Politics on the Hudson

   Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady, is asking the governor (via a letter) to conduct an “open, transparent and non-partisan process” to replace U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Chappaqua Democrat who is expected to receive a nod from President-elect Barack Obama to be his secretary of state. If Clinton accepts the position, it would be up to Gov. David Paterson to pick a successor for Clinton, would also run in a 2010 special election. (Clinton was elected to a second term in 2006.)

   All kinds of names have been thrown out for who should replace Clinton, including state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo; U.S. Reps. Nita Lowey of Harrison, Nydia Velazquez of New York City, Kirsten Gillibrand of the Albany area or Brian Higgins of Buffalo; and environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose father once held the seat. All are Democrats.

   “In exercising your executive prerogative, I know millions of New Yorkers would agree that the process through which Senator Clinton’s successor is appointed should adhere to the highest standards of public openness, transparency and bipartisanship,” Tedisco wrote. “It is imperative that the process provides citizens, media and elected officials alike full disclosure of the qualifications for any prospective candidate warranting your serious consideration.”

   Tedisco said the candidate for the position should be strongly committed to helping the struggling upstate economy. Tedisco said Clinton did not fulfill her campaign promise of bringing 200,000 jobs to upstate.

   “Governor, New Yorkers trust in your judgment and capacity to put the best interests of our state ahead of any political or parochial concerns,” Tedisco wrote.

   Lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson may have failed to take any action yesterday on the state budget, but outside the Capitol today, East Park was bustling with activity. About 10 workers are putting up a Christmas tree and tethering it to the ground.

   Paterson called the Assembly and Senate into emergency legislative session yesterday, with the intention of convincing members to cut $2 billion out of this year’s budget to take care of the state’s deficit. They couldn’t agree on anything, and a public meeting held by Paterson and legislative leaders was contentious. The governor plans to release his 2009-10 budget proposal in a month.

   The East Park tree is a 30-foot blue spruce donated by Arlene Blazin of Latham, an Albany suburb, according to the state Office of General Services. A 35-foot blue spruce tree that will be erected in nearby Empire State Plaza (across from the Capitol) arrives tomorrow. It is being donated by Frank and Marie Riberdy of Waterford, Saratoga County.

LED lights will be put on the trees in the next week or so, and the spruces will be formally lit Dec. 7, a spokesman for the Office of General Services said.

For those craving more information on how what happens in Albany trickles down to your community, the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials has launched www.StopTheTaxShift.org. Its purpose is to educate policymakers, the media, the public and, more specifially, New York’s overburdened real property taxpayer.

With New York’s fiscal crisis, mayors and other local officials are preparing to fight back any potential threats to state aid they receive. Last week, members of the New York Association of Counties and the County Executives Association cautioned that reductions in state aid could negatively affect communities and result in property-tax hikes. Gov. David Paterson has asked lawmakers to hold a special budget-cutting session in Albany next week. New York faces a $1.5 billion shortfall this year, which is expected to grow, and $12.5 million in 2009-10.

“New York is at a crossroads,” Cohoes Mayor John McDonald, president of the Conference of Mayors, said in a statement. “Will our leaders repeat the near fatal mistakes of the early 1990s, when local aid was slashed, and from which many communities have never recovered? Or will the governor and state legislators take the right approach and protect municipal property taxpayers from the devastating effect of cuts in AIM (municipal aid) funding?”

Features on StopTheTaxShift.org include a blog by “Joe Taxpayer” and a “Mandate of the Week” section.

In its mid-year economic and revenue-forecast report, the Senate Republican majority said the governor’s Division of Budget consistently overestimates future-year budget deficits. In the past three years, the executive has overestimated the out-year gaps by an average of $5.7 billion, according to the report by Global Insight.

Although recent events in the financial markets are likely to have a negative impact in the second half of the fiscal year, which ends March 31, state general fund receipts are $138 million higher than projected in the Budget Division’s first-quarter update and spending was $203 million lower, the report said. But Gov. David Paterson doubled the three-year deficit projection (through 2011-12) from $26.2 billion estimated three months ago to $45.5 billion, the GOP report said.

The Senate forecast said the general-fund spending for Medicaid will be less than predicted by the governor. Republicans estimate it will be $8.95 billion this year and $10.59 billion the following year, $265.8 million less than the Division of Budget projection.

Also in the report:—Tax collections are estimated at $61.6 billion this year and $61.1 billion in 2009-10.—Employment is expected to increase by 0.3 percent in 2008-09 and decline by 1.1 percent in 2009-10.—The 4.6 percent growth in personal income this year was primarily a result of economic-stimulus checks from the federal goverment. Income will grow at a slower pace the following year, at a rate of 1 percent. (more…)

   The Assembly just released its take on New York’s budget crisis. Like the report issued earlier today by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, it doesn’t contain good news. Employment and wages are expected to fall in 2009 and the decline on Wall Street will drive down other revenues to the state.

   “The New York State economic outlook is bleak,” according to the Assembly report, prepared by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

   The mid-year update of revenues and the state’s economic outlook is required by the state budget process.

   Some of the other Assembly findings: 

  —Tax revenues for 2008-09 will be $61 billion, $252 million below the estimate by Gov. David Paterson’s Division of Budget. That’s $1.8 billion less than the Budget Division’s first quarter estimate. Anticipated revenues for 2009-10 are $59 billion, much of which can be attributed to the forecast for personal income tax.

  —A slowdown in consumer spending is expected to limit 2009-10 growth in sales tax revenue to 1.9 percent. Business taxes are expected to decrease by 1.1 percent from 2008-09.

   The Ways and Means Committee predicts state school aid will increase $1.33 billion. A report issued by Assembly Republican Ways and Means Committee forecasts that school aid will increase about $1.9 billion in 2009-10, bringing the total to $23 billion. 

   Democratic candidates running for Assembly seats and the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee had a total of $13.9 million in the bank as of late yesterday, according to an analysis by the New York Public Interest Research Group. Republicans, who are in the minority in the Assembly, had a total of $2.4 million.

   Incumbents have the advantage over challengers, NYPIRG found, with $11.9 million in their bank accounts compared to $555,000 for challengers. Quite a few Democrats don’t have opponents for their Assembly seats.

   Here are some examples:

  —Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, has about $392,000. Her opponent, Republican Anthony Pilla, has $700.

  —Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, has about $80,100. Her Republican challenger, William Gouldman, has $22,300.

  —George Latimer, D-Rye, has about $74,700. His GOP opponent, Rob Biagi, has $10,400.

  —Adam Bradley, D-White Plains, has 268,400. He has no opponent.

  —Greg Ball, R-Patterson, has $4,300. John Degnan, his challenger, has about $1,900.

   Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver just announced that he would take action against Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo,  for what the bi-partisan Assembly Ethics and Guidance Committee unanimously decided was an “inappropriate personal relationship” with an Assembly intern.

   Silver said he notified Hoyt today that he is banned from participation in any Assembly internship or student mentoring program. He must discontinue the internship program he runs from his Buffalo office.

   Silver said he was “deeply disturbed and disappointed” by Hoyt’s actions. “Student interns come to the Assembly because this setting provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the legislative process and New York’s political landscape. It is absolutely unacceptable for any Assembly member to behave in this manner, or to do anything else that damages the integrity of the intern program.”

   The Ethics and Guidance Committee’s report said Hoyt had a relationship with a 23-year-old intern who started in 2003 and stayed until early 2005. The Assembly adopted a policy against fraternizing with interns in 2004, following cases in which several other lawmakers had relationships with interns.

Rob Biagi, a Republican candidate for the state Assembly accused his opponent of downplaying the severity of the Wall Street situation.

Biagi is running against George Latimer, a Rye Democrat, and this week blasted both Latimer and Speaker Sheldon Silver for being “unaffected” and “indifferent.” “They are obviously out of touch with what is happening in our state. Businesses are collapsing and people are losing jobs. Meanwhile, our state could stand to lose billions of dollars in revenue. The economy is tanking and instead of getting to work, Latimer and Silver seem to be unaffected and indifferent,” Biagi said.

Biagi also criticized Assembly leaders for not cutting enough and for not capping property taxes in an August special session of the state Legislature. He said “They aren’t doing their job.”

“We are in crisis mode and George Latimer and Shelly Silver can only be bothered to come back to work for just one day to do a half-baked job. Clearly, the state budget needs more attention and we need people who are willing to put the time in to get the job done right the first time.”