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Blogs
April 30, 2012
New York Politicians Spent Nearly $50,000 On Cigars Since 2008
Bill Clinton's not the only politician who likes a good cigar...Since 2008, New York politicians have spent nearly $50,000 on cigars and other tobacco products, a new study from the New York Public Research Group.The study, first provided by the group to the New York Daily News, finds that state law ... More >>
Blogs
April 4, 2012
Is New York's Minimum Wage Too Damn Low?
If you've been following recent developments in the capital, you've probably heard that Dems in Albany have been pushing for a $1.25 minimum wage increase -- from $7.25 to $8.50. And most New Yorkers would be OK with this boost. This change would impact more than 600,000 New Yorkers who are someho ... More >>
Blogs
March 13, 2012
State Senate OKs Budget Resolution That Takes $770 Million from MTA Investment
The New York State Senate on Monday night passed a budget resolution that would bleed $770 million from the MTA's Capital Plan, part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget, if made into law. The Republican-led Senate also voted down a plan to up the MTA's bond cap by $7 billion. While this sound ... More >>
Blogs
January 4, 2012
Governor Andrew Cuomo Delivers His State of the State Address [Live Video]
Watch live streaming video from newyorkstateofficeofthegovernor at livestream.com Here is live streaming video of Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address from Albany. 1:45 -- Lt. Governor Bob Duffy (who, the last time we saw him in person, was introducing Governor Cuomo prior to the sign ... More >>
Blogs
June 25, 2011
Governor Andrew Cuomo, Activists React to Marriage Equality in Albany
Sen. Tom Duane and Natasha Dillon After the VoteAfter the Senate passed same-sex marriage equality in Albany last night, the reactions were mixed: volatile, ecstatic, tearful, joyous, and outraged. There was a shared sense of history and exhaustion by people for and against the issue, as many ... More >>
Blogs
June 24, 2011
Dean Skelos Calls For a Gay Marriage Vote; Religious Exemptions Finally Come Out
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos has just announced that the Marriage Equality Bill will get a vote in the Senate. This comes moments after the Senate released proposed language for a "religious exemptions" amendment to the billl, which will allow religious groups and their affiliate busin ... More >>
Blogs
June 20, 2011
Greg Ball's All Atwitter at Gay-Marriage Bill: Upstate Senator Takes His Own Online Poll.
Here's what happened over the weekend with the gay-marriage bill, which the Assembly has already approved: Publicly, the bill has the support of 31 of the 32 senators it needs for passage. Though he was considered "leaning no," GOP senator Greg Ball (who represents all of Putnam County, northern ... More >>
Blogs
June 17, 2011
Is Gay Marriage Getting Blue Balled in Albany? Senate to Vote Monday at Earliest.
Now that Governor Cuomo has given his all toward passing gay marriage equality legislation, and the Assembly has passed the measure for a fourth time, the focus is exactly back where it's been for the past two years: the State Senate. Yet after significant momentum at the beginning of the we ... More >>
Blogs
June 16, 2011
New York State Assembly Passes Gay Marriage for a Fourth Time
The New York State Assembly passed the Marriage Equality Bill yesterday, the fourth time that chamber of the state legislature has done so. The bill passed overwhelming, 80-63, but still, it had the lowest margin of victory the issue has ever had in the Assembly. (A number of "yes" votes had ... More >>
Blogs
June 15, 2011
Gay Marriage in New York: Over the Hump Today?
Today could be the day when gay marriage equality passes its biggest hurdle in New York State yet and actually achieves something it never has before: likely passage in the state senate. With 31 of the necessary 32 votes already publicly announced, the effort only needs one GOP senator for th ... More >>
Blogs
June 14, 2011
Andrew Cuomo Introduces Gay-Marriage Bill; Another GOP Senator Announces Support
Governor Cuomo formally introduced same-sex marriage legislation today, a key victory for activists pushing for a vote in the state Senate regardless of any assurance of passage. And another Republican senator, Roy McDonald, from the Capital Region, broke ranks and announced support, giving the Marr ... More >>
Blogs
January 5, 2011
What You Missed From Andrew Cuomo's State of the State
New Governor Andrew Cuomo just wrapped up his inaugural State of the State address. Did you miss it? There was a lot of folksy humor and clapping and quasi-inspirational stuff about working together, and trying to make Albany function, and serving the people of New York instead of "special intere ... More >>
Blogs
July 16, 2010
Stopping and Frisking the A.G. Candidates
I knew Eric Schneiderman was coming to the attorney general debate at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn last night, so I didn't park in the campus lot. I preferred to take the chance that I'd be stopped and frisked by Ray Kelly on my walk through Crown Heights to see a debate at which all five Democ ... More >>
Blogs
June 30, 2010
David Paterson Rested Up for His Veto Fest by Dawdling at B-Bar For Hours Last Night
Taking a breather from the thousands of vetoes he has yet to sign, Governor David Paterson spent three hours last night at B Bar and Grill, right across the street from the Village Voice, drawn, no doubt, by our recent paeans to his wondrous Albany performance. Paterson enjoyed a bottle of ... More >>
Blogs
May 21, 2010
Senate Republicans Suddenly Against Budget Extensions They Used to Wallow In
The Republican near-majority in the state senate has sunk to new lows in the ongoing budget battle, but unlike the Democrats, they are catching no media flak. Incredibly, 29 of them (with one absentee) voted as a bloc last week against the emergency budget extender that barely passed the senate. Ha ... More >>
Blogs
February 11, 2010
David Paterson Plays the Dupe Once Again with Ethics "Reform"
Such a patsy.In the space of three weeks, 24 Republicans in the state senate voted for and against the same state ethics bill. And in the madhouse of Albany, almost no one noticed. When the ethics bill passed 59 to 1 in late January, 28 GOP state senators voted for it, with one D ... More >>
Blogs
February 9, 2010
Hiram Monserrate, David Paterson Still Hanging In There
They were supposed to start voting on Hiram Monserrate's expulsion from or censure by the state senate earlier today, with the senate session moving from 3 p.m. to noon, but the chamber is currently occupied with other business, like a resolution asking the terror trials to be moved from New ... More >>
Blogs
February 2, 2010
Governor Paterson Vetos Ethics Bill, Says It "Does Not Go Far Enough"
People were very excited when the state legislature finally passed a government ethics bill. After all, the Republicans had been blocking such a bill, and it's nice to see the Democratic majority delivering an actual change -- even though good government groups were lukewarm at best about the resul ... More >>
Blogs
January 7, 2010
Paterson Speech Reax: Papers Exult, GOP Mixed, Democrats Praise Selves
Governor Paterson follows up his program-rich State of the State speech with a round of radio interviews, which Liz Benjamin patiently follows. She finds Paterson expecting the public will respond better to his message than have Albany legislators ("So what I did, what I decided to do, is put out ... More >>
Blogs
December 23, 2009
New Plan to Defeat Health Care Bill: GOP Lawsuits!
It looks like the Democrats might pass some sort of health care bill after all, so the badly outnumbered Republicans are looking at new strategy to block it: make pork illegal. "Attorneys general in at least 10 states" of a mostly reddish hue, the Times reports, have discussed a legal strat ... More >>
Blogs
December 7, 2009
Ruben Diaz Asks: If Hiram Monserrate Rates an Investigation, Why Not Kevin Parker?
You may recall that in Hiram Monserrate's darkest days -- back before the judge in his assault case let him off with probation -- fellow state senator and member of the "Gang of Three" (which muscled the senate for favors last year) Ruben Diaz Sr. complained that there was a racist component ... More >>
Blogs
December 2, 2009
This Is, Apparently, Who We Have To Blow
...or rather, blow away, in the next election. Ladies and gentlemen, the 'No' votes...
Blogs
December 1, 2009
Paterson Rejects Albany Half-Loaf Budget Cuts, Says "The State is Going Bankrupt"
Governor Paterson wanted the endless Albany special sessions to produce $5 billion in budget cuts over the next year and a half. The legislators said: How about $2.9 billion? After some ominous rumblings ("Governor Paterson had enough and will not wait any longer"), it now appears there is no deal. ... More >>
Blogs
November 24, 2009
Senate GOP, Dem Leaders Unite to Oppose Paterson's "Soviet" Deficit Plan
Maybe by scaling back his demand for over $600 million in cuts to school aid by half was the fatal sign of weakness that invited the counterattack, but the state senators who have been remarkably slow about trimming the budget united against Paterson with great speed. Democratic leader John Sampson ... More >>
News
November 17, 2009
Who Do We Have to Blow to Get Gay Marriage in New York?
The frustrating circle-jerk in Albany.
Blogs
October 22, 2009
Liu, Gioia, Other Dems Call for Monserrate to Resign; Skelos Proposes Extra Republican for Panel
More Democratic public officials are calling for state senator Hiram Monserrate, convicted of lesser charges in an attack on his girlfriend and facing a special state senate committee, to remove himself from office. Earlier in the week New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer suggested ... More >>
Blogs
October 20, 2009
Special Senate Committee will Consider Monserrate's Fate; GOP, Diaz Complain
The state senate leadership finally announced it would establish a special committee to consider colleague Hiram Monserrate's membership. The committee will be chaired by Democratic on Manhattan underboss John Sampson senator Eric Schneiderman and include five Democratic senators -- including locals ... More >>
Blogs
August 19, 2009
Paterson's Lawyers Grilled on Ravitch Appointment
Last month Governor Paterson's team of lawyers were confident that, despite Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's cavils, Public Officers Law 43 made it perfectly Constitutional for the Governor to install Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor. But Paterson's team had rough sledding at a hearing yesterd ... More >>
Blogs
July 31, 2009
Court: Ravitch is Lt. Gov.! (But Can't Run Senate, Pending More Hearings)
We figured the courts, which last week temporarily allowed Richard Ravitch to be Lieutenant Governor pending further lawyering, would either give him a permanent thumbs-up or thumbs-down this week. After all, the Republican case against Ravitch's appointment to LG is Constitutional; either he can b ... More >>
Blogs
July 23, 2009
Ravitch is Lt. Gov.! (Till Monday, When The Case Resumes)
All hail Lt. Gov. Ravitch! The forces of Governor David Paterson went last night to an appellate court, where Judge L. Priscilla Hall "temporarily reinstated" Richard Ravitch at New York's Lieutenant Governor by stopping the restraining order Dean Skelos and Pedro Espada won from a Nassau County cou ... More >>
Blogs
July 22, 2009
Judge Blocks "Lt. Gov." Ravitch From Doing Anything; Paterson Appeals
After deliberating since Wednesday, Judge William R. LaMarca thinks there's a "likelihood of success on the merits for their claim that neither the Constitution nor legislative enactment authorized the governor to make the appointment," and so has approved a request to bar Richard Ravitch from perfo ... More >>
Blogs
July 15, 2009
Judge Postpones Decision on Legality of Ravitch's Lt. Gov Appointment
For those of you who were wondering how the judge would rule today on Governor Paterson's appointment of Richard Ravitch to Lieutenant Governor -- congratulations! You are an informed, aware citizen! Now to your news: the judge postponed his decision and did not say when he'd give it. State Supreme ... More >>
Blogs
June 26, 2009
Coup in Review: Dems, GOP Do Quickie, Dems Honor Dead Celebs, Parker Apologizes
Michael Jackson madness met Albany madness today as the Republicans-plus-Espada and the Democrats enacted their now customary ritual of holding separate sessions: the Democrats had a moment of silence for Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, while the GOP-plus-E, perhaps worried about political fallout, just ... More >>
Blogs
June 23, 2009
Coup in Review: Dueling Majorities! GOP, Dem Senators Ignore Each Other in Chamber
The Republicans have joined the Democrats in the state senate chamber, where senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins has been standing at the podium since the Dems barricaded themselves in around 12:30 p.m. Liz Benjamin reports that GOP senator George Winner tried to take the podium but "one of the sergeant ... More >>
Blogs
June 22, 2009
Coup in Review: Paterson Calls Special Session, Skelos Spokesman Says "Bullsh*t," Bloomberg Blames Dems, Espada Shows Off Bronx "Home"
Over the weekend Governor Paterson stepped into the Albany Coup spotlight, announcing that he would summon the state senators to a special session on Wednesday (the official session ends today), and he meant all the state senators, not just the Republicans who have been meeting alone, without a quor ... More >>
Blogs
June 18, 2009
Senate Dems Push to Get Espada Out
There's a full-court press this morning from top state senate Democrats, calling for the Republicans to drop Pedro Espada as their negotiator, calling him "irrational."So far, senators Liz Krueger of Manhattan, Jeff Klein of the Bronx, and David Valesky of Syracuse have weighed in with email press r ... More >>
Blogs
June 12, 2009
Barrett: Did Paterson Really Call And Congratulate Espada On His Coup?
In the madhouse of Albany these days, David Paterson, predictably, has been behaving unpredictably. Press reports noted that he telephoned Senator Pedro Espada, the Democrat-turned-Republican who is leading the two-man rebellion. Espada's spokesman told the Albany Times Union that Paterson, the Demo ... More >>
Blogs
June 10, 2009
Coup in Review: No Session Today; Monserrate Keeps 'Em Guessing
Earlier Pedro Espada said he was goin' into the senate chamber and Malcolm Smith said he was goin' to court. Espada has not, that anyone could see, gone into the chamber, and Smith seems not to have gone to court. There was no senate session today, not even the al fresco one Espada had threatened, b ... More >>
Blogs
June 8, 2009
Espada GOP Coup in Albany? (UPDATE: Smith Out, Espada Sworn In)
Hmm: state senate Republicans have proposed to seat rebel Democrat Pedro Espada Jr. as "President pro tempore" of the senate, reports PolitickerNY, and to return former majority leader Dean Skelos, a Republican, to his old seat, replacing Democrat Malcolm Smith. (Update: Apparently they got away wit ... More >>
Blogs
June 8, 2009
Coup de Villains: The Albany Takeover So Far
Dear Leader: misty watercolor memories of Pedro Espada Jr. here. Malcolm Smith says he's still in charge, but he hasn't been able to achieve much over the past five months of Democratic rule in the state senate, and we doubt he has the resources to overturn the overthrow of his leadership today. ... More >>
Blogs
April 8, 2009
Albany Dems Flail as GOP Suits Up for Subway Savior Role
Though the Democrats have majorities in both Albany houses -- albeit razor-thin in the Senate -- they are so undisciplined that many now admit they need Republican votes to roll back the MTA's proposed fare hikes. The GOP senators they've targeted are from upstate districts where train and bus subco ... More >>
Blogs
March 30, 2009
Latest Budget: OK, Taxes on the Rich After All
Governor Paterson announced a "budget agreement" with legislative leaders on Sunday. He says this agreement closes the state's budget gap -- which he found to be $2.2 billion bigger than expected last week -- and "stabilizes our finances, and institutes critical reforms that will help eliminate wast ... More >>
Blogs
January 23, 2009
Paterson Presents Senator Gillibrand
Your new Senator with Al D'Amato (l.) "So it's August the 14th, 2003," says Governor Paterson, "and I am going to meet a lawyer who is going to be meeting me in an office building in Manhatan." (He wanted her not to run for Congress in '04, as she had planned, but the state senate.) "All the light ... More >>
Blogs
January 5, 2009
Skelos Gets Union Bigs to Meet with Dem Albany Rebels
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
Blogs
December 4, 2008
Dems Deal -- Espada to Majority Leader?
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
Blogs
November 24, 2008
Skelos Calls His Own Damn Session
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
Blogs
November 19, 2008
Espada Got Big $ from GOP, Healthcare Companies
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
Blogs
November 18, 2008
Skelos Blows Off Paterson's Budget; Gov May Wait
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
Blogs
November 5, 2008
GOP-Friendly Dem Senators Muscle Their Albany Colleagues
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
Blogs
October 29, 2008
Mavericks Squadron and Chromczak Debate in Brooklyn
There is little news coming out of Albany, but the estimable Liz Benjamin notes an ominous sign for the state senate Democrats, whose hope to claim a majority in Wednesday's vote is clouded by a rebel faction of city senators: Republican leader Dean Skelos is arranging for representatives of 1199 SE ... More >>
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