Politics on the Hudson

The $38.5 billion in 2011 budget cuts agreed to by President Barack Obama  and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid in order to avert a government shutdown turned out to be too deep for many New York Democrats.

Obama and Reid reached an agreement with Republican House Speaker John Boehner shortly before a shutdown would have begun at midnight Friday.

Eleven Democrats from New York City voted against the $2 billion in immediate cuts that are part of the deal.

The measure approved by the House 348-70 and in Senate by a voice vote was signed into law early Saturday morning by President Barak Obama.  It keeps the government operating through Thursday while imposing $2 billion in immediate spending cuts.

The larger cuts will be voted on by Congress Wednesday or Thursday and will keep the government operating through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.

 Rep. Jerrold Nalder, one of the 11 no votes from New York City,  said in a phone interview this evening he felt the cuts were aimed at the city because they involved transit, public housing and other programs important to the metropolitan area.

“I don’t like the whole agreement,’’ Nadler said. ”I think the cuts are too big.’’

Nadler said lawmakers didn’t know the programs targeted for the $2 billion in cuts until just before the vote.

High speed passenger rail will be cut by $1.5 billion, capital investment grants by $280 million, public housing operating funds by $149 million and  the university community fund by $25 million.

Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of the Bronx also voted no.

“While it is beneficial to avoid a government shutdown, a deal for the sake of making a deal is often a bad one,’’ Engel said.

Both of New York’s Democratic senators will sit next to Republicans at Tuesday’s State of the Union address in a show of bipartisanship.

Sen. Chuck Schumer plans to sit next to conservative Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a bearded obstetrician who may have delivered as many babies as Schumer has delivered press conferences.

Coburn opposes abortion rights, gay marriage and federal spending on special home-state projects — or earmarks. Schumer takes the opposite view on each issue.

New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, will sit next to tall, lanky Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who may soon announce his candidacy for president.

Gillibrand said her office called Thune’s office to suggest the arrangement.

Does she expect Thune to be the next president?

“He won’t win,’’ she said with a laugh. “I’ll tell him that, ‘Just because I’m sitting next to you doesn’t mean I’ll vote for you.’’’

Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of the Bronx is arguably the New York lawmaker most invested in the spectacle of the State of the Union, year-in and year-out. He gets there about 12 hours before the speech in order to claim a coveted aisle seat along the path the president will follow into and out of the chamber.

About a dozen lawmakers do that, keeping each other’s seats reserved during bathroom and meal breaks leading up to the speech.

This year, Engel will switch his seat on the Democratic side of the chamber with the seat on the Republican side usually claimed by Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio, another reliable early arrival.

“We think that will be our showing of bipartisanship,’’ Engel said.

Some New York delegation members haven’t decided if they’ll break with the usual divided seating arrangement.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, Ulster County, said no one has asked him yet.

Freshman Republican Rep. Nan Hayworth of Mount Kisco, Westchester County, said she’s been too focused on her work to think about it.

Freshman Republican Rep. Tom Reed of Corning likewise has no firm plan.

“I’m going to sit wherever there’s a seat,’’ he said.

President Barack Obama will meet Thursday with 10 family members who lost loved ones in the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 in February 2009.

Jennifer West of the Buffalo suburb of Clarence, whose husband Ernie died in the crash, said in an interview she was invited to meet with the president but won’t be able to attend.

The meeting will be held during Obama’s stop in Buffalo as part of the president’s White House to Main Street Tour. Obama is scheduled to visit Industrial Support Inc., a Buffalo manufacturer, for a discussion of economic issues with workers and small business owners.

Following his visit to Buffalo, Obama will be flying directly to JFK Airport for a campaign fund raiser in Manhattan benefiting the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The event at the St. Regis Hotel also will feature Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who chairs the committee. Tickets are $15,000 per person, but the invitation notes that contributions of up to $30,400 per person are legally permissible. Donors who contribute $25,000 or more are eligible for a VIP reception and a photo with the president.

Twelve members of the New York congressional delegation, including Hudson Valley area Reps. Nita Lowey, Eliot Engel and Scott Murphy, are chairing the event.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, yesterday met with Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy. After the nearly one-hour meeting Engel gave Kennedy an endorsement to replace Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is in the midst of Senate confirmation hearing today for the country’s top diplomatic position.

“She is very intelligent, has a firm grasp on the issues facing New York, and would be a wonderful senator,” Engel said of Kennedy.

Voting-rights advocates asked the state Board of Elections today to help make sure poll workers know how to work ballot-marking devices on Election Day and understand that while they are in place to provide access to disabled voters, anyone can use them.

Aimee Allaud of the League of Women Voters told the board that poll workers in some counties were actively discouraging voters without disabilities from using the machine on primary day. One League of Women Voters member, who was not disabled, was asked to show proof of a disability, according to Allaud.

Election Commissioner Evelyn Aquila said she visited a number of polling places on primary day and didn’t see evidence that was happening. She asked Allaud to submit something in writing that details where the problems occurred, and the discussion got a little heated. The League of Women Voters is compiling a report.

“Perhaps we should be working together to make sure it doesn’t happen anywhere,” Barbara Bartoletti of the league said.

County boards of election have to put one ballot-marking machine in every polling place this year. The state was supposed to replace all its lever machines by 2006 but has been delayed. Until that happens—currently scheduled for 2009—handicapped-accessible machines have to be available.

Anna Svizzero, director of operations for the Board of Elections, said 3,350 ballot-marking devices were in place for the primary. Just 1,333 people voted on them. In Westchester, 46 people used them. Rockland had 12 users and Putnam had 24. There were some problems with poll inspectors not knowing how to use them, but the state will be providing tipsheets to help with training, she said.

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, announced today the introduction of a bill that would require half of all cars made in the U.S. be manufactured as “flexible fuel” vehicles, meaning they could run on gasoline, alcohol or a combination of the two.

Vehicles manufacturers would have until 2012 to meet this goal before it rises to 80 percent of U.S.-made cars in 2015.

Engel said in a news release issued today that these vehicles would typically cost about $100 more to make than a gas-only car.

Engel is a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This Open Fuel Standards Act  was also sponsored by U.S. Reps. Jack Kingston, R-GA, Steve Israel, D-NY, and Bob Inglis, R-SC.

All three Westchester-Rockland area congressional Democrats will have Republican opponents in the November election.

The New York state Board of Elections reported Thursday that Robert Goodman of the Bronx has filed voter petitions to run on the Conservative line against Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel in the 17th Congressional District covering parts of the Bronx, Westchester and Rockland counties.

Goodman also is expected to seek the Republican line, according to Westchester County Republican Chairman Douglas Colety.

Candidates faced a Thursday deadline for filing petitions with the Board of Election or mailing them with the postmarks were before 5 p.m.

In the 19th Congressional District, Republican Kieran Michael Lalor of Peekskill, an Iraq War veteran, has filed for the Republican and Conservative lines.

The freshman Democrat who occupies that seat, Rep. John Hall of Dover, has filed for the Democratic, Independence and Working Families ballot lines.

In the lower and central Westchester 18th Congressional District, Republican Jim Russell of Thornwood did not file his petitions by the deadline. But the county GOP chairman said they are in the mail and he expects Russell to be on the November ballot.

Russell is seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of Harrison.

U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel’s office announced today that the Internal Revenue Service would open sites and be available by phone to assist residents who are eligible for the upcoming economic stimulus payment, but who don’t regularly file an income tax return.

On Saturday, the IRS will assist residents with the 1040A form that residents are filing solely to receive a stimulus payments. Most IRS offices across the country will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., though some will have longer hours.

Residents can call the IRS hotline at 800-906-9887 for free assistance locations.Taxpayers with economic stimulus questions on March 29, they can call 1-866-234-2942 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time.

Residents who do not regularly file an income tax return can click here for more information.

Here’s some reaction by members of the New York congressional delegation to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s apology in connection with his apparent role as a client of a high priced prostitution ring under investigation by the U.S. attorney:

“I don’t have any comment on that but I obviously am sending my best wishes and thoughts to the governor and to his family,’’ Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said during a media availability while campaigning in Pennsylvania. “Let’s wait and see what comes out over the next days but right now I don’t have any comment and I think that it’s appropriate just to wish
his family well and we will wait and see how things develop.’’

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D.-N.Y., stated, “I feel bad for him and his family but until he makes a more complete statement, I have nothing more to say.”

“I am shocked by Governor Spitzer’s announcement today,’’ said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison. “I am deeply saddened and profoundly disappointed that he has violated the trust of his family and the public.”

“Today’s events come as a shock to everyone,’’ stated Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx. “We don’t know all the facts, and any comment prior to knowing the facts is premature. I wish the governor and his family well in this time of trial for them.”

“He is not going to comment at this time,’’ stated Meaghan Smith, spokeswoman for Rep. John Hall, D-Dover.

Sen. Charles Schumer, who prides himself on visiting every county in New York each year he is in office, just announced his first visit to Rockland of 2008. He will attend the swearing in ceremonies of newly-elected District Attorney Thomas Zugibe and state Supreme Court Justice Robert Berliner this afternoon.

The ceremony begins at 4 p.m. in the chambers of the Rockland Legislature, at 11 New Hempstead Road in New City. Rep. Eliot Engel is also expected to attend.