The Return of the Excelsior Files

On Monday, the Excelsior Files will be returning to full-time coverage. One of the reasons why it has been on hiatus for so long is because we need advertisers. Without you advertising here, we cannot operate. Ads not only serve as a benefit to you, but it helps keep this blog running.

Over the next few days and weeks, we will be developing a full plan for those wishing to advertise here. If you are interested in advertising, contact me at robert.harding22@gmail.com.

It is my goal to make this the best blog possible. That doesn’t happen without you.

More coming tomorrow on ads and what to expect from the “new” Excelsior Files.

Until Further Notice

Production of The Excelsior Files has been suspended effective August 3 until one or more advertisers are found to help underwrite the cost of producing it.  Anyone interested in sponsoring the Excelsior Files should contact Peter Pollak at 518.421.1526 or editor@empirepage.com.

The Weekend’s Best (& Worst) from the Empire Page News Links Service

Subscribers to the Empire Page this weekend were treated to excellent reportage as well as insightful analysis and opinion. One must be impressed by the quality of journalism coming out of New York’s newspapers in spite of layoffs and hard economic times. Note that most of the breaking stories are first generated by the state’s smaller papers and only later picked up by the wire services and the state’s larger dailies.

This weekend’s prize for the highest quality coverage is a tie between the Plattsburgh Press Republican and the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

On Sunday the Press Republican hit journalism paydirt on two energy stories. The most significant is the news that talks are underway between the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and Canadian energy producers to import “up to 2,000 megawatts of power from multiple sources, including hydropower from Canada.” Cheap power would be a boon to northern New York’s economy. The second energy piece covered the St. Regis Mohawk’s desire for cheap power to help run its casino and bingo hall.

The D&C had the best state news coverage this weekend with an assist from Gannett’s Albany bureau. While Gannett provided an overview piece on the potential for incumbents losing their seats in the next election, the D&C attended a meeting where a local legislator got an earful from voters who are angry are about high taxes and what’s been going on in Albany.

The Weekend’s Top Editorials

The Poughkeepsie Journal on Sunday hammered the Legislature on two points – disclosure of pork spending and allocation of internal resources. Their mild conclusion: “A level playing field would be best for all New Yorkers.”

The Glens Falls Post Star takes the state to task for failing to pay its taxes to the city and county of Saratoga. I like their suggestion that those entities seize the track and put it up for sale. The taxpayers of New York would surely make out much better from a privately held track operation in Saratoga than what we get from NYRA.

The Kingston Freeman editorial board recaps the sorry story of what went on in the State Senate in June with the added footnote that individual legislators in their coverage area don’t seem to have learned any lessons from the fiasco. “All of which leads to the conclusion that no reform of Albany worthy of the name will come from within,” writes the Freeman. “Only the voters can clean these houses.”

Best (& Worst) Columns

Tom Carroll, long-time charter school champion and activist, has six suggestions for incoming State Education Commissioner David Steiner in a piece published Sunday in the Albany Times Union. Let’s hope Steiner incorporates Carroll’s ideas into a plan to shake up the bureaucracy in Albany. No part of our government gets less value for the cost or is as critical for New York’s future than our educational system.

Casey Seiler, also writing in the Times Union, interjects a bit of humor into the down on Albany theme, suggesting that Steve Wynn be required to purchase the Empire State Plaza and the Capitol building (which he could then lease back to the state) in order to get the lucrative VLT contract at Aqueduct that he desires.

The Prize for the worst column of the weekend goes to Michael Marinaccio, supervisor of the Town of Dickinson and president of the Broome County Association of Towns and Villages. Marinaccio’s column in the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, which I am not criticizing for publishing it, is called “Consolidations gone wild”. Marinaccio is critical of the newly passed legislation introduced at the behest of the state’s attorney general and signed into law by Gov. Paterson is designed to make it easier for the public to bring local government consolidation to the voters.

Marinaccio fails to state that the reason the law change was needed was that the prior requirements were so onerous that incumbent politicians could easily prevent consolidations no matter how much desired by the majority of the residents of the affected jurisdictions.

Further Marinaccio’s criticisms fail on two grounds. First, no consolidations will go through without voter approvals. Second, although Marinaccio dislikes some of the procedural rules he had a chance to fix them up front by participating in drawing up the legislation! He had to know that reform was on the table and because of his position had multiple channels to provide input – through the state associations that he is a member of and through his local legislators.

While the title Marinaccio’s piece is designed to cast fear in the minds of the public, the problem with consolidations is that they are not happening fast enough. Case in point: a study reported today in the Jamestown Post-Journal and other papers points out that school consolidations in eight counties in Western New York would result in a savings of $133 million a year!

Of course many incumbent politicians are not in favor of consolidation. The choice is simple: continue to pay high property taxes to support the salaries, pensions, cars, offices, computers and other equipment for supervisors and other local officials or consolidate.

Footnote on Newspaper Websites: Why are they Sooo Slow?

Have you noticed how long it takes newspaper websites — even including the Empire Page — to load these days? That’s because we are jamming our home pages with videos and all kinds of multi-media ads.

The Value Click ad server network is most often the primary culprit in slowing down the loading of the Empire Page. I’m considering kicking them off the home page. Let me know if you think I should.

Newspapers however don’t have the luxury of demanding faster load times from those ad networks. It’s one of the consequences of the changes taking place in the economies of print journalism. At the very time when newspapers need to generate more traffic on their websites, they are dependent on ad networks whose primary client is the advertiser.

Links to all of the above news items and 400+ additional news stories, columns and editorials posted by the Empire Page’s editors this weekend are available for less than a quarter a day.  Click here to subscribe.

News Wrap for Friday, July 31, 2009 (final post 4:30 p.m.)

 

From the Blogs:

The Editor’s View:

-Peter Pollak thinks “liquor store owners would be wise to accept” Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Joseph Morelle’s “The Wine Industry and Liquor Store Revitalization Act,” which offers a “comprehensive compromise solution” to allowing supermarkets and other licensed merchants to sell wine.

The Daily Politics: 

-Elizabeth Benjamin shares excerpts from NYCLU posts on YouTube featuring its forum for public advocate candidates held earlier this week.

-Mayor Bloomberg is looking for a “well-spoken, persuasive, confident, and hard-working” field worker to rally the Jewish vote in Brooklyn and Queens.

-The Working Families Party makes a “special effort on behalf of six of its endorsed City Council candidates.”

-Liz doesn’t see the confirmation of Gov. David Paterson’s nominee to head the MTA, Jay Walder coming up next week in the Senate’s scheduled session.

-AG Andrew Cuomo says the governor being at a party in the middle of the week is “totally appropriate.”

-Manhattan DA hopeful Leslie Crocker Snyder “touts her endorsement by the New York Times”… problem is, it’s an endorsement from 2005.

-Mayor Bloomberg thought NY1’s Josh Robin’s question about a fourth term “was a joke,” and says “no” he won’t be running for mayor in 2013.

PolitickerNY:

-Jason Horowitz writes “more and more” of the New York Democratic delegation is getting “used to the idea that (Kirsten) Gillibrand will indeed go unchallenged and be the state’s junior senator for the foreseeable future.”

-Jimmy Vielkind asks Sean Hennessey, chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Committee, about the biggest challenge in picking a candidate for NY-23.

-AG Andrew Cuomo says, “When there’s a difference between the governor, the executive and the legislative branch, I stay out of it.”

-Ed Cox, the son-in-law of Richard Nixon and a longtime party activist, “is gauging support for a bid to become the state G.O.P. chairman.”

-Azi Paybarah shares video of “David Weprin further distancing himself from that stiff persona at a July 17 music festival in Brooklyn.”

-Paybarah speculates Mark Green’s campaign is expecting rival Bill de Blasio “to benefit disproportionately from his supporters in the labor community.”

-Paybarah shares audio, provided by Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign, of small-business owner Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett bashing Council Speaker Christine Quinn at a Bill Thompson event.

-Mayor Bloomberg is off to campaign in the Catskills this Sunday in “hunt for city voters.”

Albany Watch:

-Joseph Spector reports state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the value of the state pension fund is up, “but we’re not out of the woods yet.”

-AG Andrew Cuomo “declined to knock Paterson” over his late-night partying and is “only focused on doing his job as attorney general, not politics.”

-Cara Matthews writes Unshackle Upstate urges Gov. Paterson and the Legislature to “close the budget gap by cutting costs” and “giving back what they’ve taken… by reducing the costs of living, working and running a business in this state.”

-Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb calls for a meeting with Gov. Paterson and other leaders of the Senate and Assembly, saying in light of the $2.1 billion budget gap, the state “cannot afford to wait until September… to outline and enact specific cost reductions for achieving the savings needed.”

Capitol Confidential:

-Rick Karlin writes some of former Senate Republican Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s initiatives in the Capitol Region have “stalled or simply gone away.”

NY Fiscal Watch:

-E.J. McMahon reports “more than one-third of the projected growth in next year’s gap, and over half the growth in the gap for fiscal 2013, can be traced to spending increases beyond those forecast by the Division of the Budget just three months ago.”

Daily Intel:

-Dan Amira reports “Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is reportedly now ‘leaning against’ challenging Kirsten Gillibrand for the Senate.”

Press Releases:

-New York State Association of Counties: The latest edition of NYSAC’s Economy Watch reflects NYS’s daunting economic outlook – trends that were underscored yesterday by Governor David Paterson’s updated state financial plan, which highlights a mid-year budget gap of $2.1 billion.

-Business Council of NYS: The Business Council elects two new members, William J. Golden and Gail Grimmett.

-NYS Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli: The market value of the New York State Common Retirement Fund increased to approximately $116.5 billion after investments posted a positive 7.7 percent rate of return for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, the first quarter in the fiscal year.

-Comptroller DiNapoli releases a follow-up audit saying the NYS Thruway Authority has made insufficient progress in how it manages debt issuances after a 2005 audit identified questions about how firms were hired to sell debt and whether best prices were obtained.

-NYS Thruway Authority: Pavement repair projects between Interchange 42 (Geneva) and Interchange 44 (Canandaigua) will necessitate daily lane closures in both the eastbound and westbound directions beginning at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 3 through Wednesday, August 6, weather permitting.

-Mountainview Avenue Bridge, which crosses over the Thruway (I-87) one-half mile north of Interchange 11 (Nyack, US Route 9W), weather permitting, will be reopened Saturday, August 1, approximately three weeks ahead of schedule.

-Fuel services will be temporarily unavailable to motorists at the Mohawk Travel Plaza, located on I-90 eastbound between Interchanges 27 (Amsterdam) and 26 (Schenectady), at milepost 172, beginning at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 3 until Friday morning, August 14.

Morning Wrap for Friday, July 31, 2009 (final post 9:30 a.m.)

From the Blogs:

The Daily Politics:

-Elizabeth Benjamin reports a four-judge appellate panel unanimously upholds a decision to allow Richard Ravitch to “exercise all of the powers of the lieutentant governor post with the exception of the ability to preside over the Senate and cast a tie-breaking vote there.”

-The Free and Equal Elections Foundation “chastised Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign for petition challenges filed by one of his GOP operatives, John Haggerty Jr.”

-Gov. Paterson will be hosting the Democratic Governors Association Summer Policy Conference in Saratoga Springs this weekend which will be attended by only a handful of governors and a “host of special interests.”

-Assemblyman Nelson Castro jumps City comptroller candidate Melinda Katz’s ship and endorses Councilman John Liu.

PolitickerNY:

-Steve Kornacki writes unless Gov. Paterson has the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2010, Republican Rudy Giuliani won’t run.

-Jimmy Vielkind reports the courts rule, for now, Richard Ravitch “can exercise the powers of lieutenant governor, but can’t provide over the state Senate.”

-Brooklyn Republican Chairman Craig Eaton says his “Draft Rudy” movement —to run for governor in 2010 — is “picking up steam.”

-Azi Paybarah writes Bill Thompson supporter, Stuart Applebaum, tells Mayor Bloomberg to “spend it all,” since, he says, the more the mayor spends the worse he does among voters.

-NYC Council candidate Matgaret Chin’s campaign manager Jake Itzkowitz tweets “Politicians should be able to use the ‘N’ word in attacking ignorance & racism. Aren’t we a mature enough culture for that?”

-Reid Pillifant offers an overview of Richard Ravitch’s court hearing on his appointment as lieutenant governor.

The Daily Intel:

-Chris Rovzar reports Sen. Hiram Monserrate will stand trial on Sept. 14 for slashing his girlfriend in the face with a broken glass.

WFP:

-Charles Lenchner lists the Working Families Party’s endorsed candidates for NYC Council.

Albany Watch:

-Cara Matthews writes state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the state’s $2.1 billion projected deficit “illustrates a bad habit New York has—spending money it doesn’t have.”

-Jospeh Spector reports the state Senate is scheduled to return to session next Thursday, Aug. 6 at 10 a.m. “to tackle mayoral control of New York City schools and other legislation.”

NY Fiscal Watch:

-E.J. McMahon writes “some of the financial details released by the Division of the Budget today are getting even more worrisome” such as projected negative cash balances in November and December 2009.

-Nicole Gelinas reports states, like New York, facing the biggest deficits have had “unsustainable growth in tax revenues, much of it from the financial and real-estate sectors” feeding “unsustainable growth in operating spending, which far outpaced inflation.”

-Healthcare to retirees has grown by 36 percent in the three years since the NYC has had to report it, and will near the $100 billion mark in less than a half decade and Mayor Bloomberg is “using a long-term store of savings to cover its immediate budget gap.”

Runnin’ Scared:

-Wayne Barrett writes the latest poll numbers show “Bill Thompson is now a real candidate for mayor” and should be treaded as one.

Opinion:

-New York Post would like the Court of Appeals to decide if Richard Ravitch’s appointment as lieutenant gov. is legal or not as quickly as possible.

-Albany Times Union writes about the state’s deficit of $2.1 billion, “Clearly, the governor was much closer to reality back in December than he and the Legislature ended up being in April.”

-New York Daily News calls on Gov. Paterson to “challenge the Legislature to address New York’s long-term needs rather than to craft short-term fixes bound to fail… think big and deliver big.”

-The Daily News thinks the state State should honor former state Senator Olga Mendez by passing equal labor rights for New York’s farmworkers.

-Rochester Democrat & Chronicle writes the “unprecedented rate” at which the state’s budget gap is widening calls for “a radical response by Gov. David Paterson and the state Legislature.”

-Syracuse Post-Standard hopes the state Division of Human Rights’ ability to impose new fines doesn’t spur more discriminators to take their chances in court.

-The Post-Standard writes, “Gov. David Paterson deserves a pat on the back” for signing a bill to “sweeten tax credits for the renovation of historic buildings.”

-Clyde Haberman, of the New York Times, writes, “Some leading political lights act as if the state is their empire, not part of a republic in which supreme power is supposed to rest with its citizens.”

-Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester, hopes “when the state legislature re-convenes this fall (or sooner) reality will set in and our legislators will make the hard decisions required to get our state moving in the right direction economically.”

Meetings/Press Conferences:

-Governor David A. Paterson will be in Albany and Saratoga County today.  He has no public schedule.

Press Releases:

-Siena Research Institute: NYS consumer confidence was unchanged in July, while the nation’s confidence decreased 4.8 points.

-Governor David A. Paterson: Director of Communications Peter E. Kauffmann states the governor is “pleased that Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch can continue to serve alongside Governor Paterson to help navigate the State through this historic economic crisis.”

-Gov. Paterson announces the City of Plattsburgh will receive approximately $2 million in clean water funding from the federal stimulus monies.

-Gov. Paterson is “incredibly pleased that Secretary Tom Vilsack of the United States Department of Agriculture will support raising the price support for dairy products as a first step to relieve some of the financial strain experienced by dairy farmers across the nation.”

-NYS Comptoller Thomas P. DiNapoli: Comptroller DiNapoli says “the state still has not made enough progress toward aligning recurring spending with recurring revenues.”