.

"Pseudo-news" organizations draw general audiences, who tend to fall into market demographics that each favor particular blends of issues-based entertainment along with their "news."

Reputation and ethics do not necessarily coincide at all times.

Well-established institutions such as the New York Times can be at fault.

Many journalists find conflicts between their employment and their professionalism as journalists.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism"

[Livyjr]

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

We The People of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE III - Legislature

Section 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in the senate and assembly.

§ 11. For any speech or debate in either house of the legislature, the members shall not be questioned in any other place.

http://www.senate.state.ny.us/lbdcinfo/senconstitution.html

"We have to continue launching spin-off products to target demographics and segments of interest,” said Irish.

http://www.hearstcorp.com/newspapers/

"Pseudo-news" organizations draw general audiences, who tend to fall into market demographics that each favor particular blends of issues-based entertainment along with their "news."

Reputation and ethics do not necessarily coincide at all times.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism"

Corporate media is another recent pejorative, when applied to news conglomerates whose business interests critics see as counter to the public interest.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism"

"Silver's Assembly seat could be taken away"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 16, 2007

The Times Union Feb. 8 editorial indictment of the Legislature's comptroller-selection process was right on target.

The suggestion that it could prove to be their undoing may prove prophetic.

In selecting totally unqualified Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli to be state comptroller, Assembly Democrats not only affirmed their spinelessness but their devotion to the corrupt practices enshrined in the status quo.

But Speaker Silver may have sealed his own fate in going to war with Governor Spitzer and the people of New York.

Silver is all powerful in Albany, but few people know that he has become a virtual outsider in his own largely Asian Assembly district in the Lower East Side.

If reform Democrats ran an Asian businesswoman in a primary against Silver, he'd lose.

If it wasn't clear enough before, this episode has shown that government will never reform as long as Shelly Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno are free to abuse their power.

MARK A.

Delmar

Mark A. worked on small-business and economic-development issues as a legislative analyst for both the Senate and Assembly and a lobbyist for 25 years, until his retirement in 2006.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/16/2007

[Livyjr]

"Electorate voted for reform, not nepotism"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 16, 2007

I'm disheartened by the state Legislature's 3-to-1 vote for one of its own as the new comptroller.

The lawmakers seemed more interested in proving that no one could recommend how they vote than selecting the best qualified candidate.

Have they already forgotten that we, the electorate, voted for reform, not nepotism?

I extend my congratulations to Messrs. Breslin, McDonald, Tedisco and Tonko for their intestinal fortitude and independence.

MICHAEL R. G.

Loudonville

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/16/2007

[Livyjr]

NEPOTISM: Bestowal of patronage by public officers in appointing others to positions by reason of blood or marital relationship to appointing authority.

- Black's Law Dictionary

[Livyjr]

"Voters should rally to clean out Legislature"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 16, 2007

I agree with your editorial misgivings about the state Legislature's decision to elect one of its own members to be state comptroller ("The Legislature's gall," Feb. 8).

The way the Legislature ignored the recommendations of the panel that interviewed the various candidates to replace ex-Comptroller Alan Hevesi shows that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and their cronies still don't get it.

Their very public disregard for the vetting process, which proposed some people who actually had some experience and demonstrated some capability to do the job, shows that our legislators are breathtakingly clueless.

I agree with Gov. Eliot Spitzer that this episode has been New York politics as usual at its most cynical.

But I don't think that Gov. Spitzer should have to fight this battle by himself.

I believe the only way the members and leadership of the state Legislature will ever understand what they owe the citizens of New York state is if they are all voted out of office at once.

Is there some way the governor and the public together can hold a recall election and vote them all out of office?

STEVEN F.

Albany

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/16/2007

[Livyjr]

"Picking DiNapoli to be comptroller is absurd"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 16, 2007

What an unbelievable performance by the state Legislature.

The fact that they can even pretend that Thomas DiNapoli has any credentials to support being comptroller is absurd.

I have no doubt things will work out as they will surround him with qualified staff, not to assure financial stability, but rather so the legislators can thump their chests in the future saying they made the right decision.

Every state citizen should become familiar with the name of each of the 150 so-called "public servants" who believed this was in the best interest of the state and do everything in their power to oust the self-severing slime as soon as possible.

It has never been more evident that they only look at what they can get for themselves with their vote -- everything else be damned.

CRAIG H.

Clifton Park

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/16/2007

[Livyjr]

"Silver, Bruno show need for term limits"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 16, 2007

At this moment, I couldn't be prouder that I voted for Eliot Spitzer to govern our state.

His attempts to bring a semblance of dignity and integrity to the governing process of the state is a shining beacon of hope for all.

On the other hand, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno et al are examples of why term limits, either constitutionally applied or via the ballot, are vital.

Keep fighting, Governor Spitzer, because here's one independent thinker who appreciates your efforts.

ROBERT M.

Philmont

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/16/2007

[Livyjr]

"Silver, his flock reveal ugliness of politics"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, February 16, 2007

Feb. 7 was a dark day for all New Yorkers.

On that cold day, pompous Sheldon Silver and his coalition of sheep, aka Assembly Democrats, pre-emptively attacked our wallets and pocketbooks by electing another one of their flock to be New York state's top fiscal watchdog.

Amazingly, 104 out of 106 of these sheep voted for DiNapoli.

This guy must be a financial wizard.

No, actually he's just the sheep with the most fleece!

DiNapoli was railroaded in even though our new governor, who was mandated by the people of this state to change the ugly politics in Albany, was vehemently opposed to such a dastardly (an excellent word to describe this situation) scheme.

As a citizen of this once great state, I am repulsed by the arrogance of Shepherd Silver and the cowardice of his flock.

Once again, it's the ugly underbelly of Albany politics at its best.

I think it's time for the people of this state to embrace the following: Re-elect nobody.

GEORGE G.

Saratoga Springs

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/16/2007

[Livyjr]

Dear Livyjr:

Thank you for your message regarding “pork” in the New York State Budget.

I appreciate you sharing your views on this issue.

In addition to being a strong supporter of sweeping reforms that will allow the citizens of New York State to witness firsthand the inner workings of our Legislative and Executive branches, I am committed to bringing clarity to the process by which our tax dollars are spent.

While I am pleased by the steps taken thus far to increase transparency and accountability in the so-called “Member-Item” process, they represent only a small part of the solution to a large problem.

I have been made aware of at least fifty “secret slush funds” dating back to the 2000-2001 State Budget listed as lump sum allocations without specific projects or legislators identified.

These “slush funds” total nearly $3.4 billion, far surpassing the $200 million “member-item” fund.

These monies have been allocated in a manner not subject to full public scrutiny, a practice which must stop with the current Legislature and Executive.

We need greater transparency, accountability, and awareness.

You can be certain that I will continue to work to give the people of New York a state government they can trust and be proud of.

If you should have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

James N. Tedisco, Assembly Republican Leader

DISTRICT OFFICE: 12 Jay Street, Schenectady, New York 12305, (518) 370-2812, FAX (518) 370-2862
ALBANY OFFICE: Room 933, Legislative Office Building, Albany, New York 12248, (518) 455-3751, FAX (518) 455-3750

[Livyjr]

"Bruno used campaign cash for hotel on Florida trip - Senator had dubbed it a 'vacation', which, watchdogs say, raises questions about the expenditure"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, January 29, 2007

ALBANY -- Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno used state-regulated campaign funds to pay for his stay at an exclusive south Florida hotel last year, during a three-day trip he has described as "a vacation."

His staff, too, initially insisted the trip was private.

However, state law makes "the personal use of contributions received by a candidate or political committee" a crime "if such personal use is unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position."

Bruno's claim that the trip was a private vacation raises questions about his use of campaign money to help pay for it.

Last week, Bruno and his staff refused to answer additional questions or discuss details of the senator's visit to Florida.

The junket is one of many issues being examined by federal authorities as they sift through Bruno's private business dealings and personal relationships as part of an investigation that sources said is focusing on whether his influence was for sale.

Initially, Bruno's office characterized the senator's travel as a "private trip," saying it had no connection to his role as a public official.

Their position changed days later after the Times Union subsequently began asking about public records showing Bruno's use of campaign funds to pay for lodging.

His staff then said a portion of the senator's vacation had involved "meetings and talks with potential campaign contributors."

They have declined to provide any details about those meetings and have declined to identify the potential contributors.

A periodic report filed last July with the state Board of Elections shows the Committee to Re-Elect Senator Bruno paid $1,319.84 to The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach at the end of Bruno's three-night stay.

The expenditure is among hundreds made each year from the campaign account, which has made millions available to the senator in recent years.

Like the campaign war chests of many elected officials, the money comes from a variety of contributors, including political action committees, private donors, wealthy business people and corporations.

There is little monitoring of how campaign funds are spent, according to government watchdog groups.

On Jan. 12, a Bruno spokesman declined comment on the senator's Florida visit, saying it was a private trip that did not involve Bruno's role as a public official.

Two days later, after a Times Union story disclosed details about the interest authorities have in the Florida junket, the senator's spokesman, John McArdle, told the New York Daily News:

"It was a private trip, and we're not going to discuss anything he does in his private life that doesn't affect what he does as a public official."

Then, on Jan. 18, when pressed about Bruno's use of campaign funds at the hotel, and his activities while there, Bruno's office responded:

"... a fundraiser was scheduled in Florida the following month, (and) a portion of the trip did involve meetings and talks with potential campaign contributors about supporting the Senate majority."

A changing story

The office of the Senate majority leader refuses to identify campaign contributors met during a 2006 Florida junket.

Jan. 12:

Bruno's office declines to discuss the trip publicly.

His spokesman confirms that Bruno is not commenting about the issue because it was a private vacation.

Jan. 14: A Times Union story discloses details about Bruno's trip to West Palm Beach aboard a private jet.

Jan. 14: Bruno spokesman John McArdle tells the Daily News:

"It was a private trip, and we're not going to discuss anything he does in his private life that doesn't affect what he does as a public official."

Jan. 18: In response to questions about Bruno's use of campaign funds and other issues, McArdle issues the following statements:

"Senator Bruno's trip to Florida did not involve government-related business or his role as a public official.

Given that a fundraiser was scheduled in Florida the following month, a portion of the trip did involve meetings and talks with potential campaign contributors about supporting the Senate majority."

"Again, as the trip was private and did not involve his role as a public official, we are not commenting on details of the trip beyond matters that Senator Bruno has publicly discussed."

Jan. 18: In a radio interview with the bureau chief of the New York Post, Bruno said the January trip may have coincided with a fundraiser involving Donald Trump, who hosted a fundraiser for Bruno in February 2006, nearly six weeks after the Palm Beach trip.

"I was on a two-day tournament at Greg Norman's golf course with people."

"... I believe we did a fundraiser that night when I was down there."

"There's nothing, nothing illegal," Bruno told WROW (590 AM).

"Nothing wrong about what was done."

"Absolutely nothing."

"The paper [Times Union] is sensationalizing like the biggest tabloid, trying to make some big expose."

"What was the expose?"

"That I hadn't had a vacation for 35 years?"

"When I went down there for a couple of days, frankly, I was happy to catch a break."

"We combined it with fundraising because that's more my style."

Jan. 23: Bruno's office declines to answer additional questions.

Spokesman Mark Hansen issues a statement:

"John McArdle made it quite clear in the e-mail on January 18th ..."

"In response to your questions about expenses for the trip, Senator Bruno properly reports all required information."

"That completely clarifies your questions."

And here comes one of "BIG JOE'S" POLITICAL CRONIES FROM THE "IRON DUKE'S" FIEFDOM OF RENSSELAER COUNTY .....

In the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK ....

TO ASSURE US ....

THAT ALL IS WELL ....

IN "BIG JOE'S" KINGDOM .....

AT LEAST AS FAR AS THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW GOES .....

SINCE ACCORDING TO THE CRONY ....

"BIG JOE" REALLY DOES REPRESENT CONSTITUENTS IN FLORIDA .....

Even though he is only a senator in the State of New York .....

Albeit an ALL-POWERFUL ONE .....

BECAUSE HE HAS CAREFULLY SEEDED OUR GOVERNMENT UP HERE ....

WITH HIS CRONIES ....

WITH A BUNCH OF "FLANNEL-MOUTH YES MEN" ....

LIKE THIS "MOUTHPIECE" KELLEHER ....

And so ....

"Bruno's Florida lodging a permissible expense"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, February 17, 2007

In response to your Jan. 30 editorial, "A hotel for high rollers," speaking on my own behalf, I would like to clarify the Election Law as follows:

Under the Election Law, contributions received by a candidate or political committee, which it is important to note are not public monies, may be expended for any lawful purpose, which is related to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position.

The activities and expenses related thereto relative to the seeking and holding of office are extremely diverse and far reaching.

The spokesperson for Sen. Joseph L. Bruno has asserted that the reported expenditure of $1,319.84 for lodging in Florida was directly related to the senator's seeking of office.

Specifically, it was asserted that the trip to Florida did include fundraising activities.

The expenditure for the lodging would be a permissible campaign expense under those circumstances.

NEIL KELLEHER

Co-chairman

New York State

Board of Elections

Albany

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/17/2007

end quotes

HHHhhhhmmmmmm .....

The activities and expenses related thereto relative to the seeking and holding of office are extremely diverse and far reaching .....

LIKE GOING TO A HIGH-PRICED STRIP CLUB LIKE "RACHEL'S" DOWN THERE IN FLORIDA ....

TO MEET WITH SOME "CONSTITUENTS" .....

ALTHOUGH THE WAGS-IN-THE-KNOW UP HERE .....

SAY THAT WAS REALLY FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES .....

FOR "BIG JOE'S" HEART, THEY SAY ....

THE PROOF OF WHICH IS THAT HE HAD HIS DOCTOR RIGHT THERE BY HIS SIDE ....

TO MONITOR "BIG JOE'S" HEARTBEAT AND RESPIRATION RATE ....

AND FOR THE RECORD ......

"BIG JOE" Bruno is not "running" for -re-election" .....

He did run .....

This last election ....

UNOPPOSED ....

SO .....

He needed but one vote to win ....

HIS OWN ....

And so ....

I GUESS ALL THOSE HIGH-ROLLERS DOWN THERE IN FLORIDA .....

WHO ARE "HOOKED UP" WITH "BIG JOE" .....

JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE ....

THAT HE HAD CAR-FARE .....

TO GET TO THE POLLING PLACE WITH ....

WHICH IS FAIR ....

GAS COSTS QUITE A BIT THESE DAYS ....

SO "BIG JOE'S" COMMUTE FROM FLORIDA ....

WOULD BE ON THE PRICEY SIDE .....

COMPARED TO US YOKELS UP HERE ....

WHO ONLY HAVE TO DRIVE A HANDFULL OF MILES TO VOTE ....

ALTHOUGH WE REALLY HAVE NO CHOICE OVER WHO WE ARE ELECTING IN "BIG JOE'S" SENATE DISTRICT ....

SINCE THE "IRON DUKE" IS THE ONLY SHOW IN TOWN ....

THANKS IN PART ....

TO ALL THOSE HIGH-ROLLERS DOWN IN FLORIDA ....

WHO ARE "HOOKED UP" WITH "BIG JOE" .....

TO GET THEM ...

A "PIECE OF THE ACTION" UP HERE .....

WHICH THE "IRON DUKE" OWNS OR CONTROLS ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

Dear Livyjr:

I have been made aware of at least fifty “secret slush funds” dating back to the 2000-2001 State Budget listed as lump sum allocations without specific projects or legislators identified.

These “slush funds” total nearly $3.4 billion, far surpassing the $200 million “member-item” fund.

These monies have been allocated in a manner not subject to full public scrutiny, a practice which must stop with the current Legislature and Executive.

We need greater transparency, accountability, and awareness.

Sincerely,

James N. Tedisco, Assembly Republican Leader

DISTRICT OFFICE: 12 Jay Street, Schenectady, New York 12305, (518) 370-2812, FAX (518) 370-2862
ALBANY OFFICE: Room 933, Legislative Office Building, Albany, New York 12248, (518) 455-3751, FAX (518) 455-3750

For the record .....

I do not "know" James N. Tedisco ....

The New York State Assembly Republican Leader .....

In any of the "senses" that lawyers look for in courtroom proceedings here in the State of New York .....

We are not from the same part of New York State .....

He being out to the west of where I am by some thirty or more miles .....

Which is another Assembly District entirely .....

From the one that I am in ....

And have been ....

For all of my life .....

Living as I do .....

On the same land that I grew up on .....

And so ....

I am in no way a "partisan" of his .....

Nor am I a REPUBLICAN ....

I am an unaffiliated INDEPENDENT who is registered to vote in New York State general elections .....

WHO TAKES HIS DAY-TO-DAY CITIZENSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES QUITE SERIOUSLY .....

TO THE POINT OF TASKING OUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS HERE IN NEW YORK STATE WITH INTEGRITY AND RESPONSIBILITY ....

AND HOLDING THEM PUBLICLY ACCOUNTABLE ....

ACCORDING TO OUR NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS ....

And that is that ....

Mr. Tedisco and I did not grow up together ....

Or go to school together .....

Or play sports together ....

And to my knowledge .....

We have never had the occasion to meet .....

Either on business ....

Or socially ....

MOST IMPORTANTLY ....

I don't "work" for Mr. Tedisco .....

Nor do I wish to ....

Or seek to ....

And so .....

I am "aware" that there is alleged to be an individual in the State of New York named James N. Tesdisco who is further alleged to be a member of the New York State Assembly .....

And on numerous occasions ....

I have heard this alleged individual being interviewed on various political talk shows in my area .....

And my impression of him ....

By his voice and by his choice of words .....

Is that this James N. Tedisco is what I would call out here in the country where I am .....

A MAN OF MEASURED WORDS ....

THOUGHTFUL WORDS ....

Which is to say ....

Mr. Tedisco does not come across as a rabid idealogue .....

Or a demagogue ....

I have never heard him use BOMBAST ...

Or INVECTIVE .....

I have never heard him call anyone any pejorative names .....

I have also never heard him trying to curry favor for himself ....

Or rewards ....

And so ....

THAT IS ALL BY WAY OF BACKGROUND HERE ....

Since I believe this to be a quite serious subject which Mr. Tedisco has raised in his above letter to me .....

This "THING" of at least fifty “secret slush funds” dating back to the 2000-2001 State Budget listed as lump sum allocations without specific projects or legislators identified ....

Which “secret slush funds” total nearly $3.4 billion, far surpassing the $200 million “member-item” fund here in the State of New York ....

AND I AM GREATLY CONCERNED .....

THAT WHILE MR. TEDISCO IS INFORMING ME OF THESE ALLEGED "SECRET" SLUSH FUNDS HERE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

And the candid world as well ....

Through this thread ....

Which functions as a sort of "citizen's radio station" up here where I am ....

An alternative source of news from that which the HEARST CORPORATION is doling out up here .....

Through the pages of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

ALLEGED SECRET SLUSH FUNDS .....

WHICH GO BACK TO AT LEAST 2001 .....

AT THE SAME TIME MR. TEDISCO IS RAISING THESE SERIOUS CONCERNS ........

THE HEARST CORPORATION'S ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

IS RUNNING A SLIME OR SMEAR CAMPAIGN .....

IN ITS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SECTION .....

AND ON ITS EDITORIAL PAGE ....

CALLING DOWN ANATHEMA ....

ON THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE .....

WHICH CAMPAIGN THEN DROWNS OUT THE VOICES OF CONSCIENCIOUS ASSEMBLYMEN SUCH AS MR. TEDISCO ....

And so .....

For me ....

A disabled combat veteran from the Viet Nam war residing here in the State of New York .....

AS CAN BE SEEN .....

FROM THESE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ....

THESE ARE INDEED TROUBLING TIMES .....

IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ...

AND WITH THE HEARST CORPORATION'S ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION RUNNING WHAT CAN ONLY BE CALLED A CAMPAIGN OF PROMOTING GROSS IGNORANCE AND CONTEMPT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND ORDER UP HERE IN THE ALBANY AREA ....

THINGS ARE NOT GOING TO BE GETTING BETTER, ANYTIME SOON ....

ESPECIALLY WITH RESPECT TO THIS ISSUE OF "PORK" AND ALLEGED SECRET SLUSH FUNDS ...

AND THAT IS WHY ....

IN LARGE PART ....

THIS THREAD IS RUNNING IN HERE ....

AT THIS TIME ....

TO BE A VOICE FOR THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ....

AND LAW AND ORDER ....

IN THE FACE OF THIS HEARST CORPORATION CONCERTED EFFORT ....

TO TEAR OUR NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION DOWN ....

TO FURTHER ITS OWN ENDS ....

AS A CORPORATION .....

WHICH SEES THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ....

AS AN IMPEDIMENT TO DOING BUSINESS HERE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

AS DOES IT MAN, ELIOT SPITZER ....

And so ....

[Livyjr]

WHEN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT "PORK" ....

HERE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK .....

WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT JUST A PART OF THE PIG ....

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE WHOLE HOG ....

Dear Livyjr:

Thank you for your message regarding “pork” in the New York State Budget.

I appreciate you sharing your views on this issue.

In addition to being a strong supporter of sweeping reforms that will allow the citizens of New York State to witness firsthand the inner workings of our Legislative and Executive branches, I am committed to bringing clarity to the process by which our tax dollars are spent.

While I am pleased by the steps taken thus far to increase transparency and accountability in the so-called “Member-Item” process, they represent only a small part of the solution to a large problem.

I have been made aware of at least fifty “secret slush funds” dating back to the 2000-2001 State Budget listed as lump sum allocations without specific projects or legislators identified.

These “slush funds” total nearly $3.4 billion, far surpassing the $200 million “member-item” fund.

These monies have been allocated in a manner not subject to full public scrutiny, a practice which must stop with the current Legislature and Executive.

We need greater transparency, accountability, and awareness.

You can be certain that I will continue to work to give the people of New York a state government they can trust and be proud of.

If you should have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

James N. Tedisco, Assembly Republican Leader

DISTRICT OFFICE: 12 Jay Street, Schenectady, New York 12305, (518) 370-2812, FAX (518) 370-2862
ALBANY OFFICE: Room 933, Legislative Office Building, Albany, New York 12248, (518) 455-3751, FAX (518) 455-3750

"Joining Spitzer's "get-it done" set - Mix of associates, outsiders are named to key administration posts"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, December 16, 2006

ALBANY -- Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer says "a get-it done attitude that state government desperately needs" is shared by the people he tapped Friday for top level jobs in his administration.

When Spitzer won the office in November by a historically large margin, he promised to bring experts to government offices, not political "cronies."

Other appointments included Dennis Whalen, who has served in Pataki's Health Department.

He will be Spitzer's deputy secretary for health and will report to the governor.

Whalen has been a widely respected executive deputy commissioner since 1996.

He isn't a physician, so can't be named commissioner, but his deputy secretary role appears to be above the commissioner's level.

"Hospital CEO up for state health job - Spitzer nominee Richard Daines would have task of carrying out Berger plan"

By CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, January 19, 2007

Gov. Eliot Spitzer Thursday nominated a New York City hospital CEO with a reputation for improving patient care as the state's next health commissioner.

Dr. Richard Daines, 55, the CEO and chief medical officer of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, received strong support from the medical community and his colleagues, who called him a thoughtful team builder.

Daines, a Republican, will serve in the Democratic administration under Dennis Whalen, Spitzer's choice for the new position of deputy secretary for health.

And of course ....

This DENNIS WHALEN is a CRONY of Eliot Spitzer's ....

From Eliot's days as Attorney General of the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK ....

And while Eliot Spitzer was the CHIEF LAWYER for this CRONY of his, Dennis Whalen, and the New York State Health Commissioner .....

Antonia Novello ....

Who was instrumental in assuring the cover-up of the August 22, 2001 "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN" of a New York State licensed professional engineer investigating on-going corruption in the New York State Department of Health with respect to protection of rural water supplies via provision of proper sewage disposal in rural areas of the State of New York .....

This is where OUR state tax dollars were going ....

AND THAT HAD TO BE WITH THE BLESSING OF ELIOT SPITZER ....

AS THE STATE'S TOP LAWYER ....

And so ...

"State money was sent overseas - Former health commissioner directed $575,000 to agency for Haiti, Dominican Republic"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 18, 2007

ALBANY -- Recently retired state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in state taxpayer money to the Dominican Republic for communicable disease control.

She also directed $1.5 million to a home for postpartum mothers at Kiryas Joel, a religious community of Hasidic Jews in Orange County whose members overwhelmingly supported her boss, former Gov. George Pataki, in his election campaigns.

And she steered more than $300,000 in public funds to Puerto Rico to create 60,500 videos on parenting tips.

Novello also narrates the video.

These grants -- approved by Novello in 2002 when Pataki was running for re-election -- and others by the Legislature, came from a multimillion-dollar discretionary fund in the largely secretive Health Care Reform Act (HCRA) budget.

Using broad criteria, the money was provided without competitive bids from either the commissioner's, the Assembly's or the Senate's "HCRA priority pool" -- accounts created when HCRA was first crafted in 1996.

The accounts grew over the years.

In a brief interview last week, Novello refused to discuss the grants and directed questions to her former executive deputy, Dennis Whalen, now Gov. Eliot Spitzer's top health care adviser.

She said Whalen handled the discretionary grants and they came to her already signed and vetted by him.

She said she merely added her signature at the end of the process.

State and nonprofit officials say the money was spent on worthy health-related programs.

And Whalen says Pataki's staff approved any grants that went out.

The governor's staff, he said, initiated some of the grants, while others came from the health department staff and occasionally from Novello herself.

As part of his proposed budget and reform agenda, Spitzer has wiped out the HCRA discretionary funds because he says he opposes lump sums.

He did include $3 million in unspecified HCRA funds for the new health commissioner, Richard Daines, as "emergency" cash.

It is too early to know whether the Legislature will demand the money be returned.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R.-Brunswick, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, have both agreed to be more open about spending, but they've also signaled opposition to Spitzer's health care cuts.

Budget Director Paul Francis said the Legislature could add grants to the budget if they're spelled out in advance.

The past secretive process for doling out discretionary funds, and their use in communities that helped Pataki win election during his three terms, "raises some red flags," because of the possibility that politics entered into the selection process, said Assemblyman Alexander Grannis, D-Manhattan.

Grannis, a health committee member who has been involved in HCRA issues, recently agreed to become Spitzer's environmental conservation commissioner.

"It's usually the case that the money is going to worthwhile organizations, but how we make the decisions is done secretly," Grannis said.

Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, said politics unquestionably enters into the grant selection.

"Discretionary decisions at any level are going to have a political element; it's the nature of human beings and government," he said.

"That doesn't make it right."

HCRA is the result of deals by the governor and Legislature that set out how industry and cigarette taxes will be raised to pay for health care programs.

Each year since HCRA was negotiated in 1996, money has been provided in lump sum accounts for the health commissioner, Assembly and Senate to divide for health-related "priority" projects.

Until this year, HCRA was "off budget" -- not part of the regular state spending plan.

But under a Freedom of Information Law request last fall, the health department recently generated special reports for the Times Union showing the grant recipients and sponsors.

The documents provided the first public accounting of how tens of millions of dollars have been doled out.

Novello, who left her position at the end of 2006, had $24.5 million to distribute this fiscal year, up from $21 million last year.

The Senate and Assembly each had $8.5 million.

The health department reports show many of the grants went to hospitals and nonprofit groups.

The grants flow much like "member items" -- community grants that lawmakers and Pataki spread around the state for pet projects from a $200 million fund in the state budget.

The Senate and the Assembly, according to the documents, sometimes used their HCRA discretionary money to jointly fund the same institutions.

Each, for example, gave $1.5 million to Rochester's Highland Hospital emergency room last year.

The Democrat-controlled Assembly gave $1 million two years running to the United Hospital Fund of New York to create and support the Medicaid Institute.

The think tank is run by former Assembly Majority Leader James Tallon, who worked on Spitzer's health transition team.

Last year another $1 million was inserted in the state budget for the institute as a general fund appropriation.

Gov. George Pataki vetoed the item; the Legislature overrode him.

The institute isn't listed in Spitzer's proposed budget, but he did put in $1.5 million for an unspecified non-profit organization with experience in Medicaid research.

Tallon said he approached Senate and Assembly leaders for the original HCRA grants to try to help improve the operation of the Medicaid program.

Silver "saw this as something he needed to support so his members could better understand the importance of the Medicaid program," Tallon said.

Silver spokesman Charles Carrier said HCRA discretionary funds are meant for emergencies, and the Assembly considers controlling Medicaid costs an emergency.

Mark Hansen, Bruno's spokesman, said the Senate uses the funds for "projects that are needed the most and help hospitals and other health care facilities throughout the state provide the best possible care for patients."

Many of the projects are things like building parking lots and expanding existing hospitals.

Money has also been provided to help hospitals meet their payrolls or restructure debt.

The Republican-led Senate gave $1 million to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital to build a helipad in Newburgh last year at the request of Sen. William Larkin (R-Cornwall-on-Hudson).

The Senate gave $1.4 million to the SUNY Research Foundation for a center for functional genomics at the SUNY Albany East Campus in Bruno's district.

The Legislature's minority conferences don't get a cut of the HCRA money, their representatives said.

Lt. Gov. David Paterson, the former Senate minority leader, said he didn't even know the accounts existed until apprised by the Times Union.

"It's exactly what's wrong around here," he said.

Assemblyman Thomas Kirwan, R-Newburgh, said the spending is beyond government's role, particularly the overseas grants.

"I don't even think it should exist to be carved up."

"But to send money to Haiti and the Dominican Republic -- that's off the charts," he said.

Novello, with the backing of her top aide, Whalen, granted $575,000 to Hope for a Healthier Humanity in Staten Island to develop public health education and screening programs to reduce tuberculosis among immigrants to New York from Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The group sent the money to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to help those nations fight tuberculosis and other diseases, said HHH's executive director, Mary Healey-Sedutto.

Novello also sent $314,000 to the Puerto Rico Easter Seals Society of Education and Rehabilitation in Puerto Rico to make videos for low-income parents to help them in raising their young children.

The videos were for urban markets in New York, San Antonio and Los Angeles, said Nilda Morales, director of the Easter Seals program in Puerto Rico.

Morales said she approached Novello for grant money after the commissioner made a speech in Puerto Rico.

Novello's trip was paid for by the Puerto Rican health department, she said.

Morales said the video could help New Yorkers because many Hispanics live in the state.

She said the HCRA money was used only for a batch of videos for New York hospitals.

"The benefit to New Yorkers is, increasingly downstate New York is a state of high immigrant population from Caribbean Latin America," said Healey-Sedutto.

"These people sometimes come to the United States, sometimes ill."

Healey-Sedutto said she persuaded Novello to supply the funding to her organization, which has a budget of about $1.6 million.

Former Novello spokesman Rob Kenny and Whalen both said the funding for Hope for a Healthier Humanity's project was considered appropriate because of the large influx of Dominicans and Haitians.

Florida -- much closer to those nations and also a major destination for many Caribbean residents -- makes no direct or indirect contribution to communicable disease prevention programs in those foreign countries, a Florida state official said.

Novello also gave $1.5 million to the Kiryas Joel Municipal Local Development Corp. for a home for postpartum mothers.

The community, said Jay Greenfield, executive director of the corporation, has high birth rates and a great demand for pre- and post-natal services.

"From the department's point of view, these were worthy public health initiatives," said Whalen, now Spitzer's deputy secretary for health and human services.

Asked whether politics were involved in some of the grants, Whalen said:

"I can't comment on that."

However, he said the grants weren't totally at Novello's discretion because they had to be approved by Pataki's staff.

Pataki's office, he said, asked for the Hope for a Healthier Humanity and Kiryas Joel grants, while the Easter Seals Society of Puerto Rico grant was Novello's idea.

Whalen said he had to handle the paperwork for the grants, but "all funding would have to be reviewed by the governor's (Pataki's) office."

David Catalfamo, a spokesman for Pataki, defended the former governor, saying he has a long history with Kiryas Joel, dating to his days as a state legislator, and had helped it in other ways.

M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

DISCRETIONARY GRANTS: A SNAPSHOT Selected large grants from the Health Care Reform Act discretionary accounts since 1997

Commissioner Antonia Novello

$1.5 million for a convalescent home for postpartum mothers at village of Kiryas Joel

$1.8 million to World Medical Leaders, a Web-based medical communications company, for doctor bioterrorism training

$512,000 for Alpine Technology Group for a program to record Medicare complaints

$175,000 for Actors' Fund of America to survey uninsured entertainers and spread the word about the state's subsidized health insurance coverage

$175,000 for Manhattan-based Dor Yeshorim to provide genetic testing and counseling to members of the Jewish community at risk for Tay Sachs disease

$314,000 for the Puerto Rico Easter Seals Society of Education and Rehabilitation to produce and distribute 60,500 videos on parenting for cities in New York, Texas and California

$575,000 for Hope for a Healthier Humanity, Staten Island, to pay for health education programs in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

$1.35 million to SUNY Research Foundation for a study on hospital reporting errors

$7.5 million to Keane Inc. for computer services to help labs meet public health reporting requirements.

Senate Republicans

$2 million to build a parking lot and ambulatory care facility at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx

$1 million to renovate emergency department at Rochester General Hospital

$800,000 to Bellevue Woman's Hospital for a prenatal parenting program, debt restructuring

$1 million for St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh to build a helipad

$250,000 for Albany Medical Center Hospital for an AIDS program

$1.2 million for Nassau County Medical Center to hire a urologist, purchase equipment and install a radiology information system

$2 million for Albany Medical Center to expand primary care sites and cancer center

$500,000 for St. Peter's Hospital Foundation to upgrade information services

$1 million for Albany Medical Center to renovate pediatric intensive care unit

$1.42 million for SUNY Research Foundation for a genomics center at East Campus of UAlbany

Assembly Democrats

$1 million for Albany Medical Center to renovate pediatric intensive care unit

$1 million for Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn, to fix elevator and boiler, install pneumatic tubing system

$300,000 for Albany Medical Center Hospital AIDS center

$3 million for Rochester General Hospital to build ER department

$2 million for creation and support of United Hospital Fund of New York's Medicaid Institute

$2 million for University of Rochester's expansion of its pediatric intensive care unit

$2 million for North General Hospital in Harlem for debt restructuring

Source: Department of Health

[Livyjr]

And of course ....

This DENNIS WHALEN is a CRONY of Eliot Spitzer's ....

From Eliot's days as Attorney General of the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK ....

And while Eliot Spitzer was the CHIEF LAWYER for this CRONY of his, Dennis Whalen, and the New York State Health Commissioner .....

Antonia Novello ....

Who was instrumental in assuring the cover-up of the August 22, 2001 "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN" of a New York State licensed professional engineer investigating on-going corruption in the New York State Department of Health with respect to protection of rural water supplies via provision of proper sewage disposal in rural areas of the State of New York .....

This is where OUR state tax dollars were going ....

AND THAT HAD TO BE WITH THE BLESSING OF ELIOT SPITZER ....

AS THE STATE'S TOP LAWYER ....

And so ...

"State money was sent overseas - Former health commissioner directed $575,000 to agency for Haiti, Dominican Republic"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 18, 2007

ALBANY -- Recently retired state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello sent hundreds of thousands of dollars in state taxpayer money to the Dominican Republic for communicable disease control.

She also directed $1.5 million to a home for postpartum mothers at Kiryas Joel, a religious community of Hasidic Jews in Orange County whose members overwhelmingly supported her boss, former Gov. George Pataki, in his election campaigns.

And she steered more than $300,000 in public funds to Puerto Rico to create 60,500 videos on parenting tips.

Novello also narrates the video.

In a brief interview last week, Novello refused to discuss the grants and directed questions to her former executive deputy, Dennis Whalen, now Gov. Eliot Spitzer's top health care adviser.

She said Whalen handled the discretionary grants and they came to her already signed and vetted by him.

She said she merely added her signature at the end of the process.

And talk about "GETTING TOGETHER A WARCHEST" .....

To be in politics here in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK .....

ESPECIALLY UP THERE IN THE BIG LEAGUES .....

YOU JUST GOT TO HAVE YOU SOME "BOODLE" .....

And so ....

Antonia knows how that is done, alright .....

And so does George Pataki .....

And so .....

HAVE BOODLE .....

WILL RUN FOR OFFICE ....

WITH BOODLE ...

And so ....

"Pataki backs idea of 'Sen. Novello'"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press

First published: Thursday, January 5, 2006

ALBANY -- A possible bid by state Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello, a former U.S. surgeon general, to challenge U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's re-election effort this year got a boost Wednesday from Republican Gov. George Pataki.

"She'd be a strong candidate if she chose to run," Pataki told The Associated Press shortly before delivering his 12th and final State of the State address.

Pataki's comments came as a new Web site -- http://www.draftnovello.com -- appeared.

It encourages people to back an effort to get Novello into the race.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday who had launched the Web site.

Pataki said he knew nothing about it.

"I can tell you that we're not involved," said Brian Nick, a spokesman for the national Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Novello, a native of Puerto Rico who has never run for public office, could not be reached immediately for comment Wednesday.

"We're not going to comment on political speculation," said state Health Department spokesman Robert Kenny.

[Livyjr]

"State money was sent overseas - Former health commissioner directed $575,000 to agency for Haiti, Dominican Republic"

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 18, 2007

ALBANY -- The Democrat-controlled Assembly gave $1 million two years running to the United Hospital Fund of New York to create and support the Medicaid Institute.

The think tank is run by former Assembly Majority Leader James Tallon, who worked on Spitzer's health transition team.

Last year another $1 million was inserted in the state budget for the institute as a general fund appropriation.

The institute isn't listed in Spitzer's proposed budget, but he did put in $1.5 million for an unspecified non-profit organization with experience in Medicaid research.

Tallon said he approached Senate and Assembly leaders for the original HCRA grants to try to help improve the operation of the Medicaid program.

Silver "saw this as something he needed to support so his members could better understand the importance of the Medicaid program," Tallon said.

And to further "flesh that out" .....

THE ALLEGATION THAT NEW YORK STATE HAS A PROBLEM WITH CORRUPTION .....

Let us go ....

For the moment .....

To ARTICLE 460 ....

Of the New York State Penal Law ....

Which is entitled ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION ...

That ARTICLE OF LAW being a part of TITLE X of the New York State Penal Law ....

Entitled ORGANIZED CRIME CONTROL ACT ....

And the relevant part of that state law which pertains directly to this discussion in here ....

Is as follows:

S 460.00 Legislative findings.

The legislature (of the State of New York) finds and determines as follows:

Organized crime in New York state involves highly sophisticated, complex and widespread forms of criminal activity.

The diversified illegal conduct engaged in by organized crime, rooted in the illegal use of force, fraud, and corruption, constitutes a major drain upon the state's economy, costs citizens and businesses of the state billions of dollars each year, and threatens the peace, security and general welfare of the people of the state.

Organized crime continues to expand its corrosive influence in the state through illegal enterprises engaged in such criminal endeavors as the theft and fencing of property, the importation and distribution of narcotics and other dangerous drugs, arson for profit, hijacking, labor racketeering, loansharking, extortion and bribery, the illegal disposal of hazardous wastes, syndicated gambling, trafficking in stolen securities, insurance and investment frauds, and other forms of economic and social exploitation.

The money and power derived by organized crime through its illegal enterprises and endeavors is increasingly being used to infiltrate and corrupt businesses, unions and other legitimate enterprises and to corrupt our democratic processes.

And talk about "GETTING TOGETHER A WARCHEST" .....

To be in politics here in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK .....

ESPECIALLY UP THERE IN THE BIG LEAGUES .....

YOU JUST GOT TO HAVE YOU SOME "BOODLE" .....

And so ....

Antonia knows how that is done, alright .....

And so does George Pataki .....

And so .....

HAVE BOODLE .....

WILL RUN FOR OFFICE ....

WITH BOODLE ...

And so ....

"Pataki backs idea of 'Sen. Novello'"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press

First published: Thursday, January 5, 2006

ALBANY -- A possible bid by state Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello, a former U.S. surgeon general, to challenge U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's re-election effort this year got a boost Wednesday from Republican Gov. George Pataki.

"She'd be a strong candidate if she chose to run," Pataki told The Associated Press shortly before delivering his 12th and final State of the State address.

Yes, indeed ....

To be in politics here in the CORRUPT EMPIRE of NEW YORK .....

ESPECIALLY UP THERE IN THE BIG LEAGUES .....

YOU JUST GOT TO HAVE YOU SOME "BOODLE" .....

And so ....

July 18, 2005

"New York Medicaid Fraud May Reach Into Billions"

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY and MICHAEL LUO

It was created 40 years ago to provide health care for the poorest New Yorkers, offering a lifeline to those who could not afford to have a baby or a heart attack.

But in the decades since, New York State's Medicaid program has also become a $44.5 billion target for the unscrupulous and the opportunistic.

It has drawn dentists like Dr. Dolly Rosen, who within 12 months somehow built the state's biggest Medicaid dental practice out of a Brooklyn storefront, where she claimed to have performed as many as 991 procedures a day in 2003.

After The New York Times discovered her extraordinary billings through a computer analysis and questioned the state about them, Dr. Rosen and two associates were indicted on charges of stealing more than $1 million from the program.

It has drawn van services, intended as medical transportation for patients who cannot walk unaided, that regularly picked up scores of people who walked quite easily when a reporter was watching nearby.

In cooperation with medical offices that order these services, the ambulettes typically cost the taxpayers more than $50 a round trip, adding up to $200 million a year.

In some cases, the rides that the state paid for may never have taken place.

School officials around the state have enrolled tens of thousands of low-income students in speech therapy without the required evaluation, garnering more than $1 billion in questionable Medicaid payments for their districts.

One Buffalo school official sent 4,434 students into speech therapy in a single day without talking to them or reviewing their records, according to federal investigators.

Nursing home operators have received substantial salaries and profits from Medicaid payments, while keeping staffing levels below the national average.

One operator took in $1.5 million in salary and profit in the same year he was fined for neglecting the home's residents.

Medicaid has even drawn several criminal rings that duped the program into paying for an expensive muscle-building drug intended for AIDS patients that was then diverted to bodybuilders, at a cost of tens of millions.

A single doctor in Brooklyn prescribed $11.5 million worth of the drug, the vast majority of it after the state said it had tightened rules for covering the drug.

New York's Medicaid program, once a beacon of the Great Society era, has become so huge, so complex and so lightly policed that it is easily exploited.

Though the program is a vital resource for 4.2 million poor people who rely on it for their health care, a yearlong investigation by The Times found that the program has been misspending billions of dollars annually because of fraud, waste and profiteering.

A computer analysis of several million records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law revealed numerous indications of fraud and abuse that the state had never looked into.

"It's like a honey pot," said John M. Meekins, a former senior Medicaid fraud prosecutor in Albany who said he grew increasingly disillusioned before he retired in 2003.

"It truly is."

"That is what they use it for."

State health officials denied in interviews that Medicaid was easily cheated, saying that they were doing an excellent job of overseeing the program.

"This continues to be an area where we think that we have made substantial progress," said Dennis P. Whalen, executive deputy commissioner of the State Health Department.

"But by no means are we sitting back and resting on the accomplishments that we have made."

Nonetheless, after being informed of The Times's findings, the Republican majority in the State Senate began a push recently to overhaul the system intended to protect Medicaid, which has been sharply reduced even as Gov. George E. Pataki and lawmakers have nearly doubled the program's budget over the last decade.

The Democratic majority in the Assembly has remained on the sidelines.

So has Mr. Pataki.

New York's Medicaid program is by far the most expensive and most generous in the nation.

It spends far more - now $44.5 billion annually - than that of any other state, even California, whose Medicaid program covers about 55 percent more people.

New York's Medicaid budget is larger than most states' entire budgets, and it spends nearly twice the national average - roughly $10,600, more than any other state - on each of its 4.2 million recipients, one in every five New Yorkers.

That generosity was born of good intentions when Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller signed the program into law in 1966, following the state's tradition of creating big antipoverty programs.

But Medicaid has become far more than the child of that altruism, having morphed into an economic engine that fuels one of the state's biggest industries, leaving fraud and unnecessary spending to grow in its wake.

There are no precise estimates for the cost to the state's program.

Officials who have spent their careers chasing unscrupulous doctors and other providers in New York Medicaid say the losses to taxpayers here are probably higher than typical estimates of overall health care fraud.

The Government Accountability Office in Washington and others have estimated that 10 percent of all health care spending nationally is lost to "fraud and abuse."

James Mehmet, who retired in 2001 as chief state investigator of Medicaid fraud and abuse in New York City, said he and his colleagues believed that at least 10 percent of state Medicaid dollars were spent on fraudulent claims, while 20 or 30 percent more were siphoned off by what they termed abuse, meaning unnecessary spending that might not be criminal.

"So we're talking about 40 percent of all claims are questionable," Mr. Mehmet said - an amount that would approach $18 billion a year.

Despite the debate, and the enormous sums at stake, Albany has never formally studied how much of the huge government investment in Medicaid is lost to criminal activity and abuse.

For their part, federal auditors have made New York a leading target for inspection as Washington has begun to crack down on Medicaid spending abuses.

The federal government shares the cost of Medicaid with the states.

In New York, it pays half the bill; Albany splits the rest of the cost with its counties and New York City.

The lax regulation of the program did not come about by chance.

Doctors, hospitals, health care unions and drug companies have long resisted attempts to increase the policing of Medicaid.

The pharmaceutical industry, which has spent millions of dollars annually on political contributions and lobbying in Albany, has defeated several attempts to limit the drugs covered by Medicaid; other states have saved hundreds of millions of dollars annually with such restrictions.

Earlier this year, after the Legislature agreed to impose such a limit and steer patients to generic drugs, the industry won a major loophole that allowed any doctor to substitute a higher-priced brand name with a simple phone call to the state.

Governor Pataki would not be interviewed about Medicaid for this article, and his aides referred questions to the State Department of Health, which is part of his administration.

The health commissioner, Dr. Antonia C. Novello, also declined to be interviewed.

In defending the department's performance, Mr. Whalen, the executive deputy commissioner, said it had saved $9.3 billion in recent years through investigations of providers, a new computer system and other measures.

Asked repeatedly to provide an in-depth explanation of their claim of major savings or for any state records or other documentation to back up the figures, department officials would not supply any.

The Times investigation drew upon interviews with scores of current and former officials and health-care providers, including several former investigators who say they left the state disillusioned about its commitment to fighting fraud.

A review of thousands of pages of state, federal and local records turned up repeated examples of cost savings and waste reduction used by the federal government and other states, but not by New York.

The investigation found audits on Medicaid spending that were brushed aside, and reports on waste that appear to have been shelved.

There have been multiple warnings from watchdog agencies in New York and in Washington that indicate that the program is becoming increasingly porous.

Prosecutors said state regulators had all but lost interest in bringing Medicaid thieves to justice, preferring instead to focus on recouping money through a few civil cases that have little deterrent value.

The Dentist

On the streets of Downtown Brooklyn, the young men would regularly fan out to drum up business for Fulton Gentle Family Dentistry.

"Got a Medicaid card?" one of the men shouted one day last November.

"Come in and get your free CD player right now!"

But inside the office at 575 Fulton Street, Dr. Dolly Rosen seemed to make money whether or not the barkers did their job.

She simply invented the dental work she did, according to state prosecutors alerted by The Times, and then billed it to Medicaid.

And the breadth of her deception was enormous, the prosecutors said.

In 2003, less than two years after joining Medicaid, Dr. Rosen and an associate reaped $5.4 million, more than the amounts garnered by 98 percent of providers of all types in the entire New York program, according to the analysis of Medicaid billings.

Dr. Rosen claimed to be doing thousands of procedures every month, far more than any group of dentists could possibly perform, according to the analysis and interviews with dental experts.

In September 2003, she charged Medicaid roughly $725,000 for 9,500 individual dental procedures, many of them expensive and complicated, such as filling cavities that had rotted away much of the tooth.

On a single day that month, she billed for 991 procedures, or more than 100 an hour in a typical workday.

In criminal complaints, an investigator said that more than 80 percent of the procedures for which the dental office billed were not performed, were unnecessary or were improper.

Dr. Rosen, who is 48 and lives in Manhattan, was licensed in 1995 and joined the Medicaid program in 2002.

Since then, she has billed taxpayers more than $7 million.

She and her lawyer, Jeffrey A. Granat, would not comment.

The allegations of fraud in this case involved dentistry, but in the world of New York Medicaid, this kind of scheme is not unusual in any specialty, although it rarely occurs on such a scale.

Many doctors, clinics, pharmacists and other providers routinely exaggerate their billings, investigators say, often claiming to do more work than they really performed, or substituting an expensive procedure for a minor one.

Others invent visits that never occurred.

"This is an age-old problem in New York," said Professor Malcolm Sparrow of Harvard, who has written extensively on health care fraud.

Albany stood by as Dr. Rosen's Medicaid billings went from zero in 2001 to $4 million in 2003, according to the analysis of her billing records.

Her 2003 billings were by far the highest of the 50,000 dentists or doctors in New York Medicaid - $1 million more than those of the next highest, the records show.

Dr. Rosen had an associate in the Brooklyn office, Dr. Alex Silman, who sent his own bills to Medicaid.

His billings showed a similar spike, rising to $1.4 million in 2003 from $115,000 in 2002, records show.

The Department of Health and the state attorney general's office blamed each other for failing to stop Dr. Rosen and Dr. Silman.

The department said it had alerted the office that it should investigate possible improprieties with their practices.

The office said the department had botched its inquiry.

Last fall, The Times brought its findings on Dr. Rosen and Dr. Silman to the attention of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which is in the state attorney general's office.

On March 24, prosecutors in the unit had Dr. Rosen and Dr. Silman arrested.

This month, the two were indicted on charges of first-degree grand larceny, each accused of stealing more than $1 million from the program.

Another associate, David Ibragimov, who handled billing for the office, was also indicted.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

The Times found Dr. Rosen's extraordinary billings using a laptop computer and commonly available software after spending a few hours studying New York Medicaid billings.

And she was only one of scores of medical providers who turned up in the search with similar spikes in revenues, including three Brooklyn pharmacies, a Manhattan doctor and a Queens medical supply company.

None had even been audited by the state.

The AIDS Drug

The woman said her name was Pamela Borden, but it was not.

She told the doctor that she had AIDS and had been losing weight rapidly, but she did not have AIDS and was overweight.

Yet when she walked out of Dr. Mikhail Makhlin's Brooklyn office in February 2002, she was clutching a prescription for a very expensive synthetic growth hormone intended to treat wasting syndrome, a side effect of AIDS.

The cost of the drug, entirely borne by taxpayers, was $6,400 a month.

The woman's real intention for the synthetic hormone, Serostim, had nothing to do with AIDS.

Serostim is highly sought in a thriving black market among bodybuilders, who use it like a steroid to bulk up.

And Dr. Makhlin wrote far more prescriptions for Serostim than any other Medicaid doctor in the state, more than even prominent AIDS specialists with large practices.

From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Makhlin prescribed 12 percent of all the Serostim purchased by New York Medicaid, costing the program $11.5 million, according to the Times analysis of Medicaid billings.

Medical records and interviews with state officials suggest that the woman's visit was part of an elaborate series of scams involving Serostim that stole tens of millions of dollars from New York Medicaid, long after other states realized what was going on.

In 2000, New York Medicaid paid $7 million for Serostim, but the following year, after the schemes took off, the state spent $50 million on the drug.

The money was spent despite national publicity that had led other states to realize that Serostim was being abused, and to begin reining in their spending on the drug.

Florida, for example, put restrictions on Medicaid payments for Serostim in 1997.

The same year, federal officials broke up a Medicaid fraud ring that recruited people from Washington Square Park and paid them $20 to $50 to get Serostim illegally.

At the Health Department, Mr. Whalen and his aides described the department's handling of the drug as a success.

They said they had detected the increase in Serostim prescriptions and required doctors to get special approval to prescribe the drug after January 2002.

But billing records show that Dr. Makhlin wrote 80 percent of his Serostim prescriptions after the restrictions were adopted.

Serostim was approved in the mid-1990's to treat wasting syndrome, a side effect of AIDS.

It is injected under the skin and causes a significant increase in lean body mass and weight.

The drug's manufacturer, Serono Laboratories, is the subject of an extensive federal criminal investigation into whether its executives paid kickbacks to doctors to prescribe Serostim.

The company said it was cooperating with the inquiry.

Federal authorities would not say whether Dr. Makhlin had been questioned in the federal inquiry.

What is clear is that Dr. Makhlin played a pivotal role in the epidemic of Serostim abuse on the East Coast.

Even now, he retains his Medicaid privileges and medical license, and has not been a subject of a state criminal inquiry.

Dr. Makhlin, who was educated in Russia and arrived in New York in 1989, maintains that he was unwittingly duped by a parade of patients he tried to help, and that he received no benefit for prescribing a drug he considered necessary.

But he and his lawyer, Nathan Dembin, will not explain how he ended up prescribing far more Serostim under Medicaid than any other doctor in the state.

Thirty of his patients each received more than $100,000 worth of the drug.

The State Department of Health did not try to discipline Dr. Makhlin until late 2003, seeking to suspend him from the program for five years and fine him $164,000.

But Dr. Makhlin has successfully fought the penalties, and retains his Medicaid privileges while an administrative law judge in the department weighs his case.

"I did not intentionally or knowingly violate any Medicaid regulations," Dr. Makhlin said in court papers.

"I was simply exercising my best medical, professional judgment."

It was not until 2004 that the amount of Serostim purchased by New York Medicaid returned to where it was before the spike.

The true identity of the woman who received the prescriptions from him in February 2002 will probably never be known.

The real Pamela Borden was found in Brooklyn and said her Medicaid card had been stolen in late 2001.

She said no one from the state had contacted her about Dr. Makhlin.

The Ambulettes

With an immense public transit system and fleets of taxis and car services, New York is one of the nation's easiest cities to get around in, even for the old and the sick.

But instead of reimbursing patients for a $2 bus ride to their doctor's office, or a $10 fare for a car service, Medicaid typically pays $25 or $31 each way for these rides, and it adds up.

New York Medicaid paid far more than any other state to get patients to hospitals and doctor's appointments: $316 million in 2003.

The state accounts for about 15 percent of all the nonemergency Medicaid transportation spending in the country, according to a 2001 report by the Community Transportation Association of America, and spends more than the next three states - California, New Jersey and Florida - combined.

The largest chunk of the $316 million spent on transportation went to some 450 ambulette services, about a fifth of which are clustered in Brooklyn.

And much of that spending appears to be entirely unnecessary.

That was clear on a recent afternoon in southern Brooklyn, when an elderly woman strolled out of a doctor's office and clambered into the front seat of a van owned by M. J. Trans Corporation, a medical transport company that billed Medicaid for more than $2 million last year.

After a 25-minute ride across the borough, she got out in front of her apartment, again without help, and walked inside.

The van is called an ambulette, and Medicaid is supposed to pay for it only when a patient cannot walk without help or requires a wheelchair.

In fact, the state refers to the service as an "invalid coach."

But on three days spent following M. J. vans over several months, a Times reporter found that almost all of the company's passengers walked easily, without assistance.

The pattern was repeated as recently as last month.

Many doctors, therapists and clinics regularly order ambulette transportation for their patients when cheaper alternatives should have been used instead, according to a 2003 audit of Medicaid transportation expenses in New York City by the state comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi.

The state has known about abuses in the ambulette industry for years, and about the neighborhoods where kickbacks and other questionable activity takes place.

In the early 1990's, regulators discovered that a quarter of the entire state's transportation billings were coming from Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where a few companies had cornered the market with an elaborate set of kickback arrangements, according to a 1996 report on waste in the industry by the New York City public advocate's office.

The report, along with others on the industry, suggested that many ambulette services billed Medicaid for rides that were never delivered.

But even though these schemes date back years, government records show that the state has spent almost no time looking into the ambulette industry.

Prosecutors and outside auditors say that fraud, including the kind in which van services pay kickbacks to medical offices that order rides, remains rampant.

Only five ambulette providers who billed Medicaid in the 2004 state fiscal year had even a portion of their billings audited by state officials, according to state records.

Mr. Whalen, the senior state health official, maintained that the industry was properly regulated, adding that in an effort to detect fraud, the department had begun requiring providers to supply more information on their operations.

"Transportation and ambulettes are on our radar screen as an active area of inquiry," he said.

One of the ambulette companies that has never been audited is M. J. Trans, though it had more billings per vehicle than almost any other of its size in the state.

Its Medicaid billings jumped to more than $2 million annually in 2004 and 2003 from $700,000 in 2001.

Yuri Levitas, a manager at the ambulette company, said none of its billings were illegal or improper.

"We do only legal business," he said.

In fact, an analysis of its Medicaid billings raises questions about whether the company is abusing the system, or possibly allowing individual patients and doctors to do so.

The records indicate that the company has business relationships with medical practices in southern Brooklyn that often bill Medicaid for what seem an inordinate number of trips.

A doctor at a pair of clinics that specialize in pain relief and massage therapy often ordered more than 90 trips a day, as did a colleague of his.

At another doctor's office, Medicaid was billed 153 times by M. J. for transporting a single passenger in 2003, or essentially two or three times a week for an entire year.

Another recipient went 152 times.

Still others made the trip in M. J. vans more than 130 times.

M. J. Trans said most of those rides were ordered by the office for recipients receiving physical therapy there.

"They order, and we go," Mr. Levitas said, adding that he was not responsible for ensuring that the rides were necessary.

Several physical therapists expressed skepticism that anyone would need so much therapy.

"There is always the difficult or complicated case here and there that requires extensive and intensive therapy, but as a general rule, 153 visits would seem excessive," said Gabriel E. Yankowitz, a physical therapist for more than two decades and an official with the New York Physical Therapy Association.

But Gail Bednik, the manager of the office, at 280 Quentin Road in Gravesend, that is in the records as having ordered the 153 rides, said there was nothing surprising about the patients who took scores of ambulettes annually at taxpayer expense.

"It's old people," Ms. Bednik said.

"They want to come every day because they're bored at home."

The School Districts

In just a few hours on a single day in September 2000, a senior official in the Buffalo school system wielded a rubber signature stamp and cost millions of dollars in questionable Medicaid payments for children.

Her name was Sheryl Carswell, and at the time she was Buffalo's director of special education.

Moving her rubber stamp with assembly-line speed that day, she put 4,434 special-education students on the Medicaid rolls by recommending that they receive speech therapy, according to a federal audit.

That represented nearly 60 percent of the district's special-education population, roughly twice the national average of special-education students who require speech therapy.

Yet she had not evaluated more than a few of those 4,434 students, according to the audit, issued by the inspector general of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, nor had she reviewed their case files.

Ms. Carswell was not stealing the money for herself or maliciously abusing the system.

Instead, she was doing business in a way that has become increasingly common in Buffalo, New York City and around the state, collecting millions of Medicaid dollars for her school district by putting students into health and speech programs, often without any apparent effort to see if the students really needed them.

All told, the schools in New York State misspent $1.2 billion in Medicaid payments on speech services from 1993 to 2001, federal audits concluded.

In an interview, Ms. Carswell said she was simply following longstanding school procedures.

"I just filled out the paper," she said.

"Nobody bothered me about it."

Since 1990, schools in New York have been able to bill Medicaid for speech, hearing, and other school health services, and the state has become the most aggressive in the nation at taking advantage of this benefit.

Around the state, school districts short on cash discovered in Medicaid a new revenue source.

As a result, in recent years, school health services have become an $800 million annual expense, rising to the point that New York accounts for 44 percent of this type of Medicaid spending nationally, according to federal statistics.

Licensed speech professionals quickly realized what was happening, and many have complained that schools are cutting corners and using the funds to pay for services that have nothing to do with helping poor children speak or hear better.

"We have been seeing a lot of very suspicious billing practices in New York," said James G. Potter, director of government relations and public policy at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which has 118,000 members.

"At times, folks in the schools have been just plain making it up out there when it comes to billing."

This spending was routinely approved by the state, but the federal government was not as credulous.

The questionable spending touched off two audits in 2002 by the inspector general, and a civil inquiry by the federal Department of Justice.

In an audit released last month, the inspector general revealed that in New York City schools, 86 percent of the Medicaid claims that were paid from 1993 to 2001 lacked any explanation for why the services had been ordered or violated other program rules.

In Buffalo and other upstate schools, the auditors concluded that the figure was 56 percent for the same period, according to a report released last year.

The audits should not have come as a shock.

In the mid 1990's, a private consultant told New York City school officials that their record-keeping was in such disarray that 51 percent of attendance forms for speech students could not be found.

Yet school officials did not change their practices, according to the subsequent audit.

When the upstate school districts found out about the audits in 2002, some tried to cover their tracks, the inspector general found.

Digging through their filing cabinets, they backdated records to justify Medicaid spending for services performed as many as eight years earlier.

Now, after the audits, federal officials say Washington is likely to begin demanding its money back, and so this misuse of Medicaid money could haunt either the districts that spent it, or the state, or both.

Many districts are worried that the repayment could devastate their education budgets.

School officials, including those in New York City, have sharply disputed the audits, and called for them to be withdrawn.

The Justice Department suspended its civil inquiry after complaints from Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and other politicians, and federal health officials have agreed, for now, not to seek restitution from school districts.

But the state itself could still be liable, and could then in turn penalize the districts.

Pataki administration officials say Washington has never been clear about what kind of school services it will pay for and how children should be referred to these programs, accusing Washington of changing the rules.

"There is no question that school districts actually provided health services to poor, disabled children," wrote Kathryn Kuhmerker, a deputy health commissioner, in her response to the upstate audit.

The state, however, did not meet its responsibility to make sure the money was properly spent, the federal audit found.

The State Health Department reviewed the books of the Buffalo district only once from 1993 to 2001, and told the district its records were "well organized."

The Executives

Among the biggest beneficiaries of the Medicaid program have been executives of the state's nursing homes and clinics, many of whom earn substantial salaries and profits from the program.

According to records obtained from the Health Department under the Freedom of Information Law, 70 executives of nursing homes and clinics personally made more than $500,000 in 2002, the last year for which figures are available.

Twenty-five executives made more than $1 million.

For the nursing home executives, that money was earned in salaries and profits, most of which came directly from the daily fee that Medicaid pays for caring for each low-income patient, usually in the range of $200.

Salaries are earned by employees of the homes, and profit is earned by owners, although owners are often executive directors or chief executives of the homes, allowing them to benefit in both ways.

Consider three homes in the Bronx.

The operator of the Laconia Nursing Home, which receives 90 percent of its revenues from Medicaid, earned $3 million in salary and profit.

At the Grand Manor Nursing Home, also 90 percent financed by Medicaid, the operator and three family members earned a total of $2.4 million in salaries and profit.

The owner and operator of the Morris Park home, 75 percent financed by Medicaid, took in $1.5 million in salary and profit.

Advocates for nursing home residents acknowledge that the homes' operators and executives are entitled to make decent profits and salaries.

But the advocates insist that it is unseemly for the profits and salaries to reach such high levels, given what the advocates contend is the industry's longstanding record of poor care.

They point out that at New York nursing homes, the staffing levels are lower than the national average, a crucial indicator.

All three of the Bronx homes have staffing levels lower than the national average, according to federal statistics.

"It's unconscionable to give yourself high salaries and not give some more money to hire people so some of these quality problems can be dealt with," said Cynthia Rudder, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, an advocacy group for nursing home residents.

Trade groups representing nursing homes counter that most homes in the state are actually in financial distress because Medicaid does not pay enough.

Many hospital executives in New York also receive high salaries, but hospitals earn significant revenues from sources other than government social programs, including H.M.O.'s and private insurance.

The 550 public, private and nonprofit nursing homes around the state, by contrast, earn more than two-thirds of their revenues from Medicaid, taking in roughly $6 billion last year from the program, according to state records.

Many clinics receive most of their revenues from Medicaid as well.

Morris Berkowitz, operator of the Morris Park home, said he deserved his profits because he worked long hours and provided excellent care.

"Do you know how much I have invested in this place?" he said.

"A lot of money."

"And I am constantly investing in this place."

Earlier this year, after residents repeatedly wandered from Morris Park, federal and state officials accused the home of grievously poor supervision, and it was fined $86,000.

Mr. Berkowitz said the home had done nothing wrong.

"It was a political thing, and we got caught up in it," he said.

"People with power, they abuse their power."

Martin Liebman, operator of Grand Manor, said it was misleading to focus on salaries and profits.

"This is a family-owned business," said Mr. Liebman, an officer of the state trade group of private nursing homes.

"I'm third generation in the business."

"We have taken care of thousands of residents and given quality care for many, many years."

Barry Braunstein, operator of the Laconia home, did not respond to three calls seeking comment.

Besides their high salaries, some executives profiting from Medicaid were also taking part in another tradition: cheating the program.

In 2002, the two owners of the AllCity Family Healthcare clinics in Brooklyn collected a total of $1.4 million in salaries, according to state records.

Last year, the company was forced to return $6 million to the state, and one of its owners, Rossia Pokh, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in a case brought by the attorney general.

At the AllCity clinics, it turns out, thousands upon thousands of the Medicaid claims were fraudulent.

[Livyjr]

And so ....

THAT IS ALL BY WAY OF BACKGROUND HERE ....

Since I believe this to be a quite serious subject which Mr. Tedisco has raised in his above letter to me .....

This "THING" of at least fifty “secret slush funds” dating back to the 2000-2001 State Budget listed as lump sum allocations without specific projects or legislators identified ....

Which “secret slush funds” total nearly $3.4 billion, far surpassing the $200 million “member-item” fund here in the State of New York ....

AND I AM GREATLY CONCERNED .....

THAT WHILE MR. TEDISCO IS INFORMING ME OF THESE ALLEGED "SECRET" SLUSH FUNDS HERE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

And the candid world as well ....

Through this thread ....

Which functions as a sort of "citizen's radio station" up here where I am ....

An alternative source of news from that which the HEARST CORPORATION is doling out up here .....

Through the pages of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

ALLEGED SECRET SLUSH FUNDS .....

WHICH GO BACK TO AT LEAST 2001 .....

AT THE SAME TIME MR. TEDISCO IS RAISING THESE SERIOUS CONCERNS ........

THE HEARST CORPORATION'S ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

IS RUNNING A SLIME OR SMEAR CAMPAIGN .....

IN ITS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SECTION .....

AND ON ITS EDITORIAL PAGE ....

CALLING DOWN ANATHEMA ....

ON THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE .....

WHICH CAMPAIGN THEN DROWNS OUT THE VOICES OF CONSCIENCIOUS ASSEMBLYMEN SUCH AS MR. TEDISCO ....

And so .....

"Legislature's choice shouldn't be surprising"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 18, 2007

How can the "leaders" in Albany be so incompetent as to hire a state comptroller with little or no background in finance and a degree in history and human resources, whose legislative accomplishments include banning a gas additive and trying to protect open space?

What are these people thinking?

It is amazing the depth of a political favor that can bestow the top financial position in the state to a person who seems to have the least qualifications.

I guess he will fit in with the others who are running and ruining this state.

Any professional civil service accounting or finance position in the state usually requires a minimum of 24 hours of accounting credits.

Don't you think the top finance person should at least have that?

CLAUDINE C.

Lake Luzerne

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/18/2007

[Livyjr]

"Put state government back in the voters' hands"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, February 11, 2007

We had such high hopes that electing Gov. Eliot Spitzer was going to change things in Albany.

Problem is, we didn't get rid of Assembly Speaker Silver or Senate Majority Leader Bruno.

Those two seemed to have been the largest detriment to the legislative process.

Say what you will, they control too much of what gets debated and what does not.

New Yorkers haven't gotten it yet.

Clean house and start over.

Make legislative positions full-time and ban outside employment.

Either that, or impose term limits.

Legislators make, on average, $100,000, plus a lucrative retirement.

Why are these people getting a retirement program for a part-time job?

Many wouldn't make that outside of government.

With that kind of money, the job should be a full-time position.

The average citizen would love to have a part-time job paying $100,000 and do little or nothing for it.

We need more than a change in governor; we need a constitutional convention to change the laws as to the way this state is governed.

Former Gov. Mario Cuomo scared everyone out of voting for one, but the time has come.

The cost of state government is much too high for the return the voters get for their money.

The voters need the power to control their destiny, not some politician who is beholden to big money and special interests.

Citizens need the ability to submit referendums so that politicians know that when they pass special-interest legislation or just plain stupid laws, the citizenry has the ability to overrule.

Oh my gosh, that would be like having a real democracy.

DALE R. O.

Clifton Park

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/11/2007

[Livyjr]

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

As Revised, with Amendments Adopted by the Constitutional Convention of 1938 and Approved by vote of the People on November 8, 1938.

As Amended and in Force January 1, 2002, but with November 2003 results included

We The People of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE IV - § 2. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor or lieutenant-governor, except a citizen of the United States, of the age of not less than thirty years, and who shall have been five years next preceding the election a resident of this state.

ARTICLE V - Officers and Civil Departments

Section 1. The comptroller and attorney-general shall be chosen at the same general election as the governor and hold office for the same term, and shall possess the qualifications provided in section 2 of article IV.

http://www.senate.state.ny.us/lbdcinfo/senconstitution.html

NEPOTISM: Bestowal of patronage by public officers in appointing others to positions by reason of blood or marital relationship to appointing authority.

- Black's Law Dictionary

"DiNapoli reflects need to clean up Legislature"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, February 12, 2007

Tom DiNapoli appears to have been a fine assemblyman, and is well qualified in environmental matters.

However, I see nothing in his resume which qualifies him for the comptroller's post, except that he was an assemblyman.

The Legislature passed over three well-qualified people in order to elect one of their own.

It's politics as usual.

I think people are fed up with this type of politics and will send a message to the Legislature that we are not going to take the pork, the in-house nepotism and the back door wheeling and dealing anymore.

It's time to clean up the Legislature.

DAVE S.

Albany

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=2/12/2007

end quotes

According to the New York State Constitution .....

The sole qualifications for COMPTROLLER of the State of New York ....

Have to do with residency .....

And minimum age .....

AND THAT IS THAT ....

ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ....

HOWEVER ....

We never hear any mention of that ....

In the DIATRIBES ....

And SCREEDS ....

From the EDITORIAL PAGES .....

Of the HEARST CORPORATION'S Albany, New York Times Union ....

Decrying the constitutional right of New York State Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli .....

To be voted in as New York State COMPTROLLER ....

So long as he is over thirty years old ....

And has lived in the State of New York for five years before his election ....

And so ....