A few years ago, Albany was named the most dysfunctional state legislature in the nation by a good-government group. But as I begin my career as the newest state senator from Manhattan, there are signs that the legislature may be beginning to shake this embarrassing moniker once and for all.

Before the legislative session began, I helped elect a new Democratic leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins from Westchester. Sen. Stewart-Cousins represents a series of long-overdue firsts. She’s the first African-American woman to lead a conference and the first full-time legislator to serve as a leader in many years. Her singular focus on governing will help insulate her and the entire Democratic caucus from the special interests that have held Albany captive for decades.

You may have heard that we Senate Democrats, while winning a numerical majority of seats in November, still ended up in the governing minority because some renegade Democrats made a deal to support the Republicans, keeping the GOP in power. Only in Albany, you might say? I remain optimistic and see this factional split as a transitional phase. As Democrats continue to win more seats due to demographic changes, it’s just a matter of time until we control the chamber.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s agenda this year also gives me hope as a progressive Democrat. Although we don’t have all of the details, the governor’s State of the State address put forth a series of progressive reforms, ranging from a comprehensive women’s health and equality initiative, to campaign finance reform, to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, to innovative ideas for job creation. Also, I was pleased not to hear any plans to push hydrofracking, which I strenuously oppose. And on my first full day in Albany as a state senator, we passed the governor’s assault weapons ban, the toughest in the nation. After a decade of inaction on gun laws—not to mention the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the spate of gun violence in the city this summer—it was long overdue and represents the defeat of the gun lobby.

This week, there will be an important test as the governor announces his proposed budget for the coming year. New York faces enormous structural fiscal challenges. As a result, there will be calls by some for further austerity measures by cutting social services to the bone.

We must fight this effort. New York’s poverty level is the highest in decades. A family of two in New York living on minimum wage is beneath the poverty level. The slow economic recovery and record unemployment, particularly among people of color, have only heightened the crisis.

For progressives, the challenge will be how we advocate for policies in the budget that reverse the growing gap between the rich and poor. Will we follow the lead of the federal government and push for a more progressive tax structure that strengthens our social safety net and saves the state from sliding further into economic turmoil? If Albany is truly to continue on the pathway from dysfunction and reassert its claim—as the governor put it in the State of the State—as the progressive capital of the nation, we must confront the need for new revenue while protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

Brad Hoylman represents New York’s 27th Senate District, which includes parts of the Upper West Side, Chelsea, Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Midtown/East Midtown, the East Village and the Lower East Side.

Bruce Gyory

Top Democratic consultant Bruce Gyory weighs in on the recent congressional primaries in our print issue out today:

Pundits do a good job of assessing winners and losers after electoral events like the recent congressional primaries. Few are better, for example, than City & State’s First Read on Fridays.

Yet while this last primary’s victors have already been determined, I would like to parse the significant factors underlying who won, who lost and why.

First, let’s look at the GOP Senate race. In statewide primaries generally the most potent combination a candidate can achieve is being dubbed the most conservative in the field and winning the designation of upstate’s horse. That is what Wendy Long rode to victory.

The GOP registration breakdown is 53 percent from upstate, 30 percent from the suburbs (Long Island, Westchester and Rockland) and 17 percent from New York City. But in terms of who actually votes in GOP primaries, upstate is in the driver’s seat. In the 2010 gubernatorial primary, the regional split in the vote among Republicans was 66 percent upstate, 25 percent in the suburbs and 9 percent in New York City.

The preliminary returns in this year’s Senate primary show upstate voters casting 60 percent of the GOP vote, the suburbs accounting for 27 percent and the five boroughs making up the remaining 13 percent. Long carried upstate by a wide margin, enabling her to win a majority in a three-way race. Long first demonstrated her strength upstate at the GOP convention. In a Republican primary, Turner’s base in New York City and Maragos’ in Nassau simply were too slender to carry a statewide primary.

Regionalism was also bolstered by ideology. Long was perceived to be the most conservative candidate in the race (e.g., carrying Suffolk County). Her endorsement by the Conservative Party became the seal of approval for right-wing Republicans.

To read the full article at City & State click here.

via Wiki Commons

2013 Mayoral Race

Anthony Weiner’s wife is reportedly urging him to give a tell-all interview, amid rumors that he’s considering a run for mayor or public advocate.

John Liu raised $600K despite his fundraising scandal.

Tom Allon himself raised $250K.

Christine Quinn is already focused on fundraising for a possible general election.

Queens

One of the contenders for Assemblywoman Grace Meng’s seat runs prostitution ads in his Korean-language newspaper.

The state GOP infused cash into Councilman Eric Ulrich’s Senate bid.

State Senate

Democratic State Sen. Jeff Klein is surprisingly running with the support of the Bronx GOP.

Dean Skelos now has a war chest of more than $2 million.

Suffolk County GOP State Sen. Owen Johnson suddenly decided to retire.

David Valesky surprisingly has no GOP challenger.

To read more campaign coverage from City & State click here.

Julie Menin speaking at an event last year. Photo courtesy of PMC.

WINNERS

Charles Rangel - The octogenarian congressman can finally exhale after his primary challenger, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, conceded for a second time amid ballot irregularities. It is unclear whether Rangel will consider running again in 2014, and Adam Clayton Powell IV is already calling dibs on the seat, but the veteran lawmaker will certainly relish his commute to the Beltway for another two years.

Michael Bloomberg – Word on the street is the mayor hopes his post-mayor role is one of activist philanthropy, and we got another glimpse of what that would be like this week when he made a $50 million gift to support family planning in poorer countries. And we wonder if the mayor, as chairman of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, had any hand in the decision this week to ban political speeches at the site on the attack anniversary. Both decisions, calmly and deftly managed, show good judgment.

Eliot Spitzer – Okay, so the former governor may never have a political career again, and he hasn’t been a raving success as a national pundit, but we are interested to see where his stint as a NY1 Wiseguy takes him. For his opening show, Spitzer took an opportunity to offer some advice to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which is just about the brazen-est thing we can think of. With so few people who have a chance at political office willing to go out on a limb to talk about Cuomo, Spitzer could serve an important function as a person willing to criticize the state’s executive, on the record and in the open. This could be a good look for the ex-gov.

Julie Menin – Fourteen months before the Democratic primary for Manhattan borough president, Julie Menin has already maxed out on fundraising, raising as much as she’s possibly allowed to spend under New York City’s matching funds program. That will allow Menin to simply focus on campaigning, while rivals like Gale Brewer, Robert Jackson and Jessica Lappin are still dialing for dollars. Of course, Menin’s early success makes us think that she might be wise just to opt out of the matching funds program and raise more, unlimited amounts of cash.

Dean Skelos - An early leak by the Senate Republicans indicated that the GOP will have something like five times as much cash on hand as the Senate Democrats — who aren’t even trying to pay off their remaining debt anymore. Add to that the fact that Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t ruling out backing Republicans for Senate seats, and it’s almost tempting to declare the 2012 battle for Senate supremacy over. Unless a lot more members of the Senate Republican conference decide to follow Marty Golden’s lead and throw events on feminine “deportment,” it’s going to be quite the uphill battle for the Senate Democrats.

LOSERS

Mark Levine – His time may be coming, but it’s not here quite yet. The upper Manhattan Democratic district leader latched onto the congressional campaign of a former foe, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, while looking to run for Espaillat’s seat if it came open. But now that Espaillat’s narrow loss to longtime Congressman Charlie Rangel is official, and Espaillat has officially decided to run for re-election to the Senate, Levine has little choice but to again take up his candidacy in a crowded field for a seat in the New York City Council.

Ed Cox – The last person you want to get into a public dispute with when you’re a state party chair is your party’s nominee for President, but that’s exactly what Ed Cox did this week by insisting that the Republican convention delegates he selected be seated, instead of assenting to the list of delegates the Romney campaign had expected him to rubber stamp. In the era of drama-free national conventions, the Romney campaign has made it loud and clear (off the record, of course) that they don’t appreciate the former First Son-in-Law’s dissent, threatening to strip Cox of the authority to introduce the New York delegation at the big show. While Cox’s staff hastened to emphasize that everyone was working in lock step to elect Romney, one wonders if for Cox an Obama victory might actually be better for his personal political prospects.

Rob Astorino – The Westchester County executive may simply be doing what’s best for his constituents in pushing for more details – and more transit – on the Tappan Zee Bridge, but now that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has aggressively amped up his public relations campaign behind his plans for a new bridge, Astorino is feeling the governor’s wrath. Larry Schwartz, the secretary to the governor, got another critic of the governor’s plans, Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef, to side with Cuomo, and that isolates Astorino, the “Republican rising star” who’s lately been painted simply as a unrealistic flip-flopper driven by political ambitions.

Kevin Burke – No summer vacation for ConEdison chairman Kevin Burke, who’s entering another week of lockout with his utility workers over a union contract dispute, despite the fact the workers are the same people who’d help the city in the event of a heat-induced power outage. As if that weren’t bad enough, Crain’s reported yesterday ConEd is among the elusive secret donors to the Committee to Save New York, the group plugging for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget. Granted every company has its own interests to look out for, but to the public, at least for the time being, it looks like Burke’s interests are directly opposed to his workers and most of the rest of New Yorkers.

Dennis Walcott – The schools chancellor heard it from all sides this week. Newspaper editorial boards criticized his lenient penalties toward Stuvesant High School cheaters and the Bloomberg administration retreated from his plan to close 24 troubled schools. At least he’s getting outdoors on Friday to promote the city’s Free Lunch program at Orchard Beach. Soak up those rays!

To vote for this week’s top political winner and loser visit City & State by clicking here.

Bob Turner.

GOP primaries are not the norm in New York City, but this Tuesday, registered Republicans have the chance to pick a nominee to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in November.
Of the three candidates, U.S. Rep. Bob Turner seems to have the best experience and is the one most ready to represent all New Yorkers in the Senate.
We realize that the thing that stands out most to us about him, his openness to compromise with Democrats on taxes, will not be seen as a plus by many Republican voters. And admittedly, many may not put much stock in the endorsement of a paper that endorses Democrats much more often. But these voters may want to look less at ideological purity and more at who has the best chance to win. Our interest is in having the two strongest candidates.
Many Republicans feign interest in the national debt when it comes to government programs they don’t like but ignore it when it comes to taxes or defense spending. Turner’s interest in the debt is sincere and he is at least willing to listen to Democrats, rather than closing the door to any real negotiations.
It is clear to us that he would be better than most Republican senators, as well as his two opponents, Wendy Long and George Maragos. He deserves the chance to try and make the case that he is also better than Gillibrand. We endorse Bob Turner in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Long, one of the leading contenders for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, raised $104,000 between early April and early June. She now has $81,000 more in debts than in cash.

The financial problems may help explain the departure of two Long staffers. Late last month, well-paid campaign manager Dick Wadhams departed and was replaced by operative Rob Ryan.

And on May 15, Long campaign fundraiser Christina Comer departed after a month of working for Long. In both instances, Long’s campaign has said that the moves were not results of financial difficulties.

The report shows that Wadhams is owed $37,000, Verus Partners $22,500, the Casale Group $60,000 and Prosper Group $15,600, among several other smaller debts owed to vendors. Long also owes herself $28,000 for travel/phone expenses, and has lent $17,000 to the campaign.

Long’s debt is not a complete surprise, since her first campaign filing showed a very high burn rate.

In his latest filing, Long’s opponent, Brooklyn/Queens Congressman Bob Turner raised just over $104,000 from early April to early June, and himself had just $108,000 on hand for the campaign’s stretch run. The third candidate, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, has not yet released his filing.

Meanwhile, the winner of the three-way GOP primary on June 26 will face off against Gillibrand, who has more than $9 million in the bank.

UPDATE:

Here’s a statement from Long’s campaign spokesman, David Catalfamo.

“With the help of endorsements from leading state and national conservatives like Steve Forbes, Grover Norquist, Laura Ingraham, John Bolton and Sean Hannity today, Wendy has attracted the support of 176 individual donors from 27 states. It’s clear that momentum is building around Wendy’s candidacy and she will have the resources necessary to compete and win on June 26th.”

To read the full article at City & State click here.

Courtesy of Mike Sussman

This year, March 6 signals the coming of Super Tuesday in which the greatest number of states will hold their primaries and caucuses for the upcoming presidential election. Seven states will hold their primaries, and three will hold caucuses to determine the actions of delegates sent to the national convention. This will be a big event for the GOP as it is the first test of national electability against the incumbent President Obama. It is a crucial night for presidential hopefuls, as nearly 20 percent of delegates sent to the Republican convention are chosen tonight.

Candidate Mitt Romney will try to solidify his position as the Republican frontrunner, which seems likely given his current momentum with 42 percent of the popular vote, and having already won eight states. Runner up Rick Santorum will fight to keep it a two-man race, as there are still over 400 delegates up for grabs. While there is a slim chance that it will be a disastrous night for Mitt, it should be remembered that Santorum recently finished in a close second in Romney’s home state of Michigan. Candidates Newt Gingrich and Santorum each have a lot on the line, as Romney is almost sure to remain the Republican favorite and most likely to win the nomination.

Where should you tune in to watch the results of this crucial race? Depending on how your candidate does, it might help to have a drink in your hand.

The New York Young Republicans are planning an evening out at Session House on 2nd Ave. (sessionhousenyc.com) at 7 p.m. with free appetizers. If you don’t feel like traveling to Midtown, or being surrounded by Republicans, The Village Pourhouse (villagepourhouse.com), in conjunction with New American Tavern, will be hosting a bi-partisan event on some big screens.

There are all kinds of indications that this will be a Republican year. The unthinkable happened in Massachusetts when the seat once held by John and then Teddy Kennedy went to a young “who-he?” Republican. All the Republicans have to do is find some people who are known to the public who will run for office.

It turns out that this may be easier said than done. As usual, they turned out the usual suspects. First there was Rudy Giuliani. They always raise Rudy from the political dead. You name the office, the Republicans were going to run Rudy. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Rudy wasn’t going to run. You see, there’s this guy, Bernie Kerik, Rudy’s former wunderkind. It turns out the man is a crook and that he was crooking on Giuliani’s watch.

It doesn’t stop there. Giuliani thought he would be president and went down to Florida with the mistaken belief that the Floridians would elect him. As they say in gin rummy, he got “schmeared.”

Finally, Rudy ain’t running because he’s making too much money, the kind of money that you are not allowed to make in public office. His firm has represented a lot of people, some of whom might not pass the smell test. Interestingly, the one situation in which he might actually win at this point would be if he were to run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. She’s not doing well in the polls. But Giuliani hasn’t got the guts.

Another name that the Republicans seem to perpetually rely on is George Pataki. He is a Republican super-star and if the Republican constellation were aligned just right, he might win. But he, too, is making big money in his law firm. And polls show that he wouldn’t reach first base against Andrew Cuomo in a run for governor, and Pataki doesn’t want to be greeting constituents at the U.S. Capitol.

After those two, the Republicans have folks like John Faso, who they may just run for comptroller. There seems to be a bit of a food fight between Andrew Cuomo and Tom DiNapoli, the incumbent comptroller, but DiNapoli has a lot of friends who will be out there helping him.

The Republican wannabes who are attempting to run are a pathetic lot who have been self-destructing before our very eyes. Like I said, no bench at all. But unlike the Yankees, they can’t even buy talent.n

Alan S. Chartock is president and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and an executive publisher at The Legislative Gazette.

Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.