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

[Livyjr]

"Senate, Spitzer feud widens - Governor and Bruno quarrel over unfinished business, and acrimony will likely grow as governor plans tour to criticize upstate, Long Island senators"

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

First published: Wednesday, June 27, 2007

BOLTON LANDING -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer widened his post-session public relations war Tuesday, asking a room full of television and radio executives at an Adirondacks resort: "Where's your senator?"

Spitzer also projected a color photo of Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno to illustrate his contention that Bruno's Republican members are anti-reform and unworthy of the summer vacation they started last week.

In a PowerPoint presentation called "Unfinished Business" at the annual conference of the New York State Broadcasters Association at the Sagamore, the first-term Democrat criticized Bruno for abruptly cutting off talks on a range of proposed laws and ending the legislative session June 21, the last day of the regular legislative calendar.

Spitzer said he will use his agencies instead of the Legislature to achieve some of his agenda, but did not specify how.

Bruno, in a later news conference, said Spitzer was responsible for all the unfinished business because he dug in on a campaign finance reform plan that Senate Republicans flatly reject.

He said Spitzer needs to deal with the Legislature.

"This governor doesn't get it," he said.

"He apparently doesn't understand the job of being governor."

The war of words between the governor and Senate is far from ebbing.

Verbal attacks between Spitzer and Bruno are likely to escalate in the coming days as Spitzer plans a tour of upstate cities and Nassau County, where he will call out Senate Republicans and blast them for what he calls a failure to deliver for New Yorkers.

"We're going to play (where's) Waldo and ask: Where's your senator?" Spitzer said.

He scanned a photo of an empty Senate chamber.

The caption read: "Not here."

Spitzer said he is simply competing fiercely, likening his fight to an athletic contest, to get resolutions on a host of measures he considers important, including requiring schools to offer nutritious food, banning violent video games, setting up regulations for new power plants and cleaning up urban pollution sites.

"The Senate majority leader -- good friend -- this is not a personal thing," Spitzer said.

"When you're on the playing field . . . you sweat . . . you use a few vulgarities."

Bruno said he's ready to talk, but "If people want a fight, we're up to it."

Spitzer continued to blast Bruno for his "status quo" position on such issues as the Wicks Law, which forces municipalities to break building projects into separate bids, raising their costs, and the campaign finance system, which critics say unduly favors incumbents.

Bruno maintains the Senate will pass a Wicks reform bill, and is willing to negotiate a campaign finance package that doesn't restrict contributions but increases accountability and transparency.

Contributing to politicians of one's choosing, Bruno said, is a free speech issue, and Spitzer's plan would benefit wealthy candidates like the governor.

"Where's Eliot?"

"Still on the political campaign trail," Bruno said in a lengthy release.

"The governor continues to be in self-denial."

"He still thinks that New Yorkers care more about his millionaire's re-election campaign finance plan and the appointment of his campaign contributors to political posts than they do about property tax relief, the upstate economy and the death penalty for violent criminals who kill police officers."

Bruno has said he will call the Senate back in July.

State GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello defended Bruno, saying Spitzer didn't get much done in Albany so he is "reverting back to his comfort zone as a partisan politician."

Spitzer said he is particularly upset that Bruno's conference is disregarding 53 nominees that need to be confirmed to lead various state offices and agencies.

At this point in former Gov. George Pataki's first term, Spitzer said, just three of the Republican's nominees had not yet been confirmed by Bruno's conference.

Spitzer also said he is discussing the sale of Aqueduct Race Track in Queens to "maximize racing."

He said he thinks the New York Racing Association management has improved and commended it for "professionalism."

He said internal discussions about the future of the tracks include how to "sort out the real estate, the gambling side and the racing side."

NYRA has run the Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont tracks exclusively since 1955.

Its current franchise expires at the end of the year.

The governor's remarks come as a racing industry source says Spitzer's special counsel has been floating an idea to allow a restructured NYRA to continue running the tracks for 20 years, sell Aqueduct to pay off NYRA's debts and winterize Belmont Park, and have another group -- presumably Excelsior Racing Associates -- run video lottery terminal casino operations.

Spitzer suggested the state is toying with many structures, including making NYRA a public benefit corporation.

Bruno said Spitzer's plan could complicate the ability to put some of the VLT money into racing purses, and flatly stated, "Aqueduct is not for sale."

"Aqueduct is a racetrack and it's going to have VLTs."

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

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

In the article in the upstate TU this morning entitled "Senate, Spitzer feud widens - Governor and Bruno quarrel over unfinished business, and acrimony will likely grow as governor plans tour to criticize upstate, Long Island senators" by JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, first published Wednesday, June 27, 2007, Eliot "ALL MOUTH" Spitzer was quoted as follows:

Spitzer said he is simply competing fiercely, likening his fight to an athletic contest, to get resolutions on a host of measures he considers important, including requiring schools to offer nutritious food, banning violent video games, setting up regulations for new power plants and cleaning up urban pollution sites.

"The Senate majority leader -- good friend -- this is not a personal thing," Spitzer said.

"When you're on the playing field . . . you sweat . . . you use a few vulgarities."

end quotes

Perhaps a cooler, wiser head needs to take "GOVERNOR ALL-MOUTH" aside and explain to him that in the State of NY, according to OUR Constitution, OUR state government IS NOT an athletic contest and "GOVERNOR ALL-MOUTH" Spitzer is not an athlete who we state citizens expect to be out there on the floor of the NYS Senate spewing obscenities or vulgarities as if he were in actuality some foul drunken denizen of the bowels of the NYS subway system come out into the light to harass the morning commuters .....

To the contrary, he is a constitutional officer of OUR state government, and pursuant to the NYS Constitution which he took an oath to support, HIS job is fairly limited and it is very simple:

ART, IV, § 3. The governor shall communicate by message to the legislature at every session the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to it as he or she shall judge expedient.

The governor shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.

end quotes

You would have thought that a real high-powered, hot-shot lawyer like "GOVERNOR ALL-MOUTH" Spitzer would know this cold, especially since he was the NYS AG with a duty to the NYS Constitution before getting his sorry *** elected governor ....

But "GOVERNOR ALL-MOUTH" Spitzer is in reality nothing more than a spoiled little rich kid just grown older, but not smarter nor wiser ....

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | June 27, 2007 8:15 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...eres_waldo.html

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK POST

"SUE, SID, SUE"

June 27, 2007 -- Sid Davidoff didn't become one of New York City's most influential lobbyists by shrinking from controversy.

No surprise, then, that he's not backing away as Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council try to put him out of business.

Nor should he.

Lobbyists may not be the most sympathetic characters in New York's political pantheon, but the First Amendment applies to them, too - even if the notion seems to elude Mayor Mike and Speaker Christine Quinn.

Quinn's minions today are scheduled to take up a campaign-finance "reform" bill that's being billed as a landmark - but that falls down on at least three critical points:

* It jacks up (by 50 percent!) taxpayers' involuntary contributions to individual political candidates.

* It tightens the city's stranglehold over New Yorkers' political speech by severely limiting their ability to contribute to candidates of their choice.

* It wholly exempts labor unions from those limits, even though seven of the top 10 biggest givers to city pols in 2005 were - ta-da! - unions.

The fact that Bloomberg and Quinn don't have the heft - or guts - to slap the same restrictions on unions that they've reserved for less-influential entities and individuals certainly shames them.

And they know it's wrong: Both have said they hope to add unions to their hit list sometime in the sweet bye-and-bye.

But they're going ahead, anyway.

Davidoff promises to sue.

"We have a group of people who can't participate like their neighbors can," he told The New York Sun.

"This is a second-class citizenship - it is an interference [with] their rights to participate in the electoral process."

We wish him the best.

New Yorkers who care about their own ability to participate in the political process - either directly, or by contributing to the candidates of their choice - should root for Davidoff, too.

For nowhere in the First Amendment is there an asterisk indicating its protections apply only to those holding union cards, or who otherwise have undue influence in municipal affairs.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06272007/posto...editorials_.htm

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by Ravi Batra: Political parties are fiduciaries who hold democracy itself in escrow.

To support political parties is to be constructively engaged in the process so that the promise of the Constitution to make everyday New Yorker's live better may be best realized.

JOHN GALT FROM UPSTATE APPALACHIA REPLIES:

Mr. Ravi Batra, you sure are a pistol is all I can say ....

No wonder you drive poor Mark to a foam-at-the-mouth rage and frenzy in here when you make these kinds of posts that you do, where you are completely rewriting American history and changing it into something that it never was with your use of the Declaration of Independence, of all things, to justify the existence of political parties here in America, and in NYS, which just happens to be one of the "states" of the original 13 "states" to adopt the Declaration of Independence in 1776 ....

And if anyone should have an opinion from back then about political parties, in my estimation, it would be none other than Mr. George Washington ....

And in his Farewell address which ironically is on display in the state Capital right now through Independence Day, this is what George Washington had to say about political parties in America back then:

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism."

"But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism."

"The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty."

“Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it."

“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration."

"It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection."

"It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions."

"Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”

end quotes

George washington saw these times coming, Mr. Ravi Batra ....

He saw a DICTATOR like Governor Eliot "ALL-MOUTH MOVE-MONEY" Spitzer emerging ....

And he plainly foresaw someone like yourself encouraging the coming of this DICTATOR with your shameless revision of OUR history and your continued panegyrics and paeans to the greatness of these political parties as alleged "fiduciaries who hold democracy itself in escrow" .....

Which according to George Washington is the rankest BULL **** possible ....

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | June 27, 2007 4:36 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...lyn.html?page=2

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK POST

"BUFFALO BOOSTER BLUES"

June 27, 2007 -- Gov. Spitzer once likened stretches of upstate New York to notoriously destitute Appalachia - and some now fear he's aggressively looking to remove all doubt.

Who can blame them?

After all, even the gov's hand-picked upstate economic-development czar, Dan Gundersen, refuses to live in those areas - as he himself conceded during a state Senate confirmation hearing last week.

Spitzer named Gundersen to the key post after promising grandly to promote job growth and breathe new life into Upstate.

Spitzer even made Buffalo - a poster city for Upstate's economic anemia - the headquarters for the regional branch of the Empire State Development Corp. (his business-promotion arm).

But Gundersen last week told a Senate panel that he didn't live in Buffalo - and couldn't promise he'd ever live there.

Instead, he relocated from Pennsylvania and is renting a place in sassy Saratoga Springs - one of the few Upstate cities not on economic life-support.

And some 300 miles from Buffalo.

Gundersen said he hasn't yet sold his Pennsylvania home or decided where exactly he'll ultimately live.

(New Yorkers can only hope it'll be at least someplace in New York.)

Meanwhile, think about the kind of message this sends: As Donn Esmonde put it in the Buffalo News, it's like saying that "Buffalo is a great place to do business - but I wouldn't want to live there."

Of course, such cynical, elitist hypocrisy has typified Spitzer's first half-year in office.

(Recall his nothing-else-matters push to limit campaign contributions - even as he himself offers big-time fund-raisers access to his office in exchange for political donations.)

Gundersen, to be sure, may be a competent salesman for the region - and maybe even a nice guy.

But Spitzer needs to understand that if his development czar hopes to have any credibility at all when he pitches firms about Upstate, he ought to be ready to put his mortgage payments where his mouth is - and hang with the hoi polloi.

Even if that means living in Appalachia.

Er, Buffalo.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06272007/posto...editorials_.htm

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Spitz, Bruno continue to trade barbs"

BY JOE MAHONEY

DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

Wednesday, June 27th 2007, 4:00 AM

BOLTON LANDING, N.Y. - Gov. Spitzer and Senate GOP leader Joe Bruno pumped new venom into their escalating feud with the sharpest attacks on each other yet.

Spitzer mocked Bruno in a speech to a conference of broadcasters here, accusing the Republican powerbroker of grubbing for a pay raise for lawmakers before going AWOL from Albany last week.

Using a photo of an empty Senate chamber, Spitzer said he was going to crisscross the state, playing his version of "Where's Waldo?" - with Bruno in the title role.

"We're going to play 'Waldo' and ask: Where's your senator?" Spitzer said.

Bruno slashed back at the Democratic governor in an interview with cable news station NY1 for acting like "a Third World dictator" and a "bully."

"Just as soon as you are telling him things that are disagreeable to him, well, then you can see the change take place in his face," Bruno said.

"He flared up with me a couple of times on the phone and in person, in a very unbecoming way."

"All I could think about was some little rich kid having a tantrum."

Spitzer voiced annoyance that Senate Republicans have not only blocked his campaign finance agenda, but have also stalled confirmations of 53 appointees to top state posts.

He noted at this point in his first term, his predecessor, Republican George Pataki was only waiting on three Senate confirmations.

Inaction could hamstring some agencies, he said.

"When you are negotiating with the CEO of a company and he's saying, 'Wait a minute. Have you been confirmed?'...it makes a difference," Spitzer told reporters.

jmahoney@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/27...rade_barbs.html

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Let's see action, Joe"

Wednesday, June 27th 2007, 4:00 AM

Editorial

What little doubt there was that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno bolted from the Capitol last week in a fit of petulance is gone.

The elder statesman of the Republican Party yesterday got revealingly personal with Gov. Spitzer, describing him as "a Third World dictator" and "a big overgrown rich kid."

Hearing Bruno knock Spitzer for being autocratic was hilarious considering nothing happens in the Senate without the blessing of Lord Bruno of the Banana Republic of Albany.

Unaccustomed to being asked to play by someone else's rules, he is responding with less aplomb than fellow Lord Sheldon Silver The Sly, Assembly Speaker.

But there may be good news.

Bruno pronounces that he is ready to return to Albany to, as they say, do the people's business.

"I'm not gallivanting around," he says.

Fine, your worship, get back to work, as the governor has challenged you to.

More than a dozen major pieces of legislation awaited action when Bruno called it quits over Spitzer's push for campaign finance reform and his refusal to dole out a half-billion dollars worth of capital spending as so much unaccountable pork.

The stalled measures range from mandating that convicted criminals give DNA samples to determining the rules for opening power plants to creating a program granting workers paid leave to spend time with newborns or sick relatives.

Not to mention congestion pricing, limiting the influence of money in New York politics and, yes, maybe, if everyone behaves, legislative pay raises.

Spitzer says he, Silver and Bruno were near agreement on many issues.

And he is calling on lawmakers to reconvene and decide the fate of each item on its own merits.

That's exactly what should happen - in the open, in negotiations among Spitzer, Silver, Bruno and the minority leaders of the Assembly and Senate, Jim Tedisco and Malcolm Smith.

The talks must be Webcast.

Let the people see who's doing their business.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/0...action_joe.html

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Lawmakers Criticize Spitzer on Upstate Restoration Plan"

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: June 27, 2007

BOLTON LANDING, N.Y., June 26 — Gov. Eliot Spitzer, born and raised in New York City, made restoring upstate a central campaign theme last year.

Six months into his term, some leaders in the region say that they have seen no real change.

Moreover, the governor’s plan for the region has gotten tied up in his continued feuding with legislative leaders, stalling much of his agenda.

The state is mired by a high tax burden, which particularly affects distressed regions upstate, and while the governor’s team has announced a number of development deals to draw jobs upstate, critics say Mr. Spitzer has lacked a transformative vision to reinvigorate Buffalo and other battered areas upstate.

Now, the Republican-led Senate, which is dominated by upstate lawmakers, is holding up approval of the governor’s top economic development nominees amid a growing feud.

Among other things, they are upset that the governor’s new upstate economic policy director, Daniel Gundersen, has chosen to live in Saratoga Springs, one of the rare thriving locales upstate, instead of Buffalo or other points west.

Tensions flared anew on Tuesday as Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, visited this resort town on Lake George to deliver a withering assessment, with a PowerPoint presentation, of the Senate’s recalcitrance.

In a speech to the New York State Broadcasters Association, he blamed the Republican senators for leaving Albany last week with a number of issues still on the negotiating table.

He blamed them for balking at his proposal to overhaul the state’s campaign finance laws.

And he chided them for passing a bill to set up a commission to approve raises for lawmakers.

“They’re getting paid, they’re on vacation, they gave themselves a pay raise, they haven’t done the people’s business,” the governor said.

The Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, was not pleased.

Mr. Bruno, an upstate Republican, has said that the governor is “obsessed” with campaign finance reform and that he made it a higher priority than upstate development.

In a statement issued shortly after the governor’s speech, he said, “There was a rare sighting of Governor Spitzer in upstate New York,” adding that Mr. Spitzer had “delivered more empty political rhetoric” instead of “hope that he might actually deliver on his campaign promises to create jobs upstate.”

In an interview shortly thereafter, Mr. Spitzer said the Senate’s “positions are posturing, politics and pablum.”

Mr. Bruno, in a transcript of an interview being broadcast Tuesday night on NY1 News, said the governor “ought to understand that we’re not in a third world country where he is a dictator” and asked him to “stop wandering around this state, having a tantrum like a big overgrown rich kid.”

The sniping, which has been nearly constant between the two men in recent months, has not helped get things done.

That said, no governor could be expected to make much headway right away on a region that has been struggling for decades.

Any number of statistics can be cited to show the exodus of jobs and decline in prosperity upstate.

In the last three decades, the upstate population drain has contributed to New York’s loss of Congressional seats, to 29 today from 42.

The population of 20- to 34-year-olds upstate decreased by 22 percent in the 1990s, according to state figures.

And Buffalo, with its finances in disarray, is now overseen by a state control board.

Both the governor and the Senate have their own competing, and sometimes overlapping, upstate economic development plans.

Both sides agreed in budget negotiations to cut the corporate tax rate to 7.1 percent from 7.5 percent, which they hoped would ease the burden on businesses in the region.

In addition, they agreed to $1.3 billion in property tax relief — a major concern for upstate voters — and agreed to overhaul the state’s workers’ compensation system, which was particularly burdensome for small businesses.

They also sent $200 million in new aid to distressed cities.

The governor wants to take further steps to reduce the cost of doing business upstate, including overhauling the Wicks Law, which requires multiple contractors for public construction projects, and approving Article X, which would allow the expedited siting of power plants; the high cost of energy is a major complaint of businesses in the region.

Both measures were held up in disputes with the Senate last week.

The Senate has proposed granting further business tax cuts, extending additional property tax relief to small businesses and even creating high-speed rail links between upstate cities.

It would also make it easier for small businesses to buy state-funded health insurance.

The Legislature is expected to return for a special session next month, but it is not clear whether action will be taken on any of those proposals.

Some hoped for a more cooperative approach.

“It isn’t rocket science, and the ideas aren’t protected by patents, so there’s a fair amount of overlap,” said Kenneth Adams, president of the Business Council of New York State.

Senator Thomas W. Libous, Republican of Binghamton, said: “The governor has been working case by case, the Senate is looking at an overall plan that affects the state."

"Somehow we need to blend those together."

"This should not be confrontational.”

But things had become so fractured that an announced agreement on an overhaul of the Wicks Law fell apart at the end of the session.

Critics say one of upstate’s biggest problems is a lack of fiscal discipline in Albany, which they say continues to drive up business costs in the area.

This year’s budget increased overall state spending by more than four times the inflation rate.

E. J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative group, said the Legislature also passed two dozen pension sweeteners, including measures making it easier for public employees to claim early disability retirement because of heart disease.

“I don’t think anyone is seriously talking about addressing the causes of high taxes,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/nyregion...mp;ref=nyregion

[Livyjr]

NEWSDAY

State/Region

"Spitzer: I don't need the legislature"

BY JAMES T. MADORE
james.madore@newsday.com

June 27, 2007

ALBANY - Frustrated by a legislative session that left many key issues hanging, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said yesterday that he could govern without lawmakers.

Downplaying the importance of passing laws, the freshman governor said he favored regulatory changes and executive orders to run the state - neither of which require prior approval by the legislature.

The Democratic governor repeated his criticism of a decision by the Senate's Republican majority to go home June 21, the official end of the six-month session, though many bills remain to be considered.

Referring to the children's book series "Where's Waldo?" Spitzer said he would travel the state to ask voters to find their respective senators "and say go back to work."

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) replied, "Where's Eliot?"

"Still on the political campaign trail."

Bruno also repeated comments he made to NY1 News yesterday, describing Spitzer as "temperamental" and a rich brat.

"He ought to understand that we're not a third-world country where he is a dictator," according to a transcript of the television interview.

Spitzer was expected to continue to criticize the Senate GOP in speeches before business and civic groups in Syracuse and Rochester today, and on Long Island tomorrow.

He never mentioned state Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) in yesterday's remarks, though he made them in her district at a state broadcasters' convention in Bolton Landing on the shores of Lake George.

In the hourlong speech, Spitzer announced that all state agencies and public authorities would broadcast their meetings via the Internet, beginning Sunday, and called on the Senate to confirm 53 appointees to lead various state agencies.

"We will use the capacity of the executive branch to govern the state, whether or not the legislature joins us in this pursuit," he said.

Later, Spitzer explained that "the role of governor, one small piece of it is to deal with the legislature."

"The much larger piece is to run the agencies."

He cited an administrative action that produced an additional $40 million for legal services for the poor.

In the Capitol, Bruno stressed Spitzer's inexperience.

"This governor doesn't get it ... I would think his top priority would be making laws, dealing with the legislature."

Bruno also voiced disagreement over the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.

"Aqueduct is not for sale."

"Aqueduct is going to be a racetrack and it's destined to have VLTs [video lottery terminals] there," Bruno said.

Earlier, Spitzer raised the possibility of selling Aqueduct to developers because of declining attendance.

The state is facing a deadline of Dec. 31 to award a new racing franchise.

He said, "I think people have had meaningful conversations about whether having a track there is the best use ..."

"It's a conversation that we should have ... "

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny...enews-headlines

[Livyjr]

NEWSDAY

AP New York

"Bruno says he opposes selling Aqueduct, Spitzer racing plan"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer

June 26, 2007, 6:21 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno said Tuesday he is opposed to racing proposals Gov. Eliot Spitzer is considering, which would sell Aqueduct race track and split the operation of race tracks and video slot machines.

"I'll give you my own personal impression?"

"Aqueduct is not for sale," Bruno said.

"Aqueduct is going to be a race track and it is destined to have VLTs (video lottery terminals or video slot machines) there."

"And that's what the Assembly members want, and that's what my Senate members want ... I'm hearing that Aqueduct is critical to horse racing in this state."

He was reacting to a New York Daily News article Tuesday in which Spitzer was quoted as telling the newspaper's editorial board that the track could be closed and its development value could be $1 billion.

"Aqueduct?"

"I think people had meaningful conversations about whether having a track there is the best use," Spitzer said Tuesday in a press conference.

"I'm not saying publicly it should close or it will close."

"I'm saying it's a conversation we should have as we move forward trying to figure out how best to maximize the value of racing to New York."

Spitzer said "there are many moving pieces ..."

"We need to forge a legislative consensus."

"The franchise can't be extended without the Legislature being on board and so those conversations will move forward."

Bruno also criticized Spitzer's idea of awarding one contract to run racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga, and another to run video slot machines at Aqueduct and, or, Belmont.

"I don't think that works," Bruno said.

"I don't think that's the way to go."

He said separating video slot machines _ approved by the Legislature to fund purses, race tracks and the racing industry _ from the tracks would create "serious conflicts" in where the revenue would go.

Bruno's criticism comes during a continuing legislative conflict with Spitzer in which Bruno has accused the freshman governor of acting like a dictator at times, including in the review of candidates for the racing franchise.

The groups vying for the 20-year franchise are: Excelsior Racing Associates, which includes Las Vegas casino developer Steve Wynn; Empire Racing, which has a partner in Churchill Downs and is based in Saratoga Springs; NYRA under recently changed management, and Capital Play, which helped revive Australian racing.

Their proposals include video slot machines and hotels and other attractions at Aqueduct and Belmont, but no significant changes in Saratoga Race Course, which remains a global draw.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/new...egion-apnewyork

[Livyjr]

"Campaign finance reform debated - Republican-picked speakers say governor's efforts are a waste of time"

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

First published: Thursday, June 28, 2007

ALBANY -- Two of three experts brought for a campaign finance reform roundtable by Senate Republicans said Wednesday it's a waste of time, and that restrictions on such donations may be headed for extinction.

"Campaign finance regulation is not what you think it's about,'' said John Samples, who heads the Center for Representative Government at the libertarian Cato Institute.

Usually, he added, it's "about the two parties messing with each other.''

Their comments appeared to boost Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's argument that Gov. Eliot Spitzer's campaign finance reform proposal is wrongheaded, although reform supporter Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the New York League of Women Voters, contended that opposition from Samples and election lawyer James Bopp Jr. was predictable.

"They were there to give Senate Republicans cover,'' she charged.

Convened by Senator Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, the discussion kicked off several statewide talks on campaign finance reform.

Reforming the system that regulates political contributions in New York has been one of Spitzer's priorities, and failure to reach agreement on it is one reason a slew of other measures, including pay hikes for judges, reforming public works contracting regulations under the Wicks law and creation of a bigger DNA data base, were held up in this year's legislative session.

Bopp and Samples outlined several reasons why they thought limiting political donations was a poor idea: it violates First Amendment rights of free speech and gives an advantage to wealthy self-funded candidates as well as incumbents.

Moreover, Bopp, who has worked for the national Republican party, wondered how long any finance reforms will be around, given recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Just this week, the high court in a 5-4 decision overturned part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign reform act that prevents organizations from naming candidates during the so-called blackout period, 30 days and 60 days before federal primaries and general elections.

"That five vote majority is not going anywhere soon,'' said Bopp, who represented the winning side, the Wisconsin Right to Life organization, in that dispute against the Federal Election Commission.

Bartoletti, though, repeated her contention that the current system, in which a tiny minority of people and organizations doles out the bulk of campaign dollars, breeds "public cynicism instead of respect.''

One comment no one disagreed with, though, came from Bopp, who noted the complexity of New York's finance laws.

"I've read campaign finance laws across the country and I find New York state's the hardest to read and understand,'' he said.

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

[Livyjr]

"County imposing tax on cellphone numbers"

By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, June 28, 2007

BALLSTON SPA -- Get ready for a new tax on your cellphone bill, Saratoga County residents.

The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors voted to impose a 30 cent surcharge on all cellphone users whose billing address is inside the county.

The money will help support the county's new 911 center where desk officers can pinpoint a cellphone caller's location using satellites and a geographic information system.

Early estimates say the monthly surcharge will bring in about $100,000 a year.

The tax will be collected on each cellphone number registered in the county, even if calls made to multiple numbers are shown on the same bill.

County Administrator David Wickerham said establishing the tax has been complicated.

The supervisors' vote was the third time the board has taken action to approve a home rule bill that Assemblyman James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, won backing for in the state Legislature that allows the county to impose the surcharge.

The bill passed both houses and now awaits Gov. Eliot Spitzer's signature.

Land lines already carry the extra fee.

Wickerham said it is not clear when the fee will go into effect, but he asked cellphone users to watch for the surcharge on their bills along with the words "Saratoga County.''

If it doesn't say the 30 cents is going to Saratoga County, residents should call Director of Emergency Services Paul Lent because the payment might be going to another county.

At the monthly supervisors meeting, the board voted to pay a consulting firm $20,000 to write a request for proposals for a fixed base operator at the Saratoga County Airport.

A 20-year lease with Richmor Aviation, the company that lands planes and offers gas and hangar space, will end this year.

So too, will the county's lease with North American Flight Services, a second fixed base operator at the airport.

In a separate project at the airport, the supervisors are planning to resurface the runways at the airport, add fire protection at the hangar and install a water line.

[Livyjr]

"Former Buffalo official admits taking paid trips from contractors"

Associated Press

Last updated: 4:42 p.m., Thursday, June 28, 2007

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The former commissioner for public works in Buffalo admitted accepting paid trips from contractors and pleaded guilty Thursday to receiving unlawful gratuities, a prosecutor said.

Joseph Giambra, 56, was charged with taking eight trips from representatives of several consulting and engineering firms that did millions of dollars in business with the city, Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said in a press release.

The investigation began with a complaint from a company that noticed it was paying "extraordinary expenses associated with marketing" in its dealings with Giambra's department, Clark said.

State and city investigators found four companies spent more than $7,000 for trips by Giambra to Saratoga Springs, Toronto, Las Vegas, Biloxi, Miss., and the Florida cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.

Giambra, who became commissioner in 1998 and retired in January, pleaded guilty to three counts of receiving unlawful gratuities, a misdemeanor.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 10 and faces up to a year in jail.

In a prepared statement after the plea, Mayor Byron Brown said his administration has established new rules for employees making travel requests and provided an ethics training program for city officials.

[Livyjr]

"Spitzer nominee facing skeptical Senate drops out"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:05 p.m., Friday, June 29, 2007

ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer's nominee to lead the state Public Service Commission withdrew from consideration Friday, another possible casualty of the Democratic governor's conflict with the Republican-led Senate.

Angela Sparks-Beddoe withdrew her nomination to the $129,000-a-year job a week after the regular legislative session ended without a Senate confirmation hearing, the procedure for any governor's nominee.

"I believe it is time for me to move on and refocus my attention on my family and professional life," she wrote in a letter to Spitzer that was released by his office.

Sparks-Beddoe was president of Energy East Management Corp. in Saratoga Springs.

She previously served as director of government affairs at New York State Electric & Gas Corp.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said the Senate delayed action on the nomination while awaiting a state Inspector General's Office review into "serious allegations of improper activities and inappropriate pressure brought by the governor's staff."

The state Inspector General's Office is investigating a claim made in April by commission member Cheryl Buley, a Pataki appointee, who claimed Steven Mitnick of the Spitzer administration threatened her career five or six times.

She claims Mitnick wanted her to vote a certain way and possibly to resign to make way for a Spitzer appointee.

The withdrawal of Sparks-Beddoe, who has industry experience, is a blow to Spitzer's effort to fill board positions with experts.

He has criticized his Republican predecessor for hiring people based on politics.

The Public Service Commission regulates utilities and the telecommunications industry in New York.

There was no immediate comment from Spitzer.

Spitzer has embarrassed some Senate Republicans recently, going to their districts and telling voters their senator went on vacation despite important work left undone in Albany.

On June 18, while Spitzer and Bruno haggled over end-of-session priorities, Republicans in a senate committee grilled Spitzer's upstate economic czar, Dan Gundersen, over his performance, responsiveness and even for living in Saratoga Springs instead of Buffalo where the upstate office is based.

The Senate so far has not confirmed dozens of Spitzer appointees including Gundersen and his downstate counterpart, Pat Foye, and Avi Schick, nominated to run the Empire State Development Corp.

Schick was a top lawyer for Spitzer when the governor was attorney general.

This year, Senate committees, all headed by Republicans, began to press nominees more aggressively than they did Pataki selections.

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

"Spitzer's PSC Nominee Withdraws"

Angela Sparks-Beddoe, a former energy industry lobbyist and co-chairwoman of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's transition team whom the governor tapped to serve as commissioner of the Public Service Commission, has withdrawn her name from consideration for the $129,000-a-year post.

In a letter to Spitzer, Sparks-Beddoe cited the fact that the Senate has failed to confirm her nomination as the motivation behind her decision.

"Since the regular session has ended and my confirmation did not take place, upon reflection, I believe it is time for me to move on and refocus my attention on my family and professional life," she wrote.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said in a statement that Sparks-Beddoe's appointment was "controversial from the start," adding that the Senate held off on her confirmation because it is awaiting the outcome of an Inspector General report into "serious allegations of improper activities and inappropriate pressure brought by the governor’s staff."

Bruno is referring to an allegation made by PSC Commissioner Cheryl Buley (a Pataki holdover) that Spitzer's energy and telecommunications advisor, Steve Mitnick, threatened to have her removed from her job if she didn't back off her efforts to investigate ConEd's handling of last year's Queens blackout.

Mitnick is reportedly poised to depart his post.

Spitzer's selection of Sparks-Beddoe raised eyebrows, given that she was, at the time, a registered lobbyist for Energy East Management Corp., and director of New York State Electric & Gas Corp.'s legislative affairs unit.

NYSEG has made more than $87,000 worth of political contributions to various candidates and committees since 1999 and Sparks-Beddoe herself contributed $9,000 to NYSEG's PAC and GOP candidates.

Some worried Sparks-Beddoe would have a conflict of interest in the case where NYSEG was fighting with the PSC over its mandate that the company cut utility rates by $37 million annually.

Posted by Elizabeth Benjamin on June 29, 2007 4:08 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...s.html#comments

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

With respect to this issue of Spitzer appointees like this Sparks-Beddoe having conflicts of interest, that comes as no surprise, actually, for in September of 2006, while he was still AG, “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer gave an address to the NYS Business Council at Bolton Landing on Lake George in upstate NY where he informed the NYS Business Council that he was going to make NYS into “the best place to do business in the world” ….

And that address to the Business Council was no secret …

To the contrary, it was posted on his website and a copy of it is still available at:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...cil&st=1240

In that speech, entitled “Improving the Business Climate”, “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer informed the Business Council that:

Ken, I look forward to working with you to make New York the best place to do business in the world.

But today, I want to speak about what I believe should be our first priority, and that is making New York companies more competitive by improving our business climate.

And in too many other respects, our government bureaucracy hinders rather than assists businesses.

Well, I have a message for you: If I am elected Governor, on Day One of next year we are going to begin to implement an aggressive strategy to reduce the cost of doing business in New York and make New York the best place to do business in the world.

And we will streamline regulations to make them friendly to business.

Fifth and finally, New York State can also improve the business climate by making its government offices, regulations and programs much easier to deal with.

We have much more to accomplish than what I discussed today if we are to restore our State to its historic position of economic strength.

But the starting point of any economic development strategy is creating a climate that is friendly to business instead of hostile to it.

It’s time that our State government becomes part of the solution, not part of the problem.

end quotes

And then, as was made clear in a press release from the NYS Business Council entitled “Spitzer taps Council president, staff, board members to serve on transition committees” by Claire Hazzard, Business Council staff (November 16, 2006) at:

http://www.bcnys.org/whatsnew/2006/1116transition.htm

Eliot Spitzer selected Business Council president and CEO Kenneth Adams to serve as a co-chair on one of several policy transition committees.

According to the press release, Adams was selected to serve as co-chair on the labor and workforce development advisory committee, and Adams, who met with Governor-elect Spitzer after last week’s election, said he was honored.

“This shows how serious Governor-elect Spitzer is when he says he will help to make New York a better place to do business,” Adams said.

end quotes

And when one takes a further look at the relationship between “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer and the NYS Business Council while he was still NYS AG:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...cil&st=1240

It really comes as no surprise that he would intentionally try to appoint people like Sparks-Beddoe because of their conflicts of interest in an effort to fulfill his pledge to the NYS Business council to “make NYS the best place in the world to do business” ….

And so ….

As to Sparks-Beddoe’s departure from the scene, all this citizen can think to say is GOOD RIDDANCE ….

And so …

Comment by John Galt — June 29, 2007 @ 5:53 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4952#comments

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

"Spitzer's PSC Nominee Withdraws"

Angela Sparks-Beddoe, a former energy industry lobbyist and co-chairwoman of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's transition team whom the governor tapped to serve as commissioner of the Public Service Commission, has withdrawn her name from consideration for the $129,000-a-year post.

Spitzer's selection of Sparks-Beddoe raised eyebrows, given that she was, at the time, a registered lobbyist for Energy East Management Corp., and director of New York State Electric & Gas Corp.'s legislative affairs unit.

NYSEG has made more than $87,000 worth of political contributions to various candidates and committees since 1999 and Sparks-Beddoe herself contributed $9,000 to NYSEG's PAC and GOP candidates.

Some worried Sparks-Beddoe would have a conflict of interest in the case where NYSEG was fighting with the PSC over its mandate that the company cut utility rates by $37 million annually.

Posted by Elizabeth Benjamin on June 29, 2007 4:08 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...s.html#comments

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

If NYSEG has made more than $87,000 worth of political contributions to various candidates and committees since 1999, it is obvious that it is overcharging its rate-payers, since it is they who are providing NYSEG with this money in the first place, and by charging this extra money to put in the pockets of politicians, NYSEG is forcing its rate-payers to have to subsidize its political activities without them having any say in the matter of where this money goes, or what it buys for NYSEG ...

And if I am not mistaken, NYSEG is about to be bought out by some Spanish company, which may or may not be a side issue here ....

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | June 29, 2007 7:43 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli..._withdraws.html

[Livyjr]

And in this case ....

That PAWN being taken .....

By Mr. Spitzer ....

Allegedly on behalf of the New York State Business Council .....

IS OUR NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ....

Which the New York State Business Council views as an IMPEDIMENT to its own goals .....

Of having New York State be the best place in the whole world to do business ....

BECAUSE THERE IS NO REGULATION ....

Which takes us right back to the days of such business luminaries in this state as Jay Gould .....

And what were called the "ROBBER BARONS" ....

And so ...

And talk about HOGS coming to the political trough up here in the State of New York ....

And talk about state-sponsored RIP-OFFS ...

We have ...

"Paying for tickets can be hair-raising - Scalpers flourish under new law, but some music fans are singing the blues"

By GREG HAYMES, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, July 1, 2007

Back in May, Live Nation -- producer of the pop and rock concert series at Saratoga Performing Arts Center -- announced that the Aug. 14 concert by the Dave Matthews Band was officially sold out.

"No tickets will be released," the announcement read.

"Nonticket holders are asked not to come to the venue."

Of course, if you really want to attend the concert, you can still buy tickets.

But it's going to cost you -- big-time.

All you have to do is log onto any number of online secondary ticket sales Web sites and open your wallet very, very wide.

At StubHub.com, for example, ticket resellers -- a friendly corporate term for merchants known more commonly as scalpers -- are offering general admission lawn tickets to the Dave Matthews show for anywhere from $134 to $219 apiece.

These same lawn tickets went on sale to the general public for $40.

Or, if you want to make the SPAC concert a truly unforgettable experience, you could spring for reserved seats in the amphitheater's orchestra pit -- so close to the stage that Dave might actually sweat on you.

Those tickets were originally sold at the box office for $65 each.

At StubHub.com, however, the resale prices for those same seats have escalated to $1,150 to $1,471.

That's right: an astronomical markup of 2,263 percent above the ticket's face value.

"Oh, my god!"

"A thousand dollars for one ticket?," said music fan Chris Grigsby of Schenectady, reeling from the sticker shock.

"I don't understand that."

The 18-year-old Grigsby has never paid more than about $70 for a concert ticket, and he can't think of any musical act that could possibly persuade him to part with $1,000.

"Well, maybe I'd spend $1,000 to hang out with someone like Donald Fagen for a year," he finally admits, "but not for a concert ticket."

Just a few weeks ago, charging $1,000 (or even $150) for a Dave Matthews ticket would have been illegal, according to the New York state anti-scalping law.

Although it's been modified and updated every few years, there's been an anti-scalping law on the books in New York for more than 80 years.

Under the previous law signed by Gov. George Pataki two years ago, the resale price of a ticket was limited to a 45 percent markup for venues with a capacity of more than 6,000, which would include performance venues such as SPAC and Albany's Times Union Center, as well as sports facilities such as Yankee Stadium.

The legal markup was restricted to 20 percent for smaller venues like the Palace Theatre, Proctor's Theatre and Broadway theaters.

But this spring, the Democratic-led state Assembly passed a bill rolling back restrictions on ticket resales, and the Republican-controlled Senate followed suit.

On June 1, Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed the bill.

"Scalping laws did not make sense," he said after the signing.

"This will be good for the venues, good for consumers and good for the artists."

Assemblyman Joseph Morrelle, a Rochester Democrat who sponsored the new bill, says it "allows ticket resellers and consumers to interact freely while maintaining the necessary safeguards against unsavory and unethical conduct."

"It strikes the right balance between free market practices and consumer protection."

Some resale restrictions still apply, including the ban on flesh-and-blood scalpers selling tickets within 1,500 feet of the larger arenas and within 500 feet of smaller venues.

And high-volume ticket brokers like TicketsNow.com are now required to register with the state.

But other than those few minor restrictions, scalpers are now free to resell tickets for any price they choose.

And it's all perfectly legal.

Music fans like Grigsby aren't the only ones up in arms over the new law.

"This is a bum deal for consumers," said Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"Since the early 1920s, the anti-scalping law has been on the books, and the goal was to protect people of modest means and insure that they could get access to popular sporting and entertainment events."

"But increasingly, for these events, consumers end up competing against corporate expense accounts."

Under the new law, Haven said, "essentially all the seats will get diverted to the highest bidder -- and in most cases, that's either someone with a lot of disposable money or someone who can write it off as a business expense."

To explain what he means, Haven cites the report "Why Can't I Get Tickets?" a comprehensive review of ticket scalping released in 1999 by then-Attorney General Spitzer's office.

The report uncovered one incident in 1994 in which a Wall Street brokerage firm paid $360,000 to a scalper in New Jersey to buy tickets.

"That's essentially $1,000 a day that this one company was spending on tickets to wine and dine clients, reward staff members and attract new business."

"They were vacuuming up all the best seats to the hot shows, and then writing it all off as a business expense."

According to Haven, the new law allows scalpers to price shows out of the reach of average consumers.

"That's not a good thing, and it's not a fair thing," he said.

"It's not fair to the fans who buy the CDs and pay to download the music, but can't afford to pay a week's salary to go to see their favorite performer."

"It's also not fair because taxpayer money either built most of the facilities or continues to subsidize the venues."

"The Times Union Center is owned by Albany County."

"Madison Square Garden gets big tax breaks."

"The Nassau Coliseum, Jones Beach and SPAC are all publicly supported."

"So that gives the public a vested interest in a fair distribution system and a fair crack at getting decent seats."

Gary Adler, legal counsel for the National Association of Ticket Brokers, disagrees with Haven's assessment of the situation.

"I think that New York state's new law is great," Adler said.

"I think you'll find that more brokers will be coming into the state because of the law, and that will generate more revenue for the state through licensing.

"And I also think it's great for the consumers," he added.

"I know for a fact that there were a significant number of ticket brokers who wouldn't sell tickets to New York residents for New York events because of the previously existing New York state laws."

While that may mean more tickets will be available to New York ticket buyers on the secondary market, Adler doesn't think the removal of resale limits will necessarily lead to ticket price increases.

"The ticket resale market was opened up in Illinois, for example, within the past five years," he said, "and there's empirical data that shows that when that happened, it actually lowered the price of secondary market tickets to consumers."

Morrelle agrees with Adler on the price point.

"By allowing greater competition for the resale dollar," the assemblyman said, "we may actually see a decrease in secondary prices, which is ultimately best for the consumer."

Bob Belber, general manager of Albany's Times Union Center, takes the middle ground on the law's possible effect on ticket pricing.

"I don't think that this new law is going to make any difference as far as ticket prices are concerned," he said.

"I don't think that artists' managers are going to increase their ticket prices because this law exists."

"In fact, we've seen it go the other way."

"Live Nation, for example, has taken strong measures to try to reduce ticket prices."

"And Kelly Clarkson, for example."

"Although she ended up canceling her tour, all of the tickets were priced at $29.50."

Belber also downplays the number of tickets for events at the Times Union Center and other Capital Region venues that make their way into the hands of scalpers or ticket brokers.

"The percentage of people who go to the secondary market to purchase tickets -- online at eBay or whatever site, where they most often pay more than face value for the tickets -- for shows here in the Albany market is so small," Belber said.

"The vast majority of people buy their tickets at face value, and they attend the event.

"Those who go to the secondary market for tickets are probably only about 1 percent."

"And I think they often go to a ticket broker because they think the show is sold out, when in fact it might not be."

"Or they might want better seats than what is available through the box office."

The new ticket resale law will remain in effect for at least two years, and it's too early to tell what impact it's going to have on consumers.

"In the long run, I think this new law is probably bad for the whole live entertainment industry," Haven said.

"I grew up in a generation where seeing a live show was the greatest thing."

"But with all of the other entertainment options that kids have these days -- from the Internet to video gaming -- I think there's a strong possibility that this new law is sending the wrong message to the next generation of entertainment consumers."

"I think the risk is that they'll turn away from the live concert experience because it's simply beyond their financial reach.

"As a kid, I spent way too much time standing in line, sleeping out, camping out, waiting to buy tickets at the box office or the old Ticketron," Haven said.

"And when I got up to the window, they'd hand me my tickets and they'd be way up in the nosebleed sections."

"I used to wonder, 'How did that happen?'
"
Well, now I know -- and it's not pretty."

Ticket shock

Markups for Capital Region venues:

James Taylor at Tanglewood 8/24/07 StubHub.com $530 Face value $81 (section 7, row A)

Kenny Chesney at SPAC 7/25/07 StubHub.com $1335 Face value $77.50 (section 1, row G)

Josh Groban at Times Union Center7 /28/07 StubHub.com $618 Face value $96 (Section 3, row H)

American Idols Live at Times Union Center 8/30/07 StubHub.com $412 Face value $70 (Section 1, row F)

[Livyjr]

"Turmoil unabated despite new dam - Hadlock Pond slowly being refilled two years later amid lawsuits"

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

First published: Sunday, July 1, 2007

FORT ANN -- Hadlock Pond, a mile-long lake which vanished in a destructive torrent two years ago when a dam broke, is slowly making a return.

But the damage lingers.

Town engineers began filling a rebuilt dam June 4 after the state decided it was safe, said Supervisor Gayle Hall.

It is a process that will take months.

Lakefront homeowners like Greg Fowler, high and dry for his third summer in a row, probably won't be swimming this year either.

When Fowler, who lives on Red Johnston Road, looks out from his dock, he sees a meadow.

Far off, a languid creek once again being held back by a dam is slowly rising.

"I've been watching the Doppler radar for storms for some rain to help fill the lake, but they all seem to be passing to the south," said Fowler, vice president of the 70-member Lake Hadlock Association.

He's resigned to the return of the lake in time for summer 2008.

Meanwhile, downstream below the dam, Ralph Colb looks out of his home at stream banks scoured by flood waters into a lifeless tumble of boulders.

He wonders who is going to restore what once was a shady trout stream.

Two bridges that Colb used to reach property on the other side of the creek were washed away when 30 feet of water, filled with broken trees and other debris, roared through the afternoon of July 2, 2005.

A billion onrushing gallons scoured out 14 feet of lake bottom and blasted a 120-foot breach in the dam, destroying four homes, damaging a dozen others and washing out part of state Route 149.

"It sounded like a hurricane going past," said Colb, whose home was spared when the water crested nine yards short of his door.

When it subsided, there were wrecked boats stuck in trees.

He guessed it will cost $300,000 or more to replace his bridges, not to mention stabilize an access road now perched atop a badly eroded hillside.

"This is beyond our means," said Colb, who works as an English teacher overseas and has lived in Fort Ann for 30 years.

"So far, I not seen one penny from the perpetrators of this faulty dam," said Colb, who also is angry that none of the $1 million in state aid announced announced last year to help victims will help him.

"Because I don't live here year-round, they said I was a seasonal resident, and not eligible," he said.

The state ended up awarding about $490,000 to 33 downstream property owners, according to Daniel MacEntee, a spokesman for state Sen. Betty Little, a Queensbury Republican, who pushed for the aid.

That's less than $15,000 each on average.

The legal logjam left behind when the dam burst remains unresolved after the town's efforts to mediate settlements failed, Hall said.

Dozens of homeowners, including Colb, have have filed lawsuits against Fort Ann, which owned the dam; the dam's designer, HTE Northeast Inc.; and its builder, Queensbury-based Kubricky Construction.

The town has also sued the designers and builders.

Damages to the lakefront property owners are in the "millions of dollars," said Paul Wein, a Guilderland lawyer who is representing more than 80 clients.

"People are being taxed as having lakefront property, when that isn't the case."

"Some people used the lake for drinking water, and still don't have water," he said.

And property values could have taken a hit permanently because of the stigma left behind by the flood.

"If someone is looking to buy a house on Hadlock and another lake (not created by a dam), why would they pay the same price?" Wein said.

Downstream, much of the destruction was uninsured, said Eileen Haynes, a lawyer with Bartlett Pontiff Stewart Rhodes, a Glens Falls firm representing 14 property owners.

"Their losses were significant -- homes, personal property," she said.

"We've got people who have huge pits in their front yards."

Five separate lawsuits over the flood are pending in state Supreme Court in Washington County, Haynes said.

A conference involving 10 lawyers from all sides is set for August.

The previous dam failed just two months after it was completed, and about three weeks after the pond had been filled.

In October 2005, a consultant hired by state environmental officials concluded the dam burst due to "internal erosion," most likely caused by improper use of earth, gravel and other materials during construction.

It did not assign blame.

Town officials must refill the pond gradually under a schedule approved by DEC, which allows the water level to rise naturally until it is 10 feet below normal.

After that, the level can be raised by no more than six inches each day.

It cost about $5.5 million to rebuild the dam, which was constructed by Massachusetts-based Northern Construction.

The state provided $1 million for the project, in addition to the assistance earmarked for property damage.

Hall said the balance of the dam project is being paid for by a special assessment on the 280 owners whose properties adjoin the lake, which has no public access along its 4.6 miles of shoreline.

The assessment will continue for 30 years until it is repaid.

For Fowler, that means a bill of about $1,800 a year.

"The dam looks great."

"You can't even compare it to what was there before," he said.

Colb, who unsuccessfully lobbied for the dam not to be replaced, hopes it's done right.

"I wish them more success with this dam than they had with the last one," he said.

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

[Livyjr]

"State flies Bruno to fundraisers - Taxpayers finance trips of Senate majority leader to New York City political events"

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

First published: Sunday, July 1, 2007

ALBANY -- Three times this year, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno has used taxpayer-funded state aircraft to fly to political fundraisers in Manhattan while certifying he was on official state business, according to documents obtained by the Times Union.

In addition to routinely using state helicopters to fly from Albany to New York City for years, almost weekly, Bruno has also received ground transportation downstate from State Police, even when traveling to fundraisers.

Bruno's staff claims he faces constant threats to his life and safety and is therefore provided security details.

This year, Bruno requested the state planes in writing for "legislative business meetings," and signed, or had someone stamp his signature, on documents asserting that his use of state aircraft was for official business.

The disclosure forms are required under a new rule instituted by Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

According to flight documents and State Police Aviation Unit request forms obtained through a request under the Freedom of Information Law, Bruno and his top aides used the state air fleet 11 times in the first five months of the year compared with 19 flights by Spitzer during the same period.

The flights for both elected leaders continued in June, according to interviews.

Each helicopter flight is worth thousands of dollars, according to aviation consultant Bill de Decker, who said the State Police Bell 430s Bruno and Spitzer use would cost $3,000 hourly if hired from private firms.

Three of Bruno's 145-mile, one-hour helicopter flights to Manhattan in May were on dates that Republicans hosted major fund-raisers, two of which featured Bruno, the effective head of the state GOP:

On May 3, Bruno and three aides -- Michael Avella, Jeff Lovell and John McArdle -- were flown by two State Police pilots and dropped at a helipad at West 30th Street, the records state.

They were then driven by a State Police investigator to the Sheraton Hotel at 7th Avenue and 52nd Street at 2 p.m.

Bruno hosted the 33rd Annual Spring Reception of the State Senate Republican Campaign Committee at the Sheraton that day.

A reception, costing $1,000 per person, began at 5 p.m.

A private reception costing $5,000 per person began at 5:30 p.m.

The investigator said in a memo that he picked up the foursome at the hotel at 7 a.m the next day, took them to Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, and delivered them to Laguardia Airport at 10 a.m. when a State Police aviation crew flew them back to Albany.

On May 17, Bruno and his three aides left the Exit 23 helipad at the Thruway Authority headquarters in Albany at 11 a.m. aboard one of the executive Bell helicopters.

At 12:30 p.m. a State Police investigator in Manhattan brought Bruno to a meeting at C.V. Starr & Co. on Park Avenue.

The company's leader is former AIG Chairman Maurice Greenberg.

AIG has been a generous contributor to state Republican campaigns.

State Police then transported Bruno to the Sheraton, where he spent the night.

From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Bruno and numerous Senate Republicans attended the Annual New York Republican State Committee Dinner at the Sheraton.

Participants paid at least $1,000 per person and up to $10,000 per couple to hear U.S. Sen. John McCain and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani speak.

State Police flew Bruno's group back to Albany the next morning at 9 a.m. with Bruno's spokesman Kris Thompson replacing Avella on the one-hour return trip.

On May 24, Bruno and his aides -- Avella, Lovell and Steve Boggess -- left Albany on the helicopter at 3:30 p.m.

A State Police investigator drove them from a downtown helipad to New York City Hall.

They were transported to a meeting at the Sheraton Hotel and then to next door to Russo's Restaurant, the investigator's memo said.

From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. the Food Industry Reception at Russo's Restaurant honored Bruno.

Checks were collected for the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee's housekeeping account at Russo's.

The invitations noted that corporate contributions did not apply toward the $5,000 corporate calendar year limit.

The State Police investigator picked up Bruno at the restaurant around 7 p.m.

His group was taken back to Albany on the helicopter about 7:20 p.m.

Bruno spokesman Mark Hansen would not discuss the trips or provide Bruno's itinerary.

"Sen. Bruno uses the transportation services provided to him in his role as majority leader for state purposes," Hansen said.

"As he has, and continues to receive, death threats and other threats to his safety, based on what people read in the Times Union and other negative reports, he is provided with State Police protection when traveling."

The Code of Ethics of the State Public Officers Law prohibits a public official from using or attempting to use his official position to gain unwarranted privileges "for himself of others."

Violators are subject to fines, removal from office or suspension, or a civil penalty of up to $10,000 and the value of the gift or benefit.

The state penal law can also come into play when someone defrauds the state, as former Comptroller Alan Hevesi was found to have done last year.

Disclosures last fall of Hevesi's use of state personnel to chauffeur his wife, who he claimed needed security, led to the end of Hevesi's three-decade career in government.

He made restitution of more than $200,000, pleaded guilty to fraud and paid a $5,000 fine for his crimes.

Last fall, Bruno forcefully called for Hevesi to resign and reimburse the state for using a staffer as his wife's driver before prosecutors completed an investigation.

He also declared that it wasn't "an appropriate question" to ask him if he had ever used drivers, too.

At least part of one of Spitzer's trips was political.

And a portion of one of the seven flights Lt. Gov. David Paterson took included a brief political stop.

But neither Democratic leader engaged in personal fund-raising, and their spokesmen said they would not do so on the state taxpayer's dime.

Other top elected and legislative officials -- including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver -- did not request or receive rides aboard state aircraft, records show.

Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp said the planes are provided when available, and are supposed to be used only for government business.

The governor, he said, would only use private planes for his fund-raising events.

The Spitzer administration requires documentation of the purpose of state-related trips by non-executive staffers, a departure from previous administrations.

Dopp would not discuss Bruno's use of the planes.

"We will review this matter carefully before commenting," he said.

He and State Police officials wouldn't say if senators are entitled to regular State Police security details or if the administration had been alerted that someone had threatened Bruno's life.

David Catalfamo, a spokesman for Gov. George Pataki, said Bruno, who used state planes dozens of times each year during the Republican governor's tenure, would call to place a request for the aircraft.

"We'd assume that they were using it for the appropriate government business," Catalfamo said.

"Everyone knows the rules: You're not supposed to use it for political events."

He said he had never heard of any death threats against the senator.

Spitzer and Paterson provided daily itineraries for the days they used public planes.

During a day of stops in Binghamton and Rochester on April 10, the State Police Aviation Unit brought Spitzer and four aides to the Monroe County Democratic Committee dinner, the records show.

The Democratic event, one of 13 stops on the first-term Democrat's schedule that day, was a fund-raiser for the county party costing $75 for committee members and $300 for all others.

More than 500 people attended, said Derek Murphy, a committee staffer.

Paterson, during a multi-event day in Washington, D.C. for the National Lieutenant Governor's Association Winter Meeting, also veered from government business.

He scheduled a half-hour with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean at Dean's office near the Capitol.

But the visit was cut short.

"The trip had nothing to do with fund-raising of any kind," said Charles J. O'Byrne, a spokesman for Paterson.

He said Paterson spoke with Dean for about three minutes on the sidewalk outside his office.

Dopp, the Spitzer spokesman, said the governor conducted several public and private meetings during the two-county trip that included the Monroe County party dinner.

The trip did not involve personal fund-raising, he said.

Bruno's refusal to detail his activities is troubling, said Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"We've always called for an independent entity to oversee cases like this, or any allegations of breach of the ethics laws or the Public Officers Law," said Russ Haven, legislative counsel to the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"At a minimum there needs to be a public explanation."

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