Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Mid Day Madness
Newsday reports That Comptroller DiNapoli is Putting out the fire .....this is a good start...lavish vacations...extravagant "bar" rooms...expensive hot rods...give me a taxpayer break here....and Politics on The Hudson blog asks How thick is Spitzer’s skin? ......sorry...a dermatologist is not needed here....and Spitzer is not Pataki..... "In the Sunday New York Times, Greenburgh Assemblyman Richard Brodsky ripped into Spitzer’s pet project of a $1.5 billion bond issue for research into stem cells and other projects."....when is pork ever kosher??? The IthicaTimes.Com thinks never Man vs. City "The biggest perk of holding elected office in New York State is the ability to use taxpayer funding to stay elected. Albany legislators cannot send out their campaign literature at the expense of their constituents, but they can create their own positive press by allocating member items, a.k.a. "pork," to various programs across their district. The legislator can throw a few bucks at a particular organization and later swoop in with an oversized novelty check and make a big scene. The official gets his picture in the paper, and the organization is grateful for the crumbs it has received." in fairness here...these "crumbs" have kept quite a few worthwhile non profits alive and well over the years.......allot of community service groups depend on these "crumbs" for their very existence and would be sorely missed by their communities if they suddenly went away...there needs to be transparency and accountability...that is what Spitzer is aiming for here..not necessarily total elimination.....and Newsday's SpinCycle has an update on their Spitzer Pork? (Updated) "The Spitzer line on this, from press secretary Christine Anderson: The administration hasn't invited any particular conference to submit a wish list, but it has told whoever may have asked that any legislator is welcome to submit economic development ideas for their districts.
That may have included Malcolm Smith, and he may have passed that along to his conference, but in any event no proposal is going to get favored consideration for political reasons, like making sure the Senate Democratic conference continues to vote Spitzer's way. "We'll judge each and every one on its merits," says Anderson." Meanwhile back at the track.....another Pataki legacy...the NYRA Mess......Liz Benjamin gives us With Friends Like These… who needs bookies??? "A spokesman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer said the governor “does not feel bound” by the recommendation of an ad hoc committee that Excelsior Racing Associates, a group headed by (among others) Spitzer donor Richard Fields, take over the NYRA franchise.
The committee recommended Excelsior last November and formally adopted that recommendation today.
“Governor Spitzer has not yet received the report,” Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee told the AP. “However, upon receipt, it will be reviewed and will be part of the governor’s consideration and evaluation. He does not feel bound by it and in the next days we will be announcing a process for that evaluation.”
One-time state comptroller candidate Bill Mulrow, whose chances at being New York’s top auditor were tanked in the state Legislature due to his purported friendship with the governor, is also involved in the Excelsior bid.
The AP story notes that Spitzer raised questions about whether the committee had adequately considered the “integrity” of the bidders"....a reader..who appears to be a true race fan had this to say..........."The problem is with so many consolidations under the Excelsior and Empire umbrellas early in the process there are bad guys everywhere. I don’t know who to root for.
I’ve been going to the Saratoga track since I was 4 years old. The fact is NYRA ran a great race. But once you went beyond the outside rail it turned into the Godfather. Now we are trying to fix that corruption with a corrupted process.
I get the sad feeling New York’s best thoroughbred racing days are behind it.
Comment by Ed Rooney — February 21, 2007 @ 1:25 pm " ..........how sad is that??? and Siena Poll Confirms Spitzer’s Popularity "Today’s Siena Poll found 74 percent of New Yorkers have a favorable opinion of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, including 61 percent of Republicans, and 58 percent rate the job he’s doing so far as “excellent” (15 percent) or “good” (43 percent).
Sixty-nine percent of the 620 registered voters polled said they agreed with Spitzer that the state Legislature reneged on its agreement to chose a new state comptroller from a screening panel’s list." Not too shabby huh??? Azi Paybarah(The Politicker) lets us know Spitzer's Budget, Redux "Eliot Spitzer just revised his budget proposal to the state legislature.
The amendments include a salary increase for District Attorneys ($1.1 million) and restores "funding for personal care level 1 in Medicaid" to the tune of $6 million.
The budget amendments can be seen over here." I am sure there will many more of these..before the final budget is passed......and "Staffers for Assembly Republicans may have been forced to attend a fund-raiser where 1 percent of their salaries were assessed. and Eliot Spitzer declined to comment on the Supreme Court's decision to review a case about how judges are elected in this state, a process which Spitzer once said was "in dire need of reform." and Spitzer did say there should be a "very public discussion" about how names of WTC victims are listed on a memorial at Ground Zero. and "Spitzer seems to have struck a decent deal," to build a casino in the Catskills, writes the Daily News editorial board." and finally the Times Empire Zone gives us a political take on Britney Spears Of Britney and Volatility "Who knew that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg followed the travails of the head-shaving pop star Britney Spears?
Mr. Bloomberg had to leave the news conference about ground zero this morning after about 18 minutes to attend a graduation ceremony for new correctional officers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, so he politely interrupted Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey.
“I’m going to excuse myself and I will leave all the questions about Britney to the two of you,” he said, to laughter. “Good luck.”
Gov. Eliot Spitzer barely missed a beat: “I would — unrelated to Britney — I would only add that as Governor Corzine just said, and said earlier, there’s volatility in markets, and that is what we have to be mindful of.”
Ms. Spears’s name did not come up " does volatility mean "combustible" gas??? andy
That may have included Malcolm Smith, and he may have passed that along to his conference, but in any event no proposal is going to get favored consideration for political reasons, like making sure the Senate Democratic conference continues to vote Spitzer's way. "We'll judge each and every one on its merits," says Anderson." Meanwhile back at the track.....another Pataki legacy...the NYRA Mess......Liz Benjamin gives us With Friends Like These… who needs bookies??? "A spokesman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer said the governor “does not feel bound” by the recommendation of an ad hoc committee that Excelsior Racing Associates, a group headed by (among others) Spitzer donor Richard Fields, take over the NYRA franchise.
The committee recommended Excelsior last November and formally adopted that recommendation today.
“Governor Spitzer has not yet received the report,” Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee told the AP. “However, upon receipt, it will be reviewed and will be part of the governor’s consideration and evaluation. He does not feel bound by it and in the next days we will be announcing a process for that evaluation.”
One-time state comptroller candidate Bill Mulrow, whose chances at being New York’s top auditor were tanked in the state Legislature due to his purported friendship with the governor, is also involved in the Excelsior bid.
The AP story notes that Spitzer raised questions about whether the committee had adequately considered the “integrity” of the bidders"....a reader..who appears to be a true race fan had this to say..........."The problem is with so many consolidations under the Excelsior and Empire umbrellas early in the process there are bad guys everywhere. I don’t know who to root for.
I’ve been going to the Saratoga track since I was 4 years old. The fact is NYRA ran a great race. But once you went beyond the outside rail it turned into the Godfather. Now we are trying to fix that corruption with a corrupted process.
I get the sad feeling New York’s best thoroughbred racing days are behind it.
Comment by Ed Rooney — February 21, 2007 @ 1:25 pm " ..........how sad is that??? and Siena Poll Confirms Spitzer’s Popularity "Today’s Siena Poll found 74 percent of New Yorkers have a favorable opinion of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, including 61 percent of Republicans, and 58 percent rate the job he’s doing so far as “excellent” (15 percent) or “good” (43 percent).
Sixty-nine percent of the 620 registered voters polled said they agreed with Spitzer that the state Legislature reneged on its agreement to chose a new state comptroller from a screening panel’s list." Not too shabby huh??? Azi Paybarah(The Politicker) lets us know Spitzer's Budget, Redux "Eliot Spitzer just revised his budget proposal to the state legislature.
The amendments include a salary increase for District Attorneys ($1.1 million) and restores "funding for personal care level 1 in Medicaid" to the tune of $6 million.
The budget amendments can be seen over here." I am sure there will many more of these..before the final budget is passed......and "Staffers for Assembly Republicans may have been forced to attend a fund-raiser where 1 percent of their salaries were assessed. and Eliot Spitzer declined to comment on the Supreme Court's decision to review a case about how judges are elected in this state, a process which Spitzer once said was "in dire need of reform." and Spitzer did say there should be a "very public discussion" about how names of WTC victims are listed on a memorial at Ground Zero. and "Spitzer seems to have struck a decent deal," to build a casino in the Catskills, writes the Daily News editorial board." and finally the Times Empire Zone gives us a political take on Britney Spears Of Britney and Volatility "Who knew that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg followed the travails of the head-shaving pop star Britney Spears?
Mr. Bloomberg had to leave the news conference about ground zero this morning after about 18 minutes to attend a graduation ceremony for new correctional officers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, so he politely interrupted Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey.
“I’m going to excuse myself and I will leave all the questions about Britney to the two of you,” he said, to laughter. “Good luck.”
Gov. Eliot Spitzer barely missed a beat: “I would — unrelated to Britney — I would only add that as Governor Corzine just said, and said earlier, there’s volatility in markets, and that is what we have to be mindful of.”
Ms. Spears’s name did not come up " does volatility mean "combustible" gas??? andy
