"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state controller and treasurer decided Monday to delay $2.9 billion a month in payments to school districts and counties sooner than expected so the state can meet debt and pension obligations." That's right, they are not paying for schools, not paying for health care, not paying for transportation, not paying for help for the poor in the worst recession in 80 years. But they are paying the retroactively enhanced pensions, and the debts run up by a generation of tax cutting spenders. And the federal government just voted to help reduce the level of public school layoffs caused by the soaring cost of teacher pensions by increasing school subsidies, and offset it by cutting food stamps.
The Latest
The State Senate Primaries (Part One): Play it in the Key of Be Sharp
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For Democrats, liberals, “progressives” and reformers, this year’s elections for New York State Senate usually are thought to involve achievement of three goals:
1) keeping the Democratic Majority
2) Actually making the Democratic Majority Democratic (with a large “D,” though small “d” would be nice too).
3) Ensuring the passage of same-sex marriage.
There are surely other aims as well, but (4) general liberal public policy goals (provided we can agree what they are, and (5) process reforms, get talked about far far less, though they are usually thought to go part and parcel with goals (1) and (2).
The Gateway (Soap and Fertilizer Edition)
|Carl Paladino wants to send the poor to prison to learn personal hygiene.
Query: will there be soap on a rope? Carl Paladino Will Teach Poor People to Stop Being So Dirty nymag.com
Maybe Espada didn't report the cost of the food he gives away because he grows it himself; he certainly has an ample supply of fertilizer. Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada runs afoul of state Board of Elections over food giveaways – NYP www.nypost.com
The Cable News Version Of Great
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From the Huffington Post –
Deeper Concerns Found in Close Reading of Fishkill Audit, Esssential Services in Jeopardy
|Deeper Concerns Found in Close Reading of Fishkill Audit, Essential Services in Jeopardy
By Michael Boyajian
A closer reading of the New York State Comptroller’s audit of the Town of Fishkill has revealed some deeper concerns than had been initially reported.
The Gateway (Rauf Going Edition) [slightly revised]
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Fox is giving aid and comfort to the enemy; don't we call that treason? Op-Ed Columnist – How Fox Betrayed Petraeus – NYTimes.com www.nytimes.com
A devastating column which kills, burns and scatters the ashes at sea of any idea that there can be another site in Lower Manhattan for the Young Men's Islamic Association.
Money quotes:
"'There are a lot of developers and a lot of agencies that know a lot about downtown,' said Paterson, who indicated he was looking for 'surplus property or land transfers or title changes that would ameliorate this situation.' It's an interesting idea, except for one problem – there aren't any properties like that. A half-dozen sources who make their living worrying about downtown real estate – in government and in the private sector – say they know of no other suitable space. More telling is that none of them has heard even a whisper of a rumor that Paterson, or anyone on his behalf, has started looking. 'I don't think there's anything there,' said one of them. 'I think this is just an idea of the governor's. Nothing more.'"
AND
"Still, let's imagine the governor could find another spot, one he could have some influence over. For example, the MTA owns the cash-cow parking garage over the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but has in the past been curious about building a tower over the site. Since Albany regularly has its way with the MTA, suppose it master-planned a new office or apartment building there, setting aside space for Park51 as a community benefit. Suppose it found a lender willing to build a tower in a still-shaky market. Suppose it even won approval from multiple layers of government. Suppose Park51 decided to bow to the pressure to move, despite their constitutional right to stay there. That pipe dream would end up with an Islamic community center five blocks from Ground Zero. Does Paterson really think that would be enough to satisfy the critics?" Gov. Paterson's 'plan' for new site for mosque near ground zero not anchored in reality www.nydailynews.com
Michael Goodwin, winner of the Coney Island Whitefish Award:
Goodwin's complete and totally despicability is exemplified by the joke which begins this column: "I just applied for a building permit for a new house. It was going to be 100 ft tall and 400 ft wide with 9 turrets at various heights and windows all over the place and a loud outside entertainment sound system. It would have parking for 200 old cars and I was going to paint it snot green with pink trim. The City Council told me to f- -k off. So I sent in the application again, but this time I called it a mosque. Work starts on Monday."
Unlike his colleague, Andrea Peyser, there is no evidence that Goodwin is mentally retarded, so therefore he must realize that the NYC Council had no right of approval over the Young Men's Islamic Association proposed to be located at the Holy Mother Coat Factory. Unlike the atrocity proposed in this joke, the so-called "Mosque" is an as of right facility.
Further, Goodwin must realize that the proponents of this facility asked for and received no special treatment (at least so far). In fact, as Goodwin surely knows, it is only the opponents of this facility who've called for special treatment, sometimes benign (government provided land somewhere else) and sometimes malignant (misuse of eminent domain and land use, landmarking and public utility laws, to be applied differently than to any other landholder, in order to stop the project).
A Little Luna and a Big Lunatic
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“Historic district regulations sometimes don’t make a lot of sense,” said the article in a Brownstone Brooklyn weekly, quoting a gadfly on a local Community Board.
The gadfly was me.
Charter Commission: Let the City Council Eliminate Term Limits Without A Referendum
|That isn’t what the term limits report said directly. But that would remain the reality under the commission’s proposals (or more accurately lack thereof), with the one restriction that members of the City Council could not eliminate or extend term limits for themselves. They could only do so, and then resign before their last term was up, and have their spouse, child, or flunky selected in a special election no one knows about. As in the state legislature.
The need for a referendum to change the charter, or at least portions of the charter for which the politicians have a conflict of interest, is one thing I thought any decent group of people would propose. But they haven’t, and there is no explanation as to why, although the report does mention that having he Council overturn a referendum without another one is something many objected to. Not only could the City Council eliminate term limits, but it could also eliminate initiative and referendum. This stunning omission has gone without comment. BTW, to change the NY state constitution requires the assent of two consecutive state legislative terms AND a referendum. If the City Council can just change the charter, why does it exist, since it is no more difficult to change than any ordinance?
Paterson, Giuliani, and the matter of the NY Yankee Tickets
|Much has been made of the recommendation from the Commission on Public Integrity and it’s suggestion that outgoing governor David Paterson should pay up to a 93,000 fine for World Series NY Yankee tickets from last year.
The issue is whether Mr. Paterson violated ethics laws by having aides solicit the five tickets, with a value of $425 each. 
Fishkill Dunking the Clowns
|Fishkill Dunking the Clowns
By Michael Boyajian
Fishkill Town Supervisor Joan Pagones sat in the dunk the clown seat at a recent Fishkill street fair. You know the deal hit the bull’s eye and the seat drops the politician into a tub of cold water. Pagones went into the drink quite a few times that night.