Politics on the Hudson

State Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, will hold an event Tuesday to urge Gov. David Paterson to enact new laws protecting domestic violence victims.

Joining Oppenheimer during the event will be representatives from My Sisters Place, a Westchester County domestic violence shelter as well as other groups such as the Pace Women’s Justice Center.

The event will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Preston Hall’s Tudor Room at Pace Law School, located at 78 North Broadway in White Plains.

Democratic State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ Republican challenger Liam McLaughlin issued a press release today that seems to send mixed messages.

In his headline McLaughlin accuses Stewart-Cousins of collecting per diem payments while programs are cut. Then in the body of his release he claims the senator and her fellow Democrats refuse to cut “wasteful spending.”

For the record, Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, has vetoed thousands of spending projects as part of his effort to close the state’s deficit, though that hasn’t yet been achieved.

UPDATED on 4:20 p.m., July 8, 2010

McLaughlin said this afternoon that  legislators should not get stipends while not getting their jobs done, namely passing a budget by April 1.

“The point is they should forgo the stipend,” McLaughlin said.

As for cutting costs, McLaughlin noted that the Democrats still haven’t cut billions from the deficit, other than programs that were dear to some homeowners.

“There is obviously a difference between cutting good projects and bad projects,” McLaughlin said. “They’ve cut good projects like the STAR property tax rebate.”

Here is McLaughlin’s release:

McLAUGHLIN: GIVE BACK THE $$ SENATOR!
$tewart-Cousins Takes Home Thousand$ While Programs Are Cut
[YONKERS, NY, July 8, 2010]- Liam McLaughlin, the conservative Republican candidate for New York State Senate (35th S. D.), today called on his opponent, liberal State Senator Andrea $tewart-Cousins to “return all per diem payments to New York State and waive any future payments she is scheduled to receive during the course of the New York State Budget crisis”.

A “per diem” is an allowance received by legislators to help defray travel, food and living expenses while the Senate is in session. It is paid in addition to their salaries at the current rate of $171 per day.

Liam McLaughlin said, “Today, I am calling on Senator Andrea $tewart-Cousins to return any per diem payments she has received since April 1, 2010 to the state coffers and waive any future payment until New York’s budget crisis is settled. Ms. $tewart-Cousin’s is currently receiving this personal perk despite the fact that she, Pedro Espada, Carl Kruger and the rest of the big spending Senate Democrats refuse to do the right thing and cut wasteful spending so that government services in New York can continue to function.

She is currently collecting $171 dollars per day on top of her already generous state salary. New Yorkers are suffering. Government workers face lay-off, critical programs for the young and the elderly are being closed down, and yet, Andrea $tewart-Cousins continues to collect her daily stipend, pumping up her take home pay by thousands of dollars over the course of 3 months the budget has been late. It’s obvious; Andrea $tewart-Cousins is as liberal with your tax dollars as she is with her politics. “

Carl Paladino, the Buffalo developer running for governor, will visit the Editorial Board at 11 a.m. on Monday for an Editorial Spotlight interview.

Paladino, who lost the Republican nomination to former Rep. Rick Lazio, is gathering petition signatures in an effort to receive a place on the Sept. 14 primary ballot. He’s also running on the Reform Party line.

We’ll talk with him his positions on the issues and the various controversies surrounding his campaign. Earlier today, talking with the Watertown Daily Times in Adams Center, N.Y., Paladino accused Gov. David Paterson of being a drug addict.

To watch the session, visit lohud.com/editorialspotlight; to ask a question, engage the “Cover It Live” widget on the right side of your screen.

Gov. David Paterson lamented the charged political environment state legislative leaders are in while the budget negotiations move forward at a snail’s pace.

Paterson, along with Republican and Democratic leaders from the state Assembly and Senate, met for nearly an hour this morning to hash out their disagreements on the state budget, now two months late.

He urged lawmakers to resist the pressures they face back in their districts.

“I think that the whole sense of reaching decisions is impaired by obviously the political environment,” Paterson said at the conclusion of the meeting. “But we did not take our oath of office in a political environment.”

The steps taken to reduce spending—such as closing the state park system—are unpopular in an election year. But they’re necessary, Paterson said.

“It’s very easy to say it was a bad decision to close the parks,” said Paterson, who is not running for a full term. “It was a bad decision to move up the time for the state license plates. All of these decisions in another period of time would make people scratch their heads. But we are in this period of time.”

Assemblyman Mike Spano, D-Yonkers, released a statement today on his and his colleagues’ decision to storm the offices of Gov. David Paterson yesterday.

“Yesterday, several of my Assembly colleagues and I stormed the governor’s office and demanded that he speak to us about the lateness of the state budget. The governor hasn’t spoken to Assembly Speaker Silver in over a week. The governor’s silence, when so much is hanging in the balance, is unacceptable and as Yonkers’ representative, I feel that we need answers now.

“Pilfering from the pockets of state employees with furloughs and passing weekly budget extenders is not a long-term, workable solution, and my colleagues and I wanted to make this clear to him. We’re going through the same motions every week, for 43 days now, and still no budget, no progress in closing a $9.2 billion deficit. The governor is still the leader of this state and in order to make real progress we need him fully engaged in the process making responsible and productive decisions. We felt it was necessary to shake up the process and speak with him face-to-face.

“Only the future will determine the success of our meeting with him, but I believe we made progress in that the Governor has agreed to begin public leaders meetings and has also offered to join his budget staff with the Assembly’s staff to help reach a joint budget agreement – something that has never been done in the past.

“The hard decisions must be made – the same hard decisions that Yonkers families are making every day to cut their own budgets in this tough economy. I understand that the solution will not be easy but I continue my call to remain in Albany until the job is done.”

Assemblyman Mike Spano, D-Yonkers, said he will return one day of pay a week if Gov. David Paterson furloughs state workers.

“I believe in leading by example, and if the Governor is going to take such action, I encourage him at the very least to show some leadership and cut his pay as well,” Spano said. “We need to do everything possible to reduce spending, and to me cutting my pay is worth the price of sending a clear message that we are all in this together, we are all feeling the pain of closing the deficit and we must all take the necessary actions to get the job done in the best interest of New Yorkers.”

Here’s his full press release: (more…)

Yonkers schools Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio returned earlier today from a lobbying trip to Washington, D.C.

Pierorazio said earlier today that he’s leaving “no stone unturned” as he searches for funding that will help the district overcome a projected $48 million funding gap due to Gov. David Paterson’s proposed cuts to school aid.

Pierorazio said that his big push in DC was to get education service industries restored to a jobs bill in the senate. Another lobbying goal was inclusion in any new recovery program.

Pierorazio said that in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  federal money for capital improvements to school buildings only went to New York’s three largest school districts.

“I let our Washington representatives know that it’s significant,” he said. “With the aging infrastructure in our city…we need assistance.”

Pierorazio also said he brought up the issue of English language learners with the city’s Washington delegation because Yonkers has the highest percentage of English language learners in the state. The district spends about $14 million on English language learners and bilingual education, he said, and it is not fully reimbursed for that obligation, he said.

Assemblyman Mike Spano, D-Yonkers, has asked Gov. David Paterson for  for a disaster zone declaration in response to this weekend’s wild storm.

“If Yonkers is declared a disaster zone, the city could apply to receive needed aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ease the devastating affects of this storm,” Spano said. “These funds would go a long way to help Yonkers recover quickly.”

State Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, who also represents parts of Yonkers, Mount Vernon and several other communities in Westchester, issued a statement earlier today about the troubles facing Gov. David Paterson.

“It is unfortunate that at a time when our state is in the midst of a severe economic crisis and we need to direct our energy to putting New York’s fiscal house in order, we are embroiled in chatter about who will or will not be on the ballot nine months from now. We need to keep our eye on the ball. I’m focused on the budget and finding ways in which we can better protect the people’s money, put more tax dollars back in people’s pockets and restore the financial health of our state. Political conversations can be had after we’ve met our obligations and responsibilities to New Yorkers.”

Assemblyman Mike Spano, D-Yonkers, issued a statement this afternoon on Gov. David Paterson’s veto of ethics reform legislation.

“I’m disappointed by the governor’s decision to veto landmark ethics reform legislation (A.9544) that would have reduced the influence of lobbyists in Albany and strengthened campaign finance filing requirements. While the governor vetoed the bill because he doesn’t think it goes far enough, it’s still a positive first step that we can build on with future legislation. With constant news of scandals and corruption in Albany, we needed this reform now more than ever to regain the public’s hard-earned trust. It’s imperative that we restore that faith and forge a relationship based on disclosure and accountability.

“We must take every opportunity to cut down on the influence of special interests and lobbyists, and regain the public’s confidence to get New York back on the road to recovery. This legislation is an important step forward in ensuring that our state government is transparent, accountable and subject to tough enforcement measures. I’ll continue fighting for meaningful ethics reform to make sure legislators are indebted to serving the people, not special interests.”