Politics on the Hudson

After a push to toughen the state’s current law failed last year, the Senate is poised to pass a bill today that would make texting-while-driving a primary offense.

Currently, texting behind the wheel is a secondary offense, meaning a driver has to be pulled over for a separate violation to be charged under the ban. The current bill, sponsored by Sen. Carl Marcellino, R-Nassau County, would make it a primary offense carrying a $150 fine and two points on the driver’s license.

“Today, kids don’t even talk to each other, they text each other,” Marcellino said. “It’s just a growing, growing phenomenon and a serious, serious problem, and we feel it is imperative that this situation be changed and be looked at, and we want to make sure that texting becomes a primary offense.”

A driver who is even holding their phone while behind the wheel would be in violation of the law, Marcellino said, eliminating the need for police officers to determine whether or not someone is texting or simply looking at their display.

The bill has support in both parties, and is sponsored in the Assembly by Harvey Weisenberg, D-Nassau County.

“I’m going to get the bill passed,” Weisenberg said. “And if I don’t get the bill passed, I’m going to walk out of here.”

The following statement was issued by Assemblyman Steve Katz, R-Yorktown, who represents the 99th District.

While I am pleased the budget process has moved forward, and we now have agreements from three out of the 10 subcommittees, we must not lose sight of the most pressing fiscal concerns facing New Yorkers: tax and mandate relief.

The first step in this equation is to ensure that this year’s final state budget does not increase state spending. I have been urging my colleagues in the Assembly to adopt legislation imposing a state spending cap to address and hopefully curb Albany’s addiction to runaway spending.

Secondly, we must protect property taxpayers while also continuing our commitment to provide every child with a world-class education. To address this, I support a property-tax cap coupled with serious mandate relief. While I have solicited mandate-relief ideas from Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester counties and brought those ideas to the governor’s task force on Mandate Relief and Redesign, there has been no serious discussion about specific mandate reforms in Albany. While I support the task force’s initial findings, which propose generalities such as ending future unfunded mandates, we cannot fairly discuss local-government aid or school funding until we have a comprehensive and agreed-upon list of specific mandate-relief proposals – the two must go hand-in-hand in order to protect taxpayers.

Buffalo native Maria Cino finished third with 32 votes on the first ballot by state and national committee members of the Republican National Committee who are electing a new chairman today.

None of the five candidates received enough votes to win.

The current chairman, Michael Steele, finished second with 44 votes.

A second ballot will be held shortly.

New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox was among the committee members who seconded the nomination of Cino.

House Republicans announced this morning that Rep.-elects Nan Hayworth of Westchester County and Michael Grimm of Staten Island will be among 13 new members of the Financial Services Committee when the new Congress is seated next month.

As the majority party, Republicans will gain additional seats on all House committees.

Republicans announced yesterday that Rep. Chris Lee of the Buffalo suburb of Amherst will serve on the Ways and Means Committee. Lee was elected to a second term last month. However, Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo, one of the most junior members of that panel, is likely to lose his seat because of the numbers crunch faced by Democrats.

Earlier this week Republicans announced that, as expected, Rep. Peter King of Long Island will chair the Homeland Security Committee.

Brendan Tully, the Democratic candidate for state Assemblly in the 99th District, is proposing to close a loophole in state’s DWI law he says puts drunk drivers “back on the road with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a few fines.”

Right now, Tully said, many drunk drivers are allowed to plea bargain down to a traffic infraction, such as rolling through a stop sign or parking on the pavement, keeping their licenses in the process. Tully is calling for barring such pleas where a driver’s blood alcohol content exceeds the legal limit of 0.08 percent and where the charge is driving while intoxicated.

“My plan will give New York some of the toughest DWI laws in the country,”  he said, “and more importantly, it will get drunk drivers off the streets and make our communities safer.”

He also calls for a lifetime “look back” period, “so drunk drivers don’t get a clean slate every five years as they do now,” and for a mandatory one-year license suspension for those convicted of DWI.

Tully and his Republican opponent, fellow Yorktowner Steve Katz, faced off in a debate in Mahopac Tuesday night. Contrasting his small business experience — he owns a Bronx veterinary practice — with Tully’s background as an attorney, Katz has unveiled a six-point plan for economic recovery.

Its tenets include transparency of government, pension reform for state legislators and term limits for legislative leaders.

“I have the experience of building a successful business from the ground up,” Katz said in a statement today. “If ever there was a time to tear Albany down and rebuild it again that time is now.  The sooner we start treating government as a business, the sooner it will start working for us.“

Former Southeast Town Justice James Borkowski is running for the seat on the Conservative line. The 99th District covers Yorktown, Somers and North Salem in Westchester County; Carmel, Southeast and Patterson in Putnam County; and Pawling in Dutchess County.

A new Siena Research Institute poll released today shows a 14-point lead for the Republican seeking the western New York’s 29th Congressional District seat vacated in March by Democrat Eric Massa.

Tom Reed, a former mayor of Corning who entered the race as the GOP candidate in July last year, leads Democrat Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan war veteran, 44 percent to 30 percent among likely voters.

The seat is considered the most likely Republican pickup in New York this November among the seven to eight House seats that nonpartisan political handicappers consider in play around the state.

Nationally, Republicans need to pick up 39 seats to regain the 218 seats that would give them a majority in the House.

By a 15-point margin, voters in the district want Republicans to regain control of the House, with 53 percent favoring it and 38 percent hoping Democrats keep their majority.

The new Siena survey of 613 likely voters makes it less likely that Zeller, a first-time candidate who entered the race in the spring, will get significant financial support from national Democrats as the party focuses on seats it has a better chance of successfully defending.

However, the Siena poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, also shows there’s time for the outlook to change.

Twenty-six percent of voters surveyed were undecided.

Only 31 percent indicated they would not change their candidate preference prior to the November election.

The two candidates also remain largely unknown, especially Zeller. Eighty-two percent said they did not know or had no opinion of him. His favorable-unfavorable rating was a miniscule 9 percent to 9 percent.

Fifty-seven percent said they didn’t know Reed or didn’t have an opinion of him. His favorable-unfavorable rating was split almost evenly, 21 percent to 22 percent.

The vast majority of voters – 88 percent for Zeller and 80 percent for Reed — said they hadn’t been contacted by the campaign or seen any campaign ads.

Consistent with polling by Siena in other congressional districts in upstate, voters said jobs are the No. 1 issue in the election. Forty percent cited that issue as the biggest, compared to the budget deficit (17 percent), health care (12 percent), education (10 percent), the war in Afghanistan (10 percent), and taxes (9 percent).

Democratic Rep. Mike Arcuri of Utica holds an 8-point lead over Republican challenger Richard Hanna in a rematch of their 2008 race in New York’s 24th Congressional District, according to a Siena Research Institute poll released today.

Arcuri, a former district attorney, leads Hanna, a businessman from Barneveld, 48 percent to 40 percent, in a campaign that’s rated a tossup by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Highlighting the fluidity of the race, only 39 percent of voters predicted their preference would not change by Election Day.

Arcuri’s seat is considered among the top three opportunities Republicans have to pick up more seats in the state this year in their quest to regain majority control of the House. Also topping that list is the open seat in the 29th District in Western New York, where former Corning mayor Tom Reed is favored to beat Democrat Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan war veteran. Another GOP opportunity is the 19th District race in the Hudson Valley, where Democratic Rep. John Hall’s effort to win a third term against Republican physician Nan Hayworth is considered another tossup.

Democrats hold a 26-2 majority in the state’s House delegation, with New York’s 29th District seat vacant.
Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said the Arcuri-Hanna race “figures to be just as intense and just as hard-fought as the race two years ago.  While Arcuri has two more years of a record in Congress, it’s hard to know whether that will help him or hurt him in a year where voters are unhappy with Washington.  This race is getting national attention, and we can certainly understand why.”

Arcuri was viewed favorably by 53 percent of 605 likely voters surveyed last Monday through Wednesday by Siena. Another 26 percent viewed him unfavorably while 21 percent had no opinion or didn’t know him.
Forty-four percent said they didn’t know Hanna or had no opinion of the Republican challenger. He was viewed favorably by 36 percent and unfavorably by 19 percent.

Voters in the district — which covers central New York and parts of the Southern Tier — were divided in their opinion of President Barack Obama, 47 percent to 47 percent, in terms of favorable or unfavorable.
Voters also split 47 percent to 47 percent on the issue of recently passed health care reform legislation, with equal numbers supporting it and wanting Congress to repeal it.

Obama’s proposal to eliminate income tax cuts for individuals earning over $200,000 and couples earning more than $250,000 had the support of 54 percent of those polled, with 42 percent opposed.

By a slightly larger margin — 55 percent to 39 percent — voters also supported Obama’s proposal for another $50 billion economic stimulus program to create jobs through road improvements and other transportation projects.
The No. 1 election issue, by a large margin, is jobs. Forty-six percent of likely voters cited that issue as their top choice, ahead of the federal budget deficit (15 percent), health care (13 percent), the war in Afghanistan (9 percent), taxes (8 percent) and education (8 percent).

That ranking of issues roughly mirrors the responses Siena received last week in another congressional poll for the state’s 20th Congressional District in the upper Hudson Valley.

The first public poll of likely voters in one of the most competitive House races in New York shows Democratic Rep. Scott Murphy of Glens Falls holding a 17-point lead over Republican Chris Gibson of Kinderhook in the upper Hudson Valley’s 20th Congressional District.
Murphy, who won the seat formerly held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a special election last year, holds a 54 percent to 37 percent lead over Gibson in a Siena Research Institute survey released Friday.
Even though the general election is more than six weeks away, only 10 percent of the 603 likely voters surveyed Sunday through Tuesday were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The low percentage of undecided voters doesn’t mean people who have expressed a preference won’t change their minds as Election Day nears, according to Steven Greenburg of the Siena poll.
“Only 46 percent said they weren’t going to change their vote,’’ he said.
The Siena poll shows Murphy’s support is strongest in the northernmost part of the district, which reaches up to Lake Placid. Likely voters in Essex, Washington and Warren counties favored Murphy by 59 percent to 31 percent.
Gibson’s support is strongest at the southern end of the district — in Dutchess, Greene, Otsego, Columbia and Delaware counties — where he trails Murphy by only 5 points, 46 percent to 41 percent. That part of the district also had the largest segment of undecided voters – 13 percent.
Among voters not registered as Democrats or Republicans, Murphy held a sizeable 28-point lead, 58 percent to 30 percent.
Forty-one percent of likely voters around the district cited jobs as the most important issue in the race. Ranking far behind were the budget deficit (19 percent), health care (12 percent), the war in Afghanistan (10 percent), education (8 percent) and taxes (7 percent).
That appears to play to Murphy’s strengths. He is a former entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
Gibson, a retired Army colonel, has touted his leadership experience and knowledge of foreign affairs.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as “lean Democrat,’’ meaning Murphy is favored for re-election, but the election is competitive.
Three other New York Democrats, Rep. Bill Owens in the North Country’s 23rd CD, Rep. Mike McMahon in the Staten Island-part of Brooklyn 13th CD, and Rep. Tim Bishop in eastern Long Island’s 1st CD, are rated the same by Cook.
Elsewhere, the state’s vacant 29th CD seat, formerly occupied by Democrat Eric Massa, is rated as likely Republican. Former Corning mayor Tom Reed, a Republican, is running against Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan war veteran.
The 19th CD in the lower Hudson Valley and the 24th CD in central New York are rated toss-ups. Republican businessman Richard Hanna is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Mike Arcuri, a former district attorney, in the central New York district. Republican physician Nan Hayworth is challenging Democratic Rep. John Hall in the Hudson Valley.

Neil DiCarlo said Monday that his decision to not continue his campaign if he loses the Republican primary in the 19th Congressional District should not be construed as support for opponent Nan Hayworth if she wins Tuesday.
DiCarlo, a Wall Street compliance officer from Brewster, indicated his policy differences with Hayworth, an opthamologist from Bedford, are too great for him to support her in the general election.
At a debate last week, DiCarlo highlighted his disagreement with Hayworth on abortion and immigration.
DiCarlo opposes abortion and Hayworth favors abortion rights.
Hayworth favors immigration reform that begins by securing the borders, but won’t support DiCarlo’s position that also calls for deporting all illegal immigrants.
Hayworth already has the Conservative Party line and has pledged to continue her campaign even if she loses the Republican primary.
The two candidates are trying to unseat two-term Democratic Rep. John Hall of Dover.
The 19th Congressional District covers Putnam County and parts of Westchester, Dutchess, Rockland and Orange counties.

On the eve of tomorrow’s Republican Assembly primary in the 99th District, challenger Steve Katz continues to take issue with Jim Borkowski’s 2009 Working Families Party endorsement.

That was the only line Borkowski held in his run for Putnam County Sheriff after losing the GOP primary to incumbent Don Smith. Katz has hammered away at his opponent’s prior affiliation with the left-leaning party and its connection to the now-defunct community organizing group Acorn.

Citing reference to the issue in a recent debate, Katz called on Borkowski to release the questionnaire he filled out to secure the line.

“He cut deals with the local Democratic Party and proudly took the ACORN backed Working Families Party line,” Katz said. “Now in the desperate throws (sic) of a failing campaign, he is spending thousands of dollars trying to label himself as a ‘Conservative’.”

The Working Families Party was co-f0unded in 1998 by ACORN, which in April closed its offices and state affiliates in the wake of public criticism following the release of a series of sting videos. The videos showed ACORN workers across the country advising a pair of undercover conservative activists who claimed to be a pimp and prostitute looking to set up shop.

Borwkowski, who has the Conservative line in the November election, dismissed what he called a last-minute attempt by Katz to attack his conservative credentials.

“Steve Katz is a one-trick pony,” Borkowski said. “If he didn’t talk about the Working Families Party 24 hours a day, he’d have nothing to talk about.”

The Working Families Party has endorsed Democrat Brendan Tully of Yorktown, who will oppose the winner of Tuesday’s GOP primary.

UPDATED: The race, and this issue in particular, was the subject of a piece today by former ACORN employee Anita Moncrief, who in 2008 was a witness in a lawsuit alleging voter registration fraud by the organization. Moncrief, writing at the conservative website emergingcorruption.com, equates Borkowski’s endorsement by Republican leaders to the selection of  Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, R- in the 23rd Congressional District race in 2009.

Photo: Borkowski, left, and Katz at a League of Women Voters debate in Carmel last month. (Brian Howard/The Journal News)