Winds of Change
January 27, 2010
For years, I have been speaking of the “IPP” or “Incumbent Protection Plan.” Let’s face it: When the people who serve in the New York State Legislature get into office, they take whatever actions are necessary to stay there.
I know many of these people and despite what I am writing here, I like them. They are fun, they are filled with ideas and I would drink a club soda with them any time. But the truth is that the whole process has become a self-serving mess. The voters know it and these are very dangerous times for politicians. [Read more]
Marriage Power Play
December 9, 2009
I am not surprised by the results of the gay marriage debate. In fact, this is just the kind of wedge issue politics that we have come to expect from the fool-the-people, know-nothing politicians who play to the religious zealots and undereducated, vulnerable folks. These are the same people who would, all too often, deny the people adequate economic and social relief. They take their homophobic, xenophobic, hateful invective to the people in order to cover up their behavior in the State Senate. This leads to and is fed by the type of fiscal chaos that we have been experiencing. [Read more]
Lazio Goes for Gov
November 24, 2009
Rick Lazio is running for governor. He’s the former Republican Congressman who ran against Hillary Clinton for U.S. Senate. At one point in the debate, he shocked a lot of people by walking too close to her podium; Democrats and feminists jumped on him for taking what they perceived to be too combative a posture. I asked him about that time with Clinton and whether he would have done it differently now. He made it clear that he’s older and wiser and no, he would not have made that move if he had to do it over.
Lazio says he can win. That would mean beating either sitting Gov. David Paterson or Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, if he runs. Lazio recalled that when the then-popular Attorney General Robert Abrams ran for Senate against Alfonse D’Amato, he was leading Big Al by 25 points in the polls but still lost. [Read more]
Governance Gaffes
October 15, 2009
Did you hear that the Democratic leadership in the New York State Senate decided to take a trip to China? This in the midst of one of the worst fiscal crises ever, as the state faces a climbing and seemingly insurmountable deficit. They are using either their campaign money or money from the Asia American Business Center. True, it isn’t the public dole, but it still smells lousy. The public doesn’t like it when others pick up the tab, and they don’t like it when campaign money is used for things other than campaigns. [Read more]
Convening the Crew
August 26, 2009
Should there be a Constitutional Convention? Some smart people, like my long time colleague Professor Gerald Benjamin, believe there ought to be. I have my doubts.
The premise being advanced by some very good people is that the New York State Constitution is a rambling graveyard for material that ought to be in statute, rather than in a Constitution. They are certainly right about that. People like Blair Horner, the lobbyist for the New York Public Interest Research Group and an expert on all things state, point out that there are all kinds of provisions in the State Constitution that have been declared invalid by higher courts. [Read more]
What a Mess!
August 12, 2009
Just when New York should have the strongest leadership team available, things have never looked worse. Because we are in the greatest recession in modern history, we need good thinking, good public policy work. Instead of creative solutions, we have had what can only be described as political gang wars. [Read more]
When a Politician Calls
August 5, 2009
In politics, often a zero-sum game with only one winner, there are two major things that worry politicians. The first is lack of money. The second is what the press says about them, especially the growing number of hate-spewing and often anonymous blogs. There’s not much politicians can do about blogs or letters to the editor that are often placed by competing campaigns, but “negative ink” can lose an election. [Read more]
Of Prostitutes and Pigs
July 15, 2009
I was at a cocktail party on Fire Island when an old childhood friend came over and said, “Professor, you know a lot about Albany politics. Give me a short course.” Tired of talking and writing of the political perfidy of the sad schlemiels of the State Senate, I told the guy that most of them were no better than a bunch of whores.
“That’s it?” he inquired incredulously. [Read more]
In Albany, Darkest Before Dawn
June 17, 2009
The weird keeps getting weirder. Now that Hiram Monserrate has announced his intention to return to the Democrats, the split between Republicans and Democrats would be 31-31. No session can take place and no bill can pass without 32 votes being present and voting “aye.” But some good could come of all the nonsense in Albany. It could actually force the Senate to become a truly bipartisan body. The Republicans, you will remember, have for three decades kept the minority Democrats on a tight leash, not allowing them to pass bills and not giving every Senator the same amount of pork to bring home to their districts. The majority party got more staff and bigger and better offices. [Read more]
Charles In Charge
May 21, 2009
A long time ago, Al D’Amato’s brother, Armand, beat a criminal rap, George Pataki got elected governor with D’Amato’s backing and D’Amato won a new term as U.S. Senator. D’Amato went around bragging that he had “won the Trifecta.”
Later, Chuck Schumer took on D’Amato and beat him, and now Schumer has won the Trifecta himself. He is thought to have gotten Kirsten Gillibrand selected by Gov. David Paterson to be U.S. Senator. Now it looks like Schumer got the President of the United States to call Rep. Steve Israel, who would have defeated Gillibrand in a primary, to ask him to stay out of the race. [Read more]
