Politics on the Hudson

Sen. Chuck Schumer announced today that Congress late Tuesday passed his legislation that would help to keep sexual predators off social networking sites by requiring them to submit e-mail addresses, instant message addresses or other identifying internet information to be placed on the National Sex Offender Registry.

The federal legislation comes after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reached an agreement with the state Legislature to pass a similar law in New York this year to keep convicted sexual predators off sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Schumer said the federal law, if passed by President Bush, will require the U.S. Attorney General “to set up a secure system that will allow qualifying social networking websites to cross-check users’ information against the registry to protect users from sexual predators. Without such a checking system, social networking websites have struggled to police their own precincts for sexual predators.”

Updated: Cuomo applauded the legislation’s passage, saying it’s another “important step in protecting our children online.

“I am proud that New York State has once again set the example for the nation by enacting e-STOP on April 28, 2008.  E-STOP was the first law of its kind in the country prohibiting dangerous convicted sex offenders from using the Internet to access social networking Websites to communicate with minors, requiring convicted sex offenders to submit any Internet identifiers to law enforcement, and allowing Websites to use the information for the purposes of prescreening or removing sex offenders from their services.

“I congratulate Congress for taking this vital step in protecting our children, and I applaud Senator Schumer for leading the way and displaying extraordinary leadership in getting this bill passed and making it the law across the country.”

  A few new state task forces will begin their work in the coming weeks, joining a number of ongoing ones in Albany:  

  —The Task Force on Flame Retardant Safety holds its first meeting tomorrow. Its task is to review the health risks of the chemical flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether, which is used in electronics, furniture, textiles, and other consumer products to reduce the risk of fire, and decide whether there are safer, effective alternatives to the chemical.

   Studies have found that the chemical is present in food, dust and other substances in the environment, and it has been detected in samples of human serum and breast milk. It has affected neurobehavioral development in some studies in which laboratory animals are exposed to it shortly after birth.

  —Gov. David Paterson announced today that he set up a Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice. The panel will review ways to improve the state’s juvenile justice system, such as creating alternatives to institutional placement, assisting children’s re-entry into the community and providing better treatment in the areas of mental health and substance abuse. 

   The task force—whose first meeting is Sept. 26—will address the disproportionate number of minorities in the system. More than 75 percent of the 1,900 children served are black and Hispanic. The annual cost per child is up to $200,000. Eighty percent of the children in state custody are released and rearrested within three years, according to the governor.

   Other task forces at work in Albany include:

  —The Task Force on Retired Racehorses

  —The Senate Minority Task Force on Domestic Violence

  —The Renewable Energy Task Force

  —The Toxic Mold Task Force.

Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Sandy Annabi and Council Member Joan Gronowski said today that a recent wave of violence shows the city and police administration should restore funding for police services. The pair cited: “stabbings on Palisade and Roberts Avenue, shootings on Oliver Avenue, muggings and assaults on Summitt Street, a shooting and murder on Maple Street, and others.”

Earlier this month, the department cut back patrols in some high-crime areas, reportedly in an attempt to keep a lid on overtime. 

“There is an opportunity here to address a pressing need – our residents need to feel safe. When a man gets stabbed in the chest for confronting people throwing rocks at his car, there is something wrong because there doesn’t seem to be a fear of repercussion,” Annabi said in a statement. “Yonkers residents need to know that the criminals do not perceive this as some type of recess or signal for lawlessness to take over. We need to ensure Police services are restored in a fiscally responsible way.” 

Gronowski said: “Many of the residents in my district have complained that the police presence noted around election time last year has decreased significantly.  We’re looking for the City to restore Police service to the levels prior to the cuts, by possibly rearranging schedules or temporary reassignments. ” She also said she supports another police department management study similar one done in the 1980s.

Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have issued a statement on the shooting today of the Arkansas Democratic Party chairman at party headquarters. The Clintons describe the chairman as a “cherished friend and confidante.”:

“We are stunned and shaken by today’s shooting at the Arkansas Democratic Party where our good friend and fellow Democrat Bill Gwatney was critically wounded. Bill is not only a strong chairman of Arkansas’ Democratic Party, but he is also a cherished friend and confidante. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bill and his family today and we wish him a quick recovery.”

Updated: Gwatney has died. The Clintons have issued a second statement:

“We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away. His leadership and commitment to Arkansas and this country have always inspired us and those who had the opportunity to know him. Our prayers are with his family during this time.” 

For background on what happened, I’m putting the full AP story after the jump…

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   The affirmative action and equal employment-opportunity officer for the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance was fired Monday following state Inspector General Joseph Fisch’s findings that he subsidized his private business while on state time. Fisch found that Larry Ritter was paid more than $18,000 by the state for days he was absent and working as a private consultant. The case is being referred to the Albany County district attorney for possible prosecution of fraud, larceny and official misconduct, Fisch announced today.  

   Ritter, who was based in Albany, conducted 40 private training programs from 2003 to 2007 during the work day while reporting on his time sheets that he was doing his state job. He worked without permission of the agency, which previously had denied Ritter permission to conduct the private trainings because the work was “virtually identical” to his ODTA job, according to the Inspector General’s Office.

   In 2003, Ritter became an independent contractor for the National Coalition Building Institute, and he started his own business in 2006, called Diversity Solutions. He ran diversity trainings in both jobs. 

   Ritter, 52, made $87,383 a year training ODTA’s 2,300 employees on sexual harassment and diversity issues. He is the husband of Diana Jones Ritter, commissioner of the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, who said she first learned of Diversity Solutions when her husband was subpoenaed by the Inspector General’s Office. For one training at the Christian Brothers Academy in Colonie, he received $1,500 plus $3,000 in tuition credit for his son while reporting he was on his state job.

   A former state employee pleaded guilty today to second-degree grand larceny, a felony, for stealing more than $50,000 worth of artifacts and documents from the state archives, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported. The thefts, which took place between Jan. 1, 1997 and Jan. 24, 2008, included a Currier and Ives lithograph, Davy Crockett Almanacs and a Winfield Scott Hancock Calling Card.  

   Daniel Lorello, 54, of Rensselaer had been an archives and records management specialist with the state Department of Education until his arrest in January. He had sold some of what he stole on eBay and traded others at collectors’ shows, according to the attorney general. The state has so far recovered more than 1,600 items.

   Joseph Romito of Virginia tipped off the state to what Lorello was doing. Romito suspected the State Library owned something Lorello put up for sale on eBay—a letter to a New York general in 1823 from John C. Calhoun, seventh vice president of the United States under John Quincy Adams.

   Loretto will be sentenced Oct. 1 to 2 to 6 years in prison. He must pay $73,000 in restitution to people who unknowingly bought stolen property and then returned it, and $56,000 to the Department of Education. He must forfeit all items seized and his private book collection.

   A bill that would increase penalties for people convicted of hate crimes has passed both houses of the Legislature—the Senate last night and the Assembly March 3—and will be sent to Gov. David Paterson.  

   The legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Spano, D-Yonkers, would broaden the definition of a hate crime to include digital communication, such as on DVDs, CDs and e-mails. The law already covers older forms of communication, such as letters and telegrams. In Yonkers, CDs that contained threatening and hate-laden material were hand-delivered to residences, which made the need for state law to keep pace with technology clear, according to a statement by Spano.

   “We have succeeded in passing legislation that will make it illegal to threaten or harass any individual or group based on their background,” Spano said.

   The bill amends current law to include all types of hateful communications that can cause fear or anxiety in an individual or group that is being targeted. Sen. John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, sponsored the bill in his house.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a settlement this morning with Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. in response to accusations that its “BODIES” exhibits use corpses of Chinese prisoners.

Based on the agreement, Premier now has to obtain documentation that bodies have been obtained legitimately and with consent of the people who died. The company has to set aside money to return money to people who attended the New York City exhibition at South Street Seaport if they request can establish they would not have attended the exhibition had they known the bodies were of questionable origins.

The issue gained recognition in February, when the ABC show 20/20 reported there was an alleged black market for bodies in China, and they included executed political prisoners. Corpses have been sent to the United States for use in exhibitions.

“The grim reality is that Premier Exhibitions has profited from displaying the remains of individuals who may have been tortured and executed in China,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Despite repeated denials, we now know that Premier itself cannot demonstrate the circumstances that led to the death of the individuals. Nor is Premier able to establish that these people consented to their remains being used in this manner.”

“Respect for the dead and respect for the public requires that Premier do more than simply assure us that there is no reason for concern. The settlement is a start,” Cuomo said.

Painting, drawing or otherwise placing or displaying a noose is now a felony under New York law—punishable by up to four years in prison.

Gov. David Paterson signed the legislation that was proposed in the state after the well-publicized “Jena 6” case in Louisiana and two cases in New York—one noose was found in the locker room at the Hempstead Police Department on Long Island, and another was on the door of a Columbia University Teachers College professor. In Louisiana, white students hung nooses from a tree and black students were charged with second-degree attempted murder when they attacked a white boy who had been taunting them.

“It is sad that in these modern times there remains a need to address the problem of individuals who use nooses as a means of threat and intimidation,” Paterson said in a statement. “But it is a reality, and if we ignore it we would be derelict in our duty.”

The new law takes effect in November. Legislation passed in 2006 prohibited the use of swastikas as a means of intimidation.

Gov. David Paterson announced today that the state would provide $1.17 million in grants to help communities improve child safety. The money will enable more thorough investigations and prosecutions of child abuse, neglect and maltreatment, and will expand services for victims.

“These grants will help communities establish the proper child safety infrastructure that will act in the best interest of the children who can’t defend themselves from neglect or abuse,” the governor said in a statement.

Some of the 12 funded projects are:
—$50,000 to Bivona Child Advocacy Center in Monroe County and $47,250 to the Putnam County Department of Social Services to improve multi-disciplinary teams and child advocacy centers.
—$143,110 to the Ulster County Department of Social Services and $150,000 to the Young Women’s Christian Association of Cortland County to help start multi-disciplinary teams and child advocacy centers. (more…)