Politics on the Hudson

   NIAGARA FALLS _ Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told the Democratic Rural Conference Friday that this fall’s election is the most important in his lifetime, but he wouldn’t say whether he would participate in it as the party’s gubernatorial candidate.

   Cuomo, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, was the highlight of the first night of events at the group’s convention. Conference officials had trouble calming the crowd down when Cuomo arrived at the Crowne Plaza hotel and circulated throughout the room to greet people.

   “I believe this upcoming election is the most important election for the state of New York in my lifetime, my 52 years. My friends, this state is at a crossroads, and I believe depending on what we do now, this state will go up or this state will go down,” Cuomo told the roughly 300 Democrats at the dinner event.

   Speaking to reporters afterward, the attorney general would not answer questions about whether he is running for governor. He clarified that he meant this is the most important election for the state in his lifetime.

   Gov. David Paterson, U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli were among the other elected Democrats who spoke during Friday’s dinner.

   One of the highlights of the event is a straw poll Saturday. Conference members will cast ballots on candidates for statewide offices, including governor, attorney general, comptroller and both U.S. Senate seats.

   Cuomo originally had been expected to announce his candidacy before the convention.

   Chemung County Democratic Conference Chair Cindy Emmer, treasurer of the Democratic Rural Conference, said it would have been great if Cuomo’s announcement had preceded the convention.

   Emmer said it’s a good possibility that Cuomo would be nominated for the straw poll from the floor.

   Protesters against Gov. David Paterson’s proposed state-worker furlough and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s likely candidacy for governor gathered outside the Crowne Plaza in Niagara Falls this afternoon as they awaited the arrival of both men at the Democratic Rural Conference.

   Paterson and Cuomo are among the political heavyweights scheduled to speak at Friday’s dinner. Others include U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson of Brooklyn.

   “In our mind, the governor’s using us as a sacrificial lamb,” Kevin Hintz, the Public Employees Federation’s coordinator for the five western New York counties, said outside the Crowne Plaza.

   The governor recommended this week that the state furlough about 100,000 workers one day a week until the Legislature and the administration agree on a budget for 2010-11 fiscal year, which began April 1. Lawmakers are struggling to agree on what cuts to make to close the state’s $9.2 billion budget.

   PEF, the second-largest public-employee union in the state, has pledged to take legal action against the governor for breach of contract if necessary.

   Cuomo had been expected to announce his candidacy for governor this week, before the convention, but he did not.

   Chemung County Democratic Conference Chair Cindy Emmer, treasurer of the Democratic Rural Conference, said it would have been great if Cuomo’s announcement had preceded the convention.

   One of the highlights of the weekend event is a straw poll being held Saturday. Democratic candidates will present their credentials to Democratic Rural Conference members, who will cast ballots on who they support.

   “At this point, I don’t know what to expect because everyday it’s a different thing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what happened,” she said.

   Supporters of Republican gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino held pro-Paladino and anti-Cuomo signs outside the hotel. Paladino is “honest” and is the “best man for the state of New York,” said Bob Deull, 72, of Sanborn, Niagara County.

   “I think there’s a lot of corruption in this state. I think it’s a good-old-boy network,” he said.

Seeking to boost his upstate credentials for his run for attorney general, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County, announced today the endorsement of Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, Ulster County.

Brodsky, along with the five other Democratic candidates for attorney general, are expected to attend this weekend’s Democratic Rural Conference in Niagara Falls, which kicks off tonight. The group will be conducting a straw poll tomorrow on its slate of candidates.

“It’s my pleasure to endorse my friend Richard Brodsky in his effort to be the next attorney general,” Hinchey said in a statement. ”As a strong environmentalist, as a strong progressive, as an outspoken leader in the struggle for fair property taxes, civil rights and civil liberties, he has been an extraordinary leader for our state.”

That’s the gist of a letter from state Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, to Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County. Citing an internal poll, Ball advises Skelos that he will be the GOP candidate in the race to replace state Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson. Therefore, he argues, he and the Senate leadership should be working together to ensure the seat remains in Republican hands.

You can read the letter and a related post at City Hall.

Ball faces a Republican challenge from Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy and former Southeast Justice Jim Borkowski.

Update – Ball’s office said the poll wasn’t an internal one since it was commissioned by the GOP chairs in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess.

County Executive Rob Astorino today announced a plan to temporarily save the county’s BxM4C express bus to Manhattan that translates into higher fares, fewer buses and more than $1 million in savings.

The compromise means that riders will pay $8.50 a trip, a $3 increase, and that the service will no longer operate on weekends starting June 28. There will no longer be discounts.

“Many of the express route riders have asked us to find some way to save this route,” Astorino said. “My proposal strikes the balance between our taxpayers and our riders.”

Westchester will save $1.1 million this year and another $2.5 million next year, he said.

“It’s a huge relief,” said commuter Virginia Sheahan, a Yonkers resident who was one of the leaders in the effort to save the bus service. “I can get to work. That’s what I need to do.”

Though Sheahan had some concerns with what “peak hours” meant and how weekend riders would be affected, she said this showed that government was responsive.

“Hopefully this will cover the core of the ridership for the 4C and maybe if the ride proves to pay for itself, maybe we can get more service back,” she said.

Some riders had said they’d be willing to pay more for the service to help it cover costs. This compromise incorporated input from riders and county lawmakers, while eliminating the $2.5 million taxpayer subsidy, Astorino said.

Since Westchester faces a $166 million budget gap in 2011, the county executive said going forward the county cannot continue to operate the route, so his administration is working with Liberty Lines on a possible spin-off next year where the bus operator would take control over fares and schedules.

There is no guarantee that the route will make it past Dec. 31,  Astorino said, so he will continue negotiations with the MTA on finding an alternative, which could include extending city express buses from the Bronx to Manhattan to three Yonkers stops.

“Ultimately, much will depend on whether there are enough riders to keep the route viable,”  said.

Astorino in March first proposed eliminating the route as part of $16 million in short-term cuts to transportation, social services, parks and staffing as a way to address a “staggering” fiscal crisis.

Riders, local leaders and some legislators quickly protested the  cut, saying that the service was vital to the region and homeowners along the route.

The service began in the early 1980s, when commuter train service to New York City was much less reliable and more unpleasant, but that changed in 1983 when Metro-North took over the rail lines. Bus ridership then began to decline. The line currently serves about 800 people a day.

Chairman Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, who had been critical of the cut, said the bipartisan agreement was a suitable alternative and “a victory for Westchester commuters.”

“I am confident that we have reached an outcome that will be extremely satisfactory to those who travel on the route,” Jenkins said.

Legislators Gordon Burrows and Bernice Spreckman, Republicans from Yonkers, said they were gratified by the decision. They said the riders “were great allies” whose efforts made a strong case to salvage the line.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner called it a “really positive” development that showed that Astorino listened those affected and could reach agreements with other leaders.

“This highlights a willingness to listen to the people,” Feiner said of Astorino.

Gov. David Paterson took to his regular Thursday schedule of radio shows, talking about the budget and the need to get a budget agreement in advance of June 1—when billions of dollars in payments are due.

Paterson also indicated that he will keep independent a bill to impose a one-day-a-week furlough on workers until a budget deal is struck. Paterson suggested yesterday that he might include the furlough measure in with the weekly emergency appropriation bills that lawmakers have adopted to keep state government operation.

Putting the two together would have made a difficult choice for lawmakers: reject it and shut government down, or impose the furlough on about 100,000 workers that would upset the unions in an election year.

But Paterson said on WCBS radio this morning, he’s not ready to do that—or call special sessions to keep lawmakers in Albany to get a deal done. They left yesterday and aren’t due back in town until Monday.

“My furlough bill is separate from the emergency appropriation I’m putting in next week,” the Democratic governor said. “I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of eventually putting it in there. And I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of calling a special session and forcing the Legislature to stay if I don’t see a concerted effort” to get the budget passed.

Later, on his weekly spot on the John Gambling Show on WOR-AM (710), Paterson said the delay in getting a budget done has nothing to do with his lame-duck status, since he’s not running for election this November.

“I’m not getting any better cooperation right now than I was getting when I was still a candidate for governor back in December, when the Legislature left this state $600 million short and we ran out of money at the end of the year,” Paterson said.

He added that, “Believe me, they will say the same thing about the next governor. Next year, you’ll be interviewing someone else who is governor, assuming that they come on the program, and they will be having the same problem with the Legislature.”

In case you missed it, attorney general Andrew Cuomo filed a second lawsuit against state Sen. Pedro Espada over fraud allegations concerning his for not-for-profit.

There’s already been plenty of chatter about Espada allegedly spending $20,000 of the charity’s money on sushi or New Rochelle councilman Richard St. Paul working for him.

St. Paul provides legal work for both Espada’s Senate office and personal management company. What you might not know is Cuomo filed his first major inquiry into Espada’s charity activities back in January, a time when Senate payroll records indicate St. Paul was making $55,000 as Espada’s senate lawyer.

Shortly after the the January inquiry was filed, records indicate St. Paul started making $79,000 — a $24,000 raise. St. Paul said to the Journal News in the past that Espada’s investigation has nothing to do with him, but Cuomo doesn’t think so. He has subpoenaed pay information for St. Paul and nine other of Espada’s employees.

Republican comptroller candidate Harry Wilson is criticizing a fundraiser by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Silver pushed for DiNapoli to succeed disgraced Comptroller Alan Hevesi in January 2007 after Hevesi resigned after he was charged with using aides to chauffeur his wife. And over then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s objections, the Assembly appointed DiNapoli to the post.

Now Silver is hosting a $500 to $5,000 a head fundraiser in Albany on Monday for DiNapoli, which Wilson said is a conflict of interest because DiNapoli has audit power over the Legislature.

“If Mr. DiNapoli does not see this as wrong, the state is in worse shape than so many of us fear,” Wilson said in a statement. “It is unethical for a sitting state comptroller to use a legislative leader, whom he’s supposed to be overseeing, to raise campaign cash. Mr. DiNapoli is supposed to be a watchdog, not a lapdog. He must do the ethical thing and cancel this fundraiser, not rely on Mr. Silver or the other legislative leaders to raise campaign funds.”

There was no immediate comment from DiNapoli’s campaign.

Updated: Here’s the response from DiNapoli’s campaign spokesman Mark Benoit, who knocked Wilson for not making his tax returns public.

“Comptroller DiNapoli has instituted a series of tough reforms, he’s protected taxpayers by identifying hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings and waste through improved and expanded audits, all while increasing transparency in government,” he said.

“DiNapoli meets or exceeds all campaign finance regulations – his integrity is beyond reproach.  Harry Wilson’s primary experience in working for an unregulated hedge fund, however, should serve as a warning sign to New York State voters, as should his refusal to release his tax returns.  Tom DiNapoli has released his every year he’s been comptroller.  We’re still waiting on yours, Mr. Wilson.”

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy today said he won the endorsement of the Queens County Republican Party’s executive committee, a group that had supported Levy’s potential primary foe Rick Lazio.

“With each passing day we continue to gain momentum and this is another step forward in my campaign,” Levy said in a statement.

Lazio, meanwhile, announced his policy agenda for the state yesterday and today announced a policy group that includes former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Levy’s campaign response to Lazio’s report states:  “We congratulate Mr. Lazio for actually presenting a platform after a full year of campaigning. Unfortunately for him, most of it has already been announced by Steve Levy.  Perhaps Mr. Lazio will grow a mustache as well.”

Here’s Lazio’s policy report.

“New York needs sweeping and fundamental change and I will continue to travel the state to spread my message to the people. Our momentum is building, and I know that by standing with the people of New York, we can take back our government,” Lazio said in a statement.

Building a Better New York