Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco continued his assault today on Gov. Spitzer for allegedly cutting state aid that Tedisco planned to provide to a Schenectady free health clinic.

“This is payback,” Tedisco told reporters. “This is governance by vengeance.”

Tedisco claims that the governor’s office had recently confirmed that Tedisco had about $438,000 in member items from the prior 2006-07 budget year to spend in his district, which includes parts of Schenectady and Saratoga counties.

Yet he said he was told this week the money won’t be released. About $100,000 was supposed to go to the clinic, which will face closure without the money, Tedisco said.

Tedisco claims the funding cut is Spitzer’s payback for Tedisco’s outspokenness against the governor’s new policy to give drivers’ licenses to immigrants. Tedisco has labeled him “Illegal Eliot,” claiming Spitzer’s policy violates state law.

If you recall, Tedisco was at the receiving end of Spitzer’s now famous “steamroller” comment in January, in which he essentially told Tedisco he’d steamroll him if he doesn’t play ball.

Spitzer’s office released a letter from Budget Director Paul Francis to Tedisco dated today that claims the governor notified Tedisco in January that money approved in prior years would be honored—but not new requests for projects, which they claim the money in question is.

“There was never a commitment to fund these new initiatives,” Francis said.

With the state facing a $4 billion budget gap in the next fiscal year, Gov. Spitzer said today that the state will have a series of hearings and town-hall meetings “to prepare for a difficult budget year.”
In a speech before the Citizens Budget Commission in Manhattan, Spitzer said the state will hold agency budget hearings later this month, followed by regional town-hall meetings to discuss the state’s fiscal problems and ways to curb spending.
Spitzer said he wants to hold the rate of growth in operating spending to the rate of personal income growth—which is about 5.3% this year.
Still, in his first budget this year, the state budget grew about three times the rate of inflation, which was roundly criticized by fiscal watchdogs.

Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani can expect to get a big boost to their presidential aspirations in their home region, according to a new poll.
  The survey from the Quinnipiac poll shows both the junior Democratic U.S. Senator and the Republican former New York City mayor gaining the bulk of delegates to their respective party conventions next summer, based on their expected big wins in primaries on held in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Feb. 5. Both are also currently the front-runners nationally for their respective party’s nominations, according to other polls.

    “In Albany, Trenton and Hartford, the Republican refrain is ‘Rah for Rudy.’ While 17 other states hold primaries on this February 5 Super Tuesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Mayor Giuliani can count on their Northeast neighbors to give them an early bumper crop of delegates,’‘said Quinnipiac pollster Maurice Carroll.
  Clinton stands to pick up about 250 delegates in the three states, all of which hold primaries on Feb. 5, and Giuliani  183 – 15 perent of wht he needs to get the nomination, according to the poll.

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49 – Obama 12; Giuliani 45 – Thompson 12;

NEW JERSEY: Clinton 46 – Obama 20; Giuliani 48 – Thompson 12;

CONNECTICUT: Clinton 43 – Obama 16; Giuliani 42 – McCain 14

    

       

    

           

  The 12 members of the new state Commisson on Government Integrity may be all lawyers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have differences.

   When Chairman John Feerick asked the members of the new panel today to tell him something about themselves that most people don’t know, many related tales of their children and grandchildren.

  Not  Manhattan lawyer Loretta Lynch. She  disclosed that she is newly married and a kick boxer. Andrew Celli, another downstate attorney, said he was a “competitive bocce player.’’ John Mitchell said he is a fly fisherman.

  Dan Alfonso, a former prosecutor, didn’t have anything interesting to say about himself, but said that his wife is a professional stand-up comic.

  “We have a lot of laughs in our house,’’ he said.

Two-thirds of state government’s ruling troika, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, were at a ceremony today held near the Capitol honoring firefighters who died in the line of duty. Both spoke about the sacrifices and courage of those who risk their lives to save others.

   The third powerful state leader, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, wasn’t there. He was at a golf outing in Westchester County, raising money for the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee.

  Silver has attended the firefighter ceremony in other years, and “no one has questioned his commitment’’ to firfighters, said his spokesman, Dan Weiller.

  The Assembly was represented at the cerremony by freshman Assemblyman Tim Gordon of Bethlehem, an Albany suburb, who has been a volunteer firefighter.

Something about the state budget doesn’t add up, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today.

  That “something’’ is spending (projected to grow by 31 percent over the next four years) and revenue (the guess is it will increase by 21 percent over the same period.

  Oh yes, and state debt (we have more of it than any state except California) is projected to raise to $64 billion, up from $51 billion last year.

  The solution?

   “The state has to set aside the piecemeal, random approach to reform,’’ the state’s fiscal watchdog said. “There has to be a comprehensive appraoch to govenment finance reform to correct the state’s long-standing structural problems.’’

That means spending less or raising more. Not exactly a recipe for political success.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s former communications director, Darren Dopp, was officially tapped this morning to his new position with Patricia Lynch and Associates, a top Albany lobbying firm.

But Dopp, who is at the center of the Troopergate scandal, won’t be lobbying, according to his boss.

Dopp will serve as communications consultant and partner. Sources say he is expected to make more than his $175,000 a year state salary.

“Darren is a seasoned communications professional who understands how the business of government relations is evolving. His experience, creativity and ability to work with others will be great assets as our firm expands and diversifies,” Lynch said in a statement.

Spitzer, meanwhile, shied away from questions about whether Dopp should work at a lobbying firm as the scandal persists. Spitzer has taken a hard line on the sometimes close relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers, signing off earlier this year on tighter restrictions.

“I wish him all he best,” Spitzer said. “I hope he does well. He’s been a great friend.”

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who was the target of Dopp’s probe, didn’t give much of an opinion on Dopp’s new role.

“He (Dopp) has to make his own decisions about his own life,” Bruno said. “We’re going to go and do the right things for the people of NY.”

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s former embattled communications director and a central figure in the Troopergate scandal has apparently found his next job.

Speculation around the state Capitol Monday was that Darren Dopp is expected to join the powerful Albany lobbying firm of Patricia Lynch and Associates.

Dopp, 48, a Binghamton native, was suspended by Spitzer in July after a report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found that Dopp was among aides who compiled documents on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft for political purposes.

Dopp, a longtime aide of Spitzer, has since returned to the state payroll, but hasn’t resumed his position with the administration.

On Friday, Senate Republicans subpoenaed Dopp as part of its ongoing probe into the scandal that has rocked the Spitzer administration. Dopp has agreed to testify before the Senate Investigations Commission later this month.

Hiring Dopp would be a surprising move for Lynch’s lobbying firm, considering Dopp remains such a controversial figure.

Dopp’s attorney, Terence Kindlon, would not comment about Dopp’s potential new employer.
Dopp could not be reached for comment.
Lynch, a former aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, has developed one of the top lobbying firms in New York after starting the agency in 2001. Last year, the agency ranked as the third in the state for total compensation, bringing in more than $5 million.

Lynch could not be reached for comment.

So downstate has the jobs and the wealth. They pay a price for that, according to a new survey of traffic congestion.   Congestion in the New York City metropolitan area costs commuters $893 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time, according to a recent report from the American Association of Civil Engineers.    That compared to a paltry $103 per year for drivers in the Rochester area, $182 in the Buffalo area and $208 in the Capital District.    The survey showed that, while the growth in population in the state has been slower than most of the rest of the country, miles driven continues to rise much faster – 26 percent from 1990 to 2003, according to the survey.  From the enginheers’ perspective, part of the answer is build more roads. Driving on roads in need of repair costs New Yorkers $3.2 billion a year, according to the study.    Â

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34% of New York’s major urban roads are congested.

35% of New York’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.

Vehicle travel on New York’s highways increased 26% from 1990 to 2003. New York’s population grew 7% between 1990 and 2003.

Driving on roads in need of repair costs New York motorists $3.2 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs—- $285 per motorist.

Congestion in the Albany area costs commuters $208 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

Congestion in the Buffalo area costs commuters $182 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

Congestion in the New York City metropolitan area costs commuters $893 per person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

Congestion in the Rochester area costs commuters $103 person per year in excess fuel and lost time.

The Senate Investigations Committee, which recently voted to authorize its chairman to issue subpoenas, is demanding that two of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s staffers provide e-mails on work, personal and political-campaign accounts and other documents to help the panel in its continuing probe of Troopergate. The Committee issued subpoenas for the information to Richard Baum, secretary to the governor, and Darren Dopp, Spitzer’s communications director who has been on leave since late July. The two have until next Friday to supply the documents.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a report in late July saying that top aides to Spitzer—Dopp and now-reassigned public safety adviser William Howard—released information about Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft in an attempt to discredit the governor’s political rival.

Winner said his committee is looking into the administration’s use of State Police to gather information on Bruno and its use of the state’s Freedom of Information Law to release it. (Cuomo’s report said the aides misused the law in releasing information to an Albany newspaper. Albany County District Attorney David Soares said they did not. Cuomo and Soares both said the staffers did not violate laws.)

Dopp is also being asked to testify before the committee by Oct. 29. Next in the subpoena line to testify personally are Baum, Howard and acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton. (Felton was asked to appear before the committee last month but declined.)

“We have a constitutional obligation to carry out our legislative responsibilities in response to findings of misconduct within the Spitzer administration,� Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner, R-Elmira, said in a statement this afternoon. “To do that effectively, we need a clearer picture of what occurred, when, who was involved, and how it was carried out.�