Colby Hamilton

Senator Michael Nozzolio (Courtesy of LATFOR)

As the end of the year quickly approaches, New Yorkers are still waiting for the bipartisan, bicameral Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (quizzically acronymed as LATFOR) to produce new maps of state and Federal legislative districts. Later today, a Federal judge may rule on when the state’s new Federally-mandated primary will be. Then again, he may not. As usual, the state’s redistricting process is producing more questions that answer.

One thing is for sure: state prisoners, the bulk of which are housed upstate, will be counted in their last known districts. But just how that counting takes place—and how long that will take—is unknown.

“We said from the outside--and I’ve led the discussion--indicating that all laws are to be complied with," Senator Michael Nozzolio, one of LATFOR’s co-chairs, said during a phone interview last week. “We believe that the counting of prisoners should be as inclusive as possible, and that all should be counted."

A small and mostly overlooked item in the tax reform package passed provides another example of how the Governor aimed to give everyone a stake in the passage of the tax reform bill last week.

Among the authorizations was $1 million to keep a foreclosure program funded. The main proponent of the program has been Senator Jeff Klein who leads the Independent Democratic Conference in the State Senate.

“This was a good first step that will help keep some of these vitally important programs running as many New Yorkers enter the holiday season not only facing the prospect of losing the American Dream, but also facing limited options for help during  foreclosure process,” Senator Klein said in a statement.

Klein went on to advocate for the program's inclusion in next year's budget. According to his office, the program prevented more than $1.9 billion in lost property value and property tax revenue over the past two years.

Courtesy of the Governor's office.

With Jim O'Grady

Following up on the first two pieces of his economic package passed last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo today signed into law a $250 million cut to the MTA payroll tax. The tax had been a consistent target of suburban lawmakers.

“Small businesses are New York’s growth engine and this tax reduction will help create jobs and get our state’s economy back on track without jeopardizing funding for the MTA,” the Governor said in a statement.

Today’s signing was held at a high school in West Hempstead, where Cuomo shared the stage with dozens of local elected officials who've been trying to repeal the tax since it passed in 2009.

“The MTA payroll tax has been particularly burdensome on Long Island," he said, before predicting that the tax cut would spark an “economic rebound” in Nassau and Suffolk Counties—along with the ten other counties served by the authority.

According to the Cuomo’s office, 289,000 businesses with annual payrolls below $1.25 million will see the tax disappear, while more than 6,000 businesses with payrolls between $1.25 and $1.75 million will see their payroll tax cut by as much as two-thirds. An estimated 414,000 self-employed workers will also see their taxes lowered by the measure.

The new measure would also make elementary and secondary schools–both public and private–exempt from the tax, which won praise locally from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The Governor has said that the state will pick up the quarter billion in funding for the transit authority lost through the tax cut.

“The MTA Payroll Tax has been damaging our economy and restricting the growth of quality jobs in New York,” Long Island State Senator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “Repealing this tax for all small businesses and schools, and reducing the rate for others, spurs real economic development, and helps put New York State on the path towards prosperity.”

Transit advocates expressed concern after the bill’s passage that the state has reneged in the past on promises like the one Cuomo is making to shore up the MTA's budget, and that it's led to steep fare hikes and service cuts like those seen in 2010.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Thomas Kaplan, an Albany Correspondent for the New York Times, shares his political analysis of the events that transpired last week, and racks our focus on one or two key issues we should be paying attention to during the upcoming session.

Gay rights activist Libby Post, co-founder of the Empire State Pride Agenda weighs in on the New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms lawsuit challenging the process by which the state’s new same sex marriage law came about.

Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director, Center for Responsive Politics introduces listeners to opensecrets.org, and how it can be utilized this election year. Plus, how is secrecy in funddraising is affecting politics? What determines transparency? Why should some groups have the ability to maintain funding secrecy others not? Who benefits from this secrecy? When it comes to following the money, Krumholz is considered a top expert. She will join us by phone.

WNYC's Andrea Bernstein tried to divine Governor Andrew Cuomo's transit vision vis-a-vis the tax reform package passed last week. According to the post featured on the Transportation Nation blog, for those looking for more from Cuomo on public transit "it’s been a season of swallowing lemons."

There were the departures of MTA chief Jay Walder and Port Authority executive director Chris Ward, both seen as transit supporters – and their replacement with Cuomo loyalists Joe Lhota and Pat Foye, neither of whom has a background in public transportation.

There was the introduction of a massive plan to build a new Tappan Zee bridge, with the transit option mysteriously erased at the last minute.

And then: this week, to get his tax bill past the Republicans, the governor had to be willing to throw the MTA payroll tax under a bus, at least partially. Schools and small businesses would no longer have to pay the tax, which plays a vital role in maintaining the transit system.

...

Governor Cuomo reiterated that assurance Friday: “The state will pay, dollar-for-dollar, whatever amount would have been raised by that tax. So the MTA is held totally harmless — we’re just shifting the source of those funds from the MTA payroll tax to state funds.”

And the governor said no one should conclude from this that he doesn’t care about transit as much as, say, jobs for inner-city youth. “Obviously the MTA is very important to the region’s economy. I’m very excited about my appointee to the MTA, Joseph Lhota — all reports are he’s doing a great job and this will not cost the MTA one penny.”

But the idea of a broke state government being the guarantor of transit funds has left straphangers advocates uneasy.

Check out the rest of the post here.

The article has been updated from the original posting.

After covering Governor Andrew Cuomo enough, his administration’s fixation on control—of the message, of the agenda, of everything—can wear on you. You start to wonder about things.

Like today. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people crowded outside of a small auditorium on CUNY’s Medgar Evers College campus in Brooklyn this afternoon to see the Governor sign into law the inner city youth initiative part of his economic package passed earlier this week. It was so clearly going to be a fire hazard to let everyone in. Across the street there was an auditorium at least twice the size--why wasn't it being used? Maybe it was because reporters wouldn’t be able to write about the packed room the Governor spoke before.

Then again, who could blame him? This was the Governor’s victory tour, stop number two. The first, earlier in the day, was in Broome County,where he signed the flood relief bill into law. It will provide $50 million in relief to the areas still struggling to recover post-Tropical Storm Irene.

Then it was down to Brooklyn, where State Senate Minority Leader John Sampson praised Cuomo for tackling what the Governor called “an unemployment crisis within an unemployment crisis.”

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee John DeFrancisco discusses the how events of the past week unfolded; his conference’s next step in the “prisoner gerrymandering lawsuit”; and his priorities for the upcoming session.

And then we look at the view from DC, first with 23rd Congressional District Rep. Bill Owens who will comment on Albany versus DC in light of the recent compromise on the millionaire's tax. We will also ask him about the payroll tax cut, regulation and the US mail.

And 21st Congressional District Rep. Paul Tonko a former member of the New York State Assembly, weighs in on transparency versus productivity in Washington as well as in Albany, and why one set of lawmakers is able to compromise while the other appears not to.

Just wanted to highlight something that, in my opinion, is an important reality that the press deals with when covering the Cuomo administration. The tax reform blitzkrieg the Governor waged in Albany this week drew cries of opaqueness and hypocrisy from the press throughout the state.

But as Capital New York's superlatively special correspondent Jimmy Vielkind points out in a Q-and-A with Capital's editor and co-founder Josh Benson, the view from the ground is much nicer than among the airy media class.

Josh: ...The way this deal got done is about as far from Cuomo's stated ideal of transparency as it's possible to be. It makes a mockery of that particular pledge, actually.

But it happened fast. If the governor's calculation here was that the press and some legislators would scream about the lack of deliberation but that the public wouldn't care at all about the process angle, was he wrong? I mean, I ask this with an appropriately heavy heart and all, but have you seen any polls indicating that what people really want from Albany is more deliberation?

Jimmy: No. Our hearts can weigh heavy, but the polls won't capture it.

What people at home will see are a slight decrease in their taxes. They'll see reports of a federal government on the verge of shutdown. They'll see their stock portfolios suffer as the federal credit rating is downgraded. And then for once, after years of seeing their state government stalemated, they see ... stuff getting done.

You can check out the rest of the exchange here.

WNYC's Bob Hennelly has a great piece up on our website today on the long history of politicians standing accused, but refusing to stand down. The seeming ever-growing list of indicted elected officials (with some potentially on the way) goes back to time immemorial...or, at least to Aarron Burrs' mortal strike that left Alexander Hamilton dead on the banks of the Hudson.

"Over the years several public officials in New York have elected to stay in office even as they face criminal charges and indictments  -- despite the common misperception that an indictment in of itself is  evidence of culpability," Hennelly writes. "It is not."

Indicted and criminally charged officials continuing to serve in elective office presents a conundrum that puts two of our most fundamental democratic principles in quite a tension: The right to the resumption of innocence that is foundational to our nation's legal system and the right of constituents to unencumbered representation.

Check out the full article here. Check out the broadcast version above.

Courtesy of the Governor's office. ( )

Governor Andrew Cuomo and other state elected leader today handed out the first set of grants to the Regional Economic Councils as part of an economic proposal competition meant to help spur job growth throughout the state.

"The plans submitted by all ten regions were truly extraordinary,” the Governor said in statement. “For the first time, we are putting the power of the State Government behind the innovation of our people, giving them the tools to rebuild our economy."

All the regions received some form of funding, with a total of $785 million in grants for projects throughout the state. The four big regional winners were Central New York, the North Country, Long Island, and Western New York:

Courtesy of the Minority Leader's office.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb continued to hammer the Cuomo administration and legislative leaders today after the whirlwind passage late last night of a major economic package that included a rewriting of the tax code.

Kolb called the process "egregious" after Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver crafted a deal behind closed doors that lawmakers were handed shortly before being asked to vote on the legislation yesterday.

"There was no reason to do this in this rush, in a 24 hour time period, not having bills be on desks for at least three days, not to have outside groups have their say about this, one way or the other," Kolb told Susan Arbetter during her radio program this morning. "And if you go through and still vote the way you do, fine. But at least have public discourse about it."

Media reports this morning focused heavily on how rapidly the Cuomo administration moved the legislation forward. The New York Times Thomas Kaplan captured the process this way:

The remarkably rapid progress of the tax revisions — without a single public hearing or town-hall-style meeting — provided the most striking illustration to date of Mr. Cuomo’s policy making strategy: information is tightly controlled, negotiations are carried out behind closed doors and the debate is limited to just a few people.

"Governor Cuomo said, 'I'm going to have the most transparent, open government under my watch,'" Kolb said in his interview. "This is not transparency. This is not good government."

The New York Public Interest Research Group's Bill Mahoney, who was the first to notice that the 33-page bill was made public a mere 26 minutes before the Senate was to vote on it, called the process "not good, to say the least" but tried to look on the bright side of things.

"The best I could say is that at least there were no surprises this year," Mahoney said. "In the past it has happened that an issue that hasn't been discussed at all appears minutes before session and they wind up passing it."

Mahoney said that the Governor has had some limited success following his promise to open up Albany, but that Cuomo's tax reform process left much to be desired.

"What we saw last night indicates that we still have quite a ways to go," said Mahoney.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Unlike many lawmakers, Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb is not all that thrilled about the deal hammered out by the Governor and both houses of the legislature in the wee hours. He will join us to discuss the issues, and (hopefully) comment on the winners & losers in the race for economic development cash.

Last week the State won the battle over where prisoners should be counted for the purposes of redistricting – the decision is considered a win for Senate Democrats. Queens lawmaker Democrat Mike Gianaris has reaction.

And Blair Horner a VP at the American Cancer Society and a long-time political observer at the Capitol in Albany weighs in on the vast spectrum of issues unfolding here.

Courtesy of the Governor's video archive. This took place late last night, after the Senate had passed the economic package, which included the new tax brackets. The Assembly did its work well after midnight.

From WNYC's newsroom:

The former chief executive of MF Global Holdings Ltd. has abruptly left his job at the New York City comptroller's office.

In a statement on Thursday, the city comptroller John Liu said he has accepted the resignation of Kevin Davis, who started work in September as head of commodities in the comptroller's Bureau of Asset Management.

“We have accepted Mr. Davis’s resignation," Liu said. "Chief Investment Officer Larry Schloss will be assuming Davis’s responsibilities.”

Read the rest of the piece here.

Now it's on to the Assembly.

After reports surfaced that the outer borough taxi hail bill wouldn't be part of Governor Andrew Cuomo's broad economic stimulus bill, it appears the Bloomberg folks are ramping up their efforts to get it passed. Remember: the city is depending on $1 billion in revenue from the passage of the bill for its own budget gap closure. Courtesy of Bloomberg's Director of State Legislative Affairs Micah Lasher:

Over the last six months, the Governor has repeatedly expressed support for the goals of the legislation and also said he wanted to make certain changes in the form of a chapter amendment.  He and his staff were finalizing an amendment this morning, but it was never sent to the Legislature. While the Mayor, along with legislative leaders, was prepared to support that amendment, it is not necessary to achieve the goals of the legislation.

Update: Some good reactions from key folks, courtesy of WNYC's Ilya Marritz.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is receiving significant praise for the (all but certain) passage of a tax reform package today. Sure, not everyone loves it, but for the most part Cuomo has yet again managed to expertly sail the gale-blown political seas in Albany, all the while avoiding the siren calls from either end of the political spectrum.

So how did he do it? With geometry! He employed a three-dimensional solution to a two-dimensional problem.

Jacob Gershman of the Wall Street Journal has what may be the definitive piece on Cuomo’s slow turn on tax reform. But the truth is the Governor was able to solve a singular problem—the debate over the millionaires’ tax—by going beyond it to solve a bigger problem—the tax code—all the while outmaneuvering those on both his left and right.

On his left he had labor unions and progressive members of the state legislature, emboldened by the Occupy Wall Street movement, demanding the Governor not sacrifice spending on things like education, and programs for the poor for a promised lower tax rate on higher-income earners starting January 1, 2012.

On his right he had Senate Republicans and business leaders echoing back to him those same promises not to raise taxes at a time when the State’s economy remained weak. Likewise, Cuomo has put a lot of stock in his efforts to make New York appear “Open for Business”—changing the state’s image as a high-tax, high-regulation state is crucial to the Governor’s sensible centrist mission.

As I reported a month ago, the Governor couldn’t afford to look like he was backpedalling or caving on his previous promises and positions—despite reports that he wasn’t keen on doing so. What the Governor needed was an opportunity:

Below is what the Assembly and Senate will likely be passing at some point today. Please have a look and let us know if you find any gems or turkeys:

Bill One

Add another New York City elected official to the growing list of corruption-related activities. An aide, a person who "shares a residence with the senator" and two others were indicted by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today.

Patricia D. Savage, the president of the non-profit Parent Workshop, Inc. and an aide to Huntley's, and Lynn H. Smith, the organization's treasurer and house guest/roommate/something else of Huntley's, are accused of diverting approximately $29,950 in tax payer funds from the non-profit and in to their pockets. Two other individuals, David R. Gantt and Roger N. Scotland, are accused of "falsifying documents to cover up the theft once the investigation commenced," according to a statement from the AG's office.

"This personal profit-making scheme defrauded taxpayers, all the while depriving communities of much-needed funds. Now it's time to hold those behind it accountable," Schneiderman said in a statement. "The charges announced today send a strong message that those who abuse their positions to rip off taxpayers will be prosecuted."

The bust was part of a joint effort between the offices of Schneiderman and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (the other two state elected officials not named Cuomo) to combat public corruption.

"Taking money intended for families in need is unconscionable," DiNapoli was quoted saying.  "Abuse and fraud will not be tolerated. By combining forces, my office and the Attorney General have exposed and are prosecuting this egregious theft of state funds which were intended for the public good."

Huntley herself was not charged of any wrong doing.