Vote for Change Events Tomorrow

by: Roatti

Fri May 09, 2008 at 20:11:38 PM EDT

As you may have heard, the Obama campaign is kicking off its 50-state voter registration drive, Vote for Change tomorrow.  

There are 2 NY events tomorrow, one in New York City and one in Buffalo.  Please click the links to sign up.

For you Western NY folks, registering more Democrats helps in our efforts to take the State Senate in November.  For you New Yawkers, I will be at the NYC one tomorrow- hope to see you there!

NY-13: "Papa Vino" Will Resign By Monday, Maybe Today

by: phillip anderson

Fri May 09, 2008 at 17:19:29 PM EDT

Fossella Resignation Could Come Soon

Several top New York Republicans said that Congressman Vito Fossella's resignation will come within the next 72 hours -- if not late Friday then certainly by Monday.

There was political concern about how best to preserve the seat for the Republicans -- questions about immediate resignation versus finishing out his term and retiring -- but the calculation is there's nothing to be gained from Fossella sticking around. While Staten Island Republicans believe Fossella could at least serve out his term (the rest of the year) national Republicans want him gone. Now.

...

Smart strategists say watch for something later this afternoon (rule: dump bad news on Friday afternoons when news consumption is low and so it will end up in the lesser-read Saturday newspapers) but a New York Republican keeping a close eye on all this says Fossella's decision may not come until Monday.

Stay tuned.

Too bad. I was really hoping he'd stick around at least a little while longer...

2nd Annual Living Liberally Celebration Tomorrow Night In NYC!

by: phillip anderson

Fri May 09, 2008 at 16:50:15 PM EDT

Liberal Food (sustainable, of course)
Liberal Drinks (open bar) - Liberal Fun
Festive attire (swingingly speakeasy-style
if you're inspired) welcome.

Support this growing national network that creates social communities around progressive politics. With Drinking Liberally happy hours, Eating Liberally meals, Laughing Liberally comedy shows, Screening Liberally Films and Reading Liberally book clubs, Living Liberally has footholds in big cities and small towns, with groups in deep conservative pockets across the country.

All funds help expand our national reach, promote new programming and make us a stronger partner to the progressive movement for the political season ahead.

It's going to be a great party and it's for an excellent cause. Living Liberally is a fantastic organization that helps create spaces for liberals and progressives to come together in fun, low pressure environments all over the country.

Sure hope to see you there.

Paterson Pushes Farm Bill To Protect New York Dairy Farmers

by: robert.harding

Fri May 09, 2008 at 13:21:35 PM EDT

"This amendment ensures that dairy farmers across New York State will receive support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture when they need it most. I hope it will enable farm families to sustain their business even when the price they receive for milk fails to keep pace with the cost of producing it," said Governor Paterson. "On behalf of New York's dairy farmers, I sincerely thank Chairman Rangel, Congresswoman Gillibrand, Congressman Arcuri, and members of our congressional delegation for keeping the pressure on the Farm Bill negotiators to include the amendment in the final bill."

Here is some background on the feed cost adjuster amendment:

Initially proposed by Senators Robert P. Casey (D-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Feed Cost Adjuster Amendment adds language to adjust the price at which payments are made to farmers under the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program based on the composite monthly price of feed (corn, soybeans and alfalfa hay.) Without such action, the price of milk could potentially remain above the payment trigger price indefinitely. Over the five-year life of the previous federal farm bill, New York dairy farmers received $230 million in MILC payments; without this amendment, they would not receive any funding.

...

New York State's 6,200 dairy farms generate $2.4 billion from the sale of milk, which accounts for approximately half of the state's total agricultural receipts. The dairy industry in New York ranks third in the nation for total milk production with more than 12 billion pounds produced annually from 627,000 dairy cows.

This is important. As Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand alluded to in the press release, corn-based ethanol is raising the cost of feed and thus adversely impacting dairy farmers who must pay the high cost of feed. This will help out those farmers and Gov. Paterson advocating for this legislation sends a strong message to farmers that he will stand by them when they need his assistance.

NY-13: "Papa Vino" Resignation Watch

by: phillip anderson

Fri May 09, 2008 at 12:56:15 PM EDT

Here's a roundup of sentiment from around the district:

Staten Island Advance: Mr. Fossella, Resign

Because of that moral descent, and the distractions and ugly controversy all of it brings, he should resign from his seat in the House of Representatives.

And he should do so immediately.

Far too much damage has been done to his personal reputation and credibility at this point for him to recover and be an effective public servant.

And there is too much potential for pointless and endlessly embarrassing digressions into this scandal if he chooses to stay in public life.

We wince at the thought of his wife and children and other family members having to endure needless weeks and months of gossip and speculation were Mr. Fossella to foolishly try to hang on. The circumstances have pushed this far beyond the question of his political survival.

New York Post: Time To Go, Vito

That Fossella betrayed his wife and family is between him and them. But his betrayal of his constituents was only marginally less egregious.

Vito Fossella needs to just go away.

Now.

New York Daily News: In Vino Veritas

Get thee to jail, congressman.

Friday/Midday Open Thread

by: robert.harding

Fri May 09, 2008 at 12:45:08 PM EDT

News item of the day: The United Nations will aim for $115 million in aid to be sent to Burma following the deadly cyclone there earlier this week.

David Perlmutter was on The Daily Show last night. Perlmutter is the author of the book, Blogwars: The New Political Battleground. You can read Perlmutter's blog here.

ActBlue page of the day: The NY-13 Democratic Nominee Fund.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.  

McCain's East River Tour

by: phillip anderson

Fri May 09, 2008 at 07:15:00 AM EDT

Bon Voyage, Senator McSame!

Detailed documentation of Senator McCain's awesome non-support of New York infrastructure on the flip...

Why Newell or Henry over Shelly?

by: Roatti

Thu May 08, 2008 at 23:32:28 PM EDT

there should be a limit on the number of bills each legislator is allowed to sponsor. All bills should be submitted to a committee within a certain period of time. Committees must report bills out within 30 or 60 days, depending on the type of bill. Within 30 to 60 days of receiving the bill, they must hold at least one hearing. That hearing must be public, and then report the bill out to the floor for a vote within 30 to 60 days. If a third of legislators sign a release petition, then a bill should be submitted to the floor for a vote. Thereby saying that a bloc of legislators supporting the bill can demand that it be voted on.

All debate should be recorded... Legislators are always going to have conversations behind closed doors, and that's fine. Not everything should take place in public; I understand that that's how it works. But all bills should have public debate, and all votes should be recorded.

And then you can get into conference committees. Every bill should have a conference committee between the state, the Senate, and the Assembly to work out the differences between those bills in public. This is standard stuff that's found in almost every other state legislature.

That's the process stuff; that's the democracy aspect... The ethics stuff is the second thing. We need real campaign finance reform. We need clean money, clean elections, real public financing of elections. It's got to be voluntary because of constitutional issues, but this is already the law in Maine, Vermont, Arizona -- it just came online in Jersey now. In Maine and Vermont and Arizona almost every candidate uses it. What you do is you collect a certain number of donations from people in your district, so in Arizona, if you can get a thousand people in your district to give you five dollars -- I think for New York, five's a little low -- the state will fund you enough to run a campaign in that district. If you are outspent by a privately funded candidate, the state will, by steps, go up to quadruple [the initial public funding] amount. Of course a candidate could still outspend you, but you will have enough money to get your message out and run a campaign. I cannot believe that any candidate for public office would rather spend hours a day on the phone begging people for money -- asking Bruce Ratner and the developers for money -- when they could get it from public financing. That way, in one fell swoop, you eliminate the campaign finance influence on our politics.

Number two, legislators should be required to disclose all outside income. We technically have a part-time legislature. They work about 65 days a year. Many of them have other jobs. Sheldon Silver works for the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm. We know that he does work for them; that's the one thing he is required to disclose. We don't know how much they pay him, how those payments are disbursed. We don't know what work he does to earn this money. We don't know what clients are involved. In essence it is secret payments for secret work. We have no idea what that is, and if that's not a basic recipe for corruption in government, I don't know what is. People choose to be in public office, and when you do, you give up some of your privacy rights. All public officials should disclose all their income, from every source. There's no compromise on that.

This is great and substantive stuff, and a lot of this could be implemented unilaterally by the Assembly tomorrow if they wanted it.  I ask all of the Shelly-philes to comment here and tell us what is wrong with these reforms.  

UPDATE: Simon, in the comments notes astutely:

That's how the game is played, and played well, in our legislature.  Don't take up the easy reforms a house could actually implement by itself, but instead change the topic to worthy but much harder things to implement.  Then we can all return to the usual finger-pointing fun without having to make any actual changes.

One of the reasons I look forward to a Democratic Senate takeover is that we'll finally be able to gauge just how serious the Assembly is about the content of their one-house bills when there's a real chance of them being implemented. In particular, I hope Democrats retain their appetite for campaign finance reform once they're in power.

G.I. Bill Update: 26 of 29 New York Representatives Have Signed On As Cosponsors

by: robert.harding

Thu May 08, 2008 at 23:03:06 PM EDT

All of our representatives in New York have signed on - except for three: Rep. John McHugh, Rep. Mike McNulty and Rep. Jim Walsh.

Out of 29 representatives, 26 certainly isn't bad. In fact, 26 is very good. But all three of these men should be cosponsors.

McNulty is the lone Democrat from New York not on the list. He should sign on as a cosponsor tomorrow. This is important legislation and Democrats have been championing this in Congress.

Walsh has a special page on his website entitled Support The Troops. However, he hasn't signed on as a cosponsor to the new G.I. Bill. Walsh is my favorite kind of Republican. It's easy to say you "support the troops" but it's another thing to actually show it by sponsoring or cosponsoring legislation.

Lastly, why McHugh isn't a cosponsor of this legislation is mindboggling. McHugh's district includes Fort Drum, which has been the subject of a Veterans for America investigation. Also, McHugh is a Republican member on the House Armed Services Committee. McHugh should have been the first to cosponsor this legislation. Instead, he is one of the last remaining representatives from New York not to sign on.

If your representative is McHugh, McNulty or Walsh, let them know that they should sign on as a cosponsor to the G.I. Bill - H.R. 5740.

Contact Rep. McHugh by e-mail or call his Washington D.C. office: (202) 225-4611.

Contact Rep. McNulty by e-mail or call his Washington D.C. office: (202) 225-5076.

Contact Rep. Walsh by e-mail or at his Syracuse District Office: (315) 423-5657.

Tell Reps. McNulty, McHugh and Walsh to cosponsor H.R. 5740 and to show that they truly support our men and women in uniform. This G.I. Bill will allow a whole new generation of veterans to receive an education they deserve. They defend our country in combat and the least we could do is make sure that they can receive full educational benefits upon returning home from war.

My message to McNulty, McHugh and Walsh: All three of you should step up to the plate and cosponsor this legislation. If 26 of New York's representatives think it is a strong bill, the remaining three should take a long look at it and realize what they are ignoring by not cosponsoring or supporting this legislation.  

Paterson: "You Don't Really Know The Chagrin I Feel Meeting With Family After Family"

by: robert.harding

Thu May 08, 2008 at 21:09:01 PM EDT

But it was what Paterson said near the end of his introductory remarks that hopefully resonates with many. He said, "You don't really know the chagrin I feel meeting with family after family."

Paterson advocated for legislation that would test the alcohol levels of police officers after discharging their weapons. He also said that we need to "continue to find ways to improve law enforcement."

Rev. Al Sharpton said that the protests were carried out with "impeccable nonviolece", adding that "Not one brick has been thrown. Not one window pane was broken."

Sharpton also explained why the protesters blocked bridges and tunnels.

"That's all that Sean Bell was doing was going home," Sharpton said. "This is why it was a motorists' driven protest."

I watched the press conference today and I gained even more respect for Paterson. He was very strong and you could tell that he had a lot of respect for those who protested yesterday. Obviously he's in a tough spot, but the protests did not harm anyone. They weren't meant to be disruptive and they achieved their intended goal.  

Civic Groups Call Corporate Campaign Contributions Into Question - Again

by: robert.harding

Thu May 08, 2008 at 20:22:15 PM EDT

The NYPIRG has supplied another of their fascinating and descriptive spreadsheets which shows the contributions in question. After reviewing the spreadsheet, there are several corporations who are blatantly violating these rules regarding corporate contributions and several candidates and party committees who this impacts.

Some of the most notable recipients of these campaign contributions include Spitzer 2010, Inc. that received 10 contributions totaling $74,235.00.

One of the most popular names on this list is Republican Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks. Brooks received 36 contributions that broke the rules totaling $303,286.98, an astounding figure and astounding number of contributions. (Note: That is the total amount of contributions received. Obviously, a company can give $5,000 without punishment. But that is the total amount Brooks received without factoring in acceptable contributions under election guidelines.)

So where is the Board of Elections here? NYPIRG wrote letters to the BOE asking them to investigate this (you can see that correspondence here) and it appears that, based on these letters, that the BOE is looking into it. But it is taking a long time and nothing has been done. These are serious abuses of the election law and it is almost like the BOE is saying that they will get to it when they have time.

To me, this is a serious problem. Some of these contributions are just blatant. One I saw was for $29,735.15. That's just obscene. It's one thing if you give $5,300 or $5,500. But nearly $30,000 is absurd.

In all, $469,077 was over contributed to candidates in 2007. That number was up from the $147,309 in overages for 2006.  

NY-13: Daily News Readers Say Fossella Should Go. Immediately.

by: phillip anderson

Thu May 08, 2008 at 19:40:04 PM EDT

NY-13: Boehner Tells Fossella That There Will Be No Vitter Standing O

by: phillip anderson

Thu May 08, 2008 at 16:08:59 PM EDT

Boehner advises Fossella to make a decision over the weekend

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that fellow Republican Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) should do some serious thinking over the weekend about his political future.

Earlier in the day, Fossella acknowledged that he "had a relationship" with Laura Fay, a retired Air Force officer who paid his bail after he was arrested last week for drunk driving - and that he is the father of her 3-year-old daughter.

"I think Mr. Fossella is going to have some decisions to make over the weekend," Boehner said at a press conference with reporters.

"I would hope and frankly expect, that this is a decision between he and his family," Boehner said.

Fossella said Thursday he will be making no immediate decisions about his political future.

Boehner side-stepped questions on whether or not he thought Fossella should resign, saying it is a decision for Fossella to make after consulting with his family and his constituents.

There isn't going to be any rallying around Fossella from the GOP. Looks like Vito is being hung out to dry...

SD-35: Spano Takes A Pass On Round III

by: phillip anderson

Thu May 08, 2008 at 14:43:52 PM EDT

Nick Spano says no to a campaign in 2008!

Former state Sen. Nicholas Spano just called to say he has decided NOT to run for his old seat this fall, leaving the GOP in search of another candidate to take on Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

"This was a very difficult decision." Spano, 54, told Politics on the Hudson. "As my father would always tell me, never go back, always move forward."

Spano confessed that the 35th Senate District's changing demographics and strong Democratic enrollment played a role in his decision not to run. But he insisted the key factor was his desire to "smell the roses" a bit longer.

"I will focus my attention right now on things I've never been able to do before, like spend time with my wife, my kids and the family," Spano said.

That leaves Mary Mahon as the only declared GOP challenger to freshman state Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins. This seat was supposed to be one of Bruno's top targets this cycle. Now it looks as if Stewart-Cousins is very much in the driver's seat.