New York supporters of John McCain’s presidential candidacy filed a list of 174 delegates at the state Board of Elections office in Albany who are backing the Arizona Republican.

The list includes Phil Boyle, a state assemblyman from Long Island; former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton from Corning; and state Assemblyman Dan Burling of Wyoming County.

Others include former state Comptroller candidate Chris Callaghan; and John Fleming, executive assistant to Yonker’s Mayor Phil Amicone.

“They are part of a grassroots team of men and women volunteers who believe that John McCain’s courageous service, experienced leadership and bold ideas uniquely qualify him to lead America in these perilous times,” said Ed Cox, McCain’s New York chairman, son-in-law of the late President Nixon and a former candidate for the U.S. Senate in New York.

The Board of Elections said McCain is the first GOP candidate to file a list of delegates. The board is supposed to receive all the candidates’ delegates by year’s end to verify their voting status.

However, Republicans have a winner-take-all system in New York primaries, so voters will vote for the candidate, not delegates.

Democrats, meanwhile, vote for the candidate and then delegates to send to the party’s convention in mid-2008.

That’s the cost Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to pay back for the one hour on Dec. 6 that he held a private fundraiser in Buffalo as part of a state trip.

Spitzer visited Buffalo on Dec. 5 and 6, which was mainly for state business. He also held fundraisers in Buffalo and Rochester.

But in an August decision by the now-defunct Ethics Commission, use of state aircraft can only be for a public purpose. Officials must pay back any cost of using state resources that is deemed political.

The Public Integrity Commission ruled in this case that since the governor ended his public business on the evening of Dec. 5, he didn’t need to pay back anything for the trip. He did not use state aircraft on the second day of the trip.

Still, Spitzer decided to pay back $140—the cost of one hour out of 22 that he was fundraising on Dec. 6. That’s equal to 1/22 of the $3,100 cost of a charter flight from Buffalo to Albany.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation said today that it has formed a new office within the department to focus on invasive species, such as zebra mussels, that are threatening the state’s ecosystem. Zebra mussels, for instance, have been a major problem in the Finger Lakes, the likely impact of global shipping. The new Office of Invasive Species will bring together biologists and other experts to develop ways to combat the problem. Eurasian water milfoil and Sirex wood wasps are other critters that will be studied, the DEC said. “Invasive species compete with, prey upon and can substantially alter the environmental of our native species of plants, fish and wildlife,” said DEC Commissioner Peter Grannis. Earlier this year, Gov. Spitzer signed a law that creates a state Invasive Species Council, made up of nine state agencies and an advisory committee. The state budget also included $5 million for invasive species programs around the state.

Gov. Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today announced that more than $18 million will be split between 13,686 New Yorkers as the result of a $325 million national settlement with Ameriquest Mortgage Co. over predatory loan practices.

The company was accused of encouraging homeowners to refinance mortgages that either misrepresented and failed to disclose loan terms, charged excessive loan origination fees and inflated appraisals to qualify borrowers for loans, according to the joint press release Spitzer and Cuomo put out.

It’s the only news release so far today—a real quiet day at the Capitol—from the always active press offices of Spitzer and Cuomo.

There has been much speculation about the relationship between the state’s two leading Democrats, especially after Cuomo in July released a damming report in July that showed Spitzer’s aides were conspiring to release travel records on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
But aides said the staffs still work well together, and Spitzer even attended Cuomo’s birthday party a few weeks ago.

An Albany rendition of the 12 days of Christmas, minus the singing. (Sorry, we tried to post this Friday, but had technical difficulties.)

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The Air Transit Association of America filed an appeal against the state Friday, a day after a federal judge shot down the industry group’s challenge of New York’s airline passengers’ “bill of rights” law. The legislation, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires airlines to provide food, water, proper ventilation and functioning toilets when a plane has been sitting on an airport tarmac for more than three hours.

New York is the first state in the nation to adopt a passengers’ bill of rights. The impetus was a Feb. 14 ice storm that left JetBlue Airways passengers stranded on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport for more than nine hours. Toilets were clogged, there was poor ventilation, and the airline couldn’t accommodate hungry and thirsty passengers. A handful of other states and Congress are considering similar legislation.

The Air Transit Association, which represents the nation’s leading airlines, argued in court this week that the federal Airline Deregulation Act prohibits states from regulating air carriers’ prices, routes and services. Airlines said the law would be costly and require them to hire more staff, purchase additional equipment, burn more fuel and reduce cabin storage space. Violations carry fines of up to $1,000 per passenger.

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn dismissed the lawsuit Thursday, ruling that states have power to regulate matters of health and safety. The Airline Deregulation Act was set up to promote competition and foster lower costs and more efficiency among existing and new carriers, Kahn wrote in his ruling.

A day after the state Board of Elections received a tongue-lashing from U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe, the state Association of Counties is voicing its displeasure with the state agency’s tardiness in complying with the Help America Vote Act, a federal election-modernization law. New York was supposed to have new voting machines by Jan. 1, 2006. It received an extension until this fall, but it missed that one too, prompting a renewed call from the U.S. Justice Department for action.

Sharpe ordered the board to submit a new plan for compliance by Jan. 4 and to have machines that are accessible to the disabled at every polling place by the fall. It’s possible that counties might have to scrap those machines and buy new ones that meet higher standards for the following election.

Stephen Acquario, executive director of the Association of Counties, said he is concerned about how the state’s inaction will affect New York’s “already beleaguered taxpayers.” Property taxes are at an all-time high, and counties should not have to pay for the state’s inability to meet deadlines, he said.

“The state’s inability to implement the election reforms and Judge Sharpe’s decision are likely to put all of our county governments in the difficult position of having to purchase both temporary ballot-marking devices and then later buy the HAVA-compliant election machines,” he said. “The limited amount of federal funding (nearly $200 million) will not cover the costs of both of these actions.”

After coming under fire for the business arrangement, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said this afternoon that he will end his employment with a Connecticut-based investment firm.
An article earlier this month in the New York Times said that firm, Wright Investors’ Services, handles millions of dollars of business for New York labor unions. Bruno’s employment with the firm dates back to the mid-1990s.
Bruno has refused to discuss his role with the firm. Bruno’s outside financial interests are also under federal investigation.
“After several weeks of discussion, Wright Investors’ Service and I have mutually agreed to end our relationship,” Bruno said in a statement. “The relationship was formally ended on December 17, 2007.
“I have done so because the focus on my outside interests has taken attention away from more pressing issues such as our efforts to address the critical needs of our State going forward.”

   U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe berated state elections officials this morning for failing to comply with a federal election-modernization law called the Help America Vote Act. Sixteen months have elapsed since the judge signed a court order requiring New York to implement the legislation. All states were supposed to have updated election systems in place by Jan. 1, 2006. The court order gave the state an extension until this fall, but elections officials missed that deadline too.

Sharpe said the situation makes him “embarrassed” to be a New Yorker. Every other state has put HAVA into effect, yet New York continues to come up with excuses, he said.

“Why is it that New York thinks that it can thumb its nose at the federal government?” he asked.

The judge gave state elections one more chance to submit a specific plan, but he warned any misstep this time would result in serious consequences, such as putting someone else in charge of the process. That could be Gov. Eliot Spitzer, he said. The Board of Elections has until Jan. 4 to submit its timeline. (Republican and Democratic commissioners have been unable to agree on a plan, but this will force them to.)

In a speech tinged with hyperbole, Sharpe asked if he needed to do what the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower did in 1957—call out the National Guard to force compliance with a federal court order. In that case, the military was sent to Little Rock, Ark., to enforce school desegregation. Black students were being blocked from entering a high school there.

“We didn’t let Little Rock, Ark., thumb its nose at the country, and we’re not going to let New York thumb its nose at the country,” he said.

If you’ve been wondering what Sen. Charles Schumer has been doing this year, he’s willing to tell you. Today he completed his annual 62-county tour of every county in the state, something he’s done every year he’s been in office.
And he put out a report on what his accomplishments were in every region.
You can view it here: Schumer%2062%20County%20Report%202007.pdf