Working Families

Bacon & Eggs: Mr. Lieutenant Governor

September 23rd, 2009
Bacon and Eggs

Working Families Breakfast Reading – News from around NY
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QUOTE OF THE DAY – September 23, 2009

“He was not known by the broad voting public in a way that Mark Green is, but he was known by tenant advocates and homeless services providers and by union shop stewards. They know who Bill de Blasio is, and they spread the word.”

-Dan Cantor, WFP executive director, in today’s New York Times.

STATE NEWS

Paterson

NY Times (Jeremy Peters): New York Court Backs Governor on Deputy Pick

In a surprising reversal, New York State’s highest court on Tuesday affirmed Gov. David A. Paterson’s contested appointment of a lieutenant governor, handing him a decisive victory at a time when he is facing the lowest moment of his governorship. In a divided decision, the high court, the New York Court of Appeals, ruled that Mr. Paterson did not abuse his authority when he named Richard Ravitch, a four-decade veteran of city and state politics, to the post in July, a move both politically risky and legally questionable. While the job has been open in the past, no New York governor had attempted to fill it by appointment.

See also:

NY Times (Jeremy Peters): A Lieutenant Governor Suddenly Visible and in Demand

Albany Times Union (Rick Karlin): Court ruling OKs pick

NY Times (editorial): A Bona Fide Lieutenant Governor

Daily News (editorial): Dave wins one: Top court upholds Paterson’s power to name lieutenant governor

AP: Paterson says he’s not ready to quit

As New York Gov. David Paterson’s political vitality is threatened, he declared he wasn’t ready to give up the fight Tuesday. But the odds aren’t in his favor. “There is no question right now that the political soap opera of New York politics centers around the Democrats,” said Steven Greenberg of the Siena College poll. “This gives great fodder to the Republicans, and the Republicans are smartly taking advantage of that.” President Barack Obama warmly praised Attorney General Andrew Cuomo during a New York event Monday, while blandly acknowledging Paterson.

See also:

NY Post (Dicker et al): I’m in it to win it, defiant Dave says

Daily News (Lovett and Pearson): Paterson: Obama administration can’t get anything done due to fear of GOP

Days after the Obama administration told him it would rather he not run for election next year, Gov. Paterson seemed to send a little payback on Tuesday. While saying he understands why the Obama administration is involving itself in New York politics, Paterson noted the White House’s inability to get key legislation passed in the first months of his presidency. “If you look at it from their perspective, they haven’t exactly been able to govern in the first year of their administration the way other administrations have, where you would theoretically have a period in which the new administration is allowed to pass some of the needed pieces of legislation,” Paterson said.

See also:

NY Times (Confessore and Hakim): Obama Genial but Chagrined in Encounter, Paterson Says

Politics, Etc

Newsday (James Madore): Lazio enters race for governor

Republican Rick Lazio officially announced his bid for governor Tuesday, calling for a one-house Legislature, property tax cap and greater autonomy for the big SUNY campuses. The former four-term congressman from Brightwaters vowed to remain in the race, regardless of whether former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also a Republican, enters the fray. Nine years ago, Lazio became the party’s standard-bearer for U.S. Senate against Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, after Giuliani bowed out because he had cancer. “I am not only in this race but in it until the end,” Lazio, 51, told reporters.

NY Post (Brendan Scott): Race already on to replace Andy

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has yet to publicly announce a run for the Executive Mansion, and already, lawyers of all political stripes are lining up to be the next Sheriff of Wall Street. The names of more than a dozen aspiring attorney generals have been floated in recent months. “You’ve had two national-profile attorneys general in a row,” said Doug Muzzio, of Baruch College. “You had the ‘Sheriff of Wall Street,’ and now it looks like the ’sheriff of every street,’ with Cuomo.”

Labor, Workforce

AP: House votes to extend jobless benefits by 13 weeks

Jobless workers in imminent danger of losing their unemployment benefits would get a 13-week reprieve under legislation approved by the House on Tuesday. The House bill, which applies to 27 states (including New York) plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with unemployment rates of 8.5 percent or higher, would add to the record levels of benefits that have been available to the jobless as the country struggles to recover from its prolonged economic malaise. It would not, however, give any extra benefits to the longtime unemployed in states that have lower levels of joblessness, including Nebraska, North Dakota and Utah.

Investigations

NY Times (Ralph Blumenthal): Video Shows Monserrate Pulling His Bleeding Companion

State Senator Hiram Monserrate pulled his bleeding companion through the lobby of their Queens building so violently last December that she dropped a towel she had pressed to her sliced face, a video played on Tuesday in court showed. The fleeting and grainy security-camera images – crucial evidence for the prosecution in the senator’s domestic violence trial, and never before made public – show Mr. Monserrate, 42, yanking the distressed woman, Karla Giraldo, 30, as she lunges to ring a neighbor’s bell and tries to grab a banister rail and door frame.

NY Post (Gorta and Geller): Hiram & the draggin’ lady

NYC NEWS

Politics, Etc.

NY Times (Julie Bosman): After Years as Aide, Powerful Support

When Bill de Blasio first ran for a City Council seat in 2001, he had a little help from his A-list friends. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose Senate campaign Mr. de Blasio managed in 2000, traveled to a synagogue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, to speak on his behalf. Former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, another political ally, recorded a telephone endorsement…Now Mr. de Blasio, 48, is running for public advocate, and Mark Green, his opponent in Tuesday’s Democratic runoff, has tried to turn his connections into a liability. (So did Eric N. Gioia, a fellow council member who ran unsuccessfully in the primary.) Mr. de Blasio’s ties to high-profile politicians, powerful labor unions and groups like the Working Families Party make him “the quintessential political insider,” Mr. Green said.

See also:

NY Times (Julie Bosman): For First Advocate, a Focus on Record

NY Post (David Seifman): Elex fear of a wild ‘party’

Councilman John Liu, the leading contender for comptroller, is so tight with the Working Families Party that some insiders fear his election would hand the left-wing party and the unions backing it the run of the city’s second most important office — and access to big bucks from the pension fund. “I would certainly be troubled by someone that closely associated with the unions,” said one former top official in the comptroller’s office. Supporters of Mayor Bloomberg are known to be concerned about the possibility of a Liu victory.

Daily News (Elizabeth Hays): Defeated Councilman Kendall Stewart vows to fight on as independent against Jumaane Williams

Flatbush voters will get a rematch in a contested City Council race that seemed to oust a two-term incumbent by a large margin last week. City Councilman Kendall Stewart – who lost the Democratic primary by more than 1,100 votes – said on Tuesday he plans to take on victor Jumaane Williams again in November by running on the Independence Party line. Stewart’s move comes after he refused for more than a week to concede defeat to Williams, a community organizer with major backing from the Working Families Party who beat Stewart by 12 percentage points in the six-way race… “But it’s not surprising based on his tenure in the City Council,” said Williams, 33. “This is another case where he has not put the community first.” Stewart’s announcement also comes amid a growing fight between the union-backed Working Families Party and the real-estate-backed Independence Party.

NY Times (David Chen): Thompson Takes Aim at Mayor’s Schools Record and Vows to Give Parents More of a Voice

Declaring that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s “corporate model” has failed students and parents alike, William C. Thompson Jr., the Democratic nominee for mayor, pledged on Tuesday night to hire educators to run the school system, shrink class sizes and get parents more involved in the education process. Mr. Thompson, the city comptroller, also recommended that the school day and school year be extended, and that pre-kindergarten classes be mandatory. He said that, as mayor, he would insist that physical education requirements be met as a way to combat childhood obesity. And he said that he would pour more resources into programs for students struggling with the English language.

AP: Bloomberg attacks Thompson on education

Daily News (Einhorn and Katz): Runoff hopefuls shun call for debate

With the clock ticking before Tuesday’s Democratic runoff for controller and public advocate, some candidates are not too eager to debate any more than they have to. Controller hopeful John Liu has begged out of a televised debate with rival David Yassky that WABC had hoped to air this weekend, prompting Yassky to accuse Liu of running away from a fight, which Liu denied. Public Advocate rivals Bill de Blasio and Mark Green, who will appear Wednesday night in a Daily News co-sponsored debate, sparred over Green’s rejection of Tuesday night’s Staten Island debate.

NY Times (Michael Barbaro): Mayor Doesn’t Always Live by His Health Rules

HE dumps salt on almost everything, even saltine crackers. He devours burnt bacon and peanut butter sandwiches. He has a weakness for hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken, washing them down with a glass of merlot. And his snack of choice? Cheez-Its. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has become New York City’s nutritional nag, banning the use of trans fats, forcing chain restaurants to post calorie counts and exhorting diners to consume less salt. Now he is at it again, directing his wrath at sugary drinks in a new series of arresting advertisements that ask subway riders: “Are you pouring on the pounds?”

City Hall News (Sal Gentile): Mark Griffith To Remain In Vann Race On WFP Line

In a rare move, a challenger to Council Member Al Vann who lost last week’s Democratic primary by a mere 600 votes has decided to continue his campaign on the ballot line of the Working Families Party in November. Mark Winston Griffith, the executive director of the liberal Drum Major Institute, will announce Wednesday in an open letter to residents of the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights neighborhoods that he will be “running as a Democrat” on the line, according to a copy provided to City Hall.

Labor, Workforce

NY Times (Glenn Collins): First Course at Tavern: A Clash With Labor

A SURPRISING menu item could dominate the future carte du jour at the landmark Central Park restaurant Tavern on the Green: a nasty labor dispute. If it proceeds beyond negotiation posturing, it could be the first major restaurant labor showdown in years, pitting the new operator of a legendary restaurant against one of the city’s most aggressive unions. Dean J. Poll, who was awarded the license to Tavern by the Parks Department last month, has made a proposal to the union representing some 400 Tavern employees that would nullify most of the provisions of the current contract.

Housing, Development

NY Times (Manny Fernandez): Large Dogs in Public Housing Are Now Endangered Species

…Mr. Hernandez lives in one of New York City’s public housing projects, where a ban on pit bulls and other large dogs went into effect May 1. The ban, one of the strictest for any public housing authority in the country, prohibits residents from keeping pure-bred or mixed-breed pit bulls, Rottweilers and Doberman pinschers, as well as any dog, with the exception of service dogs, expected to weigh more than 25 pounds when grown. It has divided tenants and outraged animal welfare groups. For the New York City Housing Authority, keeping track of the pets in 178,000 apartments has been a challenge.

WESTCHESTER/ROCKLAND/HUDSON VALLEY NEWS

NY Times (Joshua Brustein): Westchester Board Approves a Housing-Integration Pact

Westchester County’s Board of Legislators completed approval early Wednesday of an agreement with the federal government requiring the county to create hundreds of moderately priced houses and apartments in white neighborhoods and market them to nonwhites. The board’s chairman, William J. Ryan, described the decision as perhaps the most important one to be made in the history of the county’s legislature. Lawmakers discussed the measure for hours on Tuesday night and early Wednesday and completed passage by a vote of 12 to 5 shortly after 1 a.m.

Journal News (Jonathan Bandler): Castro gets judicial nod, may leave D.A. race

After losing last week’s Democratic primary for Westchester County district attorney, Tony Castro had three options to get his name removed from minor party lines on the November ballot. He wasn’t keen on dying and he had no plans to move out of Westchester. So Tuesday night he was nominated by the Republicans to run for a state justiceship. It was an odd twist for a candidate who campaigned as the real Democrat in the primary, assailing District Attorney Janet DiFiore for switching parties after winning in 2005 as a Republican.

NY Post (Daphne Retter): Highest US property taxes hit home here

Westchester homeowners are shelling out more in property taxes than residents of any other county in the nation, according to a study of new census data released yesterday. The median tax bill in the suburban county hit $8,890 last year — more than four times the national figure, according to a study by Tax Foundation senior economist Gerald Prante, based on the federal data.

LONG ISLAND NEWS

Newsday (Sumathi Reddy): Witness blasts Suffolk Hate Crimes Task Force

A Patchogue man who says he was pressured not to testify before the Suffolk Legislature’s Hate Crimes Task Force lashed out at its members last night and questioned its legitimacy. “I was called a liar by people on the task force, as a victim,” exclaimed Francisco Hernandez, a member of County Executive Steve Levy’s Hispanic Advisory Board who testified at a hearing in Patchogue earlier this month. Last week, before the full legislature, Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks, a member of the task force, said Hernandez flat-out lied when he said they had personally met. “You really believe there are going to be victims coming here, with you calling people liars?” said Hernandez, his voice rising, pointing at the 12-member board, which includes Reecks.

Newsday (Rick Brand): John Jay LaValle makes comeback, winning Suffolk GOP post

Former Brookhaven Supervisor John Jay LaValle made a political comeback last night, winning the post of Suffolk Republican chairman after his two foes dropped out in the midst of a controversial roll call vote in a heated standing room only convention in East Islip. Acknowledging the intense battle, LaValle told the more than 300 party committee members who showed up for the floor fight, “If we take the emotion and drive we have here and take it to the streets we are going to win and win big.” However, LaValle’s victory did not come without hard feelings. Former state senator Robert DiCarlo, in withdrawing, told the crowd he was dropping out because he did not want to “risk the livelihoods” of supporters who might lose their political jobs.

CENTRAL NY/FINGERLAKES/SOUTHERN TIER NEWS

Post-Standard ( Delen Goldberg): Running for governor, Rick Lazio pledges in Syracuse to eat the sausage

Former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio, who announced this week he is running for governor in 2010, is best known in Syracuse for declining to munch on a sausage sandwich at the state fair while campaigning for U.S. senate. As part of a four-day, nine-city statewide tour, Lazio stopped Tuesday at the Syracuse Technology Garden for a private tour. He brought an entourage. A production company lugged around and set up two flags, two lighting posts, a podium and a custom Lazio backdrop for a 15-minute news conference.

Democrat and Chronicle ( Jill Terreri): Monroe County taxpayers among the highest-taxed in nation

Monroe County again has scored second place on a list county officials would just as soon be left off. For the fourth year in a row, Monroe County taxpayers have been recognized as having property tax bills that are among the highest in the nation when the tax bill is compared to a home’s value, based on 2008 data. The property tax bills include school spending, which makes up a significant portion of a property tax bill in most New York counties, though the study didn’t break out those amounts.

CAPITOL REGION/NORTH COUNTRY NEWS

Post-Standard ( Mark Weiner): Washington turns its attention to campaigns for Rep. John McHugh’s seat in Congress

If there was any doubt that the race for Rep. John McHugh’s seat in Congress has the full attention of Washington’s political establishment, it was erased in the days leading up to his confirmation last week as President Obama’s secretary of the Army. In perhaps the boldest move yet by either national political party, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives promised Thursday that the GOP candidate, Dede Scozzafava, would have his support for a plum committee assignment on the House Armed Services Committee. McHugh was the top Republican, or ranking member, of that committee.

Albany Times Union (Kenneth Crowe): Census: Region better covered

The Capital Region has a smaller percentage of people without health insurance than the nation as a whole, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. While 15.1 percent of the country’s population lacks health insurance, the region’s four core counties ranged from a low of 7.4 percent in Albany without coverage to a high of 10.6 percent in Schenectady. “We do tend to have larger, more stable employers in the region. Our big employers, government, education and health care, tend to have insurance,” said Timothy J. Hoff, a professor of health policy management at the University at Albany School of Public Health.

WESTERN NY NEWS

Buffalo News (Matthew Spina): State sues county over jail conditions

The State Commission of Correction charged in a lawsuit Tuesday that the Erie County Holding Center consistently violates state standards and that jail managers have failed to correct the problems, despite their claims. The lawsuit, filed by the state attorney general’s office on the commission’s behalf, asks the State Supreme Court to order Sheriff Timothy B. Howard to operate the jail in a “safe, stable and humane manner.” Howard called the lawsuit “a blatant political attack” with the election for Erie County sheriff only weeks away.

NATIONAL NEWS

NY Times (Pear and Herszenhorn): Parties Clash on Long-Awaited Day for Health Bill

As the Senate Finance Committee took up legislation, Democrats expressed confidence Tuesday that their effort to remake the nation’s health care system was gaining momentum. But Republicans sharpened their attacks on a requirement that most Americans carry insurance, a central element of the bill. “This is our opportunity to make history,” said the committee chairman, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, as the panel began its long-awaited work on his measure.

NY Times (Steven Greenhouse): With a Receptive White House, Labor Begins to Line Up Battles

When China’s president, Hu Jintao, attends the G-20 summit meeting this week in Pittsburgh, he will no doubt complain about the punitive tariffs that the Obama administration recently slapped on Chinese tires and steel. While Mr. Hu is certain to make his displeasure known to President Obama, the man responsible for pressuring the administration to act on those disputes will be elsewhere, sitting in his office a few hundred yards from where the meeting is taking place. That man is Leo W. Gerard, the president of the United Steelworkers, often viewed as the No. 1 scourge of free traders. And the leaders of the G-20 should take note: Mr. Gerard and his fellow labor leaders are just getting started.

Bacon & Eggs: Mr. Lieutenant Governor

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