The firefighters’ union wants a state Supreme Court justice to annul the September appointment of the fire chief because the union claims he is unqualified.

Frank Ramos, president of the Uniform Firefighters Association, Inc. of Mount Vernon, filed an Article 78 suit on Jan. 12 asking the court to declare Mayor Clinton Young’s Sept. 22 appointment of Al-Farid Salahuddin arbitrary and an abuse of discretion.

An Article 78 proceeding is a way of having the court rule on whether a municipality has followed the law when it comes to hiring or firing personnel.

The union wants the court to force Young to chose a new fire chief from among six deputy fire chiefs.  The union claims that Salahuddin has not passed the necessary Civil Service examinations.

The union’s court filings also accuse Mount Vernon officials of not following the city’s Civil Service hiring rules for a fire chief, which stipulate that a fire chief must have one year of experience as a paid deputy fire chief prior to being appointed chief.

Mount Vernon’s corporation counsel refers media inquiry’s to Young’s chief of staff Yolanda Robinson, who could not be reached this afternoon for comment. Salahuddin could also not be reached for comment.

The Journal News learned about the union’s lawsuit during a routine check of court filings this morning.

Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, just spoke on the Senate floor in favor of a resolution urging President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder not to hold the 9/11 terrorism trials in New York City. Doing so would put people’s lives in danger and be too costly.

“Trying these individuals in lower Manhattan goes beyond the pale. There is no area of our country that has suffered more than those few square blocks. They have suffered in terms of lost lives, lost dreams, and of course, the economy,” said Leibell, who introduced the legislation.

Leibell suggested that anywhere in the state would not be a good place to have the trials. He said the trials would not be appropriate in any civilian court.

Sen. Daniel Squadron, a Democrat who represents lower Manhattan, said he agrees with Leibell that the trials should not be held in New York City. However, he voted against the resolution because he believes they should take place in civilian court, he said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others are vociferously against having the trials in Manhattan and have asked for federal officials to reconsider their decision.

Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, is on the hotseat in the Senate today, as colleagues prepare to vote on whether they will censure or expel him for his misdemeanor assault conviction in a domestic-violence incident. The Senate is planning to take up a resolution this afternoon on the matter.

Monserrate was the focus of media attention as he walked through the halls outside the Senate. He told one group of reporters that he would have a formal statement following whatever action is taken in the Senate.

When asked if he expected to be a member of the Senate tomorrow morning, he said, “I expect to be a member of the Senate for many, many years.”

He told another group of reporters that only the voters could remove him from office:

“I’m going to go back to work right now. That’s what I’m here for. I’ve already made the statement that the issue clearly is much broader than I. The issue is about justice, law and order, process, and at the end of the day, that’s what has to be protected—the will of the people, the voters.”

The special election for the 89th Assembly District will be tomorrow, along with three other Assembly special elections in Suffolk, Queens and Nassau counties.

Two candidates are running for the 89th seat, which was vacated in January by Adam Bradley when he became the mayor of White Plains. Whoever wins the seat would have to run again in the statewide general election this November.

Peter Harckham, 50, of Katonah, is running on the Democratic and Working Families party lines. Harckham was just voted into his second term as a Westchester County legislator and is president and founder of Harckham Media Group, an advertising firm.

Robert Castelli, 60, of Lewisboro, is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines. He was a Lewisboro councilman for four years, until 2003. After working 21 years for the state police, he is currently a criminal justice professor at John Jay College and a security and media consultant.

Unofficial results for the race will be posted on the Board of Elections Web site after polls close, at westchestergov.com/boe.

For more info, click here for a piece I wrote on the race in today’s paper.

We noticed that all the Yonkers City Council laggards in filing state campaign financial disclosure reports are Democrats.

The January 2010 report should have been filed on Jan. 11, and as of today there are no such filings on the state Board of Elections’ Web site by Patricia McDow, D-1st District, and Wilson Terrero, D-2rd District.

Terrero, who was elected to the council in November, also has not filed his 27-Day Post-General report, which was due on Nov. 30.

City Council President Chuck Lesnick, also a Democrat,  was reelected in November and he is current on all his filings, as are the three Republicans on the council, two of whom were elected in November.

In an earlier version of the posting I incorrectly reported that Joan Gronowski, D-3rd District, had not filed her 2010 declaration, but her committee filed a termination with the state Board of Elections on June 30, 2009. She has no current registered committees and she is not required to make any filings as of June 30.

   It’s been one anonymous source or rumor after another at the Capitol for days now. All of them have to do with Gov. David Paterson and alleged indiscretions and whether that might force him out of office. Everything centers around the New York Times, which is said to be working on an enlightening story about Paterson.

   Paterson’s office has sought to quell any rumors. This is a statement from Peter Kauffmann, a spokesman for the governor:

   “This is a new low even by the standards of planet Albany. The circus of the past week—entirely fabricated out of thin air and innuendo—is an embarrassment for all who have played a role in feeding it.”   

   Rick Lazio, who is seeking the GOP nomination to run for governor this year, came to Paterson’s defense with this statement:

   “The rumors about the Governor are a sad reflection of Albany politics. No public official deserves to be the subject of over a week of innuendo and nasty speculation. If the New York Times is working on or has a story then they should confirm or print it. If they do not, then they have an obligation to stop this rumor mongering right now. Common decency demands it.”

    Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. just announced legislation he is proposing that would require immediate expulsion for any lawmaker who was convicted of certain “egregious” Class A misdemeanors. They include third-degree assault; sexual misconduct; second-degree sexual abuse; fifth-degree arson; second-degree aggravated harassment involving physical contact; endangering the welfare of a chid; and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled bill.

   “By ratifying this proposed bill, we would eliminate vague language and strengthen the current Public Officers Law, as well as obviate the need for burdensome and costly investigatory and administrative procedures,” Espada said.

   Espada said the bill would not be retroactive or in any way affect what is being contemplated for Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, who was convicted of misdemeanor assault on his girlfriend. Senators are considering a vote to expel or to censure Monserrate this week. State Public Officers law requires immediate expulsion for any member convicted of a felony. It is open to interpretation for a misdemeanor, according to Espada, who wants to clarify that area of the law.

   Monserrate was found not guilty in connection with the domestic-violence incident in December 2008. He took office in January 2009. Espada said his legislation would be for actions committed after the legislator took office. In the case of Monserrate, they wouldn’t apply.

   Espada, a member of the informal legislative group the “amigos” with Monserrate and others, said he does not plan to vote for expulsion. Asked if he would approve a censure of his colleague, he said he had not seen a resolution to do that and would have to see how it was worded before deciding how he would act.

From Jon Campbell of the Albany Bureau:

   More than 300 members of a pair of education unions came together for a rally against Gov. David Paterson’s proposed cuts to the State University of New York system and his higher-education reform plan.

   Professors, administrators, students, and others held signs that read “SOS: Save Our SUNY” and “Stand up for SUNY” as leaders from United University Professions and New York State United Teachers spoke out against Paterson’s plans. They said his reform plan would have disastrous effects on SUNY.

   “I’m not trying to scare people, but I think (the cuts are) going to kill SUNY,” UUP President Phillip Smith, pictured below, said after the rally. “It is abandoning public higher education all together.”

   The governor’s budget would cut SUNY’s operating budget by $118 million and cut the Tuition Assistance Plan by $75 a student. It would give SUNY the authority to set its own tuition—and increase it annually—without needing approval from the Legislature. SUNY would have more autonomy in purchasing and other areas. 

   Speaking during the rally, Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, said Paterson’s plan to give the SUNY system added independence from the Legislature, including giving individual schools the ability to set their own tuition, would decrease the system’s transparency.

   “There’s no question that we have to use creative planning,” McEneny said, “but to turn things over to the university system with no oversight is not a good idea. Bring it before the Legislature and let the public look at it. Then we’ll decide whether it makes sense or not.”

   Smith said the higher-education reform plan would only lead to problems for the SUNY system.

   “We have seen what has happened in our financial industry when deregulation has occurred; the federal government has been asked to bail them out,” Smith said. “What’s going to happen four or five or 10 years down the road? The state is going to be asked to bail SUNY out, so let’s not even go down that road.”

While looking through the New York State Board of Elections’ Web site for the 2010 January Periodic Reports, we noticed that former Yonkers Councilman Liam McLaughlin received $7,215 in contributions, many in December.

So is he running for something?

Yesterday McLaughlin, a senior associate attorney at Bashian & Farber in White Plains, said he’s not, for now.

“I would have a hard time believing I’m out of politics,” said McLaughlin, a Republican who represented the city’s Fourth District.

McLaughlin explained that the money he raised was to pay for his retirement party from the Yonkers City Council and to support other causes. He said he has no plans to run for any office, citing his wife and three-year-old child as two great reasons to spend nights at home instead of at public hearings or meetings.

Still, McLaughlin said he would like to represent Yonkers in the state senate or in the county legislature.

County lawmakers must act quickly and not overstudy having workers pay a portion of their health care costs — it’s a common practice, the head of a business organization said today.

Having nonunion managers pay 15 percent of their health premiums is an obvious and necessary step in reining in the rising cost of government, said William Mooney, president of the Westchester County Business Association.

“What we’re calling for today is action, not another study. We don’t have time for another study,” Mooney said, standing in front of the county office building on Martine Avenue. “We’ve got to trim the cost of government right now, not next week, not six months from now.”

County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, proposed the measure last month — one that is considered to be a preview for union negotiations — as one of many ways to fend-off a fiscal crisis and looming budget gap.

Astorino’s plan affects just under 400 workers and would save $1.2 million a year.

The county Board of Legislators is considering the concept.

Earlier in the week, board members discussed, and then put-off a vote on an alternative proposal to have some workers under the county executive’s purview pay a percentage of their health package. The plan excluded the District Attorney’s Office, Westchester Community College, the county clerk, the Board of Elections, the county Board of Legislators and the judiciary.

It was criticized as rushed, watered down and not thought out.

Responding to concerns, Chairman Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat, formed a committee to find ways to provide quality care at a better price; its first meeting is tomorrow.

Jenkins, who has said taxpayers deserved real relief and leadership, not “politics as usual with officials playing fast and loose with the numbers,” welcomed WCA’s involvement.

“We have a legitimate opportunity to create a comprehensive and thorough plan and it must be done expeditiously,” Jenkins said.

The new temporary committee, which has a March deadline, will tackle broader issues such as finding larger savings by offering different health plans, pretax savings accounts, contribution tiers and incentives for workers to opt out.

That could mean savings of $15 million to $20 million, Jenkins said.

“The legislators need to act and demonstrate to taxpayers that they are sincere in their efforts and are willing to be part of the shared sacrifices they all talk about,” Mooney said.

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