Politics on the Hudson

Former New York Rangers great Mike Richter told the Albany Times-Union this afternoon that he’s skating away from the race to replace former Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand in the 20th District.

Richter, who owns a home in Essex County in the district, told the paper that “I have a great deal of respect for Kirsten and anybody who devotes their life to public service,” adding that it’s not the right time for him to seek public office.

But he did leave the door open to running in the future, saying “The fact of the matter is that I do have a real interest in that, I do have a real interest in serving. It’s something that I would very much consider.”

Richter never indicated that he was interested in the seat, but his name was tossed around as among more than two dozen candidates considering running on the Democratic line.

Tom Poelker, chairman of the Greene County Democratic Committee, said today that the race is now probably down to about 10 candidates.

A Republican official said that Carol Schrager, a Greene County attorney, is one name they are keeping an eye on because she may be able to put some personal money to put in the campaign.

Then again, the candidates are gearing up for an election that hasn’t been called yet, which drew the ire of state GOP chairman Joseph Mondello this afternoon, who called on Gov. David Paterson to set the date already.

“”As the nation confronts the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, it is imperative that our state is fully represented in Congress,” Mondello said. “The time for Paterson to act is now.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wanted to correct the record this afternoon about her mastery of the Chinese language.

Gillibrand said this afternoon she only spoke a few words in Mandarin during her telephone interview Tuesday with a Chinese ethnic newspaper.

Earlier this week Gillibrand’s press secretary disclosed that New York’s new senator had conducted an interview in Mandarin.

“At one time I knew 2,000 characters,’’ Gillibrand said. However, that was back in college.

Since then the 42-year-old attorney said she’s  forgotten much of the written and spoken language.

But Gillibrand is embracing New York’s Chinese-American population.

She will participate in the Chinese New Year parade in New York City on Sunday.

And maybe say a few words?

Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, is taking Gov. David Paterson to task over his remarks this morning that he doesn’t see much benefit in the tax cuts that are part of the federal stimulus package.

“Governor Paterson’s sharp criticism of the tax cuts included in the economic stimulus package passed yesterday by Congress clearly shows how out of touch he is with New Yorkers who are sick and tired of paying higher taxes,” Skelos said in a statement.

“Rather than criticize the billions of dollars the stimulus package spends on things such as $650 million for coupons for TV converters, $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, and $600 million to buy new cars for federal bureaucrats – projects that won’t create any new jobs, the governor today on an Amsterdam radio station, criticized proposed federal tax cuts by saying that they won’t make a difference in turning around the economy.”

Skelos continued, “He should tell that to small business owners across our state who are laying off employees because they can’t meet their expenses, including increased state taxes and fees.

“He should tell that to families who are paying higher taxes every year, that tax cuts won’t make a difference in their budgets.  Eliminating billions of dollars in property tax rebates, as Governor Paterson has proposed, would put an even bigger dent in their budgets.

“The Governor’s comments today, combined with the $6 billion in tax and fee hikes he proposed in his Executive Budget, demonstrate the Governor’s belief that higher taxes are the answer to our economic problems.

“Senate Republicans could not disagree more and we will continue to oppose the Governor’s tax and fee hikes and urge that money from the federal stimulus package be used to eliminate them.”

Darren Dopp, communications director to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, will get his day before the state Commission on Public Integrity on March 11 to fight civil charges that he violated the Public Officers Law when he released travel records in 2007 on former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft.

Dopp and the commission will make their arguments before the commission’s administrative law judge Christine Kopec, who would then decide whether to uphold the charges or drop them.

Dopp could face up to a $10,000 fine.

It’s unclear who Dopp’s attorney Michael Koenig may call to testify, but he’s suggested in the past that he could call Spitzer to the stand.

Dopp said today that he plans to put forth evidence on Herbert Teitlebaum, the commission’s executive director, who has been accused of leaking information during the commission’s probe to Spitzer’s staff.

“I’m really looking forward to the hearing. I have evidence regarding Mr. Teitelbaum’s conduct in this case that I intend to make public,” Dopp said.

In July, the commission released 3,000 pages from its Troopergate investigation of whether Spitzer’s aides conspired to release travel records that showed former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was using state aircraft for political purposes.

The commission alleged that Spitzer aides Richard Baum, Dopp and William Howard, as well as former State Police Superintendent Preston Felton, violated sections of the Public Officers Law by working to compile records in a plot to smear Bruno.

Baum and Howard settled with the commission, while Dopp and Felton are fighting the charges. There is no date set yet for Felton’s hearing.

Gov. David Paterson said he supports measures in the federal stimulus package to help states, but he questioned the need for additional tax cuts.

The $819 billion package approved by the House yesterday includes about $275 billion in tax cuts, which is expected to put about $20 a month more into middle-class workers’ paychecks.

Paterson said the tax cuts won’t stimulate the economy.

“If you give people a tax cut, they are holding the money. If you give people rebates, they are saving the money,” Paterson said on WVTL 1570-AM in Amsterdam this morning.  “This could drive us into a 10-year recession; this is what happened to Japan. We’ve got to get people to work, we have to get people spending money again.”

He added, “I think a tax cut is fine, but I don’t think it’s the right formula we’re using right now. So I don’t really agree with the president on that.”

Later on Utica radio station WIBX 950-AM, Paterson said more money should go to states, who could use the money to offset tax and fee increases. Paterson is proposing 137 new taxes and fees in his 2009-10 budget.

“The tax cut I think is so small it won’t make a difference,” he said. “And the state is now raising fees in our deficit reduction plan. Then the citizen doesn’t know the difference.”

But he did praise the aid to states in the package, as well as the roughly $30 billion in it for instrastructure projects. Paterson said about 40 projects in the state are “shovel ready projects that could start tomorrow.”

Governor Paterson continued this morning to tout his selection of Kirsten Gillibrand as U.S senator, saying she is being misunderstood by downstate but that in time New Yorkers will appreciate his pick.

“In naming Kirsten Gillibrand, what I did was find the best candidate that can represent the entire state, who is bright, has a grasp of the issues, understands her upstate roots, is being a little misunderstood by downstaters but this is why we are one state,” he said on Amsterdam radio as he prepares to visit the area Friday.

His comments were made before today’s Siena poll was released that shows Gillibrand with a majority of support in New York, though voters are down on how he handled the selection process.

Still, he defended his pick. Gillibrand has been knocked by immigration-rights groups and gun-control activists.

“It was considered politically controversial because a lot more people live downstate, obviously, than upstate but I think that when everybody gets to see Kirsten Gillibrand for a period of time, that those who are complaining now and raising the names of other people it should have been, will admit that this was the right choice.”

The state Common Retirement Fund, which lost about $30 billion between April and October, saw its losses slow dramatically over the last couple of months of the year, shrinking by about $2.3 billion, a spokesman for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today.
The fund at the end of the year stood at $121.7 billion, down from about $124 billion in October and $154 billion last March 31.
The fund pays pension benefits for retired state and local-government employees outside New York City. A slide in investment income means higher costs for taxpayers, although their contributions are locked in through 2011.

Gov. David Paterson may have not won many fans with the way he selected a new U.S. senator, but a majority of people in New York are pleased with the pick, a new poll shows.

By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters approve of Paterson’s selection of former Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson, Columbia County, as senator, a Siena College poll found today.

Fifty-one percent of voters approve of Gillibrand’s appointment, including nine percent who strongly approve, compared to 28 percent who disapprove. The opinion was largely the same among Democrats, Republicans and independent voters, but people’s opinion of the Albany-area Democrat is different between downstate and upstate voters.

New York City voters approve of her by a 44 percent to 34 percent margin, but voters are almost evenly split in the New York City suburbs, 44 percent to 43 percent. Upstate voters, though, approve of her appointment 63 percent to 19 percent.

“Gillibrand starts her Senate tenure with New Yorkers having an open mind and in fact approving her selection,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll. ”And a plurality of voters thinks Gillibrand will do an excellent or good job as senator.”

But Gillibrand still has convincing to do, the poll found. Only 21 percent of voters say they are prepared to vote for Gillibrand in 2010, when she will need to seek election, while 29 percent prefer “someone else.”  And among Democrats, 11 percent would prefer she run unopposed, while 63 percent want another Democrat to challenge her.

Voters, meanwhile, aren’t pleased with the way Paterson handled the selection process, which has been widely criticized as secretive and indecisive.

Sixty-two percent of voters rated the way the governor handled the process as either poor or fair. And Paterson’s favorability rating has fallen to its lowest level since May in Siena’s polling, at 54 percent compared to 60 percent a week ago. Among independent voters, his favorability plummeted in less than a week from 68 percent to 49 percent.

Nearly two-thirds of voters want future U.S. Senate vacancies filled by an election, not a gubernatorial appointment.

The Siena poll was conducted Jan. 25-27, 2009 by telephone calls to 622 New York State registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, indicated yesterday that he plans to stay on as minority leader as he campaigns for the 20th congressional district after receiving the GOP nomination.

But some members of his conference are wondering whether Tedisco will be able to do both jobs, especially as he’ll need to campaign in 10 counties over what may be several months before a special election, which Governor Paterson has yet to call. And some are already jockeying to succeed him.

Were Tedisco to step down as minority leader, Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, has already lined up enough votes to take over, several Republican leaders said.

Some Republican assemblymen said they’ve received calls from at least five of their colleagues lobbying for Tedisco’s job if he steps down as leader, including Kolb, Assemblymen Michael Fitzpatrick of Suffolk County and David Townsend of Oneida County.

Assemblyman Bill Reilich, R-Greece, Monroe County, said today that he supports Tedisco as long as he wants to be minority leader, but questioned whether he’ll want to continue in both jobs.

“When one runs for Congress it takes all your time and your effort and energy and obviously it could be a journey that could go on for, who knows how long, several months,” Reilich said. Also, he said, “we’re in the height of budget discussions and all the activity and hustle and bustle of the session.”

For his part, Kolb said: “Obviously I’m interested in succeeding Jim once he’s not our leader.”

Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, said he supports Tedisco doing both jobs, saying, “Whatever Jim decides, I’m supportive of him.”

Tedisco, a former basketball star at Union College, said his colleagues have asked to him to stay as minority leader as he campaign for Congress.

“Obama had it right, the president had it right, you have to be a multi-tasker. And I’m a pretty good multi-tasker,” he said yesterday. “And I’m great on a fast break. I can get the outlet pass out, get down and even score the layup at the end.”

New York’s newest senator appears to have a leg up on Sen. Chuck Schumer when it comes to interacting with the state’s ethnic Chinese residents.

An ethnic Chinese newspaper based in New York City called Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s press secretary Tuesday to find out what her name was in Mandarin.

Rachel McEneny, the press secretary who received the call, relayed the question to Gillibrand. The new senator grabbed the phone and stayed on the line for about 15 minutes, answering questions in Mandarin.

Gillibrand learned to speak and write in Mandarin as an Asian Studies major at Darmouth College, where she participated in a language program that sent her to China and Taiwan.