Results tagged “timesunion”

Newspapers all over the country are paying close attention to the stunning news that Governor Eliot Spitzer paid for a prostitute - and was apparently a regular client - to "visit" him from NY to DC. Our local papers all take a shot at the former crusading Attorney General who rode into the Governor's Mansion on a promise of reforming Albany.

Only in Albany can you be nominated to head the Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, and start doing work for the government - while still working for a private sector energy company! The state inspector general released a report explaining how this actually happened with former PSC nominee Angela Sparks-Beddoe last year.

Uh oh - there's definitely a little drama for five well-known performers as the Albany DA's office continues its probe into steroid trafficking. The Times Union reported yesterday that Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Tyler Perry were "among the thousands of customers of the pharmacies" DA David Soares' office has investigated.

Senate Majority Joseph Bruno's and Governor Eliot Spitzer's epic Choppergate fight grows each and every day. Yesterday, Bruno demanded that investigations be opened to focus on Spitzer's administration and whether Spitzer staffers were engaged in trying to sabotage him. Bruno said, "A lot of people in authority think there was criminality in the executive branch... I want to know how much the governor knew ... This is not going to go away, not going to get swept under a rug."

Governor Eliot Spitzer's "ChopperGate" has more of a stink today: It turns out that two of his senior aides refused to speak with the Attorney General's office during the investigation. While the investigation ultimately found that Spitzer aides didn't technically break the law when they were trying to use State Police records to discredit State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, it makes it hard to believe Spitzer's assertion that his aides had cooperated fully with the AG's office.

After Attorney General Cuomo found that Governor Spitzer's staffers were using state police records to attack rival Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, everyone agrees on one thing: It's very bad for Governor Spitzer.

Talk about timing! Governor Eliot Spitzer visited an Albany child care center and got a photo op with some kids, which could only help take the attention off his bitter feud with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. But we wonder if these tots have been paying attention to the news: The Post reports that when Spitzer told them to call him "Eliot," one kid declined and said, "I want to call you 'clown,'" a suggestion three of his classmates thought was swell.

The Post takes out a fraction of its crowded cover (A-Rod's 30th home run gets top billing) to trumpet that Governor Eliot Spitzer's aides allegedly looked for dirt on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, in hopes of getting a NYC DA's office to investigate Bruno. Not only that, a source says Spitzer's office allegedly contacted an "investigative agency...about a possible probe of Bruno before the accusations of the misuse of state aircraft became public nine days ago - suggesting a conspiracy aimed at Bruno was already under way." That is some source!

Why is it that things are hotter in Albany with the Legislative session over? The brouhaha between Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Governor Eliot Spitzer has, as the Sun put it, "reached a new low." Bruno had a press conference yesterday, saying Spitzer's alleged State Police surveillance on Bruno's activities was "espionage." From the Times Union:

"I've been in government 31 years and I've never experienced anything like this," said Bruno. "I was stunned to learn Governor Spitzer is using the fine men and women of the New York State Police to conduct surveillance on me," Bruno said. "This should send shivers up the spine of every New Yorker."

The fight between Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Joseph Bruno gets more and more unbelievable. Yesterday, Bruno claimed that the Times Union, the Albany newspaper, tried to shake him down for money and today the Post says Spitzer had Bruno tailed by the state police! Hopefully the next news will be that the Legislature is selling tickets to a fight in the boxing ring.

What a way to mark the middle of Governor Eliot Spitzer's first year in office: He has forwarded information about Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's statecraft and police escort use to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Albany DA Daniel Soares. That's quite a steamroll! But the story is totally, almost deliciously insane. If you've been trying to ignore the dysfunction of Albany, we urge you to stop - this is too good.

NY State Assemblyman Michael Cole was censured and stripped of a number of privileges after it was revealed he got drunk with an intern and slept in her home. Yes, lawmakers still make exceptionally poor decisions.

Governor Spitzer and other state leaders finalized this year's budget, to the tune of $121.8 billion, just in time for tomorrow's deadline. While Spitzer has touted greater transparency with public process, the budget deal has been notable for negotiations taking place behind closed doors. The Times Union had Spitzer's opinion on the secrecy, "Do we all wish there had been more public articulation? You bet," but "said a 'wide chasm' between his plan and the Legislature's had to be bridged somehow." In other words, the Legislature didn't want to be steamrolled.

- Sources say Bruno said, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens; is “so far up (the governor’s a**) he can’t see." (Bruno may have also included Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with Smith in Spitzer's a**.) Both Bruno's and Spitzer's confirmed the fight, which also included Bruno lashing out when Spitzer told him to "get serious" about the budget (Spitzer is making big cuts, Bruno and Silver wants to add more funding). The Post says lots of swears were used and that one of Spitzer's secretaries ran out of the room!

Hours ago, former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was fined $5,000 and sentenced to probation for "unlawful use of a state vehicle and driver" when he used his employees to drive his ill wife. The Times Union has an 18-minute video of the sentencing; reporter Rick Karlin noted that Albany County Court Judge Stephen Herrick said to the Queens Democrat, "Your fall from grace has been total and from a very great height…You are now the symbol, the icon, used by local and state reformers... Hopefully, your failure will serve as a deterrent." (See mugshot here)

Newly anointed State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli may be a "nice guy" who finished first, but the State Legislature's dealings to put him in place makes our head spin. The Legislature, and more importantly the Assembly, had agreed to select someone an outside panel would find qualified. The thing is, no one on the shortlist was an Assembly member, so the Democratic-run Assembly which calls the shots in Comptroller selection, decided to pick Assemblyman DiNapoli of Nassau County. Check out these editorials from the region:

NY Times "A Member of the Club": "The choice is a setback for a legislature that is already considered one of the worst in the nation — and a further sign that its members are not listening to the public’s demands for reform."

Continue reading "Everyone Loses With DiNapoli As Comptroller"

Governor Eliot Spitzer gave his first 2007 Budget Address, one that shook up old budget ideas. He wants to spend more, for starters, increasing the budget by 6.3% to $120.6 billion (illuminating Times graphic here). Still, Spitzer called his budget "austere," as he suggested adding almost 2,500 more state jobs. And though he's not cutting taxes, he's not raising them (there is also some property tax relief for the middle class).

At any rate, it seems that Spitzer's no-nonsense, desire for ethical politics (ha!) is what most the state needs, the wake of a various revelations and scandals. At least, until the first Spitzer era screw-up. But you have to hand it to a Governor who runs a 2-mile mile in under 14 minutes to start off his term. The NY Times' Clyde Haberman looks at how Pataki's first inaugural speech 12 years ago sounded a lot like Spitzer's call for change and the Daily News' Errol Louis notices the display of diversity at the inaugural.

Yesterday, Joseph Bruno, the NY State Senate's majority leader, revealed that the FBI was investigating him for his "outside business interests." Wow, is being investigated by the feds the new black for Republicans? Or is being investigation something most politicians need to go through (we're talking to you, Alan Hevesi!)? Republican Bruno called a press conference and told reporters, "I have nothing to hide. They are going into background over the past five or six years."