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

[Livyjr]

THE NY SUN

"Columbia Dean Is Probed"

By MATTHEW CHAYES

Special to the Sun

April 5, 2007

The head of one of Columbia University's financial aid offices is being investigated for recommending a student loan company to borrowers at the same time as he held stock in the company, the state attorney general's office and Columbia said yesterday.

A senior associate dean of student affairs at Columbia, David Charlow, owned 7,500 shares of Education Lending Group Inc., according to records on file with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company is the parent of Student Loan Xpress, which Columbia recommends to students as a "preferred lender."

Investigators with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office sent Columbia a subpoena yesterday as well as inquiry letters to the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Austin, whose aid officers are also being investigated by Mr. Cuomo for owning stock.

Mr. Charlow profited more than $100,000 from the sale of the 7,500 shares and an additional 2,500 in stock warrants, according to the attorney general's office.

The stock ownership disclosure comes in Mr. Cuomo's widening investigation of the $85 billion student loan industry.

A woman who answered Mr. Charlow's telephone at Columbia said he wasn't available.

A campus spokesman, Robert Hornsby, said in a statement that Columbia "promptly" began its own investigation and told the attorney general after it learned that one of its officers had a potential conflict of interest with one of its preferred lenders.

Mr. Hornsby said a financial aid official had been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Representatives of the University of Southern California and Education Lending Group didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

A spokesman for the University of Texas, Don Hale, said the university was investigating the matter.

Mr. Cuomo has charged that big lenders in the financial aid industry give kickbacks to universities as well as gifts and trips to school employees in exchange for placement on "preferred lender" lists.

http://www.nysun.com/article/51875?page_no=1

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"SUNY chief linked to Cuomo target - John Ryan is on board of directors of company subpoenaed in student loan industry investigation"

By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press

First published: Friday, April 6, 2007

ALBANY -- State University of New York Chancellor John Ryan is on the board of directors of a company under investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a nationwide probe of the $85 billion student loan industry.

Ryan, who announced last month that he will step down at the end of May, has been a director of CIT Group Inc. since July 2003, according to the company's Web site.

Earlier this week, Cuomo's office issued a subpoena to the New Jersey-based company seeking information about stock transactions between one of its subsidiaries, Student Loan Xpress, and financial aid officers at Columbia University, the University of Texas and the University of Southern California.

CIT said it acquired Education Lending Group Inc., the parent company of Student Loan Xpress, in 2005, after the stock transactions took place.

Also, Higher Ed Watch reported that Matteo Fontana, the federal Education Department official who oversees lenders, owned about $100,000 worth of stock in Education Lending Group Inc.

Student Loan Xpress is listed as a preferred lender at SUNY Maritime College, where Ryan served as president.

"The chancellor stands by his service on the board of the CIT group, an approved outside activity, for which he received state Ethics Commission permission on July 2, 2003 and July 7, 2005," SUNY spokesman David Henahan said in a statement.

He added that Student Loan Xpress was only added to SUNY Maritime's preferred lender list in March 2006, after Ryan left.

On Monday, all 29 four-year State University of New York campuses agreed to abide by a code of conduct that would prohibit college employees from receiving anything of value for serving on the advisory board of any lending institution.

A company SEC filing shows Ryan earned about $146,000 last year in cash, stock and options for his service on the CIT board.

Cuomo's investigators say they have found numerous arrangements that benefited schools and lenders at the expense of students.

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NY DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS

"Budget reform: a correction"

It turns out that one house of the Legislature -- the Assembly -- at least partly complied with the budget reforms state lawmakers enacted back in January.

Contrary to what I posted yesterday, the Assembly did, in fact, produce reports summarizing the spending they added to Spitzer's original spending plan before wrapping up action on the budget.

Assembly spokeswoman Sisa Moyo gave me copies of the reports and said they were on members' desks Sunday.

That was after the votes on two big chunks of the budget -- one bill covering public protection and general government and another covering transportation, economic development and environmental conservation -- meaning they technically missed the deadline in the law.

But members had the reports in hand before acting on the two most controversial bills, covering education and health care.

Moyo acknowledged that the reports were late, saying the staff involved in negotiating the budget could not possibly have produced the reports any more quickly.

"We were trying to honor the spirit" of the January reform legislation, she added.

My apologies to the Assembly for getting that wrong, and my thanks to commenter Tom Zee for pointing out the mistake.

Posted by Bill Hammond on April 5, 2007 6:18 PM | Permalink

COMMENTS:

Posted by: Dan Miller | April 6, 2007 9:01 AM:

The Daily News should not have issued a correction here because its original reporting was correct.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...at.php#comments

The Assembly concedes that at the time it enacted most of the budget on Saturday, its members did not have the disclosure statement required by the 2007 budget reform law to be on its members' desks.

For the majority of the budget passed on Saturday, giving that statement Sunday was like locking the barn door once the horses had escaped.

And it's no answer that the Assembly was trying to honor the "spirit" of the reform law by speeding those statements out on Sunday.

Quite the contrary, the spirit of the reform law was to give all lawmakers the information they need WHEN they vote on the budget, not AFTER they vote on the budget.

During Saturday's late-night budget passage frenzy, Ways and Means Chair Denny Farrell couldn't say, when quizzed during legislative debate, how much money the budgets would spend in key areas: he even CONCEDED that!

He likewise conceded that the disclosure statements illegally were missing, thus ensuring that most lawmakers (including Farrell himself) wouldn't have a clue.

Under those circumstances, it was irresponsible for the Daily News to issue a correction and apology to the Assembly.

The Legislature broke the law, and most certainly broke the spirit of the law the Assembly said it was trying to honor.

The Daily News let itself be snowed and in turn snowed its readers.

Posted by: John Galt | April 6, 2007 3:15 PM:

Dan Miller - this disabled veteran thanks you for standing up for all of our rights out here in NYS in such a straightforward and concise manner.

We older countryfolks read these posts with great interest, as this medium is something entirely new in our lives, and when someone like yourself has the courage and the ability to speak out in such a calm, informed and yet forceful way, it is an example to us all, for not many in the countryside are good with words, not having cause to use them all that much in a world that requires deeds, instead.

And so ...

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...on.php#comments

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"Forbes ranks Albany behind other upstate cities"

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 11:34 a.m., Friday, April 6, 2007

The Capital Region is a nice place to live and work, but it's no Poughkeepsie.

When is the last time you heard somebody say that?

But that, apparently, is the opinion of Forbes magazine, which, for the second time in two months, has ranked the Albany-Troy-Schenectady metropolitan area behind the city to its south.

In February, Forbes placed the Albany area 30th out of the nation's largest 100 metro areas on its "Best Cities for Jobs" list.

Poughkeepsie ranked 27th.

Now, the magazine that loves to rank is out with its annual list of "Best Places for Business and Careers."

Of 200 metro areas, Albany ranks 64th.

Rochester, ranked 33rd, leads New York cities, while Poughkeepsie grabbed the 53rd spot.

It's an odd list.

New York City, a magnet for the world's most ambitious people, is ranked 113th, while while Raleigh, N.C.; Provo, Utah; and Boise, Idaho, occupy the top three spots, in that order.

The Capital Region scores well for colleges (21), crime rate (39), and educational attainment (42).

But the region scores poorly for job growth (134) and the cost of doing business (175).

The magazine has a seperate listing for smaller cities.

On that list of 179 metro areas, Ithaca is ranked 28th, Kingston is 75th and Glens Falls is 117th.

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"Albany judge subject of state investigation - Thomas Keefe allegedly aided his son twice during traffic stops by Albany police"

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, April 7, 2007

ALBANY -- A City Court judge is being investigated by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct over allegations he twice intervened when police stopped his son, including once when the youth had marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.

Investigators with the watchdog panel that oversees judges are looking into claims Albany City Court Judge Thomas Keefe persuaded Albany police to allow him to take his son from two traffic stops without formal charges.

He also is alleged to have left with some evidence.

"This is news to me," said Keefe, when he was reached at City Court on Friday.

"I don't know anything about the fact the commission is looking into me."

When confronted with the allegations against him, Keefe said, "I'm not going to make any comment."

The Times Union filed a request under the state Freedom of Information Law in January for the incident reports that police prepared after two traffic stops: one on Nov. 8, 2005, at 1:15 a.m. at Lawnridge and New Scotland avenues, and another on March 30, 2006, at 11:08 a.m. at Kent and West Erie streets.

Those reports were released by the Albany City Clerk in February, but Keefe's son's name had been redacted with a thick, black line.

The youth was 16 during the 2005 incident.

However, the name of a passenger in the 2006 incident was left visible.

That youth's age was redacted.

According to information provided about the 2005 incident, Officer John Joyce pulled the younger Keefe over for speeding at 1:15 a.m. and then released him at 1:55 a.m.

What is not reflected on the report are observations by Joyce and a back-up officer, Daniel Meehan.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation say the officers saw the younger Keefe put a small wooden box in his pocket, which contained a small amount of marijuana, and found a digital scale and some baggies under the seat.

The officers asked the youth if the judge was his father and suggested he call home.

Within minutes, the judge appeared at the traffic stop, asked the officers to release his son to him and he confiscated the drugs and paraphernalia, and they left.

In the 2006 incident, officers Erin Commerford and Michael Smith stopped the younger Keefe for speeding at 11:08 a.m.

The judge again went to his son's aid, according to a person familiar with the case.

According to the report the officers filed, he was sent on his way at 1:45 p.m.

Joyce, the patrol officer at the 2005 traffic stop, was questioned Wednesday by the state commission in its Albany office, said people who knew what occurred during that session.

Albany Police Chief James Tuffey said he had no knowledge of the investigation or the traffic stops.

"I don't know what happened, if anything happened," Tuffey said.

"But I have asked the head of internal affairs to be in my office first thing on Monday morning."

If Keefe is found to have used his position to benefit his son, the judicial conduct commission could opt for discipline ranging from censure to removal from the bench.

Keefe, who is 54, makes $108,800 annually.

Commission Chief Counsel Robert Tembeckjian, reached Friday, said he isn't allowed to comment.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at 434-2403 or by e-mail at mbolton@timesunion.com.

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And by way of some background as to what the constitutional budgeting process is in the State of New York ....

NY TIMES

"Court's Budget Ruling Hands Pataki a Big Victory"

By James C. McKinley, Jr.

January 18, 2002

Gov. George E. Pataki won an important victory in his constitutional battle with the Legislature when a State Supreme Court justice ruled that he, not lawmakers, had the authority to alter the language in spending bills.

Legislative leaders vowed to appeal the decision all the way to the state's highest court, but if today's ruling stands, it will greatly strengthen the governor's ability to dictate policy choices in the state budget.

It will also alter the traditional balance of power over the last 30 years in Albany, returning the state to a time when the Legislature did little more than rubber-stamp the governor's spending plans.

The crux of the case is whether the governor can insert policy changes into the descriptions of appropriations.

Governor Pataki sued the Legislature in August, contending that the State Constitution gives him the ultimate authority over how the state spends its $80 billion budget.

He argued that the Constitution allows him to insert changes to state law into appropriations bills and bars lawmakers from touching that language.

Two weeks earlier, the Legislature had passed a stripped-down version of Mr. Pataki's budget that omitted several long passages they argued should have been submitted as separate bills.

In those passages, the governor had, among other things, altered how school aid and health benefits would be distributed.

The lawmakers said Mr. Pataki had overstepped his authority.

But Justice Bernard J. Malone, Jr. of Albany ruled today in the governor's favor, saying the Constitution and previous court decisions unequivocally gave the executive the power to include policy changes in the descriptions of appropriations.

In essence, Justice Malone said Article VII, Section III of the Constitution gives the governor the choice of folding any policy changes he thinks necessary to carry out his spending plan into the budget bill or submitting those changes in separate bills.

He ruled that the Legislature's contention that appropriation bills should consist only of a list of numbers with short descriptions of their purpose would render that part of the Constitution meaningless.

Justice Malone also upheld previous court decisions that the Legislature can only strike out an entire appropriation, reduce its amount or add a new appropriation, but may not change the description.

He said the Legislature has only one other power: to reject the budget entirely.

"They can simply fail to enact into law the governor's appropriation bills and the resulting deadlock, if a compromise cannot be reached, will cause public pressure to build to the point where these political questions will be settled in the voting booth and not in the courtroom," Justice Malone wrote, referring to an earlier decision, Saxton v. Carey.

But the judge also seemed to invite the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, to make a clearer ruling on whether the Legislature could strike out language it saw as extraneous to the budget.

He also stayed his decision until a higher court can review it.

The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, called the ruling "a very bizarre decision" and vowed to appeal it.

The Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, also denounced it and pledged that the Legislature would "continue to defend its rights as they pertain to writing and passing a state budget."

Joseph conway, a spokesman for the governor, said: "We are pleased that justice Malone's decision clearly recognizes the executive's strong voice in the constitutional budgetary process."

The state's current budget-making system was drawn up during a redrafting of the Constitution in 1927, at a time when the public had grown tired with the Legislature's penchant for spending.

The changes were refined again in a 1938 revision.

Those amendments gave the governor the power to write and submit appropriations bills as well as others needed to carry out the budget and severely limited the Legislature's ability to change the appropriations.

The governor was given the power to veto any additions, but the legislature was barred from passing other appropriations until they took "final action" on the governor's bills.

As a practical matter, however, the legislators did change the governor's proposals, especially as strong leaders began to assert their influence in the last three decades.

That ended in 1993, when the state's highest court ruled in New York Banker's Association v. Wetzler that lawmakers could change only the numbers in appropriation bills, not desriptions of an item's purposes.

Lawyers for the Senate and Assembly have said the governor is circumventing the power of the Legislature to make laws.

They maintain, for instance, that a governor could put in a sum for road-building and then say a specific company should be used, rendering state contrating laws moot.

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"Education official put on leave after stock ownership revealed"

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:12 p.m., Friday, April 6, 2007

WASHINGTON -- A Department of Education official who oversaw the student loan industry and owned at least $100,000 worth of stock in a student loan company has been placed on leave, a department spokeswoman said Friday.

Matteo Fontana, who keeps an eye on lenders and guarantee agencies that participate in the Federal Family Education Loan Program, was placed on leave with pay a day after his ownership of stock in Education Lending Group Inc. was disclosed by Higher Ed Watch, part of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank.

The case has been referred to the department's inspector general, John Higgins, said department spokeswoman Katherine McLane.

At issue is whether Fontana violated department conflict of interest rules.

McLane also said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has asked for Lawrence Burt to resign from the department's Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance.

That panel provides guidance to Congress and the secretary of education on student financial aid policy.

Burt, associate vice president and director of student financial aid at the University of Texas at Austin, is under investigation by the UT System Office of General Counsel regarding allegations of impropriety.

Securities and Exchange Commission records indicated Burt also owned 1,500 shares in Education Lending Group Inc., the former parent company of Student Loan Xpress.

The company was on UT's preferred lender list, but Burt, who sold the shares in 2003, denied that his stock ownership had any connection to that listing.

Student Loan Xpress is now part of CIT Group Inc., one of several lenders targeted by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in his probe of the student lending industry.

Cuomo is investigating allegations of possible kickbacks to school officials for steering students to certain lenders.

Cuomo's investigators say they have found numerous arrangements that benefited schools and lenders at the expense of students.

His office on Friday issued new subpoenas to CIT Group Inc. and Student Loan Xpress, seeking information on stock and gifts made by the company or its subsidiaries to federal or state government officials.

The office also sent subpoenas to SLM Corp., commonly known as Sallie Mae, for information on any current or former Sallie Mae employees who worked at the Education Department over the past six years, said Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim.

Cuomo's office has begun its own investigation into Fontana and is meeting with Department of Education investigators about the case next week, Milgrim said.

Fontana worked at Sallie Mae from 1994 to 2001, according to Sallie Mae spokesman Tom Joyce.

Fontana did not respond to messages, and the Education Department's press office declined to make him available for comment.

Fontana, a career employee, has worked at the department since 2002.

He is the general manager of Financial Partners, an office involved in overseeing the federal student loan program.

In September 2003, Fontana worked as a deputy in that office.

SEC records show Fontana had at least 10,500 shares of Education Lending Group Inc. in September 2003.

The shares were valued around $9.50 each at the time, according to Cuomo's office.

The Education Department would not say whether Fontana still owns the stock.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called Friday's action by the Department of Education swift and appropriate.

"With American families struggling to put their children through college, we owe it to them to end corruption and conflicts of interest when it comes to student loans," he said.

Kennedy has said he wants to trim federal subsidies to banks that make student loans.

The subsidies are designed to guarantee lenders a rate of return that makes student lending profitable.

Michael Dannenberg, director of education policy at the New America Foundation, said the subsidies are excessive and the industry's stake in them led to some of the alleged conflicts.

"What's happening is the banks appear to be giving a taste of the corporate welfare in the system to some colleges, some college administrators and maybe even some people in the Department of Education in order to secure business," Dannenberg said.

------

Associated Press Writer Mark Johnson contributed to this report from Albany, N.Y.

[Livyjr]

"Empire Zone yields secrets after suit - Capital Region companies get $38M in breaks annually, newly released data show"

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

First published: Sunday, April 8, 2007

ALBANY -- New York state's Empire Zone economic development program provides a windfall of tax breaks to hundreds of Capital Region companies -- to the tune of about $38 million a year.

That information had been a well-kept state government secret until recently, when The Post-Standard of Syracuse successfully sued the state to make statewide Empire Zone data from 2003 to 2005 public.

Empire Zones were created in 1986 by the state to help stimulate economic growth in poor areas with high unemployment.

The Post-Standard had sought the data through the state's Freedom of Information Law in 2005, and a judge ruled in the newspaper's favor in February.

Empire State Development Corp., the state economic development agency that runs the Empire Zone program, released the data to the public last month.

Information gathered by the Times Union last week reveals that from 2003 to 2005, Capital Region companies were given more than $112 million in tax breaks through Empire Zones.

During that time, those companies created nearly 9,500 new jobs.

To qualify for the various tax breaks and credits available, businesses typically must be located in an Empire Zone and create jobs or make investments that will enhance the local economy.

Incentives include sales, wage, investment and property tax breaks.

And although business leaders praise the program and the benefits they have received over the years, the program has come under fire recently from consumer advocates who say that taxpayer money is being wasted.

About 1,000 local companies have been certified under the program, although not all receive benefits, state data show.

State economic development officials under Gov. Eliot Spitzer are looking at possible changes to the program, which was significantly expanded and widely used under Gov. George Pataki's administration.

"We are aware of the criticisms of how the Empire Zones program has been administered," said A.J. Carter, a spokesman with Empire State Development.

"We know we can, and will, do a better job going forward."

Since January, the management consulting firm A.T. Kearney has been developing a new strategic plan for Empire State Development -- at no cost to the state -- and looking closely at its economic development programs.

"Empire Zones is one of those programs," Carter said.

"We are awaiting their recommendations."

That's not to say the program hasn't helped tremendously to stimulate the Capital Region's economy, which suffered with the disappearance of manufacturing during the late-20th century but has been energized over the past decade with the promise of the growing number of technology companies and startups.

One of the companies aided by the Empire Zone program is SuperPower Inc. of Schenectady.

SuperPower is developing and manufacturing high-temperature superconducting wire that could revolutionize power lines used by electric companies.

The technology -- which has billions of dollars in potential -- is years away from acceptance, and SuperPower has been spending millions of dollars on research and development, and on expanding its manufacturing operation.

So far, it hasn't posted a profit.

Its spending on equipment and other capital projects alone since 2000 has reached $20 million.

The company, which is owned by Philips Medical Systems but is seeking to spin itself off in a possible sale, employs 60 people and earned $432,000 in tax breaks through the Schenectady Glenville Empire Zone in 2005, after getting more than $500,000 in total benefits during the two previous years.

SuperPower President Philip Pellegrino said those tax breaks have loomed large in the company's drive to commercialization.

"Every single dollar counts," Pellegrino said.

"It is an extraordinary benefit."

Another local technology company, Crystal IS Inc., has reaped a much smaller amount of Empire Zone benefits -- about $20,000 from 2003 to 2005.

But founder and chief technology officer Leo Schowalter said the company's decision to move to the Island Park business park in Green Island in 2005 was largely influenced by low real estate costs made possible by an Empire Zone.

The park, which is owned by the Galesi Group of Rotterdam, sits in an Empire Zone, and Galesi is able to pass on those benefits to tenants in the form of lower rent, he said.

Crystal IS, which makes materials used by the semiconductor industry, employs 23 people.

"Our biggest criterion was cost per square foot," Schowalter said.

An entity called Green Island Properties LLC, which is associated with the Island Park business park and shares the Galesi Group's address, according to state records, received nearly $350,000 in Empire Zone benefits in 2005.

David Buicko, Galesi's chief operating officer, wasn't available for comment.

Not all companies receiving Empire Zone benefits are creating jobs.

Brookfield Power, a Canadian company that owns the School Street hydroelectric power station on the Mohawk River in Cohoes, receives about $1.3 million in tax breaks each year from the Albany County Empire Zone.

State records show that less than one full-time job was created at the site between 2003 and 2005.

But Brookfield, which acquired the 38-megawatt power plant in 2004, said it receives the tax benefits because of the investments it has made in the facility, which include $2.5 million over the past few years, and its continued employment of 13 people at the site.

The company also plans as much as $25 million in upgrades in the next five years.

"Easily, there has been a good return for Albany County," said Tom Uncher, general manager for Brookfield's Hudson River operations.

"It (Empire Zone status) was essential to the future of the facility."

Indeed, Empire Zone benefits can be earned from either the creation of new jobs or investments made in the zone, according to program guidelines.

The Empire Zone program also helped to attract Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County.

Although the state has offered AMD $650 million in cash to build a $3.2 billion computer chip factory on the site, which is located within Saratoga County's Empire Zone, AMD would also be eligible for $250 million in Empire Zone tax breaks if it goes ahead with its plan.

A decision by AMD is expected as soon as this summer.

Ken Green, president of the Saratoga Economic Development Corp., the nonprofit that manages Luther Forest, said Empire Zone benefits were a major factor in AMD's decision, which was announced last June as the largest private-sector industrial investment in state history.

"Without it, the project would have gone to Singapore or Dresden (Germany)," Green said.

Not everyone likes the program.

Ron Deutsch, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, an Albany-based state spending watchdog group, said the Empire Zones have been mismanaged, and companies often don't live up to their job-growth commitments.

Others reincorporate themselves under a different name to get benefits they otherwise wouldn't receive, he said.

"We've ruined this program, in my opinion," Deutsch said.

"Either the program needs to be completely reformed or just scrapped."

Deutsch said he would like to see the tax benefits going to Empire Zone companies used to make the entire state more competitive for businesses -- something that would trickle down to all businesses, not a select few.

Matthew Maguire, a spokesman for the Business Council of New York State, a business advocacy group in Albany, said "there are questions about whether the overall program is an efficient use of state resources."

He stressed that the program allows the state to compete with business incentive programs offered by other states that often have lower taxes and lower business costs.

But the council does support looking at the program's costs and possibly making changes to it.

"Going forward, we need to do more to improve the state's overall economic competitiveness," he said.

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

[Livyjr]

"Empire Zone yields secrets after suit - Capital Region companies get $38M in breaks annually, newly released data show"

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

First published: Sunday, April 8, 2007

Matthew Maguire, a spokesman for the Business Council of New York State, a business advocacy group in Albany, said "there are questions about whether the overall program is an efficient use of state resources."

"Going forward, we need to do more to improve the state's overall economic competitiveness," he said.

"Pataki loyalists saw big raises - Records show a number of appointees were given pay increases well beyond the norm by a departing governor"

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

First published: Sunday, April 8, 2007

ALBANY -- Former Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue's chief of staff, Karin Kennett, landed a job as an executive in an agency that is one of the most important in Gov. Eliot Spitzer's war on Medicaid fraud.

As the first deputy inspector general in the Medicaid Inspector General's Office, Kennett, 34, late last year joined a line of Pataki loyalists trooping to high-paying posts just before Pataki's 12-year reign ended.

According to records provided by the Division of the Budget under the Freedom of Information Law, more than 400 appointees, or "exempts," got raises in the last six months of the Republican governor's tenure.

That's not unusual, officials say, but a closer look shows numerous appointees received double-digit percent raises, well beyond the norm.

Many of those were above 40 percent.

Appointees serve at the governor's pleasure.

Pataki's former appointments officer, Robert Bulman, said most of those people were given promotions, sometimes filling the jobs of bosses who departed for the private sector, and the raises and promotions were appropriate to keep government running efficiently for the new administration.

He acknowledged that some of the movement helped long-serving and worthy staffers continue their state careers.

The raises have an impact on state finances in many ways.

For instance, when an employee ends state service, he cashes out unused vacation pay (up to 30 days) based on his current salary.

Also, benefits involving unused sick pay and pensions are more expensive for the state if someone's pay rises.

Beyond that, Kennett is employed at an important state agency.

When Spitzer on Friday named James G. Sheehan, an associate U.S. attorney, to be the new Medicaid inspector general the governor emphasized the responsibility:

"New York state's health care spending is the highest in the nation and our system requires dramatic reform."

Among the last to find new posts in state government, Kennett, a former spokeswoman for the state Republican committee, got a $90,000-a-year position with the Medicaid IG on New Year's Eve.

She was one of 12 Pataki administration employees who got jobs in the IG's office in the final months of 2006.

The unit is hiring dozens of people as it ramps up to meet challenges of cracking down on fraud, waste and abuse in the $47 billion Medicaid system.

If it does not recover specific sums of money each year, the state will have to return federal aid sent to New York to develop the anti-fraud unit.

The penalties could reach $500 million.

Further, Spitzer is counting on the unit to recover $430 million this year alone by stamping out fraud and abuse, up $130 million from last year, to help balance the budget.

So every hire is important, administration officials say.

Kennett, whose pay rose marginally, switched jobs just as newly elected Lt. Gov. David Paterson brought in his own team of staffers to the office where she worked.

Her colleagues also received soft landings at the Medicaid IG's quarters in Menands at the end of December:

Diana Meier, a confidential stenographer for Pataki, on Christmas became a $60,000 executive assistant at the IG's office before Spitzer took his oath of office.

She'd been making $51,958.

Erin Dahlmeyer, an executive chamber program associate, became a research associate at the IG office.

Her salary rose a few dollars to $77,000, but the previous incumbent in the slot had been paid $55,000, according to the records.

Recently departed Acting Medicaid IG David R. Ross praised all the new employees and said several resumes arrived from the governor's office and he acted to fill posts at the fast-growing office.

"Whenever the governor's office says, 'Do you need more people?' the answer is always yes -- a quality person."

"Everybody's happy."

Ross had been a top counsel at the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services for eight years before taking a job under the first Medicaid IG, Kimberly O'Connor, who is now a Court of Claims judge.

Ross and Susanne Alterio, of the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform, both became $120,000-per-year deputy Medicaid IGs last year and received big pay raises -- nearly $18,000 for Ross and $27,400 for Alterio.

Indeed, most of the jobs at the IG provided substantial raises.

Ross said that is partly because the new agency is trying to lure people from inside and outside government to a new entity.

Big raises occurred in other agencies, too.

For instance, at the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, Pataki appointed the wife of one of his top aides as director.

Eileen Natoli arrived in March 2006 at a salary of $130,000, after essentially being unemployed.

Her pay jumped to $133,000 by April.

Natoli is a former Schodack town supervisor, and is the wife of James Natoli, who was Pataki's director of disaster preparedness and response.

Under her, a new secretary was recruited, Dawn Seibert, from the comptroller's office.

She received a $16,000 increase in pay to $52,000, even though the former employee in the post made $44,349.

And Keith Corneau, a $78,000 energy policy specialist at the Department of Economic Development, was brought in at $121,500 to help the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform develop a clean coal initiative, a top priority of Pataki's.

His $43,500 increase stands out among the DOB records.

Bulman said new commissioners often rearrange staff, and end-of-term vacancies are tough to fill.

"It was incredibly difficult to attract people to come in," he said, adding that Natoli was a "known commodity" needed to spearhead the new energy initiative.

An indication of her value, he said, is that she has been retained by the new director of the agency as a special assistant, but at the reduced salary of $115,000.

Bulman, whose salary jumped last April to $165,000 from $154,500, did note that it was unusual for him to authorize raises above $10,000.

Yet several people received income boosts beyond that threshold.

For instance, Matthew Millea received a $15,000 raise when his pay jumped to $138,000 as executive vice president of the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp.

Bulman said Millea was the No. 2 person in the agency and supervised subordinates making more than the $123,600 he was paid until his raise in September.

And Matthew Andrus, deputy secretary of state, who preceded Kennett as the lieutenant governor's top staffer, got a $15,000 raise, bringing his pay to $115,541 last August.

"As the administration was winding down, and folks were leaving to pursue other employment opportunities, it was critical that we had competent and capable people at the helm."

"Their salaries were on par with what their predecessors' were," said Bulman, now a business developer for a major engineering firm.

He said he tried to find good fits for people on the governor's staff who deserved state employment.

As an example, he said a secretary, Jessica Babbie, who worked in the governor's office for years, wanted to return to Plattsburgh.

In October, she took a job with the Department of Economic Development's regional office there as an executive assistant at $45,000, a raise of $7,872 from her Albany job.

Other notables who got raises include former Assembly Minority Leader Charles Nesbitt.

The Republican leader's pay as president of the Tax Appeals Tribunal rose last June to $142,400 from $129,952, also more than the $10,000 upper threshold.

The niece of Assemblyman Dan Burling, who tried to oust Nesbitt in a failed coup, also got a raise.

Office of General Services spokeswoman Christine Burling, hired in 2002 amid Pataki's hiring freeze as a $33,000-per-year stenographer, saw her salary jump to $81,000 from $71,200.

Among other public information officers, her raise was not the most notable: Department of Health spokesman Marc Carey's pay rose to $110,000 from $93,080 in September after he was transferred from the Department of Civil Service.

A few weeks earlier, the man he replaced had received a raise: Rob Kenny's pay had climbed to $100,790 from $95,790.

And then he quit.

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

[Livyjr]

"Cost of charter schools puts Albany in spiraling tax trap"

Fred LeBrun, Political Analyst, Albany, new York Times Union

First published: Sunday, April 8, 2007

Albany taxpayers, brace yourselves.

Conventional wisdom has it that the recently completed state budget was flush with money for public education, and that is mostly true.

Historic increases in aid were given across the board, especially to high-needs school districts, and credit for that belongs to Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

In addition, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno was able to arm-twist the governor out of even more for the traditionally high-taxed districts on Long Island and elsewhere.

So everybody made out.

Well, almost almost everybody.

The Albany school district did not.

Remember, during his State of the State address, the governor singled out the Albany and Buffalo school districts as deserving a bunch more aid to compensate for an excessive number of taxpayer-killing charter schools imposed on them.

The governor, for reasons that continue to baffle and irritate upstaters, also insisted on raising the cap on the number of these abominations.

He got his wish, 100 more.

But true to the promise, there was $2.5 million in transition aid to compensate.

For what?

For an unbelievable eight charter schools approved for Albany next year, with 19 percent of the district's students attending.

Drawing off $10,176 per pupil.

By the year 2010, nine charters are scheduled to be up and running in the city, potentially drawing off 35 percent of the student population.

Talk about a selective alternate-choice experiment gone berserk.

What Albany is doing even now, and struggling to do so, is support two separate school districts.

One set of taxpayers, two school districts.

Superintendent Eva Joseph estimates that in the next school year, the district would need $14.7 million in transition aid alone to stay even, not $2.5 million.

And she insists those are not casual figures thrown out to shock.

They are careful calculations on the conservative side by the district's business department, adding up the fixed expenses for the district on a per pupil basis, whether they attend charters or regular public schools.

That is some disparity.

Guess who has to make up the difference?

Joseph finds herself between several rocks, and several hard places.

On the one hand, she notes the district got $7.1 million in extra school aid beyond the transition aid, and she is grateful for that.

But some of the extra aid is earmarked for pre-k programs that haven't started yet, and the total is still far short of what the district needs.

There are only so many notches in the belt to tighten.

In the last two years, the district has eliminated 105 positions.

Every time it loses 25 pupils, it drops a teacher; at every 50, an additional support staff; at every 500, an administrator.

Critics suggest selling one or more of the elementary schools.

Joseph says to do so is premature.

For one, the elementaries are all and the taxpayers are paying off the bonds over 30 years.

Selling them gains nothing.

For another, keeping neighborhood schools is important to the city's social fabric.

And more importantly, if New Covenant charter school fails at some point, which has been rumored for years, the school district would be required to absorb 750 to 900 youngsters overnight.

The district can mothball a few schools, maybe, but they have to be ready.

But the worst dilemma of all financially is that the district is caught in a spiraling trap.

It has to be competitive and improve, and it can't do that by cutting all the time.

Besides, to receive even the $2.5 million, the district had to sign up for the governor's Contract for Excellence, and must meet certain benchmark standards --or be penalized and lose more aid. Catch 22.

What the superintendent says the district desperately needs -- deserves -- is a tailor-made charter school compensation package from the state Legislature that recognizes the realities of Albany's nearly unique situation.

Buffalo deserves one too, she says.

As proof she points this out: The new onerous benchmark for any school district in terms of possibly putting a brake on charter schools is when enrollment reaches 5 percent of the district's student population.

Next year, Albany taxpayers will be funding four times that.

At the moment, the district is cranking up the numbers for the upcoming school budget vote.

It will not be pretty.

As I said, brace yourselves.

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

[Livyjr]

NY TIMES - The Empire Zone

"A Budget That Covers All the Bases"

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: April 9, 2007

ALBANY — While state lawmakers give taxpayer money to anti-gun organizations in the new budget, they also give grants to gun and hunting clubs.

Then there is $2,000 for nut allergy awareness, $100,000 for a soccer hall of fame and $10,000 for a boxing hall of fame, not to mention $5,000 for a roller hockey club in Lynbrook, on Long Island, and much more for Little League and Pop Warner football teams throughout the state, depending on legislators’ clout.

Lawmakers also give tens of thousands of dollars to interest groups like AARP and the Empire State Pride Agenda, which lobby elected officials.

Yes, there is pork aplenty in the first budget passed under Gov. Eliot Spitzer — $170 million worth of pet projects divvied up by the Assembly and the Senate in a budget with a spending increase three times the rate of inflation.

Still, after several years during which pork-barrel spending was decided behind closed doors by George E. Pataki and the legislative leaders, pet projects are once again being delineated line by line.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has also set up new procedures for vetting the projects.

On the other hand, there are no details identifying who sponsored any particular spending item in the budget or what the item is being used for, though each is identified by party and as coming from either the Senate or Assembly.

There are some familiar recipients, including the Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, a Jewish charity closely tied to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Ohel and affiliated groups receive more than $1 million in the new budget.

Consistency can be a casualty.

So, for instance, the Colonial Rifle and Pistol Club, on Staten Island, gets $5,000 from one lawmaker while New Yorkers Against Gun Violence gets $4,500 from another.

Senate Republicans are sending $50,000 of taxpayer funds to Safari Club International, a Tucson-based hunting organization that among other things supports removing grizzly bears and gray wolves from the endangered species list.

With the Legislature on vacation for the first two weeks of April, a Senate spokesman was not able to provide further details.

Christina Perez, a spokeswoman for Safari, said most of the money would be used to teach children about firearms safety and to help pay for a prisoner rehabilitation program that the group helps run at the Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica, N.Y.

“The last $5,000 goes for wood for their blue-boxes program,” Ms. Perez said of Safari’s New York affiliate.

“They build nests for bluebirds and give them away.”

DANNY HAKIM

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

[Livyjr]

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

April 9, 2007, 9:22 am

"The Resilient Pork Barrel"

By Danny Hakim

From The Empire Zone notebook published today: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

While state lawmakers give taxpayer money to anti-gun organizations in the new budget, they also give grants to gun and hunting clubs.

Then there is $2,000 for nut allergy awareness, $100,000 for a soccer hall of fame and $10,000 for a boxing hall of fame, not to mention $5,000 for a roller hockey club in Lynbrook, on Long Island, and much more for Little League and Pop Warner football teams throughout the state, depending on legislators’ clout.

Lawmakers also give tens of thousands of dollars to interest groups like AARP and the Empire State Pride Agenda, which lobby elected officials.

Yes, there is pork aplenty in the first budget passed under Gov. Eliot Spitzer — $170 million worth of pet projects divvied up by the Assembly and the Senate in a budget with a spending increase three times the rate of inflation.

Still, after several years during which pork-barrel spending was decided behind closed doors by George E. Pataki and the legislative leaders, pet projects are once again being delineated line by line.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has also set up new procedures for vetting the projects.

On the other hand, there are no details identifying who sponsored any particular spending item in the budget or what the item is being used for, though each is identified by party and as coming from either the Senate or Assembly.

There are some familiar recipients, including the Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, a Jewish charity closely tied to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Ohel and affiliated groups receive more than $1 million in the new budget.

Consistency can be a casualty.

So, for instance, the Colonial Rifle and Pistol Club, on Staten Island, gets $5,000 from one lawmaker while New Yorkers Against Gun Violence gets $4,500 from another.

Senate Republicans are sending $50,000 of taxpayer funds to Safari Club International, a Tucson-based hunting organization that among other things supports removing grizzly bears and gray wolves from the endangered species list.

1 comment so far...

April 9th, 2007 3:29 pm

With respect to this “PORK” in the present state budget, which represents an unlawful and unconstitutional looting of our state treasury by the governor and the Legislature, back on January 18, 2002, this newspaper published an article entitled “Court’s Budget Ruling Hands Pataki a Big Victory” by James C. McKinley, Jr., wherein was stated:

“The state’s current budget-making system was drawn up during a redrafting of the Constitution in 1927, at a time when the public had grown tired with the Legislature’s penchant for spending.”

1927, of course, was exactly 100 years ago, now, when America was poised to enter into the “Great Depression”, and here we are once again, in the year 2007, 89 years after our state Constitution was amended in 1938 by We, THE PEOPLE to end the ability of the NYS Legislature to loot our state treasury and hand us the bill for the looting, and it is as if nothing had ever happened back in 1938, at all …

And any lessons that might have been conveyed to the public in NYS in that January 18, 2002 NYT article mentioned above here are apparently long since forgotten, if they were ever heeded in the first place, since here we are, 5 years later, and once again, we are being screwed by the NYS Legislature as it once again loots our state treasury to provide all of this PORK, at our expense …

With respect to any and all expenditures of what are OUR tax dollars, sect. 7 of ART. VII of OUR state Constitution provides:

§ 7. No money shall ever be paid out of the state treasury or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two years next after the passage of such appropriation act; and every such law making a new appropriation or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object or purpose to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum.

From what I have read on this issue this morning, the Legislature has in fact failed to comply with the constitutional language of sect. 7 of OUR state Constitution above here, in that “the object or purpose” to which this PORK money is to be applied is not mentioned in any of the appropriations bills, which then brings us to sect. 8 of ART. VII of OUR State Constitution, wherein is stated:

§ 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.

Applying that constitutional standard to the list of PORK that I was viewing this morning, which is reiterated in your article above here, it would appear that much of it is unlawful and unconstitutional ….

So in reality, nothing at all has changed in NYS since 1927, with respect to Legislature’s continued penchant for spending …

And craven fools that we are in this state, once again, we will simply allow this looting of our state treasury to happen, without a whimper on our part, as once again we are handed the bill for this looting of our state treasury to provide all of this illegal PORK …

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...barrel/#respond

[Livyjr]

"Chief judge faults 'Albany politics' - Kaye complains of 'shabby treatment' on salaries for the bench"

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

Last updated: 2:43 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2007

ALBANY - Blaming "Albany politics" for holding up pay raises for New York judges, Chief Judge Judith Kaye on Monday did not rule out a lawsuit to force bigger paychecks.

"It is nothing short of disgraceful that we have been brought to this point, that for more than eight years, longer than any other judges in America - likely longer than any workers in any field - New York state judges, for no reason other than Albany politics, have been denied even a cost-of-living adjustment to their salaries," Kaye said in a speech at a noon news conference at the Court of Appeals.

She complained of "shabby treatment" of judges and said she is writing to the four legislative leaders, asking for a chance to speak directly to their members in a call for greater pay.

She also said she she may take administrative action to hike salaries if the state comptroller and attorney general say she has the authority to do so, but she has rejected a call by some judges to unionize or boycott work.

"If there is no action on judicial salaries before the Legislature adjourns in June, the only remaining course of action available to us may well be to institute litigation," Kaye said.

Judges pay has been linked to legislative pay raises, but lawmakers have been unwilling to vote to increase their own compensation given the unpopularity of doing so with voters.

Money for judges pay raises - a total of $111 million - was stripped by the Legislature from Gov. Eliot Spitzer's budget plan.

Kaye, who is paid $156,000 annually, wants a raise retroactive two years for all judges that would make up for some of the 23 percent reduction in their spending power because of inflation since the last raise in 1999.

[Livyjr]

"Kaye says lack of pay raise hurts courts, considers lawsuit"

By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:33 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2007

ALBANY -- The state's top judge on Monday said the Legislature's failure to give judges a raise since 1999 is threatening to undermine the judicial system and held out the possibility of a lawsuit to achieve long-sought raises.

Chief Judge Judith Kaye's arguments for judicial raises have been rebuffed by the Legislature for years.

Judicial and legislative raises have traditionally occurred at the same time, but the pay hike for lawmakers is always one of the most politically sensitive issues in Albany.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer had included a judicial pay increase in his budget proposal, but the increase was tied to the creation of a commission backed by Kaye that would consider the pay levels of all three branches of government.

The measure was not included in the final budget accepted by the Legislature and governor.

Kaye wants to raise the salary of state Supreme Court justices, the main trial judges, to $165,200 a year, the same amount made by comparable federal court judges.

Higher ranking appellate court judges would earn more.

Supreme Court judges now earn $136,700 a year, which she said is less than many first-year associates at major New York City law firms.

Kaye said judges cannot maintain public confidence if the there are questions whether their decisions are influenced by efforts to encourage pay raises and said the lack of adequate pay keeps the best lawyers from entering public service.

She noted that some judges have already left the bench for better earnings.

"It is nothing short of disgraceful that we have been brought to this point, that for more than eight years, longer than any other judges in America -- likely longer than any workers in any field -- New York state judges, for no other reason than Albany politics, have been denied even a cost-of-living adjustment to their salaries," she said.

Kaye said she would "exhaust every possible option" before filing a lawsuit.

She said she would first try to meet with lawmakers to press for pay raises, order an independent assessment of the state's judicial pay to press her case and consider issuing an administrative order to give judges a boost in pay or an additional stipend.

She has asked the offices of the attorney general and state comptroller for their opinions on ordering an immediate pay hike under her office's powers.

Kaye, however, said she was reluctant to make such a move because it could compromise the judiciary's credibility.

"The governor agrees with the chief judge that the Legislature should pass a bill granting a pay raise to the judiciary," Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said.

"We had hoped to see it included in the enacted budget, but will work with the chief judge and the legislative leaders to help advance this during the legislative session."

Mark Hansen, spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, said the Senate was supportive of Kaye's plan and that it was "still something the Senate is open to discussing" before the end of the Legislative session in June.

Charles Carrier, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said Silver is "committed" to getting the judges a pay raise before the end of the session.

--------

Associated Press Writer Michael Gormley contributed to this story.

--------

On the Net:

New York state Unified Court System: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/home.htm

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...wsdate=4/9/2007

[Livyjr]

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

April 9, 2007, 4:52 pm

"No Raises for Justices, No Peace"

By Michael Cooper

The judges are crying out for justice.

Judith S. Kaye, the chief judge for the State of New York, held an extraordinary new conference in Albany on Monday to lament the fact that the long-delayed raise for the state’s judges was delayed again this year when it was left out of the budget agreement between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature.

Judge Kaye said that if no action is taken by June on judicial salaries, which have not gone up since 1998, “the only remaining course of action available to us may well be to institute litigation.’’ (Which would, of course, be decided by…judges.)

The sticking point, of course, is Albany horse-trading.

Everyone says they favor pay raises for judges.

But the State Legislature wants to tie a pay raise for judges to a pay raise for itself.

And Governor Spitzer has made it clear that he does not support a pay raise for the Legislature until they show that they have earned it (presumably by acting on some of the bills that he thinks should be passed).

So no one gets a raise.

Judge Kaye used unusually blunt language to call for the raise:

“It is nothing short of disgraceful that we have been brought to this point, that for more than eight years, longer than any other judges in America – likely longer than any workers in any field – New York State judges, for no reason other than Albany politics, have been denied even a cost-of-living adjustment to their salaries.’’

1 comment so far...

April 9th, 2007 7:08 pm

This is indeed a strange story above here concerning these judicial pay raises for several reasons, not the least of which is a statement in a story this afternoon in the upstate Albany Times Union entitled “Chief judge faults ‘Albany politics’ - Kaye complains of ’shabby treatment’ on salaries for the bench” by JAMES M. ODATO, TU Capitol bureau last updated: 2:43 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2007 that:

“She (Judge Kaye) also said she she may take administrative action to hike salaries if the state comptroller and attorney general say she has the authority to do so, but she has rejected a call by some judges to unionize or boycott work.”

As Chief Judge of the NYS Court of Appeals, one would think that Judge Kaye would know the law and the requirements of state Constitution concerning pay raises for state judges better than either the NYS comptroller or the attorney general, especially in light of the language of sect. 1 of ART. VII of the state Constitution concerning that very issue:

Section 1. For the preparation of the budget, the head of each department of state government, except the legislature and judiciary, shall furnish the governor such estimates and information in such form and at such times as the governor may require, copies of which shall forthwith be furnished to the appropriate committees of the legislature.

*****

Itemized estimates of the financial needs of …. the judiciary, approved by the court of appeals and certified by the chief judge of the court of appeals, shall be transmitted to the governor not later than the first day of December in each year for inclusion in the budget without revision but with such recommendations as the governor may deem proper.

Copies of the itemized estimates of the financial needs of the judiciary also shall forthwith be transmitted to the appropriate committees of the legislature.

Presumably, since Judge Kaye was the chief judge of the court of appeals on December 1st of last year, she did in fact comply with this constitutional requirement, which then begs the question of why she would now need to be seeking opinions on this matter from either the state comptroller or the state attorney general.

Then, in a subsequent article this same afternoon in the Albany TU entitled “Kaye says lack of pay raise hurts courts, considers lawsuit” by MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press, last updated: 4:33 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2007, it was further stated:

“Gov. Eliot Spitzer had included a judicial pay increase in his budget proposal, but the increase was tied to the creation of a commission backed by Kaye that would consider the pay levels of all three branches of government.”

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...wsdate=4/9/2007

Now, based on all of this, what it appears like is that what Chief Judge Judith Kaye was doing here with her press conference today, and with this commission of hers that would consider the pay levels of all three branches of government, is playing at blatant politics with this issue of judicial pay raises, which leads me to the thought that these state judges here in NYS cannot any longer maintain public confidence if there are now questions in the minds of us, the general public, as to whether their decisions are influenced by efforts to encourage pay raises, and that thought leads me to the further thought that it is indeed nothing short of disgraceful that WE, THE PEOPLE of the State of New York have been brought to this point of where we now have state judges talking of unionizing and conducting work slow-downs, instead of providing us with equal justice, as OUR state Constitution demands of them …

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...tices-no-peace/

[Livyjr]

"Kaye willing to sue for pay - State's top jurist calls Albany politics to blame for wage freeze as latest New York budget leaves out judicial salary bumps"

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

First published: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

ALBANY -- Blaming "Albany politics" for denying New York's 1,300 judges a pay raise, Chief Judge Judith Kaye on Monday said she's considering a lawsuit to force bigger paychecks.

"It is nothing short of disgraceful that we have been brought to this point," Kaye, the state's top judge for the past 14 years, said in a news conference at the Court of Appeals.

"For more than eight years, longer than any other judges in America -- likely longer than any workers in any field -- New York state judges, for no reason other than Albany politics, have been denied even a cost-of-living adjustment to their salaries."

Despite a two-year lobbying effort for raises, Kaye and her colleagues on the bench have been shut out, most recently with the new state budget.

It was enacted April 1 without $111.4 million Gov. Eliot Spitzer sought for pay hikes for judges retroactive to 2005.

Kaye said such "shabby treatment" of judges demands an offensive that could include suing Spitzer and lawmakers.

First, she said, she will write to the four legislative leaders asking for a chance to appeal directly to their members for greater pay.

She also will invite top leaders and Spitzer to meet to discuss the issue.

She also said she may take administrative action to hike pay if the state comptroller and attorney general say she has the authority to do so.

"If there is no action on judicial salaries before the Legislature adjourns in June, the only remaining course of action available to us may well be to institute litigation," Kaye said.

Judges are "wholly demoralized," she told reporters.

She delivered her speech in a room filled with members of the state's highest court, lawyers and representatives of business, district attorney and bar associations.

Some members of the judiciary have even called for unionizing, work stoppages or the right to take outside jobs, as legislators are allowed to do to augment their base pay of $79,500.

Lawmakers can also get sizable stipends for committee and leadership posts.

Judges' salaries were caught up in negotiations between Spitzer and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver during the budget talks, several sources said.

"We're getting into linking, and linking and linking here," said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director of the League of Women Voters.

The League agrees with Kaye that an independent commission must be set up to review and recommend pay raises for public officials, judges and lawmakers.

Pay hikes for judges have been linked historically to lawmakers' compensation, and both have been frozen since 1999.

Previously, when legislators voted themselves a pay hike they also approved raises for judges.

But members of both the Assembly and Senate have been unwilling to vote to fatten their paychecks, given the unpopularity of doing so.

As a result, Court of Appeals judges' pay is locked at $151,200.

Kaye's pay plan calls for an upgrade to $178,416 retroactive to April 1.

Appellate Division judges are paid $144,000, and Kaye wants an increase to $171,808.

State Supreme Court judges get $136,700, and Kaye wants that raised to $165,200, the same pay as a U.S. District Court judge.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. also has been complaining that U.S. judges are woefully underpaid, saying that makes it difficult to recruit the best and brightest.

Kaye, who is paid $156,000 annually, wants a raise, retroactive for two years, for all judges.

Assembly and Senate leaders say they are sympathetic and willing to revisit the issue in the weeks ahead.

"The Senate majority supports her bill," said Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, who has sponsored legislation for unilateral raises for judges, free of the historic ties to legislative pay raises.

"We wanted to get it done in the budget, but we didn't get support."

However, in its one-house budget, the Senate struck out the funding Spitzer called for.

The Assembly proposed only enough money for raises retroactive to this April.

"There's no question about it; if you want to call it Albany politics, there are certain forces that want to make sure that the Legislature gets its pay raise too," Farley said.

Darren Dopp, Spitzer's spokesman, said the governor backs Kaye's pitch, and said lawmakers could yet tackle the issue separately from the state budget.

"Even though the Legislature chose not to include pay increases in the final budget, they can pass a stand-alone bill," he said.

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

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...&TextPage=1

[Livyjr]

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

April 9, 2007, 4:52 pm

"No Raises for Justices, No Peace"

By Michael Cooper

The judges are crying out for justice.

Judith S. Kaye, the chief judge for the State of New York, held an extraordinary new conference in Albany on Monday to lament the fact that the long-delayed raise for the state’s judges was delayed again this year when it was left out of the budget agreement between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature.

Judge Kaye said that if no action is taken by June on judicial salaries, which have not gone up since 1998, “the only remaining course of action available to us may well be to institute litigation.’’ (Which would, of course, be decided by…judges.)

The sticking point, of course, is Albany horse-trading.

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...tices-no-peace/

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE COMMENTS:

2. April 10th, 2007 12:56 am

CHIEF JUDGE JUDITH S. KAYE HONORS HER SACRED OATH TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION BY SERVING NOTICE UPON HER CO-EQUAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT TO CURE THEIR FOUL BREACH OF THEIR SACRED OATH THAT NEW YORK SHALL HAVE AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY OR FACE A LAWSUIT THAT CONSTITUTIONALLY REPLENISHES JUDICIAL SALARY

The noble judiciary, state and federal, elective and appointive, our Founding Fathers decided needed to have a political birth, so as to avoid extreme judicial activism.

But they mandated a mechanism for an independent judiciary post-birth, either with life tenure, as with the federal Article III judges, or with long terms, as in New York and a salary that cannot be diminished.

The functioning of the judiciary is predicated upon their independence from politics as well as from their co-equal branches of government so that our separation of powers regime may work, and each judge in the appropriate case feels free to say “no” to power without fear or seeking favor.

Eight long years without even a cost of living increase has caused the1999 salary to be ravaged by corrosive inflation and to illegally pierce the Constitutional floor that bars salary “diminution;” salary protection is the gatekeeper to judicial independence while barring retribution by the co-equal branches of government when their laws are found unconstitutional.

In point of fact, the judiciary deserve a merit-based salary increase well beyond the number sought by the salary-frugal Chief Judge Kaye, dictated as it plainly is by the judges’ caseload shooting skyward.

Chief Justice Roberts has called for the federal judges to be paid approximately $225,000 as a floor for judicial independence that life tenure was meant to insure (judges exiting to earn a living wage damages judicial independence).

Surely, the cost of living in New York exceeds Ohio and New Mexico, while the talent and industry of our New York judges is renowned nationally!

Our Founding Fathers, leaving aside Governor Alfred E. Smith’s assumption of legislative budget power over 75 years ago, mandated that governance be split three-ways so that when it necessarily re-merged to govern, the people’s government would better serve the people.

Self-perpetuation was barred by the separated powers regime, but respectful equal co-dependency was mandated.

Here, the judiciary’s vital independence has been mugged, year after year for eight long years with a diminution in salary caused by a rising cost of living, sometimes higher than the inflation rate depending upon where the judge served in New York State.

Chief Judge Kaye has done everyday New Yorkers proud by standing up and asserting that we will continue to have an impartial and independent judiciary that fashions merit-based justice one case at a time, and in so doing, defended the Constitution and our cherished freedoms delivered everyday in courtrooms across New York State.

While no one can argue that those who toil in the executive and legislative branches of government also deserve a pay increase just to regain lost ground, but their similar condition isn’t constitutionally protected with a bar against diminution in salary as in the case of the judiciary, for they can cause gridlock to get what they want and delay budget passage past April 1 as we have experienced in the past.

The judiciary’s sole constitutional protection for being independent was that they cannot be punished with a salary decrease, as has occurred here over eight years.

This is a constitutional crisis that has left our noble judiciary financially bleeding, an insult that must addressed swiftly and respectfully.

The legacy of Chief Judge Kaye is enhanced in history as she valiantly does battle to protect the very honor of the judiciary: its vital independence.

Dated: 4/9/07
/s/
Ravi Batra

— Posted by Ravi Batra

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...peace/#comments

[Livyjr]

NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE COMMENTS:

3. April 10th, 2007 9:25 am

Emotional press conferences by Chief Judge Judith Kaye in a room filled with members of the state’s highest court, lawyers and representatives of business, district attorney and bar associations aside ….

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...sdate=4/10/2007

And flowery press releases by Ravi Batra aside, as well, the REAL ISSUE here has to do with restoring constitutional processes of government with respect to budgeting to WE, THE PEOPLE, who were not at all in attendance at this press conference, nor were we at all represented in this press conference called by Judge Kaye, which is quite a telling statement about where matters now lie in NYS with respect to the lack of independence and integrity of the court system in NYS, given that lawyers and representatives of business were in attendance at this press conference.

In 1996, in Ricky Brown et al. v. State of New York, 89 NY2d 172, the New York State Court of Appeals stated:

“Constitutions assign rights to individuals and impose duties on the government to regulate the government’s actions to protect them.”

“The underlying rationale for the decision, in simplest terms, is that constitutional guarantees are worthy of protection on their own terms without being linked to some common-law or statutory tort, and that the courts have the obligation to enforce these rights by ensuring that each individual receives an adequate remedy for violation of a constitutional duty.”

“If the remedy is not forthcoming from the political branches of government, then the courts must provide it by recognizing a damage remedy against the violators much the same as the courts earlier recognized and developed equitable remedies to enjoin unconstitutional actions.”

“Implicit in this reasoning is the premise that the Constitution is a source of positive law, not merely a set of limitations on government.”

IF Chief Judge Judith Kaye wishes to restore integrity to the state court system here in NYS, and if she wishes the people to believe that the court system here in NYS is not simply another willing mouthpiece for the politicians, perhaps what Judge Kaye should have done was to quote from OUR Constitution at this emotional press conference of hers, and she should not have been seen standing in a room full of lawyers and representatives of business while discussing “horse-trading” with the Legislature, which does not represent OUR interests as mere state citizens, and the “STEAMROLLER”, who is seen by WE, THE PEOPLE as having less integrity than the Legislature.

Judith Kaye appears to want money in her pocket a lot more than she seems interested in equal justice for us here in NYS, for which the sentiment out here in the countryside is that she and her court system are not worth a dime.

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...peace/#comments

[Livyjr]

"AP NewsBreak: Cuomo gets guilty plea from worker in state scam"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:24 p.m., Tuesday, April 10, 2007

ALBANY -- A well-paid veteran state employee pleaded guilty to grand larceny on Tuesday after scamming the state out of $1.2 million over more than eight years, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

Cuomo said James Leggiero faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced July 2 after pleading guilty to a felony count of first-degree grand larceny.

He also must reimburse the state for the $1.2 million, Cuomo said.

The arrest and plea Tuesday marked the first high-profile state ethics case brought by Cuomo's public integrity unit.

Democrat Cuomo, elected in November to replace Eliot Spitzer, had vowed to make public integrity a major part of the work of the attorney general's office.

"If there is corruption, we will be diligent in policing it," Cuomo told The Associated Press on Tuesday as Leggiero was pleading guilty.

Leggiero, 50, was a $79,000-a-year principal auditor for the state Office of Mental Health.

He had worked for the state since 1980.

Cuomo's investigators said Leggiero had created a company, Very Important Property Inc., that would bill the state office for phony site feasibility studies for its residential treatment program.

Leggiero would then approve the vouchers.

The scam allowed Leggiero to support a lavish lifestyle that included three homes and fancy automobiles, including a vintage 1958 Corvette.

Cuomo said Leggiero might have assets the state could claim immediately that could be worth "several hundred thousand dollars."

The attorney general also said the length of Leggiero's prison sentence may depend, in part, on how much restitution he can make now and what sort of plan he develops for paying off the rest of the debt.

Cuomo said that as part of the investigation he was also announcing the creation Tuesday of a toll-free hot line that can be used to report possible government corruption.

The new attorney general told the AP the Leggiero case was a clear sign that state agencies had to do a better job policing their own operations and have better checks and balances on state spending.

"This whole area of state operations, this is where the money is ... $50 billion a year."

"Follow the money," said Cuomo.

In fact, Leggiero was only caught after the state comptroller's office implemented a new system in November for reviewing the more than 20 million payments made each year by the state to various vendors.

"The payments turned up right away," said Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The case was referred to Cuomo by the comptroller's office in February.

"There was a problem with the internal controls at OMH," Cuomo told a news conference Tuesday afternoon when pressed about how the fraud could go undetected as long as it did.

"The good news is, it was found out," DiNapoli said.

"The Office of Mental Health is aggressively reviewing its internal control processes, and is implementing changes that have been identified to strengthen its financial systems," said OMH spokeswoman Jill Daniels when asked about Cuomo's criticism.

Leggiero was suspended without pay by OMH after Cuomo began his investigation.

As part of the plea agreement, Leggiero resigned, Cuomo spokesman John Milgim said.

------

AG's Public Integrity Hotline: 800-428-9072

[Livyjr]

“Constitutions assign rights to individuals and impose duties on the government to regulate the government’s actions to protect them.”

“If the remedy is not forthcoming from the political branches of government, then the courts must provide it by recognizing a damage remedy against the violators much the same as the courts earlier recognized and developed equitable remedies to enjoin unconstitutional actions.”

“Implicit in this reasoning is the premise that the Constitution is a source of positive law, not merely a set of limitations on government.”

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...peace/#comments

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE RENSSELAER COUNTY LEGISLATURE TAKEN FROM THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION LOCAL POLITICS BLOG:

WE, THE PEOPLE out here in Rensselaer County who are paying the property taxes that keep this clown show called Rensselaer County government running want to know why the Rensselaer County Legislature used our county property tax dollars to provide legal services for Carl Richard Aiken, a politically-connected engineer from East Greenbush, and Kevin Joseph McGrath, a politically-connected land surveyor from Poestenkill, in Matter of Plante, P.E. v. Jimino et al in 2005, and we want to know why the Rensselaer County Legislature condones the use of Rensselaer County employees to obtain a fraudulent involuntary psychiatric commitment order for Plante from Samaritan Hospital in 2001, so as to destroy his credibility as a witness for us against the Rensselaer County Department of Health ….

We also want to know how Jeffrey Pelletier of Poestenkill became a “protected person” in Rensselaer County according to Rensselaer County Veterans’ Service Agency Director Robert “BOB” Reiter, so that Pelletier could assault Plante with inpunity, without any fear at all of being prosecuted in Rensselaer County for that assault, which was recorded on videotape, which videotape has been in the possession of Rensselaer County since August of 2001 …

If the county legislature does not know the answers to those questions today, we will simply come back tomarrow, and ask them all over again, as we are indeed patient people out here in the countryside …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — April 9, 2007 @ 3:59 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/localpolitics/?p=63#comments