Gov. David Paterson plans to meet privately with legislative leaders next Thursday in New York City to talk about his plan to cap property taxes.

It will be the first time that new Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will be one of the “three men in a room’’ that calls the shots at the Capitol. ( [...]

Reflecting the weak economy, business-tax collections for the first quarter of the year were $453 million less than anticipated, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today.
Yet overall revenue was up, largely because of eimbursements from the federal government tied to money already spent. Bank-tax receipts plummeted 54 percent.
“This looks like a strong start to the [...]

  One thing hasn’t changed from the Spitzer to the Paterson administrations: the official marching orders for agency public-information officers are to be “helpful” and “transparent.’’

That was the message PR head Risa Heller delivered at a meeting of the agency flacks this week.

Such a stance may not seem extraordinary – and it was essentially what [...]

  Feeling pessimistic about your economic prospects, and those for the state? If so, you have plenty of company, according to a poll released today.

“It may sound like a broken record, but it’s true,’’ said Douglas Lonnstrom of the Siena Research Institute, which conducted the poll. “Across every demographic, consumer confidence has hit a new [...]

  While some New York City business leaders are already moaning about the impending end (Dec. 31, 2009) of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s eight-year reign at City Hall, he won’t be missed by many Assembly Democrats, who found him overbearing and condescending at times.  And they may have a going-away present for the departing mayor.

Next year, [...]

   The love-fest between new Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Gov. David Paterson apparently survived their first closed-door meeting.

The two leaders, joking about Paterson’s “seniority’’ over Skelos (Paterson became governor March 17, Skelos took over as majority leader June 24) faced the media in Manhattan today and pledged to work to lower property taxes [...]

   Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno gave mixed signals today about whether he intends to resign from his seat before his term is up at the end of the year.

“I’m going to exit – the sooner the better,’’ Bruno said in an interview on Am-1300 in Albany. “I don’t want to create confusion’‘  about [...]

 Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano may be planning to spend millions to aid a Democratic attempt to take over the state Senate, according to a published report.
Golisano, who has run unsuccessfully for governor three times and owns the Buffalo Sabres, may give up to $1 million to each of several Democrats seeking to oust Republican [...]

Terryl Brown-Clemens takes over today as Gov. David Paterson’s new top legal adviser, replacing David Nocenti, a Spitzer holdover whose last dayon the job was yesterday.

Brown-Clemens has been an assistant counsel.

The top administrative staff has now almost completely turned over since Paterson succeeded Spitzer on March 17. Sean Patrick Maloney, a special adviser, [...]

Gov. David Paterson today pledged “no more phony deadlines’’ about when Ground Zero may be rebuilt, and gave the head of the Port Authority another 90 days to come up with a workable schedule.

“It’s not possible to give any dates and timetables at this time,’’ Paterson said at [...]