The only ones that got bruised in the budget battle is the people in New York State and Spitzers ego. So now he is trying to regain some credibility is what it should say. Failing to reign in the out of control legislature Spitzer is grasping at straws reaching for some kind of victory.

That would mean “real reform and have a real effect on NY State.

Spitzer tries to regain initiative with lawmakers

ALBANY - While the state Senate remains focused on adopting a new death-penalty law, Gov. Eliot Spitzer last week filed bills on issues ranging from gay marriage to court reorganization, redistricting and abortion rights.

At the same time, he has been traveling the state trying to drum up support for limits on campaign donations.

While these proposals face at best an uncertain reception among lawmakers, analysts think Spitzer is trying to regain the initiative that some think he lost during the bruising fight over a new state budget that ended almost a month ago.

“He’s trying to regain the activist image he took in before the budget slowed him down,” Marist College pollster Lee Miringoff said Friday. “He’s coming into the post-budget period full throttle.”

Here’s a rundown of what Spitzer is pushing:

- Campaign finance: Spitzer wants to lower donation limits, strengthen penalties and enforcement power to catch violators and curb what private purposes politicians can use the money for.

He has made some trips into Republican Senate districts to push for the changes, but the Senate remains opposed, said Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County.

“He’s getting all revved up and torqued up over things that don’t affect the quality of life for people,” Bruno said.

But Bruno said the Senate would at least review Spitzer’s other proposals, which include:

- Gay marriage: Spitzer has proposed that New York become the second state, after Massachusetts, to legalize the unions.

“It is high time that New York values all families who choose to call New York home by passing this bill,” said Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal, an advocacy group.

But Spitzer has admitted the measure stands little chance of being adopted this year by lawmakers, who say that while same-sex couples should have rights, their unions should not have the same status as heterosexual married couples.

- Redistricting: Spitzer wants to set up a nonpartisan panel to draw new lines for state Assembly, Senate and Congressional districts after the 2010 census. Lawmakers have been loathe in the past to give up this power, which is a key for each majority party to maintain control.

- Pay raises: The Senate is expected this week to pass a bill that would give pay raises to 1,400 judges and set up a panel to review increases for lawmakers and top state officials. Spitzer has been pushing for raises for judges, but has been cool about increasing the pay of lawmakers.

Like the judges, lawmakers haven’t had a raise since 1999. Their base pay of $79,500 a year is still among the highest in the country, and all 62 senators and about three-quarters of the 150 members of the Assembly get “leadership” stipends that boost the average yearly pay to more than $90,000 a year.

While the Senate plan would give judges a raise retroactive to the first of the year, no legislative hike could take effect before 2009.

- Court reorganization: The Spitzer plan would merge some overlapping layers of the court system and have judges on higher courts picked by commissions rather than elected - a practice advocates call “merit selection.”

- Abortion: In the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlaws a late-term abortion procedure that opponents call “partial-birth” abortion, Spitzer has proposed updating the state’s statute to specifically allow late-term abortions to protect the health of the mother.

“The proposal clearly says that a woman has a right to choose or refuse to have an abortion,” said JoAnn Smith of Family Planning Advocates.