"Cut spending or else, Spitzer tells lawmakers"

ALBANY - Gov. Spitzer is talking tough again - threatening to go back on the road to bash lawmakers in their own districts if they don't rein in their spending.

"I won't hesitate after a vote to pass judgment on the way votes are cast," Spitzer said yesterday, less than a month before the Legislature comes out with its spending plan.

Spitzer, who has sought to cut the state's health care spending, is now under pressure to relent because the state will be getting $575 million more than expected in revenues this year.

The governor said if he were to up health care spending, it would be limited to "prevention, detection, research and smart public policies that focus on patients, not institutions."

Spitzer's proposal for voters to get a $2 billion bonding request to fund embryonic stem-cell research in New York also will face a test next week when Edward Cardinal Egan comes to the Capitol to call for its defeat.

Egan, however, backs Spitzer's call for a $1,000 tax deduction for families who pay private and parochial school tuition.

Teacher unions have announced their opposition to that proposal.

Joe Mahoney

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/regional/s...7p-424220c.html

NY TIMES

"State Investigates Auditor’s Approval of Payments"

By MICHAEL COOPER

Published: March 6, 2007

ALBANY, March 6 — The money was supposed to be used to find sites for residential facilities for people with mental illness.

And since 1998, investigators found, an auditor at the state Office of Mental Health approved more than $1.2 million in payments for site studies to a company called “Very Important Property,” or V.I.P.

But when investigators working for Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo took a closer look at the company, they found a number of unusual things.

The state auditor who approved the payments, James L. Leggiero, was also the vice president of the company that received the payments, according to court papers.

And V.I.P. was little more than a post office box and a bank account opened by Mr. Leggiero, investigators said in affidavits.

The bank account made no payments to architects or engineers, they said, but did make mortgage payments and car payments for Mr. Leggiero, who drove a Cadillac Escalade and owns three Corvettes, including one from 1958, even though his state salary as a principal auditor is roughly $79,000 a year.

So a team of investigators from the attorney general’s office raided Mr. Leggiero’s home in Slingerlands, N.Y., and his state office in Albany this morning, carting away computers and boxes of records that they believe can help them.

Mr. Leggiero, who has not been charged with any crime, did not respond to calls made to his home or office today, and no one answered the door this afternoon at his home in Slingerlands, just outside Albany.

But officials at the attorney general’s office said that they intend to take the case to a grand jury.

In court papers that the attorney general’s office filed on Monday to obtain the search warrants and to freeze Mr. Leggiero’s assets, investigators claim that V.I.P. was a “sham entity” that Mr. Leggiero created in order to defraud the state.

“Leggiero used V.I.P. funds to pay for expenses related to the recreational soccer activities of himself and his family, his mortgage, child care for his family, telephone bills and other personal uses, and provided funds to family and friends,” the attorney general’s office wrote in a complaint filed at State Supreme Court in Rensselaer County.

The investigation opened a new front in the activities of the public integrity unit that Mr. Cuomo expanded this year.

The unit has already begun scrutinizing the “member item” pork barrel spending of lawmakers, moved to create a Web site where the public can more easily track campaign donations and lobbying, and voided the attempts of members of a state housing agency to award themselves post-retirement health benefits.

Now the unit is turning its attention to state operations, and the contracting operations of a state government whose annual budget will soon be $120 billion a year.

“That’s where the money is,” said a senior official in the attorney general’s office.

Investigators said they were troubled that the scheme went undetected for more than eight years.

“This wasn’t a very sophisticated scam,” the official said.

Ellen Nachtigall Biben, the deputy attorney general in charge of the public integrity unit, said, “This case is a complete breakdown in internal control mechanisms.”

The case was referred to the attorney general’s office in January by the state comptroller’s office, which noticed during a routine audit that V.I.P. had only a post office box, but no physical address — raising a red flag.

Investigators from the attorney general’s office quickly uncovered a number of surprising things, which they detailed in a series of court papers that they filed in order to get the search warrants.

They reviewed dozens of payments, from a few hundred dollars to more than $99,000, that Mr. Leggiero approved to V.I.P. in order to conduct “feasibility studies” to identify sites for residential treatment centers for people with mental illness.

Mr. Leggiero signed a line that said, “I certify that this claim is correct and just, and payment is approved.”

Over all, the state has paid $1,232,072.42 to V.I.P, investigators said.

But V.I.P. had no listed telephone number, and does not appear to be incorporated, investigators said.

The accompanying paperwork listing the sites that they claimed to study listed incomplete addresses that made it impossible to determine whether any of the sites the company claimed to have studied even existed.

And in letters to the Office of Mental Health, V.I.P. claimed that someone named “Michael Raymond” had prepared architectural feasibility reports on the sites.

But investigators found no one by that name on the list of licensed architects and engineers maintained by the state, and no payments from V.I.P.’s bank account to anyone by that name.

Officials at the attorney general’s office said that the investigation in continuing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

end quotes

THE FIRST OBVIOUS QUESTION THAT ARISES HERE ....

IS WHY THE NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL HAS FILED THESE PAPERS IN RENSSELAER COUNTY SUPREME COURT ....

INSTEAD OF IN ALBANY COUNTY SUPREME COURT ....

WHICH IS WHERE THE ALLEGED OFFENSES TOOK PLACE ....

AS WELL AS BEING THE HOME COUNTY OF THE SUBJECT OF THE INVESTIGATION ...

WAS THAT DONE TO CREATE A "LOOPHOLE" FOR THIS V.I.P. DUDE TO ESCAPE OUT OF?

HE GETS HIMSELF A FANCY LAWYER WHO POINTS OUT TO THE JUDGE IN RENSSELAER COUNTY THAT VENUE IN THIS CASE IS IMPROPER?

"OH, AH, SORRY, FOLKS, WELL, WE THOUGHT WE HAD A 'SLAM-DUNK' HERE, BUT, AH, WELL, YOU KNOW ...."

AND YES, WE DO ....

WOULD BE MY RESPONSE ....

YES, WE DO KNOW ....

WHICH IS WHY THIS THREAD IS RUNNING IN HERE ...

And so ...

"New comptroller criticizes Gov. Spitzer's first budget plan"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press

Last updated: 3:34 p.m., Wednesday, March 7, 2007

ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer's $120.6 billion state budget proposal would increase spending "at an unsustainable rate" and leave New York with a whopping three-year budget gap of $13 billion, new state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Wednesday.

While the new governor's fellow Democrat praised Spitzer's proposal as one that "takes a significant step toward budget reform," DiNapoli said it simply would spend too much.

"The $120.6 billion budget calls for increasing spending at two-and-a-half times the projected rate of inflation," DiNapoli said.

Under the Spitzer plan, state spending would rise by almost 8 percent.

The budget proposal is for the state fiscal year that begins April 1 and final decisions about it rest with the state Legislature.

The comptroller's critical budget analysis came on the same day that several thousand people rallied outside the state Capitol, braving subfreezing temperatures to protest Spitzer's proposals to trim more than $1 billion in health care spending.

That plan is being opposed by the state's largest health care workers' union and hospital and nursing home groups.

Both sides in the fight have mounted expensive television advertising campaigns, Spitzer paying for his ads with campaign funds.

"The governor agrees with the comptroller that the out-year budget gaps are still too large, and that is why he believes it is vital to enact the health care reforms and other savings priorities he proposed this year," said Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson.

"The governor's budget presents a completely new approach to managing New York's finances by offering a savings plan to pay for new initiatives while beginning to reduce the state's structural deficit."

"If adopted by the legislature, the savings proposed in the budget will help hold the annual growth in spending to a manageable level," she added.

Even as the Spitzer critics rallied outside the state Capitol in Albany, the governor was staging his own event in New York City where Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, endorsed the governor's efforts to expand access to health care coverage to all children.

"Children are too young to vote, they have no voice in Washington's corridors of power, and they can't afford to pay powerful lobbyists."

"So the American people must take up this fight for children's health and lives," Edelman said at a Children's Aid Society neighborhood facility in Harlem.

Back in Albany, meanwhile, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, cheered on the Spitzer critics.

"No one disputes that the cost of health care is exorbitant and becoming more so, but cuts by themselves do not constitute reform, and name-calling -- from whatever corner it comes -- adds nothing but anger and uncertainty to the daily suffering we are supposed to be fighting," said Silver.

While the Spitzer plan would reign in spending on Medicaid and other health care programs, it would dramatically increase spending on education and in some other areas.

In his report, DiNapoli praised Spitzer for seeking to make the budget process run more smoothly and to pump more money into state budget reserve funds.

But DiNapoli faulted the new governor for the projected future year budget gaps.

"While the executive recommends applying projected surpluses to close these gaps, the underlying cause of the gaps -- burdensome spending -- is not addressed," DiNapoli said.

DiNapoli also complained about the continued growth in state debt.

He said that under the Spitzer budget plan, state debt would increase to $65.6 billion by the end of the 2011-12 fiscal year, a 27 percent increase over five years.

Relations between DiNapoli and Spitzer have gotten off to a rocky start and the report probably will do little to improve that situation.

DiNapoli was a state assemblyman when his colleagues in the state Legislature elected him Feb. 7 to become state comptroller, replacing Democrat Alan Hevesi.

Hevesi, who had just been re-elected to a new, four-year term in November, resigned as comptroller in December after pleading guilty to a felony charge for using state employees as drivers and companions for his wife.

Spitzer had unsuccessfully tried to get the Legislature to appoint a non-lawmaker as comptroller and complained after the vote for DiNapoli that he was "thoroughly and totally unqualified for the job."

"State Employee Payroll Is Second Highest in U.S."

By ELIZABETH SOLOMONT

Special to the Sun

March 6, 2007

New York State has the second-highest payroll for government employees in the nation, doling out $5.4 billion to city and state workers in March 2006, according to new data released yesterday by the Census Bureau.

The salaries in New York State were second only to those in California, which paid $8.9 billion to government workers, the data show.

Nationwide, public employees were paid more than $60 billion that month.

Based on its population, in March 2006 New York ranked third for its per-capita payroll expenditures, about $280, following only Arkansas and Wyoming.

West Virginia ranked last, with $154 percapita payroll expenditures.

"It has to do with the mix of public services that exist, and that's a function of urbanization," an economist with the Fiscal Policy Institute, James Parrott, said.

"There's variation in public employment that depends on the character of state economics and the density of settlement."

Mr. Parrott pointed to transit and public safety needs in New York City as two industries that could boost employment and payroll in the state.

Overall, the New York State payroll represented a slight increase from the year before, and reflected an increase in the number of municipal employees.

According to the annual survey, New York State ranked third among states in the number of government employees, with nearly 1.2 million "full-time equivalent" employees, which includes full-time and part-time workers.

Among them were 71,600 local police officers, 48,596 transit workers, and 9,543 library employees.

Overall, the number represented a jump of about 6,000 employees since March 2005, the last time the Census Bureau published the employment and payroll report.

It also was an increase from 2000, when there were just over 1.1 million state and local government employees.

"Generally what it shows — this is with the exception of New York City — the public sector grows even when the private tax base isn't," the director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, E.J. McMahon, said.

"One of the main reasons for the ‘perfect storm of unaffordability' is this increase in payroll," he added, referring to Governor Spitzer's description of the high cost of state and local government.

In September, Mr. McMahon said, his group completed a report that looked at changes in employment in New York since 2000, and found a "significant" increase of about 17,500 municipal workers throughout the state.

"The growth has been in the local" governments, Mr. McMahon said yesterday, adding that most of the workers were outside New York City.

According to the census data released yesterday, education was one of the employment categories that saw an increase.

There were 327,557 elementary and secondary school instructors in New York State in March 2006, up from 321,891 in 2000.

However, the increase in the number of employees in the noninstructional area was greater than the increase in the number of actual teachers, the data show:

There were 135,747 non-instructional school employees in March 2006, up from 117,683 in 2000.

"It basically confirms other data we've seen, which is that there is an increase in government at a local level, and it's largely school employees," Mr. McMahon said.

http://www.nysun.com/article/49880

"GOV'T JOBS MAKE N.Y. A WORK FORCE"

By DAVID SEIFMAN

NY POST

March 6, 2007 -- State and local governments in New York employ more workers per capita than other big states, including neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut, according to data released yesterday by the Census Bureau.

The bureau reported that there were 1,190,287 people in the state collecting paychecks from state and municipal governments in March 2006, including 249,208 from the state.

But the overall number is up only 7 percent from 1995, when then-Gov. George Pataki first took office.

He left at the end of 2006 after serving three terms.

By comparison, government employment in New Jersey jumped 17 percent during that period.

In Connecticut, it increased 14 percent, according to figures extrapolated from bureau data.

On a per-capita basis, there was one government worker for every 16 residents in New York, one for every 17 in New Jersey and one for every 19 in Connecticut.

E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said the latest figures reflect retrenchments achieved by the Pataki administration following a burst of hiring under his predecessor, Mario Cuomo.

"It's largely because Pataki reduced and held down the head count," said McMahon.

"The payroll grew very bloated under Cuomo."

Most of the new hires in New York over the last decade were teachers.

There were 327,557 elementary and secondary school teachers employed in 2006, up from 253,954 in 1995.

Andrew White, director of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, said governments in New York have operated under a boom-and-bust cycle for decades.

"There's always been this trend," he said.

"[Former Mayor Ed] Koch cut deeply when he came in, then [when times got better] grew the payroll like no one ever before him grew it."

To be fair, White noted that Koch was grappling with the aftermath of the fiscal crisis of the late 1970s and many of those entering the government in the 1980s were teachers.

"Spending was constricted under [Mayor David] Dinkins," added White.

"It tightened when [Rudy] Giuliani came in, but then [later under Giuliani] there was a big increase."

"[Mayor] Bloomberg has definitely kept the cap."

White also pointed out that the bureau's figures don't include services provided by vendors, such as the nonprofit agencies that run many of the homeless shelters under contract with the city.

"It's included in the expense budget, but they're not on the payroll," said White.

John Tirinzonie, the Connecticut labor commissioner, urged those looking at his state's figures on the bureau's Web site to do so with caution.

He said different counting methods have made it hard to pin down employment numbers in the past.

For example, thousands of croupiers, cocktail waitresses and others in the gaming industry, which is operated by native Americans, are classified as government employees, he said.

"If you exclude the casinos, local government employment is in line much more with other governments," he said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03062007/news/...vid_seifman.htm

NY TIMES

News Analysis

"It’s Pork. It’s a Pet Project. It’s a Christmas Tree."

By RONALD SMOTHERS

Published: March 5, 2007

TRENTON, March 2 — In New Jersey and New Mexico they are called “Christmas tree” items.

New York calls them “pet projects.”

Other states call the items “WAMs,” for walking around money.

And in Alabama, in a rare fit of candor, it is called “pass-through pork.”

What they all have in common is that they are items in state budgets that were placed there — often at the last possible moment to discourage scrutiny — by a legislator for a particular benefit to his or her district.

In some cases there is concern that the money improperly benefits friends or relatives.

Whether the items involve as little as $25,000 or as much as $10 million, their provenance is often murky and anything but transparent in the cold, monotonous lines of those documents.

But what they do is not murky at all.

And in the minds of many, they brashly cross that political Maginot Line between what is seen as being in the best interests of the state and its inhabitants and the financial well-being of the recipients.

In recent months, New Jersey and New York have been moving toward changing these practices.

They have tried to introduce into the system a new transparency, and a paper trail of sorts, for how the items get into budgets.

Of course, in the case of New Jersey, the United States attorney’s recent interest in these Christmas tree items and how they have found their way into the budgets has provided additional incentive for the reform movement.

The movement toward change in New Jersey began with a look into the dealings of one Democratic state senator, Wayne R. Bryant.

He has faced allegations that he steered millions in aid to the state medical school in return for a no-show job there.

The inquiry by the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie, appears to have broadened beyond a look at Mr. Bryant’s records.

While Mr. Christie’s office will not discuss exactly what investigators are looking for, he has subpoenaed documents concerning Christmas tree items from the Legislature’s majority and minority offices, the governor’s office, and the Departments of the Treasury and Community Affairs.

Both governors — Jon S. Corzine in New Jersey and Eliot Spitzer in New York — came into office promising to change the process.

Even legislators who have inserted items into budgets have become somewhat concerned about the spending.

By most accounts, Christmas tree-type spending practices are rare among state legislatures.

Arturo Perez, a fiscal analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that a few states, including New Jersey and New York, have incorporated a process into budget deliberations that allows members to insert, often in secret, grants for pet projects.

Other states “tend to have a process where members and state agencies come forward with proposals," Mr. Perez said.

“They are debated and they move on to other committees, which debate them more,” he continued.

“You don’t usually have closed-door meetings and it is mostly out of tradition.”

So where does the tradition come from?

Ronald Utt, a senior research fellow and expert in transportation financing with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization in Washington, said that Congress was the culprit.

Mr. Utt said that such items, once known as pork and these days known by the more genteel term of earmarks, increased beginning in 1985.

For example, Mr. Utt said that in research he did for a paper he will soon publish, he found only three earmarks for transportation projects, now a favorite of Congress, in federal budgets between 1970 and 1985.

By 2005, he said, the federal budget had 900 transportation items among 15,000 total earmarks.

In the interim lobbyists had begun to see earmarks as a way to satisfy clients, accelerating the increase, he said.

“They brag about it in their Web sites and their marketing to their clients,” Mr. Utt said.

“It has become part of a commercial transaction.”

While the practice of earmarking spending is going through changes at the federal and state levels, many observers question how long this spirit of reform will last.

New York lawmakers and Governor Spitzer have reached an agreement to list each member item, thereby making it public and subject to the governor’s line-item veto.

In New Jersey, lawmakers have adopted rule changes that require that all such grant requests be submitted with details of the projects and with a disclosure form indicating whether the official has family members or business associates who will benefit from their approval.

In addition, the requests would have to be submitted 21 days before a June 27 deadline.

In the last four budget cycles, Christmas tree items found their way into discussions in both chambers and were quickly — and anonymously — lumped into a pool of spending labeled “property tax assistance and community development grants.”

Leaders from the Democratic and Republican parties, as part of the budget negotiations with the governor’s office, would agree how to divide the money, with the majority party getting most of the money, although New Jersey governors have the power of the line-item veto.

Indeed, Governor Corzine cut out 53 such items last year that amounted to about $31 million.

He subsequently found himself defending the fact that he did not trim even more.

Before recent changes, it was almost impossible to track the spending.

Once the budget was approved, the only way to see where the grants went was through the Legislature’s Joint Budget Oversight Committee, which keeps record of such grants but was not required by law to make them public.

“It’s like closing the barn door after the horse has gotten away,” said the Senate minority leader, Leonard Lance.

Republicans and Democrats are divided on the history of the practice and which party used it more.

While Senate President Richard J. Codey and other Democrats said it has existed for years, Mr. Lance insisted that Republicans had kept their items under control when they controlled the Legislature.

Republicans estimated that the items totaled more than $340 million in the current $31 billion budget, though Democrats put the figure at $170 million.

By comparison, Democratic staff members calculated that in 2001, when Republicans last controlled the Legislature, the items totaled $120 million.

But more important, Mr. Lance said, was that under Republican control, the items were publicly introduced in committees, discussed and vetted rather than last year, when lawmakers hurriedly inserted them.

But from 1986 to 1990, when Democrats controlled the Senate, the practice of allowing Christmas tree items was suspended altogether by John Russo, the Senate president at the time, who called them “a rip-off.”

What often gets lost in the questions about the process, many lawmakers and experts on the subject said, is that the practice is not illegal and that often the grants are worthwhile.

To be sure, however, the recent flood of subpoenas in Trenton has clouded the public perception.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/nyregion...mp;ref=nyregion

In the book The Power of Many by Christian Crumlish ....

The author makes the observation based on his experience with the Dean presidential campaign ....

That IF people come in to a computer forum such as this ....

AND THEY ONLY TALK TO ONE ANOTHER ....

IN "HERE" ....

Because in "here" ....

It is easy to talk ...

AND "OUT THERE" ....

They don't speak ....

Or talk ....

With anyone ....

THEN ....

The IMPACT that any forum can make ....

In terms of what I will call OUR CITIZENSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES ....

Here in OUR America ...

Is very limited .....

BECAUSE IT DOES NOT CONNECT WITH THE "PEOPLE AT LARGE" ....

Which really are the people that one needs to reach ....

If one wishes to affect the views of a large enough segment of the population ....

To effect real change for the better in OUR government, here in OUR America ....

WHICH IS AN EXPERIMENT ....

HANDED DOWN TO US ....

BY OUR FOREFATHERS IN LIBERTY ....

BACK IN 1776 ....

WHEN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE "UNITED STATES" OF AMERICA WAS SIGNED ....

And as a disabled combat veteran here in OUR America ....

Having shed blood for OUR Constitution ....

I take citizenship here in OUR Americas very seriously ....

And since I am now old and disabled ....

I perhaps have the time to devote to this endeavor that a younger person might not ....

ESPECIALLY CHILDREN ....

Whose future is in OUR hands today ....

IN TRUST FOR THEIR TOMARROWS ....

And so, when I have the time ....

I come in here ....

And I work at CITIZENSHIP ....

And by doing so ....

IN A FORUM SUCH AS THIS .....

WHICH HAS "CREDIBILITY" ESTABLISHED OUT THERE IN THE REAL WORLD NOW ...

Eventually, my words get read by others ....

And in this particular case ....

The questions that I raised above here in this post about the auditor in the State of New York being investigated by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ....

Were picked up and posted in another forum ....

By a poster named John Galt ....

And that provoked a reponse by another poster on that forum ....

Which led to the exchanges below ....

In another forum that is now linked to this one ....

Which heartens me, actually .....

SINCE IF WE ONLY TALK TO EACH OTHER IN HERE ....

AND TO NO ONE "OUT THERE" .....

OUR VOICES WILL NEVER BE HEARD ...

And so ....

Comment by disgustedwithNYS — March 7, 2007 @ 1:45 pm

John Galt - the reason for charging that auditor in Rensselaer is probably because he had a post office box in East Greenbush - hence Rensselaer County.

Haven’t you ever heard of MAIL FRAUD?

Comment by John Galt — March 7, 2007 @ 5:52 pm

John Galt has indeed heard of many things in this lifetime ….

And mail fraud would indeed be one of those things ….

But the one thing John Galt did not hear …

And did not read in the New York Times ….

Was that the mail box was actually in East Greenbush, N.Y.

That is information that you have from some other source, obviously …

Which gives you one up on me ….

And that information makes this story even that more interesting ….

For East Greenbush fits directly into another item that is posted in here concerning Eliot Spitzer helping to derail an investigation by one licensed professional engineer pursuant to the Rules of the Board of Regents into alleged professional misconduct by a politically-connected engineer in East Greenbush who had the local Justice as his personal attorney …

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry694976

And East Greenbush figures prominently into a story posted on the internet concerning an FBI Hobbs Act public corruption investigation in Rensselaer County that began in or about 1988, and was subsequently allegedly turned off like a light bulb by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York when Joe Bruno’s name came into it through a REPORT OF INVESTIGATION OF MISFEASANCE AND MALFEASANCE IN THE RENSSELAER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH which was filed with the Office of the Rensselaer County Clerk by Dr. Axelrod of the New York State Department of Health on March 15, 1989 ….

Who incidentally was state Health Commissioner under Mario Cuomo, young Andrew Cuomo’s father, who gave us people here in the State of New York the ENTERPRISE CORRUPTION LAW that hopefully young Andrew will not be too shy about applying around here ….

And especially down there in Albany …

And so ….

The last item of interest comes from the NY TIMES story “State Investigates Auditor’s Approval of Payments” by MICHAEL COOPER, published March 6, 2007, wherein is stated:

“Investigators said they were troubled that the scheme went undetected for more than eight years.”

In light of what was done to this engineer in Rensselaer County who got incarcerated in a secure mental facility at the stratton VA Hospital on August 22, 2001, for looking into the wrong places in Rensselaer County ….

Where the New York State Department of Law under Eliot Spitzer defended the doctor who issued the FRAUDULENT INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT ORDER that was used to take this engineer into custody at the Stratton VA Hospital on August 22, 2001 ….

DESPITE THE FACT THAT WHAT THE DOCTOR DID WAS A VIOLATION OF THE LAW …

ISSUING THE INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT ORDER SIGHT UNSEEN, AS HE DID ….

THE IMMEDIATE QUESTION WHICH COMES TO MIND ….

Is what did Eliot Spitzer have to do with that eight-year period of lack of detection of this scheme?

Where was Eliot Spitzer’s attention turned while this deal was going down?

Hopefully, with your sources, which are certainly better than mine, you can delve these questions for us …

And report back with what you find …

Which would be a great public service for all of us in here …

And “out there”, as well …

And so …

Comment by topo gigio — March 7, 2007 @ 7:19 pm

Mr. Galt,

1) The source for the East Greenbush P.O. Box information is none other than the world famous Albany Times Union in which you are posting.

Here is the link.

See the fifth paragraph down which states:

“VIP operates from a post office box in East Greenbush and was contracted by OMH to do 'site feasibility studies'.”

"VIP was supposed to make reports on potential locations for OMH-sponsored residential treatment facilities.”

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...wsdate=3/7/2007

2) Andrew Cuomo has no reason to screw up this case.

It is pure publicity “gold” the new A.G.

It is a gift from above for Andrew who will milk this cow for all that it’s worth (and rightly so).

You worry too much.

I’m going to pass on trying to decipher who did what on the Eliot Spitzer stuff that you mentioned since it makes my hair hurt to even think about it trying to work all that out.

But you may recall that there has been a change in administration in Albany recently and the Republican influence over things in places such as Rennselaer County may be a bit shakey — what with Uncle Joe under FBI investigation and all and the Republicans in serious danger of losing their majority in the Senate.

Bruno’s ship is taking on water and sinking fast.

3) We salute your ability to reference a 20 year old bill memo.

It was very interesting but “simple is best” IMHO.

Let’s start with mail fraud and work our way up to other things as the investigation progresses.

4) I am also personally impressed by the John Galt/Ayn Rand protagonist connection in your nom de plume.

Not to mention I believe that Mr. Galt was an architect.

Comment by topo gigio — March 7, 2007 @ 8:28 pm

I stand corrected again.

Howard Roark in The Fountainhead was the architect.

Galt was mentioned elsewhere in her novels.

Comment by John Galt — March 8, 2007 @ 7:36 am

Twenty-one years ago ….

Young Andrew Cuomo’s father, Mario, got right up on the PRESS BANDWAGON, as young Andrew, the son, is doing now ….

And he told us people out here how life in New York State was going to be better, YADA, YADA, YADA, because of HIS Enterprise Corruption Law ….

And then, like everything that comes out of Albany in the name of “reform”, as soon as the press conference was over, that law went right into the trash barrel ….

And the politicians went back to trying to find and get some of that MORE THAN forty-four BILLION dollars that a study by the Joint House-Senate Subcommittee on Investigations estimated in 1976 was floating around out there, JUST LOOKING FOR A HOME ….

MORE THAN FORTY-FOUR BILLION DOLLARS …

And that was in 1976 ….

So the question arises, WHAT EVER DID HAPPEN TO ALL THAT MONEY?

For it didn’t go into someone’s trash, is my thought on it, anyway …..

And if one studies history ….

And John Galt has been known to do that ….

One finds that CORRUPTION in NYS began to increase after 1976 ….

Especially in “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno’s personal fiefdom of Rensselaer County ….

Where the “old DUKE” is indeed all the “law” there is ….

And the serfs had damn well better know the difference, or else ….

Which brings us to the FBI ….

Who were allegedly sent running and yipping and ki-yiying like whipped dogs with their tails between their legs back to Albany back in 1989 for looking too closely into “BIG JOE” Bruno’s personal affairs over here ….

Which does not make us feel very trusting of the FBI or the Office of the U.S. Attorney over here today ….

Where in the article “Feds follow cash trail - Authorities examine whether payments to Bruno’s consulting firm were bid to gain influence” by BRENDAN J. LYONS published Friday, December 22, 2006 ….

POWERHOUSE RENSSELAER COUNTY REPUBLICAN LAWYER AND MOUTHPIECE E. STEWART JONES CAN BE SEEN CLEARLY THREATENING THE U.S. ATTORNEYS ALLEGEDLY LOOKING INTO “BIG JOE’S” BUSINESS ONCE AGAIN:

“Mr. Abbruzzese’s and Sen. Bruno’s rights have been trampled on here,” Jones said.

“That could have adverse consequences for those responsible when this investigation runs its course.”

While in an article entitled “Bruno defends his dealings - ‘We’ve followed the letter of the law,’ says Senate GOP majority leader” by JAMES M. ODATO published Saturday, December 23, 2006 …..

The “IRON DUKE” himself is quoted as follows:

“Bruno framed the situation differently, calling the investigation ‘more a media event’.”

MORE A MEDIA EVENT ….

So …

Put two-and-two together, the way we do “math” over here ….

And we don’t see a thing happening ….

Just like the last time ….

In 1989, when the FBI Special Agent digging around over here in connection with a federal HOBBS ACT investigation got his “*** scorched” for looking too closely at “BIG JOE” Bruno’s affairs ….

So …

WHERE DID WE SAY THAT MORE THAN $44 BILLION WENT TO, AGAIN?

The money and power that young Andrew Cuomo’s father Mario told us back in 1986 was being derived by organized crime through its illegal enterprises and endeavors that was increasingly being used to infiltrate and corrupt businesses, unions and other legitimate enterprises ….

AND TO CORRUPT OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES ….

AS THEY MOST DEFINITELY ARE TODAY ….

One wonders if young Andrew Cuomo might have heard father Mario speculate on any of that around the dinner table way back when ….

WHICH WOULD THEN GIVE HIM A “LEG-UP” ON FINDING THIS CORRUPTION THAT IS CORRUPTING OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES HERE IN NEW YORK STATE TODAY ….

SO THAT HE CAN FINALLY ERADICATE IT ….

AS FATHER MARIO FAILED TO DO ….

BACK IN 1986 ….

Perhaps because there was just too much illicit money in play back then …..

To put a stop to the game ….

Because if there is one thing that a politician’s pocket never ceases to be fond of ….

IT IS A WHOLE BIG PILE OF MONEY ….

SUCH AS MORE THAN $44 BILLION …

THAT WAS ALREADY IN PLAY BACK IN 1976 ….

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=3969#comments

"$1.23M state scam alleged - Cuomo accuses auditor of using phony business to fund lavish lifestyle"

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

First published: Wednesday, March 7, 2007

ALBANY -- A 25-year state employee with a taste for vintage Corvettes, a passion for local soccer clubs and an eye for upscale homes is in trouble with his employer and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who Tuesday accused the man of scamming the state out of $1.23 million to support his lifestyle.

As a result of his Public Integrity Unit's investigation, Cuomo is seeking indictments from a Rensselaer County grand jury against James L. Leggiero, 49, of Slingerlands.

Leggiero and his wife, Kathleen, work for the state Office of Mental Health, and he operates of an illegitimate business under contract with OMH, according to court records Cuomo's office filed Tuesday in state Supreme Court of Rensselaer County.

Kathleen Leggiero is not accused of wrongdoing in the documents.

Investigators say Leggiero, an auditor with the agency, stole $1.23 million from the state during the last eight years by allegedly approving payments on behalf of OMH to his company, Very Important Property.

VIP operates from a post office box in East Greenbush and was contracted by OMH to do "site feasibility studies."

VIP was supposed to make reports on potential locations for OMH-sponsored residential treatment facilities.

But investigators don't think much work was done because many of the addresses VIP charged the state for scouting may not exist or would not qualify for residential living.

Beyond that, VIP's expenses don't seem to have anything to do with the business.

"VIP appears to be a sham entity used by Leggiero to engage in an extensive fraudulent voucher scheme," Michael Battisti, a senior investigator for the attorney general's office, wrote in an affidavit.

The affidavit was part of a request for a warrant to search Leggiero personally as well as his red Cadillac Escalade, his 3,000-square-foot house and its three-car attached garage in a high-end housing development, carriage houses, sheds and pool houses, computers and his state work space.

Attorney general officials found he owns five cars, including a vintage 1958 Corvette and two more recent Corvettes, plus the Escalade and a Chevrolet Trailblazer.

Cuomo's office seized the cars Tuesday, said spokesman John Milgrim.

Officials also froze Leggiero's bank accounts and searched him.

Leggiero, a $79,000-a-year auditor for OMH, approved the vouchers to VIP, Battisti said.

He and his wife, a $77,624 budget unit employee of the agency, are both linked to VIP, according to court and state records.

"It seems unlikely that Leggiero would have been able to afford these assets based on his and his wife's state salaries alone," Battisti said.

Jill Daniels, an OMH spokeswoman, said "appropriate administrative steps" will be taken once findings of the investigation are obtained by the agency.

She said Leggiero didn't appear at work Tuesday.

Starting today he won't be allowed to return to the agency, she said.

She had no information about Kathleen Leggiero's status.

The Office of the Comptroller triggered the investigation when it found that VIP had no telephone number and only a post office box, and suspected something was amiss, the records say.

Bank records for VIP list only one telephone number -- which is assigned to James Leggiero's state work desk.

Further investigation showed VIP lacked a valid employer tax identification number on file with TrustCo Bank and the comptroller's office.

"There obviously has been a lack of control for him to do this," said Milgrim.

Checks drawn from VIP, according to the records, went to several local soccer organizations, mortgage payments, cash to Leggiero, and a child care company.

None of the draw-downs seemed to be for business expenses, the records state.

The auditor and his wife appeared to try to conceal their association with VIP, which began working for OMH in 1998.

Neither reported the business on their Ethics Commission filings as required, although James Leggiero lists himself as vice president of a soccer club; his wife lists herself as president of a soccer club.

The ethics filings also say she has two children, and he has three.

The attorney general's office alleges Leggiero engaged in grand larceny, fraud, money laundering, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument, as well as violations of the public officer's law.

Records show he also purchased a house in 2000 with an former OMH employee, Kelly A. Marhafer, 43, paying $195,500 for a Rensselaer County dwelling.

Marhafer continued to work with the agency until 2002 when she transferred to the comptroller's office.

She is paid $38,590 in the job.

She and the Leggieros did not return messages left at their residences.

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

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...wsdate=3/7/2007

NY TIMES

Metro Briefing | New York

"Albany: State Auditor Suspended Amid Investigation"

By MICHAEL COOPER

Published: March 8, 2007

A state auditor who is being investigated for approving more than $1.2 million in payments to a company he owned was suspended without pay yesterday, officials said.

The auditor, James L. Leggiero, is being investigated by the office of State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo for approving dozens of state payments to what investigators described as a “sham entity” that he then used to make mortgage and car payments.

Mr. Leggiero was suspended from the state’s Office of Mental Health yesterday, and officials there were preparing to fire him, said Jill Daniels, an agency spokeswoman.

Mr. Leggiero did not return a telephone call yesterday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

"Cuomo nixes benefits for board members"

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today ordered the New York State Power Authority and the Thruway Authority to stop paying health insurance premiums for their board members.

Short of that, he’s asked them to submit the names of current and former board members receiving such benefits, and said he will “inspect the lists and consider appropriate enforcement actions.”

Cuomo said his office is also sending approximately 100 letters to New York State authorities “that appear to have enabling statutes prohibiting the payment of benefits to board members."

"The authorities are being informed that compensation for their board members is illegal.”

More letters may follow, he said.

“For too long, public authorities have operated without adequate oversight."

"Authorities, like all public entities, must be held to the highest ethical standards."

"My office’s actions today are a first step toward providing that needed oversight and ensuring that the hundreds of public authorities in this state will act with the integrity that the public rightfully demands,” the AG said in a statement.

The orders come in the wake of a Feb. 28 opinion that the New York State Housing Finance Agency and State of New York Mortgage Agency also could not pay health insurance premiums for current or retired board members based on statutes barring members from receiving “salary or other compensation.”

The opinion had been requested by the agencies.

The Associated Press reports that members of the two housing boards had been getting the benefits since 1998; last year, they voted to give members and their spouses benefits that would continue after they retired.

Power Authority spokesman Michael Saltzman, speaking to the AP, disputed Cuomo’s assertion that paying the health insurance premiums was illegal.

Thruway spokeswoman Betsy Graham told the AP the authority was reviewing Cuomo’s legal opinion.

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2007/03/08...-board-members/

"Mr. DiNapoli's warning"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, March 9, 2007

In his first major statement since taking office this year, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has warned Gov. Spitzer that he is spending at an "unsustainable rate" and that, if left unchecked, there will be a $13 billion budget deficit in three years.

Not only that but, according to the comptroller, state debt could soar by 27 percent, to $66 billion, by the 2011-12 fiscal year.

But running the numbers is only half the challenge for Mr. DiNapoli.

The other half is persuading the public, and state leaders, that his budget analysis represents the best objective assessment of New York's finances now available.

Ordinarily, that would not be a problem.

Comptrollers are expected to be fiscal watchdogs who scrutinize the bottom line without regard to partisan concerns.

But Mr. DiNapoli came to office amid a heated controversy that pitted Gov. Spitzer, who wanted an independent panel to select candidates to succeed Alan Hevesi, against the Legislature, which selected Mr. DiNapoli, a former Long Island assemblyman, even though he was not on the screening panel's list.

That standoff will likely hover over every pronouncement Mr. DiNapoli makes.

For the moment, his detractors will wonder if his budget analysis is really a payback for Mr. Spitzer's opposition.

Then again, Mr. DiNapoli's numbers can be viewed as reinforcing Mr. Spitzer's call to control Medicaid and health care spending -- a call that has met early opposition from Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, and prompted a curt observation by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, that "cuts by themselves do not constitute reform."

Mr. Spitzer's office, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that the governor agrees that looming deficits are too large, but that Mr. Spitzer's budget addresses the need to bring the numbers in check by including a savings plan for new initiatives and a plan to reduce the state's structural deficit.

"If adopted by the Legislature, the savings proposed in the budget will help hold annual growth in spending to a manageable level," a spokeswoman said.

Those words have a more constructive tone than Mr. Spitzer's initial assessment of Mr. DiNapoli as "thoroughly and totally unqualified for the job."

And they also throw the ball back into the Legislature's court.

Will Mr. Bruno and Mr. Silver support Mr. Spitzer's save-as-you-go plan, as well as his proposal to contain medical costs?

Or will they advocate instead that short-term surpluses be used for added spending?

At this moment only one thing is clear: They have been warned about spending, and warned by someone who was only recently one of their own.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who CONTROL the MODERN STATE ...

To ENRICH themselves ...

At OUR expense ...

And so ...

"Money woes muddy plan for Malta site"

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press

First published: Saturday, March 10, 2007

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

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

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

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

"What this comes down to is the companies are playing a long-term game," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research.

"The financial people would be delighted to hear AMD would not be investing in any factories."

"They would be delighted if Intel would not compete on price to gain market share and would focus on margins."

"That's great for the next three quarters, but a train wreck for both companies."

AMD officials say they are still on track to make a decision about whether to build a 1.2 million-square-foot "chip fab" at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta.

New York state has offered the company $1.2 billion in financial incentives, including $650 million in cash, and AMD has between now and July 2009 to make its decision.

Company executives were in the Capital Region in January talking to community and business groups, political leaders and news organizations and sounded extremely upbeat about the company's chances of building here.

"The nature of our business is a cyclical business," spokesman Travis Bullard told the Times Union Friday.

"That's just the nature of the business."

"I'd hate for people to take a short-term look at the finances."

Though the price competition has cut into both chip makers' profits, Wall Street has punished AMD's stock particularly hard.

Its shares have plunged more than 60 percent over the past year on fears about the company's ability to continue gaining share without hurting profit margins.

Meanwhile, Intel's stock is down just 4 percent.

AMD is currently undergoing a 12-week initial design review of the Luther Forest project to create a rough draft of what the fab will look like.

The company is also undergoing its biannual long-range forecasting process.

Executives will take information from those reviews to make a formal recommendation to the company's board of directors on whether to move ahead with the project this year or to table the decision for a later date.

"It's not a decision that's based on one, two or three quarters of performance," Bullard said.

"This is a long-term project."

"We're kind of used to the roller-coaster ride."

If built, the Luther Forest factory would employ 1,200 people.

But local economic development officials say it would create thousands more construction and high-tech jobs and possibly help to attract additional semiconductor companies to the region.

"Building a new fab is a long-term process," AMD said in a statement also issued Friday.

"We have a great development package in place with the state of New York, and our project timeline is continuing on schedule."

"We've started the initial design review phase, and we anticipate making a final decision sometime this year."

The shifting fortunes highlight the challenges facing AMD as it squares off against a company with seven times its annual revenue and a history of spending heavily on research.

"AMD, as a company, has enough strong parts that it will survive, but I think it's going to be a rough couple of years for this organization," said Stephen Kleynhans, a research vice president at Gartner Inc.

AMD captured about 4 percent of the overall processor market from Intel in 2006, according to Mercury Research.

AMD scored a particularly big victory by partnering with Dell Inc., once an exclusive Intel client.

But Intel, which still controls about three-quarters of the total market, has unveiled a lineup of powerful and energy-efficient processors that appears to be slowing AMD's offensive.

AMD continues to gain market share in desktops and laptops, but its share of the lucrative server market has leveled off at about 22 percent after gaining 5 percentage points against Intel in the first half of 2006, according to Mercury Research.

Last month, Intel announced an alliance with server and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. that will put Intel chips back in Sun servers and workstations after several years of AMD exclusivity.

AMD is banking on regaining momentum with the mid-2007 launch of its new server chip, code-named Barcelona, which has four computing engines and an updated design.

The company acknowledges that Intel beat it to market with four-core chips that launched in November.

But AMD insists its design for getting the cores to communicate with each other will serve as a key advantage.

"Five years ago no one knew who we were in the server space, now we're a player," said Mario Rivas, AMD's executive vice president for the computing products group.

"This will allow us to be a serious contender in the server space and regain the performance crown."

"There is a halo effect that goes with that."

But analysts are not optimistic about a quick turnaround for AMD.

This week, AMD warned it was unlikely to meet its first-quarter revenue guidance of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.

Wall Street is worried that AMD is in dire need of cash after its $5.6 billion acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies Inc. and heavy spending on factory upgrades.

AMD bought ATI last year under the philosophy that combining traditional processing chores with graphics capabilities in one chip would give AMD a long-term advantage over Intel.

But the deal reverberated through AMD's finances.

At the end of 2006, AMD was sitting on $1.5 billion in cash but had $3.8 billion in debt, including $2.2 billion associated with the ATI acquisition.

AMD said in its annual report that the big debt may crimp its ability to borrow more money and pay for $2.5 billion in capital expenditures planned in 2007, most of which is expected to be spent at its Dresden, Germany, operations.

"It's a dilemma -- we believe AMD needs to spend the money to build the fabs (chip factories), but they may have to find some additional financing to achieve those goals," said analyst John Lau of investment bank Jefferies & Co.

Intel ended 2006 in a healthier financial position: $10 billion in cash and $2 billion in total debt.

Its R&D expenditures have helped Intel pull ahead of AMD in producing chips based on 65-nanometer and 45-nanometer technology, which shrinks chip circuitry to 65- and 45-billionths of a meter.

AMD said it is closing the gap with Intel and believes its partnership with IBM Corp. makes rolling out the technology more cost-efficient.

Perhaps one lifeline for AMD will come from none other than Intel itself.

AMD is suing Intel for antitrust violations, claiming that Intel undercut AMD by forcing customers into exclusive deals and offering secret rebates.

Trial isn't due to begin for two more years, but there's precedent for a settlement.

In the mid-1990s, AMD and Intel agreed to resolve several legal claims against each other, and one result was that AMD won the right to keep producing chips on the x86 design architecture -- which both companies still use today.

Staff writer Larry Rulison contributed to this report.

From the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4009#comments

Comment by John Galt — March 9, 2007 @ 9:22 am

And while we are on the subject of some necessary clarifications in here this morning ….

With respect to young Andrew Cuomo and his alleged “corruption-fighting initiatives” here in Albany, New York ….

In an article entitled “Pact puts Capitol on notice - DA Soares, Cuomo vow to share resources to clean up corruption in state government” by MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON published Friday, January 12, 2007, it is stated:

“In what they touted as a historic pact, Albany County District Attorney David Soares and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched a joint effort Thursday to root out corruption in state government.”

“This is not the changing of the guard,” Cuomo said.

“It’s the changing of an era.”

“As the state’s top legal official, the attorney general has jurisdiction in civil matters, but only partial jurisdiction in criminal cases.”

“Under the agreement announced Thursday, lawyers in Cuomo’s office WILL NOW HAVE ACCESS to the grand jury.”

What I would like to do ….

As an older New Yorker who still recalls OUR having had a state Constitution, once, anyway, when I was young …

Is to point to the BILL OF RIGHTS of OUR New York State Constitution ….

Specifically to section 6 of ARTICLE I ….

Wherein is stated …

In language that is both clear and easily comprehensible to the common citizen with a minimal education …

Language that does not require interpretation by a lawyer, SINCE IT IS OUR CITIZEN’S BILL OF RIGHTS, and not theirs …

As follows:

“No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he or she be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or herself, providing, that any public officer who, upon being called before a grand jury to testify concerning the conduct of his or her present office or of any public office held by him or her within five years prior to such grand jury call to testify, or the performance of his or her official duties in any such present or prior offices, refuses to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent criminal prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, shall by virtue of such refusal, be disqualified from holding any other public office or public employment for a period of five years from the date of such refusal to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, and shall be removed from his or her present office by the appropriate authority or shall forfeit his or her present office at the suit of the attorney-general.”

“THE POWER of grand juries to inquire into the wilful misconduct in office of public officers, and to find indictments or to direct the filing of informations in connection with such inquiries, SHALL NEVER BE SUSPENDED OR IMPAIRED BY LAW.”

Now, that language cannot be misunderstood, except by a politician or lawyer, perhaps ….

And being in OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, as it is, what that language does is to INSTRUCT OUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS, AND OUR GOVERNMENT ….

And this would seem to include young Andrew Cuomo ….

As to what OUR intentions as citizens were, back when we still had a Constitution with a BILL OF RIGHTS, before “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer’s crowd abandoned it, anyway ….

And clearly, IT WAS OUR INTENTION back when we still had a Constitution with a CITIZEN’S BILL OF RIGHTS that OUR grand juries had the RESPONSIBILITY, on OUR behalf, to dig, and dig hard, into public corruption, here in New York State, despite the attempts of crooked politicians and lawyers-on-the-make to have it be otherwise ….

And the vehicle for starting that process, was the ARTICLE 78 ….

Wherein the common citizen, WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A LAWYER, was able to obtain an initial ruling from a state Supreme Court Justice that a public official had acted in violation of the law ….

Without going into detail in here, which would be extensive, suffice to say, that that provision of OUR New York State BILL OF RIGHTS has indeed been STRIPPED from us, by the politicians and the BAR ASSOCIATION ….

To OUR detriment …

So that what we have now is BIDNESS AS USUAL down there in CORRUPT Albany …

With a flurry of press releases telling us that young Andrew Cuomo is trying to get the train back on the track ….

Well, out here in the country ….

It is OUR collective opinion that IF young Andrew Cuomo really is sincere in fighting corruption here in New York State ….

He will get right up there on the PRESS BANDWAGON …

And he will acknowledge section 6 of ARTICLE I of OUR state Constitution ….

And then he will do more than simply issue press releases paying lip service to OUR Constitution ….

He will actually get out there instead ….

And he will start using section 6 of ARTICLE I of the New York State Constitution as it was intended to be used ….

ON OUR BEHALF AS CITIZENS OF THIS STATE ….

And the best place for him to start, in our collective opinion …

Would be down there in the federal district court for the Northern District of New York …

Where in an article entitled “Feeding off taxpayers no crime, lawyer says - Cronyism, big spending called usual government practice at Strevell trial” by JAMES M. ODATO published Thursday, January 18, 2007 ….

It was reported that:

“A defense lawyer for the Rensselaer County entrepreneur whose organization got more than $1 million in member item grants directed by Sen. Joseph L. Bruno is arguing in federal court that dishonesty isn’t necessarily a federal offense.”

“William P. Fanciullo, lawyer for J. Felix Strevell, the former director of the now-defunct Institute for Entrepreneurship, also said that Strevell’s actions, including putting relatives on the state payroll, were normal practices in government.”

“The case before U.S. District Court Justice Gary L. Sharpe centers on Strevell’s lavish spending on himself and on parties that honored lawmakers who helped him get public money.”

It is our belief as CITIZENS FOR THE CONSTITUTION here in New York State that the provisions of the New York State Executive Law governing the conduct of the New York State Attorney General, and this would include young Andrew Cuomo, provide that the New York State Attorney General could and should intervene in this matter on behalf of the CITIZENS of this state to say “IT IS NOT SO, ACCORDING TO NEW YORK STATE LAW” …..

Elsewise, it seems that we are going to have this BUSH APPOINTEE, Judge Sharpe, ruling on behalf of the United States government that CORRUPTION is indeed the normal practice here in New York State ….

Which, of course, would reflect REALITY AS IT IS, but not how it should be …

And so …

And continuing with that exchange ...

From the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4009#comments

Comment by Smith — March 9, 2007 @ 1:07 pm

Dear John Galt,

Ever filed an Article 78 proceeding?

First, it’s not cheap enough to be within the means of an ordinary citizen trying to get some simple government service.

Second, no - you do not need a lawyer, but if your opponent (some government) uses a lawyer (a certainty), then you are at a severe procedural disadvantage if you don’t use one.

If the AG wants to be an advocate for the public interest, let him have at it.

Same with the Governor.

Comment by John Galt — March 9, 2007 @ 6:47 pm

Indeed, indeed ….

John Galt has filed and won several Article 78’s ….

In Albany County Supreme Court ….

Against some of the best attorneys in this area ….

Including one of the members of the vaunted and widely famed “CAPITAL DISTRICT AREA DREAM TEAM” featuring E. Stewart Jones and Company ….

And John Galt prevailed in an appeal in the Appellate Division, Third Department against the New York State Attorney General in a matter involving section 1 of ARTICLE IX of the New York State Constitution, the BILL OF RIGHTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK in relation to the New York State Mined Land Reclamation Law …..

Winning in court against lawyers in an Article 78 is easy ….

I have generally found them to be full of crap ….

And little more …

While it would be my habit to be armed with the law and the facts …..

Elsewise there was little sense in going to court, you see?

And the ones from the Attorney General’s Office are condescending and ill-tempered to an extreme ….

Very snippy and quite dismissive ….

And not at all squeamish about losing some evidence and testimony to keep a federal civil rights lawsuit involving a disabled veteran out of the federal District Court for the Northern District of New York ….

Including a sworn statement of an eye-witness account by an Albany Police Officer of an unlawful imprisonment at the Stratton VA Hospital on August 22, 2001 ….

The New York State Attorney General always taking the lead, you see ….

Throwing its considerable weight around ….

In defense of “clients” who my paperwork demonstrated had violated the laws of the State of New York …..

PROTECTION!

The New York State Attorney General peddles influence and PROTECTION …

And when challenged …..

As it was ….

When LORD CORNBURY REBORN “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer was Attorney General ….

It can become quite dangerous ….

And did ….

Which is an on-going story ….

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry695616

Over in another parcel of the BLOG-O-SPHERE …

Out there in the far reaches of CYBERSPACE …

And so …

As an older American ....

Who has been largely "cut out" of POLITICAL DIALOGUE ....

The majority of his life ....

Due to a whole host of reasons ....

I find this a fascinating time to be alive, quite frankly ....

And that is due to this COMMONGROUNDCOMMONSENSE FORUM ....

In large part ....

Precisely because this FORUM provides me ....

The commonest of common citizens out here in OUR America ....

With an incredible ability ....

To communicate with people all over America ....

And the candid world, for that matter ...

AT THE LITERAL DROP OF A HAT ....

So as to be able to learn about that world, on the one hand ....

And in turn, to be able to make my voice and thoughts known to that world ....

Despite the remoteness of my actual physical location ....

Or my inability to travel ....

And so ....

This is an EXPERIMENT IN PURE DEMOCRACY ....

Which OUR forefathers could likely never have conceived of ....

Instant commuications with each other on issues of importance to us all ....

No matter how far we might be removed from each other ....

Out there in the "real world" .....

And so ....

And with respect to that ON-GOING EXPERIMENT IN GOVERNMENT OF, BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE ....

Which was set in motion back in 1776 ....

Here in OUR America ....

By the United States Declaration of Independence ....

We have a continuing example of it ....

The direct CITIZEN-TO-CITIZEN part of it, anyway ....

From the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

As follows ....

And so ...

Comment by John Galt — March 10, 2007 @ 4:19 pm

When one takes a look at the New York State Constitution …

Which dates back to the very time of the Declaration of Independence of New York from Great Britain ….

AND WHICH IS REALLY QUITE ELEGANT IN ITS SIMPLICITY …

Being easy to read and understand ….

BY THE COMMON CITIZEN ….

For whom the New York State Constitution is for …

The first thing one comes across is the PREAMBLE, which sets the TONE for all of what is to follow:

“We The People of the State of New York, grateful … for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION ….”

GRATEFUL FOR OUR FREEDOM …

IN ORDER TO SECURE ITS BLESSINGS …

We then have OUR New York State Bill of Rights, next ….

OR FIRST, IF YOU WILL …

Before SUFFRAGE, the LEGISLATURE, and finally, and lastly, the EXECUTIVE …

In that descending order ….

And when one looks at § 17 of OUR New York State BILL OF RIGHTS ….

One finds as follows:

“Labor of human beings is not a commodity nor an article of commerce and shall never be so considered or construed.”

Now, that language should be readily understandable to a “SKADDEN MAN” like “STEAMROLLER” SPITZER ….

Or LORD CORNBURY up from New York City to view his possessions, and holdings ….

As he is known out in the country, up here, anyway …

Especially since the “SKADDEN MAN” Spitzer was also New York State Attorney General ….

With a duty pursuant to New York State Executive Law to defend the CONSTITUTIONALITY of existing New York State statutes ….

And so ….

It seems unseemly …

Not to mention quite off-putting ….

To keep seeing these expensive TV commericals being put out by the “STEAMROLLER” ….

That seem to treat the labor of of these nurses just as if it were indeed a commodity out there in the SPITZER-world market place, or as an article of commerce …..

PURSUANT TO OUR NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION …

The job that “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer now has in the State of New York …

While he is drawing a paycheck as governor, anyway ….

IS ONE THAT IS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE …

AND QUITE LIMITED, AS WELL ….

Which can be determined by studying OUR New York State history …

In conjunction with ARTICLE IV of OUR New York State Constitution …

WHEREIN “STEAMROLLER” SPITZER’S REAL JOB AS GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK IS DEFINED AS FOLLOWS IN SECTION 3 of ARTICLE IV, to wit:

* 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 ….

Now, that is “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer’s FULL-TIME JOB as New York State Governor ….

And if he were to be out there really doing that job ….

24/7 ….

Instead of spending BIG BUCKS to attack people in this state, whoever they may be …

With respect to the issue of health care, anyway ….

“STEAMROLLER” Spitzer would be paying GREAT HEED to the provisions of § 3 of ARTICLE XVII of OUR NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ….

WHICH IS THE VERY FIRST “LAW” THAT HE SHALL “TAKE CARE” IS FAITHFULLY EXECUTED …

24/7 ….

And wherein is stated:

“The protection and promotion of the health of the inhabitants of the state are matters of public concern and provision therefor shall be made by the state and by such of its subdivisions and in such manner, and by such means as the legislature shall from time to time determine.”

And upon reading those words …

IN OUR ORGANIC LAW ….

Which go back to 1938 ….

What the “STEAMROLLER” should then be doing ….

Instead of spending BIG BUCKS attacking people …

Would be finding out exactly what has been set in place here in New York State by the LEGISLATURE to PROTECT AND PROMOTE OUR HEALTH …

SINCE 1938 …

STARTING WITH PREVENTION …

AS THE NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW REQUIRES …

IF IT WERE TO ACTUALLY BE ENFORCED AND UPHELD, THAT IS …

And out of that study …

IF THE “STEAMROLLER” WAS ACTUALLY DOING HIS DUTY ….

TO TAKE CARE THAT THE LAWS OF THE STATE ARE FAITHFULLY EXECUTED …

INSTEAD OF PLAYING AT CHEAP THEATRICAL POLITICS ….

BY SPENDING BIG BUCKS ON GLOSSY TV ADS TO ATTACK CITIZENS OF THIS STATE …

ANY DEFICIENCIES IN THE EXISTING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM FOUND BY THE “STEAMROLLER” ….

AND THIS WOULD START WITH DEFICIENCIES IN PREVENTION …

DUE TO LONG-TERM NEGLIGENCE IN THAT MATTER BY THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH …

AND ITS COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENTS ….

All of whom have been required since 1988 to have in place Municipal Public Health Plans approved by the New York State Health Commissioner ….

TO KEEP DOWN THE COSTS OF HEALTH CARE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK …

BY STRESSING AND PROVIDING PREVENTION, BEFORE THE NEED FOR TREATMENT BECOMES OVERWHELMING …

Any REAL PROBLEMS uncovered by the “STEAMROLLER” …

In OUR existing health care system, including and starting with prevention …

Would be brought back before OUR LEGISLATURE ….

By the “STEAMROLLER” …

For discussion and further action …

IN THE CIVILIZED MANNER ENVISIONED IN OUR CONSTITUTION …

By WE, The People of the State of New York, grateful for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings ….

AND THEN REAL SOLUTIONS TO THESE PROBLEMS COULD BE FOUND ..

Again in a civilized manner ….

Instead of this POLITICAL CRAP that is being jammed down OUR throats by this “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer …

As he continues to attack these nurses ….

IN A VERY PUBLIC, UNSEEMLY AND OFF-PUTTING MANNER …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4017#comments

And yet again ....

From the web-edition of the Albany, New York Times Union ....

Comment by John Galt — March 11, 2007 @ 8:24 am

To take a really hard look at this issue of Medicaid in the State of New York …..

I would suggest to the lay-person that the place to start is a story in the New York Times entitled “New York Medicaid Fraud May Reach Into Billions” by CLIFFORD J. LEVY and MICHAEL LUO, published July 18, 2005 …

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/nyregion...nyt&emc=rss

In that aticle can be found the following set of quotes, which serve to set the stage for where we are right now with this issue of MEDICAID and “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer’s unseemly attacks on these nurses, as if they were the sole cause of the problems we are now facing with this expensive program here in New York State:

“It’s like a honey pot,” said John M. Meekins, a former senior Medicaid fraud prosecutor in Albany who said he grew increasingly disillusioned before he retired in 2003.

“It truly is.”

“That is what they use it for.”

And then, lo and behold, in that same NY Times article, a familiar name pops right out at us:

“This continues to be an area where we think that we have made substantial progress,” said Dennis P. Whalen, executive deputy commissioner of the State Health Department.

The essential specifics concerning Mr. Dennis P. Whalen and his direct connection to “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer in this matter of MEDICAID FRAUD in the State of New York are to be found in the AP article from the TU entitled “Joining Spitzer’s ‘get-it done’ set - Mix of associates, outsiders are named to key administration posts” by MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press, published Saturday, December 16, 2006:

“ALBANY — Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer says ‘a get-it done attitude that state government desperately needs’ is shared by the people he tapped Friday for top level jobs in his administration.”

“When Spitzer won the office in November by a historically large margin, he promised to bring experts to government offices, not political ‘cronies’.”

“Other appointments included Dennis Whalen, who has served in Pataki’s Health Department.”

“He will be Spitzer’s deputy secretary for health and will report to the governor.”

“Whalen has been a widely respected executive deputy commissioner since 1996.”

“He isn’t a physician, so can’t be named commissioner, but his deputy secretary role appears to be above the commissioner’s level.”

“He is a graduate of Marist College and the National Preparedness Leadership Institute at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.”

And then Mr. Whalen’s name pops up once again, in connection with the New York State Department of Health, in the TU article “Hospital CEO up for state health job - Spitzer nominee Richard Daines would have task of carrying out Berger plan” by CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY published Friday, January 19, 2007:

“Gov. Eliot Spitzer Thursday nominated a New York City hospital CEO with a reputation for improving patient care as the state’s next health commissioner.”

“‘Governor Spitzer has chosen a commissioner with an extensive background in hospital management, and we welcome him,’ said John Klein, president of Nurses United, CWA Local 1168.”

“‘At a time when New York’s hospitals are being faced with a scalpel, it’s good to know we’ll have a doctor in Albany.’”

“Daines, a Republican, will serve in the Democratic administration under Dennis Whalen, Spitzer’s choice for the new position of deputy secretary for health.”

And going back to the New York Times article with mention of the name PATAKI and the word REPUBLICANS, we find:

“Despite the debate, and the enormous sums at stake, Albany has never formally studied how much of the huge government investment in Medicaid is lost to criminal activity and abuse.”

“For their part, federal auditors have made New York a leading target for inspection as Washington has begun to crack down on Medicaid spending abuses.”

“The lax regulation of the program did not come about by chance.”

“Doctors, hospitals, health care unions and drug companies have long resisted attempts to increase the policing of Medicaid.”

“The pharmaceutical industry, which has spent millions of dollars annually on political contributions and lobbying in Albany, has defeated several attempts to limit the drugs covered by Medicaid; other states have saved hundreds of millions of dollars annually with such restrictions.”

“Earlier this year, after the Legislature agreed to impose such a limit and steer patients to generic drugs, the industry won a major loophole that allowed any doctor to substitute a higher-priced brand name with a simple phone call to the state.”

“Governor Pataki would not be interviewed about Medicaid for this article, and his aides referred questions to the State Department of Health, which is part of his administration.”

“The health commissioner, Dr. Antonia C. Novello, also declined to be interviewed.”

“In defending the department’s performance, Mr. Whalen, the executive deputy commissioner, said it had saved $9.3 billion in recent years through investigations of providers, a new computer system and other measures.”

“Asked repeatedly to provide an in-depth explanation of their claim of major savings or for any state records or other documentation to back up the figures, department officials would not supply any.”

The New York Times article then continued:

“A review of thousands of pages of state, federal and local records turned up repeated examples of cost savings and waste reduction used by the federal government and other states, but not by New York.”

“The investigation found audits on Medicaid spending that were brushed aside, and reports on waste that appear to have been shelved.”

“There have been multiple warnings from watchdog agencies in New York and in Washington that indicate that the program is becoming increasingly porous.”

“Prosecutors said state regulators had all but lost interest in bringing Medicaid thieves to justice, preferring instead to focus on recouping money through a few civil cases that have little deterrent value.”[/i]

The New York Times article then cited several examples of Medicaid fraud in the State of New York, and reading through that article in connection with those specific examples, one finds:

“The Department of Health and the state attorney general’s office blamed each other for failing to stop Dr. Rosen and Dr. Silman.”

“The department said it had alerted the office that it should investigate possible improprieties with their practices.”

“The office said the department had botched its inquiry.”

SO ….

There, folks, is where we started ….

With this business of MEDICAID FRAUD in the State of New York …

Which “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer seems to be laying blame for on these nurses ….

With both “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer, and Dennis P. Whalen right there square in the middle of the fray ….

STARRING AS APPARENT INCOMPETENTS …

OR ACCOMPLICES, as some of the wags up this way are saying anyway …

AND NOW ….

THEY HAVE BOTH BEEN PROMOTED ….

“STEAMROLLER” Spitzer by the PEOPLE of the State of New York ….

And in his turn, REPUBLICAN Dennis P. Whalen from the PATAKI ADMINISTRATION has been promoted by the “STEAMROLLER” to serve above the REPUBLICAN DOCTOR who will serve as the “STEAMROLLER’S” Commissioner of Health …..

So, folks ….

WHAT REALLY DID CHANGE ON DAY ONE?

Besides a substitution of the name Spitzer for that of Pataki?

Anything?

Or as usual, here in Albany, nothing at all ……

And why should these nurses bear the sole blame for that, is my thought this morning …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4017#comments

And the EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY ....

In the State of New York ....

Spurred on by this COMMONGROUNDCOMMONSENSE FORUM continues .....

And so ....

Comment by John Galt — March 11, 2007 @ 4:35 pm

Manifestos ….

It is interesting that someone can look at our laws and state Constitution as MANIFESTOS ….

But such is life, I suppose, that in it, one can encounter all different points of view, including those who will view OUR laws and Constitution as MANIFESTOS ….

Be that as it may be ….

If the alleged DYSFUNCTIONAL (NEW YORK) STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT were to actually do its job and enforce the provisions of Title 1 of Article 6 of the New York State Public Health Law ….

Each county health department in the State of New York, and this would include both Albany and Rensselaer Counties, would have a Municipal public health services plan in place pursuant to section 602 of Title 1 of Article 6, and said plans would provide as follows:

1. Every municipality shall biennially, on such dates as may be fixed by the commissioner, submit to the commissioner for his approval a public health services plan.

2. The plan shall include at least the following:

(a) an estimate and description of the immediate and long term needs for public health services in the municipality, particularly those services that are needed to promote public health and prevent illness;

(b) a statement and description of the public health objectives which the municipality intends to achieve, including how the public health services funded by this title will maintain and improve the health status of its residents, maintain and improve the accessibility and quality of health care, and assist in containing the costs of the health care system;

© a description of the programs for achieving those goals;

(d) a projected two-year plan of expenditures necessary to implement the programs;

(e) a general description of the availability of health services;

(f) the number of staff people required to provide the services as funded by this title;

(g) a fee and revenue plan pursuant to subdivision one of section six hundred six of this title;

(h) EVIDENCE that the governing body of the municipality has adopted the plan as the basis for the municipality`s public health activities;

(i) such other information as the commissioner may require pursuant to rules and regulations that he may adopt.

3. The commissioner shall review each health services plan submitted to him and, on the basis of such review, issue a notice of intent to disapprove the plan or approve the plan, with or without conditions, within ninety days of his receipt of the plan.

In determining whether to approve or disapprove a plan, the commissioner shall consider the following:

(a) The extent to which the plan, once implemented, will satisfy standards which the commissioner has promulgated through rules and regulations after consulting with the public health council and county health commissioners, boards and public health directors.

Such standards shall be for services funded under this title and shall include but not be limited to the effects such services shall have on mortality and morbidity and the reduction of potential public health hazards.

The commissioner shall not have the power to prescribe the number of persons to be employed in any municipality.

(b) The extent to which services in the plan will promote the public health, which, as defined herein, shall be enhancing or sustaining the public health, protecting the public from the threats of disease and illness, or preventing premature death, and which assist in containing the costs of the health care system.

Services that promote the public health are the following:

(1) family health, which shall include activities designed to reduce perinatal, infant and maternal mortality and morbidity and to promote the health of infants, children, adolescents, and people of childbearing age.

Such activities shall include family centered perinatal care and other services appropriate to promote the birth of a healthy baby to a healthy mother, and services to prevent and detect health problems in infants, young children, and school age children.

(2) disease control, which shall include activities to control and mitigate the extent of non-infectious diseases, particularly those of a chronic, degenerative nature, and infectious diseases.

Such activities shall include surveillance and epidemiological programs, and programs to detect diseases in their early stages.

Specific activities shall include immunizations against infectious diseases and prevention and treatment of sexually transmissible diseases.

(3) health education and guidance, which shall include the use of information and education to modify or strengthen practices that will promote the public health and prevent illness.

Such activities shall encourage people to assume personal responsibility for maintaining and improving their own health; increase their capacity to utilize appropriate health services; help them better control an illness they may have; and, provide information to stimulate community action on social and physical environmental factors that impact on health.

Special emphasis shall be given to providing health education and guidance to individuals at the same time as they are receiving a health service.

(4) community health assessment, which shall include an analysis of community vital statistics and mortality and morbidity indices to detect the source of illnesses and diseases, particularly those of a carcinogenic and mutagenic nature, in order to prevent in an efficient manner as many persons as possible from contracting such illnesses and diseases and to assist in addressing other problems adversely affecting the public health.

Such analysis shall also include data relating to toxic sites and occupational illnesses.

(5) environmental health, which shall include activities that promote health and prevent illness by ensuring sanitary conditions in water supplies, food service establishments, and other permit sites, and by abating public health nuisances.

The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations that define the specific activities within each of the five categories.

The commissioner prior to promulgation of rules and regulations defining the nature of the specific activities, shall consult with the public health council and county health commissioners, boards and public health directors.

The list of specific activities may be altered by the commissioner as necessary and after his consultation with the council, commissioners, boards and public health directors named herein.

© The extent to which the municipality shall provide effective administrative support and guidance to implement the plan.

(d) The extent to which there will be coordination among public health service programs.

(e) The extent to which the plan is consistent with the state health plan, the statewide plans, and program goals adopted by the commissioner.

(f) The particular capabilities of the municipality submitting the plan taking into account available state and local resources.

4. The commissioner shall notify such municipality, in writing, of the approval of the municipal public health services plan and the fee and revenue plan required pursuant to section six hundred six of this chapter or, if the plans or any parts thereof appear deficient, he shall advise them in writing of the deficiencies.

The municipality shall have an opportunity, within thirty days of the notice, in consultation with the department, to resolve the deficiencies.

Upon failure to resolve the deficiencies, the commissioner shall notify the municipality in writing of his intent to disapprove the plans or any portion thereof.

The notice of intent shall state the specific portions of the plans that are not approved, the reasons for the determination which must include, when appropriate, an explanation of how the plans or portions thereof would not have satisfied the standards promulgated pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this section.

Any municipality which has received a notice of intent to disapprove shall have the right to a hearing pursuant to section twelve-a of this chapter.

Following a hearing, the commissioner shall issue a decision approving or disapproving the plans or any portion thereof.

If the plans or any portions thereof are disapproved, the municipality may, within thirty days of the commissioner`s decision, submit a revised plan in conformance with the commissioner`s decision.

A decision disapproving either plan or any portions thereof shall be reviewable pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules notwithstanding the submission of a revised plan by the municipality.

5. The approved public health services plans and the fee and revenue plans may be amended at any time with the commissioner`s approval in
accordance with regulations which the commissioner may adopt.

6. The commissioner may approve a public health services plan in which the municipality actually provides fewer services than those set forth in paragraph (b) of subdivision three of this section as long as the plan identifies the availability of other services, who will provide them, and the manner in which they will be provided and financed.

AND EACH COUNTY WOULD BE ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTING AND ADHERING TO ITS HEALTH PLAN, which would keep the costs of public health services in the State of New York as low as it would be possible to have them be:

S 603. Municipal public health services plan; implementation.

1. In order to be eligible for state aid under this title, each municipality shall administer its public health programs in accordance with its approved municipal public health services plan and standards of performance established by the commissioner through rules and regulations and shall, in particular, ensure that public health services are provided in an efficient and effective manner to all persons in the municipality.

2. The commissioner may withhold state aid reimbursement under this title for the appropriate services if, on audit and review, the commissioner finds that such services are not furnished or rendered in conformance with the rules and regulations established by the commissioner or that the expenditures were not made according to the approved public health services plan required by section six hundred two of this title.

In such cases, the commissioner, in order to ensure that the public health is promoted as defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision three of section six hundred two of this title, may use any proportionate share of a municipality`s per capita or base grant that is withheld to contract with agencies, associations, or organizations.

The health department may use any such withheld share to provide services upon approval of the director of the division of the budget.

Copies of such transactions shall be filed with the fiscal committees of the legislature.

S 604. Supervision of public health programs.

In order to be eligible for state aid, under this title, each municipality shall employ a full-time local commissioner of health or public health director to supervise the provision of public health services and to implement the approved public health services plan for that municipality.

IN CONCLUSION ….

THE LAW IS WELL-WRITTEN …

THE LAW IS QUITE COMPREHENSIVE …

THE LAW IS ALL-ENCOMPASSING …

THE LAW IS QUITE COMPREHENSIBLE ….

AND VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND ….

Therefore, there is no good reason for the New York State Department of Health to be DYSFUNCTIONAL …..

AND IF IT IS …

THEN IT IS BY INTENT ….

WHICH IS NEGLIGENCE, MISFEASANCE AND MALFEASANCE ….

ON THE PART OF THE NEW YORK STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER ….

WHICH IS GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL FROM OFFICE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK …

And so ….

There is a MANIFESTO for today ….

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4018#comments

Comment by bm8631 — March 11, 2007 @ 12:15 pm

Maybe…

Mr. Galt…

Could stop posting…

Like this…

And maybe…

Connect an intelligent point…

All in one paragraph…

And Spitzer…

Was voted in…

By about 70% of the State of New York…

And still maintains about 70% of our support…

As…

What else…

Oh my god…

No…

Gasp…

A STEAMROLLER.

…

…

… Sarcasm.

Comment by John Galt — March 11, 2007 @ 3:39 pm

It is absolutely immaterial how many people voted for Eliot Spitzer for governor ….

Absolutely immaterial ….

Just as it is absolutely immaterial how many people now are “in like” ….

Or even “in love” ….

With “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer today ….

The irrefutable facts of the matter are that the New York State Constitution IS THE ORGANIC LAW of this state ….

And according to said ORGANIC LAW, the REAL JOB of this LORD CORNBURY REBORN “STEAMROLLER” SPITZER is very precisely defined ….

And very precisely LIMITED …

AND HE CANNOT JUST GO OUT AND WHIP UP SOME MOB OUT THERE INTO A FRENZY AGAINST SOME DEFINED SEGMENT OF OUR CITIZEN BODY LIKE THESE NURSES BECAUSE SOME ALLEGED SIXTY OR SEVENTY PERCENT OF A LITTLE OVER A THOUSAND PEOPLE POLLED BY MAURICE the “MIRACLE MAN” CARROLL of QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY SAY THAT THEY ARE FOR THIS “STEAMROLLER” DOING IT, SUCH AS THIS bm8631 ABOVE HERE APPEARS TO BE ADVOCATING ….

We do not have POPULAR GOVERNMENT here in New York State where this LORD CORNBURY AND HIS “CORNBURY RING” can do just as they please, CONSEQUENCES TO OTHERS BE DAMNED ….

Just because some out-of-state “NUMBERS DUDE” over there in Connecticut is willing to make the RIDICULOUS CLAIM that “MOST NEW YORKERS ARE FOR THIS STEAMROLLER” ….

When in reality …..

According to WCBS NEWSRADIO 880 ….

http://www.wcbs880.com/pages/233397.php?co...ontentId=324953

THE NUMBER IS ONLY IN ACTUALITY A LITTLE OVER 600 REAL PEOPLE …..

“Quinnipiac’s telephone poll of 1,049 voters was conducted Feb. 6-11 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.”

OUT OF MILLIONS OF ACTUAL PEOPLE ….

SUCH AS US DISABLED VETERANS OUT HERE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, FOR EXAMPLE ….

WHOM MAURICE THE “NUMBERS MAN” FROM OVER THERE IN CONNECTICUT ……

COMPLETELY OVERLOOKED …

AND DISMISSED …

OUT OF HAND …

And so …

IT IS OUR CONSTITUTION THAT THIS bm8631 AND THE MAURICE CARROLL “SIXTY-ONE PERCENTERS” ADVOCATE THIS “STEAMROLLER” TRAMPLING ALL OVER …

AND PURSUANT TO § 8 of the BILL OF RIGHTS OF OUR CONSTITUTION, THIS bm8631 has that right to ADVOCATE AGAINST OUR CONSTITUTION, AND TO ADVOCATE FOR “STEAMROLLER” SPITZER TRAMPLING ALL OVER IT, AND THESE NURSES, AND WHOMEVER ELSE THE “SPITZER MOB” SHOULD CHOOSE AS THE NEXT VICTIMS OF ITS IRE:

“Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press ….”

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4017#comments

"Cutting hospitals is not the way to fix Medicaid"

Letters to the Editor, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, March 12, 2007

I want to thank you for your coverage of the Medicaid cuts proposed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer and your publication of Susan McDonough's Feb. 24 letter regarding St. Peter's Hospital.

Cuts to this region's hospitals or any in New York are not a good idea.

As a registered nurse at one of them, I can tell you there is no waste of New Yorkers' money here, especially when compared to that used by our former health commissioner's practices as shown in your Feb. 18 article.

We have pulled together under very good leadership, and continue to give the very best care to all our patients, regardless of whether they can pay.

That is what community hospitals do.

I agree that there is a lot of waste in Medicaid, but why make a blanket cut to the hospitals?

Take the time and do the work to find where the system is broken.

Then fix it.

It may be a little harder, but it is the right way to fix the problem.

If our doctors operated your way, they would be amputating limbs instead of suturing cuts.

Start the cleaning up in your house first and you will save the state more than you will picking on the hospitals.

PETER E. M., R.N.

Ravena

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...sdate=3/12/2007

"Different view of the same facts"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, March 12, 2007

Gov. Eliot Spitzer's push for transparency goes just so far, and Insurance Department spokesman David Neustadt is in the unique position of explaining why, after earlier saying why not.

The situation stems from an Appellate Division decision last week that overturned a 2005 lower court ruling in favor of former Insurance Superintendent Greg Serio, who said that the Liquidation Bureau, an arm of the Insurance Department, didn't have to open its books for an audit by former Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Serio maintained that the bureau, which handles the assets of failed insurance companies, is a private entity not open to state auditors.

Spitzer's insurance superintendent, Eric Dinallo, plans to take the case to the Court of Appeals.

Spitzer, as attorney general, did not get in the middle of the dispute.

Taxpayers are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to two private law firms to represent the comptroller and department.

Neustadt, Hevesi's chief spokesman until the comptroller resigned in December amid a scandal, complained after the lower court ruling:

"We disagree with the decision and we intend to appeal ..."

"Our only goal here is to do the audit."

Neustadt, though, has since signed on as Dinallo's spokesman.

His take on Hevesi's appellate win:

"We're planning to appeal it."

Designating the bureau a state entity, he now says, would open the state to lawsuits from parties trying to get assets of the insurers in liquidation.

"Right now, the state has no liability ..."

"If you make it a state agency, there's a risk the state would be liable," he said.

"This is not an issue of transparency or accountability."

He said the department will hire an outside firm to independently audit the bureau and issue a public report.

Hefty cost of living

The Office of Court Administration's possible move to buy life insurance for retirement-age judges could cost more than $20 million a year.

Survivors of state employees who die before retiring don't get their pensions, but they do get a death benefit of three times the worker's salary.

OCA wants to give judges aged 55 to 76 an extra benefit: $1 million term life insurance to cover lost pensions should they die.

According to Diane D. Stuto, executive vice president of the Life Insurance Council of New York State, one of her member companies came up with some ballpark numbers: $4 million a year in premium costs if the average age of the jurists were 55, and $21 million if the average age is 68, which is closer to the actual number.

The number, she noted, might be lower in a competitive bid.

Contributor: Capitol bureau reporter James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5081 or e-mail ebenjamin@timesunion.com.

"New York aims for 'healthiest state' - Spitzer proposals target school, home, workplace for new ways to improve, maintain residents' health"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

First published: Monday, March 12, 2007

ALBANY -- Schools, homes and workplaces will become the site of new efforts to make New York the "the healthiest state," under proposals by Gov. Eliot Spitzer scheduled for release today.

The efforts, backed by $200 million in Spitzer's 2007-08 budget proposal, include:

Requiring "body mass index" reporting in schools, which calculates the ratio of height to weight.

New anti-smoking initiatives, including "aggressively promoting" stop-smoking treatments to New Yorkers in state-funded health programs for the poor and working poor.

Expanded access to the vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer.

Further targeting HIV/AIDS programs in minority communities.

Eliminating trans-fat products in state agencies' next food contracts.

Improving the training of cancer screeners.

Creating a home-visit program for new mothers in poor communities.

Encouraging physical fitness by state employees.

Reducing the use of toxic chemicals and toxic pest controls in public buildings and schools.

"Health problems block the learning of too many children," said state Education Commissioner Richard Mills, when told of Spitzer's general proposals.

"That's why the Regents and I have been advocating for stronger collaborations between educators and health providers, both at the state and local levels."

"I look forward to working with the governor on this critical issue."

Spitzer said it was part of his effort to alter the direction of health care, shifting the focus from facilities to patients and preventive care.

"For years, the health care debate has focused almost exclusively on institutions that deal with various health problems, such as HMOs, hospitals and nursing homes," said Spitzer, an avid runner whose first act of his administration was a dawn jog in Albany.

"By shifting focus to the prevention of disease, we can significantly improve public health and help bring exploding health care costs under control."

AND KEEPING UP WITH OUR EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY ....

THAT IS BEING PLAYED OUT ....

AS WE SPEAK ...

IN THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ...

IN RESPONSE TO THIS PRESS RELEASE BY NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR ELIOT "STEAMROLLER" SPITZER ....

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4019#comments

WE HAVE:

Comment by John Galt — March 12, 2007 @ 8:15 am

With respect to this GOVERNMENT BY INTERMINABLE, DEVOID-OF-REAL-SUBSTANCE PRESS RELEASES that is being jammed right on down OUR throats out here in the countryside by this “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer and his crowd of “SIXTY-ONE PERCENTERS” ….

Section 602.3(b)(3) of the New York State Public Health Law, WHICH HAS BEEN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT IN NEW YORK STATE SINCE JAN. 1, 1988, ALTHOUGH IGNORED BY THE STATE ITSELF, FOR POLITICAL REASONS RELATED TO APPEASING “SPECIAL INTEREST” GROUPS, STATES IN CLEAR AND EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE REGULATORY LANGUAGE that the New York State Health Commissioner SHALL approve county MUNICIPAL PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE PLANS based in part on:

3) health education and guidance, which shall include the use of information and education to modify or strengthen practices that will promote the public health and prevent illness.

Such activities SHALL ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO ASSUME PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for maintaining and improving their own health; increase their capacity to utilize appropriate health services; help them better control an illness they may have; and, provide information to stimulate community action on social and physical environmental factors that impact on health.

Now, out here in the countryside, that is what we do ….

WE ASSUME PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OURSELVES, JUST AS OUR STATE LEGISLATURE INTENDED US TO DO, AND JUST AS WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE, TO BE TRUTHFUL, SINCE NEW YORK STATE GOVERNMENT, AND ESPECIALLY ITS STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, ARE SO UNRELIABLE ….

And Section 602.3(b)(4) of the New York State Public Health Law states in clear language that it is the RESPONSIBILITY of the State Health Commissioner to review county health plans for the following:

4) community health assessment, which shall include an analysis of community vital statistics and mortality and morbidity indices to detect the source of illnesses and diseases, particularly those of a carcinogenic and mutagenic nature, in order to prevent in an efficient manner as many persons as possible from contracting such illnesses and diseases and to assist in addressing other problems adversely affecting the public health.

And whether the “SKADDEN MAN” now in control of things down there in Albany realizes it, OR NOT, HIS JOB is to see that the NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC HEALTH LAW, as written above here, IS FAITHFULLY EXECUTED …

And if it were actually to be …

Well, hey, the “STEAMROLLER” would be stripped of all of these opportunities to SNOW US UNDER WITH INTERMINABLE PRESS RELEASES telling us a bunch of nothing …

BUT PERHAPS OUR DYSFUNCTIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM COULD BE GOTTEN BACK ON TRACK ….

Which is what we country folks want …

INSTEAD OF A BUNCH OF PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS “STEAMROLLER” …

TOUTING HIM AND HIS SELF-PROCLAIMED GREATNESS …

Which seem to ignore the fact that we already had these same public health “initiatives” now being put forth by this “STEAMROLLER’S” bloated PRESS DEPARTMENT, a long, long time ago ….

And so …

DEMOCRACY IS WHAT DEMOCRACY IS ....

AND IT HAPPENS AS IT HAPPENS ...

And so ...

CONTINUING FROM THE WEB-EDTION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION

Comment by topo gigio — March 11, 2007 @ 6:06 pm

BTW, Mr. Galt, your Lord Cornbury reference seems more than a little misplaced:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hyde,_...rl_of_Clarendon

Annoying though Mr. Spitzer’s pugilistic style may be, I would by no means conclude from the small amount of time that he has been in office that Spitzer resembles Lord Cornbury:

“Cornbury came to be regarded in the historical literature as a moral profligate, sunk in corruption: possibly the worst governor Britain ever imposed on an American colony.

The early accounts claim he took bribes and plundered the public treasury.

Nineteenth century historian George Bancroft said that Cornbury illustrated the worst form of the English aristocracy’s “arrogance, joined to intellectual imbecility”.

Later historians characterize him as a “degenerate and pervert who is said to have spent half of his time dressed in women’s clothes”, a “fop and a wastrel”.

Do I sense perhaps a whiff of bigotry in your Lord Cornbury reference.

Perhaps a hatred of transvestites and/or folks of the gay persuasion or anyone not exactly like yourself?

Comment by John Galt — March 12, 2007 @ 6:20 am

Some hear what they want to hear …

And disregard the rest …

And then INVENT theories about others that are actually a reflection of their own internal “selves” …

Up here, in the countryside, Cornbury is famous for messing with the assembly …

Like the “STEAMROLLER” …

And for disenfranchising groups of people …

Taking away their “voice” in government …

Like the “STEAMROLLER” …..

LORD CORNBURY

In an attempt to escape from his problems, Cornbury fled to the colonies with Queen Anne’s blessing.

Immediately upon his arrival in New York in 1701, Anne appointed Cornbury as governor of New York.

Only one year later, in 1702, the Queen added the title of governor of New Jersey to Cornbury’s list of duties.

The populace of both New York and New Jersey would learn that Cornbury was not a fit governor, as he was unruly and for the most part indifferent to the needs of the people.

When he first arrived in New Jersey in 1703 the colony was rife with factional and political tension.

In what had earlier been a proprietorship of East and West Jersey, a group of political parties sought Hyde’s favor as they fought with each other over such things as land, money, power and religion.

Cornbury was indifferent to these issues, but he saw the possibility for personal gain, hence his poor reputation began.

Hyde gathered a group of politicians who shared his political sentiments, and they called themselves the “Cornbury Ring.”

Instead of simply allying himself with an existing faction, he created the Cornbury Ring.

It engaged in such corrupt activities as grabbing land and looting public funds.

Hyde and the Ring had an especially large grievance with the Quaker population, which dominated West Jersey politics.

The Ring tried to disenfranchise the Quakers, attempting to seize control of the assembly.

These unlawful tactics which Hyde resorted to were not successful, and the Cornbury Ring failed to control the assembly.

The Ring passed a number of bills that were designed to enhance Hyde’s fortunes, both financially and politically.

Looking at Viscount Cornbury’s governorship in New York, it is apparent that he was equally as corrupt as he was in his New Jersey legislation.

In New York, Hyde allied himself with the Anti-Leislerian party to secure gifts and a revenue.

He twice dismissed uncooperative assemblies, who were largely uncooperative because of his impossible demands.

http://cuhistory3057.tripod.com/hyde/id1.html

"Spitzer: Senate is 'pandering' to health care lobbyists"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 2:13 p.m., Monday, March 12, 2007

ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Monday accused the Republican-led Senate of "pandering" to a powerful health care lobby that has long "twisted" legislation in Albany.

The Democratic governor also said the Senate majority's failure to pass its own version of spending bills threatens the chance of having a state budget in place by the April 1 start of the fiscal year.

He called the Senate's budget bills an extravagant response to an advertising and lobbying blitz by hospitals and a health care workers union.

Those groups would feel the brunt of Spitzer's proposal to cut health care spending by more than $1.2 billion.

"Their spending is both profligate, and their behavior pandering," Spitzer said, referring to the Senate's Republican majority.

"This is unfortunate."

There was no immediate comment from Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

Spitzer wants to restructure New York's health care system, which he claims taxpayers and patients can no longer afford.

He wants to redirect state health spending from hospitals -- a powerful interest in Albany -- to patients by creating more neighborhood clinics and boosting at-home care.

He said that will improve care and cut costs.

He applauded the Democrat-led Assembly for deciding on its budget bills on time under an agreement between the Legislature and Spitzer.

Although Spitzer said the Assembly also wants to spend too much -- restoring more than $200 million of Spitzer's cuts -- the governor said at least the Assembly is ready to negotiate a final state budget.

For the first time, Spitzer also publicly considered the possibility of breaking the state's two-year streak of on-time budgets after 20 years of annual failure.

"If we are where we are today, then we will have a serious conversation," Spitzer said.

"But right now, there is loads of time."

Spitzer also may have held out a carrot: He didn't reject a new pay raise proposal for lawmakers in a bill submitted by the Assembly.

The bill was first reported Monday by the New York Daily News.

"We have time go and we'll work together," Spitzer said.

The Senate worked through the weekend past a Friday night deadline so budget bills could be ready for votes early this week, under legislative rules.

The Senate proposals would add hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly to fund hospitals that are often top local employers.

The Healthcare Association of New York says Spitzer cuts on top of cuts planned by the Bush administration would mean a $9.9 billion loss to hospitals over five years.

The HANYS analysis states Bush would cut $7.5 billion over five years in federal funding while Spitzer's proposal would cut $2.4 billion to hospitals over five years.

Spitzer and legislative leaders recently agreed to a revenue forecast that would allow for $575 million in additional revenues beyond the $120.6 billion budget Spitzer proposed in January.

The Medicaid health care coverage for the poor costs New York $46 billion a year.

Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith said Bruno is wrong to seek substantial spending increases and he won't get help from his members against Spitzer.

"Bruno's got to know, it's a different dance," Smith said.

"No one is going to go for that."

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ...

Comment by bm8631 — March 12, 2007 @ 11:52 am

Actually, Galt, it’s not immaterial.

In this democracy, while you do have your own voice, the majority of the voices win.

The majority of the people, 69%, voted for Spitzer.

And the majority, around 70%, still support him, meaning they believe he’s doing the right thing.

That’s not steamrolling, per se, that’s called being on the side of the body public.

Maybe Spitzer is a steamroller, but guess what, 70% of NYS is riding his Steamroller platform.

The only ones getting in the way are the special interests who’ve unfairly profited all too long under the benchwarming Pataki.

I wouldn’t say the NYS Constitution doesn’t apply here, because it is a living document that applies to every NYS citizen’s life, but the Healthcare industry issue hasn’t brought the ire of the NYS Judiciary in relation to constitutional protections.

The issue here is that I, for one, wouldn’t want to be a patient at a hospital that has a reputation for being costly and underperforming.

I wouldn’t want to be a patient at a hospital whose nurses are “protected” in their job no matter how badly they do it.

At the same time — what is the healthcare lobby complaining about?

Some nurses and doctors will lose their jobs at these closing hospitals?

Guess what — those are the two most-employable professions in the United States!

They aren’t going to be unemployed for long.

Spitzer was right on with the term “crybaby.”

And your xenophobic use of the label “out-of-state ‘NUMBERS DUDE’” doesn’t help your case.

Obviously you’re not a big statistics buff, or you’d understand the Quinnipiac, who you referenced in your link, uses representative sampling, meaning a sample is taken to represent the NYS population as a whole, because it’d be too costly and too time consuming to ask EVERYONE in NYS whether they approve or disapprove of Spitzer.

So yes, in ACTUALITY around 630 people support Spitzer’s title of “Steamroller” in THAT POLL, but they are a representative sample of the entire NYS population, around 70% who support Spitzer in general.

But something tells me…

That you don’t like…

Stats…

That much…

PS…

… You just got owned.

Comment by John Galt — March 12, 2007 @ 5:25 pm

I have been doing a continuous poll of my own out here in the country ….

And I cannot find one person who thinks much of “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer, at all ….

Nor is there anyone out here who is moved very much at all by this MAURICE “THE NUMBER’S DUDE” CARROLL ….

And all of this “REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE” CRAP that he is peddling around here ….

THAT LAUGHINGLY PROCLAIMS AN UN-TRUTH ….

THAT BEING THAT “MOST” NEW YORKERS SOMEHOW LIKE “STEAMROLLER” SPITZER TRAMPLING ALL OVER OUR NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION ….

THE FACT IS THAT MAURICE “THE NUMBERS DUDE” CALLED 1049 HOUSEHOLDS AND GOT SOME SIX HUNDRED PEOPLE SOMEWHERE TO SAY THAT THEY ARE IN LIKE OR IN LOVE WITH THE THOUGHT OF ELIOT SPITZER AS A “STEAMROLLER” ….

AND THAT IS ALL THAT HE GOT …

AND THEN HE GOT HIS PAYCHECK …

AFTER SPOUTING SOME DRIVEL ….

ABOUT THIS “NUMBER” REPRESENTING MOST NEW YORKERS ….

WHEN IT DOESN’T REFLECT ANYONE I KNOW UP HERE ….

AND THAT INCLUDES A CONSIDERABLE PORTION OF THE VETERAN’S COMMUNITY OUT THERE …

WHO SEE ELIOT SPITZER AS NOTHING MORE …

THAN A PUFFED-UP FOOL ….

A “SKADDEN MAN” OUT OF HIS LEAGUE OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK CITY ….

WHERE YOU FIND THE NATIVES A LOT LESS TOLERANT OF EMPTY RHETORIC FROM SOME JUMPED-UP LAWYER FROM A RICH NEW YORK CITY “WHITE COLLAR CRIME” DEFENSE LAW FIRM …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4017#comments

NY POST

"UNION'S TV BLITZ SOCKS GOV RATING"

By FREDRIC U. DICKER

March 12, 2007

ALBANY - Gov. Spitzer's enormous popularity with the voters has taken a "dramatic hit" because of a fierce TV campaign attacking his proposed cuts in health-care costs, a poll obtained yesterday by The Post shows.

Spitzer's "favorability" rating has dropped 21 percentage points - from 75 to 54 percent - in the past month, according to the survey, conducted for a group backed by hospital-workers union 1199 SEIU.

The poll also found only 28 percent of voters who know about Spitzer's efforts back his plan, while 29 percent are opposed.

A month ago, the union-backed poll found 37 percent in favor of Spitzer's plan and just 15 percent opposed.

"Our campaign is having dramatic effects on all key measures in the three weeks since the media campaign began," pollster Joel Benenson wrote to the health-care union.

Spitzer's proposed budget strips $1.2 billion from the state's Medicaid program, which the hospital-workers union and the Greater New York Hospitals Association claim will have a devastating impact on health-care services.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03122007/news/...c_u__dicker.htm

NY TIMES

"Rangel Tells State’s Delegation That Spitzer Is Too Combative"

By DANNY HAKIM and RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

Published: March 9, 2007

Representative Charles B. Rangel used a meeting yesterday between the state’s Congressional and legislative leaders in Washington to criticize Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s conduct, citing the governor’s hostile relationship with labor and hospital groups.

And in an interview afterward, Mr. Rangel suggested that the governor had an anger problem, naming a list of public officials with whom Mr. Spitzer has clashed recently over his proposed budget cuts in health care.

He also said that he and other members of the Congressional delegation did not want to be in the middle of a “food fight” between the governor and health care groups when the delegation is seeking to prevent federal health care cuts that President Bush has proposed.

“Anger and emotion will not help this delegation in trying to help our constituents,” said Mr. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and, like Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat.

“We refuse to get involved in a food fight when what we need is health care.”

The meeting included members of New York’s Congressional delegation, including Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats, and the leaders of the State Legislature: the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican, and the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat.

Also in attendance were leaders of two interest groups that have been locked in a war of words, some of them said via television advertisements, with the governor: Dennis Rivera, president of 1199/S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East, and Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Mr. Rangel, whose Congressional district includes many Upper Manhattan neighborhoods and parts of the Bronx, expressed dismay about a recent breakfast he attended, where Mr. Spitzer sharply criticized 1199 and the hospital association while officials from both were present.

A screen behind the governor at the Manhattan event flashed the words “Guardians of the Status Quo.”

“Personalizing this very serious budget problem we have only agitates people,” Mr. Rangel said.

“It doesn’t get people to the table in order to resolve the problems.”

Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the budget included “historic investments in education and a move to patient centered health care.”

She added, “No amount of distortive rhetoric or advertising will cause the governor to back down from the core reforms and necessary reality check embodied in this budget.”

The two interest groups have been linking the state and federal cuts in their media campaign, referring to them as the “Bush-Spitzer” cuts.

But Mr. Rangel said he did not object so much to “what Spitzer is proposing, it’s how he’s proposing it.”

Mr. Rangel’s comments could increase political pressure on the governor to tone down his confrontational approach, if not scale back his proposed cuts.

And Republicans who control the State Senate are trying to make political hay of the issue.

Mrs. Clinton, according to people who were in attendance, did not take sides.

But she did joke that if the matter could not be settled now, she would “fix it” in 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

"Spitzer, union agree to stop ads - Governor, SEIU/1199 call temporary truce in an attempt to reach a deal on contract"

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, March 13, 2007

ALBANY -- Even as debate over health care heated up at the Capitol Monday, key players in the battle quietly called a temporary truce.

SEIU/1199, the health care workers union, and its ally, the Greater New York Hospital Association, which have run television ads slamming Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed Medicaid cost containments for almost a month, agreed to take the ads down -- at least temporarily -- starting today, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Spitzer, who has responded to the union and hospital ads with two of his own, including one that cast the health care industry as "crybabies," consented to do the same, an aide to the governor said.

The two sides agreed to "go dark" in hopes of creating a less charged environment in which to negotiate a possible deal.

Spitzer has called for trimming $1.3 billion worth of health care spending, including a freeze on Medicaid inflation rates, while directing dollars to preventative care and community-based clinics.

The health care industry has said Spitzer's plan will hurt already-struggling hospitals and nursing homes, costing the state jobs and degrading patients' quality of care.

Talks between legislative and executive staffers and representatives from the health care industry have been going in fits and starts for several weeks, legislative sources said.

But health care sources said their agreement to stop their ads would be taken as a "conciliatory" gesture that enabled "serious" negotiations to get underway.

A source close to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who last week called on all sides to stop the "name-calling," said it was the speaker who first floated the idea of the cease fire on the state's airwaves.

Reason Magazine

"Republicans and Al Sharpton, Living Together -- Mass Hysteria!"

David Weigel | March 12, 2007, 11:37am

When New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer made the move to the governor's office, small-government fans expected the worst from him.

Surprise #1: His first big proposal is to staunch Medicaid and Medicare fraud by cutting spending and freezing reimbursement rates.

Surprise #2: His biggest opponents are New York's worthless Republicans.

In the inverted politics of New York, a Democratic governor is advocating spending restraint while the Republican Party's top boss along with Messrs. Rangel and Sharpton have taken the side of the hospital industry in its battle against Mr. Spitzer.

The industry is demanding that lawmakers spend hundreds of millions of dollars to roll back cuts proposed by the governor, such as a temporary freeze on hospital and nursing home Medicaid reimbursement rates.

"It shows a lack of feeling to the elderly and people in need of care."

"… I propose finding another way to save the money, not at the cost of human beings."

"It just jeopardizes the elderly to a tremendous degree," he said.

So the hospital industry is paying for Al Sharpton's anti-Spitzer radio ads, and the Republicans are whining about how a liberal Democrat wants to leave old people on the street.

Spitzer's getting support from -- Surprise #3.

New York's Conservative Party.

"Spitzer's on target," the chairman of the Conservative Party in New York, Mr. Long, who owns a liquor store in Bay Ridge, said.

"I think he should be thinking to cut more."

"It has to be done because it's pretty hard for taxpayers to pay their bills as it is."

"Spending is really the cause of high taxes."

They all laughed last year when I suggested Spitzer was basically a federalist who'd piss off liberals with his government reforms.

New York's sclerotic state government is unlikely to make the boldest reforms Spitzer jaws about.

The groups that will do the most to elect him—unions, liberals, minority voters—will blanch at the compounds Spitzer wants to mix in the New York laboratory.

One cheer for Spitzer, so far.

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/119077.html

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION

First Lady Silda Wall will join ESDC’s co-chairs Pat Foye (downstate) and Dan Gundersen (upstate) at the Executive Mansion at a 2 p.m. reception for the Tourism Industry Coaltion to unveil a new “I Love New York” Web site.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/index.php?paged=2

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

Comment by John Galt — March 13, 2007 @ 5:13 pm

Right over here, across the Hudson River from Albany, in “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno’s own personal fiefdom of Rensselaer County …

We had a disabled Viet Nam veteran who had been rehabilitated from a nasty head wound as a public health engineer …

And he got to digging around, at the behest of then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod into MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE and GROSS NEGLIGENCE in the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which was REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED at that time according to a TU article by reporter Tim O’Brien on October 12, 1988 …

And in the course of that investigation, in or about the summer of 1988, this engineer began the process of bringing charges against the “IRON DUKE” himself for alleged Public Health Law violations, misdemeanors, in connection with the “IRON DUKE’S” Windfield Subdivision on Bulson Road in Brunswick, New York …

And the “IRON DUKE” had the engineer slapped silly …

BANG!

You’re gone!

And he was ….

And when the Federal Bureau of Investigation came sniffing around in 1989 in connection with all of that business, the local word is that they got sent back to Albany like whipped dogs, howling and yipping and ki-yiying, with their tails tucked between their legs, allegedly for sniffing too close to the “IRON DUKE” ….

So when we think of the New York State Legislature after reading Assemblyman Brodsky’s empty article in the New York Times ….

We think of how the “IRON DUKE”, a member of that Legislature at the time, was able to simply reach right out and crush this disabled veteran like a Coors beer can and fling him out the open window and into the ditch besides the road ….

With no one saying a word about it …

A lot of power that New York State Legislature gave to “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno that would let him get away with that …

Is our thought on that matter …

A LOT OF POWER, INDEED ….

And this wasn’t any kind of secret …

This all happened right out in the clear light of day …

With TV cameras there capturing the whole thing for posterity sake ….

And then, in August of 2001, Rensselaer County effected a FINAL SOLUTION against this same engineer by having a local political doctor issue an INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT ORDER for this engineer, SIGHT-UNSEEN ….

Which would be a violation of the law if it wasn’t being done for POLITICAL RETALIATION purposes ….

Because once again this engineer was digging around where his nose just didn’t belong, according to Rensselaer County …

So they had him snatched right out of the lobby of the Stratton VA Hospital on August 22, 2001 based on a FRAUDULENT INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT ORDER signed by that political doctor over there in Troy, despite the fact that he did not know this engineer from Adam, never having ever seen him, before committing him ….

And they had the engineer placed into involuntary psychiatric confinement ….

And that was the end of the engineer ….

And no one in the New York State Legislature ever raised an eyebrow about that ….

IT IS A PERK OF THE POSITION, AFTER ALL …

And this Mr. Brodsky cannot deny that ….

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE being able to have POLITICAL ENEMIES removed at the drop of a hat, like that …

After all, it is actually when “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer became the “STEAMROLLER” ….

Long before he “STEAMROLLED” Jim Tedisco just recently ….

When he “STEAMROLLED” this disabled veteran in 2005 and kept him out of federal court ….

By having his assistant attorney generals do some HINKY stuff with the evidence ….

Like burying a sworn affidavit of an Albany Police officer who was an eye-witness to this unlawful confinement …

And still, none of that bothered anyone in the New York State Legislature ….

And so ….

There’s our thoughts on that Brodsky NY TIMES article ….

Empty as it was ….

And so …

AP New York

"Bruno uses Senate GOP campaign funds to cover legal bills"

By MARC HUMBERT, AP Political Writer

March 13, 2007, 2:12 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Republican Majority Leader Joseph Bruno tapped the state Senate GOP's campaign fund from July through November to cover legal bills stemming from a federal probe of his activities, a review of state records showed Tuesday.

The move came as Bruno was keeping news of the probe from his Senate colleagues and the public.

Bruno has since had his own campaign committee reimburse the Senate Republican Campaign Committee for more than $2,400 in payments made to the Dreyer Boyajian law firm, said Bruno spokesman Mark Hansen.

The reimbursement has yet to show up in campaign filings from the Committee to Re-Elect Senator Bruno, the majority leader's own committee.

Hansen said the reimbursement would show up in the July filing.

The GOP Senate campaign committee is controlled by Bruno.

He went public with an announcement about the investigation in late December after learning the news media knew about it.

It was then that it became known that Bruno had hired defense attorney William Dreyer, a former federal prosecutor.

The ongoing federal investigation involves Bruno's private dealings with business associates and friends and the flow of state funds to companies with ties to those business associates and friends.

Bruno has denied any wrongdoing.

Hansen said the general Senate GOP campaign committee funds were initially used to pay the Dreyer firm because the original request from federal investigators was for information related to Bruno's efforts to raise money for committee.

He said there was no intention to obscure any link between the funds and Bruno's legal problems.

After it later became clear the inquiry was not specifically focused on those efforts, Bruno decided to reimburse the committee, his aide said.

The use of state campaign funds for legal defense purposes by New York politicians has long been controversial, but is permitted when the investigation is "related to the political campaign or the holding of public office," according to a 1989 opinion from the state Board of Elections.

In 2004, when then-state Sen. Guy Velella was battling bribery charges, he used campaign funds and donations from the campaign committees of Bruno and other GOP senators to help pay his legal bills.

Velella, a Bronx Republican, eventually went to jail after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring to accept bribes.

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

"Senate GOP tailors budget - Republican version of spending plan would restore Medicaid cuts the governor insists on"

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

First published: Tuesday, March 13, 2007

ALBANY -- Senate Republicans vehemently defied Gov. Eliot Spitzer's restructuring of state health care funding Monday and unveiled an alternative to the governor's budget plan that restores more than half the cuts to Medicaid the governor says are essential to begin easing the burden from the state's biggest spending area.

Spitzer characterized the Senate plan as "profligate" and "pandering" to influential health care lobbies.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, called Spitzer's restructuring unacceptable and turned up the heat on Senate Democrats to join in preventing havoc on the economy and vital health care services.

Besides bringing back $740 million of the $1.3 billion Spitzer wanted to spare the state from paying to nursing homes and hospitals, the Senate Republicans' budget plan "redirects" more than $1 billion differently than Spitzer's plan.

The health care additions, the Senate said, would add up to $544 million because of savings they plan elsewhere.

The Senate Republicans' call to put more money in the budget placed them in the position of being cast as spendthrifts.

Their plan is based on many speculative revenues they said would make nearly $5 billion available for budgeting.

That will help them pay for the $1.037 billion in additions while refusing $818 million in revenue enhancing policies Spitzer wants by closing corporate tax loopholes, taxing hospitals and nursing homes and expanding the bottle law to include non-carbonated beverage containers.

The extra money includes $575 million Spitzer already agreed will likely be available after negotiations with the Legislature earlier this month.

But the Senate GOP also books another $800 million, assuming that the state will gain valuable stock from a health insurance company allowed to convert to a publicly traded entity.

The Senate budget planners also expect more money from taxes on Native American smoke shops, lottery sales, cracking down on Medicaid fraud, federal aid and unspent sums in various state programs.

The Senate would also rely on $1.2 billion in reserves and $500 million in additional surplus from this year's budget.

"This reflects an utter failure to confront hard decisions . . . a failure to confront the necessary shift of health care funding away from institutions and toward patients," Spitzer said in a harsh analysis of the Senate plan.

He applauded Assembly Democrats for passing budget bills Monday on time and offering a fair response to his budget plan.

However, the Assembly budget actually would add $647 million to his budget figure, for a $121.6 billion plan.

Senate GOP members say their budget would match the $120.6 billion level of spending Spitzer proposes, after calculating cuts and adds and use of newfound funds.

The Senate would abolish some of Spitzer's spending initiatives, including $69.5 million for judges' pay raises and $600 million in two lump sums for economic development -- $300 million for a vague job expansion program and $300 million for a semiconductor research and development center somewhere in the state.

The Assembly kept the $300 million for the R&D facility but whacked the other pot.

The Assembly's budget adds $321 million in state funds for hospitals, restoring inflationary adjustments to state aid for hospitals and nursing homes, and killing a .35 percent tax on gross receipts to hospitals.

The Senate restored that spending and much more, including in areas such as graduate medical education and worker retraining.

"We respect this governor and his great desire for reform . . . but what is before us is not health care reform," Bruno said during a Senate debate over Spitzer's health care budget.

"This pain, this is suffering, this is depravation of services . . ."

"We're not talking politics."

Bruno and his colleagues in the GOP conference sought to pressure Senate Democrats, who have been supporting Spitzer's reform agenda, singling out individual minority members to ask them point blank how they could support Spitzer's cuts and deny their district's hospitals specific sums of funding.

The Assembly budget plans were passed in the two chambers Monday and the Senate was expected to pass its budget package today, including a health care resolution instead of a health care bill.

The actions will allow the Legislature to set up a series of joint legislative conference committees this week and next.

The goal is to achieve a legislative budget deal with the governor by April 1, the start of the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Numerous testy and personal exchanges in the Senate showed that the public negotiations may not go in a friendly manner.

"Andrea Stewart-Cousins," Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said to the first-term Democratic senator from Yonkers who beat veteran Republican Nick Spano, "if Sen. Spano were here he'd be fighting for Westchester Medical, fighting for $9 million . . ."

"The change is we have a Democratic governor."

"Your views on health care have changed in the last 12 months."

"You'd rather take these health care cuts for political reasons."

Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, said the Republicans are trying to calculate whether they have the votes to override a veto of a legislative budget that brings back health care dollars while also gaining some clips to use against Democrats at election time.

He said his conference will stay with Spitzer.

A battle over how to provide and account for tax relief to property taxpayers was evident.

Spitzer wants to spend $1.1 billion on breaks for middle-income people.

Senate Republicans call for across-the-board rebate checks totaling $2.6 billion in the first year, growing to $3.4 billion in the second year.

The Senate budget would also add $338 million for education, $116 million for higher education, $22 million for transportation and $22 million for human services.

The Assembly plan adds $62.3 million more for higher education and $50 million to redevelop urban areas.

All three plans, including Spitzer's, would fund stem cell research, although the Senate wants to set up panels to award $1 billion over 10 years while Spitzer calls for a new corporation to control the funding.

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

"County executive targets tax burden - Kathy Jimino, in annual address, emphasizes need for economic development"

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

First published: Wednesday, March 14, 2007

TROY -- Rensselaer County must encourage economic development in an effort to expand the tax base to ease the tax burden placed on homeowners, County Executive Kathy Jimino said in her state of the county address Tuesday night.

While offering compliments to county departments for efforts to deliver services in a cost-effective manner, Jimino said new businesses are needed to provide a source of income and jobs in the county.

"As a community, we must all realistically tackle the mission of funding programs in a cost-effective manner by increasing and broadening our tax base by attracting and retaining families and businesses through responsible, community sensitive development," Jimino said.

"That is the only way that our taxes can be kept reasonable," Jimino told the County Legislature.

County property taxes are a concern for political leaders after county taxes were increased by 15 percent for 2007.

County property taxes have gone up every year since 2002.

The county wants to attract new companies, Jimino said.

At the same time, it is assisting county farmers and seeking to expand tourism.

Beginning this morning, Jimino is conducting a series of breakfast meetings with businesses around the county to spark economic development.

The Rensselaer Regional Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring the meetings.

Democratic Minority Leader Virginia O'Brien said she was glad to hear Jimino's comments about tourism and the breakfast meetings.

The county departments have not been as successful in performance planning as a way to save money as the county executive would like people to believe, O'Brien said.

Jimino emphasized that the county is committed to fiscal austerity.

She reminded the legislature that the county's rainy day fund to meet future budget expenses is depleted.

Jimino urged the county's towns and cities to work with the Rensselaer County Industrial Development Agency on updating their master plans so that there is a clear vision of what is zoned for commercial use.

In February, the city of Troy's proposed zoning changes were not compatible with a slaughterhouse proposed by Natural Processing Inc. at the Fritz Helmbold Inc. property on Industrial Road.

The Troy City Council enacted a moratorium to prevent construction of a slaughterhouse.

Jimino's staff is working with Natural Processing to find another location in the county for the kosher meat processing plant.

Kenneth C. Crowe II can be reached at 454-5084 or by e-mail at kcrowe@timesunion.com.

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

Assemblyman Brodsky says: “Maybe it will help everybody if we get a civil dialogue going instead of these stereotypes.”

Comment by John Galt — March 14, 2007 @ 8:56 am

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD BRODSKY

Civil dialogue, Mr. Assemblyman Brodsky, in OUR society here in New York State, DOES NOT and CANNOT happen when one party, the “GOVERNMENT”, i.e. New York State Senator “BIG JOE” Bruno and “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer, has both the RIGHT and the PRIVILEGE to place a telephone call to a political medical doctor at a CORPORATE HOSPITAL in Troy, New York to secure a “PICK-UP” ORDER so that the State Police can send a team to pick up this person for transport to a secure CORPORATE mental facility in Troy, New York for incarceration and “GENTLING” at the literal drop of a hat, no questions asked, by anyone, at all, because that individual has chosen to stand up for the Constitution and OUR laws, which, Mr. Assemblyman Brodsky, ARE REALLY WHAT MAKE THIS COUNTRY A BEACON OF LIBERTY ….

And not the New York State Assembly, as you maintain …

WHEN A CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ANY CITIZEN, CAN BE LITERALLY “SNATCHED RIGHT OUT OF THEIR TRACKS” BY THE POLICE FOR INCARCERATION IN A SECURE MENTAL FACILITY BASED ON WHAT BY LAW IS A FALSE INSTRUMENT BACKED UP BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK ITSELF, THEN IT IS INDEED A LAUGHABLE PROPOSITION TO ASSUME AND STATE TO US THAT WE HAVE ANY “LIBERTY” LEFT TO US AT ALL, JUST BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE WHAT CALLS ITSELF AN “ASSEMBLY”, OF WHICH YOU, MR. ASSEMBLYMAN, ARE A MEMBER, COWBOY BOOTS UP ON THE DESK, AND ALL ….

WITHOUT ACCESS TO EQUAL JUSTICE, MR. ASSEMBLYMAN BRODSKY, HERE IN NEW YORK STATE, TO PROTECT US COMMON CITIZENS FROM “STEAMROLLING” NY STATE SENATORS AND A POWER-HUNGRY FORMER NYS ATTORNEY GENERAL ON-THE-MAKE WHO IS NOW GOVERNOR “STEAMROLLER”, WHEN WE CHOOSE TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, WHICH IS BOTH OUR RIGHT AND OUR DUTY AS CITIZENS OF THIS STATE, WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO US TO HAVE YOU DOWN THERE IN ALBANY, POSING FOR “PUFF-PIECE” PHOTOS OF YOURSELF AND YOUR COWBOY BOOTS, WHILE TELLING US THAT IT IS TIME TO END “STEREOTYPES”?

IF YOU ARE FOR ENDING STEREOTYPES, MR. ASSEMBLYMAN BRODSKY, AND IF YOU ARE FOR NEW YORK STATE ACTUALLY BECOMING A REAL “BEACON OF LIBERTY” …

THEN PLEASE, GET YOUR COWBOY BOOTS BACK DOWN OFF OF YOUR DESK, AND GET YOUR *** UP OUT OF YOUR CHAIR, AND GO DOWN TO THIS “STEAMROLLER’S” OFFICE DOWN THERE IN ALBANY, AND DEMAND TO KNOW WHY THE “STEAMROLLER” HAD HIS ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERALS BURY SWORN TESTIMONY FROM AN ALBANY POLICE OFFICER CONCERNING THE UNLAWFUL IMPRISONMENT OF A NEW YORK STATE CITIZEN WHO IS FOR “CIVIL DIALOGUE IN NYS WITHOUT THE SPECTER OF CIVIL CONFINEMENT LOOMING LARGE IN THE BACKGROUND” WHEN THE DIALOGUE IS ONE OF OPPROBRIUM FOR OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS INSTEAD OF APPROBATION …

AND THEN DEMAND OF THE “STEAMROLLER”, PURSUANT TO Section 63(8) of ARTICLE 5 of the New York State EXECUTIVE LAW:

“Whenever in his judgment the public interest requires it, the attorney-general may, with the approval of the governor, and when directed by the governor, shall, inquire into matters concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice ….”

THAT THIS BURIED EVIDENCE, INCLUDING FBI RECORDS OF MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE AND GROSS NEGLIGENCE IN THE STATE AND RENSSELAER COUNTY DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH ALLEGEDLY INVOLVING RENSSELAER COUNTY’S “IRON DUKE” JOE BRUNO, ALONG WITH THE TESTIMONY OF A NEW YORK STATE POLICE INVESTIGATOR STATIONED IN KENNETH BRUNO’S OFFICE OF THE RENSSELAER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN AUGUST OF 2001 BE “RE-SURFACED” ….

BROUGHT BACK TO THE “SUNSHINE”, OR LIGHT OF DAY, AS IT WERE ….

AND THEN MAKE A DEMAND ON OUR BEHALF AS NYS CITIZENS, PURSUANT TO NYS EXECUTIVE LAW section 63(12) ….

“Whenever any person shall engage in repeated fraudulent or illegal acts or otherwise demonstrate persistent fraud or illegality in the carrying on, conducting or transaction of business, the attorney general may apply, in the name of the people of the state of New York, to the supreme court of the state of New York, on notice of five days, for an order enjoining the continuance of such business activity …”

THAT THIS POLITICAL DOCTOR AND CORPORATE HOSPITAL IN TROY, NEW YORK BE PERMANENTLY ENJOINED FROM ISSUING FRAUDULENT INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT ORDERS TO THE NEW YORK STATE POLICE TO APPREHEND OUR CITIZENS OVER HERE WHO ARE FOR “TRUE LIBERTY” AND THE LAW HERE IN NYS …

And then, Mr. Assemblyman Brodsky, PERHAPS YOU MIGHT BE JUST A LITTLE MORE BELIEVABLE TO THE PUBLIC-AT-LARGE HERE IN NYS WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR COOING SOUNDS TO THE MEDIA ABOUT “BEACONS OF LIBERTY” …

ELSEWISE, TO US, YOU ARE JUST ONE MORE SELF-SERVING ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIAL DOWN THERE IN ALBANY, RIDING THE GRAVY TRAIN UNTIL YOU CAN RETIRE, FANCY COWBOY BOOTS THAT WE CANNOT AFFORD UP ON YOUR DESK DOWN THERE, HAND HELD OUT FOR YOUR OWN PAYCHECK, WHILE OUR LIBERTY ALL BUT DISAPPEARS OUT HERE …

THANKS TO THIS “STEAMROLLER” WHOM OUR ASSEMBLY MINORITY APPEARS TO BE KOW-TOWING TO, AS THE ACTIONS OF THIS JIM TEDISCO OF LATE REVEAL …

WHICH MAKES THE NYS ASSEMBLY ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS TO US …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

TO SEND A MESSAGE TO NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD BRODSKY REGARDING YOUR OWN VIEWS OF WHAT IS CONTAINED IN THIS OPEN LETTER, SIMPLY CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK, WHERE YOU WILL SEE UNDER HIS PICTURE A BOX THAT SAYS "SEND MESSAGE", AND IT IS JUST THAT EASY TO MAKE YOUR VIEWS AS A CITIZEN KNOWN CONCERNING THIS MATTER:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/?i...L&chamber=H

"State budget talks stuck, Spitzer-union ads resume"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:23 p.m., Wednesday, March 14, 2007

ALBANY -- On Tuesday, legislative leaders were expected to start negotiating the Legislature's state budget proposal.

Instead, the Assembly's Democratic majority said an agreement on revenues struck almost two weeks ago with the Senate and Gov. Eliot Spitzer had to be negotiated all over again, repeating a first step with less than three weeks before a final state budget is due.

Meanwhile, Spitzer's counter-punching broadcast ads against a health care worker union and hospital group fighting his budget cuts will resume as early as Thursday.

Ads by the Service Employees Union Local 1199 and the Greater New York Hospital Association resumed Wednesday after a brief run earlier this month.

In the union-hospital ad, the Rev. Al Sharpton, a Democrat and civil rights leader, said that with health maintenance organizations getting "excessive profits ... it's unreal to me that Gov. Spitzer would pick on underpaid nurses and health care workers in order to meet his bottom line."

Sharpton isn't paid for the ads, said Brian Conway of the GNYHA/1199 SEIU Healthcare Education Project.

The group may also produce new ads in the "substantial buy," Conway said.

Spitzer called those adds "misleading, false and fatuous" to create fear and "hysteria."

Spitzer plans to air new ads, paid for through his campaign funds, as early as Thursday.

Spitzer seeks more than $1.2 billion in cuts to health care spending, mostly annual aid to hospitals and nursing homes staffed by SEIU 1199 members.

Spitzer seeks to "pivot" the system he said taxpayers can no longer afford to focus more on at-home care and less expensive community health centers that would emphasize preventive care.

He said too much health care is currently handled in hospital emergency rooms, when it is most expensive, and his reforms will improve care while insuring millions more children.

Spitzer said the health lobbyists' ad campaign won't effect him as he prepares to negotiate his $120.6 billion budget proposal with what is expected to be $1 billion or more additions and changes by the Legislature.

But those negotiations, scheduled to begin Tuesday, aren't imminent.

"We have a Senate who has spent a lot more than everybody else," said Charles Carrier, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

"Until the three parties can agree to a range of revenues and say what we can deal with, I don't see any general budget conference committees meeting."

He said the Senate Republicans' budget proposal is $3 billion above Spitzer's executive budget -- far in excess of the agreed-upon revenues.

Senate Republicans would restore Spitzer's health care cuts to hospitals and nursing homes in their districts back home, which are often the biggest employer.

The Senate would also resume tax rebate checks not included in Spitzer's budget.

The Senate GOP would triple the checks funded by part of the current surplus, to about $500 to $600 to most taxpayers and $800 to over $1,000 to senior citizens.

But the Senate Republicans don't count that $2.6 billion total as an expense in their budget.

Spitzer and the Assembly do.

"The result would be ruinous ... and colossally misdirected," Spitzer said of the Senate Republicans' proposal.

He said their budget would create multibillion deficits in coming years.

"It's ridiculous," said John McArdle, spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

"How do they count income tax refunds?"

"They don't count that as spending."

"It's crazy."

"It's no different and we feel very strongly about the rebate checks."

McArdle also said the Senate budget is only about $1 billion more than Spitzer's Jan. 31 budget proposal, which is well within the norm for negotiations in Albany.

"We don't have to go back to square one," McArdle said.

The budget is due by the April 1 start of the fiscal year.

AND HERE IS AN IMPORTANT VICTORY FOR US TAXPAYERS HERE IN NEW YORK STATE ....

WHERE EVERYTHING IS A "STATE SECRET" ....

WHEN IT COMES TO WHERE OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE DISAPPEARING TO .....

INTO WHOSE POCKETS THEY ARE FLOWING ....

IN THE FORM OF "PORK" ....

And CORPORATE WELFARE ....

And so ...

"Judge orders NY to release Empire Zone tax break information"

Associated Press

Last updated: 12:53 p.m., Wednesday, March 14, 2007

ALBANY -- New York state has released details about how much it gives businesses in Empire Zone tax breaks after losing a court battle to keep the information secret, the Post-Standard of Syracuse reported Wednesday.

The newspaper -- saying there was no legal reason to keep the data from the public -- sued for access to records that had been denied by the state for years.

The state estimated $558 million in breaks will go this year to the 9,667 businesses in the program, which is intended to boost employment in New York.

The newspaper requested the information under the state's Freedom of Information Law in August 2005, when Republican Gov. George Pataki controlled the Department of Economic Development.

Then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer defended Pataki's decision not to release the data.

As governor, Spitzer has decided not to appeal.

State Supreme Court Justice Leslie Stein ruled in the newspaper's favor on Feb. 8, rejecting the state's argument that releasing the records would divulge business trade secrets.

The judge said the state failed to show how the disclosure of tax credits would disadvantage businesses.

The judge also said tax law does not apply in this case because the records are collected by the Department of Economic Development, not the Department of Taxation and Finance.

The records are not tax returns, the judge said.

The state turned over records this week showing how much each company claimed in tax credits for 2003, 2004 and 2005, the most recent years available.

The Post-Standard has published several reports in recent years on companies taking millions of dollars in tax breaks without necessarily creating jobs and sometimes without moving into New York.

Economic development officials working for Spitzer said two weeks ago they are reviewing Pataki-era aid packages granted under the Empire Zone program.

They said 30 percent of job creation and retention targets weren't met by companies that received state assistance.

"Bruno And Spitzer Have A Blowout"

March 14, 2007 at 7:01 pm by Elizabeth Benjamin

The already-contentious budget negotiations probably weren’t helped much by the expletive-laden blowout this morning between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

During the fight, Bruno, a Brunswick Republican, said Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens; is “so far up (the governor’s a**) he can’t see,'’ according to several sources.

Both sides confirmed the fight, which occurred in Spitzer’s office on the Capitol’s second floor, but refused to say exactly what was said or what sparked the exchange.

One source described the clash as a “screaming match,” during which both the governor and the senator “lost it.”

Bruno spokesman John McArdle said the conversation ”did get heated and was meant to clear the air.'’

He said Spitzer and Bruno “could have left on better terms,'’ and they haven’t spoken since the fight.

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said the characterizations from Bruno’s office about the exchange were “unfortunate and untrue.”

She said Spitzer “urged Mr. Bruno to reconsider using certain language when speaking about his colleagues in the Legislature.”

A source said Spitzer told Bruno he would “not tolerate” the use of profanity in his office when discussing other lawmakers.

This from the man who once described himself to Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, as a “f***ing steamroller” who would “roll over you and anybody else.”

To say that the relationship between Spitzer and Bruno has been strained this week is probably putting it much too mildly - and the week isn’t even over yet

Over the past three days, Spitzer has called the Senate Republicans “profligate” for their budget, which restores all his Medicaid cuts - and then some - and said their plan is both “colossally misdirected” and relies on accounting worse than Enron’s.

A source who spoke to the senator said Bruno was angry with Spitzer for agreeing to a truce (now over) in his TV ad airwar with SEIU/1199 and GNYHA while continuing to slam the Senate Republicans for siding with the healthcare industry.

The trouble Wednesday started in the morning when Bruno gave an interview to WROW AM-590, during which he accused Spitzer of “politicizing this whole budget” and said Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, is “joined at the hip'’ with the governor.

Then Spitzer retaliated by not inviting Bruno to the meeting with the family of the woman who was killed by a Level 3 sex offender prior to the civil confinement bill signing ceremony.

The fight occurred after the ceremony was over.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

UPDATE: The Post’s Fred Dicker, who hosts “Live from the State Capital,” asked Bruno to debate Spitzer, who has slammed the Senate Republicans for adding millions of dollars worth of spending to his budget, on the air.

When Bruno declined, Dicker suggested the senator is “afraid” of Spitzer, to which Bruno replied:

Bruno said Spitzer “robs Peter to pay Paul, puts one county against another county, and that is plain wrong.”

He declined Dicker’s invitation to debate the governor on the radio, saying Spitzer’s ratings “are slipping already, and I do not want to be a party to him slipping anymore.”

When Dicker suggested Bruno is “afraid” of Spitzer, the majority leader replied:

“Fred, you know that I am not afraid of anything."

"I’m too old to be afraid."

"I’ve lived too long to be afraid."

"People don’t run me over with steamrollers."

"I am who I am."

"I’m going to be 78 years old next year (sic)."

"I haven’t been run over yet."

"I haven’t been knocked on my ass yet, and I am not going to be by this guy or anybody else.”

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ...

topo gigio says: “I’ve never much liked the word hinky … but things sure did sound “hinky” with respect to Uncle Joe’s development endeavors.”

Comment by John Galt — March 14, 2007 @ 5:34 pm

“Hinky” is a DEFAULT word out here in the countryside, a word we use because there just is not another that can adequately express what HINKY really is …

Anything and everything a “POLITICAL” does, whether it violates some puny law, or other, or the Constitution, for that matter, is always ALRIGHT …

And it is never wrong ….

Especially when what they are doing is in violation of the law and the Constitution, to boot, so, it’s simply HINKY STUFF, then ….

And yes, one can in fact be a lot more specific in this matter under discussion in here, especially when it comes to describing the HINKY STUFF that is attributed to the New York State Department of Law under “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer in connection with this matter of the UNLAWFUL IMPRISONMENT of this disabled veteran …

Which HINKY STUFF would have been a violation of Rule 11 of the Federal Civil Practice Rules IF this had not been a matter involving POLITICAL PROTECTION and RETALIATION in “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno’s fiefdom of Rensselaer County ….

And IF those rules actually pertained to a non-lawyer disabled veteran seeking to vindicate his civil rights in federal District Court for the Northern District of New York ….

Which they do not ….

Federal Civil Practice Rule 11(b) states in clear and concise language, readily understandable by someone with a minimal high school education, that by “presenting to the court (whether by signing, filing, submitting, or later advocating) a pleading, written motion, or other paper, an attorney OR UNREPRESENTED PARTY is certifying that to the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances,–

(3) the allegations and other factual contentions have evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, are likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery; and

(4) the denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on a lack of information or belief.

Now, there is where the HINKY STUFF on the part of the New York State Department of Law comes into this matter, and it is HINKY, because while it did violate the provisions of Federal Rule 11(b)(4), it was still alright with the federal court because the PLAINTIFF was only a disabled veteran without a lawyer, or any political clout, while the DEFENDANTS all had the arm of the SKADDEN MAN “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer around them …

The problem for the defendants in this matter was that in a sworn affirmation to Rensselaer County Supreme Court dated August 16, 2002, which was early on in the proceedings, long before the federal three-year statute of limitations had expired, Assistant New York State Attorney General Lisa Ullman had sworn that:

1. I am an ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL ON THE STAFF OF ELIOT SPITZER, Attorney General of the State of New York, ATTORNEY for the State respondents in this proceeding.

I HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED THIS CASE AND AM FAMILIAR WITH THE FILE.

I make this affirmation in opposition to PETITIONER’S (PLAINTIFF) motion for leave to reargue and renew.

2. This proceeding was commenced by pro se petitioner PLAINTIFF under Article 78 of the Civil Procedure Law and Rules (”CPLR”), who requested a court order compelling the release of certain mental health records.

SPECIFICALLY, PETITIONER HAD BEEN INVOLUNTARILY COMMITTED TO THE VETERAN’S ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL PURSUANT TO MENTAL HYGIENE LAW 9.45 FOR SEVERAL HOURS ON AUGUST 22, 2001, and had obtained redacted versions of documents pertaining to that COMMITMENT.

Now, that sworn affirmation was indeed MANNA FROM HEAVEN for the disabled veteran, because in it, the Office of the New York State Attorney General firmly established the basis of his federal claim against the DEFENDANTS, including REPUBLICAN Kathleen Jimino, who runs Rensselaer County for “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno …

So what the New York State Department of Law did was to have Lisa Ullman and her version of “reality” disappear, along with a sworn affidavit of New York State Officer Barbara A. Soldano, which contained false assertions that she had sworn to in Rensselaer County Supreme Court ….

And then they had an attorney named Nelson Sheingold go to federal court and tell the judge some real COCK-AND-BULL STORY that was completely inconsistent with the LISA ULLMAN affirmation, and the VA Hospital records, and the sworn testimony of the Albany Police Officer, and the statements of New York State Police Investigator Chris O’Brien who was stationed in KENNETH BRUNO’S OFFICE OF THE RENSSELAER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY on the day the “PSYCHIATRIC TAKE-DOWN” of this disabled veteran went down …..

And based on the COCK-AND-BULL STORY, the New York State Department of Law got this disabled veteran’s federal civil rights lawsuit tossed right into the trash can ….

And so ….

HINKY STUFF ….

Because it is never against the law when a “POLITICAL” does it …

And there is no other name for it …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

"A cloud over Albany"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, March 15, 2007

So here it is Sunshine Week, a media-led effort to drive home the importance of open government and the need to vigorously enforce Freedom of Information laws.

And here's Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno marking the occasion by acting like the prince of darkness.

Now, Mr. Bruno's record when it comes to making what's supposed to be public information just that is mixed at best.

This week, though, of all weeks has him trying to kill the necessary funding for one of the best ideas about public access to state government yet.

That's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Project Sunlight.

It's a huge, easy-to-search database for information about almost anything in state government -- campaign finance reports, information about lobbyists, public contracts, legislators' voting records -- that Mr. Cuomo envisions as part of his office's new Bureau of Public Integrity.

Mr. Bruno is out to cut $700,000 from Governor Spitzer's proposed state budget that would help get this project started.

The budget that the Senate's Republican majority just voted for also would eliminate the money necessary to pay the salaries for five new state jobs associated with Project Sunlight.

Talk about an odd and politically suspicious stunt.

Mr. Bruno and the Senate Republicans want to spend considerably more money, overall, in the coming fiscal year than either Mr. Spitzer or Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

And yet they're trying to squash an initiative that barely qualifies as loose change in the state budget?

"We're just doing what we think is in the best interest of the people," Mr. Bruno says by way of explanation.

That would be, of course, the very people -- ordinary citizens without political connections or the money or access to politicians -- in whose interests Freedom of Information laws exist in the first place.

Mr. Cuomo is actually understating the irony and the outrage behind it when he says, "At a time when everyone has claimed a 'new day' in Albany and a commitment to reform, this is the exact opposite."

Of course the old days and the old ways don't necessarily serve Mr. Bruno so badly.

Here's the senator's office, in the middle of the jeopardy they've put Project Sunlight in, denying there was any obfuscation intended over Mr. Bruno's use of campaign funds to pay legal bills associated with a federal investigation of his private business activities.

The fact that he did so almost surely would be more readily accessible when, or if, the database Mr. Cuomo plans is up and running.

Mr. Bruno does say, meanwhile, that the funding for that project could be restored yet.

"We're open to negotiate, and we're going to negotiate effectively, objectively and in good faith and we'll see what the result is."

Nice try, Mr. Bruno.

In fact, that $700,000 should be back in the budget at once.

Think of it as a nonnegotiable issue.

Thank you for using Congress.org Mail System

Message sent to the following recipients: Assemblymember Brodsky

March 15, 2007

I came across this OPEN LETTER to yourself as a New York State Assemblyman on an internet site dealing with NYS issues, and as a disabled veteran in the State of New York who is being plowed under by higher and higher property taxes in this state, I want to sign on to it, to add my voice to the chorus, as it were:

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD BRODSKY

Civil dialogue, Mr. Assemblyman Brodsky, in OUR society here in New York State, DOES NOT and CANNOT happen when one party, the "GOVERNMENT", i.e. New York State Senator "BIG JOE" Bruno and "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer, has both the RIGHT and the PRIVILEGE to place a telephone call to a political medical doctor at a CORPORATE HOSPITAL in Troy, New York to secure a "PICK-UP" ORDER so that the State Police can send a team to pick up this person for transport to a secure CORPORATE mental facility in Troy, New York for incarceration and "GENTLING" at the literal drop of a hat, no questions asked, by anyone, at all, because that individual has chosen to stand up for the Constitution and OUR laws, which, Mr. Assemblyman Brodsky, ARE REALLY WHAT MAKE THIS COUNTRY A BEACON OF LIBERTY ….

And not the New York State Assembly, as you maintain …

WHEN A CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ANY CITIZEN, CAN BE LITERALLY "SNATCHED RIGHT OUT OF THEIR TRACKS" BY THE POLICE FOR INCARCERATION IN A SECURE MENTAL FACILITY BASED ON WHAT BY LAW IS A FALSE INSTRUMENT BACKED UP BY THE STATE OF NEW YORK ITSELF, THEN IT IS INDEED A LAUGHABLE PROPOSITION TO ASSUME AND STATE TO US THAT WE HAVE ANY "LIBERTY" LEFT TO US AT ALL, JUST BECAUSE WE STILL HAVE WHAT CALLS ITSELF AN "ASSEMBLY", OF WHICH YOU, MR. ASSEMBLYMAN, ARE A MEMBER, COWBOY BOOTS UP ON THE DESK, AND ALL ….

WITHOUT ACCESS TO EQUAL JUSTICE, MR. ASSEMBLYMAN BRODSKY, HERE IN NEW YORK STATE, TO PROTECT US COMMON CITIZENS FROM "STEAMROLLING" NY STATE SENATORS AND A POWER-HUNGRY FORMER NYS ATTORNEY GENERAL ON-THE-MAKE WHO IS NOW GOVERNOR "STEAMROLLER", WHEN WE CHOOSE TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, WHICH IS BOTH OUR RIGHT AND OUR DUTY AS CITIZENS OF THIS STATE, WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO US TO HAVE YOU DOWN THERE IN ALBANY, POSING FOR "PUFF-PIECE" PHOTOS OF YOURSELF AND YOUR COWBOY BOOTS, WHILE TELLING US THAT IT IS TIME TO END "STEREOTYPES"?

IF YOU ARE FOR ENDING STEREOTYPES, MR. ASSEMBLYMAN BRODSKY, AND IF YOU ARE FOR NEW YORK STATE ACTUALLY BECOMING A REAL "BEACON OF LIBERTY" …

THEN PLEASE, GET YOUR COWBOY BOOTS BACK DOWN OFF OF YOUR DESK, AND GET YOUR *** UP OUT OF YOUR CHAIR, AND GO DOWN TO THIS "STEAMROLLER'S" OFFICE DOWN THERE IN ALBANY, AND DEMAND TO KNOW WHY THE "STEAMROLLER" HAD HIS ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERALS BURY SWORN TESTIMONY FROM AN ALBANY POLICE OFFICER CONCERNING THE UNLAWFUL IMPRISONMENT OF A NEW YORK STATE CITIZEN WHO IS FOR "CIVIL DIALOGUE IN NYS WITHOUT THE SPECTER OF CIVIL CONFINEMENT LOOMING LARGE IN THE BACKGROUND" WHEN THE DIALOGUE IS ONE OF OPPROBRIUM FOR OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS INSTEAD OF APPROBATION …

AND THEN DEMAND OF THE "STEAMROLLER", PURSUANT TO Section 63(8) of ARTICLE 5 of the New York State EXECUTIVE LAW:

"Whenever in his judgment the public interest requires it, the attorney-general may, with the approval of the governor, and when directed by the governor, shall, inquire into matters concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice …."

THAT THIS BURIED EVIDENCE, INCLUDING FBI RECORDS OF MISFEASANCE, MALFEASANCE AND GROSS NEGLIGENCE IN THE STATE AND RENSSELAER COUNTY DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH ALLEGEDLY INVOLVING RENSSELAER COUNTY'S "IRON DUKE" JOE BRUNO, ALONG WITH THE TESTIMONY OF A NEW YORK STATE POLICE INVESTIGATOR STATIONED IN KENNETH BRUNO'S OFFICE OF THE RENSSELAER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN AUGUST OF 2001 BE "RE-SURFACED" ….

BROUGHT BACK TO THE "SUNSHINE", OR LIGHT OF DAY, AS IT WERE ….

AND THEN MAKE A DEMAND ON OUR BEHALF AS NYS CITIZENS, PURSUANT TO NYS EXECUTIVE LAW section 63(12) ….

"Whenever any person shall engage in repeated fraudulent or illegal acts or otherwise demonstrate persistent fraud or illegality in the carrying on, conducting or transaction of business, the attorney general may apply, in the name of the people of the state of New York, to the supreme court of the state of New York, on notice of five days, for an order enjoining the continuance of such business activity …"

THAT THIS POLITICAL DOCTOR AND CORPORATE HOSPITAL IN TROY, NEW YORK BE PERMANENTLY ENJOINED FROM ISSUING FRAUDULENT INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT ORDERS TO THE NEW YORK STATE POLICE TO APPREHEND OUR CITIZENS OVER HERE WHO ARE FOR "TRUE LIBERTY" AND THE LAW HERE IN NYS …

And then, Mr. Assemblyman Brodsky, PERHAPS YOU MIGHT BE JUST A LITTLE MORE BELIEVABLE TO THE PUBLIC-AT-LARGE HERE IN NYS WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR COOING SOUNDS TO THE MEDIA ABOUT "BEACONS OF LIBERTY" …

ELSEWISE, TO US, YOU ARE JUST ONE MORE SELF-SERVING ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIAL DOWN THERE IN ALBANY, RIDING THE GRAVY TRAIN UNTIL YOU CAN RETIRE, FANCY COWBOY BOOTS THAT WE CANNOT AFFORD UP ON YOUR DESK DOWN THERE, HAND HELD OUT FOR YOUR OWN PAYCHECK, WHILE OUR LIBERTY ALL BUT DISAPPEARS OUT HERE …

THANKS TO THIS "STEAMROLLER" WHOM OUR ASSEMBLY MINORITY APPEARS TO BE KOW-TOWING TO, AS THE ACTIONS OF THIS JIM TEDISCO OF LATE REVEAL …

WHICH MAKES THE NYS ASSEMBLY ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS TO US …

And so …

Sincerely,

TO SEND A MESSAGE TO NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD BRODSKY REGARDING YOUR OWN VIEWS OF WHAT IS CONTAINED IN THIS OPEN LETTER, SIMPLY CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK, WHERE YOU WILL SEE UNDER HIS PICTURE A BOX THAT SAYS "SEND MESSAGE", AND IT IS JUST THAT EASY TO MAKE YOUR VIEWS AS A CITIZEN KNOWN CONCERNING THIS MATTER:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/?i...L&chamber=H

Web Site: assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=092

E-mail: brodskr@assembly.state.ny.us

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

Comment by topo gigio — March 14, 2007 @ 8:38 pm

John Galt said: “topo gigio is indeed a serious researcher and skilled investigator, which is something that we countryfolks are for, actually ….”‘

Thanks for the compliment ...

But you still need to seriously work on being more concise.

See what you can do, dood.

Comment by John Galt — March 15, 2007 @ 6:40 am

What John Galt really thinks is that it would be so nice to live in a state where people like John Galt never had to say a single word, because life was so smooth and ordered because of GOOD LAWFUL, CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT, that words were not needed ….

The “dood” John Galt has been actively involved in this “citizenship business” since returning to here from Viet Nam as a disabled combat veteran in 1970, and the mountain of **** that represents politics in this state seems to have become a MT. EVEREST, in that time, with nothing but thumb-sucking and indifference and ABJECT APATHY from the citizen-body out here, “OH, THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT” in whining, plaintive tones, hands wringing, eyes averted, lest someone mistake them for a person with some spirit and independence of thought, AS A REAL AMERICAN used to be in the days of my youth out here in the countryside …

And they readily submit to what is at least a QUINTUPLE, if not SEPTUPAL SCREWING that we folks on fixed incomes are taking out here in the countryside, getting the FIRST SCREWING by paying taxes for a State Health Department that is not doing its job per OUR Constitution, and a SECOND SCREWING paying more taxes for a county health department that is not doing its job, and a THIRD SCREWING on top of the first TWO SCREWINGS paying for an OUT-OF-CONTROL MEDICAID program full of sick people because of the FIRST TWO SCREWINGS, and then there is the FOURTH SCREWING that comes from paying for the FRAUD in the MEDICAID system associated with the FIRST THREE SCREWINGS ….

And then the FIFTH SCREWING comes from paying higher and higher property taxes as the ill-gotten gains from the FOURTH SCREWING are poured back into SWAMP-LAND SUBDIVISIONS to LAUNDER them, which cause us who had the sense to find dry ground to live on, to have to pay more and more for “IMPROVEMENTS” that are intended to de-water these “SWAMP-LAND SUBDIVISONS”, long after the “developers" have taken their money and have cleared town with it …

AND THIS CRAP HAS BEEN GOING ON NOW FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS …

THIRTY YEARS ….

DESPITE OUR LAWS TO THE CONTRARY …

Without a peep from anyone ….

And now we countryfolks on fixed incomes CANNOT EVEN AFFORD to live on our own property, anymore, paying for all of this BLOAT and GRAFT and CORRUPTION …..

And you ask John Galt to be CONCISE ….

Well, topo, wouldn’t I wish it could be so …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4050#comments

"Things Heat Up in Albany, and Not Just the Weather"

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: March 15, 2007

ALBANY, March 14 — Now the budget fight is getting personal.

The testy relationship between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, veered into nastiness during an argument in the governor’s office on Wednesday, just minutes after the two had appeared together at a solemn bill-signing ceremony.

“It was a spirited discussion between two guys who aren’t effete,” said Darren Dopp, the governor’s communications director.

“It only broke down after Majority Leader Bruno made some disparaging comments about the minority leader and his house.”

Mr. Dopp said that Mr. Bruno, the state’s top Republican, used some vulgarities to describe the relationship between Malcolm A. Smith, a Democrat and the Senate minority leader, and the governor’s posterior.

The governor, a Democrat who has a reputation for using salty language himself, said, according to Mr. Dopp, “Joe, I’m not going to abide that kind of vulgarity.”

Not surprisingly, Mr. Bruno’s spokesman offered a different version of events — though he did not dispute that the meeting was heated.

“They talked about trust, keeping one’s word, and from there things deteriorated,” said Mr. Bruno’s spokesman, John McArdle, who also disputed the description of the vulgarity and tenor of Mr. Bruno’s comment about Mr. Smith.

“As far as what they are characterizing,” Mr. McArdle said, “he has talked directly to Senator Smith and the speaker and has said very similar things to them directly, and it was certainly not meant in a disparaging way.”

Indeed, in a hallway outside the governor’s office before the bill-signing ceremony, Mr. Bruno could be heard grousing to Mr. Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in a more G-rated way, that they were “joined at the hip” with the governor.

The clash came two-and-a-half weeks before the state’s budget deadline and underscored the tense nature of the negotiations.

The governor has been portraying Senate Republicans as profligate spenders, while Mr. Bruno has said his chamber has done more to lower taxes.

What precipitated the argument on Wednesday is a matter of interpretation.

Mr. Bruno had been critical of the governor on a radio show shortly before he attended the governor’s public signing of legislation allowing for the civil confinement of sex offenders after their prison terms.

The governor’s staff circulated a transcript of the interview, on radio station WROW-AM in Albany, in which Mr. Bruno described himself as “the greatest reformer in this state, probably since Teddy Roosevelt.”

Some lawmakers also said that Mr. Bruno was angry about which lawmakers were permitted to stand at the lectern and speak during the news conference.

The blowup may not be a bad sign — Capitol lore has it that such exchanges are necessary to clear the air before deals get done.

In a previous outburst, now widely publicized, the governor described himself to the Assembly minority leader, James N. Tedisco, as a “steamroller” — adding a profane adjective for emphasis — who had accomplished more in just a few weeks than any other governor.

But Mr. Tedisco praised Mr. Spitzer at the signing ceremony on Wednesday.

“Thank you, governor,” Mr. Tedisco said.

“There’s no question about the tremendous work you’ve done.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ...

Comment by John Galt — March 15, 2007 @ 6:12 am

Talk about Sliver, Smith and “EL CAUDILLO STEAMROLLER” Spitzer being joined at the hip reminds me of a political cartoon in the style of Thomas Nast that some of the school kids out this way came up with, after looking at a cartoon from back in Teddy Roosevelt’s time with the “EASY BOSS”, Thomas C. Platt, a REPUBLICAN, sticking out of STALWART REPUBLICAN Roscoe Conkling’s pocket with a sign that said, “ME, TOO!”

The kids came up with one of “EL CAUDILLO STEAMROLLER” Spitzer and REPUBLICAN Jimmy Tedisco as a kind of MADONNA AND CHILD, with “EL CAUDILLO STEAMROLLER” as a heavy-jawed Madonna with a five o’clock shadow holding a swaddled Jimmy Tedisco in his arms, with Madonna and child looking into each other’s eyes, while the babe, Tedisco, waves a sign that says “WHATEVER ELIOT WANTS, ME TOO” …

Ah, the way the world looks through the eyes of children …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4070#comments

State/Region

"Budget fray riles leaders"

BY DAN JANISON

an.janison@newsday.com

March 15, 2007

ALBANY - Tempers flared yesterday in the running budget battle as Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno slammed Democratic legislators and even referred to himself as "the greatest reformer in this state, probably since Teddy Roosevelt."

For his part, Gov. Eliot Spitzer said of Bruno's budget proposal that its "profligacy ... is simply stunning in its scale."

"Further analysis shows that not only is the Senate's proposal profligate and ruinous, it is colossally misdirected," the Democratic governor said.

In private following a ceremony for signing new legislation permitting post-sentencing confinement for sex offenders, Bruno reportedly complained to Spitzer about being made to wait beforehand, and the exchange flared into other issues including the budget brawl, officials said.

Later, on a radio interview on WROW-AM, Bruno accused Spitzer of being "joined at the hip" to both Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), who were together politicizing the budget.

Despite documents showing Bruno's proposal would restore spending cuts by at least hundreds of millions of dollars, Bruno insisted that it was only called an expenditure because of an ideological bias against tax reductions.

"I haven't been run over yet, I haven't been knocked on my ass yet and I am not going to be by this guy or anybody else," he said of Spitzer, who has called himself a steamroller.

"I am the greatest reformer in this state, probably since Teddy Roosevelt, and I need people to acknowledge that, instead of all of these liberal writers talking about tax cuts as spending," he said.

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

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION ....

Comment by John Galt — March 15, 2007 @ 5:38 pm

“IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno has indeed reformed Rensselaer County by bringing it right on backwards in time to the days to the feudal Patroons, who were LORDS OF THE MANOR over here until the early-1800’s, until the tenants began to revolt and finally the Legislature changed the laws in this area ending feudalism, and this was all right around Sand Lake and Hoags Corners in Rensselaer County ….

And then, some years later, along comes the “IRON DUKE”, and for him to be a real DUKE, well, of course, he needed to have vassals and serfs and a fiefdom, and not being a man who is afraid of ANYTHING, especially the use of violence against those who would oppose him, the “IRON DUKE” got just what he wanted ….

LAWS TO THE CONTARY BE DAMNED …

And his judges and his son Kenny the District Attorney helped the “IRON DUKE” hold his power, by force of arms when necessary ….

So what we have in Rensselaer County today is a THUG-O-CRACY with “IRON DUKE” Joe Bruno as its head ….

A bit like a THEOCRACY, when you think about it, since “BIG JOE’S” real religion is NAKED POWER ….

SO while “BIG JOE” calls himself a REPUBLICAN, in actuality, to those of us over here who know the old “DUKE” well, he is a THUG-O-CRAT …

And all who cleave to his banner, and they are many, indeed, are THUG-O-CRATS with him …

And because as a group they are all bound by one thing - blind obedience to the old “DUKE”, and his money, of course, which pays for their loyalty, the “IRON DUKE” has indeed managed to make a long, long run of it …..

Like the feudal lords before him who ruled by force of arms over here …

Where they were the only law there was …

Just like the “IRON DUKE” is today …

And so …

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4070#comments

FROM THE WEB-EDITION OF THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION

Comment by John Galt — March 15, 2007 @ 6:42 pm

Children out here in the countryside call Eliot Spitzer “GOVERNOR FALSEFACE”, and they draw political cartoons of him with a big mouth like a hippopotamus with “promises” coming out every side of it at once, while his hands are behind his back shaking hands with the “special interests” that he is beholden to, or perhaps, in some cases, the protector of ….

And here the children are drawing their inspiration from a series of lawsuits over here in Rensselaer County where “GOVERNOR FALSEFACE’s” New York State Department of Law was actively protecting a CORPORATE HOSPITAL and doctor in Troy, New York who had issued, sight unseen, an INVOLUNTARY PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT ORDER for a licensed professional engineer over here investigating professional misconduct on the part of a politically connected engineer from East Greenbush and a surveyor from Poestenkill in Rensselaer County …

Now, by law, what this doctor did was to issue a FRAUDULENT INSTRUMENT, but that did not faze the “STEAMROLLER” one bit, because it was a case of POLITICAL RETALIATION, and in cases of POLITICAL RETALIATION, FRAUD is as good a tool to use as any …

Now, to connect this to the present time, and this issue of high-paid hospital executives, on September 21, 2006, while he was still attorney general, Eliot Spitzer met with the New York State Business Council up at posh Bolton Landing on Lake George in the State of New York, and if one goes to the website for the membership of the New York State Business Council: …..

http://www.bcnys.org/members.htm

And looks under members under the letter “R” …”

http://www.bcnys.org/inside/membershp/rmembers.htm

Lo and behold, one finds the RENSSELAER COUNTY REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ….

http://www.renscochamber.com/

And looking for members of the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of commerce under “R” …”

http://www.renscochamber.com/directory/dir…t.cfm?company=R

One comes across THE COUNTY OF RENSSELAER and THE RENSSELAER COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE, both of which would be JOE BRUNO’S crowd, of course … …

And looking for members of the NYSBC under “N” …

http://www.bcnys.org/inside/membershp/nmembers.htm

One scrolls down a bit, and lo and behold, there is NORTHEAST HEALTH, the CORPORATION in Troy, New York involved in that business with the FRAUDULENT PSYCHIATRIC COMMITMENT ORDER that the “STEAMROLLER” was defending the issuance of ….

http://www.nehealth.com/

So to us countryfolk, when we hear the children calling Spitzer “GOVERNOR FALSEFACE”, with regard to this matter of health care in the State of New York, we find ourselves inclined to have to agree with them, because something sure does seem funny here ….

After all, the “STEAMROLLER” certainly had no compunctions whatsoever about climbing into bed with the high-paid executives of Northeast Health to protect them against a civil rights lawsuit for having this engineer unlawfully incarcerated in the secure mental facility of the Stratton VA Hospital on August 22, 2001, based on a FRAUD committed by a doctor at that hospital that certainly had a very adverse effect on the health of that engineer …

And so, what gives here, Eliot?

Can you edify us, please ….

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4080#comments

NY POST

"SPITZER AND BRUNO TRADE @#%! BOMBS"

By FREDRIC U. DICKER and KENNETH LOVETT

"'I'm the governor; and I'm not going to be insulted."

- Gov. Spitzer, in a shouting match with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

March 15, 2007

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot "Steamroller" Spitzer was at it again yesterday, in a 15-minute, expletive-laden exchange with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno that left top state officials aghast - and caused a secretary to flee the face-off in horror, insiders said yesterday.

"I'm not going to be bullied, I'm not going to be steamrolled," Bruno shouted at Spitzer, sources said of the explosive behind-closed-doors confrontation.

Spitzer fired back, "I'm the governor and I'm not going to be insulted," according to a senior state official.

Another official said Spitzer infuriated Bruno by accusing him of seeking "absurd" and "indefensible" increases in the governor's proposed new state budget.

Bruno then angrily countered that Spitzer was "embarrassing me in the papers."

To which Spitzer was said to have responded, "You're doing that to yourself."

Bruno was also said to have exploded when Spitzer told him he had to "get serious" about the state budget.

Bruno angrily contended the claim was the "same mantra" embraced by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), both Spitzer loyalists.

"That's all I hear," said Bruno, adding, "They [Silver and Smith] are so far up your ass it's ridiculous."

"There was a lot of screaming and curses," a senior state official who said he was briefed on the blowup told The Post.

Things got so heated that one of Spitzer's secretaries "got up and ran out of the room," said a source close to the Bruno camp.

Several sources said the confrontation between Democrat Spitzer and Bruno, a Republican from upstate Rensselaer County, was triggered by Bruno's morning appearance on Albany's WROW-AM.

On the radio, Bruno angrily accused the "liberal press" of ignoring the governor's alleged efforts to raise state taxes by $800 million and his alleged misstating of available state revenues.

"Gov. Spitzer walks on water, Gov. Spitzer is infallible, Gov. Spitzer can't do anything wrong."

"Gov. Spitzer is the reincarnation of everything that is good and holy and Bruno is evil," Bruno said on the radio show when asked about Spitzer's criticisms of his just-unveiled budget proposal.

A source close to Bruno claimed Spitzer "went ballistic" over several of the senator's comments on the radio show.

Minutes later, Spitzer allegedly retaliated by refusing to invite Bruno into a meeting with the family of Connie Russo-Carrierro whose murder by an ex-con sex-offender contributed to the political climate which led to the passage of a "civil-confinement" bill last week.

The snub - which is how aides to Bruno described it to several members of the press - occurred a few minutes before Spitzer and Bruno were set to appear together at a bill-signing ceremony at which the governor approved the civil-confinement measure.

Spitzer has earned a reputation for a confrontational style both as attorney general and, since Jan. 1, as governor.

The Post disclosed last month that Spitzer had warned Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Schenectady) not to oppose his proposals because he was a "f- - - -ing steamroller" prepared to crush him.

Meanwhile, the "peace pact" between Spitzer and the state's top healthcare association and union abruptly ended after just one day.

TV advertisements attacking the governor - pulled to permit serious negotiations on Spitzer's proposed healthcare cuts - suddenly went back on the air.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03152007/news/...neth_lovett.htm