Spin Cycle

Gov. David Paterson stumped for Democratic Assemb. Philip Ramos in Brentwood Friday calling him a “great resource” and his "partner in state government,” but added his appearance was no “message” to Suffolk County Executve Steve Levy who is backing primary challenger Waldo Cabrera.

“There are a lot of people you’ve touched in six years of service and they are not going to let anything happen to you,” Paterson told the crowd of abut 130 during the mid afternoon fundraiser at the Portuguese American Center.

The governor was joined by Rep Steve Israel(D-Huntington) the supervisors from Brookhaven Brian Foley and Philip Nolan of Islip as well as a half dozen of Ramos’ fellow Assembly members.

Cabrera, reached later, called Paterson’s comments “expected rhetoric” and his appearance a sign that Ramos “is a candidate who is floundering and needs to be propped up by the governor" and others. "If he was a solid candidate he could fight his own fight,” he added.

Paterson also appeared to make an indirect reference to the Levy’s dispute with Ramos for delaying the extension ....

Gov. David Paterson is weighing in for Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Central Islip) in the grudge Democratic primary match where Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is heavily backing challenger Waldo Cabrera.

Paterson will headline a Brentwood fundraiser next Friday for Ramos, who drew the county executive’s ire a year ago when he and members of the minority caucus held up a Suffolk sales tax extension in a bid to get a local hiring hall for immigrant laborers.

The 2 p.m. event will be held a the Portuguese Hall in at 17 3rd Ave. Ibrahim Khan, Ramos’ aide, said that Paterson’s appearance “reflects his support for Phil’s tax cutting and delivering services to the district.”

Rick Brand

Gov. David Paterson is weighing for Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Central Islip) in the grudge Democratic primary match where Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is heavily backing challenger Waldo Cabrera.

State Senate majority leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) isn't letting up on the property tax cap.

In this clip from an interview with PBS' NYNOW program, Skelos says Gov. David A. Paterson needs to do more to support the cap he proposed. The full interview, conducted by WMHT's Susan Arbetter, will air locally at 11 a.m. Saturday on WNET/Channel 13. Full disclosure: Newsday's Albany Bureau Chief James T. Madore also will be on the program's reporters' roundtable.

Going late, simultaneous with Suffolk, was the state Legislature in Albany, where fuzzy figures of $500 million to $1 billion in new budget savings to meet a coming fiscal crunch was tossed out -- but with those all-important details still due to make themselves known. Updates due today.

Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders are still negotiating over his request for $600 million in cuts to this year’s budget – and there is no deal yet, he told reporters Tuesday.

But Paterson remained upbeat and hinted that lawmakers may need to extend their special session beyond today. "I’m confident the legislators will come up with a sound decision…I’d like it to be done today. I’m available for the rest of the week and so are the legislators."

James T. Madore

Allen Cappelli, a former consultant to New York City builders and longtime Democratic strategist, has been tapped by Gov. David Paterson for the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, subject to state Senate confirmation. He'd replace the late Frank Powers, the GOP Congressional candidate from Staten Island whose sudden death in June roiled the political scene.

Dan Janison

Gov. David A. Paterson said Monday he plans to cast his ballot at next week’s Democratic National Convention for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, despite the fact that friend and presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton also will be nominated.

James T. Madore

New Yorkers are divided over the single biggest issue they want the Governor and Legislature to address this week, according to a new Siena Research Institute poll released Monday morning. Property taxes, job creation and addressing the state’s budget deficit received 26 percent, 26 percent, and 24 percent support from registered voters polled.

Melissa Mansfield

Gov. David A. Paterson announced agreement Sunday on a new contract with the State Police union, calling for wages to increase three percent in each of the first three years and 4 percent in the final year. The new pact covers a period beginning in March 2007, when the old one expired.

Asked if the Paterson administration attempted to get some savings in contract talks because of next year’s looming budget deficit, spokesman Morgan Hooks said the union recognized the fiscal situation and withdrew some of its requests. "There was an understanding of what the state could and could not do," Hook said. "But I think the state also had an obligation to treat the PBA fairly."

The raises mirrors those given to members of the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation.

Lawmakers who view the contract as a sign the state’s budget woes may not be as dire as Paterson as made out – should think again. "This contract agreement should not be interpreted by anybody as a sign that things are better than Governor Paterson has indicated they are," Hook said.

Lawmakers are due back in the Capitol Tuesday to consider $600 million in cuts to the current budget, which totals $122 billion.

James T. Madore

We report today from the intersection of broadcast media, state government and sports.

Gov. David Paterson called into WFAN sports radio today to offer encouragement to Mike Francesa, the remaining half of "Mike and the Mad Dog," on the occasion of Chris Russo departing the station. Paterson reminisced about a number of moments on the show over many years and, being a politician and all, was flattering and upbeat about Mike's future. But the governor did demonstrate legitimate knowledge, at least judging by Fracesa's confirmations, of events and what was said about them on various occasions, including the still-shocked hours of Sept. 12, 2001 when Russo, Paterson said, was speaking not as a broadcaster but as a proud American. Paterson even said he had to make arrangements by special hookup to hear the FAN at the Executive Mansion in Albany due to some structural problem blocking out the signal.

This is the week of the broken alliance.

So on Wednesday, as noted here, the state Working Families Party, which went all out for the Eliot Spitzer-David Paterson ticket two years ago, launched an advertising assault against the new governor’s proposal for a 4 percent cap on school-related property tax increases.

“Tell David Paterson,” urges the narrator of one ominous 30-second spot, “hurting schools is the wrong answer.”

Despite this verbal whack, the minor party is backing a number of candidates this fall who support the cap. And it is too late in the election calendar for WFP to cancel endorsements for lawmakers who voted for it.

“This is a disagreement on principle between us and the governor. It’s not the first, and we had them with Spitzer as well,” said Dan Cantor (left), the party’s executive director. “If the governor continues to drift away from working families, he’s going to keep hearing about it from progressives like us.”

When money gets tight, coziness becomes the first casualty.

On the heels of last week’s Senate vote for the tax cap, the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers broke from past practice and refrained from endorsing the Senate Republicans, who backed the tax-cap.

NYSUT president Richard C. Iannuzzi ....

Dan Janison

On the same day the state's powerful health care lobby unveiled a radio ad campaign denouncing proposed state Medicaid cuts, Gov. David A. Paterson's top health officials staged a quick-response news teleconference, disputing the numbers used by 1199 SEIU and the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Health Department officials told reporters it was misleading to say that the governor was proposing $1.5 billion in health care cuts and new taxes, the number cited in a 60-second radio ad, called "Paying More," produced by 1199 and the hospital association. That figure is reached by adding up the "universe of options" the governor is giving the legislature, a list that Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines (left) referred to as a "menu" from which lawmakers can choose what to cut.

Daines would not say how much Paterson ultimately wants cut from health care to close the budget gap.

"It's very clear [Paterson] wanted to deal with the legislature as a responsible partner on this and then put up the universe of options and then negotiate with the legislature," Daines said.

Daines also said New York's hospitals have seen.....

Michael Amon

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, head of the state commission examining property taxes, today blasted the television ads and mailings by opponents of Gov. David A. Paterson’s tax cap, saying they were "flailing" and "inconsistent."

Speaking to reporters in a telephone conference, Suozzi accused the liberal Working Families Party and Alliance for Quality Education of "a personal attack" on Paterson. "It’s really shocking to me," Suozzi said, referring to the $1.5 million TV campaign calling Paterson’s tax cap a "gimmick" and urging residents to voice their opposition to him.

The TV ads, launched yesterday, and followed today by 200,000 mailers are aimed at swaying Assembly members. The State Senate voted 38-20 last week to adopt Paterson’s 4 percent cap on yearly increases in school taxes.

Suozzi acknowledged the campaign would make passage of the tax cap "tougher." He also accused the Working Families Party of failing to represent low- and middle-class families who are hurt by raising taxes.

Earlier today, the Alliance for Quality Education held a conference call with experts decrying Massachusetts’s adoption of a tax cap. They said schools there were undermined.

But Suozzi said Massachusetts leads the nation in test scores while New York is first in tax burden.

The county executive said he is working to win over skeptical Assembly members on Long Island and Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). Suozzi said he had been "given no indication" that the Assembly would act on the tax cap when it convenes Tuesday in special session.

Suozzi, a Democrat, said he would support members of both political parties if they endorse the tax cap, though he stopped short of endorsing Republican leaders. "I will stand with anyone who supports the tax cap," he said, calling it his "Suozzi Doctrine."   James T. Madore

UPDATE: Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party just shot back at Suozzi saying the TV campaign isn’t an attack on Paterson. "It’s not surprising that Tom Suozzi is trying to defend David Paterson’s tax gimmick. After all – it was Suozzi’s idea," Cantor said. "But Suozzi is dead wrong to say the Governor has been personally attacked. David Paterson has been around long enough to know what’s personal and what’s about policy.

"Here’s what’s personal: the impact on 3 million kids around the state if the Governor and the legislature enact a property tax cap that devastates public education. It will be personal for the families whose children go to school in overcrowded classrooms. It will be personal for the teachers who are fired. It will be personal for the homeowners whose property values will go down with the quality of their local schools."

The influential New York State United Teachers will not endorse any of the 38 state Senators who voted to cap growth in school-tied property taxes to 4 percent annually, a union official tells us. This comes the same day that the Working Families Party is ratcheting up its campaign against the proposed cap with hundreds of thousands of mailings. Details later.

A state announcement:

"Governor David A. Paterson has directed that flags on state government buildings across New York be flown at half-staff on Friday, August 15, 2008, in honor of New York City resident Sergeant Jose Ulloa, who died August 9, 2008 in Baghdad, Iraq.

"Sergeant Ulloa was a member of the 515th Transportation Company, 28th Transportation Battalion, based in Mannheim, Germany.

"'It is with deep regret that we acknowledge and mourn the death of Sergeant Ulloa,' said Governor Paterson. 'On behalf of all New Yorkers I want to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and fellow soldiers of Sergeant Ulloa. His sacrifice to our country will never be forgotten.'"

As an organized interest group, New York’s physicians took a hit last week when Gov. David A. Paterson signed legislation under which doctors charged with misconduct will be publicly identified by name. And soon, the doctors will likely face another malpractice insurance rate hike from state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo.

Some Albany insiders expect these recent developments to help reinvigorate efforts to change New York’s malpractice lawsuit statutes, which physicians consider too pro-trial-attorney. “We’re saying we’re going to out you before you’re proven guilty — and oh, by the way, here’s another rate increase,” said one senior legislative staffer. “Something’s got to give.”

Others expect only blockages (docs are trained to look for those) from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a practicing plaintiffs’ attorney. Dr. Eugene Weise, president-elect of the New York County Medical Society, said: “There’s continuing discussion about how effective some of these efforts [on malpractice] would be.”

Michael Amon

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy had a face-to-face meeting with William Cunningham, senior aide to Gov. David Paterson, on Wednesday, for the first time since last month, when the county cut back highway patrols from the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway.

After the hourlong meeting at Cunningham's Manhattan office, Levy said the sides had “cordial conversations,” adding “we passed a couple of things around the table.” But he declined to discuss specifics because he “doesn’t want to jinx” the latest effort. He said a follow-up telephone conference call is planned for next week. “Both sides held out hope for a meeting of the minds,” he said.

Errol Cockfield, a Paterson spokesman, later called it “a productive meeting,” adding, “We’re delighted the county executive has decided to return to the table on the issue.”

Levy was joined by Presiding Officer William Lindsay, his chief deputy James Morgo, political aide Ben Zwirn ....

Rick Brand

Gov. Paterson did some of those closely-monitored hail-fellow statements at a Queens press conference today -- where Sen. Frank Padavan stayed on hand for some Paterson WWF-type hype as the Republican elephant in the room, as Liz posts here. In a straighter mode, Paterson noted the level of cross-partisan business conducted in the last session despite "this ideologica battle and these elections coming up."

Worried that a 2006 law to cut diesel emissions from state vehicles could become a casualty of New York’s fiscal woes, environmental and public health advocates on Friday urged Gov. David A. Paterson to move forward with the measure.

The law requires the state’s diesel-powered dumptrucks, snowplows and other heavy vehicles to be retrofitted to reduce tailpipe emissions by 2010. Thirty-three percent of those owned, operated or leased by the state must be converted by year’s end.

Citing the costs of treating diesel pollution-related ailments such as asthma and lung cancer, the American Lung Association, Renewable Energy Long Island, and others insisted in a letter that the measure’s public health benefits outweighed its burdens. The advocates chided the state Department of Environmental Conservation, now under Paterson, for failing to enact regulations for the retrofits.

Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said the governor was “committed” to the law but “we just have to make sure...

Jennifer Smith

In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington last week, Paterson noted “the first legally blind governor of a state served for 11 days. I already have him beat.”

Paterson was referring to fellow Democrat and former Lt. Gov. Bob Cowley Riley of Arkansas. In January 1975, Riley was sworn in to serve out the unexpired term of Gov. Dale Bumpers, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate. In mid-January, Riley was succeeded by David Pryor, who had defeated him in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Riley was blinded in 1944 attacking a Japanese machine-gun position on Guam, said his widow, Claudia.

After four months in the job, Paterson’s New York gubernatorial records now range from the monumental to the trivial: First African-American to hold the office, longest tenure in the State Legislature before becoming chief executive, and first governor to complete the 31-year-old Boilermaker 15-kilometer road race in upstate Utica.

James T. Madore

Was that really Gov. David Paterson’s top aide, Secretary Charles O’Byrne, and Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Michael Balboni, among the half-dozen seated one of the 11 tables at the famously exclusive Rao’s restaurant in East Harlem Thursday night? Even Madonna and Lance Armstrong are said to have been turned away from the place — which gained a morbid cachet five years ago with a fatal shooting on the premises.

(Photo of Balboni from St. John's Law School Web site where he's an alumnus.)

Already scrambling to salvage Republican control of the State Senate, Majority Leader Dean Skelos faces added political pressure - now that Gov. David A. Paterson has demanded immediate action to avert a fiscal crisis.

Skelos, as the state power trio's sole Republican, confronts a first test of his fiscal conservatism - vague as that phrase may sound.

Democrats looking to snare the Senate majority in November would like to think they have the veteran lawmaker from Rockville Centre in a tactical bind.

The other day, for example, Skelos expressed clear reluctance to lay off state employees, to close prisons upstate, to gut health-care entitlements, or to slow increases in school aid - as well as to increase taxes.

"I would not support school aid cuts," he said flatly. State education spending has swelled steadily in recent years, partly driven by a court decision on unequal resources for city pupils. Medicaid costs have been spiking for years, only partly eased by anti-fraud measures.

Jaded anti-tax activists recall how Skelos stood by predecessor Joseph Bruno five years ago when both legislative houses, in full rebellion against Gov. George Pataki, carried out tax hikes and borrowing gimmicks ....

Gov. David A. Paterson’s unusual televised warning of fiscal trouble appeared crafted to combat the perception that he’s an accidental executive who may have been unprepared for prime time when he was thrust into office four months ago.

Moments before yesterday’s broadcast, one state official wondered aloud at the timing, saying: “Things are kind of bad fiscally, but we’re not in an emergency... Paterson must be showing that he’s tough, that he’s facing the problem, that he’s being the state’s leader.”

For most people, announcing a budget gap of $6.4 billion instead of $5 billion — or, say, ordering cuts in agency expenses by 7 percent rather than 3.5 percent — carries little shock value or even much meaning.

But taking to the airwaves as he did, even for a few minutes, might have made Paterson a bit better known as a guy who told you there was a problem with your tax money — instead of the guy on whose watch this mess grow.

Some insiders suspect Paterson might be in the early stages of preparing the general public for a tax hike on its upper-income residents, maybe early next year....

Dan Janison

State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) just announced the Senate would reconvene Friday, Aug. 8 (corrected) for a special one-day session. Senators are expected to take up Gov. David A. Paterson’s proposed 4 percent cap on yearly increases in school property taxes.

They also will consider bills from the GOP majority to reduce state mandates on school districts and guarantee a minimum level of state aid.

-- James T. Madore in Albany

On the day Long Island fund-raiser Howard Fensterman officially joined the state’s Public Health Council, a Great Neck nursing home he co-owns and manages contributed $5,000 to Gov. David A. Paterson, who appointed him.

Fensterman joined the council, which approves nursing home and other health care projects, on July 11, but his spokesman Gary Lewi said Fensterman was “totally unaware that a check had been cut for a political donation” that day by Grace Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (photo left).

Lewi said the home’s majority owners made the contribution. State records show Grace Plaza’s majority owner is Benjamin Landa, who was unavailable for comment.

Michael Amon

Move over Gov. David Paterson. And stand back, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy reported yesterday that he has nearly $3.3 million, more that his fellow Democrats.

To be exact, Levy filed a disclosure form showing $3,299,929.04, after raising $425,841 in the past half year, and spending $167,000. He made $47,000 in interest alone.

Of course, Levy’s numbers are an accumulation of four years of fundraising and a result of having no opponent for his re-election bid last year. Paterson, who reported $3.2 million, had only $114,000 in his campaign fund in January. Suozzi has $1.6 million but also spent heavily in an ill-fated governor's primary two years ago.

Levy’s biggest expenses were $40,000 in connection with his annual golf outing at Cherry Creek Golf Links in Riverhead in May, $25,000 for fundraiser Anne McShane, a veteran party operative, and $5,400 for Cleveland Smith Associates, a consulting group owned by Michael Dawidziak.

Levy’s biggest donor continues to be Gary Melius, Oheka Castle owner and senior advisor to Independence Party of America chairman Frank MacKay, who gave Levy $50,000 during his first term and $10,000 in the last six months. Other heavy hitters include Staller Associates and Duffy, Duffy and Burdo, which each gave $5,000, and E.F. Howell Co., which gave $3,800.

Rick Brand

A controversy that swirled around the SentosaCare company’s hiring of staff for its nursing homes appears to have left unscathed the political standing of Howard Fensterman, the firm’s lead counsel and a major Long Island campaign fundraiser.

On Friday, Fensterman became the newest Gov. David A. Paterson appointee to the powerful Public Health Council. And last Monday, at Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi’s fund-raiser, Fensterman had a prime seat near Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Cablevision president James Dolan.

Fensterman, long known to political insiders as a top bundler for Sen. Charles Schumer, drew fire last year for asking Schumer to intervene when the Philippine government suspended the ability of his client, SentosaCare, to recruit Filipino nurses.

As a Public Health Council member, Fensterman will help review and approve proposed nursing home and other health-care projects — which his Lake Success law firm specializes in facilitating. A Paterson official said Fensterman agreed to avoid council matters involving his firm's clients. On Friday, he recused himself on two projects discussed in executive session.

For full text of the announcement released today by Rubenstein Associates on behalf of the law firm, click the "continued" bar below.

Michael Amon

Last week, we wondered why Gov. Paterson, who purportedly wants to reduce property taxes, went against the advice of his own budget division and signed a bill granting binding arbitration to a tiny union representing Suffolk's park police, while he was vetoing bills giving binding arbitration rights to some other unions.

The bill, which will give the union -- affiliated with Suffolk's deputy sheriffs, and represented by the firm that also represents Nassau's PBA -- more leverage in negotiations, was opposed by the county. We asked the governor's office for an explanation of the public policy rationale. We still don't have one.

The same day, Paterson signed another bill helping out another public sector union in Suffolk. It extends to county correction officers a right previously enjoyed by police in NY -- if they're assigned to investigative duties fo 18 months, they automatically get pay and tenure as detectives without passing civil service exams.

It reduces the ability of local managers to manage, which is what has pushed up costs of local government in NY to horrendous levels over time. It was opposed by Paterson's budget office, civil service office, office of employee relations, and local officials in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester. A similar bill last year, which would also have covered the state Department of Corrections, was vetoed by Spitzer.

The NYTimes asked why Paterson signed it, and got this from his press secretary, Risa Heller: “Once the governor receives a bill, he seeks input from interested parties before he decides whether he will sign or veto it.... These are recommendations only, and other policy factors must be weighed.”

That, of course, is not an answer.

We did check some records. It turns out that the Suffolk corrections officers union astutely hired Meyer Suozzi English & Klein to lobby -- successfully, as it turns out -- for the bill that Paterson's press secretary can't come up with a plausible explanation for.

Meyer Suozzi, of course, is the big connected LI law firm where Paterson's father, Basil, is a partner. It also used to employ Bill Cunningham, one of Paterson's top aides.

We don't mean to suggest anything, except that if you sign little bills opposed by your own advisors that provide favors for public sector unions and don't bother to come up with substantive explanations, there's a temptation to look elsewhere for answers.

Gov. David A. Paterson raised more than $3.2 million in contributions for his election in 2010 in the past two months, his political committee announced today.

The Paterson for Governor committee received more than 600 donations from individuals, businesses and groups since fundraising began on May 5, said spokesman Jonathan Rosen. Paterson established the committee on April 14, less than a month after he moved into the Executive Mansion upon Eliot Spitzer’s sudden resignation amid a scandal.

Rosen said the committee had spent little so far and details would be available Tuesday, the deadline for campaigns to file disclosure forms with the Board of Elections.

Experts said the magnitude of Democrat Paterson’s initial campaign haul would quiet concerns about his fundraising prowess as a middle-class lawmaker with fewer ties to the business community than millionaire Spitzer. Less than $25,000 of Paterson’s donations were transferred from his old election committee for lieutenant governor.

The Spitzer/Paterson campaign spent about $33 million in the 2006 election.

Paterson received no money from Spitzer’s committee, Spitzer 2010, but was given its office space and equipment, according to sources.

Paterson, a champion of public financing of campaigns as a state senator, is not adhering to the $10,000 limit on contributions from individuals established by Spitzer.

Last month, comptroller Thomas DiNapoli of Great Neck, announced a $20,000 limit on individual donations to his new DiNapoli 2010 committee. It wasn’t expected to report large sums because a kick-off fundraiser isn’t until late summer, said aide Dennis Tompkins.

A spokesman for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was not immediately available to comment.

James T. Madore

Gov. David A. Paterson — his new administration perceived by the most generous of Capitol veterans as still "a work in progress" — today announced his appointment of Terryl Brown Clemons as $178,000 acting counsel, Dennis Whalen as $178,000 interim director of state operations and Joe Baker as his $165,000 acting deputy sectretary for health and human services.

Note that two are "acting" and one is "interim." Are national searches are being conducted? No word yet from the governor's office. As the announcement notes, these appointments do not require Senate confirmation.

Clemons most recently served as first assistant counsel to the governor. She'd previously been an assistant deputy with Eliot Spitzer's attorney general's office. Whalen was deputy secretary to Spitzer beginning in January 2007 and was executive deputy health commissioner in the Pataki administration and began his state government career in 1974. Baker worked in the attorney general's office between 1991 and 2006.