Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, Putnam County, just spoke on the Senate floor in favor of a resolution urging President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder not to hold the 9/11 terrorism trials in New York City. Doing so would put people’s lives in danger and be too costly.

“Trying these individuals in lower Manhattan goes beyond the pale. There is no area of our country that has suffered more than those few square blocks. They have suffered in terms of lost lives, lost dreams, and of course, the economy,” said Leibell, who introduced the resolution.

Leibell suggested that anywhere in the state would not be a good place to have the trials. He said the trials would not be appropriate in any civilian court.

Sen. Daniel Squadron, a Democrat who represents lower Manhattan, said he agrees with Leibell that the trials should not be held in New York City. However, he voted against the resolution because he believes they should take place in civilian court, he said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others are vociferously against having the trials in Manhattan and have asked for federal officials to reconsider their decision.

Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, is on the hotseat in the Senate today, as colleagues prepare to vote on whether they will censure or expel him for his misdemeanor assault conviction in a domestic-violence incident. The Senate is planning to take up a resolution this afternoon on the matter.

Monserrate was the focus of media attention as he walked through the halls outside the Senate. He told one group of reporters that he would have a formal statement following whatever action is taken in the Senate.

When asked if he expected to be a member of the Senate tomorrow morning, he said, “I expect to be a member of the Senate for many, many years.”

He told another group of reporters that only the voters could remove him from office:

“I’m going to go back to work right now. That’s what I’m here for. I’ve already made the statement that the issue clearly is much broader than I. The issue is about justice, law and order, process, and at the end of the day, that’s what has to be protected—the will of the people, the voters.”

   It’s been one anonymous source or rumor after another at the Capitol for days now. All of them have to do with Gov. David Paterson and alleged indiscretions and whether that might force him out of office. Everything centers around the New York Times, which is said to be working on an enlightening story about Paterson.

   Paterson’s office has sought to quell any rumors. This is a statement from Peter Kauffmann, a spokesman for the governor:

   “This is a new low even by the standards of planet Albany. The circus of the past week—entirely fabricated out of thin air and innuendo—is an embarrassment for all who have played a role in feeding it.”   

   Rick Lazio, who is seeking the GOP nomination to run for governor this year, came to Paterson’s defense with this statement:

   “The rumors about the Governor are a sad reflection of Albany politics. No public official deserves to be the subject of over a week of innuendo and nasty speculation. If the New York Times is working on or has a story then they should confirm or print it. If they do not, then they have an obligation to stop this rumor mongering right now. Common decency demands it.”

   Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. just announced legislation he is proposing that would require immediate expulsion for any lawmaker who was convicted of certain “egregious” Class A misdemeanors. They include third-degree assault; sexual misconduct; second-degree sexual abuse; fifth-degree arson; second-degree aggravated harassment involving physical contact; endangering the welfare of a chid; and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled bill.

   “By ratifying this proposed bill, we would eliminate vague language and strengthen the current Public Officers Law, as well as obviate the need for burdensome and costly investigatory and administrative procedures,” Espada said.

   Espada said the bill would not be retroactive or in any way affect what is being contemplated for Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, who was convicted of misdemeanor assault on his girlfriend. Senators are considering a vote to expel or to censure Monserrate this week. State Public Officers law requires immediate expulsion for any member convicted of a felony. It is open to interpretation for a misdemeanor, according to Espada, who wants to clarify that area of the law.

   Monserrate was found not guilty in connection with the domestic-violence incident in December 2008. He took office in January 2009. Espada said his legislation would be for actions committed after the legislator took office. In the case of Monserrate, they wouldn’t apply.

   Espada, a member of the informal legislative group the “amigos” with Monserrate and others, said he does not plan to vote for expulsion. Asked if he would approve a censure of his colleague, he said he had not seen a resolution to do that and would have to see how it was worded before deciding how he would act.

From Jon Campbell of the Albany Bureau:

   More than 300 members of a pair of education unions came together for a rally against Gov. David Paterson’s proposed cuts to the State University of New York system and his higher-education reform plan.

   Professors, administrators, students, and others held signs that read “SOS: Save Our SUNY” and “Stand up for SUNY” as leaders from United University Professions and New York State United Teachers spoke out against Paterson’s plans. They said his reform plan would have disastrous effects on SUNY.

   “I’m not trying to scare people, but I think (the cuts are) going to kill SUNY,” UUP President Phillip Smith, pictured below, said after the rally. “It is abandoning public higher education all together.”

   The governor’s budget would cut SUNY’s operating budget by $118 million and cut the Tuition Assistance Plan by $75 a student. It would give SUNY the authority to set its own tuition—and increase it annually—without needing approval from the Legislature. SUNY would have more autonomy in purchasing and other areas. 

   Speaking during the rally, Assemblyman Jack McEneny, D-Albany, said Paterson’s plan to give the SUNY system added independence from the Legislature, including giving individual schools the ability to set their own tuition, would decrease the system’s transparency.

   “There’s no question that we have to use creative planning,” McEneny said, “but to turn things over to the university system with no oversight is not a good idea. Bring it before the Legislature and let the public look at it. Then we’ll decide whether it makes sense or not.”

   Smith said the higher-education reform plan would only lead to problems for the SUNY system.

   “We have seen what has happened in our financial industry when deregulation has occurred; the federal government has been asked to bail them out,” Smith said. “What’s going to happen four or five or 10 years down the road? The state is going to be asked to bail SUNY out, so let’s not even go down that road.”

Here’s Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli talking about his report earlier this week that the state budget’s revenues are off.

   In their report this week called “Turning Up the Heat,” environmental and public-health groups found that thermostat makers have collected less than 5 percent of the mercury thermostats that have gone out of service nationally in the past decade. The figure is even less for New York at 1.3 percent of the old thermostats.

   New York does not have a mandatory thermostat-collection program and receives just 1.9 thermostats per 10,000 residents. That puts New York at 31st in the country for thermostat recovery. The uncollected thermostats contain an estimated 66 to 96 tons of mercury, according to the groups. Maine, on the other hand, ranks first with 42.2 thermostats collected per 10,000 residents. People receive $5 for handing in their thermostats there.

   Along with ”Turning Up the Heat,” the organizations are urging lawmakers to pass legislation for a mandatory state-collection program with incentives to encourage higher collections and high standards. 

   Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Bob Sweeney, D-Suffolk County, said this week that he would be sponsoring legislation to encourage greater collection of products that contain mercury.

   Laura Haight, senior environmental associate with the New York Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement this week that New York should “turn up the heat” on thermostat manufacturers. “The manufacturers should stop spinning the meager results of their collection program and instead provide real incentives to bring in old mercury thermostats. New York should follow the example of Maine and Vermont and adopt a comprehensive thermostat collection program that works,” she said.

   Each thermostat contains about 4 grams of mercury—roughly 800 times more than what’s in a compact flourescent light bulb. About two million to three million thermostats containing seven to 10 tons of mercury come out of service each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates. In the last 15  years, mercury use in U.S. thermostats has been reduced from an estimated 15 to 21 tons a year to less than one ton annually. Fifteen states, including New York, have banned the sale of new mercury thermostats.

   Mercury that gets out of a thermometer or thermostat can cause impairment of peripheral vision; lack of coordination of movements; impaired speech and hearing; and damage to the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system.

D   r. Richard Daines, state health commissioner, is adding his voice to those who have criticized the wording of a Quinnipiac Poll question about Gov. David Paterson’s proposed penny-an-ounce tax on sugary beverages. The poll asked if people would support the so-called “obesity tax” or “fat tax” and found that 57 percent were against it and 40 percent were for it.

   Daines, the state Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance, the Greater New York Hospital Association and the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York all issued statements today that criticized the wording of that question. The CCC called the language “highly inflammatory” and said 72 percent of respondents in its poll supported the tax and 27 percent were against it after hearing more about the initiative and that the money collected to go toward health care.

   This is what Daines’ media release said:

   State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., said that the results of a Quinnipiac poll released today regarding support for a proposed tax on sugared beverages most likely would have been more positive had responders been given some basic facts about the proposal.

   “In polling, it’s all in how you ask the question,” said Commissioner Daines. “Quinnipiac simply asked New Yorkers if they support or oppose an “obesity tax” or “fat tax” on non-diet sugary soft drinks. Nowhere in the Governor’s budget is that tax mentioned and no one wants to hear about a tax called that,” he said. Read more of this entry »

Gov. David Paterson today continued to try to beat back questions about his selection of the politically connected Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) to operate the video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Yesterday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said in a letter to Paterson said “last week you called me to personally and strongly recommend the selection of the Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) for the video lottery terminal franchise at the Aqueduct Raceway. I agreed to support the selection of AEG contingent upon four conditions to be expressed in a memorandum of understanding.”

Those conditions include a $300 million upfront licensing fee.

But Paterson said in a statement today that the deal was reached “in a unanimous decision reached through the equal votes of the leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, and myself. Each leader had equal statutory authority, equal responsibility and is equally accountable in this selection.”

Here’s the bullet points put out by Paterson today on the deal:

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wouldn’t fire back this morning after Gov. David Paterson accused him of a “Rose Garden strategy” and being afraid to say where he stands on the state’s issues.

As usual, Cuomo deflected questions about his political intentions and the questions about if and when he will announce his candidacy for governor.

“I didn’t hear what the governor said. As I have said, I am the attorney general of the state of New York. I was elected to do a job,” Cuomo said on a conference call this morning to announce fraud charges against Bank of America.

“I get paid for that job every day by the people of the state, and that’s the job that I’m doing.”

He continued, “I’m confronting the issues that are facing New Yorkers. I think today’s a good example of that. We are protecting the taxpayers of this state.”

Cuomo was also asked about whether he has any concerns about the controversial deal by Gov. David Paterson to award the Aqueduct racetrack gaming contract to a group that includes the Rev. Floyd Flake, an influential African-American pastor who met with Paterson just days after the Democratic governor announced the deal.

Cuomo would only say, “We have no investigation on that matter at this time.”