Andy will push for gov's cuts

Elections come and go, Governors are in and out of office, but there is always Fred digging up "exclusives"........and using his very special "sources".................andy

 

 

NEW YORK POST

Fredric U. Dicker

EXCLUSIVE

Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo, in his first test of in fluence with the Legislature, is weighing in on next Monday's special legislative session by backing Gov. Paterson's plan to slash $315 million from state spending, The Post has learned.
Cuomo, who faces a $9 billion deficit of his own when he takes office next year, plans to tell the Legislature's Democratic leaders that he wants them to vote for lame-duck Paterson's cost-cutting plan, despite their political misgivings.
"It is very important that the Legislature acts responsibly and makes these cuts," said a source close to Cuomo.

AP

Andrew Cuomo

"The deficit numbers for next year are staggering, and there will be no federal bailouts. Deferral of action is no longer an option."
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) has privately said he'll back Paterson's cuts, but only if Senate Democrats go along as well, it was learned.
But Democrats are close to losing their Senate majority and prefer to saddle Republicans with blame for the politically unpopular cuts.
Paterson is seeking across-the-board spending reductions in school aid and health care to rein in the newly emerged current fiscal-year deficit that state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says may actually total more than $900 million.
"It wouldn't come as a shock if the Legislature just puts off any action, as it so often does," said a source close to the situation.
*
Cuomo received a strong vote of confidence Friday from the leaders of the New York City Partnership, the city's top business group, as he sought their support for the tough fiscal reforms he has pledged to bring to state government.
"There was real enthusiasm about being helpful to him," said partnership President and CEO Kathryn Wylde.
"There's been a big issue with cynicism in the past: Why spend money and energy on Albany if all it's going to be is the same?
"What he was saying is he knows the place, he has a commitment and a plan, and I think he energized the business leadership, and certainly gave them the feeling that he was someone they could believe in."
Cuomo has made it clear for months that he's intent on assembling a broad-based coalition of business leaders, civic organizations, editorial writers and private-sector unions willing to take on the well-funded special interests -- including the public-sector unions -- that have brought the state to the brink of bankruptcy.
fredric.dicker@nypost.com

Undecided races may thwart Andrew Cuomo's agenda

Hopefully this will all get resolved quickly....otherwise....the chaos and dysfunction continues...the last thing this state needs during a severe fiscal crisis......andy

 

NEWSDAY

Originally published: November 20, 2010 9:15 PM
Updated: November 20, 2010 9:40 PM
By JAMES T. MADORE  james.madore@newsday.com

Photo credit: AP | Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo gestures while giving his victory speech in New York. (Nov. 2, 2010)

ALBANY - Andrew Cuomo's drive to tackle the budget deficit, job creation and other thorny issues in his first weeks as governor could be derailed if uncertainty over control of the State Senate drags on well into the new year, experts said.
Three races are still too close to call nearly three weeks after Election Day, and the specter of lengthy recounts of all ballots was raised again last Friday as more alleged voting irregularities were discovered in Buffalo. Moreover, the political parties disagree over whether recounts would have to be completed by Dec. 31, the deadline for settling lawsuits set by New York's chief judge.
The Senate will not be able to organize at the Jan. 5 start of the legislative session if the three races are unresolved. Neither party now has the 32 seats necessary for a majority in the 62-member upper chamber.

---

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Of Cuomo's predecessors, those who were most successful moved quickly after their first inauguration on Jan. 1 to secure passage of important bills fulfilling campaign promises. At the start, many used their electoral mandate to successfully push changes in January and February that often were opposed by powerful groups.
"Early on is the time he [a new governor] has to get it done because the longer somebody is in office, the less afraid the legislature is of them," said Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. The center studies state legislatures.
Past gubernatorial aides agreed. David Catalfamo, who worked for Gov. George Pataki, said governors accomplish the most in their first year, and that requires both legislative houses to be organized in January so bills can be adopted.
"The ability to put out your agenda, to use the political capital that you've accrued through winning by a large margin - you want to put that to work," he said. "And it really could be dissipated if there is chaos in the Senate."
Cuomo acknowledged as much in successfully requesting a quick resolution of lawsuits stemming from the undecided races in Nassau, Westchester and Buffalo. "If these cases are not fast-tracked . . . some or all of them may take months to resolve and delays of that length could cripple the orderly operations of the legislature," Cuomo wrote on Nov. 17 to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.
Cuomo added he was concerned state government would be incapable "of addressing the grave problems that lay before us." The most urgent of these is a $9-billion deficit in the budget due April 1.
Senate races haven't been decided until February in some cases, though control of the chamber was never in doubt and bill passage occurred. Last year, in the longest undecided race since 1929, Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Jamaica Estates) wasn't sworn in until Feb. 15, 5 1/2 weeks after the session had begun.
Echoing Cuomo, officials of both parties said they want to help him quickly tackle New York's problems. "Senate Democrats should stop dragging their feet and allow this process to conclude quickly so we can address the people's priorities of creating jobs and cutting spending and taxes," said Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre).
Austin Shafran, an aide to Democratic chief John Sampson of Brooklyn, replied, "We believe there should be a timely process to ensure every vote is fully and fairly counted, voters aren't disenfranchised and New Yorkers have a government ready to work for them in the new year."
However, Shafran added "a full hand recount may be the only mechanism that gets us an honest and accurate count" in the Buffalo race between incumbent Democrat Antoine Thompson and Republican Mark Grisanti because of problems with ballot scanners.
If the legislature is in disarray, Cuomo will likely use his executive powers to enact some of his agenda, experts said, because he cannot risk being held hostage by gridlock and thereby undercut his popularity.
"After two successive bad governors," said Jamie P. Chandler, a Hunter College political scientist, "to now have another big problem . . . wouldn't bode well for Cuomo."

Delayed winners

Because their races were too close to call, two state senators in recent times were not sworn in until a month or so after the legislative session had begun in the first week of January.
2004 Election
(35th Senate district in Yonkers and Westchester County)
Sen. Nick Spano (R) defeats Andrea Stewart-
Cousins (D) by 18 votes out of 114,128 cast.
Spano is sworn in Feb. 9, 2005.


2008 Election
(11th Senate district in Queens)
Sen. Frank Padavan (R) defeats
James F. Gennaro (D) by 483 votes
out of 103,000 cast. Padavan is
sworn in Feb. 15, 2009.


- Compiled by James T. Madore


SOURCE: NYS Senate and Board of Elections

State Job Application Information Right Here!!!! Join the Cuomo Team!!!

UNCLE CUOMO WANTS YOU!!!

 

www.WorksforNY.com.

 

Cuomo launches new website for job seekers

 NEWSDAY SPIN CYCLE

3:33 PM By Elizabeth Moore

Job seekers, your wait is over: Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo today unveiled his transition website "where individuals who would like to apply for positions in the Administration may submit their resumes. The transition teams will review those relevant to their respective fields and recommend exceptional applicants to the Governor- and Lieutenant Governor-Elect."

The site is www.WorksforNY.com.

Andrew Cuomo, Sandra Lee Form Peculiar Power Couple

  Let's step back in time a bit, this is an oldie from the Huffington Post.........but an interesting background piece on Andrew's relationship with Sandra Lee........andy

 THE HUFFINGTON POST

MICHAEL HILL | 06/10/10 01:43 PM |

NEW YORK — He battles Wall Street fat cats, wants to drain New York's political swamp and is the favorite to be the state's next governor. She makes chili dogs on the Food Network, dispenses recipes for "semi-homemade" meals and has clutter-free closet tips.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and TV lifestyle celebrity Sandra Lee have been a couple for five years, highly visible in their respective fields but largely under the radar as a couple.
With Cuomo now running for the job once held by his father, they remain discreet about their live-in relationship. But the intriguing possibility remains: If Cuomo wins in November, New York's incoming first family could be uniquely nontraditional: two experts in statecraft and kitchencraft, living together without benefit of marriage.
Cuomo and Lee might seem like a peculiar power couple.
Lee, 43, is the host of two Food Network shows: "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee" and "Sandra's Money Saving Meals." A product of the West Coast and the Midwest, she grills banana S'mores and chops parsley on camera with animated charm. Her trademark phrase, "semi-homemade," describes her philosophy of adding fresh ingredients to packaged food (Don't have time to whip cream? Take a tub of Cool Whip and add vanilla extract).
Cuomo is a 52-year-old from Queens and the elder son of Mario Cuomo. Like his father, he is lawyerly and playfully combative (Don't want to answer a reporter's question? Start a Socratic dialogue). He works on old muscle cars for fun, and is more at home with a wrench than a whisk. Like his girlfriend, he is divorced. He was married to a member of another distinguished Democratic family, Kerry Kennedy, a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
"We have a wonderful, supportive relationship and we both are always there to help the other," Lee said in a statement to The Associated Press. "I leave the law enforcement and the politics to him, and he stays away from any recipe development (though he is impressive on the grill)."
They met at a party in 2005 at a mutual friend's house in the Hamptons and now live in suburban Westchester County, where they spend time with Cuomo's three teenage daughters.
"In a sort of sea of celebrity," said Food Network President Brooke Johnson, the couple's relationship "seems like a little island of realness and calmness."

Story continues below

Though Cuomo and Lee court publicity as individuals, they are leery of drawing back the curtains on their relationship. Neither would agree to an interview with the AP.
Aides to Lee also said it is too early to say if the couple will move into the Executive Mansion in Albany should he win. (Not all New York governors have lived full time in the mansion.)
During an appearance by Lee last week on a Fox morning show, the hosts steered the conversation away from the topic of tuna to Cuomo. After offering that Cuomo is "very heart-healthy," thoughtful and kind, Lee joked that she hopes people ask Cuomo about her Food Network shows when he is interviewed.
Lee appeared on stage with the Cuomo family during his campaign launch and at the party convention, and she is in some family photos on her boyfriend's campaign website. But she is not mentioned along with his parents and his daughters in the "About Andrew" section.
Analysts say there could be political as well as personal reasons for Cuomo to tread gingerly on the subject of his long-term relationship as he runs for higher office, even though it's not exactly uncharted political territory.
Actress Debra Winger reportedly slept over at the Nebraska governor's mansion when Bob Kerrey was governor in the 1980s. Closer to home, New York City's popular mayor, Mike Bloomberg, lives in his Upper East Side townhouse – he never moved into the official mayor's mansion – with his girlfriend, Diana Taylor.
(If Cuomo wins, would it be OK to call Lee the first lady of New York? No, according to protocol guru Letitia Baldridge, who was Jackie Kennedy's social secretary. Baldridge said that while it is common to call governors' wives "first ladies," there is only one, and she is married to the president. Her suggestions: Ms. Lee or Sandra Lee.)
Bella DePaulo, who wrote about single adults in the book "Singled Out," said that while attitudes about relationships have become more liberal, mores are still in flux and politicians are often afraid of crossing the line.
"We're feeling our way," she said, "and I think for a high-profile person in politics, the stakes are higher for them to guess wrong when there is no established consensus."
Still, several political analysts said the couple's live-in relationship is unlikely to be a big issue.
Political science professor Robert McClure of Syracuse University said the people who would be bothered by it would probably not vote for the Democrat anyway.
Some New York voters said they weren't even aware of the relationship between the politician and the cook. And they said it didn't make any difference to them.
"It really doesn't matter to me," Kyle Lavorgna said in Albany, "as long as it's not another reality show starting."

Alan S. Chartock: Andrew Cuomo knows it

 THE RECORD

 Interesting take on what the new year will bring for New York, things will be rough but not so sure of the "doomsday" predictions of this article........new yorkers are a tough bunch....9-11 proved that......new york will bounce back under Andrew Cuomo's strong and fair leadership......and hopefully the pain will be brief and shared equitably......

Published: Saturday, November 20, 2010

The first thing the new governor has to do is to get the state’s fiscal house in order. That must happen immediately because in a year, the state’s election cycle will start all over and if Andrew Cuomo waits until then, it will be too late. Cuomo is lucky because as a political genius, he has rounded up the two most powerful publishing magnates in New York, Rupert Murdoch and Mort Zuckerman, the billionaires who, by ordering up editorials in The Post and Daily News, can make or break a politician. These two men will back Cuomo on his rush to fiscal austerity and will punish him if he waivers on his “New Democrat” principles.

Cuomo has to submit a budget that will make everyone who depends on government weep. We are talking about, among other things, class sizes in our schools, depletion of the state’s civil service ranks, pension and Medicaid reform. Not-for-profit agencies will suffer great reductions because the Legislature and its infamous member items will not be permitted the largesse of the past. If Cuomo wants to be President of the United States, he will have to convince the rest of the country that he means to be the bluest of blue dog Democrats. He’ll have to be ruthless. As the famous political operative, college professor and lobbyist Norman A. Adler said of Andrew in the New York Times, “He didn’t ream people out. He’d cut your legs and knees off while you were sleeping.”

So what do you do if you are a union leader in New York? You spend what dollars you have screaming that Cuomo is a sell-out to the working people. You buy TV ads that show mental patients languishing in closed wards. You show crowded school rooms and a child with tears in her eyes because she doesn’t have books. This time, because union leaders’ survival will be at stake, the union PR campaign will be extremely tough. There is a lot of money left in the Cuomo campaign accounts. Thanks to his Republican opponent Carl Paladino, Cuomo didn’t spend what he might have spent in a tougher race. If he needs to, he’ll buy his own ads to counter those of the unions and he’ll have those powerful newspapers behind him writing supportive stories that make light of the unions. Even the New York Times, which seems deeply suspicious of Cuomo, will have to go along. It isn’t as if they haven’t had to learn the hard way themselves about fiscal austerity and cutting back. The usual groups that descend on Albany in an annual pilgrimage will be told “no.” The union leaders will make a show of it but they will know that as the ranks of their members are thinned, those who are out and who are the most furious will not get a vote. Only the ones left standing will determine the fate of the leaders.

As always, the people who are most dependent on government will be hurt the most. The truth is that these folks vote the least and will be asked to take a disproportionate share of the pain. The new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives will have a huge say in the federal budget negotiations and when blue state New York makes its case, it will be told to drop dead. Of course, real political courage will be in short supply. Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver will fight like hell for those in his Democratic conference who understand what the political consequences of the cutbacks in their districts will be. But even Shelly will know that the cupboard is bare and the most he will be able to fight for will be table scraps.

Cuomo will say — and mean — “No new taxes.” Shelly will fight for “revenue enhancers.” The line will be held and Shelly will have to compromise. Many people, including a lot of sacred cows, will be hurt. When the smoke clears, you will see a leaner, meaner state bureaucracy but you will also see closed parks, schools and rest stops. There is no way out.

Now Cuomo has to govern. In a strange way, he also got lucky because of the fiscal mess the state is in. Right now, things are really bad in New York state. There is a huge structural deficit. New York can’t print money like the federal government so the deficit has to be addressed. The Democrats know it, the Republicans know it, Sheldon Silver, the powerful Assembly speaker knows it, and certainly Andrew Cuomo knows it.

Alan S. Chartock is president and CEO of WAMC.

LOOKING FOR A STATE JOB????

UNCLE CUOMO WANTS YOU!!!

www.WorksforNY.com.

7th SD Count--The Saga Continues---

Here are the latest updates coming out of the Nassau Board of Elections courtesy of Newsday's Spin Cycle.......

Names to go with faces in 7th SD count

6:24 PM By William Murphy

Photo credit: William Murphy Newsday 2010

There have been some pictures in Newsday and on this web site in the past two weeks that have images of two people who played an important role in the count of paper ballots in the Martins-Johnson.
The man on right with the argyle sweater is Scott Cushing, the GOP's main man in the counting room. (That's Dean Skelos next to Scott.)
And the woman at the center-rear, in blue, in profile, is Hale Yazicioglu, an associate in the Jaspan Schlesinger law firm representing Democrats.

Vote audit: rise of the machines

 

5:21 PM By William Murphy

Suffolk seems to be handling its machine audit with few problems, but Republicans and Democrats are fighting in Nassau and its likely that issue will end up in court at some point down the line with the Martins-Johnson race so close in the 7th SD.


Here’s the statement from Democrat Johnson’s people: “During the ongoing machine audit, a significant number of ballots where the voters clearly marked their choice of candidates in the 7th SD race were not correctly tallied by the voting machines. That number of untallied votes could possibly reach 4,000 and affect the final outcome of this election. Furthermore, during this audit, our counsel and Board of Elections employees uncovered at least one instance where a machine arbitrarily awarded votes cast on one line to another line. It is becoming increasingly clear that a hand vote may be the only way to ensure that every vote is counted."


Here’s Republican attorney John Ryan, who represents the Republican election commissioner, not Republican challenger Jack Martins: “The audit is proceeding and it is accurate. We have no found no discrepancies that did not have a logical explanation.”

Court referee to hear Nassau ballot protests

 

4:17 PM By William Murphy

A court-appointed referee will conduct a hearing Monday at the Nassau Board of Elections to try to reduce the number of contested absentee ballots in the Johnson-Martins state Senate race.
There are 879 contested paper ballots as of now, but attorneys had been hoping to meet informally this weekend to reduce that number.
The court referee, by the way, is A. Jeffrey Grob, who drew attention last year when he ruled that  a surgeon who was not entitled to $1.5 million for the kidney he donated to his wife before their split.

Nassau vote audit: magnified results (audit resumed 9 a.m.)

8:37 AM By William Murphy

Photo credit: William Murphy 2010

All the undisputed ballots in the Martins-Johnson state Senate race have been counted, so focus in Nassau turns to the machine audit, which started a week after Suffolk — although both appear to be going at a snail’s pace.

And the Board of Elections workers in Nassau who thought that counting absentee ballots was boring will now be deployed to the audit, which is both mind-numbingly boring and important. If the new optical scan machines did not count ballots correctly, and the mistakes are so serious that it could the affect the outcome of a race, then judges may once again be called on to decide elections.

As the machine audit continues, we are hoping that Nassau County’s vision plan that covers Board of Election workers has generous benefits down the road. To date, they have gotten free Sight Saver magnifying sheets (in use in above picture) to help them figure out the difference between a smudge and filled-in oval on the ballot.
UPDATE: Board officials unlocked the gates to the machine storage area at 9 a.m. and, after the usual prep work, the audit resumed at 9:20 a.m.]