ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been hot, cold and warm over what it will take for him to carry through on his threat to veto legislative lines proposed in this year’s redistricting process, said this morning that plans released Thursday’s by the Assembly and Senate are “unacceptable.’’
“We need better maps,’’ Cuomo said.
But the governor offered no specifics on how the maps released Thursday for the Senate and Assembly need to be improved. Asked for examples of problems, Cuomo said the “political machinations’’ in the new district lines are obvious.
“You don’t have to look hard,’’ the governor said.
Cuomo said he will veto the district lines unless they are changed. He did not elaborate. Historically, the lines are always tweaked at least somewhat from what is initially proposed by the Assembly and Senate.
ALBANY -– A day after state lawmakers publicly rebuked his transportation commissioner for not providing details about a big new roads and bridges construction program, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was behind closed doors in Manhattan this morning talking about his infrastructure plan to a room of big political donors.
Corporations and others were asked to spend as much as $50,000 to participate in a panel featuring Cuomo at this morning’s Democratic Governors Association. The money raised is going to the national governor’s group, not Cuomo, though the governor’s supporters believe the event -– and the money he helped raise -– will be of benefit to Cuomo’s intentions to be in the mix for a 2016 White House run.
“We talked about infrastructure needs,’’ Cuomo told reporters at a Manhattan hotel where the fundraiser/seminar was held. He said the speech basically outlined the proposal he made for a $15 billion infrastructure program as he made in his recent State of the State speech. Major elements of the plan, including a list of projects and how private sector money will be raised to fund it, have not yet been released.
Cuomo defended his appearance before donors with prime access to him. “Well, then, that could be any fundraiser, right?’’ Cuomo said. He noted that every politician at every level holds fundraisers. “One of the things we have to do is get money out of politics,’’ he said.
Asked about donors’ names not being made public, Cuomo said he did not know the specifics of the campaign finance law that applies to the Democratic governors group. He also said he did not know how much people in the room -– which he estimated at between 200 and 250 -– paid to attend.
“Your issue is, ‘Well, people are in rooms where people contribute money.’ That is the current state of politics and that is every elected official in every fundraising forum,’’ Cuomo said.
Cuomo noted his proposals to change the state’s campaign finance laws. “But the federal finance laws, that’s someone else’s problem,’’ he said.
The event was closed to the media. His public schedule did not mention his appearance at the forum.
The governor's transportation commissioner, Joan McDonald, was grilled -- with little or no success -- by lawmakers Thursday searching for specifics of Cuomo's plans for infrastructure improvements in New York.
ALBANY -- The Senate Republicans were very helpful getting right down to the street level in Buffalo if you want to figure out the newly proposed district for Democrat Sen. Tim Kennedy.
Proposals have emerged for the new Assembly and Senate distrcits within New York State as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process following the 2010 census. Here are stories about the proposals for the Assembly and Senate.
Below are links to maps of the proposed districts (current Assembly or Senate member within district listed in parentheses):
News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski will host a live chat at 1 p.m. today to discuss the State of the Union address and other political matters related to both Buffalo and the nation's capital.
This is the first of weekly Politics Now chats at 1 p.m. Thursdays, which will also feature News Political Columnist Bob McCarthy, City Hall reporter Aaron Besecker, Erie County Hall reporter Denise Jewell Gee and Tom Precious of The News' Albany bureau.
Proposed food truck rules are now in the hands of Mayor Byron W. Brown.
As I reported Tuesday, the Common Council passed a set of food truck rules, which must be signed by the mayor.
Once the City Clerk's Office certifies the results of the Council vote, the paperwork is forwarded to the mayor's office. The mayor would likely receive the documents Monday, Assisstant Corporation Counsel Timothy A. Ball said.
The mayor has 10 days in which he can sign the legislation into law, veto it or do nothing, and then it would become law after 10 days. If the measure is signed into law, it would take effect immediately.
One part of the matter that remained unresolved Tuesday was whether the any newly issued food truck licenses would be good until April 2013, or whether a license -- valid until April 1 of this year -- would be issued with a prorated fee.
After the passage, Peter V. Cimino told me Lloyd the taco truck will be growing, including adding a truck and employees.
Listen to part of our conversation:
South Council Member Michael P. Kearns placed the only vote against the proposed rules. He offered his own version, available here. The only changes he offered were lowering the fee from $1,000 to $395, as well as limiting the number of operating food trucks to one mobile vendor per city block.
Here's Kearns talking about the issue during Tuesday's Common Council meeting:
The bill sponsor, North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr., spoke immediately after Kearns. Here's some of what he had to say:
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo touched on a variety of topics in his address this morning, as he did in a news conference afterwards.
Here's some of what the governor said in a conversation with reporters:
On the Buffalo Bills and getting a new stadium lease:
“The Bills are very important, not just to Western New York, but to the entire state. We want to keep the Bills here. I’m looking forward to being part of a cooperative effort to keep them here. Obviously, money is tight; we all know that. The taxpayers are not in a position to be shelling out more money, and we’re going to great lengths to bring efficiencies to this state budget, and I’ve cut the budget, but the Bills are important and I want to be a big part of keeping them here.”
On funding for Roswell Park Cancer Institute:
"We cross our fingers, we hope for the best and there's nothing immediate that's going to happen from the state's side. We're talking about two years, so we have two years to figure it out."
On funding for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority:
"We have some money for the NFTA in the budget and we're doing the best we can, but money is tight all over. And we need efficient partnerships all across the state where everyone is doing what they need to do."
Listen to the full audio of Cuomo's press conference:
As part of a new weekly feature on the Politics Now blog, Tom Precious of The News' Albany Bureau will post an audio interview with a newsmaker or provide audio analysis from the Capitol.
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Fran Turner, legislative and political action director for the Civil Service Employees Association, the state’s largest public employees union, talked with me this morning. Her comments came before her appearance on behalf of the union before a joint Senate and Assembly fiscal committee considering Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s 2012 budget proposal -– including a plan that includes a dramatic overhaul of a pension system for future state and local government employees.
The governor calls those workers the "unborn" who should not be worrying today about future public employees they don't even yet represent. The governor's plan increases pension costs for workers, lowers expenses for the state and localities and provides an option for future workers to join a defined contribution system, similar to a 401(k) program.
