Perhaps an indication that Muriel Howard, president of Buffalo State College, is indeed in the running for chancellor of the State University of New York is that she recently resigned from SUNY’s search committee. The panel has been looking for a permanent chancellor to replace John Ryan, who resigned in May 2007. Howard resigned from the committee Dec. 31, according to a SUNY spokeswoman. (Her biography on Buffalo State’s Web page apparently has not been updated. It states that she has been a member of the committee from 2007 to the present.)

   Howard, who has been named in published reports as a candidate for chancellor, has been president of Buffalo College since 1996 and is the first woman to hold that position. As a member of the SUNY search committee, Howard signed a confidentiality pledge. By doing so, she certified that she was ”personally not a candidate for chancellor, nor shall I become a candidate.”

   Nancy L. Zimpher, president of the University of Cincinnati, has been approached by SUNY about the chancellor vacancy, a spokesman for the president said recently. He added that it’s not uncommon for Zimpher to receive inquiries like that and she sees it as an indicator of the University of Cincinnati’s success.

   Zimpher has been president of the University of Cincinnati since 2003. Like Howard, she is the first woman to be in the job.

   Carl Hayden, chairman of SUNY’s Board of Trustees, said this week that the search was nearing completion. The search committee held a meeting Wednesday. Ryan, the last chancellor, earned $340,000 a year, plus the use of a car, driver, a residence in Albany and an apartment in New York City. John Clark was interim chancellor until Dec. 31. Earlier this month, John O’Connor, vice chancellor and secretary of the university, was appointed officer in charge of SUNY.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has posted on her campaign Web site a copy of the 25-page questionnaire she filled out in order to be considered by Gov. David Paterson for appointment to the Senate.

There also is a copy of the two-page resume she submitted to Paterson.

The documents don’t reveal anything surprising about Gillibrand, who described her health as “excellent.’’

Paterson has said he had used the questionnaires merely as a way to find out if there was anything in a candidate’s background to disqualify him or her.

Some of Gillibrand’s entries on the forms are blackened out because they contain confidential information such as her Social Security number, the balance on her mortgage, her street address and her cell phone number.

Gillibrand indicated she has employed household help, but paid taxes on their wages and verified their legal right to work in the United States.

She also signed a notarized document authorizing the governor’s office to conduct a criminal background check. A second notarized document authorized the Committee on Judicial Conduct and various bar associations to release any records regarding her rating and performance as an attorney.

The only legal proceeding she was personally involved in was brought by her insurance company against a storage facility. The building in which she was storing her personal belongings burned down in November 2002. The lawsuit was filed after the insurer paid her claim.

The Web site is: www.kirstengillibrand.com

Gov. David Paterson is holding his second upstate town-hall meeting now since his State of the State address earlier this month.

He’s in Johnstown, Fulton County, a place with a roughly 9 percent unemployment rate. He’s heard about the troubles facing the middle class, and one woman asked him not to further burden homeowners by more fees and taxes.

But Paterson warned that the state’s fiscal problems are real, saying the state faces a $15.4 billion budget gap and that the state provides billions more to Washington than it receives back.

He’s receiving a better response, however, that he’s gotten in recent weeks.

Asked by a show of hands if they support Paterson’s pick of Albany area Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand for the Senate seat, the overwhelmingly majority of audience members raised their hand in approval. Only maybe three people raised their hand that they didn’t like the selection.

The moderator, local radio show host Bob Cudmore, joked that isn’t Paterson happy he’s not in New York City.

Paterson responded, “I live in Manhattan. People in Manhattan are going to have to get over it” that he picked Gillibrand.

It was dubbed a “Legislative Speak Out,” presumably so that senior citizens could talk about how they are affected by state and federal cuts.

One after another, local, state and county leaders spoke of the challenges they face with the tanking economy and the state’s $15 billion budget deficit.

Tough times, fewer dollars and the need for more for seniors were among the themes — all the officials said seniors should lobby their leaders. After-all, Republicans and Democrats alike support senior programs, they said.

It wasn’t until 2 hours and 15 minutes into the senior session, however, that a member of the public actually chimed in. When she did, the microphone didn’t work — few people heard her.

This reporter, sitting in the back of the room, heard a few sighs and even saw a woman in the audience nod off, as the seemingly endless parade of pols basically repeated what the one before them said. Tough times, work together, lobby your leaders.

Some officials didn’t even stay for the public portion — they left soon after they made their remarks. Busy day, other meetings to attend.

So much for the “speak out.”

County Executive Andy Spano was tops in fundraising among pols in the Lower Hudson Valley. The Democrat, in fact, was ranked 21st out of 2,400 in the state with $1.4 million, according to a state watchdog group, and far ahead of his Republican opponent, Rob Astorino, is raising cash for his campaign. 

Astorino, however, says he doesn’t need that much to beat Spano.

Want to know why? Read the full story here.

Several hundred academic and professional faculty with United University Professions, along with members of their affiliate, New York State United Teachers, urged elected officials today to reverse proposed cuts to the State University of New York budget.  SUNY, a 64-campus system that includes three hospitals, is reeling from nearly $215 million in budget reductions this fiscal year (which ends March 31). That has led to fewer classes, job freezes, limits on enrollment and other difficulties at campuses, according to the unions.

   For 2009-10, Gov. David Paterson has proposed reducing state operating funds by 80 percent of what a SUNY tuition hike would bring in, using campus reserves and cutting state aid for community colleges by 10 percent. The governor’s budget would cut the state subsidy for the hospitals—located in Brooklyn; Stony Brook, Suffolk County; and Syracuse—by $25 million. Instead of cuts, the hospitals should receive a $40 million increase, the unions said. UUP is asking lawmakers to give its members their negotiated 3 percent salary increase in 2009-10, which has not been included in the governor’s budget.

   Union members, who rallied outside the Capitol, said Paterson’s recommended budget for 2009-10 would make things more difficult for SUNY. They warned that thousands of students would be shut out of a public education and fewer patients would be treated at SUNY’s three teaching hospitals unless lawmakers provide more funding. Members carried signs with messages like, “Keep SUNY open to all,” “Save SUNY now” and “Protect SUNY hospital patients.”

   “SUNY is an important part of the economy of New York,” UUP President Phillip Smith said during the rally. “In fact, SUNY may be one of the only solutions to bring this state out of its economic crisis.”

We’re back to discuss the week’s events at the state Capitol.

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Trying to drum up support among women for his congressional bid, Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco’s campaign is holding this event tomorrow:

“”Women for Tedisco,” a grassroots group of Republican women supporting Jim Tedisco (R,C,I-Schenectady-Saratoga) in his bid for the 20th Congressional District will hold a rally TOMORROW at noon in Saratoga Springs.”

Democrats are eying a variety of candidates for the 20th District seat, but are certainly interested in putting a woman up for the position as a successor to Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate and was able to win Republican votes in the heavily Republican district that stretches from the Hudson Valley to the North Country.

President Barack Obama issued a statement on the unanimous vote the Illinois state senate earlier today to impeach Gov. Rod Balojevich.

The vote ousted Blagojevich from office and replaced him with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.

“Today ends a painful episode for Illinois,’’ stated Obama. “For months, the state had been crippled by a crisis of leadrship, Now that cloud has lifted. I wish Gov. Quinn the best and pledge my full cooperation as he undertakes his new responsibilities.’‘

President Barack Obama today ripped Wall Street for dishing out $18.4 billion last year, as Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli found yesterday.

Wall Street firms, even after being bailed out by taxpayers last year and producing record losses, were still able to find a way to dole out an average of $112,000 in bonuses to roughly 165,000 workers.

“That is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful,” he said.

Obama said the bonus figure was the same Wall Street bankers gave themselves in 2004, when times were going well.

Obama continued, “Part of what we’re going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, some discipline and some sense of responsibility.”

“The American people understand we’ve got a big hole we’ve got to dig ourselves out of. They don’t like people digging a bigger hole even as they’re being asked to fill it up,” he said, working both ends of the metaphor.

“There will be a time for them to make profits and a time for them to get bonuses,” Obama said. “This is not that time.”

The comments also prompted a response from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has been investigating Wall Street bonuses.

“Over the course of our investigation it has become apparent that while Wall Street melted down, top executives believed that, unlike the rest of the country, they still deserved huge bonuses,” Cuomo said. “That’s why President Obama’s remarks today are a welcome breath of fresh air and a healthy dose of reality for Wall Street. President Obama is exactly right when he calls these bonuses shameful and the height of irresponsibility.”