Issues:
GOP Senate could kill Democratic priorities – Gannett
Karen Scharff, co-chair of the Working Families Party and executive director of Citizen Action of New York, said she’s concerned that “hedge-fund billionaires and New York City developers” that pumped millions of dollars into Senate campaigns will be looking to gain influence in the Senate.
More than $14 million was spent on the Senate campaigns by independent entities, with pro-charter school and real estate interests backing Republicans and the state teachers union supporting Democrats.
“If you look at what happened at the elections, the hedge fund billionaires, the New York City developers and the largest corporations in America contributed millions of dollars to the state Senate elections and now are going to be putting that influence to work,” Scharff said. “I think that’s going to make the major barrier to progressive legislation on a whole host of issues.”
New York pushing back on emissions – Times Union
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/New-York-pushing-back-on-emissions-5882344.php
“States like New York need to be doubling down on climate change. They need to be doing more,” said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. He said recent climate change reports predict that climate change will continue to worsen in coming years and significant greenhouse gas emission reductions must be done quickly to stave off the worst climate effects.
In New York City, Marijuana May Mean Ticket, Not Arrest – New York Times
People found with small amounts of marijuana would be issued court summonses and be allowed to continue on their way without being handcuffed and taken to station houses for fingerprinting.
The change would remake the way the police in New York City handle the most common drug offenses and would represent Mayor Bill de Blasio’s most significant effort since taking office to address the enduring effects of the department’s excessive stop-and-frisk practices.
States Listen as Parents Give Rampant Testing an F – New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/states-listen-as-parents-give-rampant-testing-an-f.html
“My third grader loves school, but I can’t get her out of the car this year,” Dawn LaBorde, who has three children in Palm Beach County schools, told the gathering, through tears. Her son, a junior, is so shaken, she said, “I have had to take him to his doctor.” She added: “He can’t sleep, but he’s tired. He can’t eat, but he’s hungry.”
One father broke down as he said he planned to pull his second grader from school. “Teaching to a test is destroying our society,” he said.
Federal government struggles against cyberattacks – Associated Press
A $10 billion-a-year effort to protect sensitive government data, from military secrets to Social Security numbers, is struggling to keep pace with an increasing number of cyberattacks and is unwittingly being undermined by federal employees and contractors.
Workers scattered across more than a dozen agencies, from the Defense and Education departments to the National Weather Service, are responsible for at least half of the federal cyberincidents reported each year since 2010, according to an Associated Press analysis of records.
Inside Baseball:
Cuomo had a secret re-election ‘pact’ with Republicans – New York Post (Dicker)
http://nypost.com/2014/11/10/cuomo-had-a-secret-re-election-pact-with-republicans/
The state’s most powerful Republican secretly worked for months to help Democratic Gov. Cuomo win re-election — in exchange for Cuomo’s promise not to aid Senate Democrats in their Long Island races, a top New York GOP leader has charged.
Former state Republican Party Executive Director Michael Lawler — who managed Rob Astorino’s ill-fated gubernatorial run against Cuomo — told The Post that he learned of the alleged bombshell deal between Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos and Cuomo just days ago, after suspecting for months that it existed.
“Dean Skelos clearly was working against Rob’s campaign — he and the governor cut a deal,’’ seethed Lawler, a protégé of GOP Chairman Ed Cox.
Cuomo administration exodus coming for second term – Daily News
Top aide Larry Schwartz is expected to leave early next year while Budget Director Robert Megna is set to go after Cuomo unveils his state budget in late January, sources said. Both are holdovers from the David Paterson administration. Schwartz was caught up in the controversy over Cuomo’s Moreland anti-corruption commission. He was said to have demanded that the panel hold back–and in one case rescind–subpoenas sent by the panel to entities with ties to the governor. He has met with US Attorney Preet Bharara’s office, which is investigating the matter.
Cuomo’s Department of Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky is also expected to leave in early 2015 — bound for the private sector, sources said.
And acting Chief Counsel Seth Agata will likely go once Cuomo names his permanent replacement, sources said.
Meanwhile, Cuomo press secretary Matt Wing, who this year also served as the governor’s campaign communications director, confirmed he won’t be returning.
Jeff Klein prepares to make his deal – Capital New York
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/11/8556336/jeff-klein-prepares-make-his-deal
“The only thing I’m going to say right now is, I want to make sure the Independent Democratic Conference remains a separate conference. I think we proved to be a very effective force in governing—in a coalition government, when there wasn’t a coalition government—and, you know, when we move forward I hope that’s going to be what happens. If it’s with the Democrats, if it’s with the Republicans, I think the most important thing is that we have the I.D.C. as a separate conference,” he said Friday night. “I was very proud of the accomplishments that the I.D.C. and the Republicans in our coalition were able to accomplish. I never backed away from that, even in a Democratic primary or a general election, and I hope my Republican colleagues feel the same.”
Klein spoke to reporters at a “real, authentic event” that the I.D.C. sponsored overlooking the pool at the Intercontinental Hotel, the traditional site of the Somos El Futuro conference. About 100 people sipped Barrilito Rum and enjoyed hand-rolled cigars while paying respects to Klein, whose leathery face contrasted with a baby-blue blazer and open-collared checked shirt.
At Somos, John Sampson looks forward to the year ahead – Capital New York
The onetime Democratic leader—a hulking, shuffling, two-pronged testimonial to the power of incumbency and the presumption of innocence—was bullish about his future but tight-lipped about his coming trial (“sometime next year”) and the nomination of his prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, as the next attorney general.
“I have been pushing ahead, working on my agenda,” Sampson said. “You saw the results of the election—I had the mayor, the governor, I had all the unions against me, and I still beat my opponents. Three opponents.”
State lawmakers want pay raise on current $79,500 salary: ‘It’s long overdue’ – Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/79g-year-state-pols-pay-raise-article-1.2005094
With the elections now over, lawmakers are hoping for their first pay raise since 1999.
“It’s long overdue,” said state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn), who hasn’t had a raise since taking office in 2003. “You want responsible leadership in Albany, you need to be able to pay them responsibly.”
By law, a sitting Legislature cannot give itself a raise, meaning action to hike the current $79,500 annual lawmaker base pay would have to be taken by the end of the year or the issue will be shelved for at least another two years.
Kathleen Rice replacement is a question mark – Newsday
If Democrat Cuomo takes the same course of action in Nassau County — where District Attorney Kathleen Rice leaves for Congress in January — chief assistant Madeline Singas would serve as acting district attorney pending an election next November.
Democrat Rice has said she would like to see that happen. But Cuomo aides declined to predict what he will do. In the spring of 2012, he took a different tack in Livingston County by appointing as interim district attorney Gregory J. McCaffrey — a Democrat who went on to win the election that November.
Obama nominates Brooklyn U.S. prosecutor Lynch for attorney general – New York Times
President Barack Obama nominates Brooklyn federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch to replace the retiring Eric Holder as U.S. attorney general. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
Elections:
How first-time candidate John Katko upset two-term Rep. Dan Maffei – Syracuse Post-Standard
During the campaign, Katko marched in 14 parades across Central New York, held 10 open meetings billed as “listening sessions,” stopped at seven senior centers, reached thousands of households in telephone town hall events, and re-invented the ice cream social by sponsoring three $1-off ice cream nights called “Get the scoop on Katko.”
“We had to try to define John, because Dan Maffei’s goal was to slash and burn from the beginning,” said one senior strategist. “We knew what Maffei was going to do from the start — he was going to go for the jugular and never let up.”
Katko’s campaign decided to tell a positive story of his two-decade career a federal prosecutor who took on organized crime, specializing in prosecutions of violent gang members.
Minority votes helped Kathleen Rice win close congressional race – Newsday
Do Rice’s big margins in mostly black and Hispanic communities mean voters of color are gaining more clout as demographics in Nassau and Suffolk change?
“In a race that ended up being quite close, those votes appear to have made all of the difference,” said Daniel Altschuler of Make the Road New York, which, along with New York Communities for Change and the Long Island Civic Engagement Table, directed get-out-the-vote efforts in several communities in the 4th.
Negative ads, voter indifference blamed for low election turnout, experts say – Newsday
Just a third of New York’s eligible voters cast ballots Tuesday to elect members of Congress as well as every statewide office holder, rivaling a low not seen since 1934.
G.O.P. Is Making Progress Toward Presidency but Is Still Playing Catch-Up – New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/us/politics/gops-path-to-presidency-tight-but-real.html
After five of six presidential elections in which the Republicans have lost the popular vote, this year’s midterm elections point toward a plausible Republican path to winning the White House.
The Democratic losses were not simply because of low turnout. Republicans often made significant gains among rural, white voters. Some candidates made inroads among young and Hispanic voters, as well, according to exit polls and county and precinct-level results.
Post-Election, Obama Says The Blame Is on Him – New York Times
Just days after his party was routed in the midterm elections, President Obama said that he and his White House team had not succeeded in effectively selling the benefits of his policies to the American people, calling it a “failure of politics” that he must change in the final two years of his presidency.
“It’s not enough just to build a better mousetrap,” Mr. Obama said in an interview that was taped Friday at the White House and broadcast Sunday on the 60th anniversary of CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “People don’t automatically come beating to your door. We’ve got to sell it. We’ve got to reach out to the other side and, where possible, persuade.”
George W. Bush says there is 50-50 chance of his brother Jeb running for president in 2016 claiming he is ‘wrestling with the decision’ – Associated Press
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2827417/George-W-Bush-gives-50-50-odds-Jeb-run-2016.html
Former President George W. Bush has said there is a 50-50 chance his brother Jeb will try to run for president.
Brother Jeb, a former Florida governor, is ‘wrestling with the decision’ of running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, George W. Bush says.
Opinion Pages:
Charting education – Times Union Op-Ed by Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education
http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Charting-education-5880617.php
It will mean more of the same from the man who has been dubbed “Governor 1%” and “The Governor of Wall Street.” He has earned these labels by cutting taxes on millionaires and billionaires and on banks and corporations. They have repaid him by helping him raise $45 million—more money than any candidate in New York state history. Paul McCartney told us, “Money Can’t Buy Me Love,” but it goes a long way with buying political favor in the Albany of Andrew Cuomo.
Now these same Wall Street hedge fund titans are pushing their radical agenda for our public schools. These are not the one percent, they are the one percent of the one percent.
Round Two for Gov. Cuomo – New York Times – Editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/10/opinion/round-two-for-gov-cuomo.html?_r=0
First, he should figure out a way to honor his vow to reform the state’s corrupt political culture through stricter campaign finance laws and changes in the pay-to-play traditions in Albany. This task is made no easier by the fact that Mr. Cuomo himself took in $45 million in campaign contributions from real estate and communications companies and other businesses. He needs to show that he is independent from the state’s big money interests.
Shortly after the election, he noted in a radio interview that the Republicans were dead set against the public financing of campaigns, a necessary component of any credible reform program. But that resistance should serve as an incentive, not a deterrent, to a full-throated campaign on his part to get public financing enacted.
Close the LLC loophole now – Times Union – Editorial
http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/close-the-llc-loophole-now/31097/
The biggest beneficiary of it in New York is Mr. Cuomo himself. In one stunning example, 19 different LLCs controlled by Long Island developer Leonard Litwin’s real estate company, Glenwood Management, gave $800,000 to Mr. Cuomo. Glenwood also used LLCs to funnel millions to other New York candidates and committees, both Democratic and Republican.
LLCs play a big role in local political campaigns, too. The Times Union’s Lauren Stanforth has documented how LLCs were used by four prominent developers to pump up campaigns of many of the same public officials who control or influence decisions on development and public contracts in their communities. The four set up a total 48 different LLCs that contributed more than $600,000 to local and state political committees during the past five years.
View: APPR system fails teachers, wastes taxpayer money – Journal News Op-Ed by The Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents
Unfortunately, New York State’s Annual Professional Performance Review – the evaluation of our teachers – is a governmental travesty of significant proportion that has wasted over $46 million of your state tax dollars, and untold millions more in local districts across New York.
Court should tell Libous: ‘See you soon’ – Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin – Editorial
Can you believe Thomas Libous?
Voters on Tuesday decided to re-elect Binghamton’s Republican state senator and allow him to continue in the office he has held for the last 25 years.
But he also this week asked a federal judge to throw out the U.S. Attorney office’s suit against him based on what appear to be technicalities. He faces one felony count of making false statements to the FBI.
Commentary: Impact of fracking eludes us – Times Union Op-Ed by Wes Gillingham, program director of Catskill Mountainkeeper
http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Commentary-Impact-of-fracking-eludes-us-5882017.php
Nonetheless, the study shows that government agencies are failing to monitor important emissions from gas and oil operations and infrastructure. Industry is proposing and getting approval for new projects without demonstrating an absence of health and environmental impacts, and without real oversight from responsible authorities. The result is that we simply do not know the full extent of the public health threat imposed on our communities.