Politics on the Hudson

Gov. David Paterson said on a New York City radio station this morning that the debate over the proposed Muslim community center and worship space near the World Trade Center site has been consumed by a “national hysteria” fueled by the media.

“This is a situation that has become a national hysteria,” Paterson told Ron Kuby, who was sitting in for John Gambling on WOR-710 AM. “We have a situation that’s become an art form for media rather than a substantive issue.”

Paterson has tried to find a middle or common ground on the project, known as Park51 (formerly called the Cordoba House) which includes plans for a swimming pool, restaurant and worship space. The project is being built several blocks north from where the World Trade Center was located.

The Democratic governor said he supports finding an alternative location for the project further away from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks. The project has become a national controversy after President Obama weighed in on the matter and a Siena College poll released Wednesday found most New Yorkers are steadfastly opposed to the project.

Paterson is trying to set up a meeting with the developers of the site with the hope of resolving the issue.

“As I have watched this issue unfold, I see a number of people who usually agree with me very troubled by the site,” Paterson said. “What that tells me is that the wounds of September 11 have not healed. I’m not even telling them they have to meet with me. I’m just saying that in the midst of clearly this national epsidoe that they take the lead here.”

He also hammered the coverage of the project.

“I think what we all have to think about, the greater the suffering for then people who live and work in lower Manhattan and they’ve been through enough,” he said. “The only people who are profiteering from this are those who are covering it.”

Kuby also asked Paterson about the Commission on Public Integrity’s charge that he wrongfully accepted World Series tickets last year. Paterson, who was not present at an Albany hearing on Tuesday, said little about the matter.

“I already testified before the Public Integrity Commission and I really don’t know what’s going on and I won’t comment on what’s being handled by my lawyers,” Paterson said. “All I can say is, it’s a little surprising.”

Gov. David Paterson, Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, announced today that they have approved the state Division of Lottery’s recommendation to authorize Genting New York to develop and operate a video-lottery terminal facility at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. The offices of attorney general and state comptroller have to review and approve the plan before Genting can move forward.

“Genting emerged as the winner of a highly competitive process that saw potential bidders narrowed from an original pool of seven down to one,” Paterson said in a statement.

Genting has offered to pay $380 million as an up-front licensing fee, money that will help the state during troubled economic times. The VLT facility will generate an estimated $300 million a year for Lottery Aid-to-Education statewide, state officials said. During the construction phase, Genting will employ 1,300 jobs, and it will hire 800 employees to operate the facility. The company will donate 1 percent of net profits to the Queens community.

Three companies submitted proposals for Aqueduct in late June. The Lottery disqualified two of them last month because of problems with their proposals. On Aug. 3, the Lottery Division recommended the state choose Genting.

“We’re proud to be a part of this process carried out in such a businesslike and transparent manner, to award the contract to a company that promises to deliver much-needed economic development to the community along with a premier entertainment destination,” Lottery Director Gordon Medenica said in a statement. “Genting’s plan will support the Lottery’s mission to contribute to education for decades to come.”

A daily refrain in Albany from legislative leaders is the assurance that negotiations are ongoing with the governor’s office.

When reporters ask Gov. David Paterson if negotiations are being held, he denies they are happening.

That’s led some lawmakers to grumble that the governor, in spite of his tough talk, hasn’t been willing to pull the trigger on any agreements.

Assemblyman Bill Reilich, R-Greece, Monore County, echoed that sentiment in an interview this afternoon.

“In theory that sounds good and I have no problem appearing everyday in earnest if there’s work going on,” Reilich said. “But he has to sit down with the leaders and actually work with them and put together some legislation that actually works with the state.”

Reilich added that he wasn’t letting the Democratic leadership in the Senate and Assembly off the hook. He also said the Republican minority leaders, who have little actual power to move legislation or force votes, should be included in discussions.

“The tough stance is the first step,” Reilich said. “But the second step is actually get something accomplished.”

All the Senate has to do is come back to Albany and hold a simple up or down vote on a revenue bill to finally approve a state budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, Gov. David Paterson said in a radio interview this morning.

“This morning I read in the newspaper that  I want the latest budget and I’m delaying the talks because of that,” Paterson said on WHCU 870 AM in Ithaca. “People can continue to distract and I dare anyone in the Legislature to contradict what I’m going to say: All the Legislature had to do was come in a vote for it. They’ve never passed it. That’s why I won’t negotiate with them.”

The Assembly has approved its budget package, but the Senate must still pass a revenue piece in order to finish the state budget, which was due on April 1.

But as the Senate and Assembly return on Tuesday a new deadline looms: Aug. 11. That is the anniversary of the all-time latest state budget in 2004.

But an up-or-down vote might be difficult. A major sticking point has become the SUNY Empowerment program, which would grant new powers to the state’s public colleges such as setting tuition and borrowing money.

Paterson said there was never a close deal on the program, despite reports last week. The governor’s office on Friday denied there was any deal on the SUNY plan.

“I think that’s some of the, you know, back and forth between the staffs and the media,” Paterson said. “I don’t think we were as close as they said we were and I don’t think we’ve had the falling out that they said we were.”

Several Senate Democrats, whose districts include the large university centers, are pushing hard for the plan and won’t vote to approve the revenue bill until the empowerment plan is ready to be approved. Other Senate Democrats, notably Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon, Westchester County, are opposed to the idea because of the possible effect uncontrolled tuition increases will have on middle-class and poor families.

Paterson said that the main problem is lawmakers are hesitant to give up power.

“The Legislature has tried to micromanage SUNY and to that extent, we don’t have any schools in SUNY in the top performing schools in the country,” Paterson said.

Lawmakers may be spending their summer vacations in Albany. Gov. David Paterson said on WOR-AM talk radio in New York City that he is frustrated with legislators and will take action if they don’t accomplish anything in special session today.

“My patience has run out and I’ll see what they do today and the next time I call a special session, which I would believe would be next week, it will be for every day until a budget is passed,” Paterson told John Gambling on WOR, adding his administration would go to court on the matter if necessary.

The Senate left for the July 4th holiday weekend without having passing the revenue part of the budget, which the governor criticized them for on WOR. The Assembly completed passage of budget bills. However, negotiations continue about incorporating a contingency plan in the budget for about $1 billion in federal Medicaid funds that likely will not materialize and about letting the State University of New York set its own tuition without needing the Legislature’s approval. The fiscal year began April 1. Passing a budget this year has been difficult because of a $9.2 billion deficit.

Paterson said there always seemed to be a reason why lawmakers could not return to Albany, so he called a special session. He can’t make them complete the budget, but he can call them into session. The governor said he doesn’t have sympathy for lawmakers who are on vacation and can’t make session.

“Since when is an incompleted assignment not addressed because people have vacations? I think you should be standing ready to come back as soon as it’s necessary,” he said. “And what I wanted to do by calling a special session is let everybody see that there are people who actually think that they are elite enough that they don’t have to follow the rules. And if they keep it up, we’re going to go to court, which can compel them by contempt to follow the rules.”

The governor said the bills he put on the agenda for the special session were delivered to the Senate yesterday afternoon, but the Senate wouldn’t accept them and they were left at the door. The Assembly put the bills on its calendar, but the Senate did not.

Paterson was asked about Judith Kaye’s decision yesterday that recommended the governor not face any criminal charges for his role in a domestic-violence case involving a top aide. Kaye said the governor is guilty of “errors in judgment” for contacting the victim in the case. The governor said he had regrets about dropping out of the gubernatorial race earlier this year but is trying to make the most of his last year in office.

“I am very happy to see that the gubernatorial candidates who are running now are pretty much doing what I have been doing all along, which I think validates that I would have been a strong contender in that race. But it was four months ago … and you know you make a decision but there’s no such vacillating or thinking about what went on before. I have a new goal and that goal is to leave this state with the best possible financial picture that it could have and giving new meaning to your last year of service, which the others equate with being a lame duck. But I would suggest that this duck is quacking, this duck is swiming.”

Gov. David Paterson said he shouldn’t be held responsible for tracking the vacation schedules of individual lawmakers before calling a special session.

In a radio interview on WAMC 90.9 FM this morning, Paterson was responding to reports that Senate President Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, was away on vacation and wouldn’t make it to the Capitol for the session the governor called over the weekend.

Paterson said lawmakers should have been prepared for a summertime call back because the Senate left Albany without passing a revenue bill that would complete the 2010-11 fiscal year budget, which was due April 1.

“It’s not as much as I’m frustrated as much as some people seem to be buying into this idea that because the Senate can’t bring back 32 Democrats, I’m not supposed to call a special session,” Paterson said. “When the budget was due on April 1 and it wasn’t passed, these legislators should have thought about that then. As far as I’m concerned, they should be available at any moment.”

A special session has been called by the governor for today and Thursday. Legislators are expected to convene at 6 p.m., but not much is expected to get accomplished, at least for tonight. Lawmakers, who have not been paid since April 1, the start of the fiscal year, receive $171 per diem allowances and travel and meal expenses. Paterson said that despite the sessions costing taxpayers money resulting in a relative lack of progress, the simple fact that the Legislature is back in Albany represents movement.

“I’m not going to worry about that because what we have lost in the last month is far greater than what the per diems,” Paterson said.

Gov. David Paterson’s office this afternoon issued a to-do list of 10 items for lawmakers returning to Albany this week.

Paterson, who convened a special session for the state Legislature set for Wednesday at 6 p.m., is calling  for a vote on capping property taxes at four percent, a plan that would allow state college campuses and universities to set their own tuition rates and a revised plan to sell wine in grocery stores.

The agenda also calls for a vote on a bill that would enact the final tax and fee provisions for the 2010-11 state budget that the Senate must still vote on. The measure’s passage would finally complete the budget for the fiscal year, which began April 1.

The governor is also calling for the creation of a contingency fund in case up to $1 billion in federal aid from Medicaid doesn’t come to the state.

Paterson, in calling the Legislature back last week, urged lawmakers to take up the unfinished business.Lawmakers when convening a special session generally gavel in and gavel out without taking up any of Paterson’s agenda.

Some of the proposals he’s pushing, such as the property-tax cap, a tax on sugary soft drinks and wine in grocery stores measure, are being brought back from the dead. Others, like the changes to the SUNY system, have held up budget talks in the Senate where some lawmakers are holding out for the proposal’s passage.

Gov. David Paterson today revoked the extraordinary sessions he called Jan. 17 and June 26 in order to undercut a legal argument made by lawmakers who claimed the governor couldn’t convene a special session.

It is most likely a precursor to Paterson calling lawmakers back to Albany before the November elections in order to pass outstanding and controversial measures.

Lawmakers, mostly in the Assembly, have argued that Paterson cannot call the Legislature back to Albany in order to complete several outstanding items including a revenue measure, creating a contingency fund in case Medicaid money doesn’t come to the state and a plan to allow the state college campuses to set their own tuition rates.

The state budget, due April 1, is not completed until the revenue measure is approved. The Assembly passed that measure; the Senate has not.

“It is clear to me that this Legislature would rather play parliamentary games than finish a budget that is fifteen weeks late due to their inaction,” Paterson said in a statement. “I cannot and will not allow politics to triumph over leadership in the most critical of times for our state.”

Paterson’s always claimed that he has the authority to call the Legislature back in order to pass the measures, but because the Legislature argues it has been in “extraordinary session” since January the legal argument is made less clear. By declaring the extraordinary session “over” Paterson said he is reasserting his authority to bring lawmakers back to Albany.

Update: A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said lawmakers would return if requested by Paterson.

“We have repeatedly stated that if the governor requested the legislature to come into session, the Assembly would come back,” said the spokeswoman, Sisa Moyo.

Here is a copy of a memo from the governor’s top lawyer, Peter Kiernan, on the issue.

Gubernatorial Power to Convene the Legislature in Extraordinary Session-1

Gov. David Paterson is sending a letter to 250,000 New Yorkers denouncing the blockage of unemployment benefits, his office announced this morning.

In the letter, Paterson writes that 171,000 unemployed New York residents have been hurt by “political posturing” in Washington. He also thanks the state’s federal representatives, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, for supporting a reinstatement of the money.

The U.S. Senate failed to approve the extension of federal benefits for the unemployed whose benefits have expired. The benefits are expected to be voted on again when a successor to West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd takes his Senate seat.

Paterson writes that the lack of money coming to New York has effected “Christina from Rockland” and “Amy from Oswego” who are struggling to make ends meet. He also urged the letter recipients to go to the governor’s online message board for frustrated New Yorkers, Straight Talk, and sound off on the issue.

Here’s the letter:

My Fellow New Yorker:

I am writing to you today on behalf of our most vulnerable friends and neighbors, the 171,000 New Yorkers who have exhausted their Unemployment Insurance benefits and the thousands more who are reaching the end of their benefits week after week. I’m talking about mothers and fathers, taxpayers and home owners, and life-long wage earners. I’m talking about people like Chris from Orange County. Chris will be forced to send his two young children away to live with their grandmother if an extension is not passed soon. (more…)

Should New York become jealous of New Jersey?

Gov. David Paterson today congratulated New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie and the Garden State’s Legislature for passing a  cap on the annual growth of property taxes at no more than 2 percent.

Paterson, who pushed for a 4-percent cap on local property taxes, said New Yorkers are still feeling the pain from the highest property taxes in the state.

“Passage of the tax cap was fair, fiscally responsible, and in the best interest of New Jersey families. Unfortunately, we New Yorkers are still waiting and suffering needlessly,” Paterson said in a statement.

The governor made a last-minute push for New York’s property taxes to be capped at 4 percent, but the measure was packaged with several controversial proposals such as selling wine in grocery stores. The issue never came to a vote in the Legislature and lawmakers left Albany without passing any property-tax relief.

“Congratulations to New Jersey’s long suffering taxpayers. Thanks to an effective, bipartisan effort between the state’s governor, Assembly and Senate, New Jersey home owners will now benefit from a welcome and much needed two percent cap on their property taxes with limited exceptions that puts final authority to exceed the cap in the hands of the taxpayers themselves. The new cap, which will be signed into law today by Republican Governor Chris Christie, passed the Democratic Legislature overwhelmingly, with a 73-4 vote in the Assembly yesterday, and by a 35-3 margin in the Senate last week.

Here’s the full statement:

“Passage of the tax cap was fair, fiscally responsible, and in the best interest of New Jersey families. Unfortunately, we New Yorkers are still waiting and suffering needlessly. Whereas New Jersey’s elected officials have found a way to put aside partisan sniping and election-year opportunism for the greater good of their state, New York officials have yet to come together to bring relief to our own constituents—this despite the fact that three out of four New Yorkers support a property tax cap.

“Our elected officials in Albany need to take a similar stand against runaway property taxes, and I am calling on the leaders of the Senate and Assembly to commit to taking an up or down vote on a property tax cap before the November elections. Every legislator in Albany should publicly state where he or she stands on this critical issue so that voters know who supports property tax reform. Increased State spending is not property tax relief, no matter how Albany politicians spin it during an election year. Spending increases lead to higher property taxes, which is why I vetoed $600 million in Legislative additions to the State’s education budget.

“I want to commend New Jersey’s Governor Christie, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Minority Leader Tom Kean, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Minority Leader Alex DeCroce for putting their political differences aside to bring real property tax relief to New Jersey families.

“Now it is time for a similar agreement in New York, where families have waited long enough for property tax relief. And if Albany fails to deliver once again, those New Yorkers may be forced to look to two our neighbors now – New Jersey and Massachusetts – to find the property tax relief they deserve here.”