Happy Mother's Day

by: robert.harding

Sun May 11, 2008 at 02:00:08 AM EDT

Of course, Happy Mother's Day to New York's top mom, First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson. And an extra special Happy Mother's Day to Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, who will give birth to her second child this month.

This is the day where we thank all of you for everything you do. My own mother, at one point, said that she had two full-time jobs: Her assistant manager's post with Rite-Aid and being a mom. The difference? She only gets paid for one of them.

So thank you to all mothers out there. It's not the best paying job, but it is the most rewarding. And we all appreciate it.  

NY-13: Will Vito Stay Or Will He Go?; King Defends Vito, Criticizes GOP

by: robert.harding

Sun May 11, 2008 at 01:45:10 AM EDT

But if the New York Post is any indication, Fossella might be sticking around to run again in November.

Defying disgusted constituents and angry Republican leaders, disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella has told pals he plans to seek re-election.

And, shockingly, the Staten Island pol is feeling "pretty good," he confided to friends.

...

Fossella's statements not only defy national party leaders, who have said they will not back him, but suggest the congressman may be in denial.

He even expressed shock that other Republicans are eyeing his seat.

"What's this all about?" Fossella asked Molinari, of news reports naming potential GOP candidates.

He said he was "surprised" and "puzzled" that party colleagues are being mentioned as possible replacements, Molinari said.

Those close to Fossella continue to support him, Molinari said. "Vito is surprised and emboldened by the support he's been getting."

Fossella also received some support from a good friend yesterday - Rep. Peter King. King criticized Republicans for their approach with Fossella while expressing support for his good friend.

Long Island congressman Peter King slammed fellow Republicans for "posturing" by pressuring his close friend Rep. Vito Fossella about resigning amid revelations of Fossella's drunken-driving arrest and secret love child.

"To me, it's putting a knife in the back of a good guy who's made a mistake," said King (R-Seaford).

King, who said he'd been with Fossella "continually" in the past few days, said the two have not discussed how the scandal might tint Fossella's political future.

King said Republicans "who are supposed to be his friends" should be giving the Staten Island-Brooklyn Republican "the time and opportunity to make that decision" -- whether to resign, to serve out his term but leave afterward or to stay in office and seek another term -- "himself."

I think Fossella should resign. Going to D.C., having a child out of wedlock and getting a DWI (a very serious DWI) should tell constituents that he isn't going to Congress to represent them. He appears to be going there to live a double life.

Murdoch Drops Bid To Buy Newsday

by: phillip anderson

Sat May 10, 2008 at 17:23:45 PM EDT

News Corp. withdraws bid to buy NY newspaper Newsday

News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has withdrawn its bid to purchase the Long Island daily paper Newsday, a News Corp. spokeswoman said Saturday.

The decision to revoke the offer came just days after Murdoch confidently predicted he would clinch a deal to buy the newspaper within a week.

News Corp. had offered about $580 million for the paper, one of the country's biggest, but it was competing against rival bids from Cablevision Systems Corp. and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman. Cablevision had reportedly made an offer of $650 million for the paper, now owned by the Tribune Co.

News Corp. spokeswoman Teri Everett didn't immediately elaborate on why the company revoked its earlier offer, but she hinted at the potentially higher price tag, saying, "It became uneconomical for us to continue." Murdoch had indicated earlier that he wouldn't raise his bid.

A deal would have made News Corp. an even bigger giant in New York media. The company already owns the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, plus two area television stations.

This is good news for New York and the general cause of combating media consolidation, but it's even better news for Newsday. I think we can all imagine what the paper would have looked like after a News Corp makeover.

GOP In Disarray...In Bruno's Backyard

by: phillip anderson

Sat May 10, 2008 at 12:45:31 PM EDT

Town GOP turns on its own
Clifton Park Republican committee disowns supervisor, three council members over appointment to water board

CLIFTON PARK -- The town's one-party political scene has turned topsy-turvy after its Republican committee disowned four of Clifton Park's five top elected officials.

In the wake of a public rift several weeks ago, the committee renounced Supervisor Phil Barrett, Councilwoman Lynda Walowit and councilmen Tom Paolucci and Scott Hughes after they failed to show for a committee meeting.

"The committee regretfully must inform the community that these elected officials no longer speak for, or represent, the Republican Party in Clifton Park," committee Chairman Bob Wilcox said in a statement late Thursday night.

The internal upheaval is remarkable and, in the wake of Democrats taking Colonie last year, is at least a sign of instability in Albany's shrinking number of suburban GOP strongholds -- this one in the district of the state's most powerful Republican, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

Republicans haven't been in the minority on the Town Board here since a brief stretch that ended in the early 1990s. And, technically speaking, they're still not.

But who holds sway -- and the power of the pulpit -- is now in question.

Heh. Worth a read.

The War On... Mothers

by: robert.harding

Sat May 10, 2008 at 02:08:07 AM EDT

The House of Representatives voted on H.R. 1113 this week. The bill was simple: It was to recognize Mother's Day, the origins of the holiday and to recognize the mothers of this country who work hard for their families.

But the roll call vote tells the whole story. Apparently, 178 Republicans (including Reps. Peter King, Randy Kuhl, John McHugh, Tom Reynolds and Jim Walsh from New York) thought that they would use this vote as some sort of procedural move.

By the way, H.R. 1113 reads as follows: "Whereas Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of each May; Whereas the first official Mother's Day was observed on May 10, 1908, in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Whereas 2008 is the 100th anniversary of the first official Mother's Day observation; Whereas in 1908, Elmer Burkett, a U.S. senator from Nebraska, proposed making Mother's Day a national holiday; Whereas in 1914, Congress passed a resolution designating the second Sunday of May as Mother's Day; Whereas it is estimated that there are more than 82,000,000 mothers in the United States; Whereas mothers have made immeasurable contributions toward building strong families, thriving communities, and ultimately a strong Nation; Whereas the services rendered to the children of the United States by their mothers have strengthened and inspired the Nation throughout its history; Whereas we honor ourselves and mothers in the United States when we revere and emphasize the importance of the role of the home and family as the true foundation of the Nation; Whereas mothers continue to rise to the challenge of raising their families with love, understanding, and compassion, while overcoming the challenges of modern society; and Whereas May 11, 2008 is recognized as Mother's Day: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives celebrates the role of mothers in the United States and supports the goals and ideals of Mother's Day."

How political can you get? They chose to use this bill as their time to make some sort of procedural move and in the process, insulted the millions of mothers in America.

But this is how the Republicans play. Politics before all else. Even family.

After all, Vito Fossella knows best. (By the way, Fossella did not vote on H.R. 1113.)

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.