Working Families Party

BACON & EGGS
WORKING FAMILIES BREAKFAST READING
March 10-12, 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “These trade agreements were written for investors in large American corporations. They weren’t written for American workers and they weren’t written to protect Central American children.”
-- U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (NY Times)

On the WFP Blog today: A Van Down By The River

TABLE OF CONTENTS
" STATE NEWS
" NYC NEWS
" WESTCHESTER/ROCKLAND.HUDSON VALLEY NEWS
" LONG ISLAND NEWS
" CAPITOL REGION/NORTH COUNTRY
" CENTRAL NY NEWS
" WESTERN NY NEWS
" NATIONAL NEWS

STATE NEWS

NY Post (Fred Dicker): UNION'S TV BLITZ SOCKS GOV RATING

Gov. Spitzer's enormous popularity with the voters has taken a "dramatic hit" because of a fierce TV campaign attacking his proposed cuts in health-care costs, a poll obtained yesterday by The Post shows. Spitzer's "favorability" rating has dropped 21 percentage points - from 75 to 54 percent - in the past month, according to the survey, conducted for a group backed by hospital-workers union 1199 SEIU.

Health Care

NY Times (Richard Perez-Pena): Medicaid Costs Can Be in Eye of the Crusader

In the escalating public battle over his budget cuts, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has offered several critiques of the state’s vast health care system, some unquestionably true, and some subtle and complex... Medicaid costs vastly more in New York than elsewhere, and spending has grown sharply in this decade, about 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. But the number of patients in the program has grown even faster, by about 55 percent — growth that Mr. Spitzer endorses and wants to build on.

Journal News (editorial): Ad campaign over health-care reform simplistic, distracting

As entertaining as the war over Gov. Eliot Spitzer's health-care reform proposals has become - one New York congressman likened it to a "food fight'' - the public needs to be reminded what's at stake: maintenance of the status quo or a real chance at improving New York's health-care system. Special-interest doomsday scenarios aside, New York taxpayers and patients have to ask themselves: Do they like the care, access to treatment, insurance coverage, out-of-pocket costs and options for long-term care that they have now - or do you want something better?

AP (Mike Gormley): Spitzer goes into schools, homes to build `healthiest state'

Schools, homes and workplaces will become the site of new efforts to make New York the "the healthiest state," under proposals by Gov. Eliot Spitzer scheduled for release Monday.

Albany Times Union (James Odato): Bills press budget figures
Legislative spending proposals would greatly exceed Spitzer's proposal, particularly in the Senate

Budget bills expected to be passed starting Monday in the Legislature would add vast sums to Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed $120.6 billion budget. But the governor will likely be able to work the one prepared by the Assembly Democrats easier than the proposal of Senate Republicans, whose plan will defy Spitzer's intentions to rein in Medicaid spending and change public school financing, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.

AP (Mike Gormley): Spitzer, Legislature to square off over health

Buffalo news (Tom Precious): State lawmakers to add big bucks to Spitzer’s health care budget

Daily News (Joe Mahoney): Fevered fight vs. gov on health; Ad blitz, pols try to derail Spitzer's reform plan

Newsday (editorial): Health wars
Gov. Eliot Spitzer is correct to seek reform of the health-care system. But proposed cuts may be too much too soon.

Albany Times Union (Michael Kink op-ed): Spitzer's Medicaid proposal a good step

NY Sun (Jacob Gershman): Looking Backward on Medicaid

Tired of defending an increasingly shrinking patch of land, New York Republicans have decided it's smarter to attack Governor Spitzer from the left than from the right. That's the sense one gets from talking with the new chairman of the state Republican Party, Joseph Mondello, who has made alliances with Charles Rangel and Al Sharpton on the most important policy debate of Governor Spitzer's first term: the future of Medicaid... The Rangel-Sharpton-Mondello alliance isn't the strangest to emerge in this topsy-turvy environment. As Mr. Spitzer takes on the health care union and the hospital trade groups, he has an ally, Michael Long, in the Conservative Party, which is filling in the gaps left by Republican migration leftward... "Spitzer's on target," the chairman of the Conservative Party in New York, Mr. Long, who owns a liquor store in Bay Ridge, said. "I think he should be thinking to cut more. It has to be done because it's pretty hard for taxpayers to pay their bills as it is. Spending is really the cause of high taxes."

NY Times (Danny Hakim): A Message to Health Insurers: Ask Before Raising Rates

Eric R. Dinallo, the governor’s acting insurance superintendent, wants to reclaim state control over health insurance rates. Currently, most health insurers do not have to seek government approval before raising their rates, a result of a series of concessions made to insurers over the last couple of decades. Instead, they can raise their rates as long as they later demonstrate that a certain amount of the increase has been used to pay off claims.

Syracuse Post-Standard (editorial): Elder Care
Affordable models must grow beyond the 'gray market'

Among the biggest health challenges is long-term care, particularly for the frail elderly. Some 4.2 million Americans are in that category. By 2014 there will be 5.9 million. Then the numbers will explode with the aging baby-boom population. New York has long-term care alternatives in its arsenal, including hospitals, nursing homes and home-care options. But a year of home-based care through a private-service agency can cost $150,000 without reimbursement. Hospitals and nursing homes are equally costly alternatives.

Budget

Newsday (John Hildebrand): Although most homeowners would see tax break under Spitzer plan, opponents believe
only a hike in state aid will keep taxes in check

Nearly three-quarters of Long Island homeowners would get tax breaks under Gov. Eliot Spitzer's school-finance proposals, while wealthier residents and businesses would see rates go up, according to a new report from regional business and education groups. To further ease the Island's tax burden, report sponsors urge the governor to bring Long Island's share of state school aid, currently 12.5 percent, closer to its share of enrollment, now 16.8 percent.

Gannett (Jay Gallagher): State finances vulnerable to the whims of Wall Street

As lawmakers close in on adopting a new state budget, the recent hiccup on Wall Street shows how potentially vulnerable state finances are to the whims of the market... The spending hikes can be taken care of this year because Wall Street has been surging. The big runup in the market means that capital gains are being made by the truckload, and the state gets its cut. And that doesn't even count this year's record level of Wall Street bonuses, expected to be almost $24 billion, a portion of which also finds its way into the state treasury. But the problem is the inherent volatility of such income. It's not a matter if there is a downturn on Wall Street, of course, it is only a matter of when.

Newsday (editorial): DiNapoli shows class
State budget analysis measured, fair

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli last week showed some of his characteristic class, as well as his penchant for bringing people together, in the announcement of his office's analysis of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget. Even in raising bright yellow flags about the state's fiscal future, DiNapoli could have devoted his entire press release to blasting the spending plan - to get back at Spitzer for trying to block his recent appointment by the legislature.

See also:

NY Post (editorial): DiNapoli's Dean-on Call

NY Post (editorial): SPITZER'S TAX HIKE

Mayor Mike's budget director, Mark Page, got it exactly right in arguing that Gov. Spitzer's plan to close state tax "loopholes" is really a badly disguised tax hike on businesses.

Etc.

Buffalo News (Tom Precious): Legislators urged to form upstate caucus

Upstate business groups have put aside some turf protection to form an alliance to draw more attention to the struggling region. In recent years, mayors of the big upstate cities have made joint appeals for state policy changes and fiscal relief. Now, Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer has established an office to focus solely on economic problems upstate. So, who’s missing? Upstate lawmakers. Some groups pressing to get upstate on the radar screen say the region’s lawmakers — from urban and rural areas, Democratic and Republican parties and the Assembly and Senate — need to form a caucus with the single mission of pressing for efforts to attract and retain jobs across the region.

Albany Times Union (editorial): Saving Kids

So the choices are these: Fund programs that get to the kids early, reduce crime and save taxpayer money, over the long run, or take the shortsighted approach and leave more children at risk. Which is to say, there is no choice.

Albany Times Union (Fred LeBrun): Senate needs to end stalling Grannis confirmation at DEC

Enough already, state Senate. Let's get on with Pete Grannis' confirmation hearing as Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner.

Gannett (Jay Gallagher): Capitol feels the heat over energy cost dilemma
Firms say diverting cheap power from residential use will boost jobs

Is it worth raising the electric bills of most upstate residential electric customers by $5 to $10 a month so more cheap power is available to retain jobs and even attract new ones to the struggling region? That is the stark choice Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state lawmakers could face as they try to decide what to do with a pool of cheap hydropower: keep giving it to upstate utilities to help keep homeowners' costs down, or set it aside for businesses that use a lot of power?

AP (Michael Hill): Another bottle bill battle in Albany

Gov. Eliot Spitzer wants to add nickel deposits to non-carbonated drinks. He also wants to redirect unclaimed deposit money that now goes to the industry to state coffers. The double-barreled proposal _ worth $100 million or more a year _ sets the new governor on a collision course with businesses that would rather see the whole deposit system relegated to the trash bin. While Spitzer has made headlines by taking on hospital chiefs and lawmakers, an early test of the new governor's promise to shake up the status quo could come down whether he can push through a deposit law that that has fallen flat in the Legislature in past years.

Daily News (Joe Mahoney): Pols' new pay-raise plan

State lawmakers would get automatic pay raises every four years, without having to take the politically risky vote to beef up their own paychecks, under a new bill Assembly Democrats are pushing. The Assembly is adopting Chief Judge Judith Kaye's proposal to set up a salary review commission that would adjust the pay of both lawmakers and judges every four years, a spokesman for Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) confirmed last night.

NY Post (Tom Carroll op-ed): SILVER'S NEXT STRIKE

Spitzer now faces yet another battle with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - this time over public charter schools. Letting charters bloom in New York is a key part of Spitzer's education reforms. But Silver has just introduced a bill designed to choke them... Silver's proposals (included in Assembly Bill #4307-B) would cripple existing charters and make it much far harder to open new ones.

NYC NEWS

NY Post (Dave Seifman): 'ALOOF' MIKE TAKING HEAT

He's vowed to tackle poverty and homelessness, but Mayor Bloomberg is having a hard time shaking the popular notion that he can't relate to the little guy. The mayor gets high grades for his stewardship of the city. He's keeping down crime, overseeing a real-estate boom and taking on reform of the notoriously difficult school system. But on a regular basis, it seems, Bloomberg trips up on down-to-earth issues that affect people's everyday lives. Midwinter school-bus schedule changes infuriated parents. Motorists who couldn't possibly move their cars in a snowstorm were told they'd be ticketed. And last week, Bloomberg decided to keep scheduled appointments in Miami 12 hours after the worst New York City fire in 17 years took nine lives.

Politics

Daily News (Frank Lombardi): B'klyn pol gets 2nd election from Bloomberg

Mayor Bloomberg ordered a special election April 24 to fill a vacant Brooklyn City Council seat that had been won by Haitian-born candidate Mathieu Eugene.

See also:

Daily News (editorial): High cost of arrogance

NY Times (editorial): Fiasco in Brooklyn

NY Sun (Russell Berman): Yvette Clarke Plays It Cool, On Clinton and Congress

Rep. Yvette Clarke, two months after the Brooklyn Democrat's swearing in as the newest member of the city's congressional delegation, is focused on staffing her Capitol Hill and district offices, as well as keeping up with the fast pace of committee hearings and floor debate. Introducing a first bill? Not yet, she says. Same with weighing in on the presidential campaign — she is the only Democratic member of Congress from New York who has not endorsed Senator Clinton for president.

Daily News (Albor Ruiz): Is Queens Dem party snubbing Latino officials?

No matter what the Democratic Organization of Queens County says - and they deny it - there are many who think the powerful party machine slighted the borough's Latino elected officials. Once you read the invitation to an event honoring Malcolm Smith, minority leader of the New York State Senate, and you realize that neither Councilman Hiram Monserrate (Corona) nor Assemblyman José Peralta (Jackson Heights) are part of the 13-member host committee, you begin to wonder. Hispanics, after all, comprise 35% of the borough's population.

Housing, Development

Crain's New York Business (Julie Satow): Starrett City bidder makes last-ditch pitch
Clipper says plan ensures low rents; foes want Mitchell-Lama protected [NO LINK]

The prospective buyer of Starrett City is making a last-ditch effort to save its bid for the Brooklyn housing complex by preparing a proposal to preserve low rents for the complex's 6,000 apartments and develop unused land to recoup its investment. The plan, expected to be circulated this week, is aimed at easing fears that the $1.3 billion purchase price is so high that the landlord would have to sharply raise rents... It also wants to take advantage of some of the 6 million square feet of development rights that come with the site by building new housing for senior residents, a retirement facility for members of the city's labor unions and small-scale retail, with a designated area for local entrepreneurs... But housing officials and politicians — many of whom came under fire for failing to block the recent $5 billion sale of affordable housing complexes Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village — have condemned the deal.

See also:

Daily News (Jordan Lite): KOd biz pitches new Starrett bid

Daily News (Jotham Sederstrom): City: 100M for Yards land; Pols rip EDC plan to use public funds for private Ratner mega-project

The city wants to spend $100 million to buy land tied to the Atlantic Yards project - money previously thought to be earmarked for improving infrastructure for the development. Economic Development Corp. officials acknowledged at a City Council budget hearing Wednesday that about half of the city's contribution to the mega-project will go toward scooping up property on or near the 22-acre site for developer Forest City Ratner.

Education

Daily News (Erin Einhorn): $5M for the bigs Klein can't boot; Shunned principals get 'jobs we don't need'

The Daily News revealed yesterday that more than 500 teachers who nobody wanted to hire are working as overpriced subs and fill-ins for salaries as high as $93,416, costing taxpayers more than $37 million a year, plus millions more for benefits. But teachers are not the only unwanted school employees collecting public paychecks. A list of unwanted principals and assistant principals obtained by The News shows 56 administrators earning as much as $108,000 a year - and who collectively cost taxpayers $5 million annually.

Transit

AM New York (Chuck Bennett): Dig date set for 2nd Ave. subway line

On March 29, the MTA is finally expected to sign a contract for construction of the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway, aka the T line. Elliot "Lee" Sander, the MTA's new executive director, and chairman Peter Kalikow will approve the $333 million contract for the first phase of the project that critics thought would never happen... Almost immediately after the signing, construction trailers will start to line parts of Second Avenue in the East 90s, MTA officials said.

LONG ISLAND NEWS

Newsday (James Madore): Spin Cycle -- Endorsements; Bill causes party rift

Freshman Suffolk Legis. Jack Eddington (WFP-Medford) is facing a challenge to his re-election from an unexpected quarter - his own party. The Suffolk chapter of the Working Families Party, which backed Eddington in 2005, wrote recently that "it is very unlikely that you will receive the endorsement" this year "unless you withdraw" an anti-loitering bill, which the chapter says targets day laborers and labor unions. And leader Brian Schneck wouldn't rule out a primary challenge. "There's always a possibility," he said Friday. But the rival Suffolk County Working Families Party already backs Eddington and his bill. "We are more conservative than the ultra-liberals," said chairman Chuck Pohanka, referring to the chapter. Eddington, who won by 18 percentage points two years ago, said, "I will not respond to threats and intimidation."

Newsday (Rick Brand): Another out-of-the box proposal

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the political impresario who brought you "Fix Albany" and a not-so-successful gubernatorial run, is looking to break in a new act for the coming campaign season. He is actively recruiting his consumer affairs commissioner, Roger Bogsted, who is also Nassau's Conservative Party chairman, to run for Hempstead town supervisor. Several sources say Suozzi also has offered to help Bogsted raise $1 million for the campaign. Suozzi declined to comment.

NY Times (Corey Kilgannon): The Way We Deal With Day Laborers

Issues go beyond congestion on the roads. In May, Hofstra Law School’s Housing Rights Clinic filed a federal discrimination lawsuit claiming that the village was engaged in a campaign to drive Latinos out of town, a charge village officials deny. Part of the suit concerns an apartment complex a block from the gas station that was occupied mostly by Latino families until it was cleared out to be renovated into upscale units. In certain parts of Long Island, there is no more powerful political platform than being tough — or at least talking tough — on Latinos who spend mornings shivering next to traffic. It is working wonders for the popularity of Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, who supports antiloitering legislation to allow the police to arrest day laborers for disrupting traffic. He and other elected officials say they are simply reflecting the feeling of the voters.

NY Times (editorial): Rejecting the Levy Way

The Suffolk County Legislature would do its constituents a great service by decisively rejecting an anti-loitering bill now before it. The bill forbids people to obstruct vehicle or foot traffic on county roads. Its sponsors, Jack Eddington and Joseph Caracappa, portray it as an innocuous safety measure, but in fact it is a badly disguised effort to intimidate and harass Latino immigrants, specifically the day laborers whose presence in Farmingville has been a source of tension for years... Some legislators at Tuesday’s hearing tentatively brought up an idea discarded years ago: a hiring site to get the trucks and men off the streets. This would send the Legislature decisively in another direction, away from Mr. Levy’s pet obsession and toward healing community wounds, isolating the xenophobic fringe and solving the Farmingville problem. The Legislature should consider it. But it should start by voting down the anti-loitering bill.

WESTCHESTER/ROCKLAND/HUDSON VALLEY NEWS

Journal News (David McKay Wilson): Amicone vetoes Yonkers "living wage" bill

Calling it "seriously flawed," Mayor Phil Amicone yesterday vetoed legislation that would raise the minimum wage for city employees, most of its contractors and developers who receive city financial aid or incentives... It would take five council votes to override Amicone's veto. Council President Chuck Lesnick said he was doubtful he could find a fifth vote from the council's three Republicans. He said the Democrats may redraft the legislation to find common ground with the Republicans.

CENTRAL NEW YORK NEWS

Syracuse Post-Standard (Dick Case column): Purchasing is prime area for governments to consolidate
Purchasing is prime area for local governments to consolidate

Did we notice Nick Pirro kicking the tires of "intelligent cooperative ventures and intergovernmental consolidations" in his 2007 message to the county Legislature? That's the county executive's polite way of reminding us we have a long way to go before Onondaga County, the towns and Syracuse are one. This particular item is No. 8 on Nick's wish list of 10, by the way... Rather than trying to save money by bringing together direct services - like police - Nick's looking to pool what he calls the "back-office functions of government," such as purchasing. The city and county, despite meetings back and forth, are at odds over joint purchasing and economic development, a so-called "one-stop shopping place" for outside developers looking to invest in Syracuse. In his talk, Nick came down hard on the dissenters, saying to argue that consolidation may save money, but at the cost of responsiveness, is nonsense.

See also:

Utica Observer-Dispatch (editorial): Editorial: Public will might help save money

Rochester D&C (Meaghan M. McDermott): Plan for wind farm stirs debate; Developers are in earliest stages in Hamlin

The effect on migratory birds, noise and an altered landscape are worrying people who live in the northwest corner of Hamlin, where developers are in the earliest stages of planning a wind farm that could be the first in Monroe County. In light of a drive to meet 25 percent of the state's need for electricity with alternative energy sources by 2013 — and a sweet pot of state and federal money to hurry things along — wind farms have sprouted all over New York during the past few years.

Syracuse Post-Standard (Fred Pierce): Democratic primary likely in city's 4th Dist.
Charles Pierce-El says he'll seek seat held by Syracuse Councilor Tom Seals.

Syracuse Common Councilor Tom Seals, a Democrat who won two terms without the support of his party's leadership, is headed for another primary battle this year. Charles Pierce-El, a longtime community and youth activist, said he is seeking the Democratic Party designation to run in the council's 4th District, an area that includes downtown, sections of University Hill and some of the most problem-plagued neighborhoods on the city's South and East sides.

WESTERN NEW YORK NEWS

Buffalo News (Matt Spina): AFSCME’s pursuit of raise may be key for others
Looking to Legislature for solution to impasse

The fact-finder gave both the bluecollar union and Erie County’s management a lot of what they wanted. For the managers, the fact-finder agreed that future employees represented by Local 1095, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, should pay something for their health insurance. The blue collars, he said, should not be able to bank as many sick days, or continue with the “summer hours” format that lets them leave work a half-hour early in July and August and get paid for the time, anyway. For the union, the fact-finder recommended a 7 percent raise over three years — the first cost-of-living raises for Local 1095 since 2003. Both sides rejected the report.

Buffalo News (Pete Simon): State audit critical of city schools
No contracts, oversight on $6.3 million spent

The Buffalo Public Schools spent $6.3 million for school reform and technology initiatives without contracts detailing the work that was supposed to be done or the ability to make sure the district was getting what it paid for, according to a highly critical audit from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The 41-page report, obtained Saturday by The Buffalo News, urges district officials to recover any money spent on services that were not provided.

Buffalo News (Donn Esmonde column): Windmills could blow jobs our way

We will soon spin the Lake Erie wind into energy gold. It is not a massive amount. The eight windmills — expandable to 32 — will generate power for 6,000 homes. But the giant turbines mean more than clean energy; they open the door to manufacturing jobs for a 21st century industry. The idea is not just for us to plant these things, but to make them.

NATIONAL NEWS

NY Times (Marc Lacey): Bush to Press Free Trade in a Place Where Young Children Still Cut the Cane

Guatemalan children shine shoes and make bricks. They cut cane and mop floors. At some factories exporting to the United States, they sew and sort and chop, often in conditions so onerous they violate even Guatemala’s very loose labor laws... President Bush is likely to miss this side of Guatemala’s labor market when he comes to this rural area on Monday to visit a thriving agricultural cooperative that sells products to Wal-Mart’s stores in Central America. The president will meet with Mariano Canú, the leader of a United States-backed co-op that hopes to take advantage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement... Opening up trade, Mr. Bush argues, will ultimately raise wages and improve working conditions in Central America... Guatemala’s labor code sets the minimum age for employment at 14. In some cases, though, the government can provide work permits to even younger children.

Wall Street Journal (AP): Bill Boosts Wages for Water Projects

Union construction workers would gain a hiring advantage for more projects under legislation the House passed Thursday, the latest in a series of pro-labor measures by Democrats that President Bush has promised to veto. The 303-108 vote involves water projects funded by federal lending. Republicans tried but failed to strip out a provision requiring contractors to pay wages equal to those prevailing locally.