Campaign Finance: How Cheap Can Marcellino Be?

Over the next few months, Nassau GOP Watch will be going through the campaign finance contributions and expenditures of our state legislators.
Campaign Finance Laws in New York State are fairly weak with little over-sight. You'd think that many of the expenditures paid by a CAMPAIGN COMMITEE should not be paid by the campaign but they are. It may not be illegal but it sure does come close to an ethical line.
Today we start with a Mass Card.
A $10 Mass Card.
Marcellino paid for a $10 Mass Card from the Passionist Benefactors Society with his camaign fund in October 2007.
He couldn't just pay $10 from his own pocket?
How is a Mass Card part of a campaign?????

More on Nicolello and School Attorney Scanadal

Newsday has more from yesterday's story on Legislator Richard Nicolello's employment in the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District.
Newsday reports "Nassau County Legis. Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), 48, has been carried on the payroll of the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district for more than 20 years -- receiving health benefits for part of the time, as well as pension credits -- even while the district paid his law firm tens of thousands of dollars in fees."
"Nicolello.... [has] not yet begun collecting pensions, records show. Nicolello gave up his school health benefits after being elected to the Legislature, which provides benefits, he said.
In an interview, Nicolello stressed that he never claimed more than part-time credit for his schoolwork. He said he recently changed his status at the district to independent contractor from employee."
"I looked at what the comptroller said, and it was a matter of elevating form over substance," he said."

Before being elected to the legislature, he was deputy town attorney for the Town of North Hempstead. He didn't get health coverage there?

From Nicolello's official bio on the Nassau County website "Legislator Nicolello has also served as the Counsel to the Board of Education of the New Hyde Park - Garden City Park U.F.S.D. since 1987. As Board Counsel he provides advice on all of the aspects of operating a school district."

A few questions for Nicolello:
1) Why didn't you get health benefits from your law firm?
2) When providing "advice on all of the aspects of operating a school district" did it never occur to you that you are not a full time employee but a part-time contract employee?
3) Why didn't you know about your status with the district?
4) Are other employees of the district working part-time getting the same health benefits you received?
5) Weren't you informed of the pension credits?
6) Did you double-dip with health insurance as an employee of the Town of North Hempstead and of the school district?

Nicolello can claim ignorance of his status up until now but that means he really wasn't the best person for the district to get advice from.

Nicolello Caught in School Attorney Scandal

County Legislator Richard Nicolello who is one of the "under the radar" types has been caught up in the school attorney scandal. He is one of many attorneys being listed as a full-time employee even though he only does part-time work. His status at the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district would entitle him to a pension.

From the Associated Press: "Nearly one in every five Long Island school districts reportedly has listed outside lawyers as employees, alloweding them to qualify for public pensions while their private practices collected millions of dollars in legal fees."

"Among the attorneys is Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello, who has been listed as a New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District employee for 20 years. Meanwhile, the school system has paid his firm tens of thousands of dollars for its work, according to Newsday.

Nicolello said he claimed only part-time credit and recently had the school district change his status to clarify that he is an outside contractor."

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli have each opened an investigation into the employee status and pensions of the lawyers involved.
Taxpayers need to know why Nicolello is double-dipping.

Welcome NY State Senate Members and Staffers

Glad you are visiting.
Stay tuned, there is more to come.

Venditto gets Smacked Around by Fellow Republican

Posted without comment from the Massapequa Post...

Reader opposes land deal between Plainedge and Town
Dear Editor:
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto has a fiduciary duty to see that the tax dollars paid to the Town by its residents are properly spent. If someone were to ask me today how I would grade him on this duty, I would give him an "F".

Back on Nov. 3, 2007, the Oyster Bay Democratic Committee ran a full page advertisement in Newsday critical of the 2007 Town Budget. Though not a registered Democrat, I agree with many of their findings. For example, the ad asked why are we paying the Superintendent of Beaches $105,378, the Assistant Superintendent of Beaches $106,743, two Beach Supervisors $192,831 and the Bay Constables full time salaries for what essentially are seasonal jobs. We don't pay lifeguards a yearly salary, so why should we do it for these other seasonal jobs?

Now the Town Board and the Plainedge School Board have come up with a further means of fleecing the pockets of the Town's taxpayers. I refer to the plan to have the Town buy the defunct Sylvia Packard Middle School building for $1.5 million, pay to have the building torn down and spend a projected $22 million to build a new Town Hall South. They would also transfer ownership of the present Town Hall South to the Plainedge School District requiring us to pay $120,000 annual rent for the building while the new Town Hall South is being built. Do you know what many of my neighbors are saying about this? "The Town Supervisor and the Board must be on drugs."

Unless he wants a tax revolt in this Town similar to what happened at the County level, I would strongly advise our Town Supervisor to get rid of some of those high salaries mentioned above, keep a tighter rein on Town expenses and forget about projects like the sweetheart deal with the Plainedge School District.

John J. Tarpey Jr., Massapequa

Marcellino Uses Campaign Funds for Car Payments; Has Bad Fuel Mileage to Boot

From Newsday:"But Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) insists the $441 per month his campaign pays for his leased Chevrolet Trailblazer is a necessity. "At the end of the year I'm well over 60,000 miles on that car," he said. "I go to parades, Little League games, various and sundry dinners -- pick 'em -- that are all related to the job."

Hey Carl, alot of people use their own cars for work every day and don't get reimbursed. And is a Trailblazer necessary?
What about the enviroment Carl? Why not a more fuel-efficient car??
The Trailblazer at best get on average 18 MPG in the best conditions.
And for some reason the New York League of Conservation Voters gives Carl a Environmental Star of 2007 award. Carl says "It is a pleasure to be recognized by the New York League of Conservation Voters as one of their Environmental Stars. I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan manner to protect the health of New Yorkers, safeguard and improve the quality of our environment and preserve our natural resources. Thank you for this honor."
If Marcellino is driving 60,000 miles a year, that's almost 3500 gallons of gas. Does the NYLCV know about Marcellino's big truck? He could get Toyota Prius Hybrid for less than $441/month and save on the gas.
I wonder if Carl is paying for the gas with his campaigns funds too. Maybe he's paying out of his own pockect which would accoun for why he wanted a gas tax cap. If he's paying close to $10,000 a year for gas he must be hurting.

Let's all applaud Carl Marcellino for being an Enviromental Hypocrite.

UPDATE:
I forgot to add this from the article "It's one thing to rent a car while you need it during the election cycle," said Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "But for the other 18 months of their term, they should pay for that out of their own pocket."
Indeed.

Skelos, Hannon and Campaign Funds Funny Business

Newsday has picked up the ball and looked into campaign expenditures. (We spent some time over at Peter King Watch doing the same thing with 'Living Like a King') There are alot of interesting things being done with money that is supposed to be used for a campaign. The republicans were happy to see Spitzer get nabbed but a whole barrel of monkeys was over-turned. Now expect much more scrutiny and much less latitude when it comes to campaign money.
'Be careful what you wish for' is the phrase that pays.
From Newsday "Sen. Dean Skelos spent $812 at the Hempstead Golf & Country Club last May, and his records merely explain the expense as "entertainment."
"The senator often uses the facilities at the Hempstead golf course for meetings of his Senate political club," said Skelos spokesman Tom Dunham. "A lot of business is done outside of the office. It's no different than the corporate world."
"Take, for example, the $313.93 the campaign of Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City) spent at Tiffany & Co. last August. "Office" was the listed purpose. "It was for a gift or commemoration to someone for some type of duty," Hannon said. "It certainly wasn't for me."

And Skelos' boss Joe Bruno? "On July 11, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's campaign spent $3,870 on something -- but we'll never know what because the only description his records give is the word "un-itemized."
Nothing shady there.

Fuschillo Tries to Weasel Some Credit for LIRR Improvements

According to the MTA, the Seaford Station improvements beginning on March 3rd will include "installation of a new 12-car concrete platform, a new platform level waiting room, elevator, escalator, stairs, lighting and public address system."
What does Fuschillo do?
On March 20th his website proclaims "SEN. FUSCHILLO ANNOUNCES $14 MILLION LIRR IMPROVEMENT PROJECT IN SEAFORD."

Makes it sound like he had something to do with the money doesn't it?
The press release continues "State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. (8th Senate District) and Assemblyman David G. McDonough (19th Assembly District) recently announced that the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) has begun a $14 million improvement project at the Seaford Train Station.
Senator Fuschillo and Assemblyman McDonough, both of whom have long advocated for renovating the station, recently met with LIRR President Helena Williams and other LIRR officials in Seaford to discuss the improvements that will be made and the benefits they will bring to the community.
“This improvement project represents a $14 million investment in the Seaford community. Once this project is complete, the Seaford Train Station will function more efficiently, look nicer, and enhance the quality of life for the thousands of residents who use the LIRR each day,” said Senator Fuschillo."

No mention that the money is funded through the Federal Transit Administration and the MTA Long Island Rail Road Capital Improvement Program.
It's great that Fuschillo "announces" the project 17 days after it started.
Nothing like trying to get credit for something you didn't have a hand in.

Peter Schmitt Just Phones it In

Peter Schmitt is a bombastic liar with a provincial mind-set that blocks out any fact that may seek to enlighten him. His discourse is crude and he is an embarassment in government.
Now I'm going to tell you how I REALLY feel.
Schmitt being the leader of the republican minority in the Nassau County Legislature has had the opportunity to respond each year to County Executive Tom Suozzi's State of the County address.
I'm going to go further into Schmitts response this year in another post. In this post I will compare this years response to last years response. See if you notice anything...

2007: "This is the 6th occasion I have given the Republican response to County Executive Suozzi’s State of the County Address. Once again, I listened, as you have, to ambitious plans, visionary ideas, and bold new initiatives from Tom Suozzi.

2008: "This is the 7th occasion I have given the Republican response to County Executive Suozzi’s State of the County Address. Once again, I listened, as you have, to ambitious plans, conceptual ideas, and bold new initiatives from Tom Suozzi.

2007: "We believe, as Republicans, that spending has spiraled out of control in this County and like your household we cannot spend more than we take in and, yet, we find that the County Executive proposes to raise taxes approximately 3.9% to cover the deficit as projected by the County Comptroller. All this from a man who didn’t want to be County Executive last year. He wanted to be Governor."

2008: "We believe, as Republicans, that spending has spiraled out of control in this County and like your household we cannot spend more than we take in and, yet, we find that the County Executive plans to raise taxes at least 3.9% to cover the deficit as projected by the County Comptroller."


2007: "Every day, like you, I frequent local merchants in Nassau County. I am constantly being stopped and asked as to what can be done about taxes and about the continuing reassessment of our residential properties. As Republican Legislators we have constantly called for the reassessment of Nassau County to be slowed. It is not necessary to reassess everyone’s property every year. The results are too onerous and the county is forcing the most vulnerable of our citizens; our senior citizens and young families out of their homes. Again I say, this problem has to be addressed now and from the County Executive we hear continued silence."

2008: "Every day, like you, I frequent local merchants in Nassau County. I am constantly being stopped and asked as to what can be done about taxes and about the continuing reassessment of our residential properties. Republican Legislators have constantly called for the reassessment of Nassau County to be slowed. It is not necessary to reassess everyone’s property every year. The results are too onerous and the county is forcing the most vulnerable of our citizens; our senior citizens and young families out of their homes. Again I say, this problem has to be addressed now and from the County Executive we hear continued silence."

2007: "The County Executive needs to reset his priorities to resolving every day problems of you, our taxpayers. He needs to be creative and find ways to reduce spending, and reduce property taxes. He needs to talk with other levels of government, not undertake costly studies that go nowhere. He needs to transfer services which are overlapping. He needs to DO HIS JOB. He needs to find new and fresh ideas for reducing the level of crime and gang violence in our County, thereby insuring the safety of our citizens and children. He needs to stop declaring that all answers to our every day problems can only be solved by the active participation of the state and federal governments and pay more attention to the problems that you and I encounter each day. Traffic, roads that are in deteriorating conditions, our county infrastructure, and most of all, the level of health care this county offers its residents at the Nassau County University Medical Center.

2008: "The County Executive needs to reset his priorities to resolving every day problems of you, our taxpayers, before his term expires next year. He needs to be creative and find ways to reduce spending, and reduce property taxes. He needs to talk with other levels of government, not undertake costly studies and chair State Commissions that go nowhere. He needs to transfer services which are overlapping. He needs to find new and fresh ideas for reducing the level of crime and gang violence in our County, thereby insuring the safety of our citizens and children. He needs to stop declaring that all answers to our every day problems can only be solved by the active participation of the state and federal governments and pay more attention to the problems that you and I encounter each day. Traffic, roads that are in deteriorating conditions, our county infrastructure, and most of all, the threatening deficit facing a health care system this county offers its residents."

2007: "If Mr. Suozzi can be inspired by these challenges and recommits himself to improving the quality of life for all our residents he will have our Republican support.
Thank You and Good Night."

2008: "If Mr. Suozzi can be inspired by the every day challenges you and I encounter daily, if he can downsize and scale back his ambitions and recommit himself to improving the quality of life, for the remainder of his term in office, for all residents, he will have our Republican support.
Thank you and good night."

Schmitt cribbed most of his response from last years. He throws in a little current events and calls it a night.

Tomorrow on the Blog: Schmitt copies his own words but doesn't read them.
Wednesday on the Blog: Schmitt didn't even listen to Souzzis speech.

Fuschillo and His 'personal philanthropy with other people’s money'

Edmund J. McMahon, executive director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy calls the New York State Legislatures Members Items "personal philanthropy with other people’s money."
Members Items up until a couple of years ago where closely guarded secrets in Albany. Outside of the regular budget that you and I can see, State Legislators have a slush fund from which they can dole money out to groups in their districts. When they do so, it is usually with an over-sized check and a camera to capture the moment for the local papers and campaign material. The Members Item fund is fairly big and extra-budgetary. For many years there was no public accounting of the distribution of the funds. It took a lawsuit by the Albany Times-Union Newspaper to get the Senate and the Assembly to release the numbers and as Edmund McMahon continues from the quote above “If this was so wonderful, why aren’t they doing it out in the open?”
Indeed.
When you read a press release from a State Legislator like.. oh..... let's say Chuck Fuschillo, you'd think he fought tooth and nail to get that money. You might picture him on the floor of the State Senate chamber demanding that "The Nassau County Firefighters Museum needs $100,000 and it needs it badly. This museum my esteemed colleagues DOES NOT have a diorama explaining household fire safety and it's just about time it does !!!!"
But no, no such thing took place. All Fuschillo had to do was put in for the money, explain what it was for and PRESTO! there is a $100,000 diorama.
I went over some of this about two years ago and included a back and forth between then Senator Mike Balboni and former republican county executive candidate Bruce Bent.
This goes on all the time from both sides.
The sad thing is that Fuschillo and the others don't want you to know the real story behind the money. He will pass out the cash and take credit for something that was easy as filling out a request form.
The "Members Items" are nothing but free campaign cash from your tax dollars.
When you see a Fuschillo news item that begins "Senator Fuschillo secures... " just now that he didn't work very hard for the money and it's all your tax money anyway.

There is a Bill A.07364 floating around the Assembly from Assemblywoman Sandy Galef (D-Ossining) that would clean up the "members items" process. Galef says "We need rules that prevent incumbents from announcing, distributing, or promoting the use of member items during the campaign season. It gives incumbents an unfair advantage and uses taxpayer dollars to do so. There should be a system in place whereby no announcements of funding by an incumbent legislator can be made two months prior to an election. In addition, the entire system needs to be reformed to become transparent, with standards, accountability, and equity. I see this as another step in reforming the way we do the people’s business in Albany.”

The Assemblywoman has sponsored legislation to change the process of distributing “member items” to make it more open and equitable. Current law does not acknowledge the existence of members items. Galef’s bill A1740 adds a new section to the state finance law to make the process of distributing member items. Some of the provisions are:

Provides that if there is any addition to the governor’s budget bill for a member item, then every legislator in that house shall be entitled to direct an equal appropriation for use in his or her legislative district
Requires that for each proposed additional appropriation, public hearings take place 30 days prior to adoption, and disclosure of:
The formal name of the program, its sponsoring group, and its full address,
The names of the sponsoring legislator or legislators,
A description of and justification for the program,
Whether a sponsoring legislator, or any of his or her family members, is an employee or conducts business with the sponsoring group or program."

There is no corresponding bill in the State Senate.
If I were in the State Senate, this would be my first bill to sponsor.

Losing So Much Might Cost Mondello State Chairmanship

This is distressing news. The Democrats cannot lose this electoral success talisman. But of course, the republicans want to win so they want to replace Mondello.
From Liz Benjamin...
"There's a movement afoot in certain high-level GOP circles to draft retiring Western NY Republican Rep. Tom Reynolds as a replacement for state GOP Chairman Joe Mondello.
"He has what it takes to be state chairman," one upstate Republican said. "He'll fight. He can raise money. He has the respect of all Republicans. A state chairman needs to have balls of steel, and he's got them."
This Republican was not bothered by the fact that Reynolds has been tarred by two Washington, D.C. scandals - the Mark Foley page debacle and a yet-to-be-resolved fraud case involving the NRCC, which Reynolds used to chair - noting that the chairmanship is not a publicly-elected post.
A source close to Reynolds said he is concerned about the future of the state GOP and flattered by the talk about him as chair material. But he hasn't really given much thought to his post-Congressional life as of yet.
Reynolds might be convinced to be more involved in the party, the source said, if his longtime friend and political ally, ex-Gov. George Pataki, prevailed on him to do so.
Pataki stood with Reynolds at the height of the Foley page scandal, even traveling to Western NY to stand by the Congressman's side during a difficult press conference.
A source close to Pataki said he and Reynolds have not had a conversation about the state party.
You could chalk this up to one of the fairly cyclical anti-Mondello mutterings, which seem to pop up with some regularity.
There has been a degree of discontent among the rank-and-file of the GOP, which stands to reason given the fact that the party has suffered a string of high-profile electoral losses in recent years, but that so far hasn't translated into the ousting of its leader, who is an ally of New York's top Republican, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
Case-in-point: Mondello was unanimously re-elected last fall by the GOP county chairs (of which he is still one, as he continues to head up the Nassau organization) to a two-year term that will last through September 2009.
Mondello took over for former state GOP Chairman Steve Minarik (a Pataki ally) in November 2006 after Minarik, who remains Monroe County GOP chairman, stepped down in the wake of an election season that saw the Republicans lose every statewide election, a challenge against US Sen. Hillary Clinton and a number of key legislative races."

Farmingdale Upset - Challengers Send Incumbants Packing in Village Elections

Butch Starkie defeats Mayor George Graf.

Massapequa Republican Resume Padding

Seems there is a little difference of opinion in Massapequa.
In the current issue of the Massapequa Post (March 12), the front page story is about the Massapequa Park GOP Leader Bruce Foley stepping down. Foley has been the leader for 20 years. That's not much of a story really BUT in the story it says "Foley was responsible for establishing the Town's popular Music Under the Stars Program."
Interesting.....
Seems Legislator Peter Schmitt has been making that same claim for years. And it's in his official bio on the county website "Mr. Schmitt was also responsible for developing the widely renowned Music Under The Stars program into one of Long Island's premier entertainment events."

Somebody is doing some resume' padding.

Can they argue semantics with "establishing" and "developing"?
That would really be pushing it.

Stay Classy, Peter Schmitt

Leave it to Schmitt to use a tragedy for political purposes.
The saturday before the newly renovated Theodore Roosevelt Courthouse re-opening ceremony, a mother killed her three children in New Cassel. Schmitt takes this horrible event and does what he does.
Here is the story in Newsday "The courthouse ceremony yesterday coincides with the 106th anniversary of the original grand opening on Feb. 27, 1902. But Minority Leader Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) said Suozzi should have postponed the event following the killing of three children, allegedly by their mother, this past weekend.
Schmitt, who spoke briefly at the ceremony, said afterward that he had felt "very uncomfortable" at the event. "It certainly should have been postponed until after the funerals are over, until after the reports are in and we get an idea of exactly what happened," he said."

And postpone this why?
One thing has nothing to do with the other but Schmitt feigns concern and uses it as a back-handed swipe at Suozzi.
Schmitt should be ashamed at himself for trying to politicize a tragedy. Then again, he's done it before.
Schmitt dragged a young woman forward to testify in public about he abuse at the hands of a county employee. Schmitt didn't care that the young woman was in tears. Schmitt just wanted to "get" Suozzi. The young woman filed a lawsuit against Schmitt saying he "deliberately and publicly disseminated the painfully embarrassing, shocking and stigmatizing details of her assaults at a legislative hearing to advance partisan political interests."

Peter Schmitt has no shame.

Saladino Photo-op Caption Audacity of Lies

A photo-op of Assemblyman Joe Saladino isn't unusual. He's in the local papers weekly, smiling as he shakes this persons hand or hands out some sort of proclamation. But this past week was a goldmine in the form of the caption. Saladino is shaking hands with Mayor Mike Bloomberg in the picture (seen below) and the caption reads "Assemblyman Joseph Saladino recently met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss issues important to the people of the 12th Assembly District and to share common ground in their recognition of the NY Giants Super Bowl victory. Assemblyman Saladino discussed such issues as his strong opposition of any New York City commuter tax and his disapproval of congestion pricing. The Assemblyman said, “I am vehemently against any taxes and fees charged to Long Island residents. I also spoke with the Mayor about the disproportionate method by which school aid is distributed in the Governor’s State Budget. I enlightened Mayor Bloomberg that Long Islanders pay far more in property and school taxes than New York City residents and asked for his help and understanding as we all lobby the Governor.”

Now, if he actually said that to Bloomberg, I bet the picture would have been of Bloomberg punching Saladino in his dream box.
I really don't see Saladino telling the Mayor of NYC that the City doesn't pay it's share of taxes and that Bloomberg should get the governor to give more money to Long Island.
Saladino (or a minion) wrote the standard boilerplate "NYC is taking all our money" caption to scare Long Island homeowners.
Too bad Saladino is lying.
First of all, New York City gets $11billion less than it pays to New York State in taxes. Nassau gets $4billion less.
Who is getting the shaft from the state more?
Saladino says "Long Islanders pay far more in property and school taxes than New York City residents." Well.... Not quite.
The main issue here is that the NYC tax structure is much different than Nassau or Suffolk.
There IS NO SCHOOL TAX, Joe.
Saying that LI pys more in school taxes than NYC is just misleading and Saladino, Fuschillo, Skelos and the rest of the republicans do it all the time.
New York City has an INCOME TAX. Something we do not have here in Nassau.
If you look at the tax rates in NYC, add the property tax and income tax and the tax burden is practically the same.. and in some cases more.
Let's take an average home in Queens assessed at $400,000. Now keep in mind this is a house on a lot much smaller than the average Nassau lot. The PROPERTY tax on that house will be about $4000.
Now let's say the household income is $120,000 for joint filers. The INCOME TAX for them would be about $3900.
So the total tax burden for that household (not counting other tax levies) is almost $8000 per year.
If the income is higher, the tax burden keeps increasing. In some cases, the assessed value and property tax may go down but because of salary increases, the household is paying the same or more.
Saladino should stop spreading lies.
The simple fact is that it is NOT NYC that is a problem but the inability of our State Legislators to deliver consistent and fair funding for our schools.

Fuschillo and Skelos Vote for High School Taxes

After last weeks dog and pony show rally in Farmingdale for more state aid (I will have a post about that later today), you would think that Fuschillo and the gang would want more money for Long Island schools. Well, you would be wrong.

Last year Democratic Senator David Valesky from Oneida introduced a bill that would amend the New York State constitution to prohibit unfunded mandates. The Senate bill is S.2201 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing amendments to article 9 of the constitution, in relation to prohibiting unfunded mandates. The bill went through all the hoops but was being stalled in committee by the Republican majority until February when the Senate Democrats filed a Notice of Motion to Petition which would pull the bill out of committee and have a floor vote. The Democrats did the same thing last year and lost. Yesterday the vote was straight down party lines again with the republicans once again playing petty politics with an important piece of legislation. Instead of voting to make sure that schools are fully funded by the state for mandates forced on the districts by the State, Fuschillo, Skelos, Marcellino and Hannon voted for the status quo of high taxes. Nassau's lone Democrat in the Senate Craig Johnson was a co-sponsor of the bill. It is a testament to the Nassau republican delegations inability to do what is right instead of what is politicially expedient. The change to the State constitution would be a step in the right direction for school aid across the state. I personally do not believe that many of the State mandate are needed to begin with but as long as they are there, they must be fully funded. The bill cannot change the fact that No Child Left Behind is a huge under-funded Federal mandate by about $955million. That is something the NY Congressional Delegation must deal with. The best thing to do is repeal NCLB because we will never see it fully funded and in my opinion it hurts students more than help. There is no reason to vote against this bill. Unfunded mandates are a huge drain on school funds. If Skelos and his fellow republicans can shout for "Fair Share" on Saturday, they can vote to codify into law state aid for mandates. We all know that the dog and pony show on Saturday was just a reason to attack Governor Spitzer. I don't doubt the sincerity of the parents, educators and students who showed up but I do doubt and have my doubts proven by this vote. I spoke to Skelos after the rally and asked him why there was never a similar rally for the 12 years under Pataki. His answer was that he [Skelos] fought for and got any cuts restored. Now that really isn't an answer. So I asked him about the percentage of school aid from the State compared to the percentage of students in Nassau for the past 12 years. The number has not changed much. Skelos is proud to say that he and Fuschillo and the others have been able to keep the 13% in state aid even though Nassau has 17% of students. Under a republican governor for twelve years, Skelos has not been able to increase school aid significantly. And he is proud of that. Skelos and the gang will not do anything to reform the school aid formula because he needs it as a political hammer to beat on Governor Spitzer and the Democrats. When a bill comes along that will take away that hammer and help schools, Skelos is front and center to kill the legislation. While we push our students to excel, Skelos, Hannon and the rest of the Nassau Republican delegation celebrates mediocrity. Here is the full text of the legislation. "PURPOSE: Prohibits the state from imposing unfunded mandates on local govern- ments. SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill would make compliance with new state mandates, once determined to be unfunded, voluntary for local governments, school districts, and their subsidiaries. Defines an "unfunded mandate" as any provision of law that requires affected municipality or school district to spend more money to provide services. Any associated increases in cost would be offset by 1) funding to carry out the new mandates, and 2) savings associated with other mandate relief. Such provisions of law include statutes enacted by the Legislature, executive orders issued by the Governor, and rules or regu- lations promulgated by any state agency, department, board, bureau, officer, or commission. Exceptions to the definition of an unfunded mandate are the following: * state laws, rules or regulations required to ensure compliance with federal law; * laws which, in the aggregate, will cost any municipality or school district less than $10,000 to implement; * laws which have been requested through a home rule message or which have otherwise been accepted by the political subdivision; * laws which reapportion responsibilities between or among political subdivisions; * executive orders arising from the Governor exercising emergency powers; * laws applicable to both the public and private sectors; and * those laws in full force and effect prior to the effective date of this amendment, including any provision that extends or reauthorizes a law. Directs the Legislature to establish a Council on Local Mandates, with seven members appointed as follows: two by the Governor, one by the Senate Majority Leader, one by the Senate Minority Leader, one by Assem- bly Speaker, one by the Assembly Minority Leader, and one by the State Comptroller. One of the Governor's appointments would be a person serv- ing as a local elected official, and the Governor would designate a chair from among the members. The Council would be responsible for resolving any disputes brought by local governments about whether a law is an unfunded mandate or not. Council determinations would be subject to judicial review. EXISTING LAW: Current law does not provide for any review of or limi- tations upon legislative actions regarding their fiscal impacts on local governments or school district. JUSTIFICATION: Unfunded mandates are program directives to local governments that come from the state government without any financial assistance with which to implement or administer them. These mandates pose serious problems for local governments because they place an added strain on local budgets and threaten other funding sources for existing programs and services. State-imposed unfunded mandates cripple local governments throughout the state, driving-up the costs of living in New York State. They force local governments to cut existing services or to raise taxes to cover their additional costs. This constitutional amendment will force Albany to better consider how it passes along costs to local governments, following the example of some other states through the country have given similar constitutional protection to local governments. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: S.3049 OF 2006 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None to the state. EFFECTIVE DATE: Takes effect immediately, after approval by two separately elected legislatures and the voters at referendum."

Tony Santino's Tortured Logic

Rick Brand in Newsday reports that Democratic voter enrollment has increased 2571 while the republicans picked up only 966 since December 1st.

Self-proclaimed Town of Hempstead "Senior" Councilman and GOP mouth-piece Tony Santino claims this is because of "motor-voter." He tells Newsday “The Democrats’ registration spiked then and has continued to outpace Republicans ever since. Obviously, there’s a big difference between registering and turning out the vote.”

So what Santino is trying to say is that people who learn to drive and get a license are more likely to be a Democrat than Republican. Republicans on the other hand are not getting drivers licenses in Nassau County. Or Republicans are not registering to vote.
Maybe it's just that people find the Democrats more attractive as a party than the republicans.
Is there even any proof of Santinos assertion that the increase is from motor-voter?
Nah. He's probably just making things up again.

Special Note to Santino: Democrats are coming out to vote. That is why the Nassau DA is a Democrat now. That is why Craig Johnson is State Senator, not Maureen O'Connell. That is why the Nassau Legisalture is still led by Democrats.

Democratic Senator Craig Johnson Slaps Skelos Around

Cry-baby Skelos wants a full roster for his gang. Too bad the voters have a different idea. Here is Craig Johnson in Newsday putting Skelos in his place...

"We've always been known as 'The Long Island Nine,' " he said of the area's GOP senators who now number eight. "We're going to be back as The Long Island Nine and Craig Johnson is not going to be a senator after November."

Johnson shot back, "My response to Dean is what I tell my 3-year-old and my 6-year-old when they are having a temper tantrum, 'Take a timeout.' "

Hey Dean, it may be the "Long Island Six or Less" after November.

Skelos Speaks with Forked Tongue

Say one thing to Albany paper, say another to Newsday and hope no one pays attention.
Skelos in the Albany-Times Union about his boss Joe Bruno after his majority on the state senate got one more seat smaller "It’s not about any one individual. It’s about making sure every part of the state is treated fairly,” and in Newsday "The bottom line is we feel a responsibility ... to Joe as our leader"

Someone Got a Job - Site Critical of Mondello Disappears

We reported on Change-NYGOP and since then, the site has disappeared.
There shall be no dissent in Mondello's party.
Maybe the state-wide folks didn't get the Nassau GOP rule book.