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

[Livyjr]

"Assembly aide accused of welfare fraud - Staffer retired making close to $80,000-a-year salary; faces grand larceny, welfare fraud charges"

By ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 5:34 p.m., Thursday, July 10, 2008

ALBANY -- A state Assembly staffer who retired last month making close to $80,000-a-year ripped off nearly $53,000 from the Albany County Department of Social Services by lying about her income on benefit applications, authorities said today.

Diane Gamble, 60, of Watervliet, told investigators she's been on and off Medicaid for nine years and has been "misrepresenting" her income from New York state in letters to her case worker sent under the letterhead of Assemblyman Jose Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, court papers said.

Gamble, who was arrested Thursday, not only failed to report all her earnings - but admitted she didn't report a 2000 Mercedes SUV, 2005 Volvo and 1990 Oldsmobile registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, court papers said.

"I would like to inform the Department of Social Services that I know what I did was wrong and intentionally did this so that I could continue to receive Medicaid benefits," she told a department fraud investigator on April 17.

"I am sorry for what I have done."

Gamble is accused of swiping $52,954.24 from Social Services between August 2004 and April 2008.

She was arraigned in City Court on second-degree welfare fraud and grand larceny charges, the latter carrying a maximum sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison.

She was released without bail after pleading not guilty before Judge William Carter.

Approached outside court by the Times Union, Gamble said she had worked for Rivera for three legislative sessions but no longer works for him.

She said "when everything is taken into account" the case will be seen as a misunderstanding.

"This is news?" Gamble added.

Her attorney, Todd Monahan, quickly arrived, stopped the interview and declined further comment.

Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, initially identified Gamble as an active Assembly employee.

He later said she retired June 28.

Gamble's salary upon retirement was $79,998, said Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

In an e-mail, she said Gamble has more than 30 years of state service, with her pension still being calculated.

In Gamble's statement, she told investigators she reported her biweekly wages as $1,023.82 in July 2006 when they were actually $2,493.14.

She said in July 2007, she reported bi-weekly earnings at $289.01 when they were really $1,918.97, court papers said.

In 2006, Gamble allegedly applied for Medicaid benefits listing the phony figures.

The next year, she completed a recertification for Medicaid listing the false amount, she told the county investigator.

"These wages were false," she said in the statement, "and I submitted them to insure that I would receive Medicaid."

Michael Nieves, a spokesman for Rivera, noted Gamble was retired.

He said the lawmaker was unaware of the allegations.

He called the case "not our problem."

[Livyjr]

"Colonie workers suspended in paving project probe"

By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 5:17 p.m., Friday, July 11, 2008

COLONIE -- The town suspended two public works supervisors today over their alleged roles in the use of public crews to make improvements at a private club.

William Neeley and Thomas Romano were suspended without pay for 30 days pending a public hearing into their case, said Town Supervisor Paula Mahan.

She declined to discuss the exact charges, though she confirmed their suspensions are connected to work by town crews at the private West Albany Rod & Gun Club.

"Because it's a personnel matter, I can't get into the details,'' Mahan said.

Neeley and Romano are both long-term town employees, said Gary Favro, a labor relations representative of the United Public Service Employees Union that represents the two employees.

Neither Neeley nor Romano could be reached for comment Friday.

"We will be responding, denying all the charges,'' Favro said.

"We think they are going to be exonerated based on what we know.''

Last August and September, then-town officials sent work crews to dump and grade excess fill at the West Albany Rod & Gun Club and to improve a parking lot and driveway.

In an audit released last month, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office said the work may have cost taxpayers as much as $42,000 more than necessary at a time when Colonie's finances were already stretched thin.

Former town officials had claimed the work saved the town $125,000.

The United Public Service Employees Union signed up non-represented employees after Mahan was elected town supervisor, ending decades of Republican rule in the town.

Favro said the two men are entitled to a hearing, and their case has been turned over to an attorney for the union.

"We'll represent them and do whatever it takes,'' he said.

[Livyjr]

OLD CHARLIE RANGEL HAS NEVER BEEN AFRAID TO STICK OUT HIS HAND FOR A LITTLE BIT EXTRA ....

HE'S A NATURAL BORN POLITICIAN IN THAT REGARD ....

IN IT FOR HIS POCKET, AND NOTHING ELSE ....

THE POCKET COMES FIRST, ALWAYS ....

And so ...

"Rangel: Not unfair to have 4 rent-stabilized apts - NY Rep. Rangel on his 4 rent-stabilized apartments: 'I don't see anything unfair about it'"

By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:52 p.m., Friday, July 11, 2008

NEW YORK -- U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel on Friday defended living in three combined, rent-stabilized Harlem apartments as a legal benefit of long-term city residency, but said he may abandon a fourth apartment he uses for campaign work if it's not allowed.

Rangel, one of New York's most influential politicians and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, held a news conference outside his Lenox Terrace apartment complex to respond to a report Friday in The New York Times on his four below-market apartments.

"I feel so terribly proud of never having to leave my neighborhood," said Rangel, 78, who said he has lived in two homes in Harlem throughout his life.

He said he didn't negotiate a deal with his landlord for his current apartment, where he has lived for about 20 years.

"I don't see anything unfair about it, and I didn't even know it was a deal," the Democrat said.

Housing experts said Rangel's living arrangement was legal and said tenants often combine smaller, rent-stabilized apartments into larger ones over the years.

Gov. David Paterson acknowledged earlier this year paying below-market rents in an apartment in Rangel's building.

But some questioned whether the powerful congressman and champion of affordable housing initiatives was taking advantage in a market where low-income housing is disappearing.

"It's that he seems to have gotten away with certain things with his landlord, which is notorious for unfairly targeting other rent-stabilized tenants for eviction," said Joe Catron, an organizer for the Metropolitan Housing Council, a tenants' rights group.

Rangel, who earns $165,200 a year and has a time-share in the Dominican Republic, pays a combined $3,894 a month for the four apartments, the Times reported.

The rent is roughly half the market rates advertised by his landlord, The Olnick Organization.

Olnick spokeswoman Jeannette Boccini declined to comment Friday on Rangel's living situation.

Regulations governing the city's 1 million rent-stabilized apartments allow a tenant to live in an apartment at below-market rates as long as it's a primary residence -- the tenant's home for just over six months of the year.

Tenants' rent rises every one or two years, with the increase set by a city board.

Long-term residents sometimes pay far lower rents than newer arrivals, since owners can impose higher rents on apartments when they change hands.

Combining apartments to make a larger one is "not uncommon," said Nancy Peters, spokeswoman for the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which oversees regulations for rent-stabilized apartments.

Rangel said he moved into an apartment that had already been combined by a previous tenant.

The congressman said he added another studio apartment a few years later to accommodate visiting relatives.

The regulations do not allow rent-stabilized apartments to be used for business.

The rules usually are enforced at the landlord's discretion, Peters said.

Rangel said in a separate statement that he rented the fourth apartment, six floors below his home, about a decade ago and thought it was appropriate to use as an office because there are other offices in the complex.

"I guess I have to take another look at something that hasn't come up until now," Rangel said of the office.

He said he would talk to his landlord and would move his campaign office if necessary.

Some tenants openly challenged Rangel as he spoke Friday, including a critic who said the congressman didn't help him when he was facing eviction from another apartment building owned by the same landlord.

"He's got a reputation of not helping anyone other than himself," said Lance Smith, 45, who has a Web site critical of Rangel.

Catron said Olnick has targeted residents legally living in Lenox Terrace for eviction, sometimes citing false records of home ownership elsewhere.

Hanif I. Shabazz, a film producer who lives in an Olnick building next to Rangel's, said the congressman helped alleviate a rat problem in his building and responded to other tenants' complaints.

Shabazz, a 30-year resident of a rent-stabilized apartment, said he had no problem with Rangel's similar arrangement.

"We know Charlie," said Shabazz.

"We love him."

[Livyjr]

AH, YES, THE "GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION" THAT WE ARE PAYING REAL BIG BUCKS FOR HERE IN NEW YORK STATE ....

THE "GOOD QUALITY EDUCATION" THAT THESE POWERFUL UNIONS ARE PROTECTING AND DEFENDING ....

"WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE WE PROVIDE A SOUND EDUCATION", THEY TELL US ...

TALK ABOUT IMPROVING "STUDENT PERFORMANCE", ALRIGHT ...

HERE'S A DOSE OF IT NOW ....

"Teacher accused of making suicide pact with pupil"

Associated Press

Last updated: 7:52 a.m., Friday, July 11, 2008

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Police say a former Buffalo charter school teacher who disappeared with a male eighth-grade student last month made a suicide pact with the teen.

Cara L. Dickey, 30, surrendered to Buffalo police Thursday on four charges, including felony counts of promoting a suicide attempt and unlawful imprisonment.

Arrest papers allege Dickey sent the 14-year-old boy inappropriate text messages, picked him up on the afternoon of June 16, drove him to numerous locations and supplied him with rum and over-the-counter drugs.

Police found both of them the next morning, the boy in a suburban mall and Dickey sleeping in her vehicle elsewhere.

Dickey was fired from her job at South Buffalo Charter School.

Dickey's lawyer declined comment as she was released on $5,000 bail.

------

Information from: The Buffalo News, http://www.buffalonews.com

[Livyjr]

"NY teacher charged with rape of disabled student"

Associated Press

Last updated: 3:12 p.m., Thursday, July 10, 2008

NEW YORK -- A teacher faces charges that she raped a mentally disabled student, prosecutors said Thursday.

Mandi Weeks, 27, is charged in a criminal complaint with third-degree rape, criminal sexual act, and endangering the welfare of a child, according to prosecutors in Queens.

Authorities said the 15-year-old boy was abused while he was home on break from Devereux New York, a residential school for children with developmental disabilities and behavioral disorders in upstate Red Hook.

Weeks had been a teacher there since February 2007.

The boy was believed to have an IQ or intelligence quotient of 50; average IQ is 85.

Prosecutors said the boy was the victim of statutory rape at his Queens home.

He also was abused while sitting in a car in a Queens parking lot on July 6.

The investigation began after the boy got on a subway looking for Weeks and got lost.

His mother reported him missing to police, who discovered inappropriate e-mails from Weeks while going through the boy's computer in search of leads.

Weeks has been fired and will not be permitted back on campus, school officials said Thursday.

She had been screened before she was hired, but there was nothing to indicate any problem or concerns, officials said.

"The Devereux staff is shocked and saddened by such a charge."

"The welfare of our students is our top priority," said John O'Keefe, executive director of the school.

"We will cooperate fully with law enforcement officials, and we are reviewing our internal policies and procedures in order to assure the safety and security of those we serve."

Weeks, who was arraigned Tuesday, will appear in court again Aug. 11.

Her attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

[Livyjr]

"Census: NYC grows as upstate cities shrink"

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press

Last updated: 12:02 a.m., Thursday, July 10, 2008

ALBANY -- The Big Apple is getting bigger as the largest cities in upstate New York continue to lose more people, according census estimates released Thursday.

New York City grew by 23,960 people in the 12 months ending July 2007 for a population of 8.27 million, according to the yearly estimates from the U.S. Census.

The city has been steadily growing for years and remains a magnet for immigrants and young people.

Population growth in New York has been centered for years in the metropolitan area.

Some suburban villages north of the city in the Hudson Valley were among the fastest growing in the state over the 12 months, including Wurtsboro (7.9 percent), the Hasidic enclave of Kiryas Joel (5.2 percent) and Wappingers Falls (4.8 percent).

The story was different around much of upstate New York, where the largest cities showed slight losses in the annual estimate.

Buffalo's population of 272,632 was down 0.93 percent over the year; Rochester, at 206,759, was down 0.49 percent; Syracuse, 139,079, down 0.78 percent; Albany, 94,172, down 0.46 percent, according to the estimates.

The numbers reflect a long-term trend of population losses in upstate areas as manufacturing jobs dry up and people settle in the South and the West.

California and Texas each had five cities among the 25 fastest-growing cities in the census estimates released Thursday.

Politicians in New York are particularly concerned about the exodus of young people just out of college, the so-called brain drain.

Among the upstate cities that grew over the year were Saratoga Springs (up 0.68 percent), Plattsburgh (0.16 percent) and Ithaca (0.14 percent).

Census estimates released earlier this year showed the state's population nudged up over the period by 15,741 to 19.3 million people.

----

On the Net

http://www.census.gov/

[Livyjr]

"Ex-NY prosecutor gets 2 years for sex with boys"

By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:52 p.m., Wednesday, July 9, 2008

NEW CITY, N.Y. -- A former prosecutor was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for having sex with underage boys after her daughter alleged that her 15-year-old boyfriend was among the woman's victims, seduced into a sex act in the bathroom of the family home.

Beth Modica, 44, wept as her daughter Danielle said in court that she was banging on the bathroom door one day last year as her mother and her boyfriend were engaging in oral sex.

"We were competing for the same 15-year-old boy," Danielle Modica said.

"I was betrayed by both of them."

Modica told her children to lie to their father -- the Spring Valley police chief -- about the marijuana and alcohol she gave to them and their friends.

They were changed forever by their mother's "constant lying and the things she did around me and my brothers," she said.

She urged Rockland County Judge Catherine Bartlett to send her mother to state prison.

Her brother, 17-year-old Joseph Modica, wrote -- in a letter read by prosecutor Dominic Crispino -- that he knew his mother was having sex with his friend in her bedroom although "she lied to my face" and claimed the boy was sick.

Addressing his mother, he said, "I am truly embarrassed and disgusted with you."

Modica's 12-year-old son, Nicholas, also wrote to request prison time for his mother, saying, "I need to know when she gets out of jail it will be safe for me to be around her."

Leslie Brown, mother of one of the boys who had sex with Modica, told the judge that Modica was "a sly and manipulative sexual predator."

Modica, in an orange prison jumpsuit, her hands shackled to her waist, apologized through sobs to her family and her victims, saying she knows she has destroyed her family and devastated others.

"I will be eternally remorseful," she said.

Her attorney, Gerard Damiani, asked for a shorter sentence or just probation, saying the outlaw behavior was an aberration and noting that Modica, a former prosecutor in Queens and Rockland, had already lost her law license and custody of the children.

She is estranged from her husband.

Damiani said she is benefiting from psychiatric treatment.

But the judge told Modica, who lived in Sloatsburg, she was "a disgusting monster."

"At some point in your life you decided to become a manipulator, a conniver and a sexual predator," she said.

"You had unprotected sex with children."

"You gave them drugs and alcohol."

"... Some of these acts took place in your home with your children present."

At one point the judge said, "Your daughter's boyfriend?"

"That's disgusting."

Besides two years in state prison for Modica's guilty plea to statutory rape and criminal sex act, Bartlett imposed 10 years probation, sex offender registration and 10-year orders of protection for the two boys she had sex with.

[Livyjr]

"'Adverse possession' law revised in New York"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:32 p.m., Tuesday, July 8, 2008

ALBANY -- New Yorkers will no longer be able to simply mow a neighbor's lawn for 10 years to claim the property as their own.

A law signed Tuesday by Gov. David Paterson says "adverse possession" of another's land also will not happen simply because a fence, hedge, shrub, shed or other minimal, non-structural item is placed across the deeded property line.

Under New York law, an owner has 10 years to claim land back from encroachment.

The old law said the land had to be "usually cultivated or improved," which could mean regular maintenance like mowing or a fence.

The revision requires encroachment "sufficiently open to put a reasonably diligent owner on notice" or a "substantial enclosure."

"I think this law was just outdated, and it needed to be updated," said Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, who sponsored the bill.

The Republican from the eastern Adirondacks said that as a former dairy farmer, she appreciated that the old law was meant to establish a way for people "to claim land they in fact put their heart and soul into."

While acknowledging the statutory language leaves the courts some "wiggle room," Sayward said one intent is to prevent people from claiming land when they know someone else holds the legal deed.

The kind of substantial structure that could lead to adverse possession now could be a garage or a house addition that went unchallenged for more than 10 years, she said.

The revised law does require having "a claim of right" or "reasonable basis for the belief" that the property belongs to you even to take adverse possession, except in cases where ownership cannot be determined.

Dating back to English common law, adverse possession allows a person to get title to land from the actual owner by using the land.

If someone doesn't dispute a neighbor's use of the property, the actual owner has abandoned rights to the property.

Denise Przybylo, who lost one-eighth of an acre to a neighbor in the Warren County town of Queensbury, pursued that case to the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, where she lost.

She believes she would have won under the new law, which takes effect immediately.

"In my case, he just mowed it," Przybylo said.

"(Now) it has to truly be cultivated or a structure."

"It has to be something that alerts the true homeowner to knowing there's a problem there."

State Sen. Betty Little, another Adirondack Republican and sponsor, said legislation last year that would have simply precluded adverse possession by anyone who knew their neighbor was the true owner was vetoed by then Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

This year they worked with bar associations, title companies, the Assembly and the governor's office to refine the measure.

"We worked with them until we had something that I think allows for legitimate adverse possession cases but doesn't allow someone to just take someone else's land," Little said.

"We heard from many many people throughout the state that have had adverse possession cases."

"Usually the loser is the one that calls," Little said.

"It's really a big change in property rights."

Paterson signed more than 130 bills into law Tuesday, among them:

--Authorizing a revenue sharing structure for a proposed $1 billion gaming resort with video lottery terminals at the site of the old Concord Hotel in the Catskills.

--Doubling the maximum civil penalties for price gouging from $10,000 to $25,000.

--Prohibiting smoking at college and university residence halls, including private schools.

--Establishing a new parking violation for drivers who block cross-traffic at intersections in New York City, allowing enforcement by parking attendants as well as police officers.

--Enhancing criminal penalties for identity theft when the perpetrator knows that the victim is serving in the armed forces overseas.

--Outlaws plastic knuckles as a dangerous weapon.

[Livyjr]

"Bruno likely to resign by week’s end"

July 15, 2008 at 2:55 pm

by Irene Jay Liu, Albany, New York Times Union

Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno will likely resign by the week’s end, according to Bruno spokesman Kris Thompson.

“At this point, we’re looking to wrap things up by the end of the week,” he said.

When Bruno gave his last press conference as Senate Majority Leader on June 24, 2008, he hinted that a big announcement was coming, but didn’t go into details.

It looks like the announcement of IBM’s $1.5 billion investment upstate was likely that announcement, and Bruno said as much at the press conference this morning, “With all the love and affection I feel comfortable in slowly riding off into the sunset.”

Bruno will be releasing a statement later on today, said Thompson.

[Livyjr]

"NY Senate leader Bruno to resign seat by Friday"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:32 p.m., Tuesday, July 15, 2008

ALBANY -- New York Sen. Joseph Bruno, the chamber's Republican majority leader since 1995, said Tuesday that he will officially leave office by Friday.

He surprised most in state government last month when he said he would resign but had not given a firm date when he would leave the office he's held since 1976.

The 79-year-old resident of Rensselaer County near Albany said he would like to return to the private sector and run a business.

State law prohibits him from a lucrative job of lobbying the Legislature for two years.

Republican Sen. Dean Skelos of Long Island has been chosen to replace Bruno, with Bruno's support.

In the two years since Gov. George Pataki left office, Bruno has been New York's top Republican leader.

"Frankly, my work is fairly well done," Bruno said Tuesday at his last major public event, an announcement of an IBM Corp. high-technology project in Albany.

"I feel like my transition is done."

"The furniture is moving out of my office tomorrow, the pictures are off the walls."

Then Bruno, true to form, joked:

"It can get depressing if I hang around."

"I push the buttons and nobody's answering."

His term would have ended Dec. 31.

A general election in November will pick Bruno's successor, who will be sworn in in January.

He said his exit doesn't threaten the Republicans' majority, now that the regular session is over.

The Senate's Republican majority would likely only convene a special session if there was broad agreement on issues with the Democratic minority.

With Bruno's departure, and Democratic Sen. John Sabini taking over as head of the state's Racing and Wagering Board, Republicans will maintain a 31-29 advantage in the chamber they have controlled since the 1960s.

Bruno leaves behind numerous projects in his home district named for him -- such as Joseph L. Bruno Stadium -- or which honor him with statues or plaques, such as the bust of him in Albany International Airport.

Bruno steered state and federal funding to numerous projects in his district as well as millions of dollars in pork-barrel spending for local groups, projects and charities.

He has also been part of Albany's notorious three-men-in-a-room negotiations with governors and the Assembly speaker to agree on state budgets and major policy matters behind closed doors.

"Upstate has never had a more dedicated advocate than they have had in Sen. Bruno," said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat.

"He led our conference and the state Senate for 14 years and distinguished himself as one of the greatest leaders in the history of the state," Skelos said.

"I thank Joe Bruno for his leadership and his friendship and I join millions of New Yorkers in wishing him the very best of luck as he moves forward with the next phase of his life."

"All of us owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude."

Bruno said he's had eight or nine opportunities presented to him in the private sector since his surprise announcement that he would relinquish the majority leader's job.

He didn't identify any and said he's still thinking about how to return to the business world.

He ran a telephone company before being elected to the Legislature.

"I'm not the kind of guy who is going to go off and play with horses and golf or whatever else is out there," said Bruno, who owns horses and still rides.

He again told reporters that his decision has nothing to with a two-year-old investigation by the FBI into his consulting and other business ties outside the Senate.

"I am not worried about that," Bruno said, noting that he met with his lawyers Monday.

"I have never been charged."

"There is nothing I could ever contemplate that was inappropriate or illegal."

[Livyjr]

"Livyjr, in the light of the past experience that people up there where you are have had with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the United States Attorney, and this Senator Joseph Bruno, and a federal Hobbs Act investigation that was apparently suddenly terminated by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York when the name of this Senator Joseph Bruno came into it in connection with questionable practices in the Rensselaer county Department of Health which were having an adverse impact on the lives, health and property of the people of Rensselaer County in New York State ....."

"Could you tell us how people up there feel ..."

"When they see this Rensselaer County lawyer E. Stewart Jones openly and blatantly threatening these federal prosecutors with retaliation against themselves and their employment in the pages of the Albany, New York TIMES UNION newspaper ..."

"And when they see this Senator Bruno himself, in the pages of the same Albany, New York TIMES UNION newspaper ..."

"Calling this alleged federal investigation a MEDIA EVENT ..."

"DO PEOPLE UP THERE THINK THAT SOMEONE IS GAMING THE SYSTEM HERE?"

HHHhhhmmmm .....

GAMING THE SYSTEM .....

Joe Bruno calls a BIG press conference ...

BIG FBI INVESTIGATION, FOLKS .....

BUT IT'S NOTHING .....

And then ....

SHADES OF 1989 .....

The Office of the United States Attorney comes forward and says, "well, how about that, we took a really, really hard look, but there was nothing there ...."

That is what people are expecting, actually .....

Some with GLEE ....

Joe Bruno's PARTISANS ....

And they are many, actually ....

And the rest .....

Well ...

I would say with TREPIDATION .....

Because then ....

CORRUPTION WILL BE STRONGER THAN EVER .....

AND IT WILL BE RIGHT OUT IN PLAIN SIGHT .....

UNTOUCHABLE .....

And this brings us to what many see as E. Stewart Jones' TRUMP CARD ......

Which is the fact that in December of 2005 .....

Just a short year ago .....

The federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City .....

PUT ITS SEAL OF APPROVAL .....

ON THE GRANTING OF "PROTECTED PERSON" STATUS HERE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ...

BY ELECTED OFFICIALS UP HERE IN RENSSELAER COUNTY ....

WHICH IS JOE BRUNO'S COUNTY .....

AND IF JOE BRUNO IS IN FACT DOLING OUT FAVORS AND PROTECTION HERE .....

IT IS NOT INCONSISTENT WITH WHAT THE FEDERAL SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS ALREADY APPROVED ...

CONDUCT THAT THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ITSELF HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH BACK IN AUGUST OF 2001 .....

THAT BEING THE INTIMIDATION AND REMOVAL OF WITNESSES IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK ....

BY THE "STATE" ITSELF ....

ON BEHALF OF ITS "PROTECTED PERSONS" .....

WHO GET THAT WAY .....

BY PROCURING PROTECTION .....

FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS IN NEW YORK STATE ...

And so ....

GIVEN ALL OF THAT PRIOR HISTORY ....

PEOPLE UP HERE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO FAITH OR TRUST WHATSOEVER .....

IN EITHER THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ....

OR THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK .....

And if people up here saw E. Stewart Jones returning from Washington, D.C. with an apologetic Alberto Gonzales in tow .....

To personally apologize to Joe Bruno .....

I DON'T THINK THAT THERE IS A SOUL UP HERE WHO WOULD BE SURPRISED ...

And I actually think that many are expecting exactly that .....

STARTING WITH THE PARTISANS OF JOE BRUNO ....

Who are many ....

And very powerfull .....

And so .....

"Bruno will retire, end 32-year career - 'Time for me to ride off into the sunset,' senator says in a statement?

By IRENE JAY LIU, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno on Friday will resign from the seat he's held since 1976, ending 32 years in public service.

"I have no regrets because this has been a great trip and it is time for me to ride off into the sunset," said Bruno in a statement released Tuesday.

Bruno, who gave up his majority leader post last month, is retiring after announcing several major economic development projects for the Capital Region.

On Tuesday, he joined Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in unveiling a $1.5 billion investment by IBM in upstate New York.

In recent weeks, Bruno also disclosed a plan by Momentive Performance Materials to move its worldwide headquarters to Rensselaer County, the expansion of biomedical research at UAlbany's East Campus in East Greenbush, a new neonatal care unit at Albany Medical Center and a new rail terminal in Mechanicville.

Developing the Capital Region has been Bruno's priority, and will likely be the lasting legacy of his 14 years as majority leader.

Citing these achievements, Bruno said, "As a businessman, job creation was my top priority and I'm proud that these new projects are in place to build on our economic successes in the Capital Region and boost the economy of all of upstate New York."

Bruno said he hopes to work in the private sector, and a person with knowledge of the situation said Bruno has discussed joining CMA Consulting Services as an executive.

Bruno is close to Kay Stafford, widow of former Sen. Ronald Stafford and head of CMA.

"I want to do something, because, frankly, I'm not the kind of guy to retire and just play with horses and golf and whatever else is there," Bruno said.

The former Senate Republican leader stunned colleagues and political foes alike when he said on June 23 that he would not seek re-election in November.

He quickly bowed out as majority leader and was replaced by his deputy, Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, who must now try to hold onto the Senate majority in this November's elections.

Bruno's departure leaves Republicans with a slim 31-30 majority in the Senate.

But Bruno said he wasn't worried that his conference would be outvoted if the Legislature reconvenes before the election, saying he has spoken with Paterson and the Senate would only return if there was a "consensus."

Bruno leaves office in the shadow of an ongoing, two-and-a-half year investigation into his public and private business dealings.

Bruno said is not concerned about the investigation, but indicated that he would like to see it end.

"There is nothing there, and I am told by my lawyers, who I met with yesterday, there is absolutely nothing that we have done wrong."

"So I'm very comfortable in that."

"But would it be nice if people would just go on and let me live my life?"

"Yes, that would be very, very nice," he said.

Bruno's departure has led to a flood of candidates vying to fill the vacant Senate seat.

On the Democratic side, there's Brunswick attorney Brian Premo, Saratoga Springs Supervisor Joanne Yepsen, and Michael Russo, district director for U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport.

Republican Assemblyman Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, and Nassau Councilman Ray Seney will face off in a primary, and Troy resident Chris Consuello will challenge Premo for the Working Families Party line.

Irene Jay Liu can be reached at 454-5081 or by e-mail at iliu@timesunion.com.

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"Cuomo probe in 'new phase' - Investigation of public pension abuse expanded to include more detailed information from lawyers"

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

First published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ALBANY -- In what's being described as a significant expansion of his probe into pension abuse, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last week sent out some 200 letters to lawyers who work for towns, counties, sewer districts and other government agencies statewide asking for details on their benefits, hours worked and how many employers they list for the purposes of public pension credits.

Cuomo is seeking information dating back eight years.

His office called it "a new phase" in its ongoing probe of private lawyers and other professionals who the state maintains improperly accrued public pension credits by being listed as employees of school districts rather than as independent advisers or contractors.

Cuomo, with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, has said that these professionals should not be considered public employees, and that they don't qualify for the pensions earned by legitimate full-time employees.

The inquiry began last winter with revelations that a Long Island attorney, Lawrence Reich, had been listed as an employee of multiple school districts.

Much of the work has focused on schools and BOCES organizations.

Dozens of lawyers are under active investigation by Cuomo, and during the past few months he has collected approximately $900,000 in settlements in at least seven cases.

Beyond school districts, Cuomo two months ago began gathering data from thousands of government entities across the state.

At the time, he said he believed hundreds or even thousands of lawyers had for years been collecting pension credits they really didn't qualify for.

The 200 letters are going to those whose answers in the initial round of data-gathering raised "red flags," Cuomo's office said.

Almost half those letters are going to upstate lawyers as well as a handful of other professionals such as doctors, accountants and engineers.

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

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"Bush: Troubled financial system is basically sound"

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

15 JULY 2008

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday the nation's troubled financial system is "basically sound" and urged lawmakers to quickly enact legislation to prop up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bush defended his insistence that the U.S. economy was not in a recession, even though many economists believe it is.

"Hard-to-ignore recession makes optimism hard to come by"

By FRED LEBRUN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Anyone who isn't a little apprehensive about our economy and making personal ends meet is either asleep or brain dead.

Handing over a $100 bill to gas up the truck is a sobering reminder that the bank and truck now own you, not just the bank.

Even my devout Republican friends are having a harder and harder time pretending there isn't a recession in progress as the Dow continues to slalom downhill.

As bad as it is for small time investors watching hard-earned 401ks melt away like an ice cream cone on an August day, imagine the roar of pain we would be hearing in this country if George W. Bush's plan to privatize Social Security had gone through.

There would be riots in the streets.

What safety net?

The Times Union front page headline Tuesday did nothing to quell nervousness, fueled as it was by more big-time mortgage lenders going wobbly on us and an old-fashioned run on a failed bank in California.

"Rash of bank failures unlikely," is certainly a left-handed confidence builder.

Yet amid all the anxiety this dismal news creates, it is noteworthy that the latest Siena Research Institute consumer confidence poll of New Yorkers caught in these economic crosshairs is surprisingly reasonable and nuanced.

The poll found that while once again New Yorkers by a large majority say they favor a property tax cap, they are even more inclined toward a property tax "circuit breaker."

That would be an individualized rather than institutionalized response to our state's burdensome tax problem.

A circuit breaker is triggered when property taxes reach a predetermined percentage of an individual's ability to pay.

Given a choice between a general property tax cap that would benefit all, and a circuit breaker that would benefit only the most stressed, Republicans and Democrats, upstate and downstate, all preferred the circuit breaker.

Which means that most New Yorkers are probably in favor of the logical extension of that preference, although it wasn't asked in the poll.

Namely, taxing wealthier New Yorkers, say those earning $300,000 and up, a shade more than they're paying now so the state could compensate school districts for the lost revenues of a circuit breaker.

A few of my devout Republican friends, including some in government, will get all twitchy at this prospect, I suspect.

And they can't be pleased either that a property tax cap comes in second to a circuit breaker.

But that's the way it is.

After all, a property tax cap shouldn't be a bail-out for a bunch of suburbanites living way beyond their means.

In an interesting match-up that only a poll could concoct, New Yorkers were nearly evenly divided over whether they would prefer a property tax cap, or eliminating 32 cents of the state's gas tax, with dropping the gas tax getting the edge.

I'm not sure what this shows, except how wedded we are to the cars we drive.

Which in turn means many of us remain in denial over the future of gas prices.

The signs are conflicting out there on how those of us upstate are faring in the current troubled economy, with soaring gas prices, tight money, a lousy housing market, eroding investments and so on.

Dick Beamish, the publisher of The Adirondack Explorer in Saranac Lake, says it is his impression that tourism in the Adirondacks is not being adversely affected so far by the gas crunch.

Rather, he suggests, the North Country is benefiting from folks choosing to vacation closer to home.

It will be many months before we know for sure whether this commonly held view holds up to the reality in the cash register.

At the same time, Beamish concedes motorboat traffic on Lake George seems to be dramatically reduced this summer.

But what does that mean to the businesses along the lake, more money in the till or less?

Jim Trezise, head of the state's Wine and Grape Foundation in the Finger Lakes, notes that tourism is taking a hit out there.

"About a month ago, visitor counts seemed pretty even with last year, and purchases actually up -- so the people who came intended to buy -- but more recently that seems to have eroded, just like the economy in general," he states in his latest news letter.

That's particularly bad news for the central-western area of the state, because Finger Lakes wine country tourism has been one of the few bright economic success stories for this depressed region.

The Siena poll shows that for all the grief, high taxes and limited opportunities New York is experiencing, 81 percent of residents have no plans to move out at least until retirement.

Although 7 percent would love to leave tomorrow if they could.

That would be an exodus of more than 1 million New Yorkers, by the way, and another 2 million are threatening to leave if conditions don't improve.

So, I'd say it's tough to find a pair of rose-colored glasses to brighten this picture.

Fred LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

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"Bruno could take job with company helped by state"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:32 p.m., Wednesday, July 16, 2008

ALBANY -- When longtime Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno retires this week from the Senate seat he's held since 1976, he could land a job with a friend whose business grew fast in recent years with the help of millions of dollars in state contracts, according to two Republicans close to Bruno.

The Republicans who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Bruno is considering taking an executive job with CMA Consulting Services among some other opportunities.

The Republicans spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak for Bruno.

Under state ethics law, Bruno acknowledged that he would be prohibited from lobbying the Legislature.

But Walter Ayres of the state Public Integrity Commission said there appears to be no law or regulation that would prohibit Bruno from lobbying the executive branch, which awards most state contracts.

CMA Consulting Services, based in the Albany County suburb of Colonie, is headed by Kay McCabe Stafford, the widow of Republican Sen. Ronald Stafford.

Sen. Stafford was a close friend and contemporary of Bruno, now 79.

Bruno had appointed Stafford to the powerful position of Senate Finance Committee chairman.

Kay Stafford was also appointed by former Republican Gov. George Pataki, a Bruno ally, to the State University of New York Board of Trustees, an unpaid but prestigious post in state government.

But the Albany connections go deeper.

CMA under CEO Kay Stafford was certified as a woman-owned business, which helps companies start and grow through help in landing state contracts.

And CMA has won more than $9 million in competitively bid contracts since 2006 for computer programming and information technology, according to state records.

They helped the company grow since 1984 to a national corporation with offices in New York City, Maryland serving Washington, D.C., Texas and Arizona.

Its Web site states the company serves Texas to Oregon and Guam to Maine.

Bruno praised the company Wednesday in a radio interview on WGDJ-AM Radio in Albany, saying he would announce as early as Sunday where he will next be employed.

"He hasn't reached a decision on what he's going to do," said Bruno's Senate spokesman Kriss Thompson.

"He's mulling a couple of opportunities."

"He has narrowed his choices."

Thompson wouldn't comment on whether CMA was among those choices.

"He's going to take a little time, and probably not much time, to see how to write the next chapter of his life," Thompson said.

CMA spokesman Sean Casey wouldn't comment on whether Bruno is being considered for a position.

A good-government advocate advises Bruno to seek counsel if he were to choose to work for CMA.

"I don't know of any limitations that might exist," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"I think it would be in the senator's interest and the public's interest if he got an opinion from the Public Integrity Commission on what he can and can't do."

"He's different than a rank-and-file legislator," Horner said.

"He was one of the `three-men-in-a-room' and a powerful political figure for well over a decade."

"So his relationship with the executive branch is different than a backbencher," he said, using a British term for low-ranking lawmakers.

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"State raids County Waste amid allegations of $15M fraud - Company won't comment, ex-Colonie Supervisor Brizzell: 'Of course I was unaware of it'"

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST and BRIAN NEARING, Staff writers, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 1:22 p.m., Thursday, July 17, 2008

COLONIE -- Authorities are raiding the Clifton Park transfer station and offices of County Waste & Recycling this morning amid a whistleblower's allegation the region's largest trash hauler defrauded the town of Colonie out of at least $15 million by creating phony weight slips for trucks and dumping far more at the landfill than it was paying for.

Investigators from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the state Attorney General's office arrived at the landfill at 8:11 a.m., forbidding other vehicles from entering the property.

Eighteen marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles were on the scene.

The raid stems from allegations County Waste defrauded the town out of at least $15 million by systematically creating phony weight slips for trucks and dumping far more at the landfill than it was paying for, according to civil complaint filed by a company whistleblower.

The alleged fraud went undetected, according to the complaint, because town landfill workers did not weigh the trucks known as "Colonie specials'' when they arrived at the Route 9 dump.

County Waste declined to speak with a Times Union reporter today.

"We are not taking any calls for comment."

"Have a great day,'' a woman who answered the phone at County Waste said before swiftly ending the call.

The incendiary allegations are contained in a sealed complaint filed in Albany County on behalf of a former manager at County Waste in Clifton Park, who says he oversaw the fraud and was eventually forced to quit after refusing to continue to participate in it.

Often, the trucks were never put on the scale at all, the whistleblower alleges, with County Waste workers simply inventing numbers.

The Times Union is withholding the whistleblower's name.

He claims County Waste and its head, Scott Earl, defrauded the town out of "not less than $15 million'' dating back at least to 2005 the same period that Colonie was amassing a deficit that state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli pegged as high as $18 million.

In the state review of town finances, some $9 million of the deficit is attributed to money the town was supposed to be saving to eventually close the landfill but wasn't -- instead using the revenue it generated to subsidize overspending elsewhere.

Former Town Supervisor Mary Brizzell said she knew nothing of the alleged defrauding of the town during her tenure, which ended with Democrats sweeping into office amid a public outcry of town finances.

"It's an allegation, and there are no facts there."

"I don't know enough facts to make an intelligent comment,'' she said.

"Of course I was unaware of it."

"I wouldn't let something like that happen.''

The complaint was filed in May and sealed by acting state Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly under a section of state finance law that empowers the state Attorney General's Office to investigate false claims filed against state and local government.

Known as the New York False Claims Act, the law also makes the whistleblower eligible to receive a percentage of whatever is recovered.

The whistleblower is trying to stake his claim as being the first to tip the government to the fraud.

A copy of the complaint was reviewed by the Times Union.

The whistleblower's claim was filed on his behalf by Albany attorney Kurt Bratton, who declined comment.

Among the allegations:

The whistleblower, a former facility manager at County Waste's Route 9 transfer station in Clifton Park, claims to have been ordered by Earl to systematically dispatch overweight trucks to the Colonie landfill to increase the transfer station's profitability.

"Earl stated that the Colonie landfill would not weigh his transfer trucks and would accept false weight slips showing that his trucks weighed much less than their actual weight,'' the complaint reads.

Because County Waste pays the town a per-ton rate typically between $50 and $60 the company is alleged to have cheated the town by dumping more than it was paying for.

The complaint continues: "Earl explained that the Colonie landfill would accept these understated weight slips instead of actually weighing his trucks on its scale.''

What's more, the complaint suggests that "Earl was calling someone at the Colonie landfill to tell them that those 'Colonie Specials' were on their way.''

According to the whistleblower's complaint, the overladen trucks didn't go unnoticed, with drivers not in on the alleged scheme noting that the trucks appeared to have mechanical problems because they could not get them out of first gear.

"When these overloaded trucks were brought to the Colonie landfill,'' the complaint alleges, "they would often be so heavy that their metal frames would bulge noticeably and the tires would be so compressed that they appeared to be practically flat against the ground.''

Joe Stockbridge, the director of the town's environmental services department, which runs the landfill, said last week that the allegations were news to him.

Stockbridge said standard operating procedure is for all incoming trucks to be weighed but that on rare occasions before last year some trucks hauling large trailers were too big to be weighed on Colonie's 60-foot scales.

In those cases, Stockbridge said, it is possible that weight slips would have been accepted from an incoming driver if the truck originated at a transfer station with a Weighmaster licensed by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

"If you read the Ag and Markets law, the person who certifies that weight would be the person responsible for that,'' Stockbridge said.

Jerry Wellspeak, a County Waste driver who lives in Shaftsbury, Vt., said this morning that the practice of driving around the scales was common when he started working for the company a month ago.

But town landfill officials abruptly halted the practice a few weeks ago.

He said when he first started working for the company and driving loads to the town of Colonie landfill he would drive around the scale and present paperwork as to the weight of the load.

"And that was OK,'' Wellspeak said in an interview while he waited to find out where he would get his next load.

The Paperwork came from County Waste scales in Clifton Park.

Within the last few weeks, Wellspeak said, the town of Colonie landfill officials began insisting on weighing all County Waste trucks.

The allegations of fraud come as town's new administration, through Supervisor Paula Mahan, has raised questions about why records indicate the landfill last year took in more than 30,000 tons less than its permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation allows.

Mahan viewed this as lost revenue at a time when the town's fiscal situation was worsening and its credit rating was in danger of falling lower.

To make sure it doesn't happen again this year, the Town Board recently struck a deal with County Waste to accept trash at an even more reduced rate of $45-a-ton for the rest of the year in return for the company guaranteeing a certain tonnage and money up front.

The town has also commissioned engineering firm Clough Harbour & Associates to audit landfill operations, including how much space appears to be left.

Stockbridge said the landfill came in under its allowed tonnage last year because of delays caused while it replaced both of its scales, adding a new 70-foot scale that allows it to weigh the larger trailers.

Furthermore, Stockbridge said, landfill officials did not go out of their way to drum up business because there were concerns about whether there would be enough space during the transition from one section of the landfill to another newer one.

According to the complaint, the whistleblower contacted the Albany County District Attorney's Office and DEC in March 2007.

He alleges that County Waste sent an average of between 2,000 and 3,000 tons a month in unpaid tonnage to the landfill, with the number hitting as high as 4,500 tons during peak months.

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"Capital Region jobless rate jumped in June"

July 17, 2008 at 11:56 am by Eric Anderson, Deputy business editor, Albany, New York Times Union

Unemployment surged in the Capital Region in June, climbing a full point above last year’s level, to 4.9 percent of the workforce.

Job growth was almost nil, with just 100 new jobs added over the past year.

That’s an increase of less than 0.1 percent, according to figures released today by the state Department of Labor.

What growth there was came in the public sector.

Private sector jobs fell by 300, the Labor Department reported.

Statewide, unemployment climbed to 5.3 percent in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 5.2 percent in May and 4.6 percent a year ago.

June’s figure was the highest since December 2004, when it hit 5.4 percent.

The financial sector was particularly hard hit in the Capital Region, with a loss of 1,000 jobs over the year.

Manufacturing, meanwhile, shed 500 jobs and the leisure and hospitality sector lost 800 jobs.

The education and health services sector added 1,400 jobs, while professional and business services grew by 600 jobs.

Government employment was up by 400 jobs.

In the five-county metropolitan area, Saratoga County’s 4.5 percent jobless rate was the lowest, while Schoharie County’s 6.0 percent was the highest.

Albany County had 5.0 percent unemployment, while the rate was 5.1 percent in both Schenectady and Rensselaer counties.

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"Bruno unveils plans to replace Troy City Hall with park, offices"

By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 11:59 a.m., Thursday, July 17, 2008

TROY -- City Hall will be torn down and replaced with a park, an underground parking garage and a possible mixed-use building housing new city government offices, officials said this morning.

The total project will cost $8 million, Sen. Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick said this morning.

He added that $6 million in state funds will be made available for the project, which includes an esplanade running from Monument Square north to the Green Island Bridge and other park and recreation improvements.

The city will provide $2 million in funding.

Mayor Harry Tutunjian, a Republican, and City Council President Clement Campana, a Democrat, pledged to work together to get the project done.

The administration and the City Council have fought over many different issues this year including the sale of City Hall.

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"20 charges against Stephentown official tossed"

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:02 p.m., Thursday, July 17, 2008

TROY - A judge has thrown out nearly half of the 44 felony counts lodged in February against a town highway superintendent accused of purchasing gravel from an illegal mine and submitting forged documents to cover it up.

Stephentown Highway Superintendent Neil Gardner, 52, was indicted Feb. 15 on 22 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, 10 counts of first-degree falsifying business records and 12 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, all felonies.

He is also charged with one misdemeanor count of operating a mine without a permit.

He is free pending trial in September.

Gardner's lawyer, Thomas Spargo, made motions recently to have the entire indictment thrown out, arguing his client was not guilty of any crime.

Rensselaer County Court Judge Robert Jacon then ruled last week that there was insufficient evidence put before the grand jury to support 20 of the 44 felony counts.

The quashed charges include 10 counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and 10 counts of first-degree falsifying business records.

Those charges applied to gravel billing slips forwarded to the town that Gardner allegedly approved.

State Assistant Attorney General Nancy Snyder appeared before Jacon Tuesday to argue against his ruling but the judge said his decision would stand.

The indictment, the result of a state Department of Environmental Conservation investigation, accuses Gardner of falsifying documents filed with the town to conceal that he bought thousands of cubic yards of sand and gravel for the town from a mine that did not have a state operating permit on property on Route 22 owned by Anthony Cormier.

In October 2006, state investigators took records from the offices of the town clerk, Gardner and from Russ Freeman of Russ Freeman Excavating Inc. in Nassau, which regularly performed work for the Stephentown Highway Department.

Freeman mined and delivered the gravel and billed the town.

The case began when Freeman sent a bill to the town in the amount of $30,715, but the town refused to pay after discovering the mine was illegal, officials have said.

According to the indictment, Gardner is also accused of knowing town records were manipulated in November 2005 to make it look like the gravel came from a legally operated mine run by Troy Sand and Gravel of West Sand Lake.

Gardner still faces felony counts on those charges.

Freeman pleaded guilty in Town Court in October 2007 to second-degree offering a false instrument for filing and was fined $1,000.

He died of cancer in December.

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"Closure of workers' comp centers questioned - Critics say shutting 11 state offices to save money makes it harder for people to get to hearings"

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

First published: Thursday, July 17, 2008

ALBANY -- It's been two-and-a-half years since Lorraine Hamm tripped on a phone line and tore her rotator cuff and injured her neck and back.

Since then, her life has included a frustrating regimen of periodic visits to state Workers' Compensation Board offices in either Schenectady or, sometimes, Queensbury.

"It's a nightmare, believe me," said Hamm, of Ballston Spa, recounting the ongoing effort to collect compensation payments, which were first opposed by her employer, a Glens Falls nursing home, and then delayed by problems with the workers compensation trusts, akin to insurance carriers that are supposed to make the payouts.

Now, with news that the state Workers' Compensation Board is closing 11 of its 30 service centers statewide, including the Schenectady location, Hamm has another headache.

Rather than riding the bus to a hearing, as she could to the Schenectady office, she will have to take her aging Isuzu Trooper to Queensbury and lay out $30 or $40 for gas each round-trip.

"It would be horrendous," she said.

Hamm isn't the only one questioning the state's move.

While state officials say no one will be more than 50 miles from a Workers' Compensation office, that means claimants in rural areas such as Fulton or Montgomery counties now may have to travel 100 miles round trip.

"There will be claimants that cannot afford to go to their own hearings," said Raymond Seligman, Hamm's lawyer.

Others wondered why a call from Gov. David Paterson for state agencies to cut 3.35 percent of their budgets should even apply to the Workers' Compensation Board, which is funded by assessments on insurers, not from the state's general fund.

"It is an utterly insensitive move," said Peter Walsh, another compensation lawyer.

Walsh also questioned whether the decision exhibited a lack of knowledge about upstate New York, since many of the 11 were in rural areas like Norwich, Oswego or Olean.

"It's going to hurt the public," added Bill Jones of Mayfield, a former Fulton County sheriff's officer who is on workers comp and has been traveling to Schenectady when called in for hearings.

Complaints like this will likely resound from other quarters of New York as various state agencies put Paterson's cuts in place.

The reaction illustrates just how hard it can be to trim spending even modestly.

Between the complaints and potential attacks by powerful public employee unions if their members face layoffs or relocation, cutting the state's budget can open up a whole new world of potential headaches.

Lawmakers may get involved as well.

Hamm said she's contacted local legislators, including Assemblymen Robert Reilly and George Amedore as well as Sen. Hugh Farley.

Amedore's office sent her a copy of the closure notice, and Hamm hasn't yet heard from the others.

But this being an election year, it's a good bet that legislators statewide may start protesting the closures.

The Workers' Compensation Board is one of just dozens of agencies making cuts to help cope with a $5 billion projected budget gap next year.

Many are losing staff through attrition, including the Office for the Aging, departments of Health, Insurance and Labor, as well as SUNY.

The Paterson administration stressed that the governor's cuts go beyond those enterprises run out of the general fund.

"This is trying to keep costs down for business and taxpayers in general," said Workers' Compensation spokesman Brian Keegan, who added that Paterson's calls for cost savings are aimed at all agencies, even those funded by user fees.

He also noted the the 11 centers slated for closure handle only 15 percent of the state's hearings.

"What Gov. Paterson believes is it's important to bring down overall spending," added Matt Anderson, a spokesman for the Division of Budget.

He explained that Workers' Compensation savings should be passed along to the insurance carriers, which could then contain costs for businesses.

"We need to cut across government and make it more efficient," said Anderson.

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

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"Thruway ethics code stalled - Non-paid authority board members question limits on political contributions"

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, July 17, 2008

ALBANY -- Members of the state Thruway Authority board are balking, for now, at adopting new ethics rules that would restrict their freedom to contribute to political campaigns.

The issue arose Wednesday as Thruway Counsel Sharon O'Conor was summarizing revisions to the authority's code of ethics and the state Public Officers Law.

Executive Order No. 2 signed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer during his first hours in office in January 2007 says:

"No individual covered by this executive order may make or offer to make any monetary contribution to the campaign of the governor or the lieutenant governor or to any political campaign committee organized by or for the specific benefit of the governor or the lieutenant governor."

The order goes on to forbid solicitation of monetary contributions to campaigns or committees benefiting the governor or the lieutenant governor.

"I have a slight problem with this," said Erin Crotty, who was appointed to the Thruway Board by Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, and served as Environmental Conservation commissioner under Pataki.

Crotty noted Thruway board members serve without pay and the authority is not part of the governor's administration.

"We're not compensated, and I don't particularly appreciate people telling me what I can and cannot do with my money regarding my contributions," she said.

"It strikes me as incompatible with the level of service that is provided here."

Thruway Chairman John Buono also pointed to puzzling wording in the order, which appears to place no restrictions on contributions to candidates who might run against the governor or lieutenant governor.

The board tabled that change to the Thruway ethics code and asked O'Conor to further investigate whether the order applies to the authority.

O'Conor said exploration of the questions may lead to larger questions about whether the authority is bound by other executive orders, as well.

"There is no case law on this," she said.

"There are no public authorities that have challenged the applicability of executive orders."

A spokeswoman for Gov. David Paterson was unable to immediately respond to inquiries regarding orders signed by Spitzer, nor was a spokesman for the Commission on Public Integrity.

"We don't have jurisdiction over executive orders," said spokesman Walter Ayers.

"We don't interpret executive orders, and we can't enforce executive orders."