Race to the Bottom

by: Roatti

Wed Jan 20, 2010 at 02:50:02 AM EST

New York's Race to the Top never got out of the starting gate.

Bickering state lawmakers could not agree on a plan to lift the cap on charter schools by Tuesday's 4:30 p.m. deadline to apply for up to $700 million in federal education money.

"It's dead," Assembly Education Committee Chairwoman Catherine Nolan declared moments before the deadline passed.

We can only wonder about the economic vitality that an extra billion dollars on education and infrastructure could have created for our state.  What we have in Albany is a pathetic travesty of leadership where legislators are literally more interested in kicking blame away than getting anything done for the well-being of the state's citizens.  Add that in with an army of special interests that is so spooked by any possible change to the status quo and we have the epic and complete failure that our state government is today.  I have called this a race to the bottom, but it looks like that race is over and we've already hit the showers.  

Excuse Me, Mr. Speaker

by: Roatti

Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 21:32:30 PM EDT

I've seen the movie and I can tell you it is supremely entertaining, has quite a few hilarious moments, and I highly recommend it.  They are having a screening at the Tank tomorrow.  From the facebook invite:

Excuse Me, Mr. Speaker
Wednesday, July 8th, 8:00 PM.
The Tank at the 45th Street Theatre (Note: The website says 7:30pm, but the showing has been moved to 8:00pm)
354 W. 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.
Suggested Donation: $8
Seating is limited, so I recommend you arrive early.

It really is a great flick and I recommend everybody go see it.  

Shelly Still Blocking Reform

by: Roatti

Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 23:22:36 PM EDT

It looks like the standoff between Gov. David A. Paterson and the state's ethics oversight commission - known as the Commission on Public Integrity - will continue at least through the summer.

(snip)

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver unveiled a complex proposal at the meeting that appeared to doom any chance of swift action. His plan would create three commissions charged with ethics and lobbying oversight of the executive branch and the Legislature. The governor and Senate Democrats have proposed creating a single, independent ethics and lobbying commission with jurisdiction over both branches of government.

At the heart of the differing approaches is Mr. Silver's unwillingness to cede the Legislature's control of its own ethics oversight. He proposed recreating the current, much-maligned Legislative Ethics Commission along the lines of the Office of Congressional Ethics in the House of Representatives.
He also proposed breaking up the integrity commission into separate commissions overseeing lobbying and ethics, reviving a structure that existed before 2007.

An independent board with oversight on both lobbying and ethics is the best way to police Albany, but Shelly just can't stomach the thought of anyone with power in Albany who doesn't answer to him.  No surprises here.  I hope Paterson and Smith can override his objections, but I'm not optimistic.  

Blame Should Lie With The Process, Not Assemblyman Gantt

by: robert.harding

Wed May 20, 2009 at 12:12:23 PM EDT

Gantt, who serves as chairman of the Transportation Committee, also refused to meet with the mother of a teenager who died in a car accident because he was texting while driving.

From The Buffalo News:

In a rare scene for Albany, Gantt's fellow Democrats outed him Tuesday as the obstacle to what they call a common-sense measure after he refused to meet with Kelly Cline, a West Seneca mother whose son died while texting and driving near his home two years ago. Cline was at the Capitol to lobby for the bill's passage.

"It's amazing . . . to hear about a chairman who doesn't meet with people, since I am a chairman and I meet with everybody," said Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a Bronx Democrat and sponsor of the bill, which has been stalled in Gantt's committee for several years.

A fuming Assemblyman Mark Schroeder, a Buffalo Democrat who also represents West Seneca, lashed out at Gantt for having his staff meet with Cline.

"If the chairman of the Transportation Committee in the Assembly would meet people who have been affected . . . then maybe that would change [the fact that] in five weeks, my sense is, nothing is going to happen in the Assembly on the texting bill," he said at an event to push the bill.

Gantt, after a meeting of the committee Tuesday afternoon, declined to comment.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, has long given Gantt veto power over key transportation matters. But Ortiz said Silver is "sensitive" to the text-messaging ban and is trying to get a bill passed before the 2009 session ends next month.

Obviously, Gantt is wrong here. There are a lot of flaws with a law that would ban texting while driving, but most agree that it is the right thing to do.

And yet, Gantt stands in the way of the legislation mainly because he is able to do so, thanks to power given to him by Silver.

This paragraph from Tom Precious' piece is also eye-opening:

Ortiz said the bill is backed by 92 percent of the members on Gantt's committee, and he said that, if necessary, an effort could be launched to force the bill onto the committee's agenda for a vote, "because we're getting tired of the same song and the same music" from the committee chairman."

Isn't it amazing that "an effort" would be required to "force" a bill onto a committee's agenda for a vote? Isn't this the kind of thing we were talking about needed to be reformed?

I don't condone what Gantt has done here, but I certainly don't condone the process that enables him to do this. Not meeting with Kelly Cline was a huge mistake on Gantt's part because it makes him look insensitive. But that's another issue.

When looking at this from a legislative perspective, you can only blame the process that enables Gantt to do this (a process that is endorsed and utilized by Silver) and allows him to block a bill that has the support of 92 percent of his committee members and arguably a similar percentage in the full Assembly.

Gantt shouldn't be blocking the bill. It has its flaws, but it is necessary legislation. But the process that allows Gantt to do this shouldn't be in place either.  

Assembly Passes Marriage Equality!

by: Roatti

Wed May 13, 2009 at 00:02:51 AM EDT

The State Assembly approved legislation on Tuesday night that would make New York the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage - a pivotal vote that shifts the debate to the State Senate, where gay rights advocates and conservative groups alike are redoubling their efforts.

In a sign of how opinion in Albany has shifted on the issue, several members of the Assembly who voted against the measure in 2007 voted in favor of it on Tuesday.

The final vote was 89 to 52, including the backing of five Republicans.

Now it's on to the Senate, where the bigoted opposition is stronger.  But let's savor this victory for the moment and give major kudos to Sheldon Silver and the Assembly leadership for bringing this to a successful vote.

And don't forget to call your Senator to express your support for the Senate version!

Full Budget Breakdown Now Online

by: phillip anderson

Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 11:09:20 AM EDT

You can download the pdf here.

Have fun.

On the web: NYSenate CIO blog.

More Budget Reactions

by: phillip anderson

Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 10:16:46 AM EDT

New York Times - Paterson Tries To Defend Budget Deal

Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders on Monday defended their secretive negotiations and the eye-popping $131.8 billion budget they produced over the weekend, even as they warned that further deterioration in the economy could force them to return to the bargaining table in the coming months.

In a subdued appearance in the Capitol, Mr. Paterson, joined by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith, described the deal as a necessary consensus between cutting spending and finding new revenue in the face of a large, and continually growing, budget gap.

"I think that there's a balance now between taxes on higher incomes and taxes on everybody, so that there's a shared sacrifice," Mr. Paterson said. He also said that he might have to revisit cuts to services and so-called nuisance taxes - like levies on sugared sodas and downloaded songs - that he agreed to abandon in the new deal.

"I would like to tell you that this budget brings about the end of our fiscal crisis, but I can't do that; that would be intellectually dishonest," Mr. Paterson said. But the deal was an important step, he added. "We can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

But as outside analysts began poring over hundreds of pages of the budget, they said they saw little evidence of stern spending discipline, even in the face of a major recession. In closing a budget deficit that in the end surpassed $17 billion, lawmakers relied on billions of dollars in new taxes and fees, some of which may not even raise as much revenue as hoped if the economy continues to worsen. And like every Albany budget, whether in good years or bad, this one includes $170 million worth of what critics call pork-barrel spending for lawmakers' pet projects.

"The disappointment from the business community is that the Legislature doesn't seem to understand how serious this crisis is, and that it threatens our future," said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business trade group. "The response - of holding the state budget basically harmless - just doesn't fly with people who are cutting salaries, laying people off and aren't sure where their business is going."

Mr. Paterson and his staff appear to have won significant concessions from the health care sector by overhauling outdated Medicaid reimbursements, while shifting money away from expensive in-patient care to preventative care and clinics. Over time, officials said, that shift would save both operating costs and capital money.

...

"What does the future hold? One way of looking at that is, New York - and every other state - are going to be in desperate straits if the federal stimulus money runs out in two years," said Robert B. Ward, deputy director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, an Albany research organization. "It won't be long until the drumbeat starts to make this a longer-lasting enhancement of federal aid."

- Albany's Big 3 Is Cut to One as Silver Flexes Might

It's Sheldon Silver's Albany now.

Mr. Silver, the powerful and cagey Assembly speaker, achieved what he wanted in the budget that emerged from the shadows of the statehouse this weekend, cementing his newfound role as the capital's center of gravity.

He won the policy fight, forcing Gov. David A. Paterson to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, an idea that the governor decried as potentially disastrous three weeks ago. The $131.8 billion budget, which could hardly be called austere, is largely a reflection of the liberal tilt of Mr. Silver, and the Assembly's predilection for big spending on social programs, no matter the economic climate.

Mr. Silver also dictated the process, turning back the clock to the most secretive budget negotiations the capital has seen in years, casting aside the open government that Mr. Paterson and other Democrats once said would follow the party's sweeping victories in recent state elections. He argued that technicalities in recently passed budget reform legislation allowed the Legislature to circumvent requirements for open meetings among those negotiating the spending plan.

And the speaker preserved the Legislature's cherished spending on pet projects, pushing successfully for $170 million for members to dole out in district spending, leaving that pool of money essentially untouched, despite the fiscal crisis.

He argued that "nonprofit organizations throughout the state have been devastated by the economic downturn," but lawmakers appropriated money for gun clubs, churches, a yoga foundation and the Wantagh American Legion Pipe Band, among thousands of other projects.

Critics say Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side who has been speaker for the last 15 years, is the symbol of all that is broken in state government, a man who long ago forsook principle for power. They also say that he lacks the fiscal discipline to prudently manage the state's escalating future deficits.

Allies say he is the only senior Democrat in state government fielding a competent staff with the expertise to lead the state, and that he will usher in a more activist left-leaning agenda on important policy issues, like the recent agreement among state leaders to eliminate many of the remaining stringent Rockefeller era penalties for drug offenses.

Daily News - New York State Democrats cheer as rest of us grumble

Just as the Chinese emperors of old imposed the Death of a Thousand Cuts, the New York State Democrats are proposing the Death of a Thousand Hikes.

Drafted in shameful secrecy, the new budget has a host of hikes that are incidental when taken one at a time:

A 500% hike in the surcharge on utilities, an average of $100 a year.

A $90 increase in the cost of health insurance.

A $1.20-a-month "public safety" tax on cell phones.

Another "public safety" surcharge: $10 a year on car insurance policies.

A 75-cent increase in the fee for a learner's driving permit.

A 24% hike in car registration fees.

A 4% increase in the tax on car service fares.

A 9% increase in the cigar tax.

A 58% increase in the wine tax.

A 27% increase in the beer tax.

Together, the increases are burdensome in already hard times, more so because the budget preserves as sacred $170 million in political pork.

New York Post - SETTING NY BACK 30 YRS.

New York's ruling Democratic triumvirate took a giant generational leap backward yesterday to the destructive days of John Lindsay, Abe Beame and Nelson Rockefeller.

The budget created by Gov. Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is a monstrously bloated, tax-and-spend plan that, in one fell swoop, reverses a three-decade-long effort to strengthen business and prevent taxpayers from fleeing the state.

The wrecking ball of a new state budget, approved in Kremlin-like secrecy by the troika, also ranks as one of the biggest betrayals in process and substance by a governor in New York history.

The reform effort being reversed by Paterson & Co. began in 1975, when then-newly elected Democratic Gov. Hugh Carey, ending 16 years of Republican rule, famously declared that the "Days of Wine and Roses" were over.

Gov. David A. Paterson emerged from behind closed doors Monday to defend the state's newly proposed $131.8 billion budget, but business groups railed against its massive tax hike package as education and health care special interests complained it does not spend enough.

Critics of the 2009 budget rushed to the Capitol and flooded lawmakers' telephones to try to unravel support, especially those from upstate.

But Paterson, who in a session with reporters appeared to undermine some elements of the plan he had just negotiated, said there were few options for a government that saw its projected deficit leap by billions in just a couple weeks, to $17.7 billion.

"None of this makes sense," he said of a plan that imposes record tax increases and cuts many popular programs. But he said the choices were difficult and a "shared sacrifice" by all New Yorkers. "This is in response to a crisis," he said.

...

But several Senate Democrats emerging from a caucus meeting said their 32-member coalition is holding steady and will back the budget despite GOP criticisms that it especially targets upstate for cuts and tax increases. With the GOP vowing to vote no, it would take only one Democrat to vote no, resulting in an unbreakable tie because the state has no lieutenant governor.

"We don't like the things that are in there," said Sen. William Stachowski, a Lake View Democrat. He said he would support the budget today. "We've never had to deal with a $17 billion budget hole," he said.

The Nation - A Progressive Victory In New York

Governor David Paterson and the leaders of the Legislature have struck a deal to create two new tax brackets for those earning above $300,000 and $500,000. The new tax structure would raise an estimated $4 billion annually.

This is largely due to the work of State Senator Eric Schneiderman, the Working Families Party, and others who responded to the state's $15 billion budget deficit by asking the wealthy to pay their fair share and demanding an end to the injustice of people earning $20,000 per year paying the same tax rate as Bernie Madoff, Donald Trump and the hedge funders -- 6.85 percent. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was instrumental in making progressive tax reform part of the final budget negotiations.

Initially, Gov. Paterson proposed the same tired conservative economic policy that has dominated the past thirty years--$9 billion of harsh cuts in education, healthcare and social services, and $5 billion in new taxes that would hit the struggling poor and middle-class the hardest. No sacrifices for the wealthy. Although there are still cuts that will cause a lot of pain for working people and the poor, this budget will be vastly improved.

Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party, told the Times: "It's a profound breakthrough for tax fairness." In the perennial balancing act between a transformative politics aimed at a more humane and sustainable society, and the necessary compromises to begin addressing people's immediate needs, progressives have scored an important and timely victory.

What are they saying in your neighborhood today?

Budget Deal Reax Roundup

by: phillip anderson

Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 09:52:55 AM EDT

New York Times - Albany Agrees on a Plan to Raise Taxes on Top Earners

Gov. David A. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature have reached a deal to temporarily raise taxes on New York's highest earners in order to close the state's yawning budget deficit, lawmakers and officials involved in the talks said on Saturday.

The new plan, which would expire after three years, would represent the largest state income tax increase in recent history, significantly larger than the surcharges imposed from 2003 to 2005, when the state last faced a major recession.

...

Currently, New York's highest tax rate, 6.85 percent, kicks in for couples and joint filers making more than $40,000.

"It's a profound breakthrough for tax fairness," said Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party. "The era of phony prosperity has ended, and a new era of real shared sacrifice must begin."

- N.Y. State Leaders Outline Budget Deal

Concluding the most secretive budget negotiations in recent memory, Gov. David A. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature outlined a $131.8 billion agreement on Sunday that would close the state's gaping deficit with billions of dollars in new taxes, financing from the federal stimulus and a substantial slowdown in the growth of health care spending.

The final days of negotiations between Mr. Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith have been conducted under a veil of secrecy so profound that even well-seasoned Albany cynics were taken aback.

And despite the enormous fiscal pressure the state faces, the budget contains $170 million in financing for pet projects - an amount unchanged from last year - suggesting that Albany's appetite for with what critics call pork-barrel spending appeared to be undiminished. Listed in the budget were grants to gun clubs, an upstate museum dedicated to bricks and brick-making, the Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta and an organization known as the Urban Yoga Foundation.

- Top Earners Hold Mixed Views on Plan for Higher Taxes

A lot of people would probably love to have the headaches of someone who earns more than $500,000 a year. But those headaches grew over the weekend with the announcement in Albany of new tax brackets for the highest earners. While there were no tears spilling into Champagne flutes over brunch on Sunday, there were voices of frustration among those facing higher payments to the State of New York

Jorge Colmenares, founder and owner of Miracol Energy, an investment firm in renewable energy, said that he earned more than $500,000 and that he was happy to do his part. But he wondered about the negative effects of higher taxes on consumers.

"If you continue to take away from people in the form of taxes, it is restricting them more in spending," he said while shopping on Madison Avenue. "On the one hand, I would agree: With the wealth that you can create, you should give back. But is the government using that money correctly? There's a lot of skepticism these days as to whether that's actually going to be the case."

Carmine A. Nicoletti, 51, of Great Neck, who owns a printing company in Queens, declined to state his income, but said that his household earned enough to fall into one of Gov. David A. Paterson's proposed tax brackets.

"I'm O.K. with it," he said of paying more taxes, while at Via Quadronno restaurant on the Upper East Side. "I'd rather pay my share if the economy is going to benefit. I mean, I don't like to pay taxes, but I don't mind if it helps my country. It shouldn't affect my family."

Julian N. Carter, 42, of the Upper East Side, said that he fell into the $500,000-and-higher tax bracket as a banker at Société Générale and that he supported the new tax.

"I'm absolutely in favor of it," he said outside the restaurant Frederick's Madison on Madison Avenue. "Listen, the reality is that someone has to pay the bill, and it has to come from taxes. You can't be selfish. My view is you have to redistribute."

Daily News - State's staggering new $131.8B tax-and-spend plan has critics howling

Gov. Paterson and legislative leaders unveiled a record $131.8 billion tax-and-spend budget deal Sunday night.

Despite Paterson's repeated warnings about the state's fiscal crisis, total spending actually increases by $10.5 billion, or 8.7%, according to state leaders. The bulk of that, they say, is $7.2 billion in federal stimulus money that is required to be spent in the coming fiscal year.

The remainder includes $2 billion in spending cuts rejected by lawmakers as well as $1.3 billion in capital and debt service spending. Even without factoring in the stimulus money, state taxpayer-supported funding should grow by at least $800 million, Paterson's office said.

...

Among those are vehicle registration fees, a cigar tax, a beer and wine tax, a utility assessment, an auto insurance surcharge, driver's license fees, a rental car tax and a registration fee for tobacco sellers. Bottled water drinkers will pay a nickel more because the drink has been added to the 5-cent bottle deposit law.

...

After spending most of yesterday not commenting even on the size of the new spending package, Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) finally released the details Sunday evening.

To close a record two-year deficit of $17.7 billion, they say, the budget contains a combination of $5.2 billion in spending cuts, $5.2billion in new taxes, $1.1 billion in nonrecurring revenue and the use of $6.2billion in federal stimulus money.

They also say it increases state taxpayer-supported spending by just 1% for the fiscal year beginning Wednesday and reduces New York's long-term deficits 80%.

"We have produced a budget that provides a solid foundation to move forward and address challenges ahead," Paterson said. "We have accomplished this with a budget that holds government accountable to the people of New York, and protects those who cannot protect themselves."

New York Post - WHAT DEMS ARE 'UP' TO -- $132B

Open your wallets extra-wide, New Yorkers.

Democratic leaders yesterday released details of a state budget deal that would push spending to a staggering $132 billion next year -- an increase of 10 percent -- while they ask residents to fork over a record-breaking $7.8 billion in taxes and fees.

The huge spending plan is $10.7 billion higher than the bare-bones plan Gov. Paterson released less than four months ago in a call for fiscal austerity.

It comes in the wake of a $4 billion soak-the-rich income-tax hike, the elimination of a $1.5 billion property-tax rebate plan, and $2.3 billion in new and extended business taxes and nuisance fees.

Among other things, the budget would add nickel deposits to bottled water, ratchet up taxes on beer and cigars, and raise income taxes at least 14.5 percent on families making more than $300,000 a year.

But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) refused to give up even a dime of the notorious $170 million slush fund lawmakers use to dole out grants to favored nonprofits and community groups.

More than $6 billion in aid from Washington forestalled much of Paterson's proposed reductions to schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other health care institutions. But $6.5 billion in cuts and $4 billion from increasing taxes on the rich were required to close a two-year deficit of $17.7 billion.

The budget "closes the largest deficit in state history, stabilizes our finances and institutes critical reforms that will help eliminate waste and inefficiency in our government," Paterson said in a statement.

The plan boosts myriad taxes and fees on everything from driver's licenses to marine fishing licenses.

Still, elimination of the popular STAR rebate checks is sure to anger hard-pressed homeowners. The checks sent $1.4 billion back to taxpayers statewide - $370 million to Nassau and Suffolk residents - helping offset ever higher school levies.

The basic STAR and enhanced STAR exemptions - which reduce tax bills - are unaffected.

School taxes may rise in some districts despite the restoration of $1.1 billion in cuts proposed by Paterson. Superintendents said they were disappointed that education aid would grow by just $405 million, with the Island receiving 5 percent instead of its traditional 13 percent share.

Buffalo News - 'Spending and taxes both soar in state's new budget

The state's new, inflation-busting budget will require New Yorkers to pay more to go fishing and hunting, drive a car or motorcycle, have life insurance, operate the lights and heat in their homes, buy cigarettes, own a cell phone and drink beer, wine and bottled water.

Single taxpayers making more than $200,000 a year will see a jump in taxes, as will bus companies, nuclear plants, food processing companies, racehorse owners, farmers, pesticide applicators, grocery stores and anyone wanting to open a hospice.

In all, the total number of new taxes, fees and various assessments and surcharges will top $7 billion in the new budget that state lawmakers will vote on beginning Tuesday. The governor's office put the number at $5.3 billion, but that misses a number of levies.

The higher taxes will help pay for a budget that will soar to $131.8 billion-$10.7 billion more than what Gov. David A. Paterson proposed just three months ago. Federal bailout money accounts for two-thirds of that sharp increase, with the rest coming from new spending and debt.

The higher tax figures do not include the financial hit from some tax breaks being rescinded. Gone, for instance, are the annual STAR property tax rebate checks that arrive each fall right before Election Day. That will cost taxpayers $1.5 billion this year.

New York Magazine - Tax the Rich!
How did the poor win the New York tax war? Welcome to the era of the moneyed underclass.

"It's not an easy time to defend the rich," says Kathryn Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City. "In the current environment, with the anti-Wall Street sentiment, it's just politically unattractive."

Dan Cantor, who runs the labor-affiliated Working Families Party, gave his own diagnosis. "We just work much harder than the right-wingers. They think they can just do it by writing checks to the politicians. We don't have money. We have our passion."

That's not quite true. In Albany, the wealthiest and most well-connected groups often are representing the little guy. The teachers unions burn through $4 million a year on donations to state lawmakers and lobbying expenses, rivaling the outlays of the state's hospital associations, which also pressed for a tax hike.

Since December, the supporters of the rich tax-an alliance of organized labor and community-activist groups-waged a campaign that further weakened Governor Paterson. They spent millions on ads attacking him and staged feisty protests. (At one near City Hall last month, 1199 SEIU president George Gresham mocked his adversaries: "Where are the wealthy going to go? Iowa?")

Cantor says his party also banged on 72,000 doors, collecting over 12,000 "handwritten" notes calling on Albany to raise taxes.

At the last minute, real-estate and business trade groups pulled a long-dormant nonprofit group, Taxpayers for an Affordable NY, out of the mothballs. But it hasn't done much good. The deeper problem, says Real Estate Board head Steven Spinola, is that "the business community is not as monolithic as the unions."

What are they saying in your neck of the woods?

VIDEO: Malcolm Smith On Rock Law Reform

by: phillip anderson

Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 13:14:33 PM EDT

It's Official: Rockefeller Drug Law Reform Deal Reached

by: phillip anderson

Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 12:48:22 PM EDT

New York Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders have agreed to ease drug laws that were once among the harshest in the nation and led a movement more than 30 years ago toward mandatory prison terms.

The agreement rolls back some of the tougher sentencing provisions pushed through the Legislature in 1973 by then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, a Republican who said they were needed to fight a drug-related "reign of terror."

Critics have long claimed the laws were draconian and crowded prisons with people who would be better served with treatment.

Paterson says Friday that judges will now be able to use techniques like treatment and counseling that have proven more effective than prison for low-level offenders. At the same time, penalties will be toughened for drug kingpins.

It's long overdue and I'm very curious to see the reactions to the details from those who have been following this decades long tragedy closest.

The full press release from the Three Men is in the extended entry.

UPDATE: Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) just released this statement:

"I am very proud to be a part of history today and finally see the Rockefeller Drug Laws reformed.  The reforms announced today will restore judicial sentencing discretion and substantially expand alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.

It has been a long hard fight to reform these archaic drug laws and today is the culmination of decades of hard work and advocacy from countless people, all of whom deserve praise for helping to achieve these needed reforms."

Finally: Rockefeller Drug Law Deal Reached

by: phillip anderson

Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 02:49:27 AM EDT

Albany Reaches Deal to Repeal '70s-Era Drug Laws

Gov. David A. Paterson and New York legislative leaders have reached an agreement to dismantle much of what remains of the state's strict 1970s-era drug laws, once among the toughest in the nation.

The deal would repeal many of the mandatory minimum prison sentences now in place for lower-level drug felons, giving judges the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison.

The plan would also expand drug treatment programs and widen the reach of drug courts at a cost of at least $50 million.

New York's drug sentencing laws, imposed during a heroin epidemic that was devastating urban areas nearly four decades ago, helped spur a nationwide trend toward mandatory sentences in drug crimes. But as many other states moved to roll back the mandatory minimum sentences in recent years, New York kept its laws on the books, leaving prosecutors with the sole discretion of whether offenders could be sent to treatment.

...

Passing drug law revisions would give Senate Democrats a significant legislative victory at a time when Republicans are hammering them, saying they are disorganized and ineffective.

Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who has led the effort in the Senate to overhaul the drug statutes, said he was confident he had support in the Senate to pass the plan.

"It's no secret the Senate's old majority was the primary barrier to reforming our drug laws," he said. "But this is one of the reasons we fought so hard to take the majority. This is what our supporters have expected us to do."

This four decade long experiment proved to be an utter disaster that destroyed families, especially those of people of color, denied judges the discretion to serve justice and led to the distortion of the state's political system by taking poor urban drug offenders from their communities and placing them in rural upstate prisons where they were counted as residents for purposes of apportionment, funding and redistricting.

It's profoundly disappointing that it has taken so long to finally repeal much of this sad abomination, but I guess it's better late than never. And let's face it, those folks in Albany needed this pretty bad as well, particularly Paterson and Smith.

Completely Made Of FAIL

by: phillip anderson

Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 13:27:31 PM EDT

The Senate Dems Should be More Like Sheldon Silver

by: Roatti

Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 17:34:09 PM EDT

Silver, if nothing else, has his finger on the political pulse of his conference and was able to cut a compromise where the MTA bailout's bridge tolls would be cut to $2. While I will never forgive Silver's deletion of congestion pricing in the most opaque manner legislatively possible, he appears to at least understand now that an essentially functional (and I use that term loosly) MTA is necessary to the city's survival.  

The Senate's (and frankly, the Governor's) obstinacy to politically painful actions and hard choices is not what I was expecting when we took over the chamber in the last cycle.  To be sure, it's a hell of a lot better than if Skelos was running the show, as every idiot in his conference has flat-out opposed any new bridge tolls.  But the Senate majority is not making an encouraging sign with this action, or lack thereof.  

The MTA finance committee just voted today to implement a drastic fare hike. To the Senators or any staffers who might be reading this, think ahead to next year's election: do you want to be known as the conference who let the MTA die? Stop twiddling your thumbs and make a hard choice. You wanted control and you got it- now use it.

Hank Morris And Ending Pay For Play In New York

by: phillip anderson

Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 09:33:10 AM EDT

It's time to end pay for play
Until Albany enacts public financing for state races, offices like the comptroller's will remain too susceptible to corruption

If money is power, then the most powerful public official in New York is its comptroller, the sole trustee of a state employees pension fund worth more than a hundred billion dollars.

Just how that power can corrupt was evidenced last week in a searing criminal indictment by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and a corresponding civil complaint by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. In this hard-core version of Albany's already scandalous pay-to-play culture, two top advisers to former Comptroller Alan Hevesi allegedly shook down major firms and investors seeking business with the pension fund, garnering over $30 million in kickbacks and gifts.

...

The sweep of this indictment, how-ever, leads to the conclusion that those reforms aren't enough - that more fundamental changes are needed. Albany must finally enact public campaign financing for statewide officials. And to reassure taxpayers that the pension fund has the best possible oversight, a task force must evaluate whether there should be a board of trustees.

...

Whether New York should change its sole trustee arrangement needs to be examined. What doesn't need to wait is campaign financing. Not needing millions of dollars to run reduces the temptation to abuse the office.

Since DiNapoli took office, he has been recommending public financing for comptroller races. His proposal would cap spending in the primary and general election campaigns and allow the candidates to get $6 in public funding for every $1 raised. This still requires the candidates to solicit contributions of more than $1 million in private funds. It's a start.

The Morris indictment, however, should spark support for public financing for all statewide races. In the past two years, Gov. David A. Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have all supported campaign financing reform, if not outright public financing. Which ones will now take ownership of the movement for campaign reform - Paterson? Silver? Or Smith?

Attorney General Cuomo just hung a "For Sale" sign for all to see on Albany.Now, we need to see who's going to take it down.

The three men now running our state government have talked a good game for years on enacting significant and meaningful campaign finance reform. Now that the largest obstacle to achieving those reforms, the late GOP majority in the state Senate, has been removed, it's put up or shut up time.

The people of New York deserve nothing less than full public financing of campaigns. It could very well be the best money we've ever spent.

Your telephone is ringing, Governor Paterson. Pick it up.

Must Read Rock Law Report From NYCLU

by: phillip anderson

Wed Mar 11, 2009 at 16:52:06 PM EDT

There has emerged over the last decade a broad consensus among policy experts, criminal justice scholars and lawmakers that the War on Drugs, with its singular emphasis on incarceration, has failed.

In 1993, on the 20th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, New York State Corrections Commissioner Thomas Coughlin, III, said the state was "lock[ing] up the wrong people ... for the wrong reasons."

Former Republican state senator John Dunne was a sponsor of the state's mandatory sentencing scheme for drug offenses. He subsequently organized a coalition that has advocated for fundamental reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. In 2004 he observed, in a television spot, "the Rockefeller Drug Laws have been a well-documented failure."

Yet, as the 36th anniversary of these laws approaches, the state continues locking up the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

This report presents and marshals the empirical evidence that demonstrates New York's mandatory-minimum drug sentencing scheme has failed, utterly, to accomplish its stated objectives. It has not reduced the availability of drugs or deterred their use; it has not made us safer.

The overwhelming majority of those serving time for drug offenses have been convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses. Many of those individuals have substance abuse problems, and many suffer from a range of disabilities that will not be addressed in prison.

They leave prison prepared for little else but failure and re-incarceration. These individuals are all but guaranteed a vastly diminished earning capacity, if any at all. Families come apart. And because prosecution of drug offenses targets neighborhoods that are already under great social and economic stress, the drug war destabilizes entire communities.

For this dysfunctional approach to criminal justice policy, New York taxpayers pay dearly. Based on cost estimates calculated by the New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform, taxpayers will pay about $600 million to incarcerate drug offenders in 2009 alone.

The costs are not only fiscal. The selective enforcement of the drug laws has done great damage to the integrity of the criminal justice system. The state's drug sentencing laws are the legacy of a grim racial history. And the nature of the injustice worked by these laws can only be fully understood in this historical context.

From the late 19th Century into the 1960s, Jim Crow laws were enforced with the objective of denying blacks equal protection of the laws and full participation in civil society. By the late 1960s the legal infrastructure of Jim Crow had been dismantled. But over the subsequent decades a successor was revived in statutes prohibiting drug use. Prosecution under these statutes has led to massive, unprecedented rates of incarceration - and prisons populated almost exclusively by people of color.

The Rockefeller Drug Laws are the Jim Crow laws of the 21st Century. This report includes demographic maps of urban centers throughout the state that depict in bold relief the racial and ethnic bias that informs the state's drug-law policy.

The Rockefeller Drug Laws are unjust, irrational and ineffective. Period.

The racial and ethnic profile of the population sent to prison for drug offenses is particularly striking. It is well established in scientific literature that the demographics of those who use or sell illicit drugs reflect the demographics of the general population. In other words, there are greater numbers of whites - as compared with blacks and Latinos - who use and sell drugs. However, nearly 90 percent of those incarcerated for drug offenses in New York State are black or Latino. And in this respect the year 2007 was unexceptional. Gross racial and ethnic disparities among those sent to prison for drug offenses have become statistical constants - both in New York State and nationwide.

The enactment of the Rockefeller Drug Laws in 1973 was a bold, albeit simplistic, political response to a complex public policy problem. The politics of this initiative were driven in part by then-Governor Nelson Rockefeller's aspiration for national office. Any such candidate must demonstrate a commitment to upholding law and order. And in the early 1970s there was concern among New Yorkers, and Americans generally, that a sharp rise in heroin use and property crime posed a growing threat to public safety. The governor responded by promoting, and ultimately signing into law, the nation's most harsh and inflexible drug sentencing statutes.

Here's a map of NYC from the report.

Twenty-five percent of NYC adults sent to prison in 2006 came from neighborhoods with just 4 percent of the adult population. More than half were admitted for drug offenses, and 97 percent were black or Latino - even though whites use and sell drugs in far greater numbers than blacks or Latinos

...

Community District 5, which includes East New
York, is populated largely by people of color. Just 5 percent of residents are non-Latino white. In 2006, at least 400 residents of the district were incarcerated; 40 percent of those individuals were sent to prison for drug offenses.

Community District 12, which includes the neighborhoods of Kensington and Borough Park, is 63 percent non-Latino white. In 2006, just 39 people living in the district were sent to prison. Approximately 25 percent of those individuals - about 10 - were sent to prison for drug offenses.

There's tons more data in the report and I really can not recommend it highly enough.

On the web: The Rockefeller Drug Laws: Unjust, Irrational, Ineffective

Senate Dems Roll Rock Reform To Budget

by: phillip anderson

Fri Mar 06, 2009 at 13:49:27 PM EST

"Our Conference gathered Wednesday night to discuss proposed reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, including the Governor's proposed bill and the Aubry/ Schneiderman legislation (A.3984/S.2855). The conversation was thoughtful and frank, and our members expressed a consensus that we need to undertake Rockefeller Drug reform. At the conference, our members raised a number of issues and concerns that must be taken into consideration, specifically the importance of investing new economic development resources into the communities that currently house the potentially thousands of non-violent offenders who would instead enter drug treatment facilities under proposed Rockefeller Drug Law reform.

It became clear in our discussions that this is as much a budgetary and economic issue as it is a sentencing issue. For this reason, the Senate intends to include the key provisions of Rockefeller Drug Law reform in our upcoming budget resolution to ensure that:

·          There is adequate funding for treatment facilities;

·          We invest in communities that currently house non-violent offenders who will instead enter drug treatment facilities to mitigate any economic impact and diversify the local economy with new economic development initiatives;

·          We secure additional funding for counties that incur additional costs because of local treatment and incarceration requirements. The proposed Executive Budget cuts back on funding for local probation-we will restore those funds to protect local municipalities from another unfunded mandate; and

·          Expand judicial discretion to ensure that judges can make informed sentencing decisions.

We believe the best way to comprehensively achieve each of those goals would be to include these provisions as part of the State Budget.

As savings from Rockefeller Drug Law reform are realized, that funding   will be dedicated to meeting the costs that may be incurred as a result of the reforms initiated. However, the Senate is currently working with our colleagues in government to determine what streams of funding in the federal stimulus package are also available to offset upfront costs that are incurred.

Rockefeller Drug Reform can be a win-win. We are addressing this issue in a diligent and prudent manner to protect communities, save taxpayers millions of dollars, and reduce the high rate of recidivism that occurs under the current policy. We look forward to negotiating an agreement with the Assembly and the Governor that helps us simplify and improve outdated sentencing laws."

I'm honestly not sure what this means for the prospect of finally repealing these laws that have quite obviously failed. I suspect that ultimately this is good news and the reasoning put forward by the Majority Leader appears sound. That said, I'd love to hear from anyone who can shed a bit more light on exactly what just happened here.

Little help?

Just Say Yes

by: phillip anderson

Tue Mar 03, 2009 at 09:44:19 AM EST

Just say yes to drug law reform

To listen to the three people who effectively run state government, this ought to be the year when New York finally reforms the Rockefeller era drug laws.

Put Governor Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver or even Senate Majority Malcolm Smith before a microphone, a camera or two and the right audience, and they'll express their passionate opposition to what amounts to 36 years of failure.

"Few public safety initiatives have failed as badly and for as long as the Rockefeller Drug Laws," Mr. Paterson said in his State of the State speech two months ago.

This week, especially, is the time for the governor to act upon such forceful and unequivocal words. In the Assembly, where Mr. Silver vows to "break this state's addiction to mandatory prison sentences for nonviolent offenders," the membership is ready to pass legislation that would give judges the discretion to send those found guilty of having smaller amounts of illegal drugs to treatment rather than prison and to allow thousands of inmates to seek reduced or commuted sentences.

The Senate, which finally has a leader who supports drug law reform, is expected to consider a bill later this session that also would give judges more discretion in sentencing.

...

Their fate is largely in the hands of governor who, as a state senator, used to favor much more sweeping reform. In a radio interview last year, just two months after becoming governor, Mr. Paterson said his opposition to the Rockefeller Drug Laws hadn't changed at all.

So why wouldn't he embrace Mr. Silver's plan? Why wouldn't Mr. Smith support it as well? Some 6,000 or so people could then get the treatment they need more than anything else. All it requires, really, is the leadership that's been absent for so long.

It's long past time to do this.  

Wanted: Better NYS Democrats

by: Amherst Guy

Fri Feb 27, 2009 at 22:17:31 PM EST

We need better Democrats.

We have the Assembly and the State Senate in Democratic hands. If we win the governorship in 2010, we're going to control both for 50 years. We are going to get more Democrats in the Senate over the next 3 cycles as we dispose of the likes of Owen Johnson, Frank Padavan, High Farley, Stephen Saland, James Alesi, Joe Robach, and Mike Ranzenhofer, and just maybe, George Maziarz. We don't need to worry about more Democrats.

We need BETTER Democrats

I don't know about you but I am sick to death of the bullshit. I'm sick of election reform bills - with no teeth! - shriveling and dying in committee. I'm sick of Authorities and shadow authorities and Thruway Authorities and Special development zones that are abused for property flipping.

I'm sick of lifers. Term-limits don't have to be 6 years. I'd like a 20-year term over the current system.

I'm sick of standing by as 50 Assembly Dems and 10 Senate Dems prevent needed changes from becoming reality.

We NEED better Democrats

I hate the secrecy. I hate not knowing who voted for what in which committee and where that bill went and what the debate on the floor was and more importantly what the debate in the back room was. There is no excuse - NONE - for the New York State government to do ANYTHING in secret. They're not holding state secrets. They're not in charge of national security. What school districts are connected enough to qualify for double-secret-extra-bonus state aid should probably be known.

The worst part is not knowing who stuck what in a bill. That has to end. Now.

We control both legislatures and the Governors office for the first time in decades. And we've fixed NOTHING.

In the end, these failures fall on Shelly, David, and Malcolm, but they really fall on us. We need better Democrats, who like openness and prefer doing the right thing to getting re-elected. This isn't too much to ask, 30+ states have functional legislatures.

And change starts at home. Every person here IS A PART of the establishment, whether you acknowledge it or not. When 2010 comes, don't support people because they can win. Support them because they'll be good for NYS, or don't support them.

It really doesn't HAVE to be this way! You can end this!

We need better Democrats!

NY-SEN: Shelly Strikes Again

by: Amherst Guy

Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 17:07:34 PM EST

But today's NY Post has some insight as to why Kennedy and not Cuomo, and it's not particularly surprising.

A joint session of the Assembly and Senate would make the pick for Atty Gen. should Cuomo vacate to the Senate. Sheldon Silver controls 109 of the 212 votes; a majority. Meaning Paterson couldn't pick Cuomo, because,

"Andrew just couldn't assure the governor that he could arrange for [Assembly Speaker Sheldon] Silver to provide an acceptable successor"

meaning that Paterson knew that the new AG would be such a hack that he couldn't allow for that to happen.

Sad.

The Whole Article is worth a read.

Pieces of Silver

by: Dan Jacoby

Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 17:07:08 PM EDT

The major stumbling block to turning the state Senate blue is that Republicans have several million dollars available. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee (SRCC) has $1.7 million in cash, compared with just under $1.3 million for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC). As of a week ago, the Democratic state party committee had a tiny advantage over the Republican state party committee, $418K to $360K. In addition, over the last two months the SRCC had transferred far more to individual candidates than the DSCC had transferred to its candidates.

In other words, Democrats need a major transfusion of money, and there's no time to raise it.

There is a source of money that might be tapped. After a three-way primary in which he got 68% of the vote, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver still has $2.5 million in his own campaign account. State law only allows him to transfer small amounts to other candidates' campaign accounts, but it also allows him (or any candidate) to transfer as much as he wants to the DSCC, which could then transfer all they want to individual Senate candidates' campaign committees.

In other words, he could send $1.5 million to the DSCC, which would give Democrats a huge leg up in the battle to win the state Senate, and still keep a million dollars.

But wait - there's more!