Campaign Roundup: Klein: We're Working with Cuomo
By Mike Connery on 09/28/2010 @ 04:45 PM
DAILY CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP . . . Our daily roundup of campaign news.- Klein: We're Coordinating with Cuomo, He's Helping - In a conference call with reporters today, New York Senate Dems Chair Jeff Klein discussed what it will take to grow the Democratic Majority. Klein sited a need to "localize" races, and working with Andrew Cuomo's campaign on a joint field effort.
- Ball Fails to Show for Debate Schedule - Plan Putnam reports that Assemblyman Greg Ball failed to show up at a scheduled meeting to negotiate the details of seven public debates agreed to by his campaign and that of his opponent Mike Kaplowitz. This is not the first time Ball has been declared MIA in the district.
- Republican vote to split three ways in November: Appleton endorsed by Democracy For America : In SD-59, the State Supreme Court reinstated David DiPietro's name on the Tea Party line, bringing the number of GOP candidates in the race to three. That could spell good news for Democrat Cynthia Appleton, whose campaign was recently endorsed by Democracy For America.
- Eye on Albany Spotlight: Senator David Valesky, 49th Senate District - Eye on Albany finishes a lengthy interview with Sen. David Valesky. Watch the 2nd and 3rd installments of this video series here.
Quick Hits from the Trail: Skelos's Conflict of Interest, Klein's Legislation, Stewart-Cousins Responds
By Mike Connery on 04/27/2010 @ 11:01 AM
The latest news from the Democratic conference, candidates and campaigns:
- Andrea Stewart-Cousins responds to an attack by Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone.
- Senator Auburtine wants to make the Power for Jobs program permanent.
- 10 new Sunshine laws sponsored by Democrats were signed into law yesterday.
- Republican Leader Dean Skelos' Long Island law firm has a lobbying arm that raked in $284k last year, making it the third fasted growing lobby in the state. Conflict of interest anyone?
- Some of the grassroots are lining up behind Senator Breslin. Here's a positive post on the Senator by a blogger at The Albany Project.
- Senator Jeff Klein passed a bill to protect homeowners from loan modification scams. Watch him talk about the need for the bill in this video:
Oppenheimer, Valesky and Klein Bring Sunshine to Albany
By Mike Connery on 04/19/2010 @ 01:26 PM
The Siena Poll I blogged earlier today had some interesting findings on what New Yorker's think about the possibility of reforming Albany. According to the findings, 83% of New Yorkers believe that Albany can be fixed if the right legislators are in office. Along those lines, I want to highlight some recent work by sitting Democrats that will deliver more transparency and efficiency to our capital.
The first items are pieces of legislation, sponsored by Suzi Oppenheimer and Dave Valesky, during March's "Sunshine Week:"
It may not be the dawning of the age of Aquarius, but state government has taken welcome action recently to let the sun shine in.
During Sunshine Week last month, a time set aside to promote open government, the state Legislature passed a bill strengthening the Open Meeting Law, sponsored by Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, and Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck.
Another bill, sponsored by Destito and Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, would set guidelines for audio or video recording of all public meetings. A third measure, sponsored by Valesky and J. Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, directs local government bodies to make sure their meeting rooms are large enough to accommodate the public.
This week, Gov. David Paterson signed all three bills into law. “As a responsible government, we have the duty to inform the public of the state’s business, and these new laws will help to do just that,” Paterson said.
The second is a new website created by Jeff Klein and the Senate Task Force on Government Efficiency to aid whistleblowers in calling out government waste, and crowdsource ideas on how to make government more efficient:
NEW YORK, NY –State Senator and Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) announced Monday that the Senate Task Force on Government Efficiency has launched a new webpage where New Yorkers can anonymously submit their ideas, suggestions and feedback on how the state can conserve resources in this tough fiscal time, as well as to report any suspected wasteful government spending or abuse of tax dollars.
http://www.nysenate.gov/committee/task-force-government-efficiency
These are just a few more small steps that Democrats are taking on a long road towards reforming Albany's dysfunctional culture. By replacing some of the old-guard Republicans that have been in office for decades, we can do even more in the months and years to come.
