Results tagged “sheldonsilver”

The thin line between nonprofit organizations and local politicians was blurred once more again today. Elizabeth Benjamin of the Daily News reports that a ballot squabble between two city council candidates revealed that officials at the United Jewish Council of the East Side have been doing campaign work for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and mayoral challenger City Comptroller Bill Thompson. Renee Abromowitz of UJC said under oath that she had gone out to gather signatures for candidates testifying, "I have done this many years...So I know when the sheets on my desk [sic], I just go out and I volunteer to do signatures." Abromowitz also admitted to handing signature sheets over to her boss, a UJC director. The News says that Silver has directed more than $2.3 million in member items to UJC since 2006. The UJC has also received $16,000 in slush funds from City Councilman Alan Gerson, the man at the center of the controversy when the issues was raised by his Democratic primary challenger, Pete Gleason. A lawyer for Gleason said, "This is a charitable organization, and it's being perverted for political purposes."

After some very public bickering with Mayor Bloomberg, the State Senate is expected to vote on approving mayoral control of the NYC public school system today. Mayoral control, which Mayor Blomberg claims has improved the state of the schools (the public approves, too), expired while the State Senate was feuding, prompting the city to reinstate the Board of Ed. Now, the Senate will pass mayoral control with additional amendments including ones giving parents some more say (more details here)—but the only question is whether Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will be onboard, since the Assembly passed a version of mayoral control without the amendments.

A week that saw Mayor Bloomberg and Democratic state senators comparing each other to Nazi appeasers and plantation owners respectively ended with an announcement that the two sides had finally come to an agreement on Bloomberg keeping control of New York's schools. New Democratic Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. announced that a deal had been reached with most terms of the original 2002 mayoral control law kept in tact. However the new agreement will work to foster more parental involvement with a $3 million parent training institute run through CUNY and schools being mandated to have safety meetings with parents. The Times says that City Hall officials were careful not to gloat at news of the deal, that will likely be voted on when senators return from vacation before the new school year gets under way. The additional provisions will also require an anotherl vote from the Assembly, but word is that Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver was kept abreast of negotiations. Not all state legislators were forcing a smile though, with Senator Hiram Monserrate saying, “The mayor can really be a mensch when he wants to be.”

School's out—here comes trouble. Two teenagers have been arrested after they went on "an anti-Semitic spree" on Thursday afternoon in Manhattan. Two boys, 15 and 16 respectively, drew swastikas in black Sharpie on walls at both the Bialystoker Synagogue and the United Hebrew Center on the Lower East Side. At the Hebrew Center, they also lit off smoke bombs; at the synagogue, they hurled eggs and also wrote an anti-Semitic slur on the wall. The synagogue happens to be the East Broadway temple where Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has worshiped since he was four years old. Silver told NY1, "This is a crime, not against the synagogue; this is a crime against society. When people choose to desecrate a house of worship, it doesn't matter whether it's a church, a synagogue. It is just a despicable act that really should tug at the heartstrings of all of us." It's believed that a nearby surveillance camera led police to the two teens.

Now that State Senator Hiram Monserrate has rejoined the Democratic caucus and thrown the Senate into a 31-31 tie, the state Supreme Court judge who was going to hear Democrats' and Republicans' arguments over who should rule the Senate this morning instead said both sides need to resolve it themselves. Justice Thomas McNamara said, "As a matter of public policy, you guys should work this out so I'm directing you to go across the street and do that and report back to me at one o'clock. There are 64 (sic) members over there, who are, in my opinion, hopefully, capable of getting together and working through what I have every understanding and appreciation are very serious and difficult matters, but which can be resolved and can be worked through in a way to be beneficial to the citizens of this state."

Governor Paterson proposed a reform of the state's ethics commission. While State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, not to mention a number of watchdog groups, backs Paterson's plan for a single commission, combining the executive branch's and legislative branch's commissions, the third man in the room, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, "expressed unease" about Paterson's plan in an interview with the NY Times, which points out, "Mr. Silver, speaker for the last 15 years, is seen by many as a guardian of the state’s traditionally insular approach to government." The Daily News describes Silver's own ethics plan proposal as one that "keeps lawmakers in charge of enforcing their own conduct" with "several committees doing the policing." Related: Smith also said that lawmakers should disclose their income, adding, "I think leadership should not have a second income. I think anybody in leadership, I would rather see just devote their full time to the job," which might be a poke at Silver, who has never disclosed what he makes at law firm Weitz & Luxenberg.

Yesterday the MTA revealed that its finances are in even worse shape than originally believed, with declining property tax revenue resulting in an additional $621 million budget gap—even after planned fare and toll increases of up to 30% and service cuts go into effect. With those dreaded changes just weeks away, the authority is still hoping the state will pass some sort of bailout package to help avoid the worst of the cuts. Sadly, the MTA's hopes rest on the Albany legislature, where hopes go to die.

Now that Governor David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Assembly Sheldon Speaker emerged from their super-secret talks with a $132 billion budget, it's time to get the damn thing passed! Here's how the Times Union explains it: "With Gov. David Paterson's endorsement, the Legislature today intends to begin passing budget bills that will increase taxes by $5.2 billion, rely heavily on short-term and one-time revenues and require potentially deep cuts or more taxes if the economy continues its downward spin, as the governor projects."

We're barely a couple of months into the long-awaited Democratic rule of both the Assembly and Senate in Albany, but sources say that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is running circles around his new counterpart, Senate Leader Malcolm Smith. One Democrat tells the News, "Malcolm is a newcomer. He needs a year to figure it all out. Shelly has been here forever, so it's really not a fair fight." After initially having his leadership challenged by senators from within his party, maintaining such a slim majority over the GOP and gaining little leverage from a struggling Democratic governor, Smith has been able to get very little passed. Meanwhile Silver, the old veteran, continues chugging along, securing enough votes to pass bills strengthening rent-control laws and easing the Rockefeller drug laws. Another Dem says, "Shelly has played this perfectly. If things get done, he's a hero. If they don't, it's all Smith's fault."

With the MTA's finances in desperate, dire shape, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has "proposed a compromise on Wednesday that endorses putting tolls on the bridges over the East River and the Harlem River," the NY Times reports. The idea to toll the currently free bridges came up last November, but opposition from drivers has been fierce. Silver offered a compromise to charge $2 tolls to drivers—which is what subway and bus riders pay—and said, Obviously there are some who don’t like the toll. And I put that in the juxtaposition of, ‘Look, this is the only game in town.’” But Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) told the TImes, “Tolling the bridges is just not acceptable to me. Once you cross the Rubicon on tolling bridges the future conversation is merely, ‘How much is the periodic increase going to be?’"

Last month, Governor David Paterson appointed Jonathan Lippman, presiding justice of the Appellate Division in Manhattan, to be the chief judge of the Court of Appeals—the top judgeship in the state. The NY Times has an article about Lippman, with praise from most people, but notes, "his body of work as a jurist remains relatively thin, leaving some judges and legal scholars uncertain about what he will bring to the bench that has the last word on state law."

The NY Times reports that a group of Democratic State Senators are introducing a bill to tax the wealthy, to help shore up state revenue: "New York households that earn more than $250,000 in taxable income a year would see their tax rate rise to 8.25 percent from 6.85 percent — the highest rate currently paid. Those who earn more than $500,000 would pay 8.97 percent; and those who earn more than $1 million would pay 10.3 percent." Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver supports taxing the upper income brackets, while Governor Paterson does not (though he did concede, last December, that might be a possibility). However, State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith said of the bill, "The problem is foreclosures. The problem is a $15 billion deficit. The problem is trying to figure out how do we create jobs in this economy. So in that regard, I’m not sure if taxes is the way you do that.”

A state commission has recommended revising New York's drug laws to favor rehab for low-level offenders and give judges more discretion in sentencing convicts, but many lawmakers say the commission's report falls short. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver called it a "missed opportunity" in a letter to commission Chairwoman Denise O’Donnell:

The Commission held in its hands a unique opportunity to help undo thirty-five years of failed drug policy and set New York on the path to establishing a more just, more humane and more effective approach to combat drug crime and drug abuse. I am saddened that it failed to do so.

Continue reading "Rockefeller Drug Law Reform Report Too Weak for Shelly"

As he grapples with a $15.4 billion budget deficit for this year and next, Governor Paterson voiced his opposition to taxing the rich. According to the Post, Paterson explained, "What I'm saying is if you tax the rich right now, while the economy is disintegrating, you're going to lose jobs and you're also going to lose from the tax base as people leave the state. In my opinion, you're [compounding] the problem, not eradicating it. I don't think that taxing the rich is the best way to go right now." (That's also a refrain Mayor Bloomberg has made.) On the other hand, Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver is all for taxing upper income brackets: In remarks to the United Teachers Federation, Silver said, "Clearly, as a state, we need to ask ourselves if the best way to balance the budget is to make deep cuts in our classrooms or to ask the wealthiest New Yorkers to contribute a little bit more?" Which makes the Legislature's and Paterson's apparent agreement on a budget (press conference happening in Albany now) more interesting!

It's the zombie project! The MTA announced that nearly half a billion in federal stimulus money will be used to help pay for the long awaited, thought-to-be-deceased Fulton Street Transit Center. MTA CEO and Executive Director Elliot Sander told state lawmakers, "People have been worried that we were going to leave a hole in the ground or construct a simple subway entrance instead of the iconic structure that the community was expecting. I am here to tell you that this is not the case."

  

The MTA is dangling an option for commuters to (strap)hang onto fares closer to what they pay now: switch over to MetroCards or pay more. Yesterday they laid out four potential proposals for fare hikes come June: a pair of options if the state adopts the Ravitch Commission suggestions and enacts a payroll tax that would only force a slight increase and another pair of alternatives that includes the Doomsday showdown of a $3 base fare (for one-way trips) versus the $103 unlimited monthly.

No one is exactly racing to put the stamp on Caroline Kennedy as our next senator following her recent series of interviews with local media. Veteran New York politics journalist Andrew Kirtzman says thinks her roll-out has been disastrous, telling Politicker NY, "The interviews were catastrophic to her cause. They totally undermined one's faith in her. It's becoming clear why the roll-out has been so tentative and low-key: Her communications skills could take months to improve, and she doesn't have that kind of time." Ouch.

The much-maligned Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is in the news again with charges from the Post that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has turned it into "his own multimillion-dollar piggy bank." The LMDC is the Ground Zero rebuilding agency whose closing has been called upon at various points by former Governors Pataki and Spitzer and most recently by Mayor Bloomberg this summer. While funding for the agency has gone down overall, the amount of grants that have gone out to groups supported by Silver has allegedly tripled in the last two years. One anonymous critic tells the paper, "The allocations look more like [Silver's] 'member items' these days." Spokesmen for both Silver and the LMDC defend the grants as all going to groups vital in the rebuilding process and wh have all been approved by a board of directors put in place by Bloomberg and Spitzer.

Of all the people for Caroline Kennedy's people to piss off, probably pissing off Governor Paterson, who makes the final call on who gets Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be vacated Senate seat, is a bad idea. Yet the NY Times reports that he's not very happy:

The governor is frustrated and chagrined, the advisers said, because he believes that he extended Ms. Kennedy the chance to demonstrate her qualifications but that her operatives have exploited the opportunity to convey a sense that she is all but appointed already. He views this as an attempt to box him in, the advisers said.

Continue reading "Kennedy Headache for Paterson"

If the MTA's service cuts announced earlier this week do in fact go into effect, 1.3 million New Yorkers will be affected by the changes. During the press conference Thursday, MTA heads Elliot Sander and Dale Hemmerdinger encouraged straphangers to contact their reps in Albany as a last resort to bail out their 1.2 billion deficit. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver must have heard the call because yesterday he suggested a tax to help alleviate the burden on the MTA saying, "I am not afraid of a reasonable, responsible tax being part of the solution." The only additional good news following the announcement of cuts is that with the W train gone, plans are to extend the Q to Astoria.

Governor David Paterson, frustrated by not getting a deal for the state's troubled budget before today's special Legislative session, described state lawmakers as being "out of touch," according to NY1. Paterson said, "Looking at Albany, and Albany not being able to cut $2 billion off of a $15 billion problem that has to be addressed in four months is more than irresponsible, it doesn't make any sense." He is particularly unhappy with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R), who will introduce Paterson's unpopular budget cuts for a vote without offering any ideas of his own for cuts. For the record, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver didn't offer any ideas for budget cuts either, and Paterson told the Post, "I'm not going to take the blame if we come out of the session without a budget-cutting package."

Yesterday, Governor Paterson had a "secret" meeting with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos to discuss the state's severe budget crisis. And apparently it didn't go very well: The NY Times reports that they "failed to reach a resolution...throwing into doubt the chances that an agreement could be reached" before Tuesday's emergency legislative session. Paterson, whose proposed budget cuts would hit Medicaid and schools the hardest, blamed Skelos, stating, "It was clear from the meeting that Majority Leader Skelos has not changed his position," but the Senate GOP said, "We are being called to Albany by the governor to act on specific bills, which he has yet to send us." And even some Democrats may be uneasy, since the plan hits hospitals and schools.

Yesterday the Sun broke news that Democratic Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a weird habit of traveling from New York City to Albany by flying through D.C., racking up frequent flier miles for himself while costing taxpayers $500 to $760 for his round-trip airfare. Today the defunct paper takes a Parthian shot at the politician, interviewing watchdog groups who say Silver's costly (but legal) commute is proof that the state legislature needs to revise its transportation policy. And Bill Hammond at the Daily News goes further, deriding the assemblyman for his excess. Hammond (who bears a striking resemblance to accounts receivable accountant Herbert Kornfeld), says, "If there's a costlier, less direct and more wasteful way for state government to do something, count on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to find it...It's time to ground Air Sheldon."

State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a funny way of traveling between his Manhattan district and Albany: through D.C.! Instead of taking Amtrak or driving like other representatives, Silver prefers commuting by plane with a stopover 200 miles in the wrong direction. Depending on the length of the layover, the trip can end up taking four hours—not including the time it takes to get to the airport and pass through security. (A drive to Albany averages two and a half hours, and the train takes roughly the same amount of time.) The Sun speculates that for Silver it's all about US Airways' frequent flier miles, which Silver gets to keep while taxpayers pay for the tickets (usually costing $500-$760 for round-trip).

Shelly Silver doesn't think the commuter tax (repealed back in 1999) sucks! The Assembly Speaker, who opposed congestion pricing, said he was open to revisiting the tax, given the state of the economy. But, the Daily News reports, "Silver said he wants the GOP-controlled Senate take the lead in resurrecting the commuter tax," which seems unlikely, since Senate Majority Dean Skelos's spokesman said, "The NYC commuter tax was a particularly onerous and unfair tax." (The Sun explains it's a "tax of 45/100ths of 1% on the earned income of people who work in the city but commute from elsewhere.") As for other pols, Senate minority leader Malcolm Smith doesn't like it, Governor Paterson hates it and Mayor Bloombers really hearts it, "I've been screaming about commuter taxes for as long as I've been here."

The Observer's Azi Paybarah took this great photograph of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with today's instant classic "Count Shelly Dracula" NY Post cover.

Thank you, Governor David Paterson because now we have the long-awaited NY Post Photoshop job of Sheldon Silver as Count Dracula. The Governor caused a commotion after telling advocates for the disabled, "I used to sit in my legislative office and think about how difficult it is to travel 150 miles to Albany on a bus...and how there were legislators who I used to think practiced their own versions of being Count Dracula. They would be very nice to the advocates when they came to Albany and then...the sun would go down and they'd go back to who they really are, a bunch of bloodsuckers."

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The NY Times doled out a few endorsements for Albany-related primaries. The Times endorsed former Schumer aide and "enthusiastic new outsider" Daniel Squadron for incumbent State Senator Martin Connor's 25th District seat and endorsed incumbent Assemblyman Adriano Esapaillat for his 72nd Assembly District over challenger City Councilman Miguel Martinez.