Politics on the Hudson

Hundreds of people with mental illness and advocates for the mental-health system were at the Capitol today to lobby for the state to invest more money in housing, peer support and employment opportunities. They participated in the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services’ 14th annual Legislative Day.

According to NYAPRS, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget would continue the state’s overhaul of its health and mental-health systems in ways that are intended to continue consolidating and closing Office of Mental Health psychiatric hospitals, improve coordination of care and help avoid Medicaid hospitalizations and emergency-room visits. To achieve these goals, the state has been expanding managed care, establishing health homes and using behavioral health organizations. New York has 27 state psychiatric hospitals, about seven times the national average.

The organization said the state needs to do more than improve access to medical services and medications. It wants the state to “reinvest” the savings in community wellness, prevention and support systems. Research has shown that housing and economic stability and a community support system can reduce relapse rates and costly hospital visits, NYAPRS said in a statement.

“Otherwise, we will only be repeating the deinstitutionalization failures of the past where we closed the door to hospitals and ERs without placing sufficient services and supports in the community,” the group said.

Josue Hernandez, 32, of the Bronx said people with mental illness have a lot to offer, but they need more help finding jobs and housing and getting peer support after they are discharged from hospitals. He participates in a psychosocial club in the Bronx called the Boulevard Clubhouse, which provides placement in transitional jobs, advocacy and referrals and social programs. He finished a transitional-employment program and is now looking for a permanent position.

“My situation now, I’m dealing with finding a job after finishing my program. And it’s been a little hard,” he said.

He and his wife, Margaret, got married last July. They both belong to the Boulevard Club.

“They think that because I get disability and I work part time, they think I have enough to support the both of us. So until he gets a job, a lot of things are a stretch,” said Margaret Hernandez, 33.

Taxpayers spend more when someone is in a state psychiatric hospital than if they live in the community, said Christian Florio, a generalist/case manager at the Boulevard Clubhouse. “It actually costs less if you reinvest the money back into the community,” he said.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand heads into the 2012 election with $8.1 million in campaign cash, according to a yearend finance report filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.
New York’s junior senator raised $9.76 million last year, coming out of a successful 2010 campaign in which she spent $13.4 million to win the remaining two years of the six-year term that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to in 2006.
Republicans George Maragos, who serves as Nassau County’s comptroller, and Marc Cendella, CEO of TheLadders.com job search website, have been traveling around the state meeting with party leaders and seeking their support to run as the GOP standardbearer against Gillibrand this November, when she will be seeking a full six-year Senate term.
Both Republicans have indicated they are willing to spend millions of dollars of their own money for the campaign.
State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox criticized Gillibrand’s campaign fundraising several weeks ago when she traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to a campaign event.
According to Gillibrand’s campaign spokesman Glen Caplin, money raised from the campaign event held in Geneva, as well as others held in London and Paris, will be reported in her first quarter 2012 campaign finance report. During the trip Gillibrand tapped into donors who are members of the organization Democrats Abroad.

“It’s not unusual, and in fact, it is quite common for American citizens living abroad to participate in the democratic process back home,” Caplin stated.
New York’s senior Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer, won a third six-year term in 2010 and won’t be up for re-election until 2016.
Schumer’s campaign committee received $645,637 in donations in 2011 and ended the year with just over $10 million.

Marc Cenedella, the Manhattan CEO of the TheLadders.com, said today he won’t run for the GOP nomination against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat.

Cenedella’s potential campaign was derailed after he had been found by the New York Times to have written inappropriate blog posts.

“I will not be running for the United States Senate in 2012. I have given a run careful consideration, and I believe Senator Gillibrand is beatable,” Cenedella said in a statement. “Her early and unfounded attacks on me, her weak poll numbers, and her lethargic quarterly fundraising results all point to a politician in trouble—and encourage me to challenge her.

“But running for the Senate this year, under this accelerated election calendar, is untenable for me from a business perspective. The calendar is too tight for me to do what I need to do politically and professionally to win this seat in 2012. I promised to make a quick decision on whether to run for the Senate out of respect for the Republican and Conservative Parties and the other candidates pursuing this race, and I fulfill that promise today. I look forward to doing everything in my power to help the candidate ultimately selected defeat Ms. Gillibrand and her errant policies for the sake of economic growth in this state.”

Hazel Dukes, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo today to veto the new district lines for legislative offices, calling the lines “absolutely disrespectful” to all ethnic groups.

Dukes and the Rev. Al Sharpton are holding a news conference tomorrow at City Hall in Manhattan to protest the lines.

Before the announcement of the event, Dukes told Gannett’s Albany Bureau that the lines are unacceptable by cutting up cities into various Senate districts and leaving minority voters disenfranchised. The New York Times wrote today about the concern among minority groups.

“I understand democracy. But this is beyond democracy,” Dukes said. “This is hungry politicians, and they are doing a disservice to New Yorkers and we’re not going to stand for it.”

Dukes said Cuomo needs to veto the lines—something he has pledged to do—or the NAACP will look to sue. She said they already have lawyers reviewing the redistricting documents.

“We’ll be ready to do whatever it takes to overturn this,” Dukes said. “I hope the governor will keep his promise of vetoing. We’re calling on him to do that.”

Cuomo said yesterday he would do just that, saying “If they send me this bill with these lines, I’m going to veto it.”

The first lawsuit over redistricting was filed earlier today by Senate Democrats, and that dealt with the addition of a 63rd Senate seat. Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester, said he also may sue over Rochester’s lines, as may the NAACP in Buffalo.

Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick testified today on redistricting the state’s senate district lines and he asked that Yonkers not be split in half by two senate districts.

Lesnick made his statements before the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, where said that a current proposal would create a situation in which a non-Yonkers resident could be elected to represent the state’s fourth-largest city in the senate.

The city is currently divided in two senate districts. Democrat Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins represents most of the city, while Yonkers’ southeastern corner is represented by Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx.

Here is what Lesnick said:

I am concerned that if the proposed senate districts are adopted Yonkers could lose its strong voice in the New York State Senate, and as a result, lose out on very much needed school aide that historically, had been restored by a powerful advocate in the Senate.

For many years, most of Yonkers has been in one senate district and that senator, be it Chippy Flynn, Nick Spano, or Andrea Stewart-Cousins, has worked hard to represent us on matters that concern our City.

The proposed lines, as they now stand, split Yonkers down the middle into two sections, and in such a way, that Yonkers would no longer to hold a majority in either district and thus, weaken our representation in Albany.

Republican Assembly candidate Richard Wager is running March 20 for the vacant 103rd District seat in Poughkeepsie that stretches from Dutchess County to Columbia County.

Then, he will likely face a primary as early as June for the 105th Assembly District—a newly created district that would include his hometown of Washington, Dutchess County, but include none of Columbia and only five of the same towns as the 103rd.

Welcome to the wild world of New York politics this year as redistricting is upending the state’s elections.

Wager, who faces Democrat Didi Barrett in the March 20 special election, said he’s just focusing on one race at a time. The seat is vacant after the resignation of GOP Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro, who was elected Dutchess County executive.

It is one of four races—two in Dutchess County—that will be decided on March 20.

“Right now, I’m focused solely on convincing the people in the current 103rd district why I would be the best person to represent them in Albany,” Wager, who lost a run for Congress in 2008, said. “That’s it.”

But Kieran Lalor called Wager an opportunist, saying Wager is running for election March 20 to a seat that won’t exist in January. Lalor plans to challenge Wager for the Republican nomination for the new 105th Assembly seat—whenever the primary date is decided in Albany.

“I think it’s a little bit self-serving for someone to run in one district and then immediately run in a radically different district,” Lalor charged

Wager said he is simply running in the districts where his home is located—in the 103rd now and the 105th next year.

The state Senate passed a bill today that would dramatically expand the state’s DNA database for convicted criminals, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called on the state Assembly to do the same.

The bill, which passed 47-8 in the Senate, would require anyone convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor under the penal code to submit a DNA sample to the state’s database, which law enforcement officials say would aid in solving crimes and convicting criminals.

As it stands, the database applies to penal law felonies and 36 specific misdemeanor crimes.

“We all know DNA … exonerates, it convicts. It helps provide closure at times for families, particularly in cold cases,” said Sen. Stephen Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, one of the bill’s prime sponsors. “It also helps to eliminate, at times, suspects. It is an extraordinarily valuable tool for both prosecution as well as defense.”

But Assembly Democrats are looking for additional protections in the bill, including specific guidelines for collecting DNA samples and the establishment of privacy guidelines. The Assembly passed a bill each of the past two years—sponsored by Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol—that would do that, but it died in the Senate.

The Senate bill would expand the existing DNA database.

“We agree with Chairman Lentol that District Attorneys should not be hiding evidence and that judges should have the ability to order access to the database to prove innocence as well as guilt,” Assembly Democrat spokesman Michael Whyland said in an email.

In a statement, Cuomo called on the Assembly to pass the Senate bill. He had pushed for an expansion of the database in his State of the State address earlier this month.

“This critical crime fighting resource embraces technology to help protect the innocent and convict the guilty,” Cuomo said.

“I call on the Assembly to do the same so I can sign this bill into law immediately.”

Here’s Saland discussing the bill:

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos spoke to the media following a news conference today, touching on Senate Republicans’ controversial new proposal for district lines, as well as a federal judge’s ruling that New York must hold its congressional primary on June 26 (unless the Legislature changes it.)

Here’s some video footage of those exchanges:

YONKERS—Mayor Mike Spano was sworn in today as chairman of the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency board, and Deputy Mayor Susan Gerry was sworn in as a board member and secretary.

The Yonkers IDA is a public benefit corporation that provides business development incentives to companies that choose to locate or expand in Yonkers.

“The Yonkers IDA will play a critical role in the economic revival of this city, making careful investments that generate new tax revenue for Yonkers and new jobs for our residents who are still struggling in tough times,” said Spano, who took office as mayor Jan. 1.

“I look forward to seeing many construction cranes across our Yonkers skyline,” Spano continued, “and the completion of new development projects that will make our city a better place to live.”

Under law, the mayor serves as chair of the IDA board.

The IDA says that since 1982, it has generated billions of dollars in private investment within Yonkers. The IDA induces companies to invest their capital in major economic development projects that create jobs and increase the tax base, thereby improving the quality of life for all Yonkers residents. IDA incentives also encourage improvement to existing housing and construction of new residential property, ranging from low-income to market- ate, throughout the city, according to the IDA.

Non-profit groups that provide counseling and legal services to homeowners at risk of foreclosure and a number of lawmakers are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to include $25 million in the state budget to continue the statewide Foreclosure Prevention Services Program. They held a news conference this morning, and advocates are giving lawmakers keys attached to tags that detail the number of homes at risk for foreclosure in their districts’ counties and the potential economic impact.

“A key is a symbol of the sanctity, safety and security of the home,” said Justin Haines, director of foreclosure prevention at Legal Services NYC – Bronx. “It represents the hard-earned down payments made to the American dream of home-ownership and also the equity that’s slowly slipping away.”

Cuomo did not include money for the program in his proposed budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, which begins April 1. Without funding, the Foreclosure Prevention Services Program will shut down. The state has spent roughly $50 million in the past four years for 120 non-profits statewide that provide housing counseling and legal assistance. They have helped more than 80,000 homeowners and at least 14,000 homes, preserving more than $3.4 billion in property value and tax base.

Statewide last year, 345,000 homeowners received a 90-day notice of serious delinquency, according to a new report from the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project. Roughly 95,000 of them were in New York City. For every foreclosure filed, there are 14 homeowners in serious delinquency.

“These figures demonstrate what advocates already know, we’re not halfway through the foreclosure crisis,” Haines said. “And recent estimates indicate that it could take as long as 14 years to work through the current foreclosure docket in the courts.”

State legislation adopted several years ago gives homeowners whose residence is being foreclosed on to sit with representatives of the lending institution in hopes of restructuring the mortgage so they can stay in their home, said Sen. Jeffrey Klein, D-Bronx.

“The only way this program is going to be effective, the only way we’re going to stop foreclosures is making sure that that individual, with a stack full of paperwork, sitting next to a bank attorney, has the representation of people behind me here today,” Klein said at the news conference, referring to help from the non-profit groups.

Another recently adopted state law requires lending institutions to maintain foreclosed properties, Klein said.

“A lot of these banks are very quick to foreclose. But then when they own these properties, they take title to these properties, they don’t want to maintain these properties,” he said.