Politics on the Hudson

Caroline Kennedy also did an interview with NY1 that is airing tonight at 7.

She said her late mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis would “roll her eyes” about her aspirations to succeed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her late brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., “would be laughing his head off” about her running for the job.

For her mother, Kennedy said “she would roll her eyes about the whole thing but she was an incredible patriot herself and I think she would be really proud that I’m doing this.”

She rejected criticism that she’s running on her family name.

“If my last name weren’t Kennedy, maybe I would have run for office a long time ago,’’ she said.

She was unfazed by Rep. Gary Ackerman likening her to J-Lo.

“I admire the journey J-Lo has traveled. I’ve been to a school in the Bronx near the house she grew up in and so I actually have a lot of admiration for her, and she looks pretty good. But in terms of public policy and as we spend our adults lives, I don’t think there is really much we have in common.”

Kennedy said she didn’t have a good excuse on why she didn’t vote in several elections.

As for working the whole state: “I could race Chuck Schumer around all 62 counties and, you know, we’ll see who wins.”

The Associated Press appears to have gotten the first sit-down interview with Caroline Kennedy. Here’s what they’ve put out so far:

NEW YORK (AP) — Caroline Kennedy tells The Associated Press she will have to work twice as hard as others if she is picked for the U.S. Senate.

Kennedy sat down with the AP on Friday for her first sit-down interview since she expressed interest in being appointed to the seat held by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

She called herself “an unconventional choice” and said she knows she’ll have to work hard to prove herself because of her famous name.

Kennedy’s name first surfaced as a contender for the post in early December after President-elect Barack Obama nominated Clinton to be secretary of state. Since then, Kennedy has largely avoided the media.

While he doesn’t live in Albany full-time, Gov. David A. Paterson and First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson announced today that they “will continue the New Year’s Day tradition of opening the doors of the Executive Mansion in Albany to the public.”

The Executive Mansion Open House will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 1

Tickets to the open house are available by applying online here.

Registration ends Dec 29 at 5 p.m.

The governor’s office plans to have a lottery if the number of requests become excessive, his office said. One ticket allows you to bring a guest and child.

And the governor’s office offered this warning: “Guests are reminded that bags, backpacks, luggage, parcels, briefcases, and like articles will be strictly prohibited from the event sites. Weapons of any kind will not be permitted on the premises. Additionally, no photography will be allowed. Guests with prohibited articles will be turned away at the entrances, and no storage or “check-in area” will be provided for such items.”

It’s unclear why people can’t take pictures, but we’re checking with the governor’s office.

Updated: The governor’s office said that it has long been protocol that the governor doesn’t take pictures with people visiting the mansion for security reasons.

“Restricted use of photography is a long standing policy for all public tours at the Mansion. It was put in place to ensure the integrity of the security for the Governor and his family,” said spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein.

Governor Paterson returned to New York this afternoon from his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit U.S. troops and again was asked about speculation regarding who he will pick to replace Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He rejected a reporter’s suggestion that Caroline Kennedy is the front-runner and said he is weighing the qualifications of all the candidates interested.

“I assure you, no person will influence me, coerce me or in any way cause me to do anything other than what is my best judgment,” Paterson said.

He reiterated that he and Rep. Steve Israel, who is interested in the Senate seat, agreed not to talk about the seat during their trip together to Iraq and Afghanistan, but did talk about it after media reports circulated about whether the trip would give Israel a leg up against other candidates.

Paterson said all the speculation was “sounding more like the prelude to a high-school prom than the choosing of the United States senator. And we found it rather amusing. But we were much more engrossed with the plight our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

But at one point he said that Israel is among ‘’highly qualified” candidates for the job. The two left the press conference arm in arm.

Paterson added that all the attention to the appointment “is a a bit superfluous,” but that it’s everyone’s right to comment about it.

President-elect Barack Obama thanks the U.S. troops and military families, and offers these words during the weekly address:

“These are also tough times for many Americans struggling in our sluggish economy. As we count the higher blessings of faith and family, we know that millions of Americans don’t have a job. Many more are struggling to pay the bills or stay in their homes. From students to seniors, the future seems uncertain.

“That is why this season of giving should also be a time to renew a sense of common purpose and shared citizenship. Now, more than ever, we must rededicate ourselves to the notion that we share a common destiny as Americans – that I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper. Now, we must all do our part to serve one another; to seek new ideas and new innovation; and to start a new chapter for our great country.

“That is the spirit that will guide my administration in the New Year. If the American people come together and put their shoulder to the wheel of history, then I know that we can put our people back to work and point our country in a new direction. That is how we will see ourselves through this time of crisis, and reach the promise of a brighter day.”

The full address is here:

New Yorkers are fizzling on the state’s proposed “obesity tax” on soft drinks, though they support efforts to increase taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, a Quinnipiac Poll found today.

Sixty percent of voters oppose Gov. David Paterson’s idea to hit drinkers of soda and other sugary beverages with an 18 percent tax on purchases. Even diet-soda drinkers aren’t happy: 58 percent don’t want the tax.

The proposal was one of about 137 new taxes and fees that Paterson proposed last week as a way to close a $15.4 billion budget gap over two years. Seventy-three percent of voters support increasing taxes on cigarettes, while 67 percent agree with increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages.

While 88 percent of voters agree with Paterson that the state has a budget crisis, his plan to cut aid to schools and hospitals and raise taxes and fees isn’t sitting well with the public, the Quinnipiac poll found.

The budget battle has knocked Paterson’s approval rating from 64 percent to 53 percent since August, and by a 46 percent-to-40 percent margin oppose the way he is handling the state’s fiscal woes.

“Voters aren’t swallowing the proposal to tax non-diet soft drinks, the so-called ‘fat tax,’” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“But Gov. David Paterson has won the bigger argument: Almost everyone agrees the state is in lousy shape.”

By a 53 percent to 36 percent margin, voters would rather cut services than raise taxes. New York has the
highest local and state tax burden in the country.

Yet 84 percent of voters—including 72 percent of Republicans—support raising the state income tax on millionaires, consistent with other recent polls on the issue. Paterson has not proposed raising income taxes on the wealthy, but has said it may be an option in the future.

In looking to cut state services, 65 percent of New Yorkers said Paterson should cut economic development aid, while only 10 percent want education or health-care funding cut.

From Dec. 17 through 21, Quinnipiac University surveyed 834 New York registered voters, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

New Yorkers oppose any new tax on soda and overwhelmingly say millionaires should pay more, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

Voters oppose a “fat tax” on non-diet drinks 60-37 percent, according to the poll and back a millionaires tax by a 6-1 margin.

New Yorkers also approve of the job Gov. Paterson is doing, though they disapprove of his handling of the budget.

To read more on the poll, log on here.

Governor Paterson, who talked to reporters this afternoon in Germany on his way back from Iraq and Afghanistan, said there is no rush to picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s successor, saying Clinton is the senator until she is confirmed as secretary of state.

“I don’t feel rushed by any of this process,” he said, beating back calls from Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday that Paterson should make the pick sooner rather than later because the criticism of Caroline Kennedy.

“What I’m trying to do is meet with all the candidates and figure out which one would best serve New York,” he said.

Paterson brushed off questions from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver this morning that Kennedy would be beholden to Bloomberg, not Paterson, if she’s picked because of Bloomberg’s tacit support.

“We have reached a new high and a new low in the areas of gossip, speculation, mind reading and otherwise information that I always wonder where the source of this comes from,” he said. “I don’t even know what to say.”

He added, “What I’m trying to keep away from is lobbying, coercion and distracting information. I’m sure everybody has an opinion and pretty much everyone is not opposed to expressing it.”

Paterson, meanwhile, talked more about his trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the gratitude he has for the U.S. troops he met with since he landed in Iraq on Sunday.

Paterson and Reps. Steve Israel and Anthony Weiner toured Afghanistan today and met with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sent an Happy Holidays email to supporters this afternoon, saying “I know that I am forever changed because of the journey you and I shared. It goes without saying that we have a lot to look forward to in the coming year.”

Dear Friend,

I couldn’t let this holiday season pass by without taking the time to thank you for all the wonderful support you’ve given me. I’ve received so many kind messages in the last few weeks, and I can’t tell you how much your friendship means to me.

As I celebrate the holidays with my family, I’ll be thinking about all our wonderful memories from the past year. I hope you’ll take the time to remember all the things we accomplished together and all the lives we touched.
Even in the midst of great challenges here at home and around the world, we know change is coming and there is reason to have hope for a brighter future.

Thank you so much for everything, and I hope you have a very happy holiday season!

Sincerely,

Hillary

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today announced criminal charges against state Division of Parole Chairman and CEO George Alexander after an investigation found that he allegedly stole a government computer in 2007.

Alexander, who resigned his post Friday, was arraigned before Buffalo City Court Judge Jeffery Voekl on charges of fourth-degree grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

“The equation is simple: in order to serve the public, officials must obey the law,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Alexander, of Buffalo, served as director of the Erie County Probation Department
until February 2007 when he took over at the state division of parole. But before he left Erie County, he allegedly took a new Gateway M285-E laptop computer to his home.

Cuomo said the laptop, valued at $1,700, was purchased with state grant funds and was intended to be used in connection to a youth violence reduction program grant.

But an investigation by multiple agencies found that the computer was at Alexander’s home and being used for personal use.

The Inspector General’s investigation found that “personal correspondence of Alexander’s son, family photographs, adult content and other personal files had been deleted a day before he surrendered.”