What in the Sam Hoyt?!?

Outgoing District Attorney Frank Clark declined to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Responsible NY, in direct violation of his oath of office.

Here are the reasons D.A. Clark gave for not investigating the matter in the Buffalo News:

“We are not equipped to handle something like this,” Clark said. “I would have to have a staff of accountants, and I simply don’t have the resources to do it.”

Mr. Clark cited his office’s investigation of former County Executive candidate Paul Clark as reason why he wouldn’t touch allegations of election fraud with a ten-foot-pole.

Elections laws are vague and Blair Horner of NYPIRG knows it:

Blair Horner, lobbyist for the New York Public Interest Research Group, called the laws “shredded with loopholes, unenforceable and unenforced.”

Since there is a lack of an investigation and Mr. Clark declined to comment on the merits of the allegations thereby leaving unresolved the issue or whether Responsible NY actually did something wrong,  he did have this to say in the Buffalo News article:

“If the state is really serious about cleaning up these problems, it should have a task force or some independent unit to do it,” 

Yes Mr. Clark, what we could use is some sort of unit that is headed by an attorney.  Even better, this attorney could be elected by the people in his area.  His job could be to investigate crimes with the police and then recommend to the justice system whether or not to go forward with an allegation.  He could then prosecute those charged with said crime.

But alas, we don’t live in a perfect world where we have an office like that.

Perhaps this could be what finally brings the Hoyt vs. Pigeon feud to an end.  As it matters not what side of the issue you fall on, since either you want Responsible NY to be put on trial, or you want the allegations to be named baseless.  Mr. Clark’s decision to run from the issue is a slap in the face to everyone.

While Mr. Clark’s decision effectively drops actual prosecution in Erie County against Responsible NY, the Media War can still remain due to the non-resolution of the issue.

“The good news is that both the Monroe County and Erie County DAs did not close the door,” [Hoyt Aide Jeremy] Toth said.

But Tom Golisano and Responsible NY Co-chairs Laureen Oliver and Steve Pigeon all restated that this was only one battle in the larger war.

Mr. Golisano chose to point out (perhaps rightly so) that Mohr’s motivation was due to the assistance Responsible NY was giving to Joe Mesi in his race against Mike Ranzenhofer.

Steve Pigeon backed him even adding that the investigation was dropped because there wasn’t anything to investigate:

“What they did was a publicity stunt in the midst of a hotly contested race — selectively looking at one election for political reasons”

“There is nothing to pursue because we have followed the regulations as we were supposed to.”

And Laureen Oliver reiterated that Responsible NY will continue pursing its own complaints against both Elections Commissioners Dennis Ward and Ralph Mohr.

“This is beyond their scope of authority,” she said. “This was strictly political. It was an abuse of power, and it continues to be an abuse of power.” 

With so much focus lately on President-Elect Obama’s transition team, it’s not hard to lose site of another important transition that is supposed to happen here in New York.

Although his election is not yet a done-deal, Minority Leader Malcolm Smith announced his team to allow the State Senate to have a seamless change of power.  It will be a difficult transition however, as not only does the letterhead need to be changed, but the chamber may actually have to do some work next year.

At the top of his team is Angelo Aponte, former New York State Department of Housing Commissioner.  I don’t know much about Mr. Aponte so I will reserve judgment, however other news sources are pointing to him as an appointment to try to reconcile the unlikely racial divide in New York’s upper chamber.

Senator Smith’s other appointments are diverse both ethnically and geographically.  His picks appear to include every group except North Country Asians.

Full text of the press release are after the jump.

Click to continue »

What did you get for the $60,000 cost of the special legislative session in Albany yesterday? 

Absolutely nothing.

Albany “leaders” met yesterday to debate and pass $5 Billion dollars in budget cuts proposed by Governor Paterson, but instead yelled at each other a bit, decided cuts were unpopular or “too hard” and then went home.

With an outgoing Republican majority in the Senate, there is little will from any members of the G.O.P. to make cuts.  Instead they have taken a political approach to the crisis… letting Democrats take care of it after January 1st.

As smart as that may be for their hopes of taking back the Senate in two years, it shows that they care more about their own caucus than the people of New York State.

From the Albany Times-Union:

[Governor Paterson] tore into Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his Republican majority for offering nothing meaningful during the special session, or even negotiating the governor’s publicly announced proposal for cutting over $2 billion from the existing budget.

Here are some more quotes of the contentious gathering from the  Times-Union:

[Minority Leader Malcolm Smith] accused [Majority Leader Dean] Skelos of ”a charade.” True. Smith went on to say nothing was going to get done before January at this point. True again. Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver intoned only a few words, the most notable being that ”Senator Skelos isn’t here to pass bills, he’s here to pass the buck.”

And here are some wonderful quotes illustrating the hard work being done in Albany from a Forbes Magazine article about the session:

Tedisco said Paterson almost dared leaders on Monday to put the governor’s cuts to a floor vote, doubting anyone would while generating public support for Paterson. Skelos was the only leader who agreed to put the cuts to a vote Tuesday.

“Is this a crisis?” Smith shot back at Tedisco.

“Yes,” Tedisco said.

“Then grow up,” Smith said. “Grow up and act like this is a crisis. Unbelievable.” 

Since the members of the GOP are not publicly airing any solution they must not have a plan.

Or the GOP’s solution to this problem is to purchase 20,000 “Mission Accomplished” Banners.

Switching gears from a campaign organization to a lobbying organization is never an easy thing to do.

If you’ve been involved in campaigns, chances are you pissed at least one person off in your efforts.

It certainly doesn’t help if your stated goal is to completely change the way the group your lobbying functions and to eliminate the fraternity of incompetence that pervades the Capitol.

Both the Buffalo News and the Rochester Democrat and Chroniclerecently had articles about the changing function of Tom Golisano’s Responsible New York.

From the Buffalo News:

[Golisano's] Responsible New York committee may not have hit a home run, he said, but winning roughly half of his statewide efforts puts runners in scoring position.

“I would say it was a solid double; maybe a triple,” the Rochester billionaire said in his first postelection assessment of his performance.

Win or lose, Golisano emphasizes he is not going away, and he intends for Responsible New York to continue as a major statewide force.

“People in the world of politics in New York State need to understand we’re going to be here for a long time,” he said. “We’re going to be an influence.”

Later in the article, the News revealed what the next plans were:

[Steve] Pigeon said Golisano dropped anywhere from $500 to $9,500 — totaling $150,000 — on members with less-competitive races. That role will continue, Pigeon said, adding that the committee has opened an office in Albany and registered with the state as a lobbying entity.

While not specifically mentioning lobbying, the Democrat and Chronicle mentions pretty much the same thing:

Despite a series of Election Day losses of candidates he endorsed for the state Legislature, Rochester-area billionaire Tom Golisano plans to continue backing his Responsible New York committee by establishing a full-time office near the state Capitol.

Aides said Golisano was undeterred by the losses, in which four of the six top candidates he backed in the state Senate lost. Instead, Golisano is expected in Albany next week to attend the special legislative session Tuesday and find office space to house Responsible New York.

The articles weren’t entirely sunshine and lollipops for Responsible NY as two local entrenched incumbents had choice words about the new mission Tom Golisano’s group in the Buffalo News:

“Their motives have nothing to do with their stated agenda,” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, who was one of the targets of Golisano’s efforts during the September Democratic primary.

Yeah that’s right! I bet their true motives are to get to Albany and bed as many interns as possible.  I don’t think Assemblyman Hoyt is in any position to talk about some one’s motivation to do anything.  Sam forfeit that right when his motives for going to Albany were revealed.

Dale Volker, who is well known for using his million-dollar staff to accomplish nothing during his decades in office agreed with Assemblyman Hoyt:

Sen. Dale M. Volker, another Golisano target, was just as blunt about the organization he calls “Irresponsible New York.”

“They finagled and played around with the election law,” the Depew Republican said. “Golisano’s reputation, as far as I’m concerned, is badly marred with Buffalonians.”

And if anyone knows about having a bad reputation with Buffalonians it would be Dale Volker.  The residents of his own County of Erie rejected him in both the primary and the general!

Of course self serving pols like Hoyt and Volker would have a problem.  They both spent decades as members of the majority in their houses with little to show for their accomplishments.  In Volker’s case it was pure laziness, and in Hoyt’s he was clearly busy attending to other matters

It’s actually Senator Bill Stachowski who provided the Buffalo News the true reason why someone should support what Mr. Golisano is doing:

Stachowski, one of those helped by Golisano mailings, said he had no problem accepting assistance from the billionaire founder of Paychex Inc.

“He seemed to want to help people who wanted to help other people,” he said. “I had no trouble with it.”

You’ll notice that nowhere does anyone take issue with the goals of Responsible New York.  The real issue is old animosity getting in the way of reforming Albany. 

It becomes abundantly clear that the resistance to Mr. Golisano is due to personal feelings when people say things like these two quotes from the Buffalo News article:

John E. McArdle, spokesman for the Senate Republicans, said Golisano’s goals and those of his conference have always coincided. The situation changed, he said, with “Steve Pigeon thrown into the mix.”

“He uses his resources irresponsibly by handing them over to a discredited and disgraced political hack — Steve Pigeon,” Hoyt said.

Or this one from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

“He’s enabling Steve Pigeon to destroy his reputation,” Hoyt said.

Speaking ill of a philanthropist who has done more for Upstate New York than most of our elected officials just illustrates that you’re part of the problem.  If you can’t put aside petty personal differences to do what is best for our State then you are a horrible representative and should step aside in favor of someone who can.

In keeping with my theme of shilling for anyone who sends me a press release, I’ve got some news from Assemblyman Sam Hoyt.

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt will be hosting conference for community, business and political leaders to discuss jobs coming in our new green economy.

Full details after the jump.

Click to continue »

With talk of things such as an increase in the gas tax and cuts in school and local aid gracing the front pages of New York’s newspapers, there has been surprisingly little talk of making any lasting an meaningful changes to our state.

Budget cuts are an annual fix to our State’s perennial problem.  They’re the easy way out of a difficult problem.  Forcing our villages and towns and cities and counties to merge could be a way to cut local aid and simultaneously strengthen New York State’s communities.

Regionalism advocate Kevin Gaughn’s website TheCost.org, says that of the over $7 million of sales tax that is sent to village governments, just over $5 million is used to sustain village politicians. Mr. Gaughn has also compilied a nice table to show just how bloated our local governments are in Western New York.  The Greater Buffalo area has 45 local governments, compared to just 14 for similarly sized Greater Indianapolis.

With the exception of the Village and Town of Lancaster, and North Collins, local governments have been resistant to consolidating services and in some cases, openly hostile to the idea of merging with another municipal government.

The New York State legislature grants power to local governments.  These powers can also be stripped away through state legislative action.

Why not force consolidation and cut costs in State aid and local taxes at the same time?  Wouldn’t that do more for our State going forward than cuts to education?

Responsible New York set out to change New York politics and reform our State’s broken government. Despite encountering strong resistance from entrenched incumbents like Dale Volker and Sam Hoyt, they managed to do a commendable job and even managed to tip the scales in the State Senate.

Changed the Balance of Power:

RNY was the difference in two key races that determined the balance of power in the NYS Senate

• RNY played a major role in re-electing Buffalo area Sen. Bill Stachowski through mail, television commercials and automated phone calls including one from Tom Golisano and an aggressive field program. In all, RNY spent in excess of $300,000 in support of Bill Stachowski.
• RNY played a major role in Brian Foley’s defeat of long time incumbent Cesar Trunzo on Long Island RNY sent district wide mail, broadcast television commercials, on-line streaming videos, and paid phone banking into the district. In total, RNY spent $400,000 in support of Brian Foley

RNY provided resources to candidates in Buffalo and Rochester, making those races competitive, specifically Dollinger v Robach (SD 56), Nachbar v Alessi (SD 55), Konst v Volker (SD 59) and Mesi v Ranzenhoffer (SD 61).

• In SD 56, Dollinger closed a double-digit gap in the last week in part because of our very aggressive field operation, knocking on thousands of doors in Greece.
• In SD 59 Konst waged a strong campaign against an entrenched incumbent despite unprecedented negative attacks.
• SD 61 has long been a GOP seat and has a GOP enrollment edge but Mesi was competitive.

Ultimately those three candidates lost but voters in Western New York had a real choice for the first time in years and, as a result, both parties will have to pay attention to these communities and offer policies to help them. RNY will ensure that these races remain contested in 2010.

Put Upstate Back on the Political Map

While RNY supported candidates throughout the state we also helped to change the political map. On October 18, the New York Times wrote: “For Once, Western New York is the Front Liner of State Politics.” The article continued to detail the races “in western New York that could decide control of the chamber for years.” This focus on Upstate is good for the region and ultimately good for the state. The article concluded, “Mr. Golisano’s intervention could prove critical.”

RNY played a real role in making these races competitive and focusing attention on Western New York.

A Winning Record

Over eighty percent of the candidates endorsed by RNY won election or reelection.

• Senate: 47 endorsements. 41 won and 6 lost.
• Assembly: 74 endorsements. 58 won and 16 lost.

• Total: 121 endorsements, 99 winners for a percentage of 82. 

Impact

• over 1.5 million pieces of mail
• 15 Television commercials in 3 media markets and 6 cable systems
• Radio commercials
• Phone calls to over 300,000 voters
• Field operations in 3 districts

“In only four months, Responsible New York has already made a huge difference towards building a pro-reform majority in state government. We will spend the next two years holding candidates accountable for their campaign promises.” Stated  Laureen Oliver, Co-Chair of Responsible NY.

She went on to lay out Responsible New York’s goals for the next two years.  They are to recruit new candidates to endorse and support in 2010 and continue investing in RNY so the voters and public will know who they are and more voters will join their reform coalition.

RNY’s other Co-Chair Steve Pigeon said, “The road to reform is a long one. Not all of our candidates won but because of our efforts on January 1st there will be more legislators fighting to reform Albany and those legislators will have the unwavering support of Responsible New York today and in the years to come.”

In a fit of the “Yeah, but what have you done for me lately?” mentality that paralyzes our State government, a rogue group of 4 New York City area Senators are refusing to publicly support Senator Malcolm Smith to become Majority leader.

From the New York Times:

What should have been a celebratory moment — the elevation of Senator Malcolm A. Smith to the majority leader’s post and an end to four decades of Republican dominance — was instead a somewhat humiliating one, as party leaders scrambled to unite Democratic members.

Democrats, as a result of their gains in the election on Tuesday, now hold 32 of the Senate’s 62 seats. But Republicans have already been wooing the four breakaway Democrats, all from New York City, to back Senator Dean G. Skelos, the Republican majority leader.

The four lawmakers —Pedro Espada Jr. and Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx, Carl Kruger of Brooklyn and Hiram Monserrate of Queens — did not show up at a closed-door meeting of Democratic members in the Capitol.

Their main point of contention is that the Latino community has been underrepresented in local and state government.  They would like more Latino involvement.

Mr. Díaz then made a statement that can only be labeled racist:

“There’s a concern that we have a black president, a black governor and we have a concern that we have to be sharing power,” said Mr. Díaz.

I agree with the fact that our State’s leadership needs to be reflective of our State’s people, but holding the Democratic caucus hostage is not the way to do it.

Our Governor, Both United States Senator, Senate Majority Leader, Assembly Speaker, Senate Minority Leader, Assembly, Minority Leader, Attorney General, and State Comptroller are all from parts of this State other than Western New York.  I feel that our section of New York is underrepresented in State Government, but I would not under any circumstance ask Senator Stachowski or Senator Thompson to jeopardize the Democrats’ control of the State Senate to get appointments somewhere.

What it really boils down to is prejudice… but not the kind that Mr. Díaz mentions above:

Mr. Díaz, a Pentecostal minister, has long been one of the most socially conservative voices in the Senate. He continued to say on Wednesday that he could not support as leader any lawmaker who would help make gay marriage become law, even if it were his own son, Assemblyman Ruben Díaz Jr.

“I would not support anybody, Malcolm Smith, my son Ruben Díaz Jr., anybody who supports that,” he said.

Mr. Smith has indicated he would allow a vote on same-sex marriage, but he and other senators attempted to downplay the issue Wednesday.

Senator Smith has stated that while same-sex marriage is on the agenda, it was not a priority.  Furthermore, if I had a policy disagreement, I would make sure I voted against that policy, not an entire platform or agenda.  Holding your own party hostage is selfish and petty.

Flipping the Senate is something bigger than individual wants and we should the “independent caucus” know them know that their actions don’t just affect a room of 62 coworkers or their New York City district, and in truth affect every New Yorker.

If you would like to contact the “Independent Caucus” as I have done, here is the contact information for Mr. Díaz:

Ruben Diaz, Sr.
32nd District
Part of Bronx County

diaz@senate.state.ny.us

304 Legislative Office Building
Albany, New York 12247
518-455-2511

1733 E. 172nd Street
Bronx, New York 10472
718-991-3161

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Buffalo Pundit posted this video from WGRZ that I thought was worth sharing.

Tired of his name being smeared by GOP elections commissioner Ralph Mohr, Tom Golisano stopped by the Board of Elections with a few members of the press to welcome Mr. Mohr to the media war he started.

Whether or not you think that Golisano’s committee is guilty of violating election laws, you have to realize that is it not up to the Board of Elections to investigate, comment or convict people of their violations.  That duty is up to the District Attorney and the court system.

Ralph Mohr overstepped his bounds and decided to engage in a public feud with Mr. Golisano that was clearly meant to influence the election in the Mesi/Ranzenhofer race.  If Mr. Golisano didn’t decide to back Ranzenhofer’s opponent Mr. Mohr never would have gotten involved.  He didn’t have any interest in the Hoyt/Kavanaugh race and was nowhere to be seen when Jeremy Toth was making complaints of illegality.

Hopefully Mr. Mohr’s cheap  political stunt will let us get elections commissioners that are more reliable and less like Katherine Harris.