Haha.

Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today.

Reached by phone, Fossella's communication director had no immediate comment on the report.

Shocking, I know.

Alright, so everyone who hasn't been asleep for the last forty years must have seen this one coming: Sheldon Silver, Democrat of Manhattan, Speaker of the Assembly, refused to allow the State Assembly an up-or-down vote on congestion pricing.

The New York Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s far-reaching plan to ease traffic in Manhattan died here on Monday in a closed conference room on the third floor of the Capitol.

Democratic members of the State Assembly held one final meeting to debate the merits of Mr. Bloomberg’s plan and found overwhelming and persistent opposition. The plan would have charged drivers $8 to enter a congestion zone in Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours.

Mr. Bloomberg and his supporters, including civic, labor and environmental organizations, viewed the proposal as a bold and essential step to help manage the city’s inexorable growth.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. If the proposal didn't have the necessary votes, it could have been let to the floor and died there. Sheldon Silver didn't allow it to a vote - in the Stalinist system of Albany, only the leaders of the respective chambers, not individual legislators, in practical terms have the ability to bring legislation to a vote - because he did not want it to pass.

And there is no district in all of New York that would have benefited more from congestion pricing than Mr. Silver's own.

In normal years, residents of Silver's 62nd AD really don't have much in the way of leverage over their too-powerful Assemblyman, which is why Silver has completely escaped accountability in his marbled office in Albany. This time, however, things are different: there's a primary challenger, Paul Newell.

If the powerless voters in the 62nd Assembly District want to have a representative for their interests in Albany, this year, they have a choice.

Chris Bowers over at BlogPAC emailed over some really exciting news I'd like to share with the Progressive community.

First, some backstory. There's probably not a single soul in Progressive blogdom who has not at some point railed bitterly about Democrats. Weak-kneed, spineless, ineffectual Democrats who fail to stand up and do the right thing for their constituents, their party, and so on. These Democrats are one of two reasons there is even such a thing as a Progressive movement (the other, of course, is the republican party in its full murderous and corrupt incompetence).

The interests of the netroots and the party have often aligned closely, whenever the goal was simply the election of more Democrats. They often diverge when the goal is the election of better Democrats. When the goal is Red to Blue, we all tend to be on the same page.

It's time to expand that goals horizon, and get us some better Democrats. BlogPAC is launching From Blue to Bluer, a program designed to bring national attention and resources to bear on state-level Democratic primaries.

From Blue to Bluer seeks to first identify, and then help elect, progressive, grassroots candidates who are running in competitive Democratic primaries in blue districts around the country. The primaries can either be for open seats or against incumbents who are either too conservative for their districts, or who are simply corrupt, or both. The goal is to find a handful of proudly progressive primary candidates for local and state legislative races, and then provide them with the national support they need to help put them over the top. Through this program, we can show Democrats across the country that that a fifty-state strategy means blue districts too, and that all Democrats, no matter how local, can be held accountable for not representing their districts or for selling out progressive ideals.

If there was ever a state this program was made for, it's New York. Leave your suggestions (I've already made mine, privately, to Bowers, as has Phil Anderson) in the comments: which primary challenger in New York deserves help against an entrenched incumbent? Or drop BlogPAC a line here.

I can't stress enough what an awesome opportunity this is for Progressive Democratic challengers across the country. And I'd love - love! - to see one of the Blue to Bluer designees being here in New York.

Brownsox at Daily Kos posts the DCCC's 2008 target list in its entirety here; the DCCC, of course, is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party body charged with electing Democrats to the House.

The list for New York is long, grand, a thing of beauty.

NY-03 Peter King
NY-13 Vito Fossella
NY-25 Jim Walsh*# (Dan Maffei opposing)
NY-26 Tom Reynolds*
NY-29 Randy Kuhl# (Eric Massa opposing)

We're going to be very busy this year, because there's no reason why we shouldn't win all of those races. Get busy raising money, candidates.

If you thought you were incapable of being shocked anymore by the ongoing scandal that is your state legislature, it's time to rethink that.

Here's the scenario. Your young daughter applies for, and gets, an internship opportunity at the state Capitol. A great opportunity, obviously, and one that many young people across the state vie for, putting effort into the requisite qualifiers: good grades, public service, community volunteer work.

Once in Albany, until 2004, this is what happened to your daughter: she, along with all other female interns, was herded into a newsstand in the Capitol, where legislators would pick and choose their staff based on attractiveness, not résumé. There's a name for that: an auction.

Digby:

However, this truly is beyond the pale and should be a matter for investigation. If politicians who corralled a bunch of women into a newsstand to be chosen for jobs in legislators' offices based on their sexual attractiveness to the disgusting pigs they were going to work for are still in office today, they should be exposed. That's not consensual behavior, that's sex discrimination. This practice apparently went on until 2004, and there's no excuse for it.

This is the natural and unavoidable consequence of the Albany system of legislators who draw their own district lines and who are more likely to die in office than to lose an election: they prey on your children, because they know that you can't do anything about it.

And there's not a damned thing you can do about it, because you're just going to keep on voting these people back into power. Given the glacial turnover in Albany, the people who bid on your daughter based on her fuckability - your teenage daughter - are all still in office.

The New York Times, front page, this AM: Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards.

The slowing economy, weighed down by a widening credit crisis, is likely to delay the signature office tower and three residential buildings at the heart of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the developer said.[...]

But Mr. Ratner has yet to secure an anchor tenant for the Miss Brooklyn building, and now plans to phase in the residential buildings slowly.

When this bill of goods was sold to the public, it was as a shot in the arm for downtown Brooklyn's economy (which is why a lot of public money is being thrown into the hole). The displacement of residents was to be offset by new construction, including a (debatably defined) number of affordable units to maintain some cohesion between existing neighborhoods and new construction. That's now being delayed, but you'll still get that arena, grateful Brooklynites.

Another one bites the dust. Liz:

GOP sources confirm that Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Western NY Congressman since 1999 and ex-NRCC chairman, will announce around noon tomorrow in Buffalo that he will not seek re-election this fall. Reynolds spokesman LD Platt did not return an e-mail seeking comment. [...]

But the recent NRCC fraud scandal - some of which took place on his watch - has made his re-election effort that much more difficult in an already tough year (increasingly Democratic state, presidential election etc).

That makes things a lot easier for this guy:

The question now becomes whether Jack Davis, the guy who ran for the seat last time - and couldn't defeat Reynolds despite the latter's role in the Foley scandal - will now run as a Democrat in a primary against Jon Powers, or as a republican against likely contender George Maziarz.

Another bit of irony: if Reynolds is retiring over the NRCC scandal, it will prove once and for all that while you can get away with molesting underage boys in the GOP, you had better not lose their money, or you're toast.

On the web: Jon Powers for Congress

Democratic Congressional candidates around the country - Darcy Burner, Eric Massa, Steve Harrison, Donna Edwards, and many more - are embracing the Responsible Plan, an effort to get American troops out of Iraq while preserving regional stability, United States interests and restoring American moral leadership. Every Progressive should read this document. If there is a way forward, this is it.

Here's Steve Harrison, running for Congress against Bush lap dog Vito Fossella in New York's Thirteenth District, speaking on why he was one of the ten original supporters of the Responsible Plan.

On the web: Steve Harrison for Congress
Donate: Steve Harrison's ActBlue Page

The American Revolutionary War lasted, by the most generous estimate, eight years, from 1775 to the Peace of Paris in 1783. The Civil War took four years from Sumter to Appomattox. World War One was fought with American participation for a year or so. World War Two, from Pearl Harbor to the instrument of surrender on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo harbor lasted less than four, punctuated by the German surrender in Reims and Karlshorst even sooner.

And here we are, entering the sixth year of our awful engagement in Iraq, with neither an end nor victory in sight. It's telling that we don't even know what victory looks like anymore. A Federal Iraq held together by force of arms or some new tyrant? An Iranian fiefdom that, for the sake of appearances and our prestige, tries to be somewhat discreet about its subservience to Tehran?

Meanwhile, we've lost close to four thousand American dead, tens of thousands grievously injured, trillions of dollars, and uncounted numbers of Iraqis. Literally uncounted, because nobody keeps statistics on their dead.

Meanwhile, here at home, the idea that we could wage war on the cheap, with borrowed money and while shifting the tax burden to the middle class, is a cruel, tragic joke. The dollar has lost a bit less than half of its value. Banks are folding. We've entered, in mood if not yet perhaps fact, the third Bush recession. The newest term in the lexicon is jingle mail; homeowners are mailing the keys to homes they can no longer afford to their mortgagers.

Dear Media,

yes, we get it, he had some fun on the side. Yes, people understand that since he told you the story first, you have to report it. Yes, of course, this is an awesome, titillating story so soon after that other unpleasantness. And absolutely, his wife did some dallying too, as we now know. This matters, to someone, I'm sure.

Sure, it's understandable that you'd overlook the fact that the Patersons - like the Spitzers - have children, children who are probably being traumatized into years of therapy even as we speak.

But seriously, is this what you really have to give wood to on his first full day day in office? And by wood, I mean frontpage hundred and twenty point type?

Can't you every once in a while, instead of telling us who's up and who's down, who's doing who for how much and how often, report on stuff that matters? There's a budget to be produced. That matters. That budget has a 4.4 billion dollar gap. That matters, too, and even more, what matters is how it gets closed.

There's more to cover, no question. Our legislature is a laughingstock. Upstate is rotting before our eyes. The Senate is about to flip - what does that mean? Why is this important?

So much to write about, and this - this! - is what consumes the entire news cycle? Come. On. Seriously?

Per email, Senator Obama's speech as prepared for delivery.

[Update]: There's video.

"A More Perfect Union"
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Constitution Center
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As Prepared for Delivery

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

Ivan Young, Dem Chair in Islip, Suffolk County, emails over short, sweet and above all, on the record:

I am confirming that Mr. Bodkin will not be entering the race for the State Senate in the 3rd SD this year.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

There is no corresponding announcement from Chris Bodkin, republican-turned-Democrat and rumored to be a candidate in the Democratic primary to take on Caesar Trunzo.

Alrighty then. The Democratic candidate to take on Caesar Trunzo is Jimmy Dahroug. The lack of a primary, of course, means that the general election between Trunzo and Dahroug begins, like, now. This will be a closely watched campaign, and can of right be considered a top-tier race for control of the State Senate.

Welcome, Governor Paterson: New York's Progressive Community stands with you.

Statement on the accession of Governor Paterson by New York's Progressive community

New York, March 17th, 2008 – For Immediate Release

The Progressive community of New York State – activists, bloggers, fundraisers, organizers, ordinary men and women from all walks of life – welcomes our new Governor, David Paterson, as he assumes our state's highest office. We recognize that Governor Paterson is the first person of color to hold the office of Governor of New York and the first legally blind person to ever hold the office of Governor in the history of the United States. We are inspired by his life achievements to date, by his impressive and daring record of reform, and we are supremely confident that he is ready to lead our state.

We understand that Governor Paterson will face challenges and opportunities as he takes office. Our new Governor's long history of working with all stake holders will prove a valuable asset in delivering for New Yorkers. We believe that both houses of our legislature require drastic changes in their operations. Transparency and open government still elude our state, and too often, our citizens are shut out of decisions that affect our lives. The voices of too many New Yorkers still do not get heard in our state Capitol. These things must change. Governor Paterson's distinguished record of reform gives us great confidence that he will be an agent of this change.

The Progressive community of New York State is ready to support our new Governor in bringing about the change New York needs; the change that New Yorkers voted for in the 2006 election. After the trials of the recent past, we believe that New Yorkers want Governor Paterson to step forward with a bold plan for change that returns our government to our people and creates a better future for all New Yorkers. We look forward to working with our new Governor as we build a lasting Progressive majority, in Albany and around the state, conversation by conversation, vote by vote, district by district, until New York is again a beacon of Progressive governance bright enough to illuminate our entire nation.

As we look forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead, our thoughts are with Governor Eliot Spitzer and his family in their difficult time. We salute Governor Spitzer's achievements, and wish him and his family the best.

Signatories after the jump.

If someone had asserted a week ago at this writing - early AM Monday - that within a week, Eliot Spitzer's career and Bear Stearns would both spectacularly implode, the most likely response would have been derision.

And yet here we are, with Bear being essentially nationalized - the Fed is taking over that firm's assets as collateral for a thirty billion dollar loan guarantee - and Eliot Spitzer officially handing over the reins to his lieutenant governor at noon today.

The Sheriff of Wall Street went down at the same time as Wall Street itself. How ironic. Per the New York Times, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers may be next down the rabbit hole.

At the bottom of that hole sits the same culprit in both cases: the Bush administration. Any serious look at the investigation into Eliot Spitzer has to come to the conclusion that the Bush Department of Justice was aiming for a hit. And that's what they got, signed, sealed and delivered courtesy of Alberto Gonzales. Any why Spitzer? Because he was the lone politician to take on the business practices that first came to pass in the Bush era, when Wall Street knew its practices wouldn't be scrutinized too closely, Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley be damned.

Greg Palast takes a closer look:

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, was first out of the gate with a call for the impeachment of Eliot Spitzer over the recent unpleasantness. Specifically, from news reports, he said:

The state "cannot have this hanging over their heads," said New York Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Tedisco.

"This" being, presumably, the freshly revealed fact that Eliot Spitzer had consorted with prostitutes.

Now, if Spitzer's transgressions cannot hang over the collective head of the state and require his immediate removal via impeachment, surely, the state also can't have hanging over our head that the incoming acting lieutenant governor, Senate President Pro Tem Joe Bruno, was issued an FBI subpoena in March of 2006 in connection with a Federal investigation into his consulting company. Specifically,

The senator refused to discuss what, exactly, the FBI is looking into. He declined to say whether it has anything to do with Evident Technologies Inc. - the company to which he steered $500,000 via two state grants with no strings attached.

Bruno has personal ties to several of Evident’s directors, Jared Abbruzzese, one of the company’s founders and a former co-chair, and Wayne Barr - both of whom share the senator’s interest in horse racing.

Abbruzzese is being investigated by the state Lobbying Commission for providing his plane to Bruno for several trips, including a fund-raiser and a tour of several Kentucky horse farms that Barr arranged.

Bruno said he doesn’t believe this inquiry will affect his ability to serve as majority leader - a post to which he was recently re-elected by Senate Republicans.

It's worth pointing this out again: the FBI subpoenas issued to Bruno and others remained known only to their recipients from March of 2006 until the Senator gave a press conference on December 19th, 2006. That press conference wasn't prompted by leaks from prosecutors - it came about because someone inside the state capitol was shopping the story. Since then, the investigation has remained airtight. By contrast, the Emperor's Club investigation concluded on Thursday, March 6th; the New York Times began calling the governor's office late the next day. But that's gravy, though probably worth an investigation by (Democratic) Attorney General Cuomo.

So back to Tedisco. Joe Bruno is being investigated for, as far as we know, steering public contracts to private firms in which he has an interest. That's likely to shake public confidence in the administration of government far more severely than anything having to do with Spitzer's private, self-funded spending habits.

So when is Assemblyman Tedisco going to introduce articles of impeachment against Joe Bruno?