Live Blogging Leaders Meeting No. 5
Jun 16th - 11:20 am
11:35 a.m. Paterson abruptly adjourns the meeting. Weird.
11:33 a.m. Paterson insists borrowing is “off the table.” Last week he was open to borrowing as a last resort, saying it would be a way to close the final gap.
11:29 a.m. Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (that’s KOLB, K-O-L-B), is the last to speak, as per the usual legislative leader pecking order. He’s giving the governor the business about a financial plan. Paterson admits: “I wouldn’t say there’s agreement.”
Kolb then asks the governor if he has a “particular agenda, other than talking to the press,” adding: “What’s the point of us getting together?” Paterson responds that he’s looking for suggestions on cuts…says he and Kolb and their respective staffs met recently and “found that we have a lot of agreement with your conference on a lot of the avenues.”
Kolb wants to cut to the chase, the governor asks: “Are you in a hurry? Do you have a meeting?” Kolb: “I’d like to do something productive.”
11:26 a.m. And here we go. Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos starts off addressing Paterson: “I just want to make sure I heard that correctly: No borrowing?”
Paterson: “No borrowing.”
Sampson: “Leave my tobacco bonds alone, man.”
Skelos asks if the governor to reiterate that he will indeed veto any budget that contains borrowing or deficit spending, Paterson answers: “Well I’ll veto it. I know you’ve got my back.”
Skelos: “Well, that’s encouraging.”
Paterson: “Well, what about your end of it?” No response from the minority leader on that one.
11:25 a.m. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver insists there’s momentum toward a budget deal: “I believe we are reachable within the next five or six days and should not look to the 28th at all and we don’t really need it to be as part of an emergency situation. I think the momentum is there to get it done.”
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Wilson Seeks Debate Over Pension ‘Raid Scheme’ (Updated)
Jun 16th - 10:56 am
Republican Harry Wilson is keeping the heat on the man he’s trying to oust, Democratic state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, over a proposed pension fund borrowing plan, calling for a televised debate on the issue.
“Mr. DiNapoli supported questionable borrowing schemes for 20 years in the State Assembly, but now he seems confused by the definition of the word,” Wilson said in a press release.
“So I am pleased to offer him a debate opportunity to make his positions on borrowing schemes and other matters pertaining to the office of the state comptroller abundantly clear.”
“This issue is important to the taxpaying public, and I will make myself available to any New York television station graciously willing to host this debate. I ask Mr. DiNapoli to do the same.”
Wilson slammed DiNapoli for flip-flopping on this issue, saying he “alternately a) proposed the plan himself, b) opposed the plan, and c) claimed not to be familiar with the plan, even though the Governor issued it on January 14th of this year.”
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Cuomo Plays It Safe In Lasagnagate
Jun 16th - 10:48 am
AG Andrew Cuomo treaded very carefully this morning when asked about the food fight between his mother, Matilda Cuomo, and his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, over the correct way to prepare lasagna, insisting both the women in his life make a “beautiful” rendition of the dish.
“Lasagna is like politics, Fred. Everybody gets an opinion. Everybody’s right. Nobody’s wrong,” the Democratic gubernatorial nominee laughingly told Fred Dicker on Talk 1300.
“…Sandy makes a beautiful lasagna; my mother makes a beautiful lasagna. On this issue, I’m going to be very, very careful…The campaign started for me, Fred. This is the toughest issue I’ve been dealing with.”
The AG did defend the Food Network star, whose recipe calling for cottage cheese and tomato soup was panned by his mother as “not the way you make lasagna.”
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Could Microstamping Split Bloomberg And Senate GOP?
Jun 16th - 10:17 am
The near-defeat of the microstamping bill yesterday may very well signal the end of the long – and lucrative- relationship between Mayor Bloomberg and the Senate Republicans in a crucial election year when the minority can ill-afford to lose the billionaire mayor’s financial support.
“I would say the relationship suffered a major setback,” said a source intimately involved in the debate.
“The mayor cares very much about guns. If the Republicans couldn’t give him three votes on a microstamping bill, what does that mean if they take back the majority? They’ll never put a gun bill on the floor.”
Bloomberg, who made a special trip to the Capitol (a place he is widely known to dislike immensely) to lobby in favor of the measure, had a heated exchange during a closed-door meeting with Sen. Tom Libous, a Binghamton Republican, in advance of the vote that saw the measure abruptly yanked from the floor before it went down in flames.
Sources with knowledge of the meeting confirmed the “passionate” debate between Libous, the deputy Senate minority leader, and the mayor, during which voices were raised on both sides.
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NOW-NYS Slams Women Senators’ Support Of No-Fault Divorce
Jun 16th - 9:16 am
NOW-NYS President Marcia Pappas released a very harshly-worded statement in opposition to the Senate’s passage of the no-fault divorce bill yesterday, rebuking the “woman senators who danced in the aisle as they threw women and children under the bus.”
“Senators Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D), Liz Kruger (D), and Diane Savino (D) led the charge, twisting Democrats’ arms to pass a bill that will devastate our State’s women and children,” Pappas said.
“For under No-Fault, victims of domestic violence, even violence documented with hospital reports, police reports, and witness statements, will be told by a judge there was “no fault” in their divorce.”
“It was particularly disappointing to see Senator Jose Peralta (D) side with the No-Fault proponents” Pappas continued. “Peralta actually won the seat by campaigning as an advocate for victims of domestic violence.”
Here And Now
Jun 16th - 8:18 am
In the wake of his Oval Office speech on the gulf oil spill last night, President Obama is scheduled to meet with BP executives today.
Rudy Giuliani said the Obama administration can’t force BP to defer dividends or establish an escrow fund for spill victims, calling any effort to do so “political posturing.”
In Albany, Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders will hold their fifth public leaders meeting in as many weeks in the Capitol Red Room at 11 a.m.
Paterson will release the economic development, prisons and police, and transportation portions of his budget later this week and ask the Legislature to pass them.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said his house will vote on Paterson’s budget bills.
The governor insisted he’s “not trying to put a gun to the legislators’ head,” but needs them to buckle down and make “tough choices.”
Paterson is wavering on whether to force the issue on school aid.
The next budget showdown could be over Paterson’s plan to hike the cigarette tax by $1.
“Let’s see how it turns out,” AG Andrew Cuomo said of Manhattan DA Cy Vance’s state Independence Party probe.
The state Board of Elections is getting in on the Indy Party action.
Gabe Pressman takes Mayor Bloomberg to task over the Independence Party/Haggerty mess.
Sen. Craig Johnson exchanged Twitter posts with ESPN’s Bill Simmons about the worst celebrity sex tape.
Bloomberg’s security detail got a little grabby with The Post’s Fred Dicker yesterday.
Senate Dems Blame Golden For Microstamping Failure (Updated)
Jun 15th - 7:13 pm
The Senate Democrats pulled the microstamping bill off the floor late this afternoon after it became clear the bill would not pass if the vote was allowed to finish. Now the majority conference is pointing the finger of blame across the aisle at GOP Sen. Marty Golden, who wasn’t in the chamber while the slow roll was called.
“Today Senator Martin Golden and his Republican colleagues struck a victory for gun criminals and a blow to law enforcement,” said Senate Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran.
“It is a disgrace that a former cop took a walk from the chamber and refused to stand up for law enforcement and let politics get in the way of public safety.”
“Microstamping gives law enforcement the tools they need to catch dangerous criminals and protect New York’s families. Unfortunately, the special interests won out over public safety. We could say we saw Senator Golden at his worst, but we did not see him at all – he was absent when it counted most.”
The “special interest” in this case is the gun lobby, which was opposed to the bill.
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Extras
Jun 15th - 5:43 pm
Laurie David insists she didn’t have an affair with Al Gore.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said his house will take up the budget bills Gov. David Paterson plans to send up this week.
Danny Hakim notes state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has been pushing a version of the pension fund borrowing plan since last year.
Mayor Bloomberg rallied GOP votes for the Senate microstamping bill.
Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns launched an ad campaign that targeted senators from both parties on microstamping.
Ed Koch has had more screen time than Bloomberg.
Homeless people and their advocates delivered a “summons” to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.
An NPR poll showed voters in Democratic districts less inclined to re-elect incumbent House members than in Republican districts.
Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson insists the “end is near” – to the budget negotiations, that is.
Sean Patrick Maloney is following his endorsement of Sen. Eric Schneiderman with a fundraiser.
NOW is split over no-fault divorce.
More Indy in-fighting in NY-24.
There appears to be a deal on Paterson’s proposed Excelsior Jobs incentives.
Bloomberg’s girlfriend, Diana Taylor, will host a “Women for Malpass” event.
Here’s Kerry Kennedy declining to say whether she’ll be voting for her ex-husband for governor, but insisting her three daughters will be thrilled if he’s elected.
Deputy Mayor Steel?
Jun 15th - 5:12 pm
The race is on to replace Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, who will depart City Hall at the end of June to take a private sector job, and Robert Steel, the former CEO of Wachovia Corporation who served in the Treasury Department under President Bush, is a leading candidate to take the job, a source confirms for NY1′s Grace Rauh.
(H/T to Crain’s Insider, which is, sadly, not linkable).
The position is one of the most high-profile jobs within the Bloomberg administration. If hired, Steel would be the city’s top economic development official.
Steel is certainly a heavyweight, but there could be some problems with his candidacy.
To start, Steel doesn’t actually live in New York City. His home is in Greenwich, CT, although he could move to New York if tapped for the job.
He was also a vice chair of Goldman Sachs, which has been taking some heat as of late. What’s more, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2009 that the SEC was investigating remarks Steel made about the future of Wachovia (where he was CEO) the day before the bank began discussing a potential merger with Wells Fargo.
That merger did go through in the end. Steel serves on the board of Wells Fargo as well as on its credit and finance committees.
Perkins Backers Tout Petition Prowess
Jun 15th - 4:55 pm
Sen. Bill Perkins’ home club, the Sojourner Truth Democratic Club, is touting the fact that it has single-handedly collected more than enough signatures in the first five days of petitioning to get the Harlem lawmaker on the ballot.
Perkins needs 1,000 legal signatures to get onto the primary ballot (he’s being challenged by Basil Smikle), and club members gathered more than 1,890. Generally speaking, three times the threshold is considered “safe” to insulate a candidate from getting bounced from the ballot by challenges.
(Although, sometimes even that isn’t enough. Just ask Public Advocate Bill de Blasio).
This isn’t the sort of thing one usually puts out a press release about. But it is designed to demonstrate that Perkins has support in the district even though Smikle is expected to be well-organized and well-funded (especially if the charter school advocates and Smikle’s former boss, Mayor Bloomberg, have something to say about it).
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