Friday, May 14, 2010
How to be Governor David Paterson atand keep friends- Pt.3
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
David Paterson the accidental Governor had turned into a major problem solver for the ailing New York State. Now the public has turned against him, giving him a 19% approval rating. What happened?
A year ago he started like a house on fire, recognizing that his budget would be $16B short and asking for sacrifice from all of us, accepting limitations and spending cuts in government, hospital and school services, and higher taxes from higher income earners. He subscribed to an ambitious NYC transit rescue plan, with higher fares, tolls on bridges, employer taxes and access fees, important for the 8 million New Yorkers (of 18 million) who live in the city and pay most of the state’s taxes. He was also for gay marriage and an ambitious political campaign reform program. The November 2008 election gave Democrats 32 of the 62 state Senate seats, and his program had a great start.
But things happened. Three Democratic Senators wanting more control and, rebelling against gay marriage, threatened to sink Paterson’s choice for Senate leadership, Malcolm Smith, and had to be bought off. The municipal and hospital unions rebelled against service, (i.e. payroll} cuts and had to be satisfied. Westchester and Bronx drivers wanted no access fee, and Long Island legislators objected to East River bridge tolls, leading to a MTA rescue standstill. Taxpayers objected to increases and, consequently, turned against the Governor.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton resigned her Senate seat, and the Governor waited too long to appoint a successor, the upstate Congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, an ambitious ex-Wall Street lawyer with deep Albany family roots, against Caroline Kennedy and several downstate legislators. Paterson was looking for upstate support from neglected voters, since the state house and Assembly, and now state Senate, have been led by New York cityites.
Senator Schumer’s support for Gillibrand is also in the interests of such a balance.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been making great strides, Spitzer-like in investigating ties of state politicos, in selling access to investing the NYS $100B-plus pension fund. Two aides to the former NYS Comptroller Alan Hevesi, Hank Morris and David Loglisci, were indicted in March, and the private equity and hedge funds vying for fund management include the Carlyle Group and Riverstone Capital. Subpoenaed are also Ray B Harding, former leader of the Liberal party, and firms run by Peter Powers, one of Rudolph W.Giuliani’s deputy mayors, Susan Toricelli, wife of the former Senator of N\J, Kevin McCabe, former chief of staff to Peter Vallone, former NY City Council speaker, .and H. Carl McCall, former NYS Comptroller. Fernando Ferrer, former Bronx BP has been mentioned as representing Arvco Capital (ex-Calpers people), a contact brokerage firm, working in 2007 with the current NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, to whose campaigns Ferrer and Arvco related names have contributed multi-$thousands. Arvco is mentioned in dealing with City Comptroller William C. Thompson‘s office, and Speaker Sheldon Silver is known to introduce a former Ranger goalie now brokering investment services (no deal, no fee). Several NYS legislators are in jail, of two dozen known to have been 21st century lawbreakers (mostly driving violations) and former Republican State Senate leader Joseph Russo has been indicted for accepting $2.3M consulting fees from recipients of NYS largesse.
While it is perfectly obvious that not all of the abovementioned political leaders, well distributed among three political parties, are not into scams, it is truly frightening to contemplate the full extension of the implications of these actions. Where does using the donor’s name – e.g. in Bill Clinton collecting funds for malaria and AIDS-struck Africans – cease to be laudable, vs. opportunistic vs. personal enrichment? Where do the Bill Clinton donors start crossing the line from being humanitarian benefactors to looking for approval and kind words and remembrance in history, to introduction seeking, then influence – peddling?
This is where the Spitzer/Paterson campaign funds reform legislation becomes a potentially significant step towards taking politics back to the ideals with which all young office-seekers initially begin. Campaign finance through public funds will not happen in this generation, though a British system of limited campaign period and funding could be considered. We are certainly living in a period of campaigns growing obscenely full-time. Reforms would bring howls of dismay from Michael Bloomberg, Jan Corzine, Frank Lautenberg and Mitch McConnell, but there’s got to be a limit.
Getting back to Governor David Paterson, his last shot at breaking the gridlock over keeping the Metropolitan Transit Authority going for the next two years has resulted in a patchwork compromise that kills new bridge tolls and access fees but results in a payroll tax and a taxi surcharge, with a minimal fare increase, a temporary solution that all the players were willing to sign. He is also trying to fix other taxpayer complaints and spending cuts with the aid of Washington’s stimulus money. It may well be that he is trying to fix the ails of New Yorkers by doing what is attainable, without constant reference to his popularity and reelection chances, in full sight of the Cuomo dreadnought advances. Not a winning styrategy, but we may remember him fondly.
David Paterson the accidental Governor had turned into a major problem solver for the ailing New York State. Now the public has turned against him, giving him a 19% approval rating. What happened?
A year ago he started like a house on fire, recognizing that his budget would be $16B short and asking for sacrifice from all of us, accepting limitations and spending cuts in government, hospital and school services, and higher taxes from higher income earners. He subscribed to an ambitious NYC transit rescue plan, with higher fares, tolls on bridges, employer taxes and access fees, important for the 8 million New Yorkers (of 18 million) who live in the city and pay most of the state’s taxes. He was also for gay marriage and an ambitious political campaign reform program. The November 2008 election gave Democrats 32 of the 62 state Senate seats, and his program had a great start.
But things happened. Three Democratic Senators wanting more control and, rebelling against gay marriage, threatened to sink Paterson’s choice for Senate leadership, Malcolm Smith, and had to be bought off. The municipal and hospital unions rebelled against service, (i.e. payroll} cuts and had to be satisfied. Westchester and Bronx drivers wanted no access fee, and Long Island legislators objected to East River bridge tolls, leading to a MTA rescue standstill. Taxpayers objected to increases and, consequently, turned against the Governor.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton resigned her Senate seat, and the Governor waited too long to appoint a successor, the upstate Congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, an ambitious ex-Wall Street lawyer with deep Albany family roots, against Caroline Kennedy and several downstate legislators. Paterson was looking for upstate support from neglected voters, since the state house and Assembly, and now state Senate, have been led by New York cityites.
Senator Schumer’s support for Gillibrand is also in the interests of such a balance.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been making great strides, Spitzer-like in investigating ties of state politicos, in selling access to investing the NYS $100B-plus pension fund. Two aides to the former NYS Comptroller Alan Hevesi, Hank Morris and David Loglisci, were indicted in March, and the private equity and hedge funds vying for fund management include the Carlyle Group and Riverstone Capital. Subpoenaed are also Ray B Harding, former leader of the Liberal party, and firms run by Peter Powers, one of Rudolph W.Giuliani’s deputy mayors, Susan Toricelli, wife of the former Senator of N\J, Kevin McCabe, former chief of staff to Peter Vallone, former NY City Council speaker, .and H. Carl McCall, former NYS Comptroller. Fernando Ferrer, former Bronx BP has been mentioned as representing Arvco Capital (ex-Calpers people), a contact brokerage firm, working in 2007 with the current NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, to whose campaigns Ferrer and Arvco related names have contributed multi-$thousands. Arvco is mentioned in dealing with City Comptroller William C. Thompson‘s office, and Speaker Sheldon Silver is known to introduce a former Ranger goalie now brokering investment services (no deal, no fee). Several NYS legislators are in jail, of two dozen known to have been 21st century lawbreakers (mostly driving violations) and former Republican State Senate leader Joseph Russo has been indicted for accepting $2.3M consulting fees from recipients of NYS largesse.
While it is perfectly obvious that not all of the abovementioned political leaders, well distributed among three political parties, are not into scams, it is truly frightening to contemplate the full extension of the implications of these actions. Where does using the donor’s name – e.g. in Bill Clinton collecting funds for malaria and AIDS-struck Africans – cease to be laudable, vs. opportunistic vs. personal enrichment? Where do the Bill Clinton donors start crossing the line from being humanitarian benefactors to looking for approval and kind words and remembrance in history, to introduction seeking, then influence – peddling?
This is where the Spitzer/Paterson campaign funds reform legislation becomes a potentially significant step towards taking politics back to the ideals with which all young office-seekers initially begin. Campaign finance through public funds will not happen in this generation, though a British system of limited campaign period and funding could be considered. We are certainly living in a period of campaigns growing obscenely full-time. Reforms would bring howls of dismay from Michael Bloomberg, Jan Corzine, Frank Lautenberg and Mitch McConnell, but there’s got to be a limit.
Getting back to Governor David Paterson, his last shot at breaking the gridlock over keeping the Metropolitan Transit Authority going for the next two years has resulted in a patchwork compromise that kills new bridge tolls and access fees but results in a payroll tax and a taxi surcharge, with a minimal fare increase, a temporary solution that all the players were willing to sign. He is also trying to fix other taxpayer complaints and spending cuts with the aid of Washington’s stimulus money. It may well be that he is trying to fix the ails of New Yorkers by doing what is attainable, without constant reference to his popularity and reelection chances, in full sight of the Cuomo dreadnought advances. Not a winning styrategy, but we may remember him fondly.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 11:35 AM 
