Holtzmanic Depression

|

City Hall News is reporting that Queens Democratic Leader and Congressman Joe Crowley is seriously considering giving the Democratic nomination for Anthony Weiner to Former City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman, who once represented the district’s ancestral seat in Congress, as the sort of elder stateswoman who could win the seat without posing a serious threat of trying to hold it after reapportionment.

A CAUTION TO THE LGBT CROWD

|

It is easy to celebrate political victories. After all, they are generally years in the making; and sometimes they come after many a defeat, pushback and setback. Those who focus on the glamour of politics -the only game in town- often miss the forest from the trees. After all the celebrating, comes the harsh reality:”it (really) aint over till the fat lady sings”. 

A New York Pension Question No One Has Answered

|

There is a question about New York’s pensions I’ve been asking for years, but no one has been able to answer. Most objective analyses will tell you that the New York State pension system, which also includes all the local governments outside New York City, is in the hole, and residents of the rest of the state will face diminished services and higher taxes for years as a result. But those same analyses will also tell you that the New York State pension system is nonetheless one of the least underfunded among all public employee pension funds in the U.S. Comparative analyses of local government pension funds are rare, because there are so many and most are small. But according to those I have seen, which analyze large local pension funds along with the states, the separate City of New York pensions funds are among the most underfunded in the U.S. New York City residents, already faced with a higher overall tax burden and service cuts, will suffer even more as a result.

Why the difference? Why is the New York City Teachers Retirement System so much worse off than the New York State Teacher’s Retirement System, the New York City police and fire pension plans so much worse off than the New York State police and fire pension plans, etc.? How long has this been true? Are the benefits that much different? Has New York City never gotten out of the hole it got in after the Lindsay pension deals in the 1960s? Why didn’t various Comptrollers, actuaries and Control Boards require better of funding of the city’s plan in the years since? And if the city has been in the hole all along, how come the state legislature continues to impose pension enrichments on the city that are greater than or equal to those for the local governments in the rest of the state and the state government?

A Rory Pause

|

The latest rumor in the race for the Democratic nomination in the 9th Congressional District is that Party Leader Joe Crowley’s choice has narrowed to either Assemblyman David Weprin or Assemblyman Rory Lancman.

Rumor is that Councilman Mark Weprin is backing his brother.

The other day, I made the case for Weprin

How does Lancman stack up?

© Room Eight