Politics on the Hudson

Touting that “change is coming to Westchester,” Rob Astorino, the Republican candidate for county executive, released a video on his candidacy. It was filmed at his March 21 campaign kick-off and includes interviews from his supporters. Astorino is running against County Executive Andrew Spano, a Democrat.

Check it out.

astorinorally.html

Senate Democrats broke from conference this afternoon to float a new proposal to increase income taxes on the wealthy, this time coupling it with property tax relief for the middle class, some senators said.

The latest proposal calls for raising $5 billion annually from higher income taxes—instead of $4 billion—by increasing the tax bracket on those who make more than $1 million.

The extra $1 billion in revenue would be used to start a circuit breaker program, which would tie property taxes to household income and provide some relief to households who make less than $200,000.

Some Senate Democrats continue to push for some tax relief to the middle class as part of income-tax increase on wealthy.

Assembly Democrats have proposed increasing the current top income tax rate from 6.85 percent to 7.97 percent for individuals or households with incomes higher than $300,000; 8.47 percent on incomes of $500,000; and 8.97 percent on more than $1 million.

The Senate plan would start at incomes of $350,000, yet the top tax rate would be around 10 percent—closer to what was proposed by the Working Families Party.

Sol Wachtler, the former top New York judge who had to quit his post in 1993 after he admitted intimidating a former lover and threatening to kidnap her daughter, had some wisdom to impart in a radio interview today.

“One sign of getting older is that dreams are replaced by regrets,’’ Wachtler, 78, said in an interview on Talk-1300 in Albany. “I’ve had plenty of regrets.’’

Wachtler, who blamed his conduct on mental illness, served 11 months in prison.  He is now teaching law and has become a well known advocate for the mentally ill.

The Nassau County resident was chief judge of the Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1993 and was a serious contender for the Republican nomination for governor in 1988 and 1992.

In 2006, after then-Gov. George Pataki’s State of the State address was short on reform measures, it was then-Senate Democratic minority leader David Paterson who said the governor apparently had a case of “amnesia” in regard to reform.

“My fear is that the Albany response to the demand for reform would be to pass one on-time budget and make legislators sit in their seats to vote,” Paterson said that day.

Now Governor Paterson is trying to get an on-time budget and was asked today about why the state budget process has been the most secretive in many lawmakers’ memory, drawing criticism from reform groups.

“I think there should be transparency in terms of process and openness in terms of government,” he said. “However, when you are in budget position it is very hard to negotiate in public. You never see President Obama, and Senate Reid and Speaker Pelosi do it. You don’t see it in any other state.”

He continued that “I dare say the negotiations with your own media outlets, your contracts are not, last I checked, publicly observed.”

Paterson said the closed door negotiations are necessary to get a deal.

“These are some painful decisions that have to be made. And we plan on having meetings with the committee chairs and being very open and transparent on the agreement which comes before the vote on the legislation,” he said.

Richard Weingarten,  the former county Democratic chairman and Yonkers City Court judge, turns 80 tomorrow and is still active in Democratic politics in Sarasota, Fla., where he now lives, his family reports.

He is still a member of the Westchester County Democrats’ executive committee and  also is still affiliated with the Yonkers Democratic Committee. And he is a special referee and mediator to state Supreme Court in Westchester.

Weingarten was chairman of the county committee from 1985 to 1989.
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While it appears an effort to put wine in grocery stores is stalled, the sides continue to battle over its merits.

Supporters of the plan delivered this week 70,000 postcards to lawmakers in support of letting convenience stores and supermarkets sell wine.

Meanwhile today, a group called The Last Store on Main Street today announced that more than 100,000 signatures and postcards were sent to Gov. David Paterson and legislators in opposition “to the governor’s job-killing plan to legalize the sale of wine in grocery stores, gas stations, delis, bodegas and anywhere beer is now sold.”

And Daniel Sisto, head of Law Enforcement Against Drunk Drivers, wrote this letter to Wegmans CEO Daniel Wegman over the supermarket chain’s push to let grocery stores sell wine. The group is concerned that allowing wine in grocery stores would lead to more drunk driving.

As lawmakers grapple with the numbers on raising incomes taxes on the wealthy, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County, has decided to carry legislation that would use a bulk of the revenue to provide property-tax relief to the middle class.

The legislation, first proposed by Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, would raise about $3.5 billion through raising income taxes on those who make more than $500,000. About $2.5 billion would go back to homeowners in the form of a circuit breaker, which would lower property tax bills by tying payments to household incomes.

“We’re making the tax bill more progressive That is itself a good thing, but what we ought to also be focusing on is tax relief,” Brodsky said. “And the most important place to focus tax relief is on middle-income families who pay unbelievable property tax bills.”

Some Senate Democrats have pushed to have property-tax relief as part of any income-tax increase, either through a circuit breaker or a STAR tax rebate check.

The problem, though, is whether the state can afford to use much of the revenue from a income-tax increase on tax relief instead of helping to close the state’s $16 billion deficit.

“We’re working cooperatively with everybody,” Brodsky said. “There’s lot of good ideas out there. We’re going to do our best.”

State lawmakers today continue to focus on raising income taxes on the wealthy to help close the state’s $16 billion deficit, with Gov. David Paterson indicating that the fiscal crisis may require it.

Paterson has resisted calls to raise income taxes because he has said it would lead people to flee the state. But he began to change course today, saying it may be needed because the fiscal woes continue to grow.

“Hearing that there is a possibility of imposing taxes, which actually hurts us, because when we impose taxes people move out of the state and that reduces our tax base,” he said this morning on National Public Radio.

“But we are in such desperate situations that we’ve actually started to consider it. I’ve been fighting this for a year, but our budget deficit has grown by $3 billion in the last two months.”

Assembly Democrats are pushing a plan that would increase income taxes on those who make more than $300,000 a year, with higher tax brackets for those who make more than $500,000 and more than $1 million. But Senate Democrats are seeking higher thresholds, potentially starting at $500,000.

An agreement was expected as early as this afternoon, with the goal of voting on the budget early next week in advance of Tuesday’s budget deadline.

Lawmakers hope to raise between $4 billion to $6 billion through higher income taxes to help close the current gap.

“We’ve said all along we couldn’t cut our way out completely out of the budget, so we had to look at ways to raise revenue,” said Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon.

   The state Board of Elections has extended the deadline for military and overseas voters in the 20th congressional race to get their absentee ballots in, the agency announced this morning. Instead of the usual seven days after the election for the votes to be received, there will be 13 days—until April 13. Ballots must be postmarked by March 30.

   The special election to fill a U.S. House of Representatives seat left open by now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand takes place from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday. Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady, is running against entrepreneur Scott Murphy of Glens Falls, Warren County. Tedisco is on the Republican and Conservative party lines, and Murphy is on the Democratic, Independence and Working Families party lines. The sprawling district includes part or all of 10 counties, including Delaware, Dutchess and Otsego.

   Three days ago, the U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint against the state Board of Elections because there wasn’t enough time for overseas and military voters to participate in the election, the federal agency said. The ballot for the 20th congressional district was certified March 11. A minimum of 30 days is necessary for the round-trip transit of absentee ballots from those voters, according to federal election law.

    The state will also accept federal write-in absentee ballots cast by military personnel and citizens living overseas who are qualified to vote in New York. To obtain the ballot, visit www.fvap.gov.

   Voters can contact the state Board of Elections at 518-474-1953 or on the Web at www.elections.state.ny.us.  

   The Board of Elections voted to knock Libertarian Party candidate Eric Sundwall of Niverville, Columbia County, out of the race earlier this week after disqualifying several thousand of the signatures his campaign received to petition onto the ballot

Legislative leaders and Gov. David Paterson have reached an agreement to change the change New York’s drug-sentencing laws that would repeal mandatory minimum prison sentences for people convicted of low-level drug felonies.

The deal, which is to be announced this morning, is also expected to allow judges to send some offenders to treatment facilities instead of prison. It would also shorten prison sentences for some who are already incarcerated.

The measures would strip the remaining pieces of drug laws imposed in the 1970s under former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to give mandatory sentences in many drug crimes.

With Democrats in control of the state Legislature and the governor’s office, lawmakers and Paterson have sought to repeal the existing laws, despite opposition from law-enforcement officials, Republicans and district attorneys across the state.

“Since 1973, New York has had the harshest drug laws in the country, and they have simply not worked,” Paterson said this morning on National Public Radio.

Paterson said that although the state’s crime levels have decreased over the past decade, the number of people in prisons, many on low-level drug offenses, has soared from 20,000 in 1973 to as high as 70,000.

“These are people who for the most part are non violent, who are addicted,” he said. “They need treatment.”

In 2002, Paterson, then a Democratic state senator from Harlem, was arrested during a demonstration seeking changes to the drug laws.

Republicans in recent days have criticized changing the laws, which they were able to block when they held control of the state Senate. Democrats won a 32-30 seat majority in January.

“The reported agreement among the Democrat leaders and governor to give drug felons a ‘get out of jail free card’ is shortsighted and a dangerous precedent that will destroy communities, harm families and lead to the decriminalization of illegal narcotics,” said Sen. Dale Volker, R-Depew, Erie County.