Tuesday, February 27, 2007
PM RUSH HOUR
5 Spitzer Appointments Confirmed "Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, Commissioner, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services
Patrick Hooker, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Markets
Robert Maccarone, Director, Probation and Correctional Alternatives
Michael Burgess, Director, Office of the Aging
Mindy Bockstein, Chair and Executive Director, Consumer Protection Board " and Liz B reports an early Spring Thaw? "Legislative leaders and Gov. Eliot Spitzer were full of praise for each other at this afternoon’s Red Room press conference to announce reform of the workers compensation system - a priority of Spitzer’s on which he began working the day after he was elected.
The deal ends lifetime permanent partial disability benefits for injured workers, which accounts for nearly half the cost of the system but is generated by a very small percentage of claims. It also as much as doubles benefits to workers in some cases while reducing premiums for employers.
More details here." and Azi Paybarah(The Politicker) thinks Spitzer may be thinking ahead when he decides to run for president...The Spitzer Primary"The Spitzer for President chatter, which I touched on here, gets a bit of new life at the tail end of this article in the Sun about why the governor is undecided about moving up New York's presidential primaries.
Mr. Spitzer could be waiting for other large states to make their move before he proceeds. By keeping his options open, he also preserves a bargaining chip that could come in handy in his dealings with the national Democratic Party.
Mr. Spitzer, who is widely believed to harbor presidential ambitions, also must be considering the impact an earlier date would have on his own chances in six or 10 years." and the Times Empire Zone gives us The Workers’ Comp Deal "A plan to overhaul New York’s workers compensation system eluded Gov. George E. Pataki for years, but today, at the end of his second month in office, Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced he had reached an agreement with legislative, business and labor leaders.
The deal would impose a new limit on the number of years that some injured workers receive weekly benefits, and by creating a fee schedule for drugs, laboratory tests and prosthetic devices used in workers compensation cases. Mr. Spitzer said the cost savings from these and other changes would allow premiums to be reduced by 10 to 15 percent, saving businesses several hundred million dollars a year.Read more … " Another Spitzer accomplishment...another campaign promise. kept...........and finally Eliot’s Domain Dispute .......I tell ya it was was a misunderstanding...ya gotta believe me...I swear...you won't see Eric Keller around here anymore...it was business...nothing personal.........this sounds like a scene out of the Godfather movies......"A reader who says he is Eric Keller, the registered owner of the Web domains eliotspitzer.com and eliotspitzer.org, has posted some correspondence about a dispute he is having with the Spitzer administration over control of the two domains.
Mr. Keller says he is an old classmate of Mr. Spitzer’s who once lost to him in a student election. He says that he registered the domains as a favor and would be happy to turn them over. He does want some of his expenses “reimbursed,” and he has tangled with Spitzer intermediaries who are playing hardball. But he says the whole thing is a comedy of errors:
I have always considered Eliot to be a friend and colleague.
I registered the above domain names with Eliot’s interests in mind. I have had many offers over the last few years to sell them. My answer has been the same: Eliot is a friend, not for sale. I am certain that his political opponents or downright enemies covet these names and pay a premium for them. Not for sale.
(Matters unravel from there, but it ends on a hopeful note: “Eliot, call me for the log in information and get going with these new web addresses!!”)
Patrick Hooker, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Markets
Robert Maccarone, Director, Probation and Correctional Alternatives
Michael Burgess, Director, Office of the Aging
Mindy Bockstein, Chair and Executive Director, Consumer Protection Board " and Liz B reports an early Spring Thaw? "Legislative leaders and Gov. Eliot Spitzer were full of praise for each other at this afternoon’s Red Room press conference to announce reform of the workers compensation system - a priority of Spitzer’s on which he began working the day after he was elected.
The deal ends lifetime permanent partial disability benefits for injured workers, which accounts for nearly half the cost of the system but is generated by a very small percentage of claims. It also as much as doubles benefits to workers in some cases while reducing premiums for employers.
More details here." and Azi Paybarah(The Politicker) thinks Spitzer may be thinking ahead when he decides to run for president...The Spitzer Primary"The Spitzer for President chatter, which I touched on here, gets a bit of new life at the tail end of this article in the Sun about why the governor is undecided about moving up New York's presidential primaries.
Mr. Spitzer could be waiting for other large states to make their move before he proceeds. By keeping his options open, he also preserves a bargaining chip that could come in handy in his dealings with the national Democratic Party.
Mr. Spitzer, who is widely believed to harbor presidential ambitions, also must be considering the impact an earlier date would have on his own chances in six or 10 years." and the Times Empire Zone gives us The Workers’ Comp Deal "A plan to overhaul New York’s workers compensation system eluded Gov. George E. Pataki for years, but today, at the end of his second month in office, Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced he had reached an agreement with legislative, business and labor leaders.
The deal would impose a new limit on the number of years that some injured workers receive weekly benefits, and by creating a fee schedule for drugs, laboratory tests and prosthetic devices used in workers compensation cases. Mr. Spitzer said the cost savings from these and other changes would allow premiums to be reduced by 10 to 15 percent, saving businesses several hundred million dollars a year.Read more … " Another Spitzer accomplishment...another campaign promise. kept...........and finally Eliot’s Domain Dispute .......I tell ya it was was a misunderstanding...ya gotta believe me...I swear...you won't see Eric Keller around here anymore...it was business...nothing personal.........this sounds like a scene out of the Godfather movies......"A reader who says he is Eric Keller, the registered owner of the Web domains eliotspitzer.com and eliotspitzer.org, has posted some correspondence about a dispute he is having with the Spitzer administration over control of the two domains.
Mr. Keller says he is an old classmate of Mr. Spitzer’s who once lost to him in a student election. He says that he registered the domains as a favor and would be happy to turn them over. He does want some of his expenses “reimbursed,” and he has tangled with Spitzer intermediaries who are playing hardball. But he says the whole thing is a comedy of errors:
I have always considered Eliot to be a friend and colleague.
I registered the above domain names with Eliot’s interests in mind. I have had many offers over the last few years to sell them. My answer has been the same: Eliot is a friend, not for sale. I am certain that his political opponents or downright enemies covet these names and pay a premium for them. Not for sale.
(Matters unravel from there, but it ends on a hopeful note: “Eliot, call me for the log in information and get going with these new web addresses!!”)
