Politics on the Hudson

With the state budget deadline blown today, Gov. David Paterson sought a conciliatory tone with lawmakers in an address to New Yorkers, encouraging the public to support their elected officials if they cut state spending.

“I urge all of you New Yorkers to contact your local legislators and not to criticize them,” Paterson said in an Web video.

“But rather to remind them that just as you have had to make the tough choices for yourselves and your families, now they have to make those difficult decisions for the state.”

The state’s fiscal year starts Thursday, but the Legislature left Albany earlier this week on a 10-day holiday recess, leaving no chance of an on-time spending plan for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Paterson and legislators have been at odds over how to close a $9.2 billion budget gap for the fiscal year that started Thursday. Paterson is delaying $2.1 billion in school-aid payments and aid for construction projects because of the late budget.

But rather than knock lawmakers as he has done during prior budget negotiations, Paterson aimed in the address to bring along lawmakers so they would support his plan to cut about $1.4 billion in aid to schools, as well as cuts to health care and other services.

The Democratic governor suggested that in an election year, legislators may be reluctant to cut aid to programs.

“I don’t think that the barrier is their inability to grasp the gravity of our current financial woes, rather I think my colleagues are nervous about the costs of making these tough decisions,” he said.

Updated: Fixes video below.

The Public Employees Federation said today  it will not reopen its contract with the state this year as 4 percent raises are expected to take effect in April.

In a statement today, PEF President Kenneth Brynien said the union has repeatedly “demonstrated the state can meet the governor’s target for savings replacing high-cost consultants with lower-cost state employees, as well as through other options the union has provided.”

He continued that, “until the state moves decisively to slash the use of costly consultants, PEF will not accept any demand for give-backs and we will continue to work to protect state jobs.”

Brynien cites a Buffalo News story today in which “anonymous statements from the governor’s office vilifying the state workforce and the unions that represent them does not create an atmosphere conducive to a positive solution.”

The union, Brynien said, will also hold Paterson to his promise last year that no layoffs would be made until his term expires at year’s end. Paterson made the deal in order to get a new, less generous pension tier for new public employees.

Paterson is seeking $250 million in concessions from public-employee unions to help close the state’s $9.2 billion budget deficit.

Earlier today, Paterson told reporters that no decision has been made on whether the raises—which will cost the state about $250 million (the rest comes from federal aid)—will be delayed.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy may have been spurned by his neighbor Edward Mangano today, but Levy picked up the backing of another county executive, Chemung County Executive Thomas Santulli, who is president of the state Association of Counties.

Levy also secured the endorsement of Chemung County GOP chairman Michael Krusen.

“As a fellow county executive, Steve has a firsthand experience with the challenges local governments all over the state are facing,” Santulli said in a statement.

“Steve has successfully led one of the largest counties in the nation through difficult financial times, holding the line on taxes and spending without reducing vital services.  He is the kind of executive New York needs for its next governor.”

   Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, will be recognized each May 17 under a bill signed this week by Gov. David Paterson.

   “As the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall not only helped to lead our country from the evils of segregation, but was an avid defender of personal liberties, proudly standing up for rights of individuals,” Paterson, the first African-American governor of New York, said in a statement.

   “From now on, on May 17 of each year, New Yorkers will honor his remarkable achievements and tireless quest to guarantee equality and social justice for all Americans,” he said.

   The governor signed 17 other bills this week, including one that will reimburse emergency vehicles’ tolls on the Thruway or provide permits for those vehicles that would provide for free travel, depending on what the Thruway Authority decides. If an auditor determines this is causing too much of a loss to the authority, it could offer partial refunds or permits that discounted tolls.

   “This bill will provide first responders with greater ease of travel and will bring increased protection and safety to some of New York’s most remote communities,” the governor said. “In an emergency, every second counts.” (more…)

Gov. David Paterson’s suspended aide David Johnson appeared before the state Commission on Public Integrity for about an hour earlier today in Albany as the commission continues to investigate Paterson’s free tickets to the World Series last year.

Johnson (at right with his attorney Oscar Michelen) had no comment as he left the commission’s office with Michelen. Michelen wouldn’t say much either, saying the case is an ongoing investigation.

“We’re not going to address any substantive questions, other than the fact that we did appear,” Michelen told reporters.

“The investigation is continuing so we’re not going to have any comment about the substantive matters that were addressed, and we wait for the commission to see if they are going to issue a subsequent report to the one they’ve already addressed with respect to the governor.”

Johnson was suspended without pay last month after the New York Times reported that Johnson attacked his girlfriend in October, and State Police and Paterson allegedly intervened to quash her domestic-violence case.

Johnson, who rose up the ranks with Paterson to become one of his top aides, was also in the middle of whether Paterson illegally accepted free tickets to the World Series at Yankee Stadium last year and lied to the commission that he intended to pay for them.

The commission earlier this month referred the case to the Attorney General’s Office and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, but it appears the commission hadn’t spoken to Johnson until today.

In its report, the commission said Johnson had procured the tickets for Paterson and also went to the game. Johnson later paid for his ticket.

Yonkers Inspector General Dan Schorr issued his first report since he assumed his office last month.

His inaugural report looks at the city’s response times to Freedom of Information Law requests.

Schorr concluded that the city generally responds to FOIL requests in a timely manner, but he noted that “there are too many requests that remain open for lengthy periods of time without the required response.”

Schorr recommended that city departments and the city’s FOIL office Eric Arena better facilitate the timely production of requested documents.

In 2009 the city received 246 FOIL requests for most of the city’s departments.

Schorr noted that while Arena has regular contacts in each city department, his communications are “generally informal and at times lends itself to unresponsiveness and a lack of accountability.”

Schorr recommended that each department have a FOIL liaison who would ensure that all FOIL requests are fully addressed. Other recommendations included: written memos between the FOIL officer and department liaisons; standardized response forms; written policies and procedures for responding to FOIL; and increased use of e-mail to respond to FOIL requests more quickly.

Yonkers Councilwoman Joan Gronowski, D-3rd District, initiated the resolution that prompted the IG to launch the FOIL review. This afternoon Gronowski said she’s glad Schorr did the review.

“I had issues two years ago with being given information that was not what I asked for,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s as much a problem today.”

Gronowski also said that she’s gotten quicker responses to her FOIL letters from Arena since the City Council asked the IG to review FOIL request responses.

A copy of the report is attached on the jump:

Republican state comptroller candidate Harry Wilson will kickoff a statewide tour tomorrow on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan with state Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long.

Wilson, a former hedge-fund partner from Scarsdale, is the only GOP candidate running for state comptroller against Democratic incumbent Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

A full list of Wilson’s stops has not been confirmed, but he’s expected to tour the state in the coming weeks as he builds support for his candidacy.

The tour is being billed the “cause and effect” tour “to demonstrate how irresponsible fiscal management in Albany has directly affected the lives of millions of New York families.”

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican who won in a upset victory last November against Democratic Executive Thomas Suozzi, is endorsing Rick Lazio, a former Long Island congressman, for governor instead of neighboring Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat turned Republican.

“For far too long, Albany has increased taxes and spending to levels that are simply unsustainable,” Mangano said. “Today, I’m joining the Republican and Conservative Parties by endorsing Rick Lazio for governor because of his solutions to change Albany.”

Lazio, meanwhile, this morning criticized Gov. David Paterson’s decision to delay funding for construction projects in the state.

“The failure to cut spending and honestly balance the budget at the beginning of the fiscal year brought us to this point. We need to make the tough spending decisions today to avoid continued fiscal chaos and mismanagement,” Lazio said in a statement.

  Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, is accusing Democrats in his chamber and the Assembly of waving the white flag and giving up on budget negotations, instead of working around the clock to complete a budget before the new budget year starts tomorrow.

   “Their failure to get a budget done on time, and worse, to not even try, is inexcusable,” Skelos said in a statement. “Instead of treating New Yorkers like April fools as the Democrats are doing, we owe it to every one of our constituents to work at getting a budget in place as soon as possible. ”

   Skelos said there have been no negotiations, meetings or public discussion on the budget since the General Budget Conference Committee met last Friday night. He called that meeing “a farce that accomplished nothing.”

   “While I respect everyone’s right to observe religious holidays, we should have been doing everything possible to get a budget in place before the deadline. Instead, the Democrats punted and ran,” Skelos said.

  Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, is accusing Democrats in his chamber and the Assembly of waving the white flag and giving up on budget negotations, instead of working around the clock to complete a budget before the new budget year starts tomorrow.

   “Their failure to get a budget done on time, and worse, to not even try, is inexcusable,” Skelos said in a statement. “Instead of treating New Yorkers like April fools as the Democrats are doing, we owe it to every one of our constituents to work at getting a budget in place as soon as possible. ”

   Skelos said there have been no negotiations, meetings or public discussion on the budget since the General Budget Conference Committee met last Friday night. He called that meeing “a farce that accomplished nothing.”

   “While I respect everyone’s right to observe religious holidays, we should have been doing everything possible to get a budget in place before the deadline. Instead, the Democrats punted and ran,” Skelos said.

   Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, said Democrats refute Skelos’ claims.

State Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, and Putnam County Executive Robert Bondi made a joint appearance today calling for the repeal of  the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s payroll tax.

“Counties in the Hudson Valley are extremely aware of the need for additional revenues to provide essential services,” Bondi said in a press release sent out by Ball. “However, we do not believe that the MTA is providing enough essential services within Putnam County. Therefore, we stand in protest to this tax and request that if it is not repealed, that the New York State Senate and Assembly join together to eliminate the station maintenance and MTA subsidy that is currently mandated on Hudson Valley Counties.”

Read the full release after the break. (more…)