Albany

Albany

• Let's Make a Deal- This week, a multi-issue agreement was reached in Albany. The agreement covers congestion pricing, campaign finance reform, long-overdue salary increases, and possibly some legislation. The bad news is that nothing (or almost nothing) was actually accomplished. The congestion pricing debate will shift from the usual three men in a room – plus one (Mayor Bloomberg) to a 17-member commission. This commission will “study” several alternatives, then report early next year, after which the legislature may or may not act. Whenever political leaders don’t want to take the heat for an initiative, they generally create a commission; this gives them cover, allowing them to claim that they’re just following the recommendations of the experts, while they hope nobody notices who appointed the members of the commission. (Note: the difference between a “committee” and a “commission” is still a mystery, except that a “committee” is usually created to bury an issue, while a “commission” is supposed to render an “independent judgment” that just happens to coincide with what its creators wanted.)
• Say It Isn't So - Joe? Eliot? Andrew?!!- Last Tuesday morning the phrase being uttered around New York was, “Not a good day for the governor” – if only. A week later and the story continues to garner news ink. Now, whether you are down on Wall Street reveling in the governor’s reversal of fortune or a supporter left grasping for words to explain what seems to be well, unexplainable – stop for a moment and contemplate the larger picture.
• Day 14 and That Burning Smell Is Your Progressive Agenda- It’s day 14 and the Governor and his agenda are officially being roasted by no less than FOUR potential investigations into allegations of wrongdoing regarding Joe Bruno’s travel on state aircraft. Meanwhile, the public is left with platitudes and bromides about cooperation coming from Albany and the Governor. Clearly those that thought everything would change on Day One – can’t remember where they got that idea – are to blame. The only thing that seems to have changed are the faces – and not too many of those – in Albany. With competency and learning from mistakes so rife in the news and among the chattering classes of Albany and Washington, you would have thought that the Governor and his crack team would be on top of the trend. State Senator Diane Savino offered a quick fix for this problem over a week ago when she suggested that Darren Dopp, the Governor’s embattled communications director, be fired. Of course, firing Mr. Dopp does not mean that he is guilty of a crime. Certainly his recently retained counsel made that point abundantly clear in an article in Friday’s New York Times.
• Enough Already - We Have More Important Things To Do- To quote Don Corleone – “How did things ever get so far?” That’s the question regarding Albany’s latest fiasco involving Joe Bruno’s political travel at state taxpayers’ expense. The answer to the question and the festering problem is this, a specially created independent commission. Another commission? Are you kidding? Albany needs another commission like a hole in the head. All too true, however, the four potential investigations into “...gate” (supply your own moniker – i.e., Trooper, Spitzer, Bruno, Travel, etc.) have shown that no one in Albany is interested in getting at the truth or moving onto substantive issues of policy. As foreshadowed two weeks ago, Joe Bruno and his Republican cronies together with entrenched Democratic insiders are using these “sideshows” to avoid the important policy issues that the Governor intended to address when he took office seven months ago. As a result, the public is left with wheel spinning and obsessing about who had subpoena power and when – classic Albany obfuscation.
• Vito Lopez: Corruption and Cronyism- The lengthy lead story in the Real Estate section [of the NY Times] credited Lopez with sparking a massive rebuilding effort in Bushwick, way back when he was a graduate student in 1971, and then carrying it through. The story also mentioned that Angela Battaglia's agency is the developer for a $20 million component of the rebuilding effort. It even pictured [Vito] Lopez and Battaglia standing together in front of new housing construction. But the story omitted that Battaglia is Lopez's girlfriend. Does that connection at least deserve mention? Might the article have explained why there was or wasn't a conflict of interest present? Was it a coincidence that Lopez's girlfriend's outfit was put in charge of the $20 million deal? Inquiring minds would like to know. It may well be that everything was done on the up-and-up. But given Lopez's tendency to do favors for his friends-for example, he helped make his girlfriend's brother Jack Battaglia a Civil Court judge-the Times should have explored the question.
• Dear Governor Spitzer - Why?- Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the full moon, maybe it’s Rod Serling and we are all in some gigantic Twilight Zone episode, but tell us it is not some twisted, macho, hard headedness that has made you decide to bring Darren Dopp back to the government payroll. Just when there was so much to be thankful for and excited about in yesterday’s New York Times regarding your new kitchen cabinet - POW, today’s revelations about the return of the Republican’s favorite punching bag (i.e., mechanism for distraction and obfuscation from real issues). Why?
• I am shocked, shocked...- It's back to business as usual in Timewasterville Albany, reports Newsday. Monday, August 27th, 2007:

  It appears unlikely there will be an official inquiry into allegations that Republican campaign consultant Roger Stone Jr. threatened the father of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The heads of three Senate committees that could investigate the controversial voice mail expressed no interest yesterday.

  Thursday, August 9, 2007:

  Today, the Senate Committee of Investigations and Government Operations is set to start what will likely be a series of hearings onTroopergate, in which aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer improperly had State Police re-create helicopter and other travel records of the governor's political nemesis, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

  Odd how the Senate's investigatory zeal has lessened now that there's scandal inching ever closer to Joe Bruno, isn't it?