Politics on the Hudson

Republicans may not exactly have a deep bench, but there is some young talent coming up. That seemed to be the message today when Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney met behind closed doors with GOP senators and then faced the Capitol media.

“We need the state to be fiscally responsible,’’ she said, staying right on the GOP message.  “We need the state to understand they can’t be Santa Claus.’’

Mahoney, 44, articulate and telegenic, won big in 2007 to take the top government job in the state’s 6th biggest county outside New York City.

Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, pointed out that the three largest upstate counties (Monroe and Erie besides Onondaga) all have Republican executives.

“We want to show off the successes we have had,’’ he said.

Republicans now hold no statewide offices, and have to find six candidates (two for the U.S. Senate, plus governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller and attorney general) to take on five Democratic incumbents next year. (There is no sitting lieutenant governor.)

Their message is that the Democratic leaders, all of whom are from New York City, are hurting the state’s chances of an economic rebound with  their profligate spending and taxing policies

They seem to be counting on the short memories of voters, since the Senate, long controlled by the GOP until this January, approved all of the taxing-and-spending plans that over decades helped to  put the state and its localities in their current precarious financial positions.

And for the record, Mahoney said that “I don’t have any plans’’ to run for statewide office next year.

There were a few moments of partisan harmony at today’s public meeting among Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders that had the governor for a few moments thinking he was dreaming.

He remarked on the fact that the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Assembly had agreed to jointly sponsor a government-consolidation bill, and that the Republican Senate leader of the Senate, Dean Skelos of Nassau County, said he wanted to pass bills to cut property taxes “and give you credit for them.’’

Those were departures from the partisan bickering that usually sets the tone for such gatherings, as Paterson noted.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s plan to give citizens and local officials more power to eliminate some layers of local government is likely to pass the Legislature before lawmakers start their summer recess next month, legislative leaders said today.

Cuomo, a potential candidate for governor next year, has been pushing a proposal that

would give county and town officials the power to abolish local special districts. It would also give citizens the power to put on the ballot proposals to consolidate governments if they get the signatures of 10 percent of voters (or 5,000, whichever is less).

He has said that reducing the number of governments in the state, which he pegged at 10,521, could result in significant property-tax savings.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan and Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, said today they plan to jointly sponsor Cuomo’s bill, virtually assuring its passage in that house.

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, also said he was prepared to introduce the bill. Passage could come as soon as next week.

Tom Golisano, the upstate billionaire who announced last week that he was changing his legal residence from New York to Florida,  today predicted more rich people will flee the Empire State once the real-estate market improves.

“The move is going to accellerate,’’ he said during an interview on Talk-1300 AM in Albany today.

The founder of Paychex Inc. and the Buffalo Sabres said that his state income taxes would have increased from $9,000 a day to $13,800 a day under the newly enacted state budget. Florida has no income tax.

“We’re driving so many people out of here,’’ said Golisano, 67, who spent close to $100 million on campaigns for governor in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

Golisano blasted Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders for increasing the state budget by 9 percent. But Paterson has frequently pointed out that the state’s general-fund spending – the portion supported by tax receipts – is virtually unchanged from last year.

The race for the Republican nomination for governor, which everyone in the GOP hopes will be waged against incumbent Democrat David Paterson, is shaping up as a potential three-way contest.

Although many party leaders still favor former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio and Erie County Executive Chris Collins are also garnering support.

Lazio is set to launch a campaign committee this week, the Daily News’ Liz Benjamin reports today, and some party leaders are excited about luring Erie County Exec Chris Collins in to the race, according to the New York Post’s Fred Dicker.

Giuliani, who started a Senate run in 2000 but later quit after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was involved in a messy divorce, hasn’t said what his plans are for next year. He ran what was viewed as a largley inept camapign for president last year.

Many Democrats expect that in the end Paterson won’t run, clearing the way for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to be the Democratic candidate.  But for now Paterson, who has the lowest approval rating of any governor in recent history, has said he’s in the race.

Gov. David Paterson said today he was “surprised and shocked’’ that members of the Public Integrity Commission whom he called upon to quit yesterday are so far refusing to comply.

“I suggest they think it over and really think about the message they’re sending if they’re not willing to step aide and let new members take over,’’ he said to reporters in Manhattan.

Paterson called on the members to quit yesterday after a report from state Inspector General Joseph Fisch criticized the group for letting its executive director, Herbert Teitelbaum, talk regularly to an aide to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007 when the commission was probing whether Spitzer and/or his aides acted improperly  in using the State Police to gather information on the travels of then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Fisch said Teitelbaum disclosed confidential information.

But lawyers for Teitelbaum and the commissioners said he was acting properly and trying to encourage the administrstion to cooperate with the probe, and blasted Fisch for impuging the integrity of him and members of the  commission.

Paterson said he’s not sure what he’ll do if  the commissioners continue to defy his request. But he said he’ll consider abolishing the commission and setting up separate panels to regulate lobbying and ethics issues – the setup before Spitzer created the integrity commission in 2007.

Gov. David Paterson today cleaned house at the state’s Commission on Government Integrity, asking for the resignations of all of its 12 members and naming a security expert to be the new chairman.

“This will give the comsison the new and fresh starts it deserves,’’he said.

In the wake of the inspector general’s report issued earlier today that disclosed that commission executive director Herbert Teitelbaum passed on classified information to an aide to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer while the panel was investigating Spitzer’s role in the Troopergate scandal, Paterson nominated Michael Cherkasky as the new chairman.

“He is the perfect person at this time and the most qualified to restore public confidence,’’ said Paterson, who also called for the resignations of Teitelbaum and the commission’s top lawyer.

Charkerky is president and CEO of US Information Services, which provides security investigations for the federal government. He is also the former head of the Marsh and McLennan insurance company and led a panel that overhauled the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1990s.

Paterson has the power to name seven of the commision’s 13 members. He said he will ask legislative leaders and other statewide officials to ask for the resignations of their appointees as well.

Inspector General Joseph Fisch was sharply critical of commission members for not probing Teitelbaum’s conduct, even after they got a tip he was leaking information to the Spitzer staffer.

There was no immediate response from the commission.

The executive director of the state Commission on Public Integrity should be fired for unlawfully disclosing confidential information about the “Troopergate’’ scandal to an aide to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the state inspector general recommended today.

The executive director, Herbert Teitelbaum, gave the information to Robert Hermann in 2007, when Hermann was a member of Spitzer’s cabinet. Hermann is a former law partner and “close friend’’ of Teitelbaum, according to the report.

“Herbert Teitelbaum and Robert Hermann betrayed the public trust,’’ Inspector General Joseph Fisch said today. “It is disturbing that while investigating leaks by the governor’s office of confidential information, the commission’s executive director committed a similar offense by leaking confidential information.’’

There was no immediate response from Teitelbaum or the commission, which is the body that would have to move to oust Teitelbaum.

The rare step of the commission calling for the ouster of a public official is the latest twist in the long-running “Troopergate’’ scandal. Several agencies investigated whether Spitzer and his aides had directed State Police to spy on his chief political rival, then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, in 2007.

Last July, the commission found reasonable cause that four Spitzer administration officials had violated the public officer’s law by gathering and disclosing information on Bruno’s travels to “advance their own non-governmental interests.’’

Spitzer denied knowledge of it, but at least one aide said the spying was carried on at the governor’s direction. Spitzer resigned in March of 2008 as the result of an unrelated prostitution scandal.

Bruno, facing federal charges that he used his Senate post to enrich himself, resigned last year.

Last August, Albany County District Attorney David Soares touched off the probe by the inspector general when he told investigators that Teitelbaum had disclosed information to Hermann.

While Gov. David Paterson’s approval ratings remain at historically lows, the race for governor next year among two potential candidates has tightened, according to a new independent poll released today.
The Quinnipiac University poll found that Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo leads former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, just 47 percent to 40 percent, down from a 53-36 edge last month.
Meanwhile, those who disapprove of Paterson’s performance outnumber those who think he’ doing well, 61 percent to 28 percent, virtually matching the 61-28 percent figure last month, which was the lowest the poll had ever registered for a New York governor.
Paterson has said he plans to seek election to a full four-year term next year – he took over from Eliot Spitzer last year after Spitzer resigned in disgrace following disclosure of his involvement with a prostitution ring. But Paterson figures to be under strong pressure from other Democrats to step aside unless his ratings improve dramatically.
This latest poll shows, as have others for the past few months, that Cuomo would trounce Paterson in a Democratic primary and that Giuliani would easily defeat Paterson if they face each other in the general election, 54 percent to 32 percent.
So far, Cuomo, the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, hasn’t indicated that he intends to run for governor next year, and Giuliani hasn’t declared his intentions either.
But the new poll found that by a margin of 66 percent to 33 percent, voters don’t think Paterson will run.
Paterson, the state’s first African American governor, even trails Cuomo among black voters by 22 points.
The poll of 2,828 registered voters was conducted May 5 through 11. It has an error margin of 2.8 percentage points.

Prices for wholesale electricity fell to their lowest levels last month since 2002, the organization that runs the market announced today.

The average price in April was $39.64 per megawatt hour, 13 percent lower than March and just a little more than half as much as the $73.28 cost in January, according to the Independent System Operator.

“This is good news for consumers and further evidence that New York’s competitive markets are working as planned,’’ said ISO chief Stephen Whitley.

The cost is down because the price of natural gas, which powers many plants, has dropped by more than half since january and, Whitley said, because plants are becoming more efficient.

The ISO’s system of buying electricity from producers – paying all producers the same price, rather than accepting lower bids – has been attacked by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Geenburgh, and others, who think those who bid lower should be paid less. But the ISO claims its system pushes all producers to be more efficient.

Prices to homeowners and other retail customers haven’t dropped by nearly as much, since transmission, distribution and other costs account for more than half of the typical total electric bill, which in New York remains among the most expensive in the country.