Albany's Insanity

Seeing that New York Assemblymen never have their own ideas and always copy California, I am sure Felix Ortez will move to ban trans fat from the whole state of New York next.

California Is First State to Ban Trans Fats

California, a national trendsetter in all matters edible, became the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Friday to phase out their use over the next few years.

Under the new law, the fats must be excised from restaurant products beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011. Packaged manufactured foods will be exempt.

In recent years trans-fats have become almost the new cigarettes among public health policy makers, with consumer behavior as much in the crosshairs as the product itself in governments’ attempt to curb harmful effects.

On Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger, whose consumer interests often align closely with those of Democrats, praised the new law after signing it.

‘California is a leader in promoting health and nutrition, and I am pleased to continue that tradition by being the first state in the nation to phase out trans fats,” he said in a statement. “Consuming trans fat is linked to coronary heart disease, and today we are taking a strong step toward creating a healthier future for California.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com …

WOW…. almost 16 million for just the governors staff? How the hell can he get away with this? Incredible, simply incredible. So I see where cuts need to start, isn’t leadership setting the example. Be the first to cut your staff and overhead then you have a leg to stand on.

Bloat in Albany – July 17, 2008 – The New York Sun

Those laid off by Wall Street may want to try for a job in Albany, where, our Jacob Gershman reported on Monday’s front page, 62 of Governor Paterson’s aides earn $100,000 a year or more. The result is a governor’s office annual payroll of $15.6 million. Massachusetts manages with a governor’s office payroll of $4.8 million, Florida with $6.8 million. Texas, which has a larger population than New York, manages to staff its governor’s office by spending about half as much money as New York does. In California, only 46 of the governor’s aides earn $100,000 a year or more.

The aides earn more than state lawmakers or judges; the governor’s spokeswoman earns more than the chief judge of the state of New York, Judith Kaye. If Mr. Paterson is prone to spending a lot on staff, he has a history of it; our Russell Berman reported earlier this year that as state Senate minority leader, he oversaw an empire of 143 employees, more than five times the number that Senator McConnell uses to run the minority leader’s office of the United States Senate in Washington. It is part of the reason New York’s taxes are so high compared to other states. Ordinary New Yorkers, who earn an average of $47,000 a year, are being taxed — without mercy — to pay for Mr. Paterson’s aides.

Faso is exactly right on the property tax cap. Although we all know that Silver will come back with the supposed circuit breaker program… That is stupid but almost everything that comes out of the Assembly is stupid especially when it comes from Silver. He doesn’t want to be held accountable so why would he want the schools to be so. Unions control the assembly, thank God that they have lost their ally in the Senate, maybe, just maybe we can get more done now.

Taxing issue — Times Union – Albany NY
POINT: Cap pressures government, not residents, to perform

By JOHN J. FASO
First published: Sunday, July 20, 2008

New York’s state and local taxes are some 70 percent above the national average. Our local school property taxes are significantly higher than those in other states, mainly because of state requirements. During my 2006 campaign for governor, I proposed a 4 percent tax cap with major reforms to state laws that drive school spending without benefiting students.

My cap plan was modeled after the successful Massachusetts Proposition 2 1/2, in place in that state since 1980. Massachusetts has gone from having the second-highest tax burden among the states to ranking 28th nationally. Massachusetts also spends only slightly less than New York on K-12 education, but with better results. The tax cap enforces a discipline on local spending and is so successful no significant effort exists to repeal the law in a state that is arguably more liberal than New York.

To his credit, Gov. David Paterson has proposed a similar cap limiting how much taxes could increase in any one year. Opponents, like the teacher unions and the state Working Families Party, argue instead for a “circuit breaker” program that would limit property taxes to a percentage of household income. And they want a big income tax increase to pay for it.

If New York is going to get a grip on ever-rising school property taxes, the tax cap must come first. Only a strict limit on how much local school taxes can increase on a yearly basis will force the state Legislature and governor to enact reforms to the laws that drive school spending.

The circuit breaker, on the other hand, doesn’t address spending; it simply shifts the burden from local taxpayers to state taxpayers, without reform to the laws and practices that ensure school spending continues to spiral upward. Just like the STAR program enacted in 1997, a circuit breaker provides temporary relief but doesn’t address the real reason for high taxes: out-of-control spending.

The state reimburses school districts for the cost of the STAR exemption, about $3 billion annually. A circuit breaker, depending on income eligibility, would similarly cost the state a significant amount of money. Yet, neither program addresses the spending side of the ledger. Nor does either program help bring about long-overdue reforms. Instead, these approaches perpetuate the unaffordable system now in place.

State laws dictating how contracts are negotiated, benefits are paid and pensions are provided drive state and local spending beyond taxpayers’ capacity to pay. The Legislature needs to enact pension and contract reform.

more–>

What a great idea, to start anyway…. step two should be to slash the benefit packages and pensions. $6.55 an hour is about all we can afford to pay here in New York too, so lets take that step and follow California….

Schwarzenegger plans to slash state workers’ pay till budget passes – Los Angeles Times

About 200,000 employees would get the federal minimum wage, saving California roughly $1 billion a month. They would receive their back pay after a spending plan is enacted.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to cut the pay of about 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a budget is signed, according to a draft of the governor’s order obtained by The Times.

Administration officials said Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the order early next week as part of an effort to avert a cash crisis. The controversial move, likely to be challenged in court by public-employee unions, would save the state about $1 billion a month, the officials said.

Workers would be repaid their lost earnings once a budget was in place.

The order also calls for the state to immediately lay off 19,000 part-time workers, stop overtime payments for almost all employees and cease all hiring until a budget is enacted. The deadline for passing a budget was July 1, and without one California may be unable to borrow billions of dollars needed to keep the state solvent.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com …

A 4% cap in my opinion is still to high. It should be kept to the rate of inflation and no more. Everyone has to work within their means except for taxpayer funded agencies like the school districts. With the cost of fuel, natural gas and food rising we have to cut in other places. What do they do? They just keep spending like it’s not their money…. Well guess what, it’s our money and they just keep taking more and more of it.

WIVB-TV News4 Buffalo, NY |Skelos pushes for real property tax cap

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – - The new State Senate Majority Leader is pushing the Governor’s plan for a real property tax cap. That cap could spell relief for Western New York taxpayers.

A few years ago, Frontier School District voters packed the auditorium over a plan to raise their school property taxes by 7%. Next year, a hike like that might not even be legal in New York State.

Dean Skelos, NY State Senate Majority Leader, said, “The Senate will come back in session within the next several weeks to pass Governor Patterson’s Real Property Tax Bill, which would cap school property taxes at 4%.”

Most School Districts don’t raise their tax levy by more than 4% over the previous year, but this year about 15 districts in Western New York are.

The Senate’s new Majority Leader Dean Skelos says districts now have to look within themselves and try to spend appropriately.

Dean Skelos, NY State Senate Majority Leader, said, “Do you need a superintendent, assistant superintendent, assistant to the assistant superintendent.”

He expects the state will pass the 4% school tax cap in the next few weeks, and then if a school district needs more money that a 4% tax hike would generate, they’d have to appeal to the state for more school aid.

HAHAHAHA… A democrat resume enhancer! The National Enquirer’s lawyer is David Kendall — Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense attorney. I would bet anything that HRC was waiting to drop this to kill JE’s VP chances and put her higher on the VP list. From what I hear, this is all true. What a sleeze bucket…

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS CAUGHT WITH MISTRESS AND LOVE CHILD!

Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.

The married ex-senator from North Carolina – whose wife Elizabeth continues to battle cancer — met with his mistress, blonde divorcée Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night, July 21 – and the NATIONAL ENQUIRER was there! He didn’t leave until early the next morning.

Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards. The former senator attended a press event Monday afternoon with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the topic of how to combat homelessness.

But a months-long NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation had yielded information that Rielle and Edwards, 54, had arranged to secretly meet afterward and for the ex-senator to spend some time with both his mistress and the love child who he refuses to publicly acknowledge as his own.

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER broke the story of Edwards’ love child scandal last year, when Rielle was still pregnant and Edwards was still considered a strong candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Both parties denied the NATIONAL ENQUIRER report and a close friend of Edwards’ came forward and said he was the father of Rielle’s baby. But sources told the NATIONAL ENQUIRER a far different story – they revealed that Edwards was engineering a massive cover up of his shocking infidelity.

Sources came forward after that story appeared and told The NATIONAL ENQUIRER that Edwards and Rielle had met secretly several times, so that he could see his baby and continue his relationship with Rielle.

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER learned ahead of time that one such meeting was set for yesterday.

At 9:45 p.m. (PST) Monday, Edwards appeared at the hotel, and was dropped off at a side entrance. NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporter Alan Butterfield witnessed the ex-senator get out of a BMW driven by a male companion and stroll into the hotel.

How many times have I said that Silver is the most powerful politician in Albany? A million? 2 Million? It doesn’t matter what the Senate does or what Paterson wants with this Property tax cap, if Shelly says no then no it is… It also does not seem to matter what the rest of the Assembly has to say, why is that? How and why does one person wield so much power and control? Did you elect him? I didn’t here in Western New York, so how come what he says goes? These Bills need to go to the floor for debate and a secret ballot, if that happened I would guarantee it would pass.

Sheldon Silver needs to be bounced out on his buttocks and have his head yanked out of his……..

While dysfunction lives, tax reform is ‘DOA’- Syracuse.com
DICK CASE
POST-STANDARD COLUMNIST

I’m here to say that nothing much has changed in Albany, in spite of what we’ve heard.

I had a startling revelation recently when Dean Skelos, who’s from Long Island, stopped by the office to talk with us about himself, and his plans for the state Legislature. Dean’s the guy who replaced Joe Bruno, who stepped down from his job as Senate majority leader.

The new majority leader didn’t pull many of his punches. He gets along fine with “David” (Paterson), who’s also breaking into the job, as governor. “Shelly” (Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker) is another matter.

Nothing gets done in Albany unless Shelly says it’s OK.

This was not good news. For months, we’ve heard about how dysfunctional our state government has become. Even with new pairs of boots on the floor,

the dysfunction stays.

Dean Skelos quoted Shelly as saying the governor’s proposal on tax reform was “dead on arrival” in the legislature.

He said “DOA.”

Dean went on to explain that’s a lousy response to the governor’s program, which he said is all he hears about on his tour Upstate: “property taxes, property taxes, property taxes.” If the governor puts out a bill, Dean thinks “we owe him the courtesy of a real examination of it. To say it’s dead on arrival basically is saying no to the governor.

“It’s also saying that you’re not serious about real property tax relief.”