Politics on the Hudson

State Health Director Richard Daines today challenged Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, to a public debate to discuss the group’s ads that attack the Paterson administration over proposed cuts to health-care.

But Raske said no, explaining in a statement that “Daines’ call for a public debate is a distraction that diminishes the seriousness of Governor Paterson’s proposed health care cuts, and ignores the fact that GNYHA has publicly debated this very issue for months.”

He concludes with, “I will not participate in a staged event that does nothing to advance the ultimate goal of achieving a budget agreement.”

Asked about the challenge by Daines, Gov. David Paterson said they should debate. Paterson has been increasingly critical of the group’s ads.

“Ken Raske is a very able person. He’s quite a leader for the Greater New York Hospital Association,” Paterson said. “He said he’s right. But I don’t understand why he wants to replace an informed public debate where we get to defend ourselves with a one-minute misleading commercial that often mischaracterizes what we’re trying to do.”

Daines has defended the governor’s proposals in unconventional ways before. He put out a five-minute YouTube video in December to defend the governor’s obesity tax, using a number of props—including a fake blob of fat.

In his letter, Daines wrote:

“While indisputably dramatic, the commercials that your association is currently running do not work to enhance the public’s understanding of these critical issues and difficult choices. Your campaign does not address the fiscal reality that New York State faces, and it ignores the disparity between the cost and the care delivered by our healthcare system.

“It is for this reason that an open discussion of the Governor’s proposed budget is in the
public’s best interest.”

Former Gov. George Pataki met Tuesday with the head of the Senate Republican campaign committee about possibly running for the Senate in 2010, said Pataki spokesman David Catalfamo.

The Associated Press first reported today that Pataki was approached by national Republicans and met with Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who heads the National Republican Senate Campaign Committee, about running against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010.

Catalfamo would not comment further other than to confirm the meeting.

Former Rep. Thomas Reynolds, who is a close Pataki friend, told Gannett News Service today that he spoke to Pataki for about 20 minutes yesterday and the topic never even came up.

“George Pataki as a mayor, as an assemblyman, as a senator and as a three-term governor, should he ever choose to re-enter public life, that’s the most formidable Republican candidate we would have in the state,” Reynolds said.

But Reynolds said that Pataki is enjoying the private sector and spending time with his family, and “I just don’t know that George Pataki wants to pursue a senatorial race.”

Still, Reynolds gave Cornyn an “A” for effort, saying Pataki is a logical person to visit to try to lure into another statewide run.

“He has to be on anyone’s list,” Reynolds said.

Pataki was rumored as a possible Republican candidate when Hillary Rodham Clinton was seeking a second term to the Senate in 2006. But Pataki instead focused on a short-lived exploratory campaign for president.

Gov. David Paterson has directed that flags on state government buildings be flown at half-staff on Monday in honor of the 50 victims of the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407.

“On behalf of all New Yorkers, I wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families, loved ones and friends of the victims of Flight 3407. As we struggle to make sense of this loss, we must devote our energies and efforts to those whose lives were forever changed by this dark tragedy,” Paterson said in a statement.

“We are all connected, and we find out just how connected we are when tragedy such as this strikes our communities. We are taught to love our neighbors as we would love ourselves, but during this time of need we love our neighbors because we realize they are ourselves.

“I would also like to express my thanks and appreciation to the countless first responders and volunteers who worked with flawless professionalism and swift coordination in maintaining the safety and security of the site, and comforting those who lost loved ones. The extraordinary outpouring of support, human caring and effort I witnessed that day will always be carried with me.

“I urge residents across the state to join us as we honor the victims of Flight 3407. Their lives will live on forever in the hearts, minds and souls of all New Yorkers.”

And on the third day of Quinnipiac New York polls, President Obama gets a 72–17 percent approval rating and a 66–22 percent approval on the way he’s handling the economy.

Voters approve 64–27 percent of the stimulus package and 57 percent are “very confident” or “somewhat confident” the stimulus plan will help solve the nation’s economy. But 50 percent don’t think the stimulus will help them personally.

“New Yorkers are still sorting it out, but fewer than half expect the stimulus plan to help them personally,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

But 69 percent of voters expect the economy to get better by the end of Obama’s term. Nearly 56 percent of New York voters say they are worse off than they were a year ago.

The Working Families Party sent over this photo of local leaders and community activists outside the White Plains Library on Valentine’s Day last Saturday as they sent a Valentines to Gov. David Paterson urging him to raise income taxes on the wealthy.

Gov. David Paterson warned health-care groups today that the federal stimulus package won’t be the panacea for proposed cuts to hospitals and nursing homes, saying the state still needs to redirect funding from acute care to prevention programs.

Paterson responded to groups who are running a statewide ad campaign against his budget cuts, accusing them of using scare tactics to suggest he wants to close health-care facilities.

He said the state can save on its $46 billion health-care system – which is almost one third of state’s overall budget – by allocating more aid to prevention programs and primary care in an effort to keep New Yorkers healthy.

“They would have you believe that to decrease funding for high-costing inpatient procedures would somehow close down emergency rooms, lay off workers and strike fear into the hearts of patients,” Paterson said in a speech in Manhattan to the New York Academy of Medicine on Healthcare Spending and Reform.

“The fear that’s being struck into the hearts of patients is coming from the inaccuracy of the advertising.”

Health-care groups and unions are running television and radio ads that blast Paterson’s proposal to cut about $3.5 billion in health-care spending in the 2009-10 fiscal year, which starts April 1.

The Healthcare Education Project, an initiative of the Greater New York Hospital Association and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, announced today a second round of ads, which call on Paterson to use federal stimulus money to avoid health cuts.

New York is set to receive $24.6 billion in federal aid. Of that, $11 billion is designated to help the state pay for Medicaid.
“If Governor Paterson uses the Medicaid funds in the stimulus bill as they are intended on Medicaid beneficiaries and the institutions that serve them, we can avoid health-care cuts that will unquestionably lead to layoffs, elimination of services and departments, and the outright closure of facilities,,” said Kenneth Raske, the hospital association’s president.

But Paterson said all of the money is not required to go to fund Medicaid and stressed that the state needs to invest in programs that prevent illness, which would ultimately save the state money. In recent years, for example, the state has increased funding for health insurance for children and families, he said.

Here’s the latest ad, titled “Times of Need.”

As with other polls on the topic in recent months, most New Yorkers support taxing the rich to help close the state’s budget gap, a Quinnipiac poll today found.

By a 79–18 percent margin, voters support higher income taxes on millionaires, the poll found. Although the lower the salary hit with higher income taxes, the fewer people support it.

Support drops to 72–25 percent when the higher tax rate is dropped to incomes of $500,000,  and 56 – 40 percent when its at $250,000, which Senate Democrats are proposing.

Meanwhile, voters say 51–34 percent that they would rather cut state services than raise taxes.  And if taxes must be raised, voters prefer 64 – 28 percent raising the sales tax instead of income taxes.

Only 18 percent of voters say the state Legislature has the political courage to make unpopular budget decisions, while 74 percent says it will be “business as usual in Albany.”

Voters disapprove 45 – 36 percent of the way Gov. David Paterson is handling the state budget.   Voters split 45 – 45 percent on whether TV commercials attacking Gov. Paterson for proposals to cut health care are fair or unfair.

“Almost every New Yorker says the state is in a budget mess.  Most think Gov. Paterson isn’t handling it well and three out of four doubt that the State Legislature has the courage to confront the budget crisis.  Voters think it will be ‘business as usual’ in Albany,” said Quinnipiac pollster Maurice Carroll.

Reactions to other taxes include:
•    Oppose 79–19 percent increasing gasoline taxes;
•    Support 64–34 percent increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages;
•    Oppose 65–31 percent imposing a “fat tax” on non-diet sugary soft drinks;
•    Support 73–25 percent increasing cigarette taxes.

Voters statewide oppose 51–42 percent a payroll tax on employers in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) service area.

First, Democratic congressional candidate Scott Murphy today called on his Republican opponent Jim Tedisco to say whether he would vote for economic stimulus package, which Tedisco avoided answering yesterday.

“The least Assemblyman Tedisco can do on his ‘road to recovery tour’ is say how he’d vote on the economic recovery package that being signed today by President Obama,” said Murphy, who said he would have voted in favor of the package.

Then the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee fired back with this: Murphy registered to vote in New York City in 1996, but from March 2000 until March 2004 he didn’t vote in as many as eight different elections.

A Murphy spokesman had no immediate comment.

The voting record criticism comes after the GOP alleged that Murphy failed to pay taxes on a company he owned.

“Middle-class families in upstate New York deserve a representative in Congress who has a proven track record of fighting for their interests and needs, not someone who still has so many unanswered questions about his past,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain.

Updated: Murphy responded with this statement, but didn’t address the voting allegations.

“”I haven’t seen the attack. I’ve been meeting with voters and hearing about what’s important to them—saving and creating jobs, and getting the economy back on track,” Murphy said in a statement. “President Obama was right during the campaign, folks are tired of these gotcha attacks from career politicians, they want people in Washington with the know how to get things done.”

Gov. David Paterson reiterated his plan to seek re-election in 2010, despite his sinking poll numbers.

“I will run,’’ Paterson said in Manhattan after addressing the annual meeting of the state Association of Towns. “I’m not focused on a 2010 campaign, because it’s not 2010. I really should be working on the budget and not on a campaign.”

And he beat back criticism (here and here) over giving big raises to some employees in the executive chamber. He said the aides took on more duties and that spending in his office is down $2 million since July and the staff has been cut by 10 percent.

He said to suggest that his office “was spending more money than it actually did when it actually reduced money, I think is unfair.”

Senate Democrats have produced their own production “One New York News” to tell the public about what they are doing. The first one, below, is a 15-minute feature.

They plan to do one every two weeks. Use of state resources for videos has been a contentious issue of late.

One New York – Update from New York State Senate on Vimeo.