So we’re at a standstill… That can be a very good thing, I just wish it happened at the very beginning of the legislative session that way maybe they would not be able to screw us any more than they already have. Gridlock is good, but gridlock because of political hits and abuse of power is threatening to all of us.

Agreements in Albany may have unraveled

ALBANY - Key agreements between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and lawmakers on campaign finance reform, higher property-tax rebate checks for seniors, and $1billion in building projects appear to have unraveled, according to an aide to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

And observers here said brokering new deals would be very difficult because of fallout from the scandal involving a plot by the Democratic governor’s aides to discredit Bruno, the top Republican in state government. Bruno now is mulling whether to have Senate committees launch new inquiries into the plot and contributions to Spitzer’s past campaigns.

Bruno’s communications director, John McArdle, said the agreement on campaign finance containing the first significant changes since 1976 had collapsed, along with one on capital projects, because Spitzer balked at spending $200 million this year for rebate checks for lower- and middle-income seniors.

“His budget people started backing away on the one piece that is probably most important to us,” McArdle said.

“Once they said, ‘Oh, no, we aren’t going to do the senior rebate piece the way you suggested it.’ We said, ‘No, it’s the way we agreed to it,’” recalled McArdle. “By reneging on that agreement … then we said, ‘fine, there is nothing to talk about on campaign finance reform.’”

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson shot back yesterday, “The agreement that was negotiated did not include specific numbers. The agreement was to enact a senior property-tax plan and to move forward with discussions about capital [projects]. We certainly hope the Senate will stick to this agreement and not stand in the way of important progress for the people of this state.”

McArdle and others familiar with the deals, which hinged on each other, stressed the unraveling wasn’t caused by the plot against Bruno.

Still, the senator isn’t in a hurry to resume negotiations with the freshman governor. “We are going to govern after we get the truth about the potential abuse of power in the governor’s office, and how much did the governor know,” Bruno said.
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