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

[Livyjr]

"State avoids steamroller in plan for congestion price study"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, July 20, 2007

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg got action on his congestion pricing from the Legislature after all, although it is a far cry from what he wanted.

A good deal less than half a loaf, but the truth is Bloomberg got more than he deserved, given how he hashed up the politics involved.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature deserve credit for staying the course under trying circumstances.

They were unfairly pilloried by Bloomberg and the majority of the media for doing their jobs, which was to look hard at the statewide implications of the city's traffic congestion plan and not just roll over and do the mayor's bidding.

As it turns out, despite the rancorous rhetoric from the mayor after he didn't get his way on Monday, Spitzer and legislative leaders continued trying to hammer out something in good faith, and they were successful.

What came out of Thursday's negotiations is really where we should have started, with a 17-member commission looking at Bloomberg's London-based plan and at alternatives in an even-handed way.

Not just from the city's perspective.

Because there were, and remain, some serious questions about the Bloomberg plan, no matter how green and terrific that plan appears on paper for reducing traffic and carbon emissions below 86th St. during work days.

Is this just another form of commuter tax that unfairly targets workers who have to drive to work from Long Island, Westchester and Rockland counties, and north Jersey?

Is it true the the more economically disadvantaged would be affected disproportionately?

What happens to traffic patterns, parking and residential life in the rest of Manhattan and the outlying areas beyond the pay-to-drive zone?

Is there a better way, or a combination of better ways, than congestion pricing?

Curiously, the drop-dead deadline this past Monday, to qualify for $500 million in federal aid supposedly assured by passing congestion pricing -- the stick Bloomberg tried unsuccessfully to use to bludgeon his opponents -- is indeed more flexible than we were told.

Just as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky -- the latter an ardent critic of the Bloomberg plan -- told us.

The federal deadline has been stretched, and so, it turns out, is what the feds will approve for the grant money.

Contrary to what Bloomberg led us to believe, the U.S. Department of Transportation will accept as qualifying for the $500 million grant a study commission leading toward some form of traffic abatement for downtown Manhattan.

It doesn't have to be congestion pricing approval itself.

So, despite all the criticism of Albany being yet again dysfunctional, yadda, yadda, not kissing Bloomberg's feet, the fact is the issue was dealt with properly.

In the process, we were made much warier of Mike Bloomberg.

No matter how high-toned his motives, he tried to pull a fast one and got caught at it.

Not that congestion pricing is off the table, or should be.

There's certainly no question the traffic weekdays in downtown Manhattan is absurd and the resulting air quality scary.

The status quo has to be attacked aggressively because to do nothing will guarantee the situation will continue to deteriorate.

And maybe congestion pricing is really the only answer.

We just don't know that yet.

New York is not unique in terms of the problem, or alone in trying to follow London's four-year-old example of charging vehicles to drive in designated areas during high congestion times, usually work days.

Singapore and Stockholm are in it already.

Paris is about to try a goofy but appealing plan utilizing 20,000 bicycles.

New York needs a plan too, but a plan created by the city and state of New York, not just the city.

At the end of the day, a familiar dynamic is highlighted by the congestion pricing issue.

That is, who owns a city?

Who are its stakeholders?

We've seen that question play out here in Albany over residential parking rules, and the tension between city dwellers and those commuting in to work.

The state has taken an active hand in preventing the city from imposing rules that would pose a hardship for commuters, commuters who are after all part and parcel of the reason Albany is the capital city.

New York City casts a far greater net of influence than Mayor Bloomberg and his government.

So again, it's state business we're looking at here.

This is where it should have started.

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

[Livyjr]

NEWSDAY

AP New York

"DiNapoli says records were missing from deputy's desk"

July 16, 2007, 6:08 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) "We will continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement officials to ensure that any wrongdoing by the Hevesi administration is uncovered and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," DiNapoli's statement said.

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

"Ex-comptroller accuses DiNapoli of smear campaign"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:22 p.m., Friday, July 20, 2007

ALBANY -- Former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who resigned in disgrace after a scandal last year, has accused his successor, Thomas DiNapoli, of participating in a smear campaign against him that included leaks from the state Attorney General's office.

"While Mr. Hevesi has admitted that he acted improperly in using a state employee to drive his ailing wife and accepted responsibility for that, the implication that he improperly benefited from control over the state's pension fund is false," Hevesi attorney Bradley Simon said in a statement released Friday.

The statement was a response to what Simon called "a smear campaign and innuendoes that have been leveled against Alan Hevesi over the past week."

Simon criticized DiNapoli by name and the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"There has been systematic leaking of information to create the false impression of wrongdoing by Mr. Hevesi," Simon said.

"These leaks apparently emanated from the Office of the State Attorney General."

Cuomo's director of communications, Jeffrey Lerner, replied that "the only statement this office has made ... is that we are concerned about troubling and systemic conflicts of interest in the comptroller's office."

Earlier this month, DiNapoli said his staff discovered that records were missing after the resignation of a deputy comptroller who served under Hevesi.

The records involve the state's massive pension fund.

Simon said no records were lost because of Hevesi.

Dennis Tompkins, a spokesman for DiNapoli, said the comptroller is "not interested in smearing anybody" and is intent on "restoring a reputation for integrity and ethics" to the office.

He repeated an earlier promise to cooperate with law enforcement authorities probing any wrongdoing during Hevesi's tenure.

Cuomo announced in May that his office is working with Albany District Attorney David Soares to investigate whether investment funds and other companies took advantage of conflicts of interest within the comptroller's office to profit from management of the $150 billion pension fund.

Hevesi resigned in December and pleaded guilty to a felony for using state employees as drivers and companions for his wife.

The plea resulted in no jail time.

[Livyjr]

"AMD insists chip fab is a go - CEO affirms intention to build in Saratoga County despite year's continued losses"

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

First published: Friday, July 20, 2007

MALTA -- Despite financial woes that have led to more than $1.2 billion in losses this year, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said Thursday that plans for a $3.2 billion computer chip factory to be built in Saratoga County are still on.

JPMorgan analyst Chris Donnelly asked AMD executives point blank during a conference call Thursday if its chip fab planned for the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta would be "scrapped" because of poor financial results.

"Not at all," said Hector Ruiz, AMD's chief executive officer.

"Our manufacturing strategy has not changed."

"We're looking forward to benefiting from our plans in New York."

The conference call was held Thursday night after AMD announced a $600 million loss for the second quarter on $1.38 billion in sales.

Ruiz reiterated that AMD has until July 2009 to make a decision about Luther Forest.

That is when $650 million in cash grants offered by New York state expire.

That money is part of a $1.2 billion incentive package that state leaders offered the company last year to come to the Empire State and build a state-of-the-art factory that would employ 1,200 people and could help ignite the Capital Region's growing technology economy.

But doubts about AMD's ability to build the factory even with that rich offer have crept up over the past several months.

After announcing a $650 million loss during the first quarter of the year, AMD said it was moving toward an "asset light" model that would mean more outsourcing and getting more assets off the company's books.

AMD has continually declined to say how asset light might specifically impact Luther Forest, although a spokesman had said that AMD could possibly partner with another company on the project.

During the Thursday conference call, Ruiz declined once more to elaborate on what the company's asset light strategy will entail.

"It is not in my best interest or in the best interests of AMD" to disclose those details, Ruiz said.

AMD is slowing down capital expenditures this year, the kind of money it would have to spend on a chip fab in Malta.

Last quarter the company announced it would slash capital expenditures by $500 million.

Much of that would be achieved by slowing down the conversion of one of its two factories in Dresden, Germany, to new technology.

On Thursday, AMD said it had decided to further slow down the conversion of that fab, which would save the company an additional $200 million this year.

The company is able to do that and keep production running smoothly by outsourcing some manufacturing to Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Some analysts have suggested that AMD's asset light strategy will rely more on companies like Chartered to outsource manufacturing.

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

[Livyjr]

"Spitzer wins campaign finance reform, sort of - Governor bends on soft money but changes viewed as good first step"

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

First published: Saturday, July 21, 2007

ALBANY -- After an extended and frequently testy legislative session, Gov. Eliot Spitzer emerged this week to declare victory with the top item on his agenda: campaign finance reform.

But as with anything at the state Capitol, the deal represented a series of compromises, and it didn't look quite the same as what the governor had initially proposed.

The deal would trim the amount of money people can give to campaigns and political parties, close or at least tighten some loopholes, and put new enforcement provisions in place.

But it wasn't everything his supporters had hoped for as evidenced by the comments of government reform groups who, after considering details of the plan, said there was still more work to do.

Common Cause/NY, for example, applauded the plan as a "significant first step toward meaningful campaign finance reform."

But they also said the plan's limitations are "self-evident.''

"Earlier incarnations of the Campaign Finance plan included a complete ban on LLC contributions, and a ban on soft money -- which then moved to a $50,000 per year limit."

"Pieces of this obviously got lost in the compromise,'' said Christina Bottego of Common Cause.

LLCs, or Limited Liability Corporations, can be -- and have been -- set up by wealthy individuals, and each one is treated as an individual contributor.

Through them, rich donors can get around the individual limits.

And some parts of the campaign finance system were untouched, such as controls on political action committees or PACs, which are frequently used by unions and other special interest groups.

While the Republican-controlled Senate was protective of LLCs, which have become major donors, the Democratic-dominated Assembly was adamant about keeping PACs intact, said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the NY League of Women Voters.

"The Assembly wouldn't come to the table on PACs,'' she said.

The deal also calls for more disclosure by donors, including occupation and employer, and no donations from lobbyists.

The package still needs to be approved by the Legislature, which has yet to say when it will return to Albany.

The campaign finance provisions would take effect in 2009, after next year's statewide and Legislative elections.

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

[Livyjr]

"Improving the Business Climate"

by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

New York State Business Council, Bolton's Landing, NY

[As Prepared for Delivery]

Spetember 21, 2006

I want to recognize Dan Walsh and thank him for his leadership over the past 18 years as President and CEO of the Business Council.

I also want to welcome Ken Adams as the Business Council's new President.

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

Revitalizing our state's economy -- especially the Upstate economy -- demands a major effort.

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.

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.

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].

Thank you.

And as Eliot "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer continues with his major effort to "revitalize our state's economy -- especially the Upstate economy" by opening up the state to big-time gambling interests in order to make the CORRUPT EMPIRE of New York the best place to do business in the world, we have ...

"2 bidders may split racing franchise - Spitzer says he's considering one operator for horse racing and another for VLTs"

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

First published: Saturday, July 21, 2007

ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer revealed Friday he is entertaining the notion of splitting the state horse racing franchise between two bidders.

He expects to decide by Sept. 4.

His post-Labor Day decision, which will come immediately after the Saratoga meet run by the New York Racing Association, would give the Legislature the rest of the year to make necessary changes.

The governor said because some of the bidders have seen significant changes in their structure, ownership and organization, each has a few weeks to update their bids.

Revised proposals are due by Aug. 7 from NYRA, Excelsior Racing Associates, Empire Racing Associates and Capital Play LLC.

His statement opened the possibility of bidders working together or merging.

"Each of the four may discuss with any of the others a joint venture operation and, in its submission, may present any joint arrangement that has been reached," the governor's statement says.

Spitzer may recommend to the Legislature one operator for both gaming and the racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga tracks. Or, he could break up the franchise and pick one operator for gaming and one for racing.

The bidders have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, getting to this point in the lengthy and first-ever competition for the franchise.

NYRA, which has held the exclusive rights to run racing at the three tracks since 1955, has a hold on the franchise until Dec. 31.

Spitzer's aides have floated the possibility of having NYRA run the tracks for 20 years in exchange for dropping its claim to ownership of the tracks, and putting video lottery terminal operations under Excelsior, the preferred bidder of a Pataki administration-led panel.

Excelsior, led by casino developer Richard Fields, has changed its makeup in recent months, losing the family of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and gaining Las Vegas operator Steve Wynn.

Capital Play has gained Mohegan Sun as a partner and Empire Racing lost the New York State Horsemen's Association.

[Livyjr]

And as Eliot "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer continues with his major effort to "revitalize our state's economy -- especially the Upstate economy" by opening up the state to big-time gambling interests in order to make the CORRUPT EMPIRE of New York the best place to do business in the world, we have ...

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.

–Edmund Burke

JOHN GALT REPLIES: Yes, it is, isn’t it ….

To make New York State the “best place in the world to do business", Eliot “STEAMBOAT” Spitzer is more than willing to compromise OUR public health, and he is willing to barter and compromise OUR state Bill of Rights until it means exactly nothing at all …

And so …

“Improving the Business Climate”

by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

New York State Business Council, Bolton’s Landing, NY

[As Prepared for Delivery]

Spetember 21, 2006

I want to recognize Dan Walsh and thank him for his leadership over the past 18 years as President and CEO of the Business Council.

I also want to welcome Ken Adams as the Business Council’s new President.

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

Revitalizing our state’s economy — especially the Upstate economy — demands a major effort.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you.

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry640897

Comment by John Galt — July 21, 2007 @ 8:34 am

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5083#comments

[Livyjr]

"To hold government accountable, citizens must, at a minimum, know enough so they can develop informed opinions about its performance."

- New York State Government, 2d Ed. by Robert B. Ward

[Livyjr]

"An understanding of the structure and process of government (in New York State) is based on the written law - which, in turn, starts with our state Constitution."

- New York State Government, 2d Ed. by Robert B. Ward

[Livyjr]

NEW YORK MAGAZINE

"The Steamroller in the Swamp - Is Eliot Spitzer changing Albany? Or is Albany changing him?"

By Steve Fishman

Spitzer is narrow and wiry; his forehead, framed by lettuce-leaf ears, slants back, and his chin pushes forward, as if, physically, he represents aggressive energy.

Eliot, like most of the family, was for the death penalty and against rent control, a subject he seems to have debated endlessly.

At one afternoon barbecue in Rye—the family had moved there from Riverdale—the day had begun with tennis.

As Mayer was coming off the court, Eliot’s mother told him, “I hope you kicked Eliot’s ass.”

“The reality is Spitzer does have the smartest people in the room working with him,” says one aide.

What was the upside of handing this self-righteous governor (whose staff, as one close to Spitzer acknowledges, considers legislators “hacks”) an end-of-session gift box?

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

"Dem Or GOP, Still Down On Spitzer"

Assemblyman Keith Wright, a Harlem Democrat, and Sen. Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican, will appear together Sunday morning on News Forum with WNBC's Jay DeDapper, and while they don't see eye-to-eye on much, they appear to agree that Gov. Eliot Spitzer has struck the wrong tone when dealing with the state Legislature and the Senate should remain in GOP hands.

"I just think he's picked some of the wrong issues to start out of the gate," says Wright, who has not been shy in criticizing Spitzer, adding that he's more concerned with public housing and racial profiling by the police than a ban on violent video games.

Wright goes on to say that Democrats were in "the legislative governmental wilderness" for 12 years with former Republican Gov. George Pataki in the governor's mansion and felt "so very optimistic" about Spitzer's election.

lBut after close to seven months of battling with Spitzer, Assembly Democrats are disappointed.

"It's almost the tone he has set, and the combativeness and such," Wright explains.

Padavan adds:

"When you sit in your - in the Red Room and say, 'You can't say anything.'"

"'This is my room, I set the rules,' well, the Red Room belongs to the people."

"Not to any person."

"So when you say things like that on public TV, in full view of the public and the media, well, you're making a mistake."

Padavan, who is among the Senate Democrats' targets as they plot an effort to take the Senate chamber in 2008, said he has never been asked to switch sides, but was "indirectly offered a position" in Spitzer's administration in hopes that he would be the next Mike Balboni.

Asked whether he believes the Senate will remain in GOP hands next year, Padavan replies:

"I think we will."

"I think we will do so because number one, when it gets down to it, people realize that in government you have to have balance."

"To have both the Assembly, the Senate, the governor, everybody one party, I don't care what party it is, is a mistake."

To which Wright adds:

"Look what it's done for George Bush."

The lawmakers also discuss congestion pricing, legislative pay raises and campaign finance reform.

Posted by Elizabeth Benjamin on July 20, 2007 1:05 PM

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

[Livyjr]

And when in Section 460.00 of the New York State Penal Law ....

Entitled "Legislative findings" ......

It is stated that:

The legislature (of the State of New York) finds and determines the money and power derived by organized crime through its illegal enterprises and endeavors is increasingly being used to infiltrate and corrupt businesses, unions and other legitimate enterprises and to corrupt our democratic processes ......

It was quite easy for them to make that finding .....

The "WHOLE HOGS" and "PORKERS" down there ....

Especially the part about "CORRUPTING OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES ..."

BECAUSE ALL THEY HAD TO DO ....

TO MAKE THAT FINDING ....

WAS TO LOOK RIGHT AT THEMSELVES .....

THE ONES WHO ARE IN THERE ....

SELLING US OUT ....

ALONG WITH OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES ....

TO THE HIGHEST BIDDERS .....

REGARDLESS OF WHERE THOSE HIGH BIDDERS ARE FROM ....

SO LONG AS THEY HAVE THE GEETUS .....

TO "PAY THE FREIGHT" .....

BUY THEMSELVES SOME INFLUENCE ....

WHICH IS ALBANY, NEW YORK'S ONLY REAL "PRODUCT" .....

OUT THERE ON THE MARKET ....

And so ....

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

Comment by devtob: When one person hijacks an open thread, no one else wants to participate.

JOHN GALT REPLIES: Where exactly is the hi-jacking here, eh, devtob?

JJ set the stage here for this discussion by juxtaposing Chinua Achebe and Edmund Burke, who are yin and yang, night and day ….

And by doing so, he spurred a train of thought …

Obviously not in yourself, of course ….

But in others, like ruralgeek, anyway …

And I think what has got devtob all upset and screaming out for censorship in here is that Monday, April 25, 1994 TIMES UNION editoral posted above here in #2 wherein is stated:

On Mr. Casale’s own account, he has been looking into the organizational arrangements of three do-gooder groups at the request, he says, of his constituents.

According to people who work for those groups, however, what Mr. Casale is doing is nothing short of harassment.

The organizations in question are the New York State Public Interest Research Group, the Concerned Citizens for the Environment, and New York Hunger Action Network.

Mr. Casale’s interest appears to stem from his Assembly race against Democrat Mark Dunlea.

Mr. Dunlea is the executive director of the Hunger Action Network, and his wife, Judith Enck, is a senior environmental associate with NYPIRG.

Concerned Citizens is closely aligned with both groups.

end quotes

Slowly, but inexorably, a wheel is turning in here, and as it turns, it dredges up an uncomfortable past for many people like Judith “SWEET JUDY BLUE-EYES” Enck who have finally, through their willingness to compromise their principles, reached the BIGGEST of the BIG TIME here in NYS, anyway ….

Yes, indeedy ….

The chair of an UNDER-CZAR in the administration of Eliot “STREETDAWG” Spitzer ….

And so ….

This Monday, April 25, 1994 TU editorial all of a sudden shines an uncomfortable and most unwelcome spotlight on the time when Judith Enck was the “QUEEN OF THE ENVIRONMENT” in the State of New York …

And the role of NYPIRG as well in NYS politics …

Which then raises questions of how exactly it was that Enck went from being the “QUEEN OF THE ENVIRONMENT” in the State of New York to being an an UNDER-CZAR in the administration of Eliot “STREETDAWG” Spitzer ….

An administration which has pledged itself to service to the New York State Business Council ….

And the gutting of environmental regulations intended to be protective of life, health and property in NYS …

And so ….

devtob calls me talking about these issues in here “HI-JACKING” this OPEN THREAD ….

And devtob wants JJ to censor me for it ….

Which is and remains his perogative ….

And truth be told, censoring sends as much as a message as letting the truth finally be told …

And so ..

As Mike said in another thread …

TO BE CONTINUED, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER …

And we shall all be the first to know …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — July 22, 2007 @ 1:57 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5083#comments

[Livyjr]

Thomas Mann, Norman Ornstein, the Reform Institute and the Campaign Legal Center:

“Although New York’s judicial selection scheme genuflects at the altar of democracy, it prays to a very different god: patronage.”

“By effectively lodging the power to control the nomination of state Supreme Court Justices in local political party leaders, New York’s mandated system makes state Supreme Court Justices—and many below them on the judicial ladder—beholden to local party officials."

"The judges, their law clerks, and other judicial employees become mere patronage spoils.”

http://reformny.blogspot.com/2007/07/brenn...s-of-court.html

"Judicial conventions face test - Rival Democratic slates of delegates pit county committee against city"

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

First published: Monday, July 23, 2007

New York's age-old, politically rigged system of judicial conventions -- now headed toward U.S. Supreme Court arguments -- will go on as usual in September.

Political parties send delegates to these conventions to vote for candidates to the state Supreme Court, a formality because the bosses have usually picked the nominees beforehand.

The sessions are rarely without controversy.

This year is no different.

The latest local dustup involves the filing of two competing slates of Democratic delegates.

One group was picked by the Albany County Democratic Committee, the other by Mayor Jerry Jennings' first-ever Albany City Democratic Committee.

While it's possible the dispute could end up in a court challenge, it will likely be resolved in a Sept. 18 primary with one winning slate.

The dueling delegate slates are another chapter in the increasingly heated city-vs.-suburbs saga of the once almighty Albany Democratic machine.

Each slate has 14 names.

Three people made it to both sheets -- County Legislators Gary Domalewicz and William Clay, who both live in the city of Albany, and city ward leader and county committee member Jason Rice, one of the longest-standing party operatives.

"We felt it was important that we have people who reflect what our city Democratic Committee stands for," Jennings said in explaining why he assembled a slate to go up against the county's.

The mayor is included every year on the county delegates' slate because "he belongs on it," County Democratic Co-chairman Frank Commisso said.

But this year Jennings called Commisso and told him: "I am going to have my own slate."

Commisso said Jennings only had to pick up the phone and instead of saying, "'Frank, take my name off,' it should have been, 'Frank, we have to sit down.'"

"This stuff takes dialogue."

County Republican Chairman Peter Kermani quipped, "I'm watching the brothers and sisters in the Democratic Party do battle."

He's not ready to name any GOP judicial candidates "until I see how everything falls out," he said.

But he added, "there will be Republicans stepping up."

Supreme Court justices are elected in each of the state's 12 judicial districts.

Locally, the seven-county 3rd Judicial District comprises Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene, Ulster, Sullivan and Schoharie.

Supreme Court in New York is a trial court, an oddity that confuses outsiders.

New York's top court is the Court of Appeals, and the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court is the midlevel appeals court.

Delegates to the nominating conventions come from each of the counties in the district.

Democrats and Republicans traditionally meet for their one-day convention at the Albany County Courthouse.

Minor parties also hold judicial nominating conventions, but they don't draw the attention the major parties do.

It's too early to speculate on cross-endorsements, another thorn in the side of reformers.

Not only are the delegates expected to vote for the choices of their party leader, but often the two major parties cut a deal to endorse each other's candidates for the November ballot.

The politicians like it because it's a way to balance the partisan affiliation on the bench.

It also avoids costly campaigns.

Three state Supreme Court seats are up this year, all held by Democrats.

Justices Joseph Teresi of Albany County and George Ceresia of Rensselaer County, who is also the administrative judge of the district, are seeking re-election to 14-year terms.

The third seat of Ulster County Justice Vincent Bradley, who died in November, is being sought by Bradley's law clerk, Christopher Cahill, who was sworn in last month after Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointed him to fill the vacancy until the end of the year.

The post pays $136,700.

Meanwhile, last month Albany County Surrogate Cathryn M. Doyle, a Democrat, announced plans to run for Supreme Court.

In addition to her surrogate duties, Doyle had been assigned to temporary duty in Supreme Court, but she lost that honor in May four months after being censured by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The commission concluded that Doyle gave "evasive and deceptive" testimony during its investigation into a trust fund set up to help former GOP state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo, a good friend of Doyle's.

Spargo was ousted from the bench last year.

Commisso, who is also the County Legislature's majority leader, and Co-chairman David Bosworth, who doubles as Guilderland's Democratic chief, have county Democrats leaning toward the incumbents.

Jennings is noncommittal.

Last August, the federal 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson Brooklyn that the convention system imposed by state Election Law was unconstitutional.

Gleeson called for the state Legislature to revamp the method of electing state judges.

Margarita Lopez Torres, a civil court judge in Brooklyn, had challenged the convention system in a lawsuit after a dispute with then-Brooklyn Democratic boss and former Assemblyman Clarence Norman about the hiring of a law clerk.

After that, Norman repeatedly refused to consider her for a Supreme Court seat.

Norman was subsequently convicted of selling judgeships.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School was lead counsel for Lopez Torres.

After the 2nd Circuit upheld Gleeson, lawyers for the state Board of Elections were successful in a bid to have the nation's highest court hear the case.

Judicial reformers, who have filed a friend-of-the-court brief, favor a state constitutional amendment to create a merit-based appointment system for state judges in place of elections.

Recognizing that would take years, for now, they support legislation curbing abuses in the convention format.

Arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court are scheduled for Oct. 3.

In the meantime, lawyers for both sides agreed that conventions would be held again this year.

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

[Livyjr]

A year before Election Day 2006, at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, candidate (Eliot "STEAMROLLER") Spitzer gave a detailed presentation on his vision for government reform.

Having built a national reputation by driving structural changes in major financial-services industries, Spitzer declared:

"In Albany - as it was on Wall Street - the status quo is a system that lacks accountability."

"It is a system that is controlled by special interests."

"It is a system that is not efficient, is not open and transparent."

Promising dramatic change, he added:

"What happened on Wall Street ... can also happen on State Street here in Albany."

The address touched on many of the major issues facing the state.

For instance, Spitzer called for:

* Changes to the court system, promoting the "rule of law" with reforms such as merit appointment rather than election of judges; consolidation of the "Balkanized" system of trial courts; and creation of more integrated courts to reduce costs and improve the quality of judicial decisions.

- pp.12,13 of New York State Government, 2d Ed. by Robert B. Ward

[Livyjr]

"Grandeau describes his exit as 'chilling'"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, July 23, 2007

David Grandeau, executive director of the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying, says he will indeed be out of a job Sept. 22.

Grandeau also wonders whether the Spitzer administration's decision not to keep him on will send a message to the next industry watchdog to watch his step and not ruffle any high-level feathers.

"It's kind of a chilling thing," said Grandeau, whose hard-charging approach earned praise from government reform groups, but enemies among lobbyists and public officials.

"You reward the enablers, and you punish the enforcers."

He wryly observed, "If you do the job right, you make a ton of friends."

Grandeau, a former Troy city manager, has run the lobbying commission for 13 years.

But in September, the state will merge the lobbying and ethics commissions into a Commission on Public Integrity.

Ethics Commission Chairman John Feerick, who also will head the new board, last month picked Manhattan attorney Herbert Teitelbaum as his $140,000 executive director, putting Teitelbaum in line to run the merged commission, too.

The writing is clearly on the wall, Grandeau said: "I'm done."

Grandeau, a lawyer, can't go into lobbying under a revolving door policy that prohibits him from appearing before his former agency.

But he said he may go into consulting people on how to avoid running afoul of state lobbying laws.

NYRA arrangement

The independent monitor assigned by a federal court to watch over the New York Racing Association three years ago is in line to make $125,000 a month as a consultant to the operator of the state's three thoroughbred tracks that is under bankruptcy protection.

Manhattan-based Getnick & Getnick, which issued a favorable report to a federal court about NYRA's performance under its 18-month oversight, would get a contract for a minimum of five years if U.S. Bankruptcy Court approves the proposal, filed with the court last week.

Chairman C. Steven Duncker said the firm and its leader, Neil Getnick, could support integrity programs.

The court papers say Getnick's firm would be the integrity business counsel, focusing on backstretch operations, anti-money laundering programs, simulcast sales, use of rebate shops, financial systems, pre-race horse monitoring, segregation of horsemen's funds and implementation of a code of ethics.

Getnick would not discuss the matter, nor would he say if it is uncommon for monitors to take contracts from entities they formerly policed.

NYRA paid Getnick's firm hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a deferred prosecution deal to satisfy a criminal indictment in 2003 stemming from NYRA's participation in a tax-evasion scheme with its employees.

The racing association is now operating under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to protect it from creditors.

The association's bankruptcy lawyer told the court that hiring Getnick's firm would be important because Gov. Eliot Spitzer has placed a high premium on integrity as NYRA competes for the rights to retain its racing franchise.

Contributors: State editor Jay Jochnowitz and Capitol bureau reporter James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5424 or e-mail jjochnowitz@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

And talking about juxtaposition as well as barter of OUR rights as NYS citizens as well as compromise of OUR state Constitution here in NYS by Eliot “STREETDAWG” Spitzer, we have, side by side, as follows:

“Improving the Business Climate” by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

New York State Business Council, Bolton’s Landing, NY

[As Prepared for Delivery]

Spetember 21, 2006

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.

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

Thank you.

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry640897

AND ….

A year before Election Day 2006, at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, candidate (Eliot “STEAMROLLER”) Spitzer gave a detailed presentation on his vision for government reform.

Having built a national reputation by driving structural changes in major financial-services industries, Spitzer declared:

“In Albany - as it was on Wall Street - the status quo is a system that lacks accountability.”

“It is a system that is controlled by special interests.”

“It is a system that is not efficient, is not open and transparent.”

- p.12 of New York State Government, 2d Ed. by Robert B. Ward

HHHHhhhhmmmm …

Is the New York State Business Council a “SPECIAL INTEREST”, I must wonder ….

And so …

Comment by John Galt — July 23, 2007 @ 8:24 am

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5083#comments

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

Comment by hotdogfan — July 22, 2007 @ 11:35 pm:

Who is John Galt?

“a fictional character from ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by Ayn Rand” or….

http://nyc.metblogs.com/archives/2005/10/w..._john_gal.phtml

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5092#comments

[Livyjr]

"AG report faults Spitzer aides in Bruno scheme - Governor suspends aide, transfers another"

By JAY JOCHNOWITZ, State editor, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 1:44 p.m., Monday, July 23, 2007

A top aide to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been suspended and another reassigned following a report today that found they set about trying to create unfavorable media coverage of Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

The report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office found the administration deviated from standard practice in having the State Police create special reports on Bruno's use of police and state aircraft.

The investigation, which looked into both Bruno's travel and the senate leader's allegation that Spitzer used State Police to spy on him, concluded that beginning in May 2007, people in the governor's office planned to generate press coverage of Senator Bruno's use of state aircraft to attend fundraisers and other political events, rather than for official state business as he had certified.

The report by the Democratic attorney general's office says Spitzer aides did not simply produce records, as the state Freedom of Information Law requires, but were instead engaged in planning and producing media coverage concerning Senator Bruno's travel on state aircraft before any FOIL request was made.

Spitzer said spokesman Darren Dopp has been suspended in the matter.

William F. Howard, assistant deputy secretary for homeland security, has been reassigned to an unspecified post.

Spitzer plans no action against Preston Felton, acting superintendent of the State Police, who was involved in the matter.

The 53-page report also found that Bruno's use of state aircraft was legal, although it noted that in some cases he did only a small amount of legislative business.

The report recommended the state's policy on aircraft use - which allows officials to conduct political business while traveling at taxpayer expense as long as they do some government work, no matter how little - is overly permissive and porous and allows for an abuse of taxpayer funds.

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

Comment by John Galt — July 23, 2007 @ 2:00 pm: This Spitzer has been bad news for Constitutional government and order for the common citizens in NYS through the application of law since he was the state AG, and so, it is good to see this pretentious fop getting some comeuppance here at the hands of AG Andrew Cuomo, who has shown he is not Eliot “STREETDAWG” Spitzer’s “BOY” in any way … ….

Spitzer is a masterful politician, alright …

With a very media-savvy crew ….

But nonetheless, he and his crew are all a cheap piece of goods …

THUGS ….

Although in a recent NEW YORK MAGAZINE article entitled “The Steamroller in the Swamp - Is Eliot Spitzer changing Albany? Or is Albany changing him?” by Steve Fishman:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry736520

One SPITZER-ITE AIDE was quoted as saying:

“The reality is Spitzer does have the smartest people in the room working with him” …

end quotes

And what a load of BULL **** that all was …

As this story clearly shows …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5096#comments

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by: John Galt | July 23, 2007 2:52 PM: William Sulzer (March 18, 1863 – November 6, 1941) was a Governor of New York who was was impeached and removed from office on October 13, 1913, after just 10 months on the job for allegedly diverting campaign contributions to his own use ....

And although some in Albany maintain that he was impeached unfairly ...

And although there have been several pieces of legislation introduced in the New York State Assembly and Senate to have his political record repaired ....

None have been successful ....

And thus, what is called the "SULZER PRECEDENT" for the impeachment and removal of a NYS Governor still exists ...

The NYS Senate would be doing the citizens of NYS a great service by investigating Eliot "STREETDAWG" Spitzer to see if the "SULZER PRECEDENT" applies to him, and if it does in any way, Eliot "STREETDAWG" Spitzer should be impeached and removed from office pursuant to OUR NYS Constitution for the good of the state ....

And so ....

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

[Livyjr]

NEW YORK MAGAZINE

"The Steamroller in the Swamp - Is Eliot Spitzer changing Albany? Or is Albany changing him?"

By Steve Fishman

Spitzer is narrow and wiry; his forehead, framed by lettuce-leaf ears, slants back, and his chin pushes forward, as if, physically, he represents aggressive energy.

If Spitzer lacked a natural politician’s ease, he did have one giant advantage: family money.

In the general election, against incumbent Dennis Vacco, he spent more than $8 million, almost all of which he said he personally lent to the campaign.

Vacco suspected that the money from his first campaign and now this one really came from Spitzer’s father, which seemed to violate campaign-finance laws—a family member can’t contribute more than $260,000.

Spitzer claimed he’d mortgaged eight apartments his father had given him at 200 Central Park South, a building Bernard developed, and raised $5 million.

“No one else has guaranteed the loan,” Spitzer said in an affidavit.

And then, days before the election, Spitzer came clean to the Times.

His father had, in effect, financed the campaign.

Bernard was really paying off the co-op loans; Spitzer was supposedly repaying his father, which permitted Spitzer to claim the money was technically his.

Spitzer said the scheme was legal.

If so, he had lawyered election and tax codes close to the line.

Perhaps Spitzer’s clearer infraction, though, was that he misled—some said lied to—not only the public but also his closest campaign aides.

“People were disappointed and shocked,” says one aide.

Later, I asked Spitzer, now the state’s ethical crusader, whether he regretted this deception.

“I just would have been completely transparent about it,” he tells me.

“I didn’t realize how necessary it was to be transparent about every personal financial transaction.”

It’s difficult to hear the word transparent and not think that the more precise word is honest.

http://nymag.com/news/features/34730/

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by: John Galt | July 23, 2007 2:52 PM: William Sulzer (March 18, 1863 – November 6, 1941) was a Governor of New York who was was impeached and removed from office on October 13, 1913, after just 10 months on the job for allegedly diverting campaign contributions to his own use ....

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

THE NEW YORK POST

"GOP PUTS HEAT ON ELIOT'S $5M LOAN"

July 23, 2007 -- SENATE Republicans are looking to subpoena records held by Gov. Spitzer and his 82-year-old megamillionaire father, Bernard, dealing with a controversial $5 million loan that helped Spitzer get elected attorney general in 1998, The Post has learned.

The unprecedented subpoenas - which would represent a major escalation in the ongoing war between Democrat Spitzer and the state Senate GOP - were requested Friday by Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner (R-Elmira.)

Winner, in a letter to Elections Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Utica,) wrote that a recent profile of Spitzer in New York magazine suggested the governor broke state election law in obtaining a loan that helped bankroll his first winning campaign for attorney general.

In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, Winner told Griffo the article "outlined what may have been a willful effort by Eliot Spitzer and his father to circumvent campaign-contribution limits in New York state law and then conceal their actions . . .

"Accordingly, I believe the Senate Committee on Elections should investigate this matter immediately, and urge you, as chairman, to utilize the subpoena power of the committee to ensure that all of the facts relevant to this matter are known so that we might prepare better reform legislation," Winner wrote.

Winner, a lawyer, told The Post the subpoenas should be used to find out "what were the guarantees for the loan, what were the provisions for the notes [and] were they executed with original guarantees from the father?"

"Clearly, the bank files for such loans would have them, and certainly, they would be in the possession of the individuals involved, the governor himself and his father, obviously," Winner continued.

Asked about Winner's request for subpoenas, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson declined to comment.

Spitzer claimed during the campaign that he secured the $5 million loan by mortgaging eight apartments his developer-father had given him.

But as his election challenge to then-Attorney General Dennis Vacco neared the end, Spitzer admitted that his father was actually paying off the loans and, therefore, financing his campaign - a possible election-law violation.

"I didn't realize how necessary it was to be transparent about every personal financial transaction," Spitzer was quoted as saying in the article.

Winner, whose Investigations Committee may soon issue its own subpoenas for e-mails and other documents involving Spitzer's alleged use of the State Police to spy on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer), said he wanted Griffo to obtain the Spitzer documents before the final touches are put on last week's announced agreement to pass a new campaign-finance law.

He said that the agreement - announced by Spitzer and Bruno on Thursday - was only "conceptual" and noted that it did not address "loan abuse" situations like the one involving Spitzer's 1998 campaign.

Griffo had no immediate reaction to the letter.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07232007/news/...c_u__dicker.htm

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by Upstate Dem: And why was Howard still employed in this job?

Aren't there any qualified Democrats available to fill these types of jobs?

While we are on the subject, why are all of those other Republicans still in their non-competitive positions some seven months later?

JOHN GALT REPLIES: Actually, it seems laughable, based on Eliot "STREETDAWG" Spitzer's own record, and public statements, to call him a Democrat, or to even consider that he could be a Democrat ....

To the contrary, I would say that "STREETDAWG" Spitzer is a CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN much in the mold of Texas peckerwood George W. Bush ...

In the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS article entitled "2 sides of Spitzer - Love-hate relationship with civil libertarians" by Ben Smith, originally published on August 6, 2006, it was stated:

Politicians are known by their enemies, and when Eliot Spitzer ran for state attorney general in 1998, the Democrat's best-known enemy may have been the American Civil Liberties Union.

He ran a commercial that mocked the liberal lawyers who opposed searching schoolchildren for guns.

After he was elected, he backed state financing for parochial schools and "roving" wiretaps for police.

The NYCLU's Christopher Dunn says Spitzer "has been conspicuously silent when it comes to civil rights and civil liberties," and that he is "astonished at what a completely free ride he has gotten."

end quotes

And in the recent NEW YORK MAGAZINE article entitled "The Steamroller in the Swamp - Is Eliot Spitzer changing Albany? Or is Albany changing him?" by Steve Fishman, it was stated:

William Taylor, Eliot’s Princeton roommate who later co-founded the magazine Fast Company, says, “I was never more relieved than when dinner was over and I’d survived.”

It was pretty good fun to beat up on Eliot’s soft-minded schoolmates, usually liberals if not lefties, which the Spitzers were not.

Eliot, like most of the family, was for the death penalty and against rent control, a subject he seems to have debated endlessly.

Once he and Mayer tackled it at Princeton, where Eliot was student-government president, a moderate counterweight to the college leftists.

(“He was more likely to be playing squash with the president of the university than on a picket line,” as one lefty friend puts it.)

The night Eliot and Mayer talked rent control, Mayer says, “people were stunned by the level of intensity, as most humans would be.”

end quotes

In his address to the New York State Business Council, Bolton's Landing, NY, on September 21, 2006 entitled “Improving the Business Climate”, "STREETDAWG" Spitzer stated as follows:

I want to recognize Dan Walsh and thank him for his leadership over the past 18 years as President and CEO of the Business Council.

I also want to welcome Ken Adams as the Business Council’s new President.

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

Revitalizing our state’s economy — especially the Upstate economy — demands a major effort.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you.

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry640897

Being for the death penalty and being against rent control and civil rights and public health puts Eliot "STREETDAWG" Spitzer squarely into the corner with Joe Bruno here in NYS ...

That makes "STREETDAWG" Spitzer a REPUBLICAN in my book ...

And the state Health Commissioner that he chose, this Daines dude, well, he is a REPUBLICAN ....

And so ...

I think that you people who thought Spitzer was a real Democrat got snookered, myself, by his slick-running PROPAGANDA MACHINE run by Darren Dopp ....

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | July 23, 2007 4:42 PM

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

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Jul 23 2007, 03:05 PM