Politics on the Hudson

Sen. Daniel Squadron, D-Brooklyn, honored Beastie Boys founder Adam “MCA” Yauch with a resolution on the Senate floor yesterday.

The resolution honors Yauch, who died last week, for his major contributions to music and as a true rap pioneer.

“Yauch grew up in Brooklyn Heights and the Beastie Boys grew to prominence via the East Village and Lower East Side music scene,” Squardon said in a statement.

Here’s the resolution: (And if you don’t know, the headline is MCA’s line in “No Sleep Till’ Brooklyn”.)

LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION mourning the death of famed rapper and activist
Adam “MCA” Yauch
WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to honor and pay trib
ute to those individuals whose commitment and creative talents have
contributed to the entertainment and cultural enrichment of their commu
nity and the entire State of New York; and
WHEREAS, Adam Yauch, also known as MCA, the rapper, musician, activ
ist, film director and founder of the pioneering New York hip-hop group
the Beastie Boys, died on Friday, May 4, 2012, in Manhattan at age 47;
and

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Voters yesterday approved 96 percent of school budgets, but it was a much more difficult task for schools that sought to defy the property-tax cap.

Sixty percent of school districts that sought to override the cap—which required a 60 percent supermajority—passed their budgets. Overall 24 budgets failed, mainly those who sought to override the cap.

The state School Boards Association said 48 districts sought an override.

While a 60 percent passage rate for districts that sought an override may seem like a success, it is far below what districts are accustomed to. Last year, 93 percent of school district budget passed, and the average since 1969 is 84 percent.

“The voting public has once again shown its strong support for education. Voters recognized that school leaders did everything they could to comply with the spirit and intent of the property tax levy cap,” said Timothy Kremer, executive director of the state Schools Boards Association, in a statement. “They were responsive to their communities.”

In school districts where the budget failed, a second vote can be held June 19. If it fails again, a district can’t increase taxes at all—a key piece of the new tax cap.

The 60 percent supermajority to override the cap wasn’t easy for some schools. In Elmira, the budget actually passed 1,885 to 1,573. But it was only passed with 55 percent of the vote—falling short of the 60 percent needed to override the cap, as the district sought.

Here’s the districts, according to NYSUT, where budgets failed; 19 of the 24 sought overrides:

BOLIVAR-RICHBURG CSD (no override sought)
ELMIRA CITY SD
UNADILLA VALLEY CSD
PLATTSBURGH CITY SD
GERMANTOWN CSD
CHEEKTOWAGA-SLOAN UFSD (no override sought)
OPPENHEIM-EPHRATAH CSD

A new poll released this morning found big support for medicinal marijuana in New York, while voters remain split on hydrofracking and say they need more information on mixed-martial arts.

The Siena College survey found 57 percent of New York voters support legalizing medical marijuana, with 33 percent opposed. Support is high among all regions of the state, while 62 percent of Democrats are in favor. (Forty-four percent of Republicans are supportive, with 46 percent opposed.)

“Over two-thirds of voters are paying attention to the debate over legalizing medical marijuana in New York State,” Siena Research Institute Director Don Levy said in a statement. “Democrats and independents strongly support legalization and at least a majority of every demographic agree except Republicans and self-described conservatives, who are divided on the issue.”

The support appears to be naught this year. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he’s studying the issue, but that it likely won’t be taken up this legislative session. That hasn’t stopped its supporters in the Legislature, however, which are currently holding a news conference touting the benefits of medical marijuana.

Voters are mixed on two other hot topics in Albany—hydrofracking for natural gas and whether to legalize mixed-martial arts bouts. There’s still a very clear split on hydrofracking, with 37 percent in favor of the technique used with gas drilling, 36 percent opposed and 25 percent undecided.

Support is weakest upstate, with 31 percent OK with hydrofracking and 45 percent opposed. Somewhat surprisingly, more New York City voters are in favor, according to the poll, with 35 percent supportive and 31 percent opposed. (44 percent in the New York City suburbs support it.)

Meanwhile, only 25 percent of voters have been paying attention to the debate over mixed-martial arts. MMA bouts are currently banned in New York, and Ultimate Fighting Championship officials have lobbied aggressively to have that ban overturned. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said the bill to overturn the ban won’t be put to a vote this year.

In total, 38 percent said they need more information on legalizing mixed-martial arts. 32 percent are in support; 26 percent are opposed.

Here are the crosstabs from today’s poll:

SNY051612 Crosstabs

With a property-tax cap on the books for the first time, 96 percent of school budgets were approved Tuesday, the state’s teachers union said Wednesday.

The overwhelming result of support for school budgets came as 92 percent of districts kept within tax increases prescribed in the state’s new tax cap, which took effect for the first time this year.

Based on preliminary results, the New York State United Teachers union estimated that voters Tuesday approved 597 school budgets and 24 budgets were defeated.

The defeated budgets were mainly in districts that sought to defy the cap and receive 60 percent of the vote – a supermajority – to override their cap amount.

Of the roughly 50 school districts that exceeded the property-tax cap, only 24 districts returned a 60 percent supermajority, the union said based on its review.

Schools sought an average a 2.2 percent property-tax increase for the 2012-13 school year, which starts July 1, according to the state Education Department.

NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi said voters recognized that school districts make cuts in staff and programs to contain costs and taxes.

“New Yorkers see their public schools are doing a terrific job, producing excellent results amid budgetary challenges resulting from the undemocratic tax cap and from the state’s failure to invest in public schools,” he said in a statement.

State senators want to ban attempts in New York to import power from Canada through a new transmission line, saying the state has enough of its own unused power.

Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, Niagara County, said today that the Republican-led Senate plans to pass legislation that would block a proposal for the Champlain-Hudson Power Express transmission line. The proposal calls for a 1,000-megawatt transmission line to run from Canada to New York City.

Maziarz said the state has 37,000 megawatts of unused power, but not enough updated transmission lines for the power to be properly utilized.

“We have the generating capacity here in New York,” Maziarz, who heads the Senate Energy Committee, said at a news conference. “We have to fix the transmission system; we have to fix the infrastructure in New York state.”

The bill doesn’t have a sponsor in the Democratic-led Assembly. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said he has yet to review the legislation.

The project, proposed by Champlain Hudson Power Express Inc., has been discussed for years. It would bring hydropower and wind power from Canada to New York City, running under the Hudson River.

The company defended the project Tuesday, saying the 333-mile line has more than $30 million in private investment already secured and would reduce power prices by $650 million a year.

“The Champlain Hudson Power Express is an overwhelmingly positive project for the people of New York, addressing the state’s dynamic energy needs now and into the future,” said Donald Jessome, president of Transmission Developers, which is based in Albany, in a statement.

Democrat and Republicans in the state Legislature are split over whether to increase the state’s minimum wage, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has cast doubt on whether an agreement can be reached.

Assembly Democrats today passed legislation to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour in January and tie future increases to the rate of inflation.

“I think that when push comes to shove, this is a moral issue,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said. He cited a Siena College poll Monday that showed 78 percent of New Yorkers support an increase.

Senate Republicans indicated they do not plan to support the increase, saying it would be bad for businesses. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said the Republican-led Senate doesn’t back Silver’s bill, but stopped short of completely shutting the door on any increase at all.

“Our focus in terms of a moral imperative is about creating jobs,” Skelos said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he has supported increasing the minimum wage, but he hasn’t indicated he backs Silver’s bill.

“The governor supports raising the minimum wage, as we have made clear repeatedly,” Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said. “Unfortunately, we do not believe there will be an agreement this session as we have also said repeatedly.”

Hannah Buckler, 12, of New City, Rockland County, joined Silver at a news conference to announce plans to pass a minimum-wage increase. She is a Girl Scout seeking the group’s Silver Award by promoting the need for a higher minimum wage.

She spoke at the Capitol event as her family looked on, saying that a minimum wage increase would benefit the economy because it “will give people more money to spend on basic necessities.”

State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs issued a letter of resignation to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, writing that it would “allow for a smoother transition” if he resigns before his term ends in September.

Jacobs, of Nassau County, was appointed by then-Gov. David Paterson in 2009. As the top elected Democrat in the state, Cuomo is the de facto head of the party.

“With my current term due to expire this coming September, which would fall in the midst of what will surely be a hotly contested Presidential Election, I have decided that you, the Party and our candidates would best be served by my effecting an earlier resignation,” Jacobs wrote. “This would allow for a smoother transition and place the Party in a position of stability and strength going into this fall’s robust election cycle.”

A new chairman will be selected with the New York Democrats meet in Albany on May 23 and 24, Jacobs told Gannett’s Joseph Spector.

(H/t to The New York Times.)

Here’s Jacobs’ resignation letter:

State Chair Resignation Letter

The state Joint Commission on Public Ethics is once again off to an inauspicious beginning—now with its most outspoken member saying it should itself be investigated.

Ravi Batra, the Senate Democrats’ appointee on the commission, released a statement today knocking a report in the Times Union today that cites sources that Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, is under investigation.

“Without confirming or denying the contents of Jim Odato’s story in Times Union today, what is clear is that JCOPE needs confidentiality to be able to freely and honestly deliberate in private so as to function as an independent and impartial ethics watchdog, capable of living up to its promise and to deter public corruption,” Batra wrote in an email.

Batra said JCOPE should be probed for leaking information about a potential inquiry into Libous, citing the troubled tenure of the Suffolk County Ethics Commission.

“An investigation is needed to identify the primary and secondary sources of any leaked confidential information, and if s/he or they be an illegal source, as opposed to a legal source, then take whatever action is necessary, including, criminal prosecution, to plug the leak-hole and restore public confidence in the public ethics watchdog, that is JCOPE,” Batra wrote.

“Otherwise, let’s shut down JCOPE; for public ethics are too important to be a farce or JCOPE to be a political tool.”

JCOPE earlier declined comment, but said: “Information published in today’s Times Union newspaper is inaccurate and misleading.”

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos fired back at Assembly Democrats as they plan to pass a bill to raise the minimum wage, but stopped short of completely shutting the door on any increase at all.

Skelos, a Long Island Republican, previously labeled a minimum wage increase as “a job killer.” He took umbrage with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s characterization that New York has a “moral imperative” to raise the minimum wage, which currently sits at $7.25 an hour.

Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, sponsors a bill to increase the rate to $8.50 an hour while tying increases in future years to the rate of inflation.

“Our focus in terms of a moral imperative is about creating jobs, and if somebody gets a slight bump in income and somebody else loses a job—if somebody else has lost a job, that’s the moral imperative that I’m trying to protect,” Skelos said.

Skelos outlined a series of taxes that would increase for a family with two minimum-wage earners, something he said Silver isn’t taking into account. Business owners are uniformly opposed to an increase, Skelos said.

“Every single small businessperson that I’ve had the opportunity to meet with and talk to said that they would have to lay off people because of these additional costs,” he said.

But when asked if he is shutting down any potential increase, Skelos would only say the Senate won’t vote on Silver’s proposal. He rejected the notion that Senate Republicans could suffer political harm by rejecting a minimum wage increase when it’s polling at an incredibly high rate.

“It’s not about governing by polls,” Skelos said. “It’s about doing what you think is the correct thing to do, and then you face your voters and they make the decision.”

Here’s video of Skelos discussing the minimum wage:

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, had strong words for the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics, charging that the panel leaked sensitive information about a potential probe of his second in command, Sen. Thomas Libous.

“It’s not supposed to be made public. It’s a misdemeanor,” Skelos told reporters. “So whoever from JCOPE is leaking this is committing a crime. They’re committing a crime.”

Skelos defended Libous, saying “Tom is a great senator, a good person and I’m sure it’s all garbage. But anybody think about the confidential aspect of JCOPE, that they’re not supposed to make this information public, just a mere request for information?”

The statute that created the commission says that JCOPE must notify the target of a complaint in writing—which appears to the letter that Libous received, according to Skelos’ comments. Libous, the Binghamton Republican, wouldn’t comment about the contents of the letter.

Skelos ripped the allegations against Libous, calling them political and filed by the Democratic mayor of Binghamton, Matt Ryan, who contemplated a run against Libous.

“Certainly I didn’t leak it,” Skelos said. “Obviously, there is a letter that goes out that is required by law. Look who sent the initial letter: the mayor of Binghamton, D, Democrat, who was looking to run against Tom Libous. So if this is a political stunt, that’s all it is.”