NY TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

May 3, 2007, 4:07 pm

"Proposed Building Code Overhaul"

By Sewell Chan

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the buildings commissioner, Patricia J. Lancaster, today presented a comprehensive overhaul of the city’s building code to the City Council — the first since 1968.

The mayor said the rewriting of standards and rules would improve safety, efficiency and environmental sustainability.

The mayor, who had made a building-code overhaul one plank of his campaign platform when he ran for office in 2001, said in a statement, “The international competitiveness of our city will be increased with new, streamlined construction codes that allow for the cheaper construction of safer and more environmentally responsible buildings.”

He said the new codes were important elements of his plans to build more affordable housing and to make the city environmentally self-sustaining.

The city’s new construction codes will be organized like those of the International Code Council, a standard-setting body that drafts model codes that are widely used throughout the industry.

The proposed law would tie the city’s code to the council’s cycle of revising the model codes every three years, to reflect changes in materials and technology.

Under the proposal, the Department of Buildings will also allow online application filing and longer license durations.

A number of other provisions are intended to made buildings more environmentally responsible: offering fee rebates for “green” design, requiring more efficient heating and cooling systems, requiring white roofs, and encouraging plumbing systems that conserve water.

The proposal seeks to achieve a reduction in fuel use through more efficient ventilation designs and allowing for the intermittent operation of ventilation in kitchens, bathrooms, and showers.

Interestingly, the City Hall statement issued today made only a fleeting reference to 9/11.

In October 2005, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a wide-ranging report on the structural collapse of the World Trade Center, issuing a host of recommendations.

But experts quickly became divided about how practical the recommendations were.

As The Times reported last September, the 9/11 attacks did not result in a major rethinking of building codes in New York City or, for that matter, in other jurisdictions in the United States and abroad.

Proposals for more and wider stairwells in skyscrapers, for example, were set aside in part because of opposition from the real estate industry, while other ideas, like “hardening” building components to withstand major fires, are under discussion among experts who have expressed little consensus on how feasible such ideas are.

The new building code announced today does expand sprinkler requirements to include more building types and requires smoke detectors installed and connected in more occupancies.

Automatic sprinklers will be required in new types of buildings, including some one- and two-family homes; large meeting places; factories; and fuel storageareas.

Requirements for impact-resistant stairways and elevator shafts and for glow-in-the-dark markings in commercial high-rises — first instituted after the World Trade Center attack — will be expanded to more high-rises.

Comments

May 4th, 2007 8:57 am

Having been involved with building codes since the 1960’s, and being licensed to practice as a professional engineer in the State of NY, I can say that the article on “up-dating” the city’s building code looks like nothing but pure HYPE!

An empty political sound-bite, which should not be surprising, I suppose, since snappy and catchy political sound-bites are what careers are made out of in “public service” today, since generally, no one ever goes back and checks on the veracity or substance of these sound-bites and press-releases ….

From a “read” of that article, what it appears like is that NYC might finally get around to implementing what has been mandatory in NYS since the 1980’s with respect to fire alarms and plumbing fixtures, at the minimum, as well as energy-efficiency!

Which really is quite a statement about gross negligence in the NYC building department from that time, to this time ….

And that brings us to a statement made by the “STEAMROLLER” to the members of the NYS Business Council at posh and trendy Bolton Landing on sewage-laden Lake George in upstate NY on September 21, 2006, where the “STEAMROLLER” promised Ken Adams and the NYS Business Council that he was going to transform NYS into the best place to do business in the world:

“As Governor, I will ensure that the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform places renewed focus on breaking the regulatory logjam in the State’s permitting process for new development.”

As anyone upstate knows from long experience, the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform in NYS exists for the sole purpose of gutting regulations, to make them absolutely worthless, when it comes to protecting and safeguarding life, health and property in NYS, so as to make things cheaper and easier for developers, who can then make empty promises to the unsuspecting and unwitting members of the public that buy their sub-standard crap, that “Oh, yes, this meets all the applicable codes, rules and regulations”, which is true, in a sense, anyway, since the regulations are gutted by that office, to require nothing at all, which then makes it real easy for these developers to “comply” with them, and to make their empty promises to a public that just never seems to know better …..

And so …

In closing, we upstate folks wonder at how much of the real estate holdings of the Spitzer clan themselves are “sub-standard”, with respect to such things as plumbing fixtures, and fire alarms …

And how much of an advantage the “STEAMROLLER” himself is giving the family BID-NESS by having the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform further gut the codes, so that as Governor, the “STEAMROLLER” will place “renewed focus on breaking the regulatory logjam in the State’s permitting process for new development”, which benefits the wealthy developers who “have a pump” into the “STEAMROLLER”, but don’t do doodly-squat for the unsuspecting members of the public who the original un-gutted regulations were intended to protect and safeguard ….

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

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

"AMD sizes up location in Malta - Drawings only show potential for multiple factories at Luther Forest site"

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

First published: Saturday, May 5, 2007

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Officials from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and local political leaders sought to temper expectations Friday after the company unveiled drawings showing up to three computer chip factories being built in Saratoga County.

At the Saratoga Economic Development Corp.'s annual dinner Thursday, Terry Caudell, director of wafer manufacturing strategies, showed the nearly 900 people in attendance a conceptual drawing of AMD's $3.2 billion computer chip factory planned for the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta.

SEDC is the nonprofit that is developing the site.

Caudell then showed additional drawings with two and then three fabs built in phases.

Although AMD has publicly said the ability to expand at Luther Forest was a major reason for picking it, the company has never showcased any plans for an expansion -- even anything conceptual -- to the general public.

AMD spokesman Travis Bullard stressed Friday that the drawings are strictly to ensure other factories could fit on the 200-acre parcel AMD would acquire from SEDC.

He said similar conceptual designs showing three fabs were also done for Dresden, Germany, when the company was considering building there.

Ground was broken on AMD's first Dresden fab in 1996, and the second one was completed a decade later.

Dresden is home to AMD's only two fabs.

"Those are all conceptual drawings, and we have mapped it out so that we could potentially create multiple fabs at the Luther Forest site," Bullard said.

"But that in itself is simply a draft idea, so to speak, similar to Dresden."

"We take (each fab) one at a time, and even the first one in Luther Forest is still on the drawing board."

"Nothing's definite."

Thursday's drawings are so early-stage that officials at Empire State Development Corp., the state agency that arranged the financing package for AMD, say they have never discussed specifics about additional factories.

New York is already offering AMD a $1.2 billion package for the one fab that includes $650 million in cash as well as tax breaks and infrastructure improvements.

A.J. Carter, an Empire State Development spokesman, said semiconductor companies always need room to expand at sites they consider.

"It's a very common practice in the industry," he said.

"(But) it's not like there were any specific discussions about it."

"There's nothing they came to us about."

Malta Town Supervisor Paul Sausville, who attended Thursday's dinner, also downplayed the drawings, saying he has known all along AMD was interested in the possibility of adding additional factories at Luther Forest.

"That's always been in the plan," Sausville said.

"It's really not new information."

AMD has until July 2009 to decide whether to go ahead with the factory -- dubbed Fab 4X -- when New York's cash incentives expire.

Similar to the way AMD's other factories are named, the term Fab 4X is used because it would be built 40-some years after AMD was founded.

AMD is planning to release a potential project timeline in the second half of the year, although its board of directors must ultimately give the final go-ahead.

The factory, which would employ 1,200 people, would not be fully operational until 2012 at the earliest.

Complicating the picture is the fact that AMD lost $611 million during the first quarter and is planning to cut capital spending by $500 million this year.

Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., AMD is in a fierce battle with rival Intel Corp., which owns about 80 percent of the market for so-called x86 chips, used in most personal computers and servers.

Despite that, AMD officials are still upbeat about the potential of building in Saratoga County.

"AMD still believes that we need Luther Forest and we want to go forward with the project," Caudell said at Thursday's dinner.

"The difficult part is to determine the timing."

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

"State fund for private colleges stands still"]

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

Last updated: 2:34 p.m., Saturday, May 5, 2007

ALBANY - Two years after a grant program for private college construction projects was set up in the state budget, all $150 million remains in the account.

Fifty applications are gathering dust at the Dormitory Authority and none of the schools can get the grants because the review board - not yet fully manned - must unanimously approve them.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could get as much as $2.13 million, with Siena Colleges and the College of Saint Rose potentially in line for more than $1 million each.

Other area colleges would get hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I always expected there would be a delay because it was a brand new program," said Abraham Lackman, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

"I told my presidents it would be at least a year."

Instead, it's been two years and counting.

The program, which requires $3 of private funds for each $1 of public grant money, would help pay for more than $800 million in building, much of it upstate.

Lackman said Gov. Eliot Spitzer put funds in the current budget to pay for the college grants and selected Ron Rock, a budget executive, to serve on the grant board.

Paul Burgdorf, an authority spokesman, said none of the funds will go out the door until the three members of the board are appointed.

Two of the board members were in place by last fall: the Senate's, Kenneth A. Jacoppi, and Gov. George Pataki's, John Cahill.

But their terms expired March 31, Burgdorf said.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver finally made his first nominee a few weeks ago: Assembly Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Deborah Glick, D-Manhattan.

"The price of power"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, April 28, 2007

About a year ago, the debate over New York's chronically high utility rates was reaching a tipping point.

The Public Service Commission had just come out with a report declaring that deregulation had been a boon to New York, but many critics, including many homeowners who were struggling to pay their monthly utility bills, disagreed.

So did Assemblyman Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, chairman of the Assembly's energy committee.

If the prices are going down, he wondered, "why are people just screaming about the effects of their home energy bills?"

This year, the debate is likely to be renewed as Governor Spitzer has made it a priority to lower energy costs in New York.

And now comes a national survey that puts the controversy into sharp focus.

An Associated Press analysis of federal data shows consumers in many states that adopted deregulation are paying more than customers in states with regulated utilities.

In 16 states and the District of Columbia, where deregulation is in effect, consumers paid an average of 30 percent more for power last year than customers paid in states where utility rates are still regulated.

In Maryland, rates skyrocketed 72 percent, and in Illinois, 50 percent.

It gets worse.

The price gap between deregulated and regulated states is getting wider.

In the late 1990s, prices were 22 percent higher under deregulation, compared with the most recent estimate of 30 percent.

"We said back then (when deregulation was enacted) it was a raw deal for consumers," Johanna Neumann of Maryland Public Interest Research Group told the AP.

"We now know it was a raw deal for consumers."

Not surprisingly, the utility industry continues to argue that high prices are the result of many factors, including the rising price for oil and natural gas, as well as the high cost of constructing power plants and the damage done to power delivery system by hurricanes and other forces of nature.

All true enough.

And granted, price competition has helped large energy consumers -- typically business customers -- save money.

But residential customers and small businesses haven't fared as well.

The PSC's 2006 report claimed that residential rates in New York declined by 15 percent from 1996 through 2004, while business rates dropped by 18 percent.

But as Mr. Tonko noted, downstate residential customers serviced by Con Edison, who make up more than half the New York state market, saw price increases during this period, while industrial bills rose by 20 percent.

In any case, the higher prices for natural gas and oil applied across the board in regulated and deregulated states.

So why should one group be higher than the other?

Mr. Spitzer should take a hard look at claims that competition is the way to lower energy bills in New York -- a long, hard look.

THE ISSUE: A national survey shows consumers aren't benefiting from energy deregulation.

THE STAKES: Governor Spitzer should look to these findings as he considers new ways to reduce utility bills throughout New York.

"Reforms should make IDAs more accountable"

By ADRIANNE SHROPSHIRE and JAMES PARROTT

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Sunday, May 6, 2007

Things are changing for the better in Albany.

Already this year, we've seen the long-overdue reform of the workers' compensation system, a state budget that makes giant strides in revamping school aid and renewed focus on government reform and accountability.

The state economy has gotten needed attention too, with Gov. Eliot Spitzer's appointment of both an upstate and a downstate economic czar.

Now, the governor and the Legislature have the opportunity to enact real reform of the state's 115 local industrial development agencies.

The existing law sunsets on June 30.

Will our political leaders rise to the occasion?

We hope so.

We can't afford to waste the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks that are handed out annually by IDAs.

Starting now, IDAs must be held accountable for the tax breaks they dispense.

We need safeguards in place to assure that these investments create quality jobs and help revitalize those parts of the state whose economies are lagging behind.

Real reform of the way economic development is done in New York won't be possible without changing the way IDAs work.

New York began establishing local IDAs in 1969 to issue tax-exempt bonds on behalf of manufacturers that were locating or expanding in the state.

Eligibility has expanded beyond manufacturing, and IDA-authorized tax breaks now total about $400 million a year.

The bulk of IDA tax breaks involve property taxes (particularly school property taxes), but also can include the state and local portions of the sales tax.

Unfortunately, not all IDA projects provide the economic boost or quality jobs that most of New York desperately needs.

A report to be released Tuesday by New York Jobs with Justice documents why.

For example, five upstate IDAs granted Wal-Mart more than $12 million in tax breaks between 2002 and 2005, draining school taxes from these areas in exchange for low-wage retail jobs.

Despite the desperate need in upstate areas for good-paying jobs for local residents, some upstate IDAs have subsidized projects that get built with out-of-state workers.

If taxpayer-subsidized IDA projects create poverty-wage jobs or just move jobs from one county to the next, honest taxpayers get fleeced.

And "economic revitalization" remains out of reach.

There's a better way.

In parts of New York and around the country, economic developers are coming around to the view that quality jobs and good wages are the foundation for local economic growth.

Some New York IDAs have been among the leaders on this score; all IDAs should be required to follow this sound principle.

How can we make sure that taxpayers are not subsidizing substandard, minimum-wage or nonexistent jobs?

Three basic reforms are needed to improve the returns from IDA-sponsored investments.

First, all IDAs should adhere to meaningful wage and benefit standards for companies receiving assistance.

All affected jobs should pay living wages, and construction jobs should have prevailing wages and apprenticeships.

New York's Empire Zones program is that it requires wages to be at least 135 percent of the minimum wage as a condition for receiving wage-related tax breaks.

That's not enough -- but it is a good start.

Second, IDAs should operate with much greater transparency.

IDAs should notify the public much sooner about pending deals and public hearings should provide real opportunities for community input and consideration of impacts on the community.

Third, IDAs must be held accountable for the tax dollars they give away.

IDA boards should include representation from local stakeholders.

There should be protections against IDAs attracting businesses away from other areas of New York, and there should be subsidy-recapture provisions for companies that fail to live up to their commitments.

According to the New York Jobs with Justice report, data from the state comptroller indicate that IDA-subsidized projects around the state have generated only 36 percent of the jobs promised.

Accountability also means that IDAs should encourage smart growth and stop subsidizing sprawl, which adds to public costs while subtracting from the regional tax base.

In defiance of common sense -- and 1993 legislative reforms -- a number of IDAs continue to subsidize retail projects despite the fact that these principally occur where consumer markets exist and don't need subsidies.

IDA reform is the place where New York's pressing job needs and accountability to taxpayers come together.

It is also the place where we have to strike the proper balance between local control and beneficial, uniform job development standards.

With the right IDA reforms, we'll have stronger local governments, more effective state-local partnerships, a brighter economic future and restored faith in government.

"State investigates home improvement scams"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 9:53 a.m., Sunday, May 6, 2007

ALBANY -- The state Consumer Protection Board is starting an investigation that it hopes will hit scammers where you live.

The home improvement investigation began with soliciting complaints and stories from New Yorkers in April and continued Friday in Brooklyn with the first of three public hearings as the board prepares cases and public education efforts.

Testimony is being taken from consumers, contractors who want to clean up the field and regulators.

"We want to get ideas and learn from experience with a goal of trying to enhance the protections and remedies consumers have and also to promote best practices," said board Executive Director Mindy Bockstein.

The topic was chosen because every year it draws the most complaints to consumer protection agencies.

"It's a bank book issue," she said after the Brooklyn hearing.

"It impacts affordable housing, it impacts the economy, it impacts the retail industry."

"We're talking about homeowners whether they are senior citizens who can't make repairs themselves any longer, or people who want to make renovations to stay in their house longer so they don't have to go into an assisted living facility."

She said families of every age and income level have reported that they lost thousands of dollars to contractors who take the money and never show up.

"They spent thousands of dollars for nothing and now they need money to address the defects or, worse, they are homeless," Bockstein said.

The board will also provide tips for homeowners, among them: don't pay cash, use a contract such as the one made available on the board Web site ( http://www.consumer.state.ny.us ), and check references.

Another tip: The law gives you three days to cancel a home improvement contract in writing.

Hearings are scheduled May 16 in Albany and May 30 in Syracuse.

"The law of campaign finance reform"

By MICHAEL WALDMAN

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, May 4, 2007

Gov. Eliot Spitzer was recently roasted by Republicans and journalists across the state for the sin of raising money while pushing for reform.

Spitzer is offering to have dinner twice a year with people who raise $1 million for his re-election campaign.

He and his aides will occasionally offer conference call briefings.

There will be a barbecue as well.

Here we go again.

There's a sickening cycle in campaign finance reform, one that plays out over and over again at the federal and state level.

Politicians show a little moxie and actually propose reform.

Some, like Spitzer, even fight for change.

Usually, incumbents or conservatives fight that change, as is happening in New York.

And then, unless the politician is living in a monastery, he or she has to continue to raise money while the system remains unchanged.

Horrors!

This is deemed hypocrisy.

Gleeful opponents of reform point to the gap between legislative goals and ongoing fundraising.

Lazy journalists, who understand that shouting "gotcha" is far easier than spelling out who really stands to gain from blocking reform, go for the cheap story.

And dismayingly, even some reformers reliably declare their outrage over the fact that politicians who support reform still have to fund raise, and that their supporters are not driven away with a stick but given the opportunity to meet with them.

Years ago, writing in The Washington Post, I called this the iron law of campaign finance reform: Flagrancy gets a free pass, hypocrisy gets you whacked.

Back then, I was steamed that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asked why he was raising soft money from lobbyists, shrugged and called it "the American way."

He got no real criticism from the media.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on the other hand, got creamed for raising funds while pushing for reform.

In an eerie echo of McConnell's brazenness, state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said that he blocked Spitzer's modest campaign reform proposals because of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

While the Times Union has been a vocal supporter of campaign finance reform and Spitzer's most recent proposals to lower contribution limits, it has joined news outlets and editorial pages across the state in giving ink and credence to Bruno's attack on the governor for refusing to unilaterally disarm.

Political reporters and editorial writers across the state have been gamely repeating Bruno's trope ad nauseam that Spitzer is somehow doing something underhanded by continuing to play by the rules of the game while actively seeking to change them.

Few of those stories have included even a sentence about Joe Bruno's own record raising special-interest dollars.

Rather they gamely quote Bruno like Claude Raines in Casablanca as being just shocked -- shocked! -- that Spitzer would offer access for contributors.

Of course, contributors are getting access.

That's the problem.

Too much access often leads to bad public policy.

That's why we want reform.

Bundling should be disclosed.

But it isn't illegal and it won't go away until we pass public financing.

For me, personally, this resembles a scene out of "Groundhog Day."

After a career working as a campaign finance reform advocate, I went to work in the White House for Bill Clinton in 1993.

We crafted a public financing plan that won support from reformers and the leaders of the House and Senate.

Opponents, however, played the media like a Wurlitzer.

There was far more coverage of loopholes than of the actual strong bill.

The media put far more pressure on supporters of the measure not to raise funds than on opponents to drop their filibuster.

And, sadly, reformers' knees jerked predictably, routinely denouncing hypocrisy as the people who blocked reform got off easy.

Politicians who thought they were proposing something against their own electoral self interest, only to see little political gain and much political pain, shrugged and moved on to the next issue.

So here are some heartfelt pleas.

To the media, stop being so easily manipulated, and start focusing on those who are blocking reform, and why they do it.

To my fellow reformers, when a reporter calls demanding what's known in the trade as an outrage quote, why not try "no comment"?

And to those incumbents and power brokers who are scrambling madly to block reform, please set aside pious worries about hypocrisy and stand ready to explain your defense of an indefensible corrupt system.

Michael Waldman is executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"'Mod'-el of bad biz? - Actress Lipton key element of pay-to-play probe"

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN

DAILY NEWS COLUMNIST

Monday, May 7th 2007, 4:00 AM

The Albany County district attorney is investigating a potential pay-to-play scam at the state controller's office whose key players include the former top lieutenant to ousted Controller Alan Hevesi and ex-"Mod Squad" star Peggy Lipton.

Sources familiar with District Attorney David Soares' probe say it focuses on whether people seeking to do business with the $150 billion state pension fund, of which the controller is the sole trustee, showered Lipton with gifts in hopes of currying favor with Hevesi's ex-chief of staff, Jack Chartier.

Chartier, who left the controller's office after Hevesi resigned in disgrace last December for using state workers as drivers for his wife, was deeply enamored with the actress and arranged for her to be chauffeured by a state-employed driver in 2003 and 2004, according to published reports.

Investigators want to know whether Chartier urged his boss to invest pension fund cash based on who was providing favors to Lipton, sources said.

At least one subpoena has been issued to the controller's office seeking all of Chartier's correspondence during his tenure there, sources said.

People of interest in the case include Hevesi's longtime political consultant, Hank Morris, who has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars off Hevesi's career in public office, and Elliot Broidy, a California-based venture capitalist and major Republican fund-raiser.

Both Morris and Broidy have benefited from pension investments made under Hevesi, according to research conducted by Daily News reporter Celeste Katz.

Six months after taking office in 2003, Hevesi committed to placing $250 million in Markstone Capital Group, a private equity fund co-founded by Broidy that makes investments in Israel.

Prior to making this deal, Hevesi flew to Israel with Broidy to meet with government officials and business leaders.

According to the most recent numbers available, as of last November the state had paid Markstone $4 million in fees but had not yet earned any money from its investment.

Dennis Tompkins, a spokesman for new state Controller Thomas DiNapoli, said Markstone is on track to bring in a 22% return at the end of 10 years.

Also in 2003, Hevesi attended a meeting with Broidy and officials of the California Public Retirement System, which later committed to invest $50 million in Markstone.

Broidy's wife, Robin Rosenzweig, contributed $80,000 to the Democratic Hevesi's political campaigns between 2002 and 2004 - $25,000 of which came within months of his decision to invest in Markstone and the California trip, according to state election documents.

Hevesi also received $406,000 in contributions from associates of Broidy and his wife.

In addition, Robin Rosenzweig and her husband each donated $3,400 in 2005 to Hevesi's son Andrew, who holds his father's old Queens Assembly seat.

Morris has also benefited from New York investments.

A veteran of every one of Hevesi's political campaigns, Morris is an independent director and board member of eSpeed Inc., an electronic trading operation of which the state pension fund owned 90,900 shares as recently as March 2006.

A controller's office spokesman said the eSpeed shares were bought through an index fund over which Hevesi had no direct control.

The fund has since divested itself of eSpeed, the spokesman said.

DiNapoli, who was elected by the Legislature in February to replace Hevesi, is cooperating with Soares' investigation, according to Tompkins.

DiNapoli has hired a Manhattan law firm to audit and review all of Chartier's activities during his time at the controller's office.

That project will be headed up by Bridget Rohde, the former chief of the Criminal Division in the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office.

DiNapoli will announce today that he is appointing George King, the counsel to the state retirement system, to serve as the controller's inspector general.

In addition, DiNapoli plans to institute tighter internal controls over executive employees in his office that would prevent misuse of state resources and employee time, Tompkins said.

ebenjamin@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/05/07...of_bad_biz.html

"Prosecutor probes N.Y. pension fund conflict, `Mod Squad' link"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:04 p.m., Monday, May 7, 2007

ALBANY -- Albany County District Attorney David Soares is investigating a report of conflicts of interest in the state Comptroller's Office that may have affected the state's massive pension fund, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Soares didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cuomo said he's looking into civil violations in the case in which people sought to do business with the state's $150 billion pension fund.

That wide-ranging investigation could include claims that the former chief of staff of the comptroller's office arranged for rides using state employees for the actress who played Peggy on TV's "Mod Squad."

"It's not about any one person," Cuomo said.

"It's about systemic conflicts of interests that we believe may exist in the comptroller's office involving the pension fund, which is a precious New York asset."

Cuomo wouldn't comment Monday on whether the state's $150 billion pension fund has been hurt because of what he claims to be conflicts of interest.

He began his investigation in January, before Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli took office, he said.

The comptroller is the sole trustee of the state pension fund that provides the public pensions of state and many local workers.

DiNapoli was chosen by the Legislature to replace fellow Democrat Alan Hevesi who resigned in December following a scandal.

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

The plea resulted in no jail time for Hevesi, but a $5,000 fine.

Hevesi also agreed not to take office Jan. 1 for the second term he won in the November election despite the scandal.

DiNapoli on Monday said his office is cooperating with Soars in his investigation of Hevesi's former chief of staff, Jack Chartier, "and persons with business dealings with" the Office of the State Comptroller.

"The Hevesi scandal cast a cloud over thousands of honest, hard-working OSC employees," DiNapoli said.

"More tragically, it has violated the trust of every New Yorker."

Chartier's role in the comptroller's office was questioned as early as October, when The Buffalo News reported that a state car and state worker were used to drive a friend of Chartier's, actress Peggy Lipton of TV's "Mod Squad," to appointments.

Chartier accompanied Lipton on the infrequent trips, said Hevesi's spokesman at the time, David Neustadt.

The New York Daily News had a similar report in Monday's editions.

"It's not about one person," Cuomo said.

"That's the tip of the iceberg in some ways and it is about very troubling, serious systemic conflicts of interest in the comptroller's office."

And by way of comparison, anyway, between what is going on in NYS, where the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Albany seems to be "non-existent" when it comes to alleged government corruption here in NYS, versus other states in the union ....

"Execs plead guilty to bribing lawmakers"

By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer

May 7, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Two top officers of an oil services company pleaded guilty Monday to bribing Alaska lawmakers with cash and the promise of jobs, contracts and favors for their backing on bills supported by the multinational firm.

Bill J. Allen, chief executive of Anchorage-based VECO Corp., and Rick Smith, a vice president, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to extortion, bribery, and conspiracy to impede the Internal Revenue Service.

Their attorneys did not immediately return calls for comment Monday.

Prosecutors say Smith, Allen and five state lawmakers conspired to buy the lawmakers' support with money and other financial benefits, according to court documents.

Allen also pleaded guilty to issuing company bonuses to VECO executives to repay them for campaign contributions they made to politicians, then claiming those bonuses as legitimate company expenses.

Sentencing was not immediately scheduled.

The sentencing recommendation for Allen is between nine and just more than 11 years in prison and a fine between $15,000 and $150,000, according to the plea agreement dated Wednesday and unsealed Monday.

In exchange for Allen's cooperation, federal prosecutors agreed not to charge his son, Mark Allen, or other family members with any crimes, according to the plea deal.

The pleas came three days after federal prosecutors indicted one current and two former members of the Alaska House of Representatives on bribery and extortion charges related to last year's negotiations for a new oil and gas tax and a proposed natural gas pipeline.

Three unnamed representatives and two unnamed senators are listed in Allen's charging documents as participating in the conspiracy.

The three indicted lawmakers — Rep. Vic Kohring of Wasilla and former Reps. Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau — pleaded not guilty Friday.

Kott, the former House speaker, is accused of accepting $8,993 in payments, $2,750 in polling expenses and the promise of a contract as a lobbyist for VECO in exchange for his support of the proposed pipeline and a tax proposal that favored VECO, according to court documents.

He said he would throw his support behind the company if he was made warden of a prison the company was building in the Caribbean, according to the indictment.

The tax passed, but the contract for the pipeline negotiated by former Gov. Frank Murkowski was never approved.

The indictment did not name the company, but an attorney for VECO Corp. said it was the company involved.

The company issued a news release Friday, two days after Allen signed the plea agreement, saying the charges involve Allen and Smith, but no corporate subsidiaries or other executives.

Kohring is accused of demanding and accepting up to $2,600 in cash and a $3,000 job for a relative from VECO executives in exchange for his support.

The indictment also alleges Kohring sought but did not receive a $17,000 loan for credit card debt.

Weyhrauch, a 54-year-old lawyer, is charged with helping advance the oil service company's causes in exchange for the promise of future legal work, the indictment said.

Amy Menard, an attorney for VECO, said the corporation had turned over more than 100,000 pages of documents to the government.

An FBI spokesman said the arrests stemmed from an investigation that led federal agents last summer to raid the offices of at least six lawmakers, including Kohring, Kott and Weyhrauch.

Also raided was the office of former Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.

The younger Stevens has not been charged.

VECO Corp. is an Alaska oil field services and construction company whose executives are major contributors to Republican political campaigns.

The corporation also operates in Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and elsewhere in the U.S.

New Gov. Sarah Palin said Saturday she would call for a review of how the previous administration and the Legislature pursued that tax structure.

"A check mark under 'tardy' for the state - Report Card on Schools is later than ever as budget votes loom"

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

First published: Tuesday, May 8, 2007

ALBANY -- A week from today, voters statewide will choose school board members and cast ballots for or against their school district budgets.

But if they want to see how well their district is educating kids, they'll have to travel to their local school and study some fairly complex documents.

If they want to compare their school to others in the area, that'll be even harder.

That's because the statewide Report Cards on the Schools is coming out later than ever, and newspapers consequently won't likely publish the information until after the May 15 votes.

Over the past decade, Report Cards have become a spring ritual, with newspapers statewide printing charts and tables of test scores, graduation rates and other performance measures.

Typically, the state Education Department releases the data to the media in the form of lengthy computer files.

Newspapers and other outlets then sift through the data and present it in a user-friendly form that allows for school-to-school and district-to-district comparisons.

But as of Monday, the data hadn't been released to the media.

Education Department officials did not say why, but did say it could be coming as soon as this week.

One critic, B. Jason Brooks of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability, said the delay reflects the struggle the state is having in dealing with all the required reporting nowadays.

The state releases numerous reports each year on such things as overall performance, graduation rates, school violence, troubled schools and various test scores.

When the Report Card first started, the data was released as early as January, and, later on, into March, with papers running stories a week later.

But that date has crept back over the years to the point where this year, most newspapers will likely print their Report Cards after May 15.

Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman stressed that individual Report Cards already are available at schools, which are given the data ahead of time in order to check the accuracy and to make presentations to residents.

School districts are required to keep their Report Cards on file.

Burman also noted that much of the information in the Report Cards, such as graduation rates, schools in need of improvement, and math and English test score results, has already been released and covered by media outlets.

Either way, people have different views about what these tardy cards mean.

Some believe they should come out prior to budget votes, in order to foster a more informed choice.

"A lot of parents make a connection between (the question of) are we getting the educational bang for our dollars, and if our district as a whole is successful," said Melissa Mirabile, a Guilderland resident who has analyzed the Report Cards to see how her local schools are performing.

On the other hand, school officials say they want adequate time to explain the Report Card results before residents visit the polls.

"We'd want a fair chance to respond before people go to the budget votes," said Bob Lowry, associate director of the state Council of School Superintendents.

"It's less than ideal to be putting that out, say, a week before the budget vote," he said.

However, he said he doesn't believe Report Cards are the major factor people use in voting for or against a school budget.

"My perception is that it has not affected how people vote," Lowry said.

"It tends to be spending and taxes and how people feel about the district."

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

"Possible pension fund conflicts eyed - Prosecutors say decisions about investment of $150 billion may have been improperly influenced"

Staff and wire reports, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, May 8, 2007

ALBANY -- Albany County District Attorney David Soares and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo are investigating possible conflicts of interest in the state comptroller's office that may have influenced decisions in New York's massive pension fund, people familiar with the case said Monday.

Soares' criminal investigation, one person familiar with it said, is far from conclusive, and such cases involving claims of favoritism and a "pay to play" culture often fall into "a gray area."

Cuomo said he's looking into civil violations surrounding the state's $150 billion pension fund.

He said the investigation is focused on whether the "gate keepers" in the comptroller's office made sure there was no undue influence in investing the $150 billion pension fund.

He said the case is "about systemic conflicts of interests that we believe may exist in the comptroller's office involving the pension fund, which is a precious New York asset."

Cuomo wouldn't comment on whether the fund has been hurt by any misdealings.

The comptroller is the fund's sole trustee.

The current comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, said his office is cooperating with Soares in his investigation, which includes Jack Chartier, the chief of staff under former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, and "persons with business dealings with" the office.

DiNapoli's spokesman, Dennis Tompkins, said, however, that he was unaware of the "systemic conflicts of interest" of which Cuomo spoke.

He also said Cuomo is only an "ancillary part" of Soares' investigation.

Hevesi resigned last year amid a scandal in which he had state employees chauffeur his wife and help with personal chores, and never reimbursed the state for their time.

He pleaded guilty to a felony, but avoided jail time.

Soares' office was known last year to be looking into Chartier and his use of state resources and employees to provide rides for actress Peggy Lipton, who starred in "The Mod Squad" on TV.

The Daily News reported Monday that Soares' public integrity unit is looking into whether people who wanted to do business with the fund showered Lipton with gifts to curry favor with Chartier.

It also said Hank Morris, Hevesi's longtime political consultant, and Elliot Broidy, a California-based venture capitalist and major Republican fundraiser, are "persons of interest" in the case.

DiNapoli announced he has brought in an outside law firm, Mintz Levin, to look into Chartier's activities.

Overseeing the review will be Bridget Rohde, former chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York.

The firm will share its findings with Soares, DiNapoli said.

DiNapoli also plans to appoint an inspector general for his office to monitor staff activities and operate a hot line for anonymous tips.

That position was recommended by a commission DiNapoli created, headed by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and finance/government expert Frank Zarb, to look at ways to tighten the office's operations.

"The Hevesi scandal cast a cloud over thousands of honest, hard-working OSC employees," DiNapoli said.

"More tragically, it has violated the trust of every New Yorker."

NEWSDAY

"AP New YorkProsecutor probes N.Y. pension fund conflict, `Mod Squad' link"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY

Associated Press Writer

May 7, 2007, 7:19 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Prosecutors are investigating whether investment funds and companies took advantage of conflicts of interest within the state Comptroller's Office that may have affected the state's massive pension fund, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Cuomo said it is a shared investigation with Albany County District Attorney David Soares, with state and county investigators melding their authority, although Soars would ultimately handle any criminal case and Cuomo's jurisdiction would be civil charges.

Cuomo said the investigation is focused on whether the "gate keepers" in the comptroller's office made sure there was no undue influence in investing the $150 billion pension fund.

"It's about systemic conflicts of interests that we believe may exist in the comptroller's office involving the pension fund, which is a precious New York asset," Cuomo said.

But comptroller's office spokesman Dennis Tompkins there is no investigation into systemic problems.

"To the best of our knowledge, the attorney general is an ancillary part of District Attorney Soares' investigation and that is the only investigation we are aware of," Tompkins said.

"If the attorney general has any knowledge of systemic conflicts of interest, we'd like to hear them."

Tompkins said the investigation led by Soares is limited to the claims about the behavior of past comptrollers' office employees under former Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Cuomo spokesman John Milgrim said the results of the investigation will make Cuomo's role clear.

DiNapoli on Monday said his office is cooperating with Soares in his investigation of Hevesi's former chief of staff, Jack Chartier, "and persons with business dealings with" the Office of the State Comptroller.

Chartier's role in the comptroller's office was questioned as early as October, when The Buffalo News reported that a state car and state worker were used to drive a friend of Chartier's, actress Peggy Lipton of TV's "Mod Squad," to appointments.

Chartier accompanied Lipton on the infrequent trips, said Hevesi's spokesman at the time, David Neustadt.

The New York Daily News first reported Soares' investigation on Monday.

"The Hevesi scandal cast a cloud over thousands of honest, hard-working OSC employees," DiNapoli said.

"More tragically, it has violated the trust of every New Yorker."

Attempts to reach Chartier, who left state service in 2006, were unsuccessful.

"It's not about one person," Cuomo said of the investigation.

"That's the tip of the iceberg in some ways and it is about very troubling, serious systemic conflicts of interest in the comptroller's office."

Soares didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cuomo wouldn't comment Monday on whether the state's $150 billion pension fund has been hurt because of what he claims to be conflicts of interest.

He began his investigation in January, before Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli took office, he said.

The comptroller is the sole trustee of the state pension fund that provides the public pensions of state and many local workers.

DiNapoli was chosen by the Legislature to replace fellow Democrat Alan Hevesi who resigned in December following a scandal.

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

The plea resulted in no jail time for Hevesi, but a $5,000 fine.

Hevesi also agreed not to take office Jan. 1 for the second term he won in the November election despite the scandal.

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

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Add Cuomo to squad looking into Hevesi conflicts"

BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, May 8th 2007, 4:00 AM

Former State Controller Alan Hevesi is facing even more scrutiny - this time from state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who revealed yesterday his office is investigating pervasive conflicts of interest under the disgraced fiscal chief.

"It's not about one person."

"That's the tip of the iceberg in some ways," Cuomo said.

"It is about very troubling, serious, systemic conflicts of interest in the controller's office."

Cuomo's revelation came on the heels of a Daily News report yesterday that Albany County District Attorney David Soares is probing a possible pay-to-play pension scam on Hevesi's watch.

The probe involves Hevesi's former chief of staff, Jack Chartier, his longtime political consultant, Hank Morris, "Mod Squad" actress Peggy Lipton and California venture capitalist Elliot Broidy.

Investigators are trying to determine whether fund managers that wanted to do business with the $150 billion state pension fund gave gifts to Lipton in hopes of influencing Chartier, who was enamored with the actress.

Morris, Broidy, Chartier and Lipton did not return calls for comment.

Cuomo said he and Soares are working together on the investigation, which began in January.

Controller Thomas DiNapoli is cooperating and is not implicated, Cuomo said.

DiNapoli was elected by the Legislature in February to replace Hevesi, who pleaded guilty to a felony for using state employees to chauffeur his wife.

He then resigned.

DiNapoli has hired a Manhattan law firm to audit all of Chartier's correspondence while he was at the controller's office.

Cuomo may have his own conflicts to navigate.

Between 2001 and 2002, Broidy contributed $15,000 to Cuomo's failed 2002 gubernatorial bid.

In 2004, Cuomo attended a Queens political event that honored Chartier, and he bought a $500 ad in the program.

Cuomo rejected the idea that he has a conflict of interest in this case.

He said he doesn't know Broidy personally and the event was just one of many he attended as a runup to his 2006 attorney general bid.

"Just because a person contributes to a campaign doesn't mean you're not in a position to look at the matter," Cuomo said.

ebenjamin@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/05/08...o_hevesi_c.html

THE NEW YORK POST

"CUOMO PROBING PENSION 'CONFLICTS'"

By KENNETH LOVETT

May 8, 2007 -- ALBANY - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday revealed he is investigating the State Comptroller's Office over what he called "systemic conflicts of interests" involving the state pension fund.

One issue, sources said, is whether Jack Chartier, a top aide to disgraced former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, convinced Elliot Broidy, a California venture capitalist with pension-fund business, to give a "six-figure loan" to actress Peggy Lipton.

Chartier, who is said to have been in love with the former "Mod Squad" actress, also is believed to have gotten Broidy to pay Lipton's Manhattan rent for a year.

While Cuomo wouldn't comment on the details, he did say the issue of whether Lipton received cash favors from someone doing business with the pension fund "is one of the subjects of the investigation."

He also indicated the investigation, which began in January, before current Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli took office, is much broader.

"It's not about any one person, Cuomo said.

"It is about systemic conflicts of interest that we believe may exist in the comptroller's office involving the pension fund."

Noting there are civil and criminal charges possible, Cuomo said his office has been working in cooperation with Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who had brought a case against Hevesi that resulted in his resignation and guilty plea to a felony for using state workers to chauffeur his wife.

Soares' office, which is also currently investigating whether there are improprieties regarding the pension fund, had been investigating Chartier for providing round-the-clock state drivers to Lipton.

DiNapoli, who said he is cooperating with the Soares investigation, announced yesterday the appointment of an inspector general to monitor the agency.

kenneth.lovett@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05082007/news/...neth_lovett.htm

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Cuomo Announces Inquiry Into Conflicts Under Hevesi"

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

Published: May 8, 2007

ALBANY, May 7 — Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday that his office was investigating “very troubling, serious, systemic conflicts of interest” in the way the comptroller’s office has managed the state’s $145 billion pension fund.

Mr. Cuomo said that since January, his office’s public integrity unit, in conjunction with the Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares, had been investigating management of the pension fund.

He emphasized that the investigation predated the Legislature’s selection of Thomas P. DiNapoli as state comptroller in February and that Mr. DiNapoli was cooperating with it.

He would not say whether his investigators had spoken with Alan G. Hevesi, who resigned last December after admitting that he had used state employees as chauffeurs for his wife and pleading guilty to a felony count.

New York state’s pension funds are unusual among large funds in that they are managed by a sole trustee — the elected state comptroller — instead of a board of trustees, giving the comptroller tremendous latitude in choosing investments and awarding millions of dollars in management fees.

Several past comptrollers were criticized for awarding such work to campaign contributors.

Mr. Cuomo would not divulge details of the investigation.

Under state law, the attorney general has civil jurisdiction in many public corruption cases, while the Albany district attorney has criminal jurisdiction.

Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Soares pledged shortly after Mr. Cuomo took office this year to pool resources on investigations and act more aggressively to prosecute fraud and conflicts of interest.

“Suffice it to say, in this case I believe there is potential for both criminal and civil exposure,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Soares said he could not comment on investigations under way.

The Daily News reported on Monday that Jack Chartier, who was chief of staff in Mr. Hevesi’s office, was one subject of the investigation.

According to the article, investigators were looking into whether companies seeking to do business with the pension fund had made gifts to the actress Peggy Lipton, a close friend of Mr. Chartier.

The investigation also includes Mr. Hevesi’s longtime political consultant, Hank Morris, and Elliott Broidy, a California financier and Republican fund-raiser, according to The News.

Both men may have benefited from pension fund investments made during Mr. Hevesi’s tenure.

The fund at various times invested in a company called eSpeed, on whose board Mr. Morris served, and committed $250 million to a private equity firm of which Mr. Broidy is chairman.

The latter investment is still active.

A spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli said the pension fund formerly owned shares in eSpeed, through several different companies, known as discretionary account managers, that invest on behalf of the fund, but had not owned any eSpeed shares since last November.

On Monday, Mr. Cuomo described questions about Mr. Chartier as “the tip of the iceberg in some ways.”

Separately, Mr. DiNapoli said on Monday that he would make several changes to prevent future wrongdoing in the comptroller’s office.

They included setting up a hot line for anonymous tips, and appointing an inspector general who would be obligated to report to law enforcement authorities any legal or ethical violations by employees of the comptroller’s office.

“We can’t change what happened during the prior administration,” Mr. DiNapoli said in a news release, “but I can change what will happen during my administration.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

THE NEW YORK TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

May 8th, 2007 7:36 pm

In your story “Cuomo Announces Inquiry Into Conflicts Under Hevesi” By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, published May 8, 2007, it was stated:

“Under state law, the attorney general has civil jurisdiction in many public corruption cases, while the Albany district attorney has criminal jurisdiction.”

However, like all things in NYS, the Office of the NY AG is well-defined by statute, in this case, by Art. 5 of the NY Executive Law, and with respect to the general duties of the NYAG, sect. 63(1) of Art.5 provides in relevant part that:

“The attorney-general shall: 1. Prosecute and defend all actions and proceedings in which the state is interested …”

And with respect to criminal proceedings specifically, sect. 63(2) provides:

“Whenever required by the governor, attend in person, or by one of his deputies, any term of the supreme court or appear before the grand jury thereof for the purpose of managing and conducting in such court or before such jury criminal actions or proceedings as shall be specified in such requirement; in which case the attorney-general or his deputy so attending shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties in respect of such actions or proceedings, which the district attorney would otherwise be authorized or required to exercise or perform; and in any of such actions or proceedings the district attorney shall only exercise such powers and perform such duties as are required of him by the attorney-general or the deputy attorney-general so attending. In all such cases all expenses incurred by the attorney-general, including the salary or other compensation of all deputies employed, shall be a county charge.”

So, according to the law in the State of New York as it is presently written, as NYAG, Andrew Cuomo himself can most definitely do criminal prosecutions.

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

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

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Mr. Ravi Batra, when you say, "Finally, no one can really argue that representative democracy is at its best when we drive our representatives into financial despair", that statement of yours fails to make a lot of presumptions, starting with the fact that in a true representative democracy such as ours should be, but is not, the democracy itself does not come from these representatives!

It comes from the people themselves!

And I'll tell you that up here in APPALACHIA, as "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer calls upstate NY, it is the people themselves who are being driven into financial despair by their alleged "representatives", and that is because people who are making between six and ten dollars per hour must work and sacrifice to keep all of these various politicals living on salaries of $50 thousand up to well over $100 thou per year, which indeed takes us right back to 1776, and the language in the Declaration of Independence:

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance."

And so, Mr. Ravi Batra!

And it then takes us back to 1801, Mr. Ravi Batra, and the first convention to consider amendments to the NY Constitution, and if one studies that segment of our state history, what one finds is this, with respect to the Council on Appointments that was abolished BY THE PEOPLE in NYS in 1821:

"Under the construction given by this Convention the council became a powerful and sometimes a very objectionable political machine, and at the time of its abolition, twenty-one years later, it wielded a patronage including nearly 15,000 officers, with an aggregate salary list of one million dollars."

"It often dispensed patronage with a high hand, making appointments and removals at will; it reduced the dignity and responsibility of the governor, so that, instead of being the chief executive of the state, he had only a casting vote in this appointing body, and only one fifth of the power of making nominations."

"The plan of this council, as devised by Mr. Jay, was reasonable; and if it had been administered as intended, it might have continued as a permanent feature in our Constitution."

"Mr. Jay's plan contemplated a joint responsibility for appointments, to be shared by the governor and the legislature, by providing a council composed of four senators, distributed geographically through the state, with power only to confirm or reject nominations by the governor."

"The whole legislature was charged with a duty and responsibility in the matter by requiring the assembly to choose the council from the senators, thus directly or indirectly bringing both branches of the legislature into cooperation with the governor in making appointments; but the efficiency of the plan was destroyed by the construction given to the article by the Convention of 1801."

"The evolution of this council, and its final destruction, without a dissenting vote, by the Convention of 1821, shows that even the cohesive power of patronage as a political force must yield to higher principles of constitutional government when it is discovered that the dispensing of such patronage by an unrestrained and irresponsible body is inimical to the best interests of the state."

The best interests of the state, Mr. Ravi Batra!

Out here in APPALACHIA, we would say that the "best interests" of the state should start with not starving the people of the state to keep a bunch of political "placemen" living in a style that can never be attained by those who must starve to keep our present royalty living in this style that they have grown accustomed to, yet again, here in our NYS!

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | May 1, 2007 8:56 AM

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

"Empire Zone tax breaks attacked at hearing - Legislators, critics question economic development program's effectiveness, suggest shutting it down"

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

First published: Wednesday, May 9, 2007

ALBANY -- The state's Empire Zone economic development program came under scathing criticism Tuesday during a legislative hearing, with some Democratic lawmakers suggesting the program should by halted.

The zones, as part of a program started in 1986, provide tax breaks to companies within a designated geography.

Since 2000, Empire Zones have given companies statewide nearly $3 billion in tax breaks.

The Republican administration of Gov. George Pataki expanded and widely used the program, but state economic development officials under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, say they are looking at ways to improve the program administered by Empire State Development Corp., the state economic development agency.

During Tuesday's hearing before the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Patrick Foye, co-chair of the agency, said Empire Zone breaks have been given to companies that are unlikely to leave the state or are distant from the blighted areas the program initially was established to help.

He said the program "is a one-size-fits-all" approach to economic development, adding that "one can raise considerable questions about the effectiveness of the program."

Under questioning from lawmakers, Foye and Daniel Gundersen, who also chairs Empire State Development, said that from 2000 to 2005, Empire Zones provided about $1.9 billion in tax breaks.

Roughly $550 million in breaks was approved last year, and a similar amount is expected this year.

During the five-year span, they said, the program led to the creation of about 85,000 new jobs, though there was considerable questioning Tuesday over the accuracy of the job total.

Some lawmakers weren't pleased by the level of return on the taxpayer investment.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, said the program "is in shambles" and should be shut down, at least until it is reformed.

And Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Rochester, said he believes "we'd be better off as a state" if the program were eliminated altogether.

But many companies, including some in the Capital Region, say the program has boosted their bottom line and the state's economy.

Firms such as SuperPower Inc. in Schenectady and Crystal IS Inc. in Green Island have credited the program with aiding their growth.

And the program is cited for helping to pique the interest of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in building a $3.2 billion chip-fab plant at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County.

On Tuesday, Gundersen suggested that Empire Zones should be targeted at certain industries, such as the high-technology field, that the state wants to see grow.

But it's a mistake, he said, "to use the program to drive all business development in the state."

Gundersen and Foye, who said they have initiated a review of the program with an eye toward potential changes, particularly questioned the state's practice of giving tax breaks to retail businesses, which they said are unlikely to base location decisions on tax benefits and may succeed at the expense of already existing businesses.

Between 2000 and 2005, the state gave $155 million in tax breaks to retail businesses.

Tuesday's hearing coincided with the release of a report by the New York Initiative for Development Accountability and New York Jobs with Justice that questions the state's industrial development agencies, which also provide tax breaks for economic development.

The report claims the agencies awarded $385 million in tax exemptions in 2005, yet nearly 70 percent of that money went to companies that actually cut jobs.

Chris Churchill can be reached at 454-5442 or by e-mail at cchurchill@timesunion.com.

"Spitzer raises funds for senators - Governor helps collect thousands at event for Democratic lawmakers"

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

First published: Tuesday, May 8, 2007

NEW YORK CITY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Monday helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Senate Democrats, although none were with him at the Woolworth Tower in lower Manhattan.

The event came on a day the Legislature was in session, and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, and his conference were busy with bills on such issues as property tax relief for elderly New Yorkers and changing the primary election date.

"It's not a priority," said William C. Samuels, finance chairman for the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee about Smith's decision to remain in Albany.

Spitzer spent roughly a half-hour at the two-hour fundraiser.

He preceded about 35 people who agreed to pay up to $10,000 to the minority's campaign treasury, which they hope to use to oust the GOP in 2008 from Senate control.

Republicans hold a 33-29 advantage and are fighting Spitzer's campaign finance overhaul proposal, seeing it as an assault on their ability to raise funds and maintain control of the chamber.

Republicans also say the governor is hypocritical, pointing to things events such as the fundraiser.

The Senate Democratic event came as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, also held a fundraiser Monday in Saratoga Springs for the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee.

Spitzer said there's a difference between raising money in Albany when the Legislature is in session and going elsewhere.

"The problem we have in Albany is that you have the lobbyists who tend to concentrate around the Capitol on days when you have session in contact with legislators at 4 o'clock saying we want you to work on this bill, then showing up at 4:15 making a contribution," Spitzer said.

"There's an appearance issue there."

Sources say the governor and legislative leaders are still far apart on campaign finance changes.

Senate Republicans want to continue collecting donations from limited liability corporations, which Spitzer would ban, and Assembly Democrats are cool to PAC limitations that would cut what unions could contribute.

David Terrio, of BTQ Financial, which works with nonprofit groups in the human services industry, said he attended the fundraiser because he believes in equal access to government.

"These are groups that are not 1199 and don't have expensive lobbyists," he said, describing how his clients don't have the political funds of the giant SEIU 1199 health care workers union.

James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5424 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com.

"Campaign donors overly generous - Groups call for state action; elections board says number of violators is likely less than report claims"

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

First published: Wednesday, May 9, 2007

ALBANY -- Three government reform groups found 161 cases of business donations exceeding campaign limits from the 2006 election cycle.

Common Cause, The League of Women Voters and the New York Public Interest Research Group said Tuesday they identified 72 corporations that exceeded the legal donation limit of no more than $5,000 per candidate per election.

Another 89 businesses may have given more than the $5,000 aggregate limit on corporate donations.

The group wrote to the state Board of Elections, calling on it to investigate and enforce the law.

Board officials are still weeding through 2005 corporate filings and probably won't get to 2006 for a few months.

However, the list of violations cited by the good-government groups is probably accurate, a spokesman said.

"That number is not alarming to begin with," said Lee Daghlian, a spokesman for the board.

"We usually get it down to 30 or 40."

The state budget includes $1.5 million to increase the board's enforcement staff, the groups noted.

Daghlian said the board wants to begin hiring promptly to help speed up enforcement.

The 12-person campaign finance staff -- mostly auditors who look for irregularities and one enforcement investigator to look into alleged violations -- are overtaxed, he said.

Some of the biggest apparent violators include Smokin Joe's, which totaled $28,300 in donations, the group reported.

The Native American cigarette business was joined by PCI Associates, $20,791; The Builders Institute, $77,570; New York Society of Professional Engineers, $36,765; Arnold Goldstein of Queens, who gave $45,000 to the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee; and the Long Island Builders Institute, $25,006.

Common Cause Executive Director Rachel Leon said some of the apparent violations may be the result of bad accounting by campaign staffs or mistakes in the state Department of State's corporate database.

But she complained that the Elections Board is not an effective watchdog.

The criticisms come as the groups back Gov. Eliot Spitzer's campaign finance reform proposals, which would banish some corporate giving and lower contribution limits from various donors, including unions.

Spitzer said negotiations with the Legislature are continuing on that and other measures.

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

ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

And reading through the TU article “Campaign donors overly generous - Groups call for state action; elections board says number of violators is likely less than report claims” by JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union, first published Wednesday, May 9, 2007, I noticed the following:

“Some of the biggest apparent violators include Smokin Joe’s, which totaled $28,300 in donations, the group reported.”

“The Native American cigarette business was joined by **** New York Society of Professional Engineers, $36,765 ….”

Now, there is a real telling New York State story, alright …..

The New York Society of Professional Engineers violating the law in NYS!

According to the Rules of Professional Practice in NYS for professional engineers, they are supposed to practice in SUBSTANTIAL COMPLIANCE with all federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations which govern the practice ….

But of course, that really is a joke, because the New York State Department of Education Office of Professional Discipline looks the other way on that issue ….

Because the New York Society of Professional Engineers, who are themselves regulated by the State Education Department, have a strong lobby and a lot of powerful political connections ….

Which in turn earns them a free ride here in Albany …

With the extra campaign cash they doled out helping to keep the skids well-greased ….

And so …

Comment by John Galt — May 9, 2007 @ 8:06 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4604#comments

And one has to wonder where the New York State Department of Health is on this following issue .....

Why are they so silent?

By law in NYS, it is the responsibility of the NYS Department of Health, and not the EPA, to assure that the people of NYS have safe water to drink ....

And so ....

"Committee: Battle EPA for safe water"

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

Last updated: 5:29 a.m., Thursday, May 10, 2007

BALLSTON SPA -- The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors' law and finance committee voted unanimously tonight to help Waterford, Mechanicville and Halfmoon fight the Environmental Protection Agency for clean drinking water.

The towns are mulling legal action against the agency, which they claim is not providing a safe water source during PCB dredging.

Supervisor John Lawler, R-Waterford, said the EPA will only accept carbon filters as a way of protecting people from PCBs, should they be re-suspended during the dredging of the Hudson River and sent down river.

Federal officials cannot guarantee the carbon filters will work, or block other chemicals possibly unearthed by dredging.

"We're asking the EPA to give us the same consideration they give the fish," Lawler said.

The EPA promised the towns affected by the dredging an alternative drinking water source, Lawler said, but the agency has rejected alternatives to buy water from Saratoga County, pump it in from Latham or expand the existing water line from Troy.

The existing pipe from Troy doesn't move enough water per day to meet demand in Waterford, Halfmoon and Mechanicville, Lawler said.

Lawler said he wanted the support of the whole county because fifteen percent of the county's residents -- roughly 30,000 people -- would be effected by the questionable water quality.

Real estate sales could take a hit as a result, which would create a ripple effect across the county.

The full board will vote on the issue Tuesday at the 4 p.m. monthly meeting.

"Comptroller: State budget up 8.2 percent"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:13 p.m., Thursday, May 10, 2007

ALBANY -- The state budget approved by Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature will raise state spending to $123.6 billion, an increase of 8.2 percent and $2.9 billion more than originally reported, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Thursday.

The comptroller's annual report said Spitzer and legislative leaders were able to come in with the lower bottom-line figure in their accounting by shifting spending into the old fiscal year and by not counting as spending everything they should have.

DiNapoli was not pleased with the final product.

"Thanks to Wall Street, there's been a lot of economic vitality in New York state," said DiNapoli.

"But that doesn't mean we should break the bank year after year."

"The out-year budget gaps are big and getting bigger."

"Spending is increased by three times the rate of inflation."

"Our debt service will soon surpass $5 billion a year."

"That's $5 billion that we're not spending on health care or education or property tax relief."

Paul Francis, Spitzer's budget director, said that much of the extra spending that DiNapoli said he identified has "historically not been included" when determining the final size of the budget and is spelled out in other state fiscal documents.

"It is highly misleading for the comptroller's office to imply that state spending was somehow higher than was initially reported," the Spitzer aide said.

Nonetheless, Francis said it might be worthwhile for all sides to take a fresh look at what should be counted as part of the budget.

DiNapoli said the new budget, which he said is technically in balance with revenues matching expenditures, creates projected deficits of $3.1 billion for the 2008-09 state fiscal year that begins April 1, 2008; $4.8 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year; and $6.6 billion for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

The report noted that in the decade that ended on March 31 of this year, state-funded debt had grown by 54 percent to $51 billion.

DiNapoli said the new budget means $26.3 billion in additional debt over the next five years.

"The state is running up its credit cards even though we have cash in our pockets," he said.

"It's fiscally imprudent."

DiNapoli said state leaders should be putting more money into reserve funds and toward paying down state debt.

The new budget, adopted on April 1, relies on $1.9 billion in non-recurring revenue.

"Spitzer allies with activists - Governor seeks help from government watchdogs in reforming campaign finance"

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

First published: Thursday, May 10, 2007

ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer isn't about to give up on campaign finance reform this session, despite opposition from Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and a raft of other issues competing for the interest of lawmakers.

Spitzer on Wednesday joined an array of government reform groups and renewed his call to pass a campaign finance reform bill by the end of this year's session in June.

Standing with members of Citizens Union, Common Cause, League of Women Voters, NYPIRG, Citizen Action and the Brennan Center for Justice, the Democratic governor said those organizations will bring attention to the issue and will try to buttonhole legislators to go along with limits on campaign contributions.

"Changes and transformation in our society occur not because of the elected leadership but because of civic organizations," the governor said.

"We are hoping in the next few weeks to galvanize public support."

Among the events planned are public hearings by the League of Women Voters, newspaper pieces from the Brennan Center and an "adopt a legislator" campaign from Common Cause.

Spitzer's latest effort comes as Bruno, R-Brunswick, said he's skeptical such reforms would pass this year.

In a public meeting between Spitzer and legislative leaders Wednesday, Bruno advised against getting bogged down trying to do a campaign finance reform bill at this time since the governor and Senate Republicans are so far apart.

Republicans also have blasted Spitzer's own fundraising efforts, including a plan to host an event at his farm for people who amass big contributions for him, and a bash this past Monday in New York City for Senate Democrats, in which some donors gave $10,000.

Bruno has charged Spitzer with politicizing campaign finance reform.

Citizens Union and Citizen Action both endorsed Spitzer for governor.

Republicans are particularly upset with the emphasis on curbing contributions from limited liability corporations.

Frequently set up by wealthy individuals, LLCs have been particularly popular among Republican donors.

Critics say LLCs allow people to skirt campaign contribution limits, because one person can set up multiple entities, each subject to its own limits.

While Spitzer maintained he wasn't pushing finance reform for political ends, he also said he'd likely hit the road to promote it, renewing an effort that was interrupted during the last two weeks with the shooting death of state Trooper David Brinkerhoff.

Spitzer on Wednesday also said creating a bill to crack down on human trafficking is a priority and that any move to tamper with the hospital closing law won't be permitted.

Bruno wants to keep Bellevue Woman's Hospital from being closed.

Spitzer said he doubts the closing plan "will be reversed or revised."

Bruno also said he wants to push the death penalty for cop killers.

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

ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

“Pecksniffian”, indeed ….

I was just going through my notes on the “MILLION DOLLAR STEAMROLLER” and his own “JONES” for more and more money in his “campaign warchest”, and I came across this blast from the past from the April 16, 2007 NY TIMES concerning the “MILLION DOLLAR STEAMROLLER’S” own “Pecksniffian” fund-raising efforts …

Former Assemblyman Ryan S. Karben left the capital under a cloud last year, but he continues to serve as a fund-raiser for Governor Spitzer, above right.

Mr. Karben, 32, was at a breakfast last week at which the governor discussed, among other things, his new federal political action committee, which he plans to use to support Congressional candidates.

“He’s got a really exciting vision for the state that I first saw when he was running for attorney general in 1998, and I’ve been supporting him ever since,” said Mr. Karben, who resigned last year after being accused of improperly fraternizing with interns.

Mr. Karben also has been invited to serve on the governor’s 2010 re-election finance committee.

“I would anticipate committing to raise a minimum of $100,000 for his election,” said Mr. Karben, who has a law practice in Monsey, N.Y.

DANNY HAKIM

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/nyregion…amp;oref=slogin

Comment by John Galt — May 9, 2007 @ 5:27 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4604#comments

ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

And continuing along on the subject of the “MILLION DOLLAR STEAMROLLER’S” own “Pecksniffian” fund-raising efforts, and “pay-to-play”, and the hype and swill that we get on the subject from his PROPAGANDA MINISTRESS, Christine Anderson, there is this article from the NY TIMES dated March 19, 2007:

Generous Judicial Screeners

Glittering legal résumés abound among the 23 people Governor Spitzer appointed earlier this month to five screening committees that will review candidates for the state bench.

Among Mr. Spitzer’s appointments are senior partners at some of New York City’s leading law firms, eminent law-school professors and several retired state judges.

But many of the appointees have another qualification, too.

Ten of them contributed to Mr. Spitzer’s gubernatorial campaign, including the leaders of all five committees, who are selected by the governor.

In total, the appointees contributed about $85,000 — small beer in the current world of gubernatorial fund-raising.

Most of that was given by two of the appointees: Robert A. Bourque, chairman of the First Judicial Department Committee, and Henry B. Gutman, who sits on the second department’s committee.

Both are partners at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; together they gave $68,500 to Mr. Spitzer during the 2006 election cycle.

Christine Anderson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Spitzer, noted that Mr. Spitzer’s campaign supporters were motivated by his message of reform, and that those selected for the screening panels were among them.

“It’s not surprising that some of the same people who got involved, spoke out or contributed to Eliot’s reform efforts would be interested in getting involved in his administration,” she said.

NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

Comment by John Galt — May 9, 2007 @ 7:01 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4604#comments

THE NEW YORK POST

"$PITZER REFORM PUZZLE"

By KENNETH LOVETT

May 10, 2007 -- ALBANY - Under fire for his own campaign fund-raising practices in recent weeks, Gov. Spitzer yesterday surrounded himself with good-government advocates to call for better disclosure of those who raise large bundles of cash for candidates.

"Of course, I endorse that and absolutely am in favor of all that," Spitzer said yesterday at a news conference to call for the Legislature to pass his campaign-finance reform plan.

Some of the good-government advocates with Spitzer yesterday had been critical of him after The Post disclosed that as he pushed for campaign-finance reform, he was asking potential donors to raise as much as $1 million for his 2010 re-election campaign in exchange for varying degrees of access to him and his wife.

Meanwhile, Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno warned the Democratic governor not to focus so much on the issue that it jeopardizes the rest of his agenda.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05102007/news/...neth_lovett.htm

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"New York's Goodfellas"

Thursday, May 10th 2007, 4:00 AM

The five bosses gathered yesterday, complete with backup muscle, for a sitdown over who's going to rule New York: Eliot (The Chin) Spitzer or Joe (The Trojan) Bruno.

Everyone knew that Spitzer is trying to knock off Bruno's soldiers one by one, but the whole crew - Shelly (The Undertaker) Silver, Malcolm (Ambitious) Smith and Jim (Who?) Tedisco - was all smiles until Bruno put his cards down.

Here's exactly what they said, actual dialogue, verbatim, from their Capitol meeting:

Bruno: We're on a honeymoon, and then it very suddenly ends the next day.

You're at peace, and then you're at war.

... I know we're targets.

... But every week I read that we're going to be taken out.

I'm just saying!

Silver: Senator, in my role as conciliator ...

Bruno: Yeah, you're a big conciliator.

I'm getting killed here, and all you're doing is conciliating.

Spitzer: You could switch roles if you wanted, Joe.

Bruno: For 12 years, I protected his butt.

And who the hell is protecting mine?

Smith: I am, Joe.

I'm protecting you.

Spitzer: Joe, we're covering you.

Don't worry.

(end quotes)

We've seen this movie before, Joe.

Be worried.

Be very worried.

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

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Judges' snub raises ire - 2 jurists left off list for choice post say politics, not merit, spurred pic"

BY CELESTE KATZ, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, May 10th 2007, 4:00 AM

Two judges who were passed over for a chance at a plum appellate court post have accused the state screening panel of making selections based on politics, not merit.

The criticism came in highly unusual public statements this week from Appellate Division Justices Richard Andrias and David Saxe.

The two veteran judges, who were among many candidates vying to lead the Appellate Division, First Department, which covers Manhattan and the Bronx, were not among the five recommended to Gov. Spitzer for further consideration.

The job is so highly prized, said Edwin David Robertson of the New York County Lawyers' Association, because the presiding justice oversees "probably the most prestigious intermediate appellate court in the entire United States."

In a written statement, Andrias said the panel deprived Spitzer of the chance to fully consider all the interested applicants.

"The result - excluding two senior and highly qualified members of our court from consideration - should give the champions of 'merit selection' and the appointive process pause, as it reveals how easy it is to manipulate a supposedly impartial and independent panel," Andrias said.

In a separate statement, Saxe said he was personally disappointed at not having made the cut, and said he found it "puzzling" that two Appellate Division justices were somehow found unqualified to lead a court they have long served with distinction.

Spitzer's office declined to respond to the judges' statements.

The head of the screening panel, attorney Robert Bourque, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The candidates chosen by the panel, according to the New York Law Journal, included three First Department colleagues of the two judges who are complaining: Luis Gonzalez, Angela Mazzarelli and Peter Tom.

Also chosen were the state's chief administrative judge, Jonathan Lippman, and Justice Stephen Crane of the Appellate Division, Second Department, in Brooklyn.

A source familiar with both of the candidates and the selection process called Lippman one of - and possibly the - leading candidate in part because of his close ties to state Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye.

"I think she'd be devastated if he didn't get that spot, because she likes him so much," the source said.

Court system spokesman David Bookstaver said Lippmann has nothing to do with the selection process.

"He, like the other candidates, is awaiting the governor's decision," Bookstaver said.

ckatz@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/bronx/...ses_ire_-2.html

"Details of agreement emerge in contract documents - Sematech's international headquarters will be at UAlbany site; directors to include 2 New Yorkers"

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

First published: Friday, May 11, 2007

ALBANY -- Sematech will set up its international headquarters in Albany, where it will staff an executive team, conduct board meetings and appoint at least two people representing New York as directors, according to contract documents between the state and the high-tech research consortium.

Details of the deal between the Austin, Texas-based semiconductor technology development consortium and New York state are spelled out in a letter of intent signed in January, and a lengthy contract expected to be signed upon passage of a bill providing $300 million in state funding for the "strategic alliance."

The bill, expected to be introduced today by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, will likely lack some of the details in the two documents, obtained Thursday by the Times Union.

Key details include:

Sematech, doing business as International Sematech, will have headquarters at the College of Nanoscale Science Engineering in Albany, staffed with "appropriate executives and entire business and administrative infrastructure."

Sematech agrees to "bringing or creating" 450 jobs at Albany or nearby to Albany.

Sematech will provide $300 million during the seven-year contract, $150 million in cash and $150 million in "cash equivalents," plus $5 million a year to universities or other groups for allied research in New York.

If it breaks its deal on funding, the state, represented by a foundation, can reduce its financing, too.

Inventions, or intellectual property, generated by the relationship will be shared.

Sematech would add two New York representatives to its seven-member board, one from the college, the other from Fuller Road Management Corp., landlord of the nanoscience complex.

Alain Kaloyeros, vice president and chief administrative officer of the nanoscience program, who signed the letter of intent with Sematech President Michael Polcari in January, said the Sematech board will meet in Albany and many people now working in Texas for the consortium will relocate here once the deal is completed.

Although Texas officials maintain that Sematech will not reduce its presence there as a result of the New York deal, Kaloyeros said he doubts that.

"Of the 400 jobs in Austin now, a significant number will be moving to Albany in the first year," he said.

The contract calls for 450 jobs coming to the University at Albany site, on top of 250 Sematech employs at the SUNY facility.

Kaloyeros said the operating budget for International Sematech will be at least $130 million -- $60 million each from Sematech and the state, and $10 million from the companies that make up Sematech.

He said that is more than four times the Austin Sematech operating budget.

Sematech officials say they are holding to a terse statement put out Wednesday by Polcari, which said Sematech's corporate offices and operations will remain in Texas, and that Sematech's international headquarters will be in Albany.

Sematech chose Austin 20 years ago in a nationwide competition, lured by a $485 million package of public and industry funds and incentives, according to Kaloyeros.

In 2002, former Gov. George Pataki announced a Sematech research center at UAlbany with $160 million in state dollars provided over five years.

Texas then gave Sematech a $40 million grant and promised tens of millions in loans, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Pike Powers, who helped fashion the bid that drew Sematech to Austin, said consortium officials have told him Sematech's decision to grow in New York should not hurt Texas.

He said he is unaware of any executives moving north.

Sematech's chief executive, Kaloyeros said, will work in Albany.

The parties can back out of the seven year-deal by notifying each other two years in advance.

They also agree to keep quiet about details of their deal, with public statements requiring approval by the parties in writing.

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

THE NEW YORK TIMES EMPIRE ZONE

May 10, 2007, 4:02 pm

"Spitzer Camp: DiNapoli report ‘Misleading’"

By Danny Hakim

The Empire Zone weighs in with more news from the sizzling debate over the state budget.

Is it $121 billion?

Is it $123.9 billion?

As devoted readers will recall, earlier today Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said the budget was larger than previously thought — by $2.9 billion.

Now Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s budget director, Paul Francis, is rebutting, calling the comptroller’s report “highly misleading” and “misleading and inaccurate.”

Mr. Francis says the comptroller is counting capital spending items that are traditionally recorded as off-budget items.

“The spending identified by the Comptroller is spending that historically has not been included as on-budget spending in the State’s Financial Plan, nor is it included in the Comptroller’s published cash reports,” he said.

Snap!

Comments so far ...

May 11th, 2007 6:25 am

Who exactly are these Spitzer-ites trying to fool here with this talk of “capital spending items that are traditionally recorded as off-budget items”?

And that answer is us, obviously, since we, the people of NYS are the very ones who the “STEAMROLLER’S” people need to fool, to maintain an illusion that it is not just more “business as usual” up there in Albany, only with a new name on the door of the governor’s office on the second floor of the Capital building.

The “STEAMROLLER’S” empty promise to the people of the State of New York was supposedly, “everything changes on Day One”, and that should have meant all of this crap which has become “tradition” in Albany, despite its being outside the bounds of what our state Constitution allows!

And now, here are the Spitzer-ites relying on that very “tradition” to defend their flim-flam of us, as if we were nothing more than a pack of chumps or a bunch of just plain old ignorant schlubs!

And shame on us, if we let this “STEAMROLLER’S” fancy talker here snow us under with this load of crapola!

Shame on us, indeed!

And so ….

— Posted by Livyjr

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

"Out of desperation, county GOP makes quality pick for DA"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, May 11, 2007

Leave it to those wily Republican leaders in Rensselaer County to come up with a strategy they haven't used in decades so they can keep the district attorney's office in this fall's election.

That is, offer the public a truly worthy candidate.

In recent memory, that's a first.

They must be desperate.

I suspect that even many insiders in Troy politics were surprised to learn that the Republican committee-endorsed candidate for DA will be Greg Cholakis, 41, son of the late and revered federal judge, Con Cholakis.

It's not that he isn't qualified, quite the opposite.

Greg has spent the last 13 years as the chief assistant public defender for Rensselaer County.

He's appeared in every court in the county and lives and breathes the law.

But like his father, Greg, who has been waiting for years in the wings for this opportunity, is fiercely independent.

Without fear or favor could be the family motto.

He is not a member of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno's Republican machine, and in truth they view him with suspicion.

Suffice to say Greg Cholakis is not the usual formula candidate the machine comes up with.

So why in the world are the Republicans taking such a drastic step?

Because they have no choice.

Sitting DA Trish DeAngelis desperately wanted the nomination again.

As pols of all parties do these days, the Republicans polled the electorate.

What they got back should have been obvious from her lopsided loss to virtual unknown Bob Jacon for a county judgeship two elections ago: Trish is radioactive.

The voters don't want her.

Doubly ironic because that extra judgeship, which no one in the county was asking for but Senator Joe made happen anyway, was created as a safe landing for DeAngelis to get her out of the DA's office.

It didn't work.

Nor does the public want another self-indulgent Ken doll, the DA who preceded her, as in Joe's son, Ken Bruno.

Ken and Trish were both propped up by the senator and rammed down the voters' throats.

Without the senator's enormous power and strings, neither Ken nor Trish could have been elected to anything.

At any rate, key Republicans, including Bruno, are now clearly aware that the old style of Republican County nepotistic politics is wearing thin at the moment, so they actually have to resort to a quality candidate.

Not that Greg's the only one.

The Dems will be offering Hoosick Falls lawyer Rich McNally, a seasoned, respected former chief assistant prosecutor in former DA Lou Catone's office.

He's quality goods as well.

Which means, either way, Rensselaer County won't be embarrassed by its district attorney.

Isn't that remarkable?

Now, there is no question Cholakis should run away with this race.

McNally is a native of Syracuse, and with the Dems coming off a devastating factional fight, fundraising will be tough.

Both sides figure the race will cost between $100,000 and $150,000.

By contrast, Cholakis is a native Trojan and has stuck it out right here through good times and bad, and he has that magic name.

Although more to the point, Greg Cholakis has carefully carved out his own thoughtful, compassionate identity, and is as well liked as any one practicing law on that side of the river.

The only minor obstacle in Cholakis' path, and it shouldn't be there long, will be an attempt by Troy City Council president and disgraced former judge Henry Bauer to primary Cholakis.

Bauer is exactly the wrong person for the job, and the minor support he's receiving so far is testimony to the fact that even his closest associates and many friends are aware of his unelectability.

In a rare bit of humiliation, he was tossed off the Troy city court bench by the state's highest court for essentially depriving defendants of their rights.

There are those who might see this as a John Wayne-plus for a super aggressive DA, but it's really quite the opposite.

The rule of law is about following rules and procedures.

Trish DeAngelis could give Bauer a treatise on that.

Anyway, Bauer hasn't earned the voters' trust on this.

That's all we need to know.

Besides, Bauer and the Republicans have another, more pressing election problem: keeping City Hall and the City Council.

If Bauer were to make a serious run for DA, he would have to resign his City Council seat, making it vulnerable.

His colleagues, I suspect, will talk him out of it.

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

Comments

May 10th, 2007 6:07 pm

If only there were some group of professionals out there who could read through the Spitzer budget, the Comptroller’s report, and then explain to the public at large who’s being accurate.

Just daydreaming, I guess…

— Posted by Patience

May 11th, 2007 5:13 pm

When only experts or professionals can understand “government”, then what you have is an aristocracy, and here in NYS, that is something that we do not have, by intent!

We have a constitutional republic here in NYS, not an aristocracy!

According to our state Constitution, which is the “organic law” in the State of NY which governs how our government functions here in this state, there are no special qualifications for either governor or comptroller!

Both come “from the people”, which is us!

There is no special knowledge required of them to run for and hold office, such as was the case in imperial China, where one had to be a mandarin!

The Republic of Rome was ruled by an aristocracy, and there is no longer a Republic of Rome, and because of that history, which was known here in the State of New York at the time of separation from Great Britain back in 1776, we, the people of the State of New York consciously and intentionally chose to have a different form of government than that of the now-defunct Republic of Rome, one with more checks and balances in it than was the case in the now-defunct Republic of Rome, and one of the choices that we, the people of the State of NY made in our state Constitution was to have a comptroller separate from the excutive, a comptroller who is elected by the people, which is us, to oversee the budget process in the State of NY, because our history with unchecked executives has been quite dismal!

So, according to our state Constitution, the “tie” in this case of an argument between the executive and the comptroller would go to the comptroller, and that is precisely because we, the people wish it to be so, in ART. VII of our state Constitution!

Constitutionally speaking, we do not trust the governor, and so, we have someone not beholden to the governor to look over his shoulder and tell us some truth about the state budget!

And Tom DiNapoli has done so!

And Eliot Spitzer does not like that, nor does his man Paul Francis, but you know what?

Too damn bad for Eliot, and his man Paul Francis!

And so …

— Posted by Livyjr

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/0...ort-misleading/

ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONNECTION BLOG:

And it is indeed interesting that the subject of Mr. Richard McNally of Rensselaer County would turn up here in this open thread!

I was just over on another BLOG where issues of importance to Rensselaer County residents are discussed:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...mp;#entry716935

And lo and behold, a real blast from the past circa 1990 through November 30, 1992 concerning Mr. Richard McNally and his false prosecution of former Rensselaer County Associate Public Health Engineer Paul R. Plante was right there, staring me in the face!

Which makes me laugh right out loud when I read \”concerned citizen\” talk about “his substantial contribution to the citizens of Renssalaer as a prosecutor” ...

And so that everyone in here can judge for themselves, here is a copy of a transcript from that public website of Mr. McNally standing before then-Rensselaer County Criminal Court Judge M. Andrew Dwyer on November 30, 1992, being forced to admit that he had no evidence to substantiate his malicious prosecution of Plante in the various town courts of Rensselaer County from January of 1990 to that time, after Plante was the victim of a hit-and-run driver on liberty Lane in the Town of Poestenkill, Rensselaer County on December 29, 1989, a politically-connected hit-and-run driver who was then allowed to bring criminal charges in Poestenkill Town Court against Plante to cover up the hit-and-run, which charges McNally then prosecuted for him:

JUDGE: There is a MOTION on, that I might as well dispose of first.

That is PEOPLE v. PLANTE.

Apparently, it is pro se.

Mr. McNally, are you here for the PEOPLE?

This is a legal question.

I don’t see that argument is necessary!

MCNALLY: This is a Motion to Dismiss!

JUDGE: A Motion to Reargue a Motion to Dismiss!

[u]MCNALLY:[/b] I have no position, other than to say, the Court, in its previous position, left me without any recourse other than to not oppose a Motion to Dismiss, in my opinion!

JUDGE: That is your position?

MCNALLY: That is my position!

JUDGE: THEN YOU CONSENT TO THE DISMISSAL?

MCNALLY: I do, Judge, based upon the fact that the Court, in its previous Decision, left me with an untenable position at trial!

JUDGE: How closely did you read the decision?

MCNALLY: Very!

JUDGE: The District Attorney consented?

MCNALLY: It was the Court’s opinion at trial that there was other evidence out there, and I can affirm that there IS NOT OTHER EVIDENCE ON WHICH TO BASE A PROSECUTION AND THE COURT RULED THE EVIDENCE THAT WAS PRESENTED INSUFFICIENT, AND I HAVE NO OTHER EVIDENCE!

JUDGE: And you take the position that you have no further evidence, at all?

MCNALLY: No further evidence, Judge!

JUDGE: Then it is dismissed!

MCNALLY: (to PLANTE) Good job!

PLANTE: Thank you, Your Honor!

(Whereupon, matter concluded)

- EXCERPTED from pages 121-124 of the O’Connor BIBLE submitted to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City in this matter on behalf of defendant REPUBLICAN Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino and her co-defendants, in or about November of 2005

Comment by John Galt — May 11, 2007 @ 6:59 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4613#comments

"New York's moment"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Friday, May 11, 2007

The anticipation of 450 new research and development jobs in Albany, as part of establishing the headquarters of the computer chip company consortium known as Sematech, could easily be the moment in upstate New York's history when it regained the economic prominence it enjoyed in a very different and now obsolete era.

Just five years ago, Sematech's presence at the University at Albany consisted of 72 jobs.

It has since grown to 250 jobs.

Now the pending arrival of so many more specialized and high-paying positions -- jobs that are in the $80,000 to $100,000 range -- is best measured in all the additional employment and opportunity so likely to follow Wednesday's momentous announcement.

Clearly the state's investment of $300 million over five years is a shrewd one.

The state, in fact, will own the assets that Sematech will use, from equipment to intellectual property rights.

In the private sector, estimates are of hundreds of new, albeit smaller, companies creating thousands of jobs to meet the demands of shifting economy.

Because of Sematech, state officials predict, the risks of such ventures are lower.

An investment by Sematech itself, of $150 million in cash and $150 million in technology, will enable some $25 million to be invested in five more upstate universities to finance the research that generates growth and development in a modern and fast-paced economy.

Already state officials are talking about the related businesses that bringing Sematech to Albany could steer to the upstate's much less well-off cities, like Utica and Plattsburgh.

To understand the Sematech-to-Albany phenomenon in national terms, listen to state Assemblyman Ronald Canestrari of Cohoes. "Any time we get a reverse migration from the South to the North in terms of jobs, it's a real good day."

To reap such potential riches, though, will require all associated with Sematech, directly or indirectly, to act swiftly yet wisely.

Yes, Sematech is committed to operating in New York for at least seven years.

But time can be fleeting in an area of the economy that's built upon advancement and change.

Truly capitalizing upon what Sematech offers will require looking beyond it, to the next developments in computer chip and semiconductor technology.

More than anything, Sematech and the plans for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s computer chip manufacturing plant in Saratoga County bring this immediate and daunting challenge -- to manage growth on a perhaps unprecedented scale.

Sematech was first established and located in Austin, Texas, some two decades ago, when the city's population was in the process of doubling in just 15 years.

Upstate New York has had to contend with sprawl issues even as its population has been stagnant and its manufacturing-based economy has withered.

Local governments, which tend to be resistant to more regional-based approaches, will have to deal deftly with development pressures.

How will the region grow as it embraces the economic possibilities of the 21st century?

It's an exciting, if difficult, question to have to answer and to answer very, very soon.

"Report disputes Verizon millions - State audit finds company sought federal funds for 9/11 damage after collecting from its private insurer"

By COLEMAN COWAN, GRETCHEN CUDA, ELLEN GABLER and CHRISTOPHE R T, Special to the Times Union

First published: Sunday, May 13, 2007

A state audit report issued last fall found that Verizon claimed $118 million in federal aid to rebuild phone lines in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack even after the company had received cash for those same emergency repairs from its private insurance coverage.

Auditors found the company also tried to inappropriately claim $56 million for emergency repairs that should have been claimed as long-term repairs.

The government had offered to reimburse utilities in full for emergency repairs, but only for 75 percent of some permanent repairs.

The audit report, issued last September, found other questionable claims by Verizon and concluded that, in all, the company was not entitled to $230 million of a $280 million total claim against the federal government to cover emergency 9/11 repairs in lower Manhattan.

For months, state officials have kept the existence of the audit quiet.

The Times Union acquired a copy and shared it with students at the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University.

Verizon officials say the audit is wrong because the company's 9/11 insurance proceeds came in a massive lump-sum cash settlement that can't be directly attributed to its specific claims for 9/11 aid from the government.

After 9/11, Congress offered cash to reimburse utilities that suffered massive damage in the attacks so customers would not have to bear the costs.

Verizon lost 300,000 voice lines and four million data circuits in lower Manhattan and scrambled to restore communications service to the New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street firms and government offices in the weeks that immediately followed.

Years later, state officials began to audit Verizon's federal reimbursement claims for that emergency work.

Verizon officials deny wrongdoing and say the purpose of federal 9/11 aid for utilities was "to make us whole."

The company has appealed the state auditors' findings.

"If we were to recover all the money we applied for ... that, in combination with the proceeds from our insurance, still would not fully compensate us for our losses," said John Bonomo, Verizon spokesman.

Much of Verizon's claim centers on work to restore its nerve center for lower Manhattan in the Verizon Building at 140 West Street, adjacent to the World Trade Center site.

Six months after the 9/11 attacks, federal, state and local officials brokered a deal that created the federal Utility Restoration and Infrastructure Rebuilding Program.

It was to be administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and became part of a massive $20 billion promise of aid New York Sen. Chuck Schumer obtained from President George W. Bush.

The plan allocated a total of $750 million to rebuild utilities destroyed by the terrorist attacks, $250 million of which was allocated for emergency restoration of services by four utilities, including Verizon.

Under the rebuilding plan, emergency restoration expenses, called "Category One" costs, were 100 percent reimbursable.

"Category Two" costs, or permanent rebuilding expenses, were 75 to 100 percent reimbursable.

Between October 2003 and March 2004, Verizon submitted four claims for Category One emergency repair reimbursement totaling more than $280 million.

As with the other utility companies that submitted claims, Verizon's application was examined by Empire State Development Corp., which was given responsibility for overseeing distribution of the federal funds.

Last September's ESDC audit dealt only with Category One expenditures.

Meanwhile, Verizon received an $89 million advance from the federal government while state auditors reviewed its claim.

Eventually, auditors concluded that Verizon was entitled to less than $50 million for its Category One emergency rebuilding claims and that the remaining funds already paid in advance to the utility be deducted from aid still due it for permanent reconstruction covered under the program's so-called Category Two.

Much of the state's more than 200-page audit examines whether Verizon's claim for federal money had already been covered by its insurance.

The federal program prohibited utilities from claiming their privately insured losses.

Auditors found that Verizon failed to tell the federal government just how much a private insurance settlement paid the company for its emergency 9/11 repairs.

Claims already covered by insurance and non-emergency repairs that didn't qualify for full reimbursement weren't all that state auditors questioned.

They also disallowed almost $21 million in expensed straight time pay for employees and about $35 million for other costs that did not meet audit evidence standards.

In all, Verizon claimed more than $230 million more than the plan allowed and, as a result, collected almost $39 million more than it was entitled for emergency repairs, auditors concluded.

The auditors' report also said Verizon delayed or tried to obstruct the audit team's effort to document Verizon's claims.

"As the audit progressed, we encountered serious difficulties in obtaining information from Verizon on such key items as labor and insurance proceeds."

"During the course of the audit, the latter issue developed into the single most significant topic," the auditors wrote in their report.

It would take over a year for the auditors to obtain documentation of Verizon's $825 million insurance settlement for all its 9/11 damages, according to the audit report.

Schumer, who worked to bring federal aid to New York City after 9/11, had no immediate comment on the audit.

The audit report comes at a time when Verizon Chief Executive Ivan G. Seidenberg is being scrutinized by shareholder activists focusing on excessive payments to executives.

According to a recent survey by The Wall Street Journal, Seidenberg received $23.7 million in total compensation in 2006.

The New York Times recently reported that Seidenberg's equity holdings amount to more than $65 million.

After auditors made preliminary findings in 2005, Verizon argued that an inappropriately high standard of evidence had been applied in its reimbursement audit.

It also argued that detailed spreadsheets used in the insurance settlement process were improperly used by auditors as a line-by-line allocation of the insurance proceeds.

These claims were rejected by the audit team.

Verizon appealed the final audit report on Jan. 4, 2007, and that appeal is currently under consideration by Empire State Development Corp.

Avi Schick, Empire State Development Corp. president and chief operating officer, declined to comment publicly on the case.

The agency is considering detailed materials submitted by Verizon and the Sept. 19, 2006, report by state auditors is not necessarily the final word on the matter.

If an agreement is not reached, Verizon is expected to file a claim in state Supreme Court to force payment of its claims in full.

Schick and other state officials would not disclose what, if any, settlement with Verizon is being considered or say when a decision will be made on Verizon's appeal.

Coleman Cowan, Gretchen Cuda, Ellen Gabler and Christopher Twarowski are students at the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, which is part of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in Manhattan. They prepared this story under the supervision of Times Union Senior Editor Bob Port, who can be reached at 454-5064 or by e-mail at bport@timesunion.com.

RE: Avi Schick

http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/CBL/...dents_Brief.pdf

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...oplevGrasso.pdf

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

"Many flout donation limit, but election law lacks teeth"

Albany bureau

(May 9, 2007) — ALBANY — About 160 corporations and nonprofits apparently violated New York's limit on campaign contributions in 2006 elections, according to a report issued Tuesday by a coalition of good-government groups that studied corporate donations.

Some companies gave more than $5,000 but may not have violated the state's loose laws because the donation went to a campaign committee exempt from such limits.

The penalty for flouting the law?

Probably nothing.

The state Board of Elections doesn't have the power to fine contribution-limit violators.

All told, the corporations gave roughly $1.35 million, or about $542,000 more than they should have been limited to, the report said.

The Board of Elections has just one person assigned to investigate such issues, said Rachel Leon of Common Cause, one of the groups issuing the report.

Board of Elections spokesman Lee Daghlian defended its work but agreed with critics that the agency needs more staff.

Among the companies cited was Rochester Colonial, a door and window manufacturer, which gave $6,000 — $3,000 to Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and $3,000 to the county GOP committee.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p...90383/1002/NEWS

Albany, New York Times Union Capitol confidential

"High-Tech, Human Trafficking and Other Priorities Firming Up For Final Six Weeks"

May 9, 2007 at 12:33 pm by James M. Odato

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders tentatively agreed to come up with $300 million in a capital budget bill for Sematech II, the next phase of a huge high-tech consortium of research companies that is ready to move from Texas to the University at Albany.

The recruitment of Sematech from Austin, which won a bid for it two decades ago against other regions, including Albany, is expected to spur hundreds of jobs and increase population by thousands in the Capital Region, legislative officials said.

Spitzer, in a meeting with the Legislature’s top four leaders, revealed funding for Sematech is one of the top priorities of the remaining six weeks of the legislative session.

He urged lawmakers to get behind his $300 million plan for the computer chip research and development center for Sematech.

Spitzer had declined to reveal the project, which he put in his budget, until today, although the Times Union has been reporting Sematech as the recipient of the money he has been seeking.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said a bill supporting the project will be introduced in his chamber today.

It will call for $300 million over five years for Sematech, he said.

Silver said the uprooting of Sematech from Texas will result in 450 jobs coming to this region.

Already, Sematech employs 250 in Albany as a result of a facility the group opened a few years ago at the state university’s campus.

“And . . . factories spring up around it to create more jobs where the research is taking place,'’ Silver said.

There’s also a commitment to invest $5 million to five different upstate universities for allied research and development which stems from the Sematech program.

There will be a merit-based application process with the ability of R&D money.

“It’s phenomenal, they’re abandoning Austin to come to Albany,'’ said Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes.

“Any time we get a reverse migration from the South to the North in terms of jobs, it’s a real good day.'’

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, said his conference will support the Sematech investment.

But he said the package that includes the $300 million for Sematech must come with a big additional pot of money for other capital needs to spur economic development.

Spitzer said other priorities he has for the remaining session days include getting a deal for legislation that cracks down of human trafficking, reforms the campaign finance system, does away with unhealthy food in schools and rids video games of violent and sexually explicit content.

Bruno suggested holding off on campaign finance since his conference can’t go along with Spitzer’s program.

He also warned that now is not the time to get political and campaign for elections, but a time to strike deals on policies.

His priorities, he said, include a bill to institute the death penalty for cop killers, bring about $200 million in tax relief to senior citizens, resolve the racing franchise and protect some hospitals from being closed, such as Bellevue Woman’s Hospital in Niskayuna.

Silver said the Assembly wants to conference bills publicly with the Senate to iron out differences, but noted his chamber won’t be doing a death penalty measure.

Spitzer said he will call weekly five-way meetings to discuss progress, a move that delighted Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, who said he’s been waiting 25 years for such daylight in legislative negotiations.

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4600#comments

"Parole officers union seeks probe - Board's subpoenas of personnel questioned; federal aid sought"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Thursday, May 10, 2007

ALBANY -- Union leaders for state parole officers on Wednesday called for a federal investigation into the Division of Parole's use of subpoenas to access the private employee information.

The subpoenas were issued in the course of internal investigations, some of which resulted in disciplinary charges against parole officers.

The subpoenas were usually signed by the Board of Parole's chairman and used to obtain information such as personal telephone records or employee files from second jobs.

From 2002 to 2006, the agency issued 31 such subpoenas, according to data recently disclosed by the agency.

Those subpoenas were issued at a time when the division, under former Director Anthony G. Ellis, a State Police colonel, had significantly stepped up internal investigations, adding more than a dozen officers to the two-member internal affairs unit.

Parole officers contend investigators targeted employees who were outspoken union officials or suspected of leaking information about internal problems.

"We're here today to express our outrage of an abuse of power," said Ken Brynien, president of the Public Employees Federation, during a noon news conference on the steps of the Capitol.

Union leaders said attorneys are researching whether any laws were violated and whether the agency abused its subpoena powers.

A division spokesman recently said the agency has "ample legal authority" to subpoena information about officers who are under scrutiny for work-related matters.

The Times Union disclosed the agency's use of subpoenas last month as part of a report on how the division took no action against managers who incorrectly allowed felons to remain free and commit new crimes.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Court Rules for Grasso in Pay Case"

By LANDON THOMAS Jr.

Published: May 9, 2007

Finally, some good news for Richard A. Grasso.

In a decision yesterday that raises the legal hopes of Mr. Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, a New York appeals court dismissed four of six legal claims brought against him over his compensation.

The ruling may make it more difficult for the state to get Mr. Grasso to return a large portion of his $190 million pay package for his eight years as the exchange chairman.

Among the claims dismissed was a crucial one brought by Eliot Spitzer, then the attorney general for New York, which argued that Mr. Grasso’s pay was unreasonable under New York State’s nonprofit law.

Now, lawyers for the attorney general will have to prove in court that Mr. Grasso knew or should have known that his pay was unreasonable.

The five-judge panel, which voted 3 to 2, did not address last year’s decision by Justice Charles E. Ramos of State Supreme Court in Manhattan that Mr. Grasso must return as much as $100 million of his pay.

But the fact that the panel is raising questions about the attorney general’s authority to try several crucial portions of the case is sure to be seen as a positive development by Mr. Grasso and his lawyers.

The dismissal of a claim that Mr. Grasso received an illegal loan will almost certainly decrease the amount that he is being asked to repay.

“These four causes of action are not within the scope of the attorney general’s authority,” the majority opinion said.

In an earlier decision, Justice Ramos had refused Mr. Grasso’s motion to dismiss these claims.

The decision by the New York appellate division reverses that decision.

Jeffrey Lerner, a spokesman for Andrew Cuomo, the new attorney general, said that Mr. Cuomo was reviewing the decision and that he “expected to appeal” to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

The ruling is the latest in a long-running legal battle that has cost Mr. Grasso his job, run up an estimated $100 million in legal fees and sullied the reputations of some of corporate America’s top chief executives.

Now, almost four years after Mr. Grasso’s compensation first became public, the prospect of a settlement once again seems to have emerged.

“As these cases go, this matter is ripe for some kind of settlement,” said Robert A. Mintz, a securities lawyer and former prosecutor.

There had been no significant settlement discussions since Mr. Spitzer brought the case in 2004, as it became in many ways a personal battle of two headstrong men.

Mr. Cuomo has not yet embraced the case as publicly as his predecessor did, although he has appointed a lawyer in his office, Benjamin Rosenberg, to oversee it.

Mr. Lerner, the attorney general’s spokesman, refused to comment about the possibility of a settlement.

Mr. Grasso, who could not be reached for comment, has said on numerous occasions that he would not settle until he was vindicated.

Mr. Spitzer claimed in his lawsuit that the compensation that Mr. Grasso had accumulated from 1995 to 2003 as chairman was unreasonable.

With that claim dismissed, lawyers in the attorney general’s office are now likely to focus on the process of how Mr. Grasso was paid.

Indeed, the crux of Mr. Spitzer’s original case has always been that Mr. Grasso, in a premeditated fashion, conspired to withdraw his accumulated pay before another less-friendly board could come in and possibly raise questions about it.

In so doing, Mr. Spitzer charged, he took steps to keep board members in the dark about his soaring pension benefits.

That was the claim that Justice Ramos ruled upon last year and it became the basis for his demand that Mr. Grasso return a large portion of his pay.

Mr. Grasso has already appealed Justice Ramos’s decision, arguing that the stock exchange directors were informed about all aspects of his compensation.

Mr. Grasso’s lawyers have also argued that Justice Ramos did not have the authority to make the ruling that he did, and that the case should be heard instead by a full jury.

Yesterday’s decision, in effect, imposes a higher legal burden on the attorney general to prove that Mr. Grasso knew his pay was unreasonable and thus took steps to withdraw the money.

This may be difficult, as Mr. Grasso has provided ample evidence in depositions that stock exchange directors approved of his performance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/business...amp;oref=slogin

ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

In the TU article “Campaign donors overly generous - Groups call for state action; elections board says number of violators is likely less than report claims” by JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau, first published Wednesday, May 9, 2007, it was reported that three government reform groups found 161 cases of business donations exceeding campaign limits from the 2006 election cycle, and that one of those alleged offenders was the New York Society of Professional Engineers, which is a sort of LICENSED PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS’ GUILD that has somewhat murky origins and purposes, and does not represent nor speak for all licensed professional engineers in the State of New York ….

And being of the curious sort, myself, I went to this spreadsheet posted in here the other day of the alleged offenders:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pRI...rvwuXEXS_0eWGMA

And lo and behold, scrolling down a bit, there is GILBERTI STINZIANO HEINTZ & SMITH, 555 EAST GENESEE ST SYRACUSE NY 13202, Tarky Lombardi’s law firm from Syracuse, down there as an alleged offender, as well …

Of course, anyone from this area who has been involved in either extractive mining issues or garbage over in Rensselaer County will immediately recall the direct connection between “Diamond Bill” Gilberti, Esq. of GILBERTI STINZIANO HEINTZ & SMITH and the New York Society of Professional Engineers from the Dailey Mine hearings up in the Town of Hoosick in Rensselaer County in August of 1995 …

So, it’s kind of like an “Old Home Week” in here, seeing them back together again as alleged campaign cash violators on that spreadsheet …..

Although there is no “warm and fuzzy” feeling that comes from that, at all, given the political power that both wield here in the State of New York …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — May 10, 2007 @ 5:22 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=4606#comments

THE NEW YORK POST

"NOTHING'S CHANGING"

May 11, 2007 -- The news from Albany on Day 131 in the Age of Spitzer is uniformly good for the bad guys, and bad for the good guys.

As for the governor's plans to "change everything" - well, don't ask.

Indeed, the operative question now is: How much worse will New York get?

Consider:

* A report yesterday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli showed that the budget Spitzer produced last month was as reckless - and misleading - as any in recent state history.

Maybe even worse.

* On Wednesday, the capital's villains-in-chief - Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Local 1199) and Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver (D-Weitz & Luxenberg) - let on that they're plotting to undo one of ex-Gov. George Pataki's few worthy achievements: a plan to help rescue New York's tottering health-care system by closing unneeded hospitals.

That would be a breath-takingly cynical cave-in to the special interests - which is to say, totally in character for Bruno and Silver.

And precisely the sort of thing Spitzer promised to end.

Based on the record to date, he'll fail at that, too.

DiNapoli says he looked at the enacted budget and found $2.9 billion in spending that wasn't reported.

"It's very hard for taxpayers to understand how their tax dollars are being spent," DiNapoli said.

Talk about understatement.

The hidden outlays track to a pot that Spitzer and his legislative co-conspirators call "off-budget" spending.

But wasn't Gov. Fix-It going to make budgeting more transparent?

And wasn't he going to rein in runaway spending?

Well, it's every bit as much out of control now - probably more so.

As DiNapoli notes, total spending - that is, including all the secret stuff - will hit $124 billion this year, up almost $10 billion.

That's a mind-boggling jump of nearly 9 percent - more than three times inflation.

If you exclude federal funds, spending actually skyrockets almost 11 percent - some four times inflation.

Way to go, Eliot.

And then there's the hospitals.

Bruno and Silver are now pushing to forestall closings that they agreed to during Pataki's term.

The closings were meant to staunch some of the bleeding in state health-care outlays by trimming empty beds and wasteful overhead.

Lawmakers created an independent panel to say which would be closed.

That was supposed to be binding.

Ha!

The panel's report, Silver now says, "should not be the end-all and the be-all."

Even if he himself swore it would be.

See, the health-care union - which owns Silver and Bruno - sees hospitals (with or without patients) as a jobs bank.

It opposes the closings; thus, its legislative minions now do, too.

Spitzer, of course, says he won't let them prevail; his record says otherwise.

So: Can New York governance really get worse than it was under Pataki?

That's hard to imagine, but with Eliot "Everything Changes" Spitzer in charge, it's starting to look that way.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05112007/posto...editorials_.htm

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"About $2.9B worth of budget confusion"


BY JOE MAHONEY

DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

Friday, May 11th 2007, 4:00 AM

The state budget approved last month by Gov. Spitzer and the Legislature came in higher than initially reported and actually increases spending by $2.9 billion, the state controller said yesterday.

The $121 billion budget passed on April 1 now tips the scale at $123.9 billion, an 8.2% increase over last year, controller Tom DiNapoli said in his annual report.

DiNapoli said the governor and legislative leaders arrived at the lower budget amount by channeling some spending into the past fiscal year and listing certain spending for capital projects as "off-budget."

For instance, the final budget number did not include more than $231 million sent to a state energy authority that came from fees imposed on utility ratepayers, DiNapoli said.

"The state is running up its credit cards even though we have cash in our pockets," DiNapoli said, warning the state could face a gap of $3 billion next year.

But Spitzer's top budget adviser, Paul Francis, argued DiNapoli's assertions were "highly misleading" because the "off-budget" funding that was left out "historically has not been included as on-budget spending."

"The governor's reports on the enacted budget offered more detail than any budget in the past, providing taxpayers with an accurate portrayal of state spending," Francis insisted.

The Spitzer team, he stressed, was simply following the budget format used by former Gov. George Pataki and was not attempting to understate overall spending.

An expert on the state's fiscal condition sided with DiNapoli's budget picture.

"There is no question that spending is growing at an excessive and unsustainable level," said E.J. McMahon, of the conservative Manhattan Institute.

Whether the two sides will agree next year on what should be counted in-budget and what should be counted off-budget remains to be seen.

"We certainly will be happy to talk to them about whether these things should be off-budget," said Francis.

jmahoney@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/05/11..._confusion.html

"Intern policy sparks dust-up - GOP critic points to hiring as evidence of double standard in Assembly"

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

First published: Monday, May 14, 2007

ALBANY -- Assembly Republicans suspect Democrats who control the chamber are applying a double standard on how they deal with members who fraternize with interns.

Democrats say the Republican allegations are "a stretch."

The questions arise in the wake of a probe and sanctions against Republican Assemblyman Michael Cole of Alden, who was was publicly reprimanded and stripped of his ranking minority member title and $9,000 stipend after a unanimous recommendation from the bipartisan ethics committee.

Democratic Speaker Sheldon Silver implemented the recommendations.

Cole was censured for fraternizing with a 21-year-old female intern at an Albany sports bar and spending the night at her Albany apartment to sleep off his heavy drinking.

The young woman was fired, said Intern Committee Chairman Ronald Canestrari.

Unscathed was Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, who arranged the April 16 outing that drew Cole and the woman to Legends to root for the Buffalo Sabres in a playoff game.

Hoyt, along with other Assembly members, attended the gathering.

So did Hoyt's former intern, William B. Wadsworth.

Wadsworth had became Hoyt's committee clerk on March 22, payroll records show, making $1,600 every two weeks.

He'd been an intern since Jan. 2, making $450 every two weeks.

William Sherman, chief of staff for Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, said Assembly Republicans have been told they cannot hire their interns when their internship ends, at least not until after the legislative session is over.

At most, he said, those interns can be kept on as paid interns, subject to the anti-fraternization rules.

Hoyt, he said, got a break -- and got around the rules -- in being able to hire an intern midsession.

"It appears there's a potential for a coverup here," Sherman said.

Assembly employee rules say interns retain the title of intern for the remainder of the session "if employment is extended beyond the semester" -- typically the end of April or early May, said Silver spokeswoman Sisa Moyo.

The anti-fraternization policy, begun in 2004, adds that Assembly "employees" and interns who have prior existing relationships before the internship began are exempt from the policy.

The exemption doesn't include Assembly "members."

But Wadsworth, Moyo said, was a different case, because he left the intern program before finishing it.

That allowed him to be hired and no longer treated as an intern.

Hoyt said he he has known Wadsworth, 22, and his parents for years and treats him like a nephew.

He said he specifically asked Silver for the ability to hire Wadsworth after Silver appointed him chairman of the Local Governments Committee.

Canestrari said the complaints by Republicans "are a stretch" and called them "nonsense."

"If they have the resources, they can hire who they want to hire," he said.

Sherman doesn't see it that way.

"We're concerned about this in that I was told personally by the counsel for the speaker that an intern may not be hired for anything other than being an intern during the session," Sherman said.

He noted that Wadsworth's pay, worth $41,600 on an annual basis, is more than associate counsels in the minority are paid.

Canestrari pointed out that an intern for the minority's central staff was allowed to be promoted to an employee last year midsession.

But Sherman said that since the rules took effect in 2004, no intern working directly for an Assembly minority member has been allowed a promotion after the internship ended during session, despite requests.

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

And just in case anyone out there is looking for an opportunity to buy up some New York State politicians, the ones who are for sale or rent, by the minute, by the hour, by the day, or for the weekend, if you have the money, and are so disposed, we have:

"Albany fundraisers stir debate - Proximity to lobbyists unseemly, advocates of campaign reform say"

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

First published: Monday, May 14, 2007

ALBANY -- Assemblyman Vito Lopez's legislative work needs to end by early afternoon on May 31 if he wants to greet people paying up to $750 to shake his hand and help his re-election effort.

The veteran Democrat's fundraiser is at 6 p.m. in his Brooklyn district that Thursday, one of 65 days lawmakers are supposed to be in attendance in Albany this legislative session.

Dozens of his colleagues from the Senate and Assembly of both parties have arranged almost 100 such events this year, also on session days and, unlike Lopez, almost all in Albany.

The heavy scheduling of fundraisers during the first six months of this year -- the session months -- continues despite calls from within and outside the Legislature to knock it off.

The biggest motivation for doing them here: This is where the lobbyists are.

In this non-election year, the 212 lawmakers, as well as Gov. Eliot Spitzer, are busy talking about the pros and cons of campaign finance reform.

But they also are actively calling lobbyists, writing to special interest groups and pressuring each other to attend these fundraisers.

Even as Assembly Democrats and Spitzer tout bills that would end Albany-area donation drives during the session, the number of events in area restaurants, the size of donations requested and the frequency of invitations have not diminished.

To government reform activists, it is at best troubling.

To Senate Republicans, who don't like the reform proposals, it is the height of hypocrisy.

"It is a distasteful practice," said Russ Haven, of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"The division of what is fundraising and what is lobbying almost disappears."

Adds Rachel Leon, executive director of Common Cause:

"There is a problem debating the budget one hour and cozying up with lobbyists in the evening."

"I know it's too many," Spitzer said about Albany fundraisers.

"And I know we want to cut down on that."

"In an ideal world, we will get to public financing and none of this will happen."

Spitzer is pushing the Legislature to accept his broad campaign finance reform plan.

It includes ending session-day fundraisers in the capital as well as sharply restricting donation limits and banning contributions from limited liability corporations, used by wealthy people to get around individual limits.

Yet, his campaign staff in recent weeks has been pushing lobbyists and other likely donors to raise large sums of cash for the governor, strongly encouraging them to "bundle" donations of $10,000 apiece, the limit Spitzer has set for his campaign.

"I thought George Pataki's fundraisers were aggressive; they don't hold a candle to Eliot Spitzer's," said one lobbyist who requested anonymity because he has business before the governor.

He said lobbyists are getting repeated solicitations to bundle tens of thousands of dollars.

Another lobbyist, James Featherstonhaugh, called the capital ban idea "silly" and "cosmetic" and unfair to the Albany restaurateurs.

Spitzer has also engaged in session-night fundraising.

He headlined the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee's fundraiser in New York City on May 7, a session day.

Senate Democrats stayed in Albany as Senate Republicans were ready to criticize if any left the Capitol to join Spitzer.

The lower Manhattan event drew a few lobbyists and special interest representatives, but mostly urban professionals.

That same night, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee held a fundraiser at the Gideon Putnam Resort and Spa in Saratoga Springs.

Silver and committee Chairman Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes, said the site was chosen to honor the spirit of Silver and Spitzer's call to not do Albany campaign events during session.

The event called for donations of $500 or $1,000.

It drew many of the same lobbyists who attend Albany events and Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, who dislikes the proposal to ban fundraising in his city.

Silver said he realizes the move north probably was more symbolic than anything.

"It means more waiters work in Saratoga County than Albany County," said Assemblyman John McEneny, D-Albany, who attended.

"Changing the zip code is not reform."

Assemblyman James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, criticized the Albany ban proposal as he did Silver's Saratoga Springs event and Spitzer's June 7 birthday bash in Manhattan to raise funds.

Spitzer's campaign calls for donations of up to $10,000 per donor and promises special treatment of those who bundle up to $1 million.

"This concept of saying we're going to make reforms and using end-runs like bundling; let's close all loopholes."

"Let's not just create another set of loopholes," Tedisco said.

Tedisco also is planning to raise funds in New York City.

He's sending invitations to a "subway series" event, at $500 per individual or $1,000 per sponsor for tickets to a Yankees/Mets game at Shea stadium for the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee.

It's not on a session day.

Lawmakers who eschew Albany fundraisers say they do so at their own expense, however, because it's tough to do a district event that raises the kind of dollars easily available in Albany.

Assemblyman William Parment, D-Jamestown, who discontinued the practice, and Lopez, who has not held one in Albany in 22 years, say they lose contributions by not holding fundraisers here.

"It's a perception problem more than anything else, but a persistent perception problem," said Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, D-Queens, who raised about $3 million last year for the state Democratic Party.

He doesn't do Albany fundraisers and hopes campaign finance reform bans them.

"I'm hoping that would be the case one day so we can continue the very long road of restoring confidence in our state government," he said.

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

All in a session day's work

These are the top-priced fundraisers for days the Legislature was, or will be, in session:

CANDIDATE OR COMMITTEE DATE LOCATION COST/PERSON

Gov. Eliot Spitzer 6/7 Lighthouse at Chelsea Pier, Manhattan $1,000-$10,000

Democratic Senate Campaign Committee 5/7Woolworth Tower, Manhattan $1,000-$10,000

Lt. Gov. David Paterson 5/22 Penn Club, Manhattan $500-$10,000

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno 1/8 Franklin Plaza, Troy $1,000

Senate Republican Campaign Committee 2/5 Crowne Plaza, Albany $1,000

Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee 7/7 Gideon Putnam, Saratoga Springs $500/$1,000

Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece 3/5 University Club, Albany $500/$1,000

Assemblyman Vito Lopez, D-Brooklyn 5/31 Nina's Restaurant, Brooklyn $400/$750

Source: Various event lists

THE NEW YORK SUN

"An 'Impatient' Cuomo Eyes Spitzer's Job"

By JACOB GERSHMAN, Staff Reporter of the Sun

May 11, 2007

Now that Mayor Bloomberg has said he has ruled out a run for governor, speculation about who may challenge Governor Spitzer has turned to Attorney General Cuomo.

The possibility that Mr. Cuomo would mount an intra-party challenge to Mr. Spitzer, the man who redefined the office Mr. Cuomo now holds, was an absurdity as little as four months ago.

The common assumption was that Mr. Cuomo, reborn as a disciplined and self-effacing politician after a train wreck of a gubernatorial campaign in 2002, would bide his time for eight years before trying once more to follow his father into the governor's mansion.

In short order, the political landscape has shifted enough to glimpse the outlines of a plausible contest between the two Democratic figures in 2010.

Mr. Cuomo's political operation is apparently attuned to the changing perceptions.

A fund-raiser for the attorney general has been telling donors that Mr. Cuomo may be running for governor sooner than they think, a source close to Democratic Party leaders said.

Mr. Cuomo, 49, is an "impatient person," the source said.

"While he's enjoying being attorney general, he would rather be governor."

Asked about the alleged conversations, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo's political operation, Amy Dowell, said via e-mail:

"Andrew's only interest is running for re-election."

"Anyone saying anything else is simply wrong."

The notion of an accelerated Cuomo candidacy may not be so far-fetched for several reasons.

For one, Mr. Spitzer is no longer the most popular politician in state government.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll last month, he lost that title to Mr. Cuomo, whose investigation of the $85 billion student loan industry has put the attorney general on the national radar in a way reminiscent of Mr. Spitzer's Sheriff of Wall Street glory days.

Mr. Spitzer's job approval numbers have recovered somewhat in recent weeks, but they're still hovering around Mr. Cuomo's ratings.

Mr. Spitzer's frayed relations with organized labor could provide a strategic opening for Mr. Cuomo, one of whose top advisers in last year's race was Jennifer Cunningham, a high-level adviser to the 1199/SEIU health care employees union.

If Mr. Cuomo ran for governor, he probably would get the endorsement of the union, a powerful force in Albany politics.

Mr. Cuomo also has strong support with other labor unions, including New York State United Teachers.

The most intriguing developments go beyond poll numbers.

While Mr. Spitzer's relationship with the Senate and Assembly has been acrimonious almost from the start, Mr. Cuomo has been going out of his way to endear himself to lawmakers.

Mr. Cuomo had nothing but praise for Assembly Democrats who gathered to hear the attorney general speak at a private forum arranged by Speaker Sheldon Silver late last month.

Mr. Spitzer declined an invitation to speak at a similar event earlier in the year.

Mr. Cuomo told the lawmakers that they were "the best legislative body in the country," according to a member who was present.

"For thirsty legislators, it was swallowed with great glee," the lawmaker said.

"Just to have someone say nice things about us for a change."

Said the lawmaker:

"There's no doubt, if there was a vote taken by the Assembly conference, 90% of them would prefer Andrew Cuomo to Eliot Spitzer, which is unbelievable because Andrew Cuomo had never been popular with the Legislature."

Mr. Cuomo's fund-raising team may have tried to take advantage of the animosity.

The fund-raiser who suggested that Mr. Cuomo may run for governor after one term as attorney general made the calls during the height of the comptroller dispute between the governor and lawmakers in February, according to the Democratic source.

Having the backing of individual lawmakers is not insignificant.

While the body as a whole isn't too popular with the public, many of the members are tied in with local political organizations, county leaders, and grassroots and neighborhood opinion makers who play important roles in local races.

"A lot of these people are popular in their districts," the Democratic source said.

"If you accumulate the support of people who have grassroots behind them … then you have the potential of mounting a campaign."

Lawmakers have also noticed Mr. Cuomo's absence from the debate over campaign finance laws, an issue that has become the governor's top policy priority in the last weeks of session.

Mr. Spitzer is struggling to get lawmakers to agree to an overhaul of campaign finance restrictions, including an across-the-board reduction in limits and bans on certain forms of giving.

At any moment, Mr. Cuomo could have voiced support for Mr. Spitzer's plan and urged lawmakers to pass the legislation.

Instead, the attorney general — to the disappointment of the Spitzer administration — has decided thus far to stay on the sidelines.

"The attorney general is a strong advocate for public campaign finance, and that's where he stands," a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, John Milgrim, said.

http://www.nysun.com/article/54252?page_no=1

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Exclusive

"Your neighbor? State 'loses' 4,391 parolees"

BY JOE MAHONEY

DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

Monday, May 14th 2007, 4:00 AM

New York has lost track of nearly one of every 10 paroled felons - criminals who have been released from prison but are now missing or on the run, according to a Daily News analysis.

These 4,391 so-called parole absconders are jail-hardened cons who pose a serious threat to public safety as they try to avoid a return to prison, according to law enforcement experts.

"These are the baddest of the bad - people who just don't want to go back inside," said Paul Ragonese, a retired NYPD detective who trains FBI agents on counterterrorism and dealing with weapons of mass destruction.

The missing parolees include many violent felons convicted of rape and murder.

And they're on the lam despite the efforts of the Division of Parole, which is responsible for about 49,000 paroled convicts, officials said.

"Parole officers continually put forth diligent efforts to apprehend absconders," said Mark Johnson, spokesman for the Division of Parole.

The division has 33 officers designated to work with federal marshals, city cops and state troopers in trying to hunt down the most violent fugitives.

In many cases, parolees who go missing are quickly nabbed, Johnson said.

The median length of time from when a warrant is issued to the point when a fugitive is netted is 49 days, Johnson said.

Still, The News found many convicts on the Division of Parole's most wanted list have been on the run for years.

Consider reputed mobster Joseph (Joey) Quartieri, 58, who was on parole in 1979 when he was charged with breaking into a Long Island jewelry shop and trying to gun down a cop.

A short time later, he escaped from the Nassau County Jail and has been a fugitive ever since - even though surveillance pictures lead authorities to believe the stocky, low-level, Gambino crime family associate may have attended the funeral of boss John Gotti in 2002.

Then there's Andre Neverson, 43, a burly immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago who authorities said has gotten even more violent after his attempted-murder conviction.

In 2000, after serving a five-year prison term, Neverson was deported, only to slip back into the country.

He's now wanted on murder charges for a grisly, two-day crime spree in 2002, when cops believe he shot his sister Patricia Neverson in Brooklyn, then beat to death his ex-girlfriend Donna Davis in Queens.

He was featured 10 times last year on "America's Most Wanted," but cops continue to come up empty-handed.

Union leaders say one surefire way for the state to find more bad guys is to beef up its staff.

"They could hire a lot more parole officers and put them on the streets to go after the absconders," said Darcy Wells, spokeswoman for the Public Employees Federation, which represents New York parole officers.

jmahoney@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file...1_parolees.html

NEWSDAY - Politics

"SPINCYCLE: Comptroller pension control ending soon?"

DAN JANISON

dan.janison@newsday.com

May 14, 2007

The question of whether New York's massive pension system should remain under the sole trusteeship of the state comptroller might be decided by official probes now under way.

It depends on whether these investigations turn up abuses under former Comptroller Alan Hevesi that were clearly rooted in one-man control.

If so, some state leaders would probably push to diffuse the comptroller's unique pension powers by creating a trustee board, insiders say.

Others warn that a board could make matters worse.

If legislative leaders and unions get to pick appointees, they could find ways to treat the $147 billion system as a piggy bank for pet investments, these skeptics say.

Under recent comptrollers this Common Retirement Fund, guided by professional staffers and advisers, outperformed New York City pension funds run by boards of elected officials and union officers, defenders say.

Also, there could be legal obstacles to establishing a state board.

But Mitchell Moss, a professor at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service, contends that "because the authority of the state comptroller is so vast, and is subject to so little oversight, it creates potential for abuse far more substantial than anything we've seen so far."

Moss recommends a board consisting of the comptroller, the governor, and an independent financial expert, with a monitoring body that includes other elected officials and unions.

VARIED AGENDAS:

Carrying out these investigations are the staffs of Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who late last year got Hevesi to plead guilty to a felony and step down.

DiNapoli needs to show distance between himself and the scandal that preceded him, so he's appointing an inspector general for his department and creating new accounting systems.

He also has tapped lawyer Bridget Rohde, former criminal division chief for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York, to oversee a review of the role of Jack Chartier, who was Hevesi's chief of staff, it was reported last week.

Soares was said for months to be looking into Chartier's providing state rides for actress Peggy Lipton, once of TV's "Mod Squad."

Also eyed: dealings that purportedly involved longtime Hevesi consultant Hank Morris and venture capitalist Eliot Broidy.

To date only Hevesi has been charged.

Cuomo talks of a broader mission.

"It's not about one person," he told reporters last week.

"That's the tip of the iceberg in some ways, and it is about very troubling, serious systemic conflicts of interest in the comptroller's office."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisla...itics-headlines