Governor Paterson continued this morning to tout his selection of Kirsten Gillibrand as U.S senator, saying she is being misunderstood by downstate but that in time New Yorkers will appreciate his pick.

“In naming Kirsten Gillibrand, what I did was find the best candidate that can represent the entire state, who is bright, has a grasp of the issues, understands her upstate roots, is being a little misunderstood by downstaters but this is why we are one state,” he said on Amsterdam radio as he prepares to visit the area Friday.

His comments were made before today’s Siena poll was released that shows Gillibrand with a majority of support in New York, though voters are down on how he handled the selection process.

Still, he defended his pick. Gillibrand has been knocked by immigration-rights groups and gun-control activists.

“It was considered politically controversial because a lot more people live downstate, obviously, than upstate but I think that when everybody gets to see Kirsten Gillibrand for a period of time, that those who are complaining now and raising the names of other people it should have been, will admit that this was the right choice.”

The state Common Retirement Fund, which lost about $30 billion between April and October, saw its losses slow dramatically over the last couple of months of the year, shrinking by about $2.3 billion, a spokesman for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today. The fund at the end of the year stood at $121.7 billion, down from about $124 billion in October and $154 billion last March 31. The fund pays pension benefits for retired state and local-government employees outside New York City. A slide in investment income means higher costs for taxpayers, although their contributions are locked in through 2011.

Gov. David Paterson may have not won many fans with the way he selected a new U.S. senator, but a majority of people in New York are pleased with the pick, a new poll shows.

By nearly a two-to-one margin, voters approve of Paterson’s selection of former Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson, Columbia County, as senator, a Siena College poll found today.

Fifty-one percent of voters approve of Gillibrand’s appointment, including nine percent who strongly approve, compared to 28 percent who disapprove. The opinion was largely the same among Democrats, Republicans and independent voters, but people’s opinion of the Albany-area Democrat is different between downstate and upstate voters.

New York City voters approve of her by a 44 percent to 34 percent margin, but voters are almost evenly split in the New York City suburbs, 44 percent to 43 percent. Upstate voters, though, approve of her appointment 63 percent to 19 percent.

“Gillibrand starts her Senate tenure with New Yorkers having an open mind and in fact approving her selection,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena New York Poll. ”And a plurality of voters thinks Gillibrand will do an excellent or good job as senator.”

But Gillibrand still has convincing to do, the poll found. Only 21 percent of voters say they are prepared to vote for Gillibrand in 2010, when she will need to seek election, while 29 percent prefer “someone else.”  And among Democrats, 11 percent would prefer she run unopposed, while 63 percent want another Democrat to challenge her.

Voters, meanwhile, aren’t pleased with the way Paterson handled the selection process, which has been widely criticized as secretive and indecisive.

Sixty-two percent of voters rated the way the governor handled the process as either poor or fair. And Paterson’s favorability rating has fallen to its lowest level since May in Siena’s polling, at 54 percent compared to 60 percent a week ago. Among independent voters, his favorability plummeted in less than a week from 68 percent to 49 percent.

Nearly two-thirds of voters want future U.S. Senate vacancies filled by an election, not a gubernatorial appointment.

The Siena poll was conducted Jan. 25-27, 2009 by telephone calls to 622 New York State registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, indicated yesterday that he plans to stay on as minority leader as he campaigns for the 20th congressional district after receiving the GOP nomination.

But some members of his conference are wondering whether Tedisco will be able to do both jobs, especially as he’ll need to campaign in 10 counties over what may be several months before a special election, which Governor Paterson has yet to call. And some are already jockeying to succeed him.

Were Tedisco to step down as minority leader, Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, has already lined up enough votes to take over, several Republican leaders said.

Some Republican assemblymen said they’ve received calls from at least five of their colleagues lobbying for Tedisco’s job if he steps down as leader, including Kolb, Assemblymen Michael Fitzpatrick of Suffolk County and David Townsend of Oneida County.

Assemblyman Bill Reilich, R-Greece, Monroe County, said today that he supports Tedisco as long as he wants to be minority leader, but questioned whether he’ll want to continue in both jobs.

“When one runs for Congress it takes all your time and your effort and energy and obviously it could be a journey that could go on for, who knows how long, several months,” Reilich said. Also, he said, “we’re in the height of budget discussions and all the activity and hustle and bustle of the session.”

For his part, Kolb said: “Obviously I’m interested in succeeding Jim once he’s not our leader.”

Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, said he supports Tedisco doing both jobs, saying, “Whatever Jim decides, I’m supportive of him.”

Tedisco, a former basketball star at Union College, said his colleagues have asked to him to stay as minority leader as he campaign for Congress.

“Obama had it right, the president had it right, you have to be a multi-tasker. And I’m a pretty good multi-tasker,” he said yesterday. “And I’m great on a fast break. I can get the outlet pass out, get down and even score the layup at the end.”

The state Teacher Retirement fund, which stood at more than $103 billion two years ago, was worth $75.3 billion at the end of last year, a fund spokesman said today. Spokesman John Cardillo said the teacher fund, which covers most teachers and other school employees in districts outside New York City, said the fund was at $88 billion in September. He said he didn’t want to characterize how the board felt about the most recent drop in the value of the fund, which occurred as the national economy continued to struggle. “We’re managing the market volatility as best we can,’’ he said. The performance of the fund affects how much money taxpayers have to pay into it. The recent drops will be reflected in the bills school districts receive from the fund in September of 2010, he said. That figure will be set in July.

Gov. David Paterson has scheduled his next round of town-hall meetings in upstate New York, with stops planned in Johnstown, Auburn and Binghamton.

He was originally scheduled to be in Davos, Switzerland, this weekend, but canceled that amid public criticism.

Rather than hold an upstate State of the State as his predecessor Eliot Spitzer did, Paterson is holding a series of town-hall meetings. He gave his State of the State address on Jan. 5 and has held one town-hall meeting already, in Watertown on Jan. 11.

The Binghamton town hall will take place at the West Gym at Broome Community College, 901 Upper Front St., on Feb. 4. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.; the event begins at 5:30 p.m.

“Now is the time for state government to take action and confront the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression,” Paterson said. “It is equally important that we take the time to hear directly from New York residents about their concerns as we move to address these problems.”

The Johnstown town hall will take place at Fulton Montgomery Community College, 2805 State Highway 67, on Friday. Doors open at 2 p.m.; the event begins at 3 p.m.

The Auburn town hall will take place at the Irene A. Bisgrove Community Theatre at Cayuga Community College, 197 Franklin St., on Saturday. Doors  open at 11 a.m.; the event begins at noon.

Others are planned Feb. 11 in Rochester, Feb. 12 at the state University College at Geneseo and Feb. 18 in Buffalo. Times and locations have not been finalized for those events.

Small business owners and independent wine sellers in New York have formed a new coalition, The Last Store on Main Street, to oppose Governor Paterson’s proposal to allow grocery stores and delis—and anywhere that sells beer—to sell wine.

Governors have proposed this in the past, only to be beat back by similar groups.

“If implemented, this change would devastate many small businesses and cost the state thousands of valuable jobs,” the group said.  “Additionally, the sale of wine in every store where beer is now available would give teenagers greater access to alcohol – resulting in a heightened risk of underage drinking and fatal drunk driving accidents.”

The tumultuous events of the last week had some political observers repeating the old saw about politics: it isn’t like football, where plays are carefully drawn up, or like basketball, where practiced moves can lead to scores. Instead, it’s like hockey, where when the puck is suddenly in front of the net, you take a whack at it. That’s certainly what happened to Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco this week, who immediately jumped into the race for Congress when Kirsten Gillebrand quit her Hudson Valley seat when she was named by Gov. David Paterson to succeed Hillary Clinton in the Senate. Tedisco’s quick shot paid off: just four days after Gillebrand quit, he was anointed as the Republican candidate for the seat, making him the likely winner in a special election that will most likely take place in March. Democrats don’t yet have a candidate to run in the district, which has about 75,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

The National Organization for Women-NYS is holding a press conference Saturday in Albany to call on Senate Democrats to remove Sen. Hiram Monserrate from his chairmanship of the Consumer Protection Committee as he faces charges for allegedly slashing his girlfriend in the face.

“Although there is probably no legal bar to Monserrate’s being seated in the NY Senate, his elevation to a leadership position is a slap in the face for every woman in New York State,” the group said in a statement.

The group even mentions former Gov. Eliot Spitzer: “We will use as an example that it is inexplicable that our former Governor Spitzer was forced to resign for having sex with a prostitute while Senator Monserrate is allowed to continue in a leadership position. Does this mean that it is more OK to beat your girlfriend than to have sex with a prostitute? ”

The group plans to call on legislative leaders  to “use the power of their pens to stop violence against all women, both through strengthened legislation against these hate crimes, and through passage of laws that will punish perpetrators for all sorts of Violence Against Women and girls.”

The state’s fiscal situation took another blow today as Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli estimated the state will lose about $1 billion because of a decline in Wall Street bonuses in 2008.

Cash bonuses paid by Wall Street firms to their New York City employees declined by 44 percent in 2008 in response to record losses by the securities industry, DiNapoli said.

The loss of revenue comes as the state is already grappling with a $15.4 billion deficit over the year and a half. About 20 percent of the state’s revenue comes from Wall Street.

DiNapoli said the drop in Wall Street bonuses shouldn’t add to the state’s deficit total because the projections were in line with what is being reported today.

DiNapoli estimates that the bonus pool from Wall Street firms totaled $18.4 billion in 2008, a decline of 44 percent compared with the $32.9 billion paid in 2007.

The decline is the largest on record and the largest percentage decline in more than 30 years. Yet the size of the bonus pool is still the sixth largest on record.

Employment in the securities industry in New York City declined from 187,800 in October 2007 to 168,600 in December 2008, a loss of 19,200 jobs, or 10.2 percent. At the beginning of 2008, there were seven major financial firms based in New York City. Since then, two have been acquired, one failed, and two converted into commercial banks.

Dinapoli said the federal bailout of Wall Street has saved some financial institutions from failing, but there needs to better transparency and oversight to ensure that any bonuses are properly administered.

“Every dime counts, especially when they’re taxpayer dimes and taxpayers ought to know if these funds were used to buy corporate jets, pay dividends or bonuses,” he said.