SD-1: Regina Calcaterra loses court appeal, drops out of the race.

by: Adama D. Brown

Fri Aug 20, 2010 at 03:00:17 AM EDT

I wish I could say this surprises me, but it doesn't. The argument Calcaterra's lawyers chose, to try and prove that she hadn't given up residency, was a tough one given that she had surrendered her New York driver's license and bought a house in PA. The fact remains that the court's assumption of a continuous residency requirement doesn't mesh with a plaintext reading of the state constitution, but that approach was apparently judged not politically viable by Calcaterra's lawyers.

Calcaterra is encouraging the Democratic and Working Families parties which had endorsed her to now support Calcaterra friend Jennifer Maertz for the seat, but it's hard to see how after this we have any realistic chance of starting over with a new candidate in the just over ten weeks until the election. Calcaterra's campaign was a major challenge that got clotheslined--you can't rebuild that very easily.

Of particular interest will be the question of Calcaterra's campaign warchest. While I'm sure she'll try to give all she can to her would-be successor, it seems to me that state campaign finance laws would prevent her from giving more than the legal limit for an individual contribution, which is $9500 to $15,500. As of the 32 day pre-primary report less than two weeks ago, Calcaterra had almost $139,000 on hand. If she chose to roll that money over into other candidates, it could shake up the landscape.

SD-1: Court orders Regina Calcaterra off the ballot for residency reasons.

by: Adama D. Brown

Mon Aug 09, 2010 at 23:48:03 PM EDT

Here's the short backstory: a challenge was brought against Calcaterra's residency by... let me just save us all a lot of tedious biography, and describe them as a string of several kooks and/or plants. At particular issue was a period from November 2005 to May 2006 that Calcaterra spent in Pennsylvania, working on a case against Worldcom for her lawfirm.

The case comes to court, and today the judge ruled that in his opinion, by paying taxes in Pennsylvania and switching her driver's license to that state, she had renounced her New York residency. Despite that ruling, the judge went far out of his way to smack down the plaintiffs:

Furthermore, there was absolutely not one scintilla of evidence that Ms. Calcaterra's attempt to be a candidate was a "sham" as stated by petitioners' counsel. Such shameful allegations leveled against such a courageous, impressive, successful woman who overcame so many adversities are totally unwarranted and ignoble, serving only to discredit petitioners and the election process.

Ow.

Calcaterra's campaign is appealing the decision on the stated grounds that she maintained New York State residency while working in Philadelphia during that period; however, that may actually be moot.

Residency requirements for the state legislature are defined the state constitution, Article 3, Section 7, which says that "No person shall serve as a member of the legislature unless he or she is a citizen of the United States and has been a resident of the state of New York for five years, and, except as hereinafter otherwise prescribed, of the assembly or senate district for the twelve months immediately preceding his or her election".

The wording here is quite relevant, since while it explicitly states residency in the district for at least 12 months immediately prior to the election, it does NOT specify that the five years' residency in New York State needs to have been continuous, or immediately prior to the election. That is simply the assumption of the court, and may be grounds for a reversal later on via higher court, even if the first line argument fails.

Regardless of the legal strategy, it's far from settled whether Calcaterra will appear on the ballot. But even if she does, this has got to be a major PR blow to what has been so far a model campaign.  

SD-1: LaValle blows off schools, teachers, students, citizens in general.

by: Adama D. Brown

Fri Jul 02, 2010 at 02:08:32 AM EDT

But if you're a state employee--particularly a teacher--it's a reason to be terrified for your job. I have one friend who's a teacher who has already been laid off once this year thanks to the budget, only to have her funding restored basically the next day and her job saved.

Given the fact that most people are probably concerned with whether or not their kids' teachers are going to be let go and their schools be left unable to pay for programs, it seems quite... well, asinine, that a New York State Senator would casually dismiss the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in school funding.

Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), who faces a well-funded challenger in Democrat Regina Calcaterra, said most school districts had already made budgets without the school aid restoration and may not feel much pain if it's not restored. Still, he said, 'I haven't even contemplated a veto override yet.

Via Newsday.

Good thing there's an alternative:

"The budget passed by the state Legislature is nothing to celebrate, as Albany's lifetime insiders finally reached the end of their budget gimmicks and fiscal chicanery," Calcaterra said. "However, a failure to vote to override Gov. Paterson's veto would visit even more suffering, still, on the people and school districts of Eastern Long Island. Sen. LaValle says most school districts may not feel much pain if this important funding is not restored. Try telling that to the overtaxed, overburdened, out-of-work residents in our neighborhoods and communities from Port Jefferson to Mastic to Montauk.

"During the past 20 years alone of Ken LaValle's 34 years in Albany, Suffolk County property taxes have risen by more than 550 percent. That's too much pain already," Calcaterra said.

Regina Calcaterra for SD-1

SD-1: An Update From Regina Calcaterra

by: NYProgressive

Wed Mar 03, 2010 at 07:10:04 AM EST

In the initial interview, Calcaterra shared her views on why it's important to have a regulated Wall Street to help Main Street. She also expressed her support for marriage equality, discussed property tax reform and ethics reform.

In her second interview with TAP, Calcaterra provided updates on her campaign, thoughts on the expulsion of Sen. Hiram Monserrate (she called for his resignation in October and, last month, for his expulsion) and her opinion of the ethics reform bill passed by the legislature.

CALCATERRA ON THE CAMPAIGN

"The campaign has done tremendously well very early and keeps gaining steam. We have had great success in our daily engagements with voters of the 1st Senate District. Hard working men and women are paying attention to the issues and are providing a clear and strong indication that voters of eastern Long Island want meaningful change."

"In fact, more residents of the district contributed to our campaign financially than that of my opponent, who is a 34-year incumbent. Interestingly, my candidacy has also drawn the support of admired Americans like Pete Dawkins, a West Point legend, Heisman Trophy winner and former Brigadier General of the U.S. Army and Marie C. Wilson, co-founder of Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day, founder of the Ms. Foundation and founder and President of the White House Project. Additionally, our campaign has already begun receiving endorsements from the Women's Campaign Forum, NARAL Pro-Choice New York and the National Organization for Women in New York State, which is also gratifying given how early it is in the electoral process."

"Taking on an entrenched incumbent has always been difficult in New York, and will be this year, but we've gained good traction early which has already proven to be a tremendous help."

CALCATERRA ON MONSERRATE'S EXPULSION

"As a victim of, and witness to, childhood domestic violence, I am far too familiar with how emboldened the abuser gets when he/she gets away with their actions. If Monserrate remained as a sitting New York State Senator, in the eyes of abusers and victims, he did in fact get away with it. His continuation as a sitting New York State Senator could have led to a decrease in domestic violence reporting. A victim's decision to report domestic violence is most often influenced by fear of retaliation from their abuser or a belief that our criminal justice system cannot or will not stop the violence. Then, added on top of that belief was the assumption that Monserrate's actions were sanctioned by those in power, our Albany lawmakers."

"We have a long path to walk before New Yorkers will begin to look toward our state legislature with a sense of gratitude or appreciation, but the expulsion of Monserrate by his colleagues was a significant step along that path. Worth noting is that the Democratic Senate majority had a difficult decision to make, given how closely the Senate is split and the implications that doing the right thing could throw the leadership structure into turmoil. But even with knowing that, they made the right choice and put decency, integrity and the best interests of good government first. That is a welcome step in the right direction for honest government in Albany - and the kind of step that New Yorkers hadn't seen for a long time."

"New York is still in a recession. We have an ever-widening budget gap, 8.9 percent unemployment, children in 16.3 percent of all New York families living below the poverty line, and overtaxed residents who can no longer afford to live here. The New York State Senate has critical work to do and it should not have had to even waste the past few months investigating how to rid the Senate of Hiram Monserrate. However, now that he has been expelled it is time for the Senate to get back to the people's business."

The rest of the interview below the fold.

ON THE WEB:

Regina Calcaterra for Senate

Regina Calcaterra ActBlue Page

Follow Regina on Twitter and check out her Facebook page.

SD-1: Meet Regina Calcaterra, Candidate For New York State Senate

by: robert.harding

Mon Dec 14, 2009 at 12:52:59 PM EST

This fight for the Senate will have many battlegrounds and one of those battlegrounds will be Long Island. And for Regina Calcaterra, the 1st Senate District will be one district where the incumbent will face a serious challenge.

Calcaterra is a corporate fraud lawyer who has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the fraud cases involving Merrill Lynch and WorldCom. She has protected the pensions of employees whose futures are threatened by the fraudulent actions of Wall Street.

She also is the Democratic candidate challenging Republican Senator Kenneth LaValle in the 1st Senate District.

"In 2008, there was only one candidate on the ballot for the state Senate's First District - a 32-year incumbent who had experienced only nominal opposition during his entire tenure," Calcaterra said. "With so much at stake in state government, and with growing dysfunction in the Legislature, I decided to run for the seat in next year's election."

Calcaterra's childhood is, in itself, a profile in courage. She experienced homelessness and poverty growing up and credits a certain group of people with making her the person she is today.

"Through the help of very hard-working people in government - teachers, social workers, librarians, police officers and even crossing guards - we got through it," she said. "They inspired me to take the path that got me here today, through public school, college and law school, and convinced me that government can absolutely do a better job than we see today."

Calcaterra took time to answer questions submitted via e-mail about her candidacy, where she stands on important issues and provided a general idea of what her platform will look like.

QUESTION: You make it a point on your website to list "Prosecuting Wall Street, Protecting Main Street" as, if I may presume, a priority. As it pertains to your district, why is protecting Main Street a high priority while ensuring that Wall Street is regulated?

CALCATERRA: Our current economic downturn might have been avoided had regulators been more vigilant and those on Wall Street were held to higher standards of transparency and honesty. Big companies like WorldCom and AIG took investment dollars from the pensions of hard working people like cops, firefighters, teachers and other civil servants. My job as a corporate fraud lawyer is to fight to get that money back so those hard-working people or taxpayers aren't out hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars. I have done this effectively on behalf of retirees and New York's taxpayers.

It shouldn't stop there, though. We've learned many lessons from what happened on Wall Street to cause the economic meltdown and a lot of it can be applied to Albany. Quarterly agency and authority budget reporting, certified audited year end agency financial statements, investigations that include legislative subpoena power, and agency head accountability can get government to work effectively again for everyone.

Q: After the defeat of marriage equality, you appeared at a pro-marriage equality rally. Your opponent, Senator LaValle, voted against the bill along with the whole Republican conference. Is it safe to say that you would be a "yes" vote for marriage equality? Why do you support marriage equality?

CALCATERRA: I will vote for marriage equality without hesitation. I do not believe in "separate but equal" treatment of any group in society, as Sen. LaValle proposed with favoring civil unions over legal marriage. I also believe we should not discriminate against families - - any families, any children - - for the reasons marriage equality opponents like Sen. LaValle suggest.

Q: Property tax reform has been an issue in the past that is still largely unsettled. Governor Paterson and other advocates have supported a property tax cap that would cap taxes at a certain percentage rate. Others have supported a circuit breaker, which would set your tax rate based on the money you make. Do you support either of those proposals or do you have other ideas for property tax reform?

CALCATERRA: Long Island has a deep problem with property taxes that can't be solved overnight. A major step toward fixing high property taxes has been taken by allowing voters the option of consolidating local government and getting rid of some unnecessary special benefit (and tax) districts at the local level. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo proposed that legislation last year, the Legislature passed it and Gov. Paterson signed it into law. It is unfortunate that Sen. LaValle voted against this measure; the first step toward reducing property taxes is reducing waste and redundancy in local government. Residents now have that opportunity in spite of Sen. LaValle's opposition.

If these efficiency and consolidation measures do not address the problems in the near term, a property tax cap should be part of the discussion. However taxpayers must be assured that schools and localities would receive adequate funding so it does not have the effect of forcing school districts to fire teachers, or municipalities to lay off law enforcement officers.

The ultimate tax cap is the voters' ability to hire new legislators who will force government to be efficient and effective.

Read more from Calcaterra about reform and analysis below the fold.

ON THE WEB:

Regina Calcaterra's Campaign Website

Regina Calcaterra's ActBlue Page