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NY: Despite Hiring Freeze, Democrat Governor Paterson Gives “Startling” Secret Pay Raises
Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 February 2009 10:31 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 17 February 2009 10:31
From the New York Post:
Gov. Paterson has secretly granted raises of as much as 46 percent to more than a dozen staffers at a time when he has asked 130,000 state workers to give up 3 percent pay hikes because of the state’s fiscal crisis, The Post has learned.
The startling pay hikes, costing about $250,000 annually, were granted after the governor’s “emergency” declaration in August of a looming fiscal crisis that required the state to cut spending and impose a “hard” hiring freeze.
Posted under Dems Behaving Badly | No Comments
NY: Paterson Gives Away LG Campaign Money
Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 April 2008 02:39 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 16 April 2008 12:43
This guy is such an improvement over Eliot Spitzer. Who knew that Republicans would have a legitimate shot at the big chair in Albany in 2010?
But Paterson gave away more than that in another way: He donated more than $10,000 from his campaign account as lieutenant governor to non-profit groups, such as a church in New York City and a group that helps disabled children in Israel.Some good-government groups derided the move as another indication of the problems with the state’s loose campaign-finance laws, which has allowed elected officials to dip into their campaign accounts rather than pay for things themselves.
“It’s not appropriate use of campaign dollars,” said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the state League of Women Voters. “They should be used to better inform voters about your message. And that is certainly not what he is doing.”
Posted under Lieutenant Governor News | No Comments
NY: Paterson for Gov… 2010?
Last Updated on Friday, 4 April 2008 01:50 Written by rslcpol Friday, 4 April 2008 10:55
The results of this survey probably won’t be made public (after you read the entire article you’ll see why). After all, what’s probably freshest on NY voters minds is stuff like this. This survey had to be done – and wisely so – so everybody could have science behind telling Governor Patterson: “What are you, nuts?”
A Republican Rotterdam resident wrote in to say that his wife received a polling call Wednesday night that purported to be about “the media and their coverage of elected officials,” but sounded a lot like someone trying to determine the degree of support – or lack thereof – for Gov. David Paterson in 2010.
(For the uninitiated, Rotterdam is in Schenectady County, which is in the Capital Region).
The questioner did not offer up the identity of the organization that had commissioned the poll, (and the respondent didn’t ask) which means this probably wasn’t conducted by one of the public outfits like Quinnipiac or Marist.
Posted under Lieutenant Governor News, State Legislature News | No Comments
NY: How Long Will Paterson Last?
Last Updated on Thursday, 20 March 2008 11:04 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 20 March 2008 10:39
Uh – we’re not sure what to make of Albany politics. One thing’s for sure, we’re not sure if former Governor Spitzer and current Governor Paterson are huge Toby Keith fans or not (can you see Eliot Spitzer at a Toby Keith show?), and we’re not sure if they’re “talking bout hooking up or hanging out”, but we’re pretty sure they were “just talking about tonight.”
By now, four days into Governor David Paterson’s reign, one thing is clear: He never thought he was actually going to be governor. The loosey-goosey (and juicy!) way he’s blended his personal and professional affairs don’t reflect the kind of care and caution that most people who expect close scrutiny would have used. But Paterson is fully aware of that and is doing the best he can with the situation as it is. Democrats can only hope that he doesn’t have any more big revelations, because if this goes on, Albany Republicans are going to start actively questioning his ethical authority.
Read the Rest…
Finally – does anybody want to place any bets on who the next New York Governor is going to be?
Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, State Legislature News | 1 Comment
NY: LG Paterson Drops the ‘L’ and becomes Governor (and what that means for Albany)
Last Updated on Monday, 17 March 2008 11:22 Written by rslcpol Monday, 17 March 2008 11:18
And how could this affect that other statewide elected democrat? Well if you ask the Wall Street Journal, it could open the door for Attorney General Cuomo.
And who are the other “winners and losers” of this whole mess? At least one paper takes a look
Oh, and apparently the soon-to-be former Governor will skip the inauguration
ALBANY — Incoming Gov. David A. Paterson is at the Capitol this morning preparing to take the oath of office this afternoon as Albany gets back to the business of governing following last week’s sex scandal revelations involving Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer.
Paterson, who is legally blind, is expected to give a relatively brief address that he has committed to memory at 1 p.m. to a joint session of the State Legislature and to a who’s who of the state’s political elite, including the state’s congressional delegation and local government leaders.
Lt. Gov. Paterson Would Be New York’s First Black Governor
Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 March 2008 11:57 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 11 March 2008 11:23
If Spitzer goes, would Governor Paterson be the first blind governor in the United States? He would certainly be the first governor who ever filed a bill, repeatedly, that would’ve made it legal for suspects to resist arrest by police officers – sound crazy? Check it out.
Eliot Spitzer’s would-be successor is a street-smart New York City politician who ascended by serving the Democratic Party and the voters in his Harlem-area State Senate district.Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson, who once called himself a “bomb thrower,” would become New York’s first African-American governor and only the eighth in American history if Spitzer resigns. He’s 53, plays pickup basketball and in 1999 completed the New York City Marathon.
“David Paterson is no stranger to Buffalo,” said Mayor Byron W. Brown, who served with Paterson in the State Senate earlier this decade and cast one of the deciding votes that elevated Paterson to Senate minority leader in 2002.
Posted under Lieutenant Governor News | 1 Comment
NY: Democrat AG Candidate and his “Corrupt Crew”
Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 01:17 Written by rslcpol Friday, 22 October 2010 01:17
From the New York Post:
The AEG deal unraveled after the Lottery Division deemed the firm “unlicensable.” Ultimately, the agency picked Genting New York to run the video casino.
Gov. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also had a hand in the debacle, of course. But the bulk of the chicanery was in the Senate, according to Fisch.
So Senate Democrats, who run the joint, need to pay a price for that next month.
That goes for Schneiderman, too.
By contrast, his opponent, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, is unencumbered by ties to Albany’s business-as-usual bunch.
The choice for New York’s chief law-enforcement officer couldn’t be more vital — or clear.
Posted under Attorney General News, Dems Behaving Badly | No Comments
October Surprise in New York
Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 01:09 Written by rslcpol Friday, 22 October 2010 01:09
From the New York Post:
The inspector general’s scathing report on the Aqueduct corruption scandal could hand control of the Senate back to the Republicans and take down Democratic Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s front-running campaign for attorney general, political insiders said yesterday.
Republicans could barely contain their glee as Inspector General Joseph Fisch, a lifelong Democrat appointed by Gov. Paterson, issued a shocking report on the unethical and possibly criminal conduct of some of the state’s most important Democratic officials — including the two top leaders of the Senate.
“This is a game changer for the entire election cycle,” crowed John McArdle, communications director for Senate Republican Minority Leader Dean Skelos.
“There is no question that this will be used in all our campaigns around the state. The commercials, in fact, are being prepared as we speak.”
Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, State Legislature News | No Comments
NY Voters Want Lawmakers Out
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 11:48 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 28 July 2010 01:37
From Bloomberg.com:
New York voters favor sweeping their state legislators from office in the November election, a Quinnipiac University poll reported today.
Fifty-three percent said the state senator in their district should be ousted, with 35 percent opposed. New Yorkers favor removing their state assembly member, 49 percent to 33 percent, the poll found.
Voters told interviewers “their own state senator should be swept out of office in a general housecleaning,” Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
The survey, conducted July 20-26, coincided with the state Legislature’s failure to complete a budget due April 1. Governor David Paterson ordered lawmakers to convene tonight for a special session on revenue measures to close a $9.2 billion revenue gap and pay for a $136 billion spending plan approved earlier this month.
Tags: New York | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
National Journal: In State Capitols, GOP Is Tallying Wins
Last Updated on Tuesday, 6 July 2010 10:42 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 6 July 2010 10:42
From National Journal:
Republicans are quick to point out, however, that they have scored even more
pickups if the counting starts from the early months of this midterm cycle. The
GOP picked up nine other Democratic-held state legislative seats from December
2008 through November 2009. Over that period, Democrats captured just three
seats from the GOP. The overall score during this cycle so far is 14 pickups for
Republicans, five for Democrats.The recent GOP victories came in a diverse group of districts. The party
racked up two wins in the suburbs of New York City: Assembly District 3 in
Suffolk County on Long Island, and Assembly District 89 in Westchester County.
The three other victories came in mostly rural state House seats in Alabama,
Kentucky, and New Hampshire.“I see an energized Republican base that mirrors what we see in the national
polls,” said former Rep. Tom Reynolds, the vice chairman of the Republican State
Leadership Committee, which helps to elect GOP candidates to state legislative
and executive branch posts.In assessing the results of the special elections with an eye toward
November’s congressional races, Reynolds said that he is encouraged by the
success that GOP state legislative candidates have had in winning over
independent voters. That was particularly true in Westchester County, where
Republican Bob Castelli upset Democrat Peter Harckham in a district where
Democrats have a sizable advantage in party registration.Reynolds acknowledged that Republican fortunes in the Empire State’s special
elections in February benefited from voters’ widespread antipathy toward
Democratic Gov. David Paterson, but he added, “I also saw independent voters
abandon the Democrats, and two years before, they were voting overwhelmingly
Democratic.”
Read the Rest (Subscription required)…
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