Results tagged “sienacollege”

The Siena College Research Institute released information on how New Yorkers feel about Governor Spitzer, and the news is bad. Thirteen months after Spitzer was elected overwhelmingly to office, he now has a rating of 36% favorable/51% unfavorable (sliding from 64-22 in June, 41-46 in November) and a job performance rating of 27% positive=70 negative (55-37 in June, 33-64 in November). Not only that, but Siena Poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said, "A majority of voters,...

After heated debate and almost universal dislike from both parties and many NY residents for his controversial driver's license plan, Governor Spitzer has decided to shelve the idea. He is expected to announce the news today during a meeting with the Democratic congressional delegation, whose recently elected members have criticized the Governor for putting their positions in jeopardy with voters. The Governor spoke to the NY Times, "You have perhaps seen me struggle with it...

The shift comes as the governor has faced a firestorm of criticism both from Republicans and from within his own party. More than a dozen county clerks, who operate Department of Motor Vehicles offices upstate, have refused to carry out the policy, even though they are considered agents of the governor’s administration.

Continue reading "Spitzer Bends on License Plan"

It's either an unfortunate choice of words or a pointed dig. When asked about a Siena College poll that showed Mayor Bloomberg would win a gubernatorial match-up against Governor Spitzer 50-37, Bloomberg gave his thoughts on the Steamroller's difficulties: "I think that Eliot Spitzer will turn out to be a very good governor of this state. He's had his teething problems as everybody does when they come into office."

Right now, we bet that more than a few people are inspired to be a fake lawyer for Halloween - you just need a briefcase, a legal pad and chutzpah. The NY Times reports that Brian T. Valery, a paralegal who posed as a lawyer for a few years at law firm Anderson Kill, faces arraignment for impersonating a lawyer and perjury this Wednesday in Connecticut. Valery had been working at Anderson Kill as a paralegal since 1996, and in 2004, he said he passed the bar, after graduating Fordham Law. The law firm let him represent at least 50 clients in matters such as defending drug companies from lawsuits...but then last year, one of Valery's college friends called Anderson Kill; the Connecticut Law Tribune noted that the friend couldn't find Valery "among registered New York lawyers, but found him listed as an Anderson Kill attorney." Uh oh!

The bottom line from the latest Quinnipiac poll? Mayor Bloomberg is enjoying some of the the highest approval numbers of his mayorship, but New Yorkers don't want him in Washington. Mayor Bloomberg has an approval rating of 70% - a far cry from his numbers in November 2003, which had two-thirds of New Yorkers saying they wanted a different mayor.

Have you seen Alan Hevesi's new ad where he's sitting against a somber blackground, apologizing for the "stupid mistake" he made to have a state driver chauffeur his wife? He humbly asks for voters to consider his 35 years of experience and says he'll fight for New Yorkers. And yet it's hard to listen to it and not be disappointed and upset, knowing that comptrollers are supposed to monitor this kind of behavior in the first place.

Siena College released poll numbers for various NY election races yesterday. In the wackiest race of all - the Attorney General race between Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Republican Jeanine Pirro - it looks like the embattled Pirro is gaining slightly on Cuomo. Cuomo now leads by 13 points, 50 to Pirro's 37, but a month ago, Cuomo led by 17 points. But it's not like voters are suddenly switching sides - Cuomo's numbers went down as more people joined the undecided voters. So, it still doesn't seem like the scandal has hurt Pirro very much, but it's still unclear if it's helped her. We're curious about a post-debate poll, after Sunday's wild ride. Cuomo and Pirro are debating for the last time (awww) this morning in Rochester - we hope that Room Eight's LunchBox tackles that debate too, because yesterday's LunchBox on Sunday's debate was perfect.

Surprise, surprise. When Siena College Research surveyed state voters about its two Senators, it turned out that New Yorkers like Chuck Schumer twice as much as Hillary Clinton. The measure was "which Senator is more effective," which 44% finding Schumer "more effective to Clinton's 22%. In fact, Schumer was rated higher than Clinton is all categories - men, women, whites, Latinos, city folk, suburbanistes - except African-American voters, who preferred Clinton (45% to Schumer's 21%). Even though it's been six years and she has been a pretty shrewd, relatively effective (it's the Senate, after all!) politician, most New Yorkers probably think of her as a carpetbagger - and a carpetbagger with bigger fish to fry than New York State. We'd guess most voters like Schumer more, but probably think of Hillary first.

Siena College conducted a survey that shows most New York residents do not trust the state government. Gothamist could have conducted a survey using photographs of George Pataki, Joseph Bruno, and Sheldon Silver and asking little kids what they thought and we suspect we would have gotten the same findings ("he doesn't look like someone that would approve my allowance"), though less statistically significant. The Siena College findings go on to that it seems like most politicians hoping for NY state office are positioning themselves as "outsiders." Which makes us roll our eyes. But it reminds us that we need to brace ourselves for this fall's gubernatorial race.

A poll from the Siena College Research Institute says that it looks like Govenor Pataki won't be reelected. Given various matchups, Pataki would be defeated by either Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has announced he's running for Governor next year, and Senator Hillary Clinton who is actually being urged by many, including Congressman Charles Rangel, to run for President in 2008. Which means that Pataki seems like a terrible candidate to represent the Republican party. If Rudy Giuliani were to emerge as an alternative Republican candidate, he would be able to beat Spitzer, but not Clinton. Like Clinton, Giuliani is more interested in the Presidency, which makes the Clinton-Giuliani matchup numbers kind of fascinating. But they can hardly be called a national bellwhether, since outside of NY, Clinton is extremely polarizing and Giuliani may still be riding some of the September 11 sentiment in the heartland; oddly enough, Pataki's blandness is more suited for the national stage than either Clinton and Giuliani. Anyway, Gothamist is sort of relieved that the poll numbers bear out that Pataki won't be governor next year, because we've had more than enough.