Albany: Still Broken

The state legislature remained in session until around 4:30 am last night, passing a flurry of bills such as a Union-opposed Tier VI, a proposed Constitutional amendment to permit class III casino gaming on non-Indian lands (this requires a referendum which would come in November 2013 at the earliest), and – significantly – state legislative redistricting which led to a walkout by Senate Democrats

From this Jimmy Vielkind piece, here’s why Albany is broken – legislators are puppets, not independent representatives of their constituents. Anyone who resists becomes marginalized and ineffective, and will seek to depart Albany as soon as humanly possible. (Make comparisons to A-145 at your leisure). Speaking of the Tier VI plan for state employees, one Democratic Assemblyman said, 

“I don’t know if I’m in the tank,” one told me. “I’d like to vote no, but sometimes that’s not how it goes.”

So, it’s still broken this morning, as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow.  Redistricting? It was a broken and hyperpartisan process, especially as it applies to the Senate, which had the gall to add a 63rd seat to Albany County. Why

t is intended for Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, the wealthy head of an eponymous home-building company who, the hope is, will be able to finance his own campaign.

Earlier Wednesday, members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus condemned those lines as “an assault on the Voting Rights Act” because they fractured minority communities in Rochester and on Long Island,mirroring existing splits widely considered to be gerrymandering. (In the end, most of the Caucus’ 28 members in the Assembly supported the plan.)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had promised to veto “any redistricting plan in 2012 that reflects partisan gerrymandering.” But he has reversed himself, laying the groundwork in recent months to accept somewhat stinky lines so long as they were accompanied by a constitutional amendment and statute that changes the process for the future. This will, laudibly, theoretically, produce a better process — in a decade. The problem is it wasn’t a clean trade in the eyes of some, including Senate Democrats, and good-government groups split on the agreed-to proposal.

Dealmaking is all part of politics, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the people to benefit elected officials. We get 10 more years of gerrymandered incumbent protection in exchange for reform in 2022. Kicking the ball ever-further down the road. 

The Daily News’ Bill Hammond put it thusly: 

The only real procedural difference from the status quo is that sitting legislators would not directly draw the lines — although their children and business partners would be eligible — and that minority parties would have somewhat more say.

Still, incumbent politicians would rule the roost — and could all too easily gang up against voters for their mutual benefit.

Also, the amendment fails to require that all districts be roughly the same size — a necessity for upholding the principle of one person, one vote.

As things work now, Senate Republicans deliberately underpopulate districts in Republicans areas upstate while overpopulating them in Democrat-heavy New York City — thus giving the GOP a disproportionate share of seats. Democrats do much the same in the Assembly.

The amendment would let that obvious abuse continue, demanding only that mapmakers explain themselves in writing.

The proposal also missed the chance to repeal an arcane and archaic clause that calls for periodically adding new Senate seats — which Republicans have repeatedly exploited for partisan advantage…

…But the final straw is the maps voters would be saddled with for the next decade. Prodded by Cuomo to make their lines “less hyperpartisan,” the Legislature put out revised maps yesterday that failed to meet even that rock-bottom standard.

You still had grotesque shapes like the 29th Senate District, which stretches from the South Bronx, through Harlem and across Central Park to Manhattan’s West Side — and looks something like the Starship Enterprise.

And you still had gross population disparities, with most upstate Senate district nearly 5% below the average and downstate districts 3% or 4% on the plus side.

To be sure, this deal — lousy as it is — may be the last chance for gerrymandering reform of any kind for generations to come. Good-government groups are bitterly divided over whether the deal is worth taking — with the Citizens Union and the League of Women Voters in support, and Common Cause and the New York Public Interest Research Group coming down against.

It’s sad to see well-intentioned people take shots at one another when the real villain is the reform-allergic Legislature.

Still, the opponents are right. Cuomo cannot sign this mess — not when his veto would throw redistricting into the courts. Not when those courts have already shown — in drawing congressional maps for lack of a plan from the Legislature — that they can do a far better and fairer job than lawmakers ever will.

In case you were wondering, Albany is still broken, and it’s still a cesspool of self-interest and dirty dealing. I expected better from Mario’s kid. 

News from a Failed State

Everything in the world is irretrievably broken!

1. An Illinois nazi is running for Congress as a Republican. He thinks that Obama is an “illegal alien”, and that the Holocaust is “the blackest lie in history“, and that it “never happened.” Congratulations, Illinois Republicans! (To be fair, insane cultist Lyndon LaRouche perennially appears on ballots as a Democrat).

2. While the WNY right wing establishment and its mouthpieces try desperately to try and embarrass Congresswoman Kathy Hochul’s poor response to a blatant Catholic-church-organized anti-contraception ambush, one should note that the whole anti-contraception thing didn’t do Rick Santorum (PA-Papist Party) any favors among Catholics in Michigan this week.  As for the constitutionality of a regulation requiring Catholic-owned entities to offer contraceptive services to their employees, there is no religious-based exemption from obeying laws of general applicability. Rastafarians don’t get a special exemption from anti-marijuana statutes just because it’s their sacrament. 

3. A federal judge sent an email to some friends suggesting that the President of the United States, Barack Obama was born as the result of intercourse between his mother, (who was white), and a dog.  Ha ha! That half-black Indo-Kenyan illegal communazi usurper came about as a result of BESTIALITY!  HAFUCKINGHA!  Luckily, his Honor has a perfectly reasonable explanation: 

I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.

Thanks for clearing that up!

4. Speaking of emails, Buffalo developer Carl Paladino sent out an email yesterday demanding that the Republicans in the state senate move immediately to remove Skelos from his post as majority leader, or else Carl and his band of tea party folks who led him to a sweeping 33% – 62% loss to Andrew Cuomo in 2010 would recruit candidates to replace every single one of them. 

Your self-serving and weak demeanor and participation in illusion and theatrics in dealing with the Governor, Sheldon Silver and the establishment cabal in Albany are an affront to the people who worked so hard to elect a Republican senate majority only to be thrown under the bus. 

You are either incompetent or diabolical in your indifference to what was expected of you in leading the opposition and highlighting and bargaining for issues vital to your party and the taxpayers. Your inability to demand government transparency or to adopt it as required process in senate deliberations was unacceptable.  

This memo shall serve as my demand, on behalf of the Republican Party rank and file, for your immediate resignation as majority leader of the N.Y. State Senate. 

The Free Republican Caucus Initiative will deal with those other treacherous Republican Senators who with you sold out their integrity and abrogated their pledges to the taxpayers.

I think it’s precious that Mr. Paladino presumes to speak, “on behalf of the Republican Party rank and file” despite having been elected to no office whatsoever. As for “Free Republican Caucus Initiative”, it should be henceforth known by the acronym, “FREECCI”.  FREECCI released a demand that any Republican senator who doesn’t wish to face a tea party primary sign some pledge or another, enumerating Carl Paladino’s demands. Aside from Skelos, however, only a certain number of senators are singled out: 

We will support republican candidates who agree to a simple pledge stated at the end of this memo. Included are a slate of republican primary candidates to oppose Mark Grisanti, James Alessi, Roy McDonald and Stephen Saland, all of whom showed a lack of integrity and respect for those who elected them.

What do they all have in common? They were the four Republican state senators who voted in favor of same sex marriage last year. Although Paladino never mentions it once in yesterday’s release, covering up all his fury with angry rhetoric about Medicaid, the deficit, transparency, and the media – this all comes down to the fact that these guys voted to let the gays marry, and Skelos let them do it. 

5. A farm in Nevada recently tried to hold a farm-to-fork dinner, featuring meat, fruit, and vegetables grown on small farms in the region. The Southern Nevada Health District at first tried to throw roadblocks in they way of the event. When the organizers went above and beyond what was demanded, what amounted to a SWAT team descended on the dinner, declared everything to be unsafe for human consumption, and ordered that everything be bleached and disposed-of. This is an outrage that deserves nationwide attention. 

6. The contents of Valenti’s restaurant were auctioned off yesterday to satisfy a debt of over $5,000. In other news, Mighty Taco announced yesterday that it will be opening up in the location on Division Street in North Tonawanda that most recently housed Valenti’s. 

7. A woman living in a huge mansion north of Albany was arrested after investigators found that she was keeping a woman from India as a virtual slave, paying her what amounts to $0.85/hour for the past 5-6 years. Annie George paid the worker only $29,000 since she had worked there at all hours as a servant, starting in 2005. Prosecutors say the worker, who is unnamed, is entitled to back wages of at least $206,000. Recordings of phone calls between George and the worker’s son in India reveal that George knew what she was doing was a “big crime.” 

8. Warren Buffet, whose Berkshire Hathaway owns the Buffalo News, is a huge fan of paywalls. A paywall at the Buffalo News is under consideration, and its implementation would only do further harm to it. 

9. Insane southwest Sheriff who finds himself the target of a federal abuse allegation, will today release the findings that a “posse” he organized with respect to President Obama’s birth certificate. At long last, we’ll have a crazy elected official’s opinion on this huge controversy!

$100 Million Here and There

Is Governor Cuomo’s division of the state into economic development zones and then having them compete against each other for hundreds of millions in state money a cure for the disease, or is it more of a Band-Aid?  $100 million here and there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.

I’m pleased that the WNY Regional Development Council won over $100 million for local development priorities, but query whether the awards reflect its intended goal of “prosperity”:

Western New Yorkers aspire to create a sustainable prosperity by utilizing and enhancing the strengths of our people, by continuing our rich tradition of human innovation in arts, education, health, and manufacturing; by leveraging our regions natural beauty and abundant natural resources; and by taking full advantage of our unique and strategic location in the world. We will create a region that is admired worldwide, that attracts more people to live, learn, work and visit; where entrepreneurs and businesses want to invest their time and capital, and where all our institutions reflect a culture of inclusion, continuous improvement, adaptation and excellence.

That sounds great, but when you look at the money that was awarded, some of the money doesn’t seem to do much towards attaining that goal. Certainly, awards to institutions of higher learning and knowledge-based industries are positive, and can help set the foundation for future prosperity. Frankly, we should be prioritizing and speeding up our slow and hesitant transition from a manufacturing past to a knowledge-based future.  We should also prioritize the clean-up of contaminated, unusable land for future development. I’m looking at you, Outer Harbor.  Here’s the application that the council submitted to the state.

Final Plan – WNY Regional Development Councilhttp://www.scribd.com/embeds/75208514/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-1wqa8ql718ziqoouam1l//

There are some awards (e.g., renovate 20 homes in the town of Friendship, rehabilitate 25 owner/occupied homes in Allegany County) that don’t make sense from a build-prosperity perspective. There are some infrastructure projects (3 miles of rail in Cattaraugus County, an airplane hangar in Olean), tourism priorities (grape discovery center in Chautauqua County), grants to help the poor and elderly update their homes, but when you get out of the rural counties, the grants here in Erie County are heavily weighed towards helping growing and improving local small businesses, which I think is a fantastic opportunity.

In what we perceive to be an unfriendly business environment, it’s a good thing to help promote, improve, and grow small businesses in a weak economy, giving them the opportunity to grow and create jobs.

Ultimately, however, the best thing Albany can do to help revive upstate and WNY counties is give them a break on taxes, and to streamline the business development red tape – not hold an awards show without the glitz.

Frankly, the WNY Regional Development Council should replace and hopefully de-politicize the entire ESD/IDA structure throughout the region. Just as we have too many layers of government, we have too many hands in the “build business” pot. Formulating region-wide goals and priorities to prevent the sort of petty poaching, and incentivization of Titanic deck-chair rearrangement that takes place now.

Finally, for a governor who went out of his way to underscore that there is “one New York” during his campaign, the notion that there are winners and losers is head-scratchingly odd. By way of comparison, the Finger Lakes RDC, which includes Rochester and Genesee County, was not a big winner, but still got $68.8 million.


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Email me at buffalopundit[at]gmail.com

Albany Santa

New readers may not be aware that I oftentimes post editorial cartoons done by an extremely talented artist/commentator living in the Adirondacks named Mark Wilson.  His pen name is “Marquil”, and his work can be found at his website, EmpireWire. I think that his art and editorial content rival anything you’ll find in any paper, anywhere. 

I don’t post all of his submissions, because some of them don’t really have any WNY relevance, but I hope you enjoy them and give him some love. I think they’re excellent. 

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