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

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"Democrat leaves congressonal race - Gary Mittleman decides to withdraw from contest for 21st District seat"

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:12 a.m., Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The widely contested race for the 21st Congressional district has one less candidate.

Former Plug Power CEO and Democrat Gary Mittleman sent an e-mail message to supporters and the media Monday withdrawing his candidacy.

The announcement came less than two months after he entered the race.

That leaves seven Democrats and two Republicans to battle it out for retiring Green Island Democrat Michael McNulty's seat this year.

He said he quickly learned that he wasn't comfortable with "begging'' people for money and realized he would have to do so constantly if he was elected."

"The average congressional contender in New York this year will spend close to $1.4 million."

"While I have welcomed financial support from those who believe that I would be an effective congressman, I do not have the expertise nor the interest in horse-trading my way into office,'' Mittleman said in the e-mail.

"Tonko close to decision on run - NYSERDA president is weighing 21st District bid"

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 25, 2008

Former state Assemblyman Paul Tonko is one step closer to entering the race for Democrat Michael McNulty's 21st Congressional District seat.

Tonko, who heads the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said he will attend the Albany County Democratic Committee's screening meeting for potential candidates Saturday and has filled out a questionnaire related to that appearance.

But Tonko was still firm Thursday that he hasn't made a decision about whether he will run.

He would join seven other Democrats and two Republicans who have already entered the race.

Tonko is aware that he would most likely have to quit his NYSERDA job before he could seek the congressional seat, being vacated by the retiring McNulty at year's end.

"I am working through a decision on my future and I will announce that decision in the very near future," he said Thursday.

Last July, Tonko, 58, an Amsterdam Democrat, became president and CEO of NYSERDA after resigning from the state Assembly.

He had represented the 105th Assembly District, including all of Montgomery and part of Schenectady counties since April 1983.

His interest in seeking the congressional seat has been rumored for months, and speculation has abounded as to how he would handle his state job if he wanted to run for Congress.

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"Analysis: NY's special interests well-fed by your tax dollars"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 11:32 a.m., Saturday, April 12, 2008

ALBANY -- The Legislature took a lot of heat last week for its secret budget negotiations, its abandonment of public conference committees required by its own 2007 reform law, and its refusal -- with Gov. David Paterson -- to release details of how they would spend New Yorkers' money until the bills were already passed.

But it wasn't a complete secret.

The unions and other special interests that have poured $171.2 million into lobbying over the last year and gave candidates millions more for campaigns were in on it.

In the hectic final days before New York's $121.7 billion budget was adopted Wednesday, lawmakers debated bills for hours in televised sessions.

But most of the decisions had already been made behind closed doors, sometimes with lobbyists at the table.

The public, who pays for it all, was shut out.

The New York State United Teachers and United Federation of Teachers unions spent almost $3 million lobbying in 2007, the year the report examined, and contributed $841,703 to campaigns.

On Wednesday, the Legislature provided a record $1.75 billion increase in state school aid despite a gaping deficit and falling revenues.

And most of the gush of education cash will go to salaries and hiring more teachers and administrators, said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

Adding more teachers and staff is often masked by saying the money will pay to reduce class sizes, a more popular notion for the public.

"It feeds the bottom line and increases the union argument for paying them more," he said.

The result of taxpayers providing a big increase in state aid this year?

Big increases in local school taxes next year.

"Because there's no cap on school taxes, when you feed the bottom line with a big increase in one year, it usually translates to bigger property taxes in coming years because the state aid increases aren't sustainable," he said.

He said last week's haul for public schools in the state budget proved this about the school unions:

"There is no question they are the tail that wags the whole dog."

"In Albany's pay-to-play culture, those with the bucks speak with a megaphone, while the rest of us are reduced to a whisper," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

AND WITH RESPECT TO THE PARASITIC TEACHERS' UNIONS IN NEW YORK STATE, WE HAVE ...

"Teachers question union's stance - Guilderland bargaining unit accused by own members of being too close to school board"

By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 25, 2008

GUILDERLAND -- A group of Guilderland High School teachers has criticized their union president over what they say is his cozy relationship with the administration.

They contend the leadership of the Guilderland Teachers Association has not acted in the best interest of the membership by endorsing school board candidates and giving them campaign contributions.

Matt Nelligan, a high school social studies teacher, chastised union President Chris Claus for rubber-stamping the administration on teacher cutbacks.

"I want a real union, not a company union," Nelligan said.

"Their collaboration with the district administration is shameful."

At least a dozen teachers have expressed their dissatisfaction.

The administration recently came under fire from members of the school board and community residents for releasing a directory of student names and addresses to the teachers association during the last election.

Claus has said he used the information to send postcards to parents that promoted particular candidates but would not do so again this year.

The union contributed at least $2,000 to candidates it favored in last May's election.

Claus said the union has offered financial and volunteer support to some school board candidates in this spring's election on May 20.

Claus said Thursday that he was surprised at the attacks from members of the union.

Claus, who is stepping down as president when his term ends in June, said he has worked with the district for years.

"My opinion is sought by the school district, and my opinion is valued by the school district," Claus said.

School board member Peter Golden said the public criticism is evidence that the union does not represent all teachers.

Golden, who is running for re-election, said taxpayers suffer when dissenting opinions are drowned out.

He is one of two incumbents and three other candidates seeking three open seats.

The union is backing three candidates.

"A board is supposed to represent everyone in the community, not just a small group plugged into the union," he said.

Carl Korn, spokesman for New York State United Teachers, said while many NYSUT locals endorse candidates in school board races across the state, some locals don't.

In addition to campaign contributions, union members donate their time by making phone calls, distributing fliers and attending meetings.

Korn said the average union local spends less than $1,000 per school board cycle, but that number varies greatly with the size of the district.

Nelligan said his dissident group of teachers would consider future endorsements as long as they don't involve union funds.

He said giving union money to candidates "corrupts" the process.

It would better serve everyone's interest, he said, if the union gained more autonomy from the district:

"You've got a two-headed monster -- the district and the union are working together."

Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.

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"Probe of school 'payroll padding' widens - Investigation of districts that listed lawyers as staff hits Capital Region"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, April 11, 2008

ALBANY -- Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed 90 lawyers, including 70 in upstate, in his expanding probe of school districts that improperly, and perhaps fraudulently, listed their outside legal advisers as employees to give them taxpayer-funded pensions.

"It is egregious conduct, and there is no excuse for the fact that it went on as long as it did," Cuomo said Thursday.

He added that the investigation, which started on Long Island about two months ago, is now spreading to school districts in Albany County and the greater Capital Region.

So far, more than 180 New York school districts, including 150 upstate and 30 on Long Island, are suspected of listing their outside attorneys as employees for the sake of benefits.

"This is basically a payroll padding scheme," said Cuomo, who didn't name the districts or BOCES being subpoenaed.

The attorney general's office earlier said the abuses could extend to other school district advisers such as engineers or architects.

Millions of dollars could be involved, Cuomo said.

He cited one lawyer who collected more than $700,000 and said another person who collected a pension had died.

"It's a great scam that has gone on for many, many years," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the pension padding could also extend to other government entities, of which there are about 10,000 in the state including villages, towns and special districts.

"The more we dig, the worse the situation gets," he said.

"DiNapoli pulls another lawyer's pension - Private attorney was getting $106,700-a-year benefit"

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

Last updated: 11:29 a.m., Friday, April 25, 2008

ALBANY -- Another Long Island lawyer had his state pension plans altered by Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

DiNapoli said this morning that hes suspended the $106,700 annual payout to Albert DAgostino.

The action is part of DiNapolis on-going review of the records of every attorney in the Common Retirement System.

DAgostino had received pension service credit for work with Nassau County, Lawrence Union Free School District, Valley Stream Union Free School District, North Merrick Union Free School District, the Town of Hempstead and the Village of Valley Stream.

DAgostino retired in October 2000.

DiNapoli and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo are investigating how lawyers and other professionals who are not government employees, but work under contract, have gotten into the public pension system via loopholes or fraud.

Last month, DiNapolis office suspended the $61,459 annual pension of Lawrence Reich after an audit by DiNapolis office found five school districts inappropriately reported Reich as an employee.

Four lawyers from the Albany firm of Girvin and Ferlazzo were also removed from the pension system, while a fifth lost partial retirement credit, after DiNapoli concluded they were improperly listed as BOCES employees for the purposes of getting the retirement benefit.

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"Comptroller notes more debt in budget - DiNapoli faults borrowing, revenue projections in enacted budget"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:32 p.m., Friday, April 25, 2008

ALBANY -- State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Friday the recently enacted state budget raises spending by more than $5 billion over the previous fiscal year, projects tax revenues that are questionable in a weakening economy and contains $11.5 billion in new debt that will be issued over several years.

"It's clear this budget continues New York's long but not-so-glorious traditions of spending more than the state takes in and borrowing too much," DiNapoli said.

Total spending projections range from $121.4 to $121.7 billion.

The nearly on-time budget with less spending than originally proposed by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer was "a remarkable achievement," DiNapoli said.

Final budget numbers are still pending, but the forecast for the national economy has continued to weaken, the report said.

Gov. David Paterson said on Thursday he will look for midyear cuts to help address a looming $5 billion deficit.

And on Monday he called for state agencies to find savings and halt hiring for all but "absolutely essential" positions.

The state employs more than 169,426 workers.

Jeffrey Gordon, spokesman for the Paterson administration's Budget Division, said the governor shares DiNapoli's concerns about the state's financial future.

Paterson will issue a detailed budget analysis next week and has initiated a review of state spending to begin cutting costs for next year, Gordon said.

DiNapoli said that without cost-cutting, future budget gaps could reach $9.5 billion in 2011-12.

He noted that none of the new borrowing is voter approved or tied to any comprehensive plan to address the state's "critical infrastructure needs."

"The reality is that the economy is in rough shape and the worst may still be around the corner," DiNapoli said.

"Governor Paterson took an important first step to address the budget's structural imbalance by telling state agencies to stop unnecessary spending now."

"All across New York, families are tightening their belts."

"It's time for the state to do the same."

According to the report:

--The budget continues to use debt to fill shortfalls, with New York's current debt of $53 billion projected to top $67 billion by 2012-13 with debt service then rising to $7.5 billion a year.

--New borrowing includes $105 million for the state to acquire clear title to New York's thoroughbred tracks from the New York Racing Association and $250 million for expansion at Aqueduct, $1.3 billion in new debt for various economic development programs and $9.3 billion for capital projects at the state and city university systems.

--Almost $1.5 billion in revenue may not materialize, such as the conversion of not-for-profit health insurers to for-profit status, sales tax from Indian retailers and VLT revenues.

--The budget uses $2.5 billion in one-time items, including $400 million in sweeps from various dedicated funds, such as the Environmental Protection Fund and the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Fund.

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On the Net:

DiNapoli's report: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/budget/...dbudget0408.pdf

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"Pension claims of seven defended - Lawyer draws distinction between his clients and attorneys suspected of defrauding system"

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

First published: Saturday, April 26, 2008

ALBANY -- A lawyer for a group of educators suing the New York State Teachers' Retirement System said his clients are not trying to defraud the system by seeking pension credits -- as some school and municipal attorneys are suspected of doing.

Albany attorney Thomas Latin said his seven clients -- former and current teachers and administrators at public schools -- had their salaries underwritten by grants to their public employers from a private, nonprofit organization, but that did not mean they were not public employees.

"This is a significantly different situation than lawyers on a public payroll," said Latin.

"The fact that you work under a grant doesn't mean you are in the employment of the grantor."

The educators seeking pension credits include Richard Blais, who worked for Hudson Valley Community College, and Niel Tebanno, who worked for Mohonasen Central Schools, under grants awarded to those public institutions by Project Lead The Way, of Clifton Park.

Both men are now retired from their public employers and are executives with Project Lead The Way, earning $167,200 annually.

The retirement system's lawyer said their work did not involve public service so their credits during the time Project Lead The Way was paying their schools for their salaries does not count toward pensions.

Latin called the dispute, now before a state Supreme Court judge, an honest difference of opinion.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is probing abuses of the pension systems and could look at the matter as well as similar arrangements statewide.

"Our investigations are broad and encompass all areas where false or inaccurate representations were made to New York state pension systems," said John Milgrim, a spokesman for Cuomo.

Cuomo's office is representing the teachers' retirement system in the lawsuit brought by the seven people over having their pension credits denied.

In court papers, the attorney general maintains that public employers such as HVCC served as a conduit for people such as Blais to actually work for Project Lead The Way.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli froze the $102,259-per-year payout to Albert D'Agostino, a private lawyer who served six different municipalities part time, until further notice.

He has been retired for more than seven years after being recorded as a public employee for three Long Island school districts plus Nassau County, Hempstead and the village of Valley Stream.

He also received a 21-year retroactive pension credit during Comptroller H. Carl McCall's tenure.

DiNapoli spokeswoman Emily Desantis said the office is not criticizing the McCall decision as the review of the case continues.

She said more lawyers will likely be de-listed from the system or have their pensions frozen.

DiNapoli had already suspended the nearly $62,000 pension of Long Island lawyer Lawrence Reich because he was improperly reported as an employee by several Long Island school districts.

He also stripped five years of service from a lawyer with the Albany firm of Girvin and Ferlazzo and removed four lawyers from the firm from the pension system.

They were incorrectly reported as employees to the retirement system by Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES.

Abuses of the pension system involve lawyers who claimed their work with public employers rendered them public employees despite the fact that underlings in the law firms did the actual work.

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

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AND WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE PARASITIC TEACHERS' UNIONS HERE IN NYS ...

THIS IS LIKE THE RATS ON A FARM GETTING GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER THE FARMER, SO THAT HE NOT ONLY HAS TO KEEP THE CORNCRIB FULL FOR THEM ...

BUT CONSTANTLY HAS TO WORK TO MAKE IT EVER BIGGER ...

THESE TEACHERS ARE GREEDY THIEVES WHO DO LITTLE MORE THAN TURN OUT BATCHES OF STUPID, IRRESPONSIBLE CHILDREN WHO LEARN GREED FROM THESE TEACHERS ....

AND NOT MUCH ELSE ...

And so ...

"New York school unions lobby against property tax cap - Teachers' union lobbies against property tax cap plan to limit school spending in New York"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 1:12 p.m., Sunday, April 27, 2008

ALBANY -- A special commission created to find a way to cap New Yorkers' property taxes may not call for a cap after all.

The powerful New York State United Teachers union opposes the cap that would limit how much most school districts could raise through the local tax levy.

"A tax cap makes no sense if we are serious about our efforts to maintain a high-quality education system and close the achievement gap" between poor and wealthier districts, said Richard C. Iannuzzi, NYSUT's president.

"Tax caps do nothing to impact the rising costs facing school districts."

Instead, NYSUT and other lobbyists representing school boards and school administrators support a "circuit breaker."

That would provide a state subsidy to cap taxes, but only for homeowners determined to be of moderate income.

The state subsidy could cost the state more than $1.5 billion a year.

Who receives the benefit would be defined by income, house value and the region of the state.

It wouldn't cap taxes for businesses, landlords or directly affect tenants, unless provisions are added before the May 22 final report is issued to the governor and Legislature.

Gov. David Paterson is making a priority of reducing the state's local property taxes, which are among the nation's highest and blamed for an exodus of people and employers.

He notes that the state's STAR tax subsidy program now provides $5 billion a year in state funds to school districts which are supposed to use it to offset the burden on taxpayers.

But Paterson notes local school taxes have still gone up an average of 7 percent for five straight years despite increases in STAR and historic increases in traditional state school aid.

"Everybody -- everybody -- agrees property taxes are a problem, so that's a big plus," said Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who heads the commission and must build a consensus.

"A second plus is that the governor has made this a statewide issue."

"I've been trying to push that rock up the hill for years."

Suozzi, a Democrat, said the state needs a "circuit breaker" that kicks in a tax break on the most hard-pressed New Yorkers, but New Yorkers also need a cap on local tax levies.

That could limit the amount of money a school district could raise in taxes to a fixed amount, such as 4 percent or 120 percent of the consumer price index, whichever is lower.

District residents, however, could also choose to suspend the limit in an annual vote.

"If you were to do a circuit breaker without a property tax cap, there would be less incentive for school districts to control their spending because the burden would be shifted to the state," Suozzi said.

"It would be a step backwards," said Kenneth Adams of the state Business Council.

"The only way this makes sense, the only way it works, is to have hard caps across the board because that's the way to force spending cuts."

But that goes against the teachers unions, which emerged as the most powerful lobbying force in Albany this budget season.

The group, which spends millions on lobbying and campaign contributions, last month helped win a record increase in school aid despite hard fiscal times, fought off a tougher requirement for getting tenure, and even got a statewide day of commemoration for teachers.

"When asked to choose between quality schools and lower taxes, parents and community members repeatedly vote in favor of investing more in public education," said Alan B. Lubin, NYSUT's executive vice president.

"I expected from the beginning that a lot of people would be interested in a circuit breaker," said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.

"But it's not a substitute for a cap."

He said a cap would help school districts eliminate some costly mandates issued by Albany.

If schools show they need more state aid because their capped local resources aren't enough, then the Legislature will be pressured to eliminate mandated programs and spending.

Identifying state mandates that should be eliminated is also part of the task of Suozzi's commission.

It held the last of its series of statewide hearings last week.

"The big issue is you give them more aid and they keep raising taxes," McMahon said.

"The way to limit taxes is directly, with a cap."

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On the Net:

http://www.state.ny.us

http://www.nysut.org

http://www.manhattan-institute.org

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"Analysis: Paterson's plan to cut taxes and spending harks back to Faso campaign in '06"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 10:02 a.m., Saturday, April 26, 2008

ALBANY -- "Eliot Spitzer has one set of rules for Eliot Spitzer and one for everyone else."

That's not from the now loud chorus of Spitzer bashers since the Democrat resigned March 17 after being implicated in a prostitution investigation.

It was said, repeatedly, throughout the 2006 campaign for governor by Republican candidate John Faso.

Back then, though, Faso fought for any attention in the face of the Spitzer campaign.

With the help of millions of dollars in slick television ads and a wildly popular crusader for a candidate, the Spitzer juggernaut drowned out what was perhaps the most talented bunch of candidates for governor in decades in New York.

Spitzer's popularity forced an early exit by Republican Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts governor with New York roots and the only candidate who ever ran a state and cut state taxes.

It also forced out Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who lost big to Spitzer in the September 2006 primary even though Suozzi had real experience in crafting budgets, cutting taxes and saying "no" to special interests.

Spitzer, as governor, eventually turned to Suozzi as was the most qualified guy to run a special commission to find ways to cap property taxes.

But it was the warnings by Faso, trounced by Spitzer by a historic margin in the general election, that came back to haunt New York this week.

And it came from Spitzer's lieutenant governor-turned successor, Gov. David Paterson.

It was Faso, Paterson said in central New York Tuesday, who forced the property tax issue back in 2006.

Now, Paterson is calling for up to a 10-percent cut in spending in the face of a screeching slow down of the economy, and a critical look at the STAR tax subsidy program.

STAR now provides $5 billion in state funds to school districts which are supposed to use it to cut or curb school taxes, the biggest property tax for most New Yorkers.

But school taxes keep going up, despite almost annual record increases in state school aid, on top of STAR increases.

"I just know that when we put STAR in, property taxes went up 7 percent for five straight years," Paterson said, sounding a lot like Faso.

"Our response as a government is to create more STAR."

In 2006, Faso had warned voters that Spitzer wouldn't stand up to special interests, despite his promises to rein in state spending.

Spitzer's 2007 budget ballooned to an 8-percent increase in spending; his January 2008 budget proposal called for a 5-percent increase, a figure that had to be whittled down as tax revenues continued to sink.

In 2006, candidate Faso promised to submit a first budget with no spending increase to head off the predicted hard fiscal times ahead.

In September of that year, The Associated Press had out-of-state tax and public policy authorities review the property tax proposals of Spitzer, Suozzi and Faso.

Faso was credited with the one that would return money fast to New Yorkers and place a needed cap on spending -- something Spitzer at the time opposed.

"Providing the STAR program without a cap is a recipe for failure," Faso said Wednesday from his Manhattan law and lobbying office.

"We would have been better off without STAR at this juncture because all it did was provide momentary relief without fixing the overall problem."

Today it sounds prophetic.

Back in 2006, Faso was dismissed or ignored by most voters, campaign donors and some news organizations.

The polls gave Spitzer a 50-percent lead through much of the race and Spitzer TV commercials were everywhere, while Faso had trouble scraping up enough for a couple regional ads.

Less than a month before Election Day, Spitzer had raised $39.1 million to Faso's $3.4 million.

In October 2006, Faso even tried to tell New York that one of Spitzer's policy ideas was just plain crazy.

That's when Spitzer's plan surfaced to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses.

A year later, it would trigger a national firestorm and be Spitzer's biggest policy debacle, hurting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign in the process.

But the issue didn't get traction in 2006, despite newspaper coverage.

The point isn't -- as some in Albany are now claiming -- that Spitzer was a fraud.

His ideas -- some implemented, others on track to be -- remain the best blue print for reform in Albany in decades.

The point is that in 2006, when it counted, few listened to Faso, Suozzi or Weld.

Warm-focus TV ads, boisterous rallies and big endorsements carried the day and Spitzer had the market on those.

More people may be listening now to what Faso said then.

Perhaps most importantly, Paterson is.

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Michael Gormley is the Albany, N.Y., Capitol editor for The Associated Press. He can be reached by e-mail at mgormley(at)ap.org.

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"Fund sued over pension rejections - Employees of nonprofit that promotes science education had sought retirement systems credit"

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

First published: Friday, April 25, 2008

ALBANY -- Seven people working for a Clifton Park nonprofit educational firm attempted to inappropriately get into the New York State Teachers' Retirement System and qualify for public pensions, according to the lawyer for the pension fund.

The individuals, who were blocked from gaining public pension credits, are now suing the retirement system.

The revelation comes amid a broader state investigation of possible fraud by lawyers and other licensed professionals who enrolled in the New York State and Local Retirement System.

The teachers system, at $97 billion, is separate from the $154.5 billion state and local pension fund.

Wayne Schneider, head lawyer for the teachers' system, said seven people who work for Project Lead The Way, including one claiming to be an employee of Hudson Valley Community College, sought credits in the teachers retirement fund.

Schneider denied them last year.

The group has sued in state Supreme Court in Albany County.

Project Lead The Way, based in Clifton Park, contracts with schools, BOCES and community colleges, and promotes technology and science-based education.

"It's not public service,'' Schneider said about the work being done by the seven plaintiffs in the case against the teachers' system.

They are teachers and administrators with the firm, he said.

Among the seven individuals, Schneider said, was Richard Blais, who is listed in Project Lead The Way's 2006 IRS filings as vice president, with $167,200 in annual pay.

Blais allegedly attempted to get pension credits as an HVCC employee.

His lawyer, Thomas Latin, of Albany, did not return a call for comment, and Blais was unavailable at the Project Lead The Way office.

Also seeking credits was Diana Jensen-Dooling, the firm's state director.

Her lawyer, James Bilik, said she is an employee at the Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES in Spencerport, and rolled out a technology curriculum used in a number of schools across the state that follows Project Lead The Way's program.

Meanwhile, officials with the state attorney general's and comptroller's offices are expanding their investigation of people hired by school districts and municipalities who allegedly declared themselves public employees and inappropriately received credits toward pensions from the state retirement system.

Dennis Tompkins, a spokesman for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, said the focus currently is on the legal profession, and the office is comparing names of licensed lawyers to the more than 1 million names in its pension system.

Other licensed professions will be probed by the comptroller and the attorney general, including architects, engineers and physicians, officials said.

Already, DiNapoli has removed four lawyers with the Albany law firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo from the state pension system after determining that they wrongly declared themselves public employees of a BOCES that had contracted with them for legal work for schools.

A fifth lawyer lost part of his pension credits, but was allowed to keep credits from his prior public sector employment.

Also, a retired Long Island lawyer who served several school districts is being denied his $62,000 annual state pension.

He may be required to reimburse the state for payouts in recent years.

More lawyers are expected to be cut off or dropped from the system.

"We will be taking action on a number of attorneys in the near future,'' Tompkins said.

Defenders of the practice say the lawyers at worst exploited a loophole.

Investigators say some of the private professionals were clearly not public employees, and the actions could be criminal.

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

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"Tonko resigns from state job - Move seen as clearing way for ex-assemblyman to run for Congress"

By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, April 26, 2008

Saying it was the "appropriate time to do so," former state Assemblyman Paul Tonko resigned Friday as head of New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, apparently the first step in his bid for a congressional seat.

The resignation to the authority's board was effective immediately.

The 58-year-old Amsterdam Democrat said, "It seemed to be the appropriate time to tender my resignation, and I will be making an announcement of my future plans in the impending days."

For months, Tonko was rumored to be eyeing a run for the 21st Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, who held it for 20 years.

Tonko declined to make it official Friday, saying, "I've shown an interest in it."

"There is much work that needs to be done in Washington, and for that reason, I am interested and will make an announcement in a number of days."

He would become the race's eighth Democrat, all of whom will be interviewed Saturday by the Albany County Democratic Committee's screening committee, which then could recommend an endorsement to the party's Executive Committee and co-chairmen.

Tonko was noncommittal on whether he felt he had to resign the $148,888-a-year post to avoid a possible conflict.

He said he was uncertain of the options, "but I chose to resign."

In a statement, Tonko said he informed Gov. David Paterson of his resignation and "after a long career in state service, I am looking forward to a new challenge."

Tonko became president and CEO of NYSERDA on July 1 after a long career in the Assembly.

Until a successor is named, NYSERDA Vice President Robert Callender will take over as the authority's head.

Tonko had represented the 105th Assembly District, including all of Montgomery and part of Schenectady counties, from April 1983 to June 2007.

He was chairman of the Assembly Committee on Energy.

Albany is the largest county in the congressional district, which stretches over seven counties, including Montgomery and Schenectady.

Asked if he would look into another job, Tonko said, "I'm a busy body."

"I'm always picking up work to do."

"Work and life is important whether that's in a voluntary capacity, or what, there's always work to be done."

He is a graduate of Clarkson University with a degree in mechanical and industrial engineering.

Carol DeMare can be reached at 454-5431 or by e-mail at cdemare@timesunion.com.

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"Panel grants NYRA another extension"

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

First published: Saturday, April 26, 2008

ALBANY -- The New York Racing Association should have the rights to continue operating the state's three top tracks through July, although some outstanding issues involving tens of millions of dollars still need to be worked out.

A state oversight panel granted another short-term extension -- through July 13 -- to NYRA's operating rights, which were supposed to end Dec. 31 pending a long-term extension.

The hope is that issues blocking completion of a new 25-year franchise will be resolved by June 29, said Steven Newman, chairman of the oversight board.

Among the outstanding issues, the state has told NYRA that it must pay property taxes owed municipalities hosting Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga, a figure that could top $20 million.

Also, NYRA counts on $54 million annually from the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., but Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing to close the OTB operation.

State lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson are privately discussing ways to save the financially ailing OTB.

"I don't think the executive branch sees any serious stumbling blocks to getting the NYRA franchise completed by this new deadline," said Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook.

NYRA, which is in bankruptcy, has proposed a reorganization that takes into account the OTB funds plus $105 million in state cash promised under a deal worked out earlier this year.

A spokesman for NYRA President Charles Hayward said the OTB matter isn't a factor in the bankruptcy case.

On a related topic, the state accepted bids from three teams trying to develop a video lottery parlor and other potential businesses at Aqueduct.

Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno will consider the bids from Capital Play LLC's team, which includes Extell Development, Plainfield Asset Management and Mohegan Sun; Aqueduct Gaming LLC, which includes Delaware North Cos. Gaming and Saratoga Harness Racing; and SL Green Reality Corp.

[Livyjr]

HEY, A DOLLAR AND A DREAM ...

YES ...

YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORK FOR A LIVING IN NEW YORK STATE TO LIVE THE LIFE OF ROYALTY ...

AND THE STATE NEEDS THE MONEY ...

SO BE A GOOD AMERICAN, KIDS, AND GET OUT THERE AND GET GAMBLING ..

IT'S COOL ...

AND IT HAS TO BE ALRIGHT, BECAUSE THE STATE IS SPONSORING IT ...

AND HONESTY IS NO LONGER THE BEST POLICY IN NEW YORK STATE IF IT EVER WAS ....

JUST LOOK AT NYRA, FOR EXAMPLE ....

IN NEW YORK STATE, CORRUPTION IS WHAT PAYS THE BIG BUCKS ...

AND THEN THE STATE STEPS IN AND BAILS YOU OUT WITH TAXPAYER MONEY AFTER YOU HAVE LOOTED YOUR ORGANIZATION INTO BANKRUPTCY ...

And so ...

"Paterson, legislative leaders consider bids for video slot machines, development at Aqueduct"

Associated Press

Last updated: 5:02 p.m., Monday, April 28, 2008

ALBANY -- Bidders who created Hard Rock cafes and others who helped bring big-time casinos to Connecticut are vying to turn Aqueduct race track into a Queens hot spot.

In related moves Monday, the New York Racing Association said it's closer to emerging from bankruptcy court protection and the state's racing regulator allowed race tracks and off-track betting facilities to take bets over the Internet, a potentially lucrative market.

NYRA, which holds the state's franchise to run thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga race tracks, said a federal judge has entered an order that is expected to move the private entity out of bankruptcy court.

NYRA said the judge approved its amended plan to pay back creditors, a deal funded by a $105 million state bailout.

The state Racing and Wagering Board's decision will allow bets to be taken from phones, including cell phones, over the Internet or by other electronic means.

Some Internet betting has been temporarily allowed since last summer.

The bidders who submitted proposals to run video slot machines at Aqueduct are a partnership of racing operator Capital Play Inc. and the Mohegan Sun casino; Aqueduct Gaming, which includes Delaware North Companies Gaming and Entertainment of Buffalo and Saratoga Harness Racing; and SL Green Realty Corp., a New York City developer with plans to build a Hard Rock entertainment facility.

The video slots franchise will be awarded after Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders review the proposals over the next two weeks.

The state split the racing franchise from the video slots franchise earlier this year, although revenues from the video slot machines will help fund the tracks and thoroughbred racing.

Video slot machines are not allowed by law at Saratoga or Belmont.

[Livyjr]

HEY, A DOLLAR AND A DREAM ...

AND HONESTY IS NO LONGER THE BEST POLICY IN NEW YORK STATE IF IT EVER WAS ....

AND WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT OF ELIOT "SHERIFF OF WALL STREET" SPITZER, WE HAVE ....

"Spitzer call girl sues 'Girls Gone Wild' for $10 million over 2003 spring break film"

Associated Press

Last updated: 4:52 p.m., Monday, April 28, 2008

MIAMI -- The call girl linked to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is suing the founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series for more than $10 million.

Ashley Alexandra Dupre filed a lawsuit Monday in Miami federal court claiming she never gave "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis permission to use her name and likeness to advertise the videos.

Dupre contends she was 17 and not old enough to sign a contract when the videos were taken in 2003 in Miami Beach.

A spokesman for Francis didn't immediately return a call for comment Monday.

The now 22-year-old Dupre was identified in March as a prostitute named "Kristen" who had been involved with Spitzer.

He has since resigned.

[Livyjr]

"Clifton Park board's action angers member - Sandy Roth feels board should not have acted to make appointment to water board during his absence"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELST, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:03 a.m., Tuesday, April 29, 2008

CLIFTON PARK -- Sanford "Sandy'' Roth, the Town Board's longest tenured member, chastised his colleagues Monday night for acting without him last week to appoint someone to the town's water authority after he specifically asked them to wait.

Just two weeks removed from the heart attack that forced the councilman's absence, Roth was back at the dais Monday and spent the better part of the meeting's first hour questioning the actions of his fellow councilmembers, whose vote led to an ugly and public split with their own Republican party leadership.

Roth called it a "disrespectful, disgraceful show'' on the part of some of his colleagues.

The disagreement centered on the appointment of resident John Ryan to the Clifton Park Water Authority Board.

Roth, the council's liaison to the board, had asked that the item be pulled until he could return.

Through an emissary at last week's meeting, Roth had expressed concerns about statements Ryan had made about the water authority in the past and a desire to interview others interested in the post.

The board voted 4-0 to approve Ryan's appointment anyway and, after getting repeatedly criticized by members of the public for doing so, charged that that town GOP Chairman Bob Wilcox had pressured them to appoint someone else, a campaign donor and volunteer.

Wilcox has denied doing so, saying that he only asked that the man, Dan Keegan, be considered.

Three Republican Board members Tom Paolucci, Scott Hughes and Lynda Walowit cast themselves as resisting party influence in favor of good government.

"I was dismayed completely, completely caught off guard,'' Roth said Monday night, directing many of his comments to Board member Tom Paolucci, who refused to remove the item from the agenda.

While Paolucci did not respond to Roth Monday evening, he has earlier said that he did not know how long the item would have to wait because it was not clear how soon Roth might return.

And while Roth said he understood Supervisor Phil Barrett's perspective that Barrett could not have affected the outcome by voting `no' if the other three voted `yes' he questioned why Barrett did not protest anyway.

"There is nothing to say that you can't vote no on something,'' Roth said to Barrett, also a Republican.

At the time, Barrett said he hoped Ryan would reach out to Roth soon.

Some have suggested the dispute was at least in part about the makeup of the town water authority and how that might affect whether Clifton Park signs on to the county's water plan, which county Republicans have stake in seeing succeed but toward which the town has been cautious.

In general, there has been heightened tension between town and county Republicans since the ouster of former town GOP Chairman Mike Lisuzzo late last year.

Others have said it was merely about a struggle for power within the party nothing more.

Accusing them of employing "innuendo'' and "smooth language,'' Roth questioned whether his colleagues truly put residents before politics, at one point alleging that Paolucci skipped out on a community meeting in Rexford recently in favor of a political forum.

"Don't always judge by what we say,'' Roth, who has been on the board since 1992, said.

"Judge by what we do.''

In other business, the board voted unanimously to impose a 60-day moratorium on new applications for cellular and other communication towers while the town examines its local laws to make sure they're up to date.

The town imposed a similar moratorium in 2001, which eventually yielded a law requiring a 500-foot buffer between antennas and residences, Barrett said.

Councilman Paolucci also presented a new town Web site on which residents can track their cost savings and how much carbon dioxide they keep out of the environment by swapping incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use less energy to generate the same amount of light.

The Web site will soon be linked to the town's site at www.cliftonpark.org.

[Livyjr]

And if there was a genesis for this thread on the "PORK" in New York ....

This AMD story would certainly be a part of it ....

From the CORPORATE WELFARE side of it, anyway ....

The MODERN STATE has a DUTY to help out the needy corporations in America ....

To ensure that their stockholders will continue to rake in the fruits of the profits ...

Which is what "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer's new PORKOLOGIST, or PORKMEISTER, or PORK DISPENSER ...

Up from Pennsylvania at $190,000 per year is here to do ...

Keep that money flowing into the shareholder's pockets ....

By taking it out of OUR pockets to do so ...

Which the MODERN STATE sees as being "fair" ....

Since CORPORATIONS are the ones who put the BIG BUCKS back in the pockets of the politicians ...

Who CONTROL the MODERN STATE ...

To ENRICH themselves ...

At OUR expense ...

And so ...

"Money woes muddy plan for Malta site"

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press

First published: Saturday, March 10, 2007

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The high-flying Advanced Micro Devices Inc. of 2006 has given way to a company in financial peril, saddled with debt and bleeding from a brutal price battle with its larger and suddenly resurgent Silicon Valley archrival, Intel Corp.

AMD -- which is planning a $3.2 billion computer chip factory for Saratoga County -- finds itself the subject of rumors of a possible takeover or private-equity cash infusion.

While it wasn't long ago that AMD was stealing a big slice of the microprocessor market and emerging as a long-term threat to Intel, those very gains may have left AMD's well running dry.

Industry analysts said both companies are suffering from the need to balance the near-term goals of shareholders and the huge expenditures required to stay competitive.

"Comptroller notes more debt in budget - DiNapoli faults borrowing, revenue projections in enacted budget"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:32 p.m., Friday, April 25, 2008

ALBANY -- State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Friday the recently enacted state budget raises spending by more than $5 billion over the previous fiscal year, projects tax revenues that are questionable in a weakening economy and contains $11.5 billion in new debt that will be issued over several years.

"It's clear this budget continues New York's long but not-so-glorious traditions of spending more than the state takes in and borrowing too much," DiNapoli said.

Final budget numbers are still pending, but the forecast for the national economy has continued to weaken, the report said.

Gov. David Paterson said on Thursday he will look for midyear cuts to help address a looming $5 billion deficit.

And on Monday he called for state agencies to find savings and halt hiring for all but "absolutely essential" positions.

DiNapoli said that without cost-cutting, future budget gaps could reach $9.5 billion in 2011-12.

He noted that none of the new borrowing is voter approved or tied to any comprehensive plan to address the state's "critical infrastructure needs."

"The reality is that the economy is in rough shape and the worst may still be around the corner," DiNapoli said.

"All across New York, families are tightening their belts."

"It's time for the state to do the same."

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/budget/...dbudget0408.pdf

NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION - ARTICLE VII - State Finances

§ 8. 1. The money of the state shall not be given or loaned to or in aid of any private corporation or association, or private undertaking; nor shall the credit of the state be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, or public or private corporation or association, or private undertaking, but the foregoing provisions shall not apply to any fund or property now held or which may hereafter be held by the state for educational, mental health or mental retardation purposes.

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

WE HAVE NO MONEY FOR BASIC GOVERNMENT SERVICES TO PROTECT AND SAFEGUARD LIFE, HEALTH AND PROPERTY IN NEW YORK STATE, WHICH IS NOW OFFICIALLY IN A RECESSION ACCORDING TO THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE THIS MORNING ...

BUT THE "STATE" DOES HAVE MONEY TO POUR DOWN THE POCKETS OF CORPORATE STOCKHOLDERS, AT OUR EXPENSE ...

DESPITE THE SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IN OUR STATE CONSTITUTION WHICH PROHIBITS THIS CORORATE WELFARE ...

And so ...

"Bruno: AMD bid at $1.3B - Majority leader says state outbid Dresden, Germany, by $100M for Malta project"

By LARRY RULISON, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ALBANY -- New York state outbid Dresden, Germany, by about $100 million, according to State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, to convince Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to build its next computer chip factory in Saratoga County.

Bruno, R-Brunswick, made the comments Monday at the annual NYS Investors Conference in Albany.

Bruno said New York is offering AMD $1.3 billion, slightly more than previously reported.

"Either you fold up and walk away, or you deliver a message to the world that New York state is going to step up," Bruno said.

"And that's exactly what we did."

AMD is planning to build a $3.2 billion computer chip factory, or chip fab, at Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based semiconductor manufacturer already has two chip fabs in Dresden, in the heart of what's known as Silicon Saxony.

So it was a major coup for New York state when AMD said in June 2006 that it was building its next fab in the Empire State.

It's been widely reported since then that New York's incentive package is worth $1.2 billion, a mix of cash, tax breaks and infrastructure improvements.

But Monday, Bruno said the state's package is $1.3 billion -- and it had to be because Dresden was offering AMD $1.2 billion.

"That's what Dresden, Germany, had on the table," Bruno said.

Officials with Saxony Economic Development Corp., the state of Saxony's economic development arm, could not be reached.

Travis Bullard, an AMD spokesman, could not confirm Dresden's offer.

But he said that New York's offer includes $650 million in cash.

AMD can also apply to the state for up to $600 million in tax credits and rebates through the state's Empire Zone program.

"However, there is no guarantee that AMD would apply for or receive this money," he said.

AMD hasn't officially committed to Luther Forest.

The company has until July 31, 2009, to make up its mind and still be eligible for New York's incentive package.

The company is currently trying to secure a building permit for the site from the town of Malta, with the hope of being ready to break ground if needed by the end of the year.

AMD is planning up to three chip fabs at Luther Forest, built over a number of years.

The first one, known as Fab 4X, would be completed by 2011 or 2012 and employ 1,400 people.

Bruno insisted in front of a small group of reporters after his speech that the state package has always been $1.3 billion.

Stephanie Zakowicz, a spokeswoman with the Empire State Development Corp., the state's economic development arm, said that the package is valued at $1.248 billion precisely.

"Same as it's always been," she said.

Bruno also said that he is still expecting AMD Chief Executive Hector Ruiz to come to the region and visit Luther Forest.

Bruno originally said Ruiz was planning to visit, but that plan was derailed by the resignation of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

"We do want him to meet the new governor, but nothing has been scheduled yet," Bullard said.

Bruno also told reporters after his speech that the state is negotiating to bring another unnamed high-tech company to New York.

Bruno said its impact would be "second only to AMD."

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by email at lrulison@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

JUSTICE IN NEW YORK STATE IS A JOKE ...

HERE WE ARE, WITH THE STATE IN RECESSION, AND THE ELECTED STATE JUDGES OF NEW YORK STATE ARE WILFULLY WITHHOLDING JUSTICE WHILE THEY TRY AND JACK US UP FOR MORE MONEY FOR THEIR OWN POCKETS ...

And so ...

"Some judges refusing to hear cases of state lawmakers or their firms"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:02 p.m., Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ALBANY -- Some state judges are refusing to hear cases brought by the law firms of state legislators, who have failed to give them a raise for 10 years.

"Our chief judge has started a lawsuit, and I think when the judiciary is suing the Legislature I think it's a conflict for any judge to sit on a case," said Cattaraugus County Court Judge Larry Himelein.

That suit was filed April 10 by Chief Judge Judith Kaye, claiming it is illegal to reduce a sitting judge's salary, and with inflation that in effect is what has happened.

However, Himelein said he has recused himself from cases involving lawmakers' firms for about a year, saying he had never really thought about it before that.

"I still think it's a conflict for me to sit on a case where one of the lawyers sets my salary," he said, adding that would continue even if the judges get raises.

A judge for 15 years, he said "a number" of judges are doing the same thing, including some in Erie, Cattaraugus and Albany counties.

Asked who would hear those cases if all the state's judges did the same, Himelein said, "The clients could always get new lawyers."

David Bookstaver, spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said such recusals are independent decisions, and the cases are assigned to other judges.

"It's certainly not systemic," he said, adding he didn't now how many judges were doing it around the state.

Lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly have said they support judicial raises.

Himelein said in the Assembly they were linked to raises for lawmakers themselves and weren't authorized again this year.

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno told the New York Post the issue could have been avoided if the Assembly leadership acted on the measure the Senate passed.

Dan Weiller, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said the Assembly's Democratic leadership was declining to comment on the recusals.

In a 2007 opinion, the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics said "it would not be consistent with the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct for a judge to exercise recusal solely based on the long-standing issue of judicial salary increases presently before the Legislature.'"

In a later opinion, noting lawsuits by judges' associations against the Legislature were pending, the committee said such recusals were not required.

It also noted, "A judge must disqualify himself or herself in any proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned."

[Livyjr]

NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION - ARTICLE VII - State Finances

§ 8. 1. The money of the state shall not be given or loaned to or in aid of any private corporation or association, or private undertaking; nor shall the credit of the state be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, or public or private corporation or association, or private undertaking, but the foregoing provisions shall not apply to any fund or property now held or which may hereafter be held by the state for educational, mental health or mental retardation purposes.

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

"Cuomo rejects pork contracts - Cuomo rejects some of legislators' discretionary spending"

By VALERIE BAUMAN, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:52 p.m., Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said his office has rejected more than 1,000 pork-barrel grants that legislators seek to distribute back to their districts in this election year.

The Legislature approved 6,500 so-called member item grants in the 2006-2007 fiscal year, but 2,700 groups that were approved haven't submitted paperwork to the state agencies and the attorney general's office to receive their money.

Cuomo said he suspects at least some of those requests weren't submitted because they would have to reveal conflicts of interest with the politicians who sought them.

"The law says you have to avoid or disclose conflicts of interest, so we said we're going to review the member items to make sure they're in line with the law," Cuomo said Tuesday.

The attorney general's office created a certification process as part of a reform of the long-criticized pork barrel spending.

Recipients of the pork barrel spending would have to sign a statement disclosing any conflicts, or indicating none existed, among other things.

Cuomo said his office can't go after the groups that didn't file for their money -- or the politicians -- because legally he can't prosecute groups if they don't accept the state money.

The more than 1,000 grants that Cuomo's office rejected didn't meet standards for a number of reasons, including indications in some cases that the money was going to a private interest rather than a public purpose.

Officials in Cuomo's office said they didn't know how many grants were rejected for that reason, or which politicians and recipients had sought to distribute the money.

Cuomo's office also said they could have rejected grants for minor technical reasons, including vague descriptions of how the money would be spent and where it would go.

The groups receiving the grants would also have to be in good legal standing -- meaning they couldn't have a recent history of problems with government contracts, and if the group is a charity it must be appropriately registered.

Rejected grant recipients will have a chance to make changes before final approval or rejection of the projects.

The attorney general's office plans to release details about pork-barrel grants after it's resolved whether the recipients will get the money.

He said this is the first time New York has had a system in place to monitor pork barrel spending.

"Self policing does not work," Cuomo said.

"It never has, it never will."

The rejected items amount to almost a third of the $122 million-worth of requests submitted so far from the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

The Legislature approved 6,500 of the grants they prefer to call member items with about $200 million in the current budget despite declining growth in revenues.

"Only a small number of Assembly majority items have been questioned and the issues raised primarily technical," Assembly spokeswoman Sisa Moyo said in a written statement.

"The vast majority of the initial rejections dealt with inadequate contract drafting and/or incomplete contract submission ..."

"We have not been apprised of any fraud in the member item system."

John McArdle, a spokesman for Senate majority Leader Joseph Bruno said the chamber has been working with Cuomo to resolve any problems slowing down the grant process.

"They're basic questions that they've had," he said.

"We answered them and (the grants) have been moving."

[Livyjr]

"'Girls Gone Wild' releases video of call girl agreeing to appear on camera"

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:02 p.m., Tuesday, April 29, 2008

MIAMI -- The founder of "Girls Gone Wild" released a video Tuesday he said proved that the call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor agreed to be filmed in 2003 for the raunchy series.

The release came one day after series founder Joe Francis and his companies were sued for $10 million in Miami federal court by Ashley Alexandra Dupre, who claims she was only 17 at the time and too young to sign a binding contract.

Dupre, now 22, also accused Francis of exploiting her image and name on various Internet sites.

In the new release, Dupre appears covered by a terrycloth towel and gives her name as Amber Arpaio.

An unseen questioner asks if she is 18.

"Yes I am," Dupre answers in a strong Southern accent.

"Do you know what 'Girls Gone Wild' is?" the questioner asks.

"Yes I do," she replies with a laugh.

"Can I use this on 'Girls Gone Wild'?" she is asked.

"Of course you can," Dupre answers.

The video also displays a New Jersey driver's license with the Amber Arpaio name and a birth date that would have made her appear to be in her 20s.

A lawyer and public relations firm representing Dupre declined comment.

Dupre rocketed to fame in March when she surfaced as a high-priced call girl in the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring that involved New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned soon after the scandal broke.

Dupre, going by the name "Kristen," met Spitzer at least once at a swanky Washington hotel, according to court documents.

In her lawsuit, Dupre said she was on spring break in Miami Beach in 2003 when she was approached by "Girls Gone Wild" producers, given alcoholic drinks and then signed a release agreeing to appear.

The series depicts women in various provocative poses or topless, often in such party locations as Mardi Gras or spring break beach towns.

Francis has said that Dupre was on the "Girls Gone Wild" bus for a week and made seven full-length videos.

He said the video of her agreement to appear is proof that her lawsuit has no merit.

"It is incomprehensible that Ms. Dupre could claim she did not give her consent to be filmed by `Girls Gone Wild', when in fact we have a videotape of her giving consent, while showing her identification," Francis said in a written statement.

After the Spitzer scandal, Francis made a public $1 million offer for Dupre to appear in one of his videos and go on a promotional tour.

But he rescinded the offer after realizing he already had footage of Dupre from 2003.

Francis has other legal problems, including federal tax evasion charges pending in California and lawsuits by filed by women in Panama City, Fla., claiming they were victims of underage exploitation.

Francis spent a year in jail and was released in March after pleading no contest to child abuse and prostitution charges for filming underage girls in that Panhandle beach town.

[Livyjr]

SQUEEZE THEM TAXPAYERS REAL HARD NOW, YOU HEAR ....

THAT'S WHAT THEY DESERVE FOR LIVING UP HERE IN THIS CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK, AFTER ALL ...

WHERE WE GOT PARASITIC LAWYERS COMING OUT OF EVERY CRACK IN THE FLOOR ...

EATING US OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME ...

LIKE RATS IN A FARMER'S CORN CRIB ..

OR WEEVILS IN THE GRAIN ...

A PESTILENCE BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A PESTILENCE ...

And so ...

"Pension case shifts burden of cost - Districts lost state reimbursement for legal services, and taxpayers may make up difference"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ALBANY -- When Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli pulled four lawyers from the state retirement system earlier this month, the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES, which listed the lawyers as employees, took them off its payroll as well.

But that didn't mean the Albany-based law firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo stopped working for school districts that are members of the HFM BOCES.

The firm is now working directly for 17 districts in Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery counties, rather than through the regional Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

That will likely cost taxpayers in those school districts more money.

"We are now contracting independently to the districts," rather than through BOCES, said Jeffrey Honeywell, one of the firm's partners.

State regulations allow districts to get reimbursement for services they purchase through BOCES rather than on their own.

The thinking is that BOCES organizations, which are educational cooperatives, use their buying power to get economies of scale.

As a result, the state offers reimbursements as an incentive.

"We did get reimbursement," said Ronald Limoncelli, superintendent of the Amsterdam school district, which will pay Girvin & Ferlazzo about $30,000 this year to handle personnel issues, such as employee grievances and contract negotiation with the district's six labor unions.

Last year, Limoncelli said, the state reimbursed Amsterdam about $20,000 of that cost.

This year, the district will have to pay it all.

Girvin & Ferlazzo will make about $317,300 for its work in the 17 districts this fiscal year, said a spokesman for the firm.

The new arrangement illustrates how the investigations by DiNapoli and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into alleged pension abuses are creating a ripple effect with local finances.

It also shows how law firms may be able to weather the scrutiny based on their local reputations or expertise.

Amsterdam officials don't want new lawyers since Girvin & Ferlazzo has handled its personnel issues for years.

It's a highly specialized area of law, and Limoncelli said that in the approximately two decades the district has used the firm, Girvin & Ferlazzo has never lost a grievance case.

Girvin & Ferlazzo came under fire this month from DiNapoli and Cuomo, who say lawyers in the firm were improperly listed as pension-eligible HFM BOCES employees when they should have been considered independent contractors.

DiNapoli stripped four of the firm's partners -- Honeywell, James Girvin, Kathy Ann Wolverton and Kristine Lanchantin -- of their state pension credits.

Another partner, Salvatore Ferlazzo, lost BOCES credits but kept other credits from an earlier job with the state.

Cuomo and DiNapoli are still scrutinizing Girvin & Ferlazzo's pension arrangement.

Both have said that independent contractors, such as members of a law firm, shouldn't be considered employees.

Doing so, Cuomo said, amounts to "payroll padding" for the sake of pension benefits.

Honeywell said that members of his firm are "fully cooperating" with Cuomo and are providing any documents or records investigators have sought.

But he also said the lawyers believe they did nothing wrong in being listed by HFM BOCES as employees.

"Nobody has ever said, 'don't do this,' " said Honeywell, adding that the state Education Department, which helps calculate and approve reimbursements, had for years periodically reviewed and approved the arrangement.

"This was not some hidden process."

In addition to providing legal services to the 17 districts, Honeywell said the firm is continuing to give counsel to HFM BOCES, even though the BOCES has also contracted with another law firm -- McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams -- to represent it in the pension issue.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

In a just-released March 31, 2005 Decision of Federal Court for the Northern District of New York, with grave consequences to the common citizen in the Northern District of New York who must have the certification of an expert witness in order to file certain Petitions for Redress of Grievance in the Courts of the State of New York, where negligence or malfeasance by the state or one of its political subdivisions is alleged, a recently-appointed Federal District Court Judge has refused to grant injunctive relief to the Plaintiff therein, a New York State licensed professional engineer and certified associate public health engineer, that would have given him protection of law in the State of New York while giving testimony in court ON BEHALF OF the citizens of the State of New York, against the State of New York, or one of its political subdivisions.

The issue before the Court in that matter, Case No. 1:03-CV-753, Matter of Plante, P.E. v. State of New York et al., requiring injunctive relief from the Federal District Court is a retaliatory practice in the Northern District of New York employed against an expert witness against the State of New York, BY THE STATE, where it simply removes the expert witness, as a witness against itself, by the expedient of having one of its doctors issue a signed declaration, SIGHT UNSEEN, that the witness in fact is an alleged dangerous mental patient who requires immediate incarceration in a secure mental health facility in the State of New York!

That order, known as a "9.45", then goes to the New York State Police, who capture the person, the intended victim, as it were, and take him to a designated secure mental health facility, for incarceration!

The "PSYCHIATRIC TAKEDOWN", it is called, and it is illegal, in that a doctor in the State of New York, BY FEDERAL and STATE LAW, both, cannot issue one of these orders IF he has never even seen the person, let alone examined him or her in person, as happened in this just-dismissed case involving this expert witness on behalf of the people of the State of New York, where the state's doctor issued a fraudulent "9.45" order for this expert witness, SIGHT UNSEEN, just days before this expert witness was going to file an affidavit on behalf of the citizens of Rensselaer County documenting continuing corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health having an adverse impact on the public health, safety, and well-being in the Town of Poestenkill, County of Rensselaer, State of New York!

In this case at bar, which was dismissed Sua Sponte by Bush-appointee Hon. Gary L. Sharpe on March 31, 2005, an illegal "9.45" order was issued against the Plaintiff on August 22, 2001, to intimidate and deter the Plaintiff from giving further evidence of corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health in a court of law!

Before the Federal District Court in support of a Motion for Injunctive Relief against the State of New York, the County of Rensselaer and the Town of Poestenkill in this matter was a July 13, 2004 letter from Rensselaer County Criminal Court Justice Patrick J. McGrath, wherein Justice McGrath, the chief criminal court judge in the County of Rensselaer, informed Federal Court Justice Sharpe that he, McGrath, had reviewed the evidence in the case as Rensselaer County's chief criminal court justice, and that he was concerned because that evidence supported a conclusion of violation of federal and state criminal codes, in addition to the civil charges contained in the Complaint in the matter.

Among the evidence which Judge McGrath relied upon in forming his conclusion of violation of federal and state criminal codes was a graphic video tape wherein one of the defendants can be seen physically assaulting and threatening the Plaintiff, and causing him bodily harm, to deter him from performing the duties of a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York, and a March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation which is at the very heart of this matter of OUR right to dissent, and to petition for redress of grievance, which apparently has just been stripped from us common citizens in the Northern District of New York by Bush-appointee Sharpe on March 31, 2005.

In that March 16, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was before Judge Sharpe in the Plaintiff's Motion for Injunctive Relief as Exhibit J, a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, based upon a review of substantial evidence, concluded:

"According to [name deleted], the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little 'enforcement activity' even in the face of illegal sales."

"According to [name deleted], the object of any county health department (in the state of New York) is to protect the public, and not to facilitate developers, or development."

"In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public!"

It was that last statement by this F.B.I. Special Agent in March of 1989 that set in motion the very chain of causality which has brought us up to this present moment in time in the Northern District of New York, where this Sua Sponte Dismissal of this Federal Civil Rights lawsuit and Plaintiff's Motion for Injunctive Relief by Federal District Court on March 31, 2005, now seriously jeopardizes the rights of all citizens in the Northern District of New York by removing from them the services of the licensed professional engineer whose expert witness testimony they would need to file a Petition for Redress of Grievance with the courts of the State of New York alleging a continuation of this same negligence by the State of New York and Rensselaer County Department of Health to this day.

By intimidating those few licensed engineers in the State of New York who are qualified to serve as expert witnesses in court against the State of New York, and its political subdivisions, through this illegal device of the "PSYCHIATRIC TAKE-DOWN", the State of New York has effectively muzzled each and every one of us common citizens here in the Northern District of New York, since without this expert witness testimony, we are simply OUT OF COURT, forever, with no way back in, and the government corruption in the County of Rensselaer and the State of New York that was outlined in that series of F.B.I Reports annexed to the now-dismissed Motion for Injunctive Relief can now flourish with impunity!

The condoning of this alleged illegal activity by the State of New York, and its political subdivisions, the County of Rensselaer, and the Town of Poestenkill, by the Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York as of March 31, 2005 now sends a very chilling message indeed to the residents of the Northern District of New York, to wit:

"KEEP YOUR MOUTHS SHUT, OR YOU WILL BE NEXT!"

And so, that sucking sound we hear up here is the protection of law going right out the window, and that clanging sound we hear is the massive door of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York slamming shut in OUR faces!

And so it goes, here in the Northern District of New York, for the constitutional right of the common man, and woman in the State of New York to redress of grievance, and the right to dissent against corrupt governmental activities in the State of New York, and its political subdivisions that adversely impact the public health, safety, and well-being of those of us in the State of New York who also reside in the Northern District as it is defined by the United States government!

Going, going, gone!

As of March 31, 2005!

AND WHILE WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT OF LIFE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE OF NEW YORK ...

THE "PAY TO PLAY" EMPIRE ...

WHICH IS NOW OFFICIALLY IN RECESSION ACCORDING TO NYS GOVERNOR DAVID "SPITZER'S GOOD BUDDY" PATERSON ...

WE HAVE ....

"GET OUT THE RUBBER STAMP, BOYS" ....

INTENTIONAL NEGLIGENCE BY DESIGN ...

BUY YOURSELF THE PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT POLITICIANS UP HERE IN THE CORRUPT EMPIRE ...

AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT A THING ...

AS LONG AS YOU KEEP MAKING YOUR "INSURANCE PAYMENTS", OF COURSE ...

HEY, THE POLITICIANS HAVE TO EAT, TOO ...

And so ...

"Pollution permit program faulted - Environmental lobbying group says renewals pass with little scrutiny"

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ALBANY -- The state's water pollution permit program is so backlogged that it is approving most renewals without asking too many questions, an environmental lobbying group said Monday.

The report from Environmental Advocates of New York said the state should hire more staff at the Department of Environmental Conservation to better scrutinize 1,100 permits overdue for renewal by at least a decade.

Federal Clean Water Act rules require that the state completely review permits and pollution levels at least every five years.

Environmental Advocates examined 32 of 343 water pollution permit renewals granted by DEC without such a review since July 2007.

"The most frightening problem our research uncovered is what we don't know," said Katherine Nadeau, a program associate at Environmental Advocates.

"Because of the lack of oversight, we can't say what is in our waters."

"And neither can the DEC."

DEC officials acknowledged the backlog but disputed the report.

"The facts have changed significantly in the last 16 months," Commissioner Pete Grannis' office said in a statement.

"DEC has increased staffing assigned to reviewing SPDES (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits by 50 percent and increased the number of permits handled by about 100 percent."

But the backlog is real and will be difficult to reduce without more staff, said James Tierney, assistant commissioner for water resources.

DEC gives full scrutiny to permits from the largest polluters, but most permits get routine renewals.

"We do not have enough staff to do a full five-year review of every permit," Tierney said.

"We have maximized our benefit by focusing on the larger polluters."

Robert Moore, executive director of Environmental Advocates, countered that "DEC should do what is required to make sure that sources of pollution are not harming our waters."

"Right now, they are not doing that."

"They have just moved from utter failure to failure."

Other findings include:

Some permits have gone without thorough review for more than 20 years.

Nearly all of the facilities that received renewals without scrutiny had permit violations resulting in the release of unsafe levels of pollution.

Permits renewed without such scrutiny do not routinely involve prior public notice, so citizens don't get a chance to comment beforehand.

A full copy of the report is available online at http://www. eany.org

Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

Declaration of Independence : July 4, 1776

When in the course of human events ......

It becomes necessary for one people ....

To dissolve the political bands ....

Which have connected them with another ....

And to assume among the powers of the earth ....

The separate and equal station ....

To which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them .....

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind ....

Requires that they should declare the causes ....

Which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all men are created equal .....

That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ....

That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ....

That, to secure these rights ....

Governments are instituted among men .....

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ....

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends ....

It is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it ....

And to institute new government ....

Laying its foundation on such principles ....

And organizing its powers in such form ....

As to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness ....

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes .....

And accordingly ....

All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer .....

While evils are sufferable ....

Than to right themselves .....

By abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed .....

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations ....

Pursuing invariably the same object ....

Evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism .....

It is their right ....

It is their duty .....

To throw off such government ....

And to provide new guards for their future security ......

Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies .....

And such is now the necessity .....

Which constrains them to alter their former systems of government ......

The history of the present King of Great Britain .....

Is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations .....

All having in direct object ....

The establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states ......

To prove this .......

Let facts be submitted to a candid world

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

[Signed by] JOHN HANCOCK [President]

New York
WM. FLOYD,
PHIL. LIVINGSTON,
FRANS. LEWIS,
LEWIS MORRIS.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm

LIKE RATS IN THE CORNCRIB ...

"Elected officials pile up pensions - Local officeholders often are listed as full-time employees to share millions in benefits"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

On paper, James Scalzo rarely sleeps.

He works full time as a cook at the Albany County jail, five days a week, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

But he's also serves on the Albany Common Council and, like most of his 15 colleagues, is listed as working 30 hours a week in that job at $13 an hour.

For both jobs, Scalzo, 58, is accruing pension credits in the New York State and Local Retirement System.

He said he never wanted the council pension, but was told he had to be included in the system.

Scalzo is among an unknown number of local officials who are as a group racking up full-time pension credits worth millions of dollars for what is generally considered to be part-time work.

In at least some cases, too, some participants accrue double pension credits, holding down regular full-time public sector jobs and elected positions.

A precise breakdown wasn't available on Tuesday, but the state comptroller's office lists more than 3,000 public employers, other than New York state, that offer pensions through the State and Local Retirement system.

Included in that are scores of towns, cities and counties.

And in those cities, towns and counties are elected officials who have the power to grant themselves full-time or nearly full-time retirement system credits, and who, in at least some cases, hold down full-time public sector jobs as well, allowing them to boost their pensions.

Scalzo says his job representing Albany's 10th Ward takes a lot of time, fielding phone calls from residents about potholes, barking dogs, or apartments where the heat has died in the middle of the night.

Those 30 hours just happen to be the minimum for a full-time job in the eyes of the pension system.

Below that, retirement benefits are less generous.

Council members are on the honor system when it comes to calculating the hours.

"Is there someone looking over our shoulder?"

"No," said Scalzo during an 8 a.m. interview last week at a neighborhood coffee shop.

In Albany County alone, $12 million of its total $114 million payroll went to pension costs, said Comptroller Mike Conners -- and that was two years ago.

What portion of that pension amount went to elected officials could not be determined.

But roughly half of the 39-member Albany County Legislature is currently accruing pension credits for two public sector jobs.

In addition to their elected posts, many hold or have held additional public sector jobs, including posts in the State Police, Senate and Assembly, and in fire departments.

In addition to the Albany Common Council, Albany County lists its 39 county legislators as full time.

When they retire, their pensions will be based not just on the pay from their regular jobs, but on their $20,298 County Legislature salaries as well.

The full-time status they granted themselves allows them to maximize the benefits.

This isn't quite the same as the "payroll padding" that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli have been cracking down on.

In those cases, outside consultants, such as lawyers, have been listed as employees of school districts and BOCES organizations, qualifying them for public pension credits.

In fact, say Cuomo and DiNapoli, they were independent contractors who do not qualify for public retirement benefits.

In the county and municipal system, elected officials every few years must keep a diary to account for their hours.

This is then reported to the retirement system.

But the sheer number of people in the pension system, combined with the fact that local lawmakers can choose to list themselves as full time, has drawn criticism.

"This has become a controversy in several areas of the state," said E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, which is part of the Manhattan Institute think tank.

He questions whether elected town and county officials really work full time.

"That's a racket," McMahon said.

"Nobody would run for these offices if they were full time."

Some of the elected officials though, disagree, saying that depends on the definition of work.

"We go to funerals."

"We go to wakes at night," said Albany County Legislator Gary Domalewicz, who explained that he considers such appearances part of the job.

"When you're an elected official you never stop working," added Albany County Legislator Sean Ward, who also works full time as executive assistant to the mayor of Green Island.

Between taking phone calls and attending events such as Little League games and school open houses, "I would venture to say we put in 30 to 40 hours a week if you are doing it right," Ward added.

Still, some county legislators concede there can be a thin line between socializing or other activities and work.

"What's work and what isn't?" asked Tim Nichols, who gets pension credits both as a county legislator and chief of staff to Assemblyman Bob Reilly.

"People would prefer a clear set of guidelines."

"The problem is there just doesn't seem to be any."

Even Nichols' boss has benefited from the system.

"In a way, I have two pensions," said Bob Reilly, a Colonie Democrat.

He draws a $48,000 pension from his years as a teacher and then an administrator at the state Education Department.

And he gets another $1,500 from his eight years on the Albany County Legislature, where he worked before running for Assembly.

Reilly gives his $79,500 Assembly salary to charity, however.

And in at least one twist that favors taxpayers, Reilly said he gets no retirement credits from the Assembly since he is already drawing a pension.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.