KATKO: NO NEW GAS TAX

With No Price Relief at the Pump in Sight, Challenger Questions Why
Incumbent Against Increased Domestic Production

Syracuse, New York – Republican, Conservative, and Independence candidate for U.S. Congress John Katko (NY-24) today called on current Congressman Dan Maffei to oppose growing efforts in Washington, DC to raise the federal gas tax.

“Central New York families and small businesses continue to struggle to keep up in this Obama economy,” said Katko. “The last thing my neighbors and I need is to pay more at the gas pump just to feed new spending in Washington. We currently pay over 68 cents per gallon in state and federal taxes.i A nickel more here and a dime more there ends up adding up to quite a bit for most households at the end of the month. Now is not the time to raise the federal gas tax.”

After Maffei publicized his plan for spending billions of dollars in new infrastructure projects in Central New York early last week, Katko questioned why he failed to include any suggestions to pay for it. The construction of Dan Maffei’s fast train across Upstate New York alone could cost upwards of $14.7 billion.ii To date, Maffei has offered no plan to pay for any of his new infrastructure spending plans.

Then late last week, Maffei voted against bipartisan legislation that would help ease the pain at the pump by expanding production of America’s own energy resources. Maffei voted against H.R. 4899, the Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act,iii which would expand U.S. energy production by reopening offshore drilling locations previously closed by Obama, eliminating onshore production red-tape, and accessing National Petroleum Reserve deposits in Alaska to provide Central New York families with some relief at the pump.

According to AAA, the national average price of gasoline is $3.67 per gallon of regular unleaded, with a Syracuse Metropolitan average of $3.82 per gallon.iv Even more, AAA reports that the turmoil in Iraq will continue to push prices up through the remainder of the summer.

“Dan Maffei says he’s for the middle class, but his actions speak otherwise,” added Katko. “Our Member of Congress should refuse to raise the federal gas tax and fight to increase domestic gas production to provide Central New York families and small businesses the relief they need at the gas pump.”

Canandaigua taxpayers give superintendent $150K to go away

Former Canandaigua Academy

As Finger Lakes students return to school this week, the Daily Messenger uncovers details of  the surprise departure of Canandaigua school superintendent Don Raw.  The $190,000/year administrator announced his retirement as of September 1st.  Unlike many of his fellow Upstate retirees, however, Raw will not have to face his golden years in poverty. 

While Raw’s contract was originally through 2015, he will receive a payment upon his exit. According to the memorandum of agreement between Raw and the school district, Raw will be paid $130,000 “in return for (his) retirement.” A payment of $100,000 was to be made Sept. 1, and the additional $30,000 is scheduled to be paid Jan. 1.

In addition to the $130K payout, Raw will also abscond with another $31,450 in area residents' hard-earned cash.

In exchange for not participating in the health insurance coverage, the district agreed to provide a buyout of the coverage for a lump sum payment of $9,600.

In addition to the $130,000 payout, Raw, who was paid $190,000 a year, will also be paid for 28.3 days of accrued and unused vacation leave, and 145.67 days of unused sick leave. The sick days will be paid at a rate of $150 day, according to the agreement.

In May, the Messenger took an in-depth look at local superintendent compensation.  One often overlooked factor that facilitates outrageous superintendent  compensation is that our local school boards have the ability to fund themselves by collecting taxes at gunpoint.

DiNapoli to audit Thruway?

Gov. and Mrs. Dewey open Thruway, 1954

While many Upstaters consider New York's economy already dead, billionaire Cuomo donor and Thruway honcho Howard Milstein wants to bury the corpse six feet deeper.  Milstein, an influence-buying  Manhattan tycoon, wants to raise Thruway truck tolls by a "modest" 45 percent.  While we suspect Milstein, Cuomo and their jet-setting pals could care less that about that massive increase in business costs, every penny of which will ultimately be paid by consumers, a handful of drowning New Yorkers are sending up a warning flare.

A major state business group is demanding a thorough audit of the state Thruway Authority before it raises tolls by what the authority called a "modest" 45 percent for larger trucks.

"We will all pay the price for this toll hike if we don't stand up and demand that the Thruway review its own finances before taking money from the rest of us," said Brian Sampson, executive director of Unshackle Upstate.

The toll increase on trucks with three or more axles would threaten distribution jobs and increase the costs of food, clothing and other articles hauled by trucks while slowing New York's "tenuous" economic recovery, he said Tuesday.

In what may turn out to be nothing more that a political smokescreen, Democrat New York state comptroller Tom DiNapoli  is hinting he may just audit the bloated Thruway Authority's books.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli opened the door to possibly auditing the Thruway Authority's financial books Tuesday as the agency seeks to push through a controversial 45 percent toll hike on trucks.

The comptroller said the agency failed to thoroughly implement many of the recommendations he made in 2009 when it pushed through a previous toll increase. Had the findings from that audit been followed, he said, "many of the same problems that exist today would have been addressed.''

"Our Thruway system helps sustain the upstate economy. Increasing tolls could have a negative impact on our fragile economic recovery and hurt small businesses and consumers,'' the comptroller warned.

Bold added.  A few surviving Upstate residents may recall that Thruway tolls were supposed to disappear when the bonds were paid off in 1996.

The Thruway was built beginning in the 1950s and tolls were supposed to have paid off the superhighway in 1996.

 Ah, yes, 1996:

Nozzolio: force NY taxpayers to subsidize Virginia millionaire

AES Cayuga

The combination of an anemic Upstate economy, fanatic environmental regulations, and the abundance of cheap, clean natural gas being produced in neighboring states has resulted in hard times for the AES coal powered generator on Cayuga Lake.  In fact, AES had made the difficult business decision to enter bankruptcy, and has shut down operations at its AES Cayuga plant.  The facility's landmark steam plume has disappeared from Cayuga's shoreline, except for for brief periods this winter when the plant, which has no heating system, had to be operated to prevent freezing. 

As we've previously reported,  financial difficulties at AES have sent shock waves through local governments in the Town of Lansing, Tompkins County, and the Lansing Central School, all of whom have feasted on the millions in property tax revenues paid every year by AES.  An economist might point out that all those millions actually came from Finger Lakes residents, who pay the highest electric rates in the continental US.

Tax addicted local governments, terrified that they might loose some of their historic ability to coerce gold plated pay and benefit packages from struggling peasants, however, can rest easy this morning.  "Republican" State Senator Mike Nozzolio has decided to use the power of government to force taxpayers to buy AES' otherwise unsaleable product.

This proposed legislation, titled S.6842, recommends the establishment of a power purchase agreement with the New York State Power Authority. The legislation would ensure that the AES Cayuga plant reopens and remains operational for a minimum of three years.

Power produced under Nozzolio's little experiment in serfdom will be doled out, not to Finger Lakes homeowners, but to politically connected fats cats.

Under the legislation, energy purchased from the AES Cayuga plant would be directed to supplement the state's ReCharge NY program. The ReCharge NY program allocates low-cost power to New York State employers.

Harker

And while local taxing entities are thrilled that their cash cow will be spared, let's not forget Victoria D. Harker, CEO of AES and the real beneficiary of Nozzolio's generosity with your money.   Despite the recent problems with her coal burning operation, and unlike many of her Upstate ratepayers, Vicki will still be able to afford dinners out.  Forbes reports Ms. Harker's total compensation from AES in 2010 was $2,661,548.00, with an additional $142,578.00 provided in director's fees from Darden Restaurants.



Updates:  

The well compensated Ms. Harken's actual title is "Chief Financial Officer and President of Global Business Services."   Vicki is reported to be planning to be out the door this summer.

For the truth about New York' s feudal "ReCharge NY" program, see One of Nine.

Happily, some clarity from DiNapoli

New York State's top financial officer, Tom DiNapoli, got involved in politics in 1972, when he was elected to the Mineola Board of Education at age 18.  While he's as much a standard issue New York liberal Democrat as the next guy, we can assume that Tom likes his job and doesn't want to be held responsible for the Empire State's bankruptcy, or a potential Federal takeover leading the the dissolution of what was once the world's beacon of freedom and opportunity.  So it's no surprise that Tom might actually look into some of our rulers' more wasteful spending.

More tax breaks does not equal more jobs.

That's according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's latest report on New York's industrial development agencies (IDAs).

In his fifth report on IDAs [PDF], DiNapoli says the number of jobs created by the local economic development engines dropped by 22,000 from the year before.

DiNapoli also cites a $483 million gap in what IDAs gave out in tax breaks and how much they took in via payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTs).

That breaks down, the report finds, to a $2,659 cost per job - up 9 percent from the year before.

"Taxpayers are not getting enough bang for their buck when it comes to IDAs," DiNapoli said in a statement.

Tom may be on to something, if Seneca County's IDA is any indication.  Rather than bringing the county a Toyota assembly plant or an Apple Computer research facility, the IDA seems to just be making work for itself.

The owner and operator of a proposed new McDonald’s Restaurant at 2500 Mound Road will likely receive financial assistance from the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency.

James Coriale, president of Jascor Inc., the owner-operator of the existing McDonald’s on Mound Road, has received town approval to demolish the existing building and construct a new restaurant on the same site.

It appears that struggling Finger Lakes taxpayers are once again being forced to subsidize a profitable business that, absent the generosity of the Seneca County IDA, most likely could have updated its facility without taxpayer cash.  Beneficiary James Coriale, a successful businessman, actually owns six McDonalds' restaurants.

"We look forward to a welcoming everyone to our grand re-opening later this year," said Coriale. Jim Coriale owns six McDonald’s Restaurants, with locations in Penn Yan and Ovid, in addition to McDonald's in Walmart locations in Camillus, Horseheads, & Watkins Glen.

We enjoy Mr. Coriale's restaurants and we congratulate him on building a successful business in one of the most anti-business climates in the US.  We just don't have any extra cash to invest right now, and it seems Tom DiNapoli may be starting to figure that out.

Cuomo confused by Econ 101

Andy Cuomo poses with pal Al Sharpton

2016 Democrat presidential candidacy front-runner Andy Cuomo appears to believe that an increase in New York's minimum wage will both decrease and increase employment, at the same time, in the financially struggling Empire State.

Gov. Cuomo played footsie with a possible minimum- wage increase yesterday, calling a hike a potential job-creator.

He acknowledged the argument of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and other opponents that an increase could lead small businesses to cut jobs — especially for young, less-skilled workers.

But, he told reporters at the Capitol, “As a general rule, I don’t believe [increasing] the minimum wage costs jobs if it’s an intelligent increase. I believe it can create jobs, as a matter of fact, and create spending. The question becomes, what numbers?”

While we're at it, why don't we raise taxes again?  That should encourage more business to relocate here, right?

Increasing the cost of entry-level employees will result in fewer employment opportunities for the youngest, least skilled New Yorkers.  Candidate Cuomo needs to read up on basic economics.

Barfrack and Wafflin' Andy

Famous natural gas storage tank, Boston, MA

Two of our wealthy career politician rulers have suddenly switched sides on shale gas recovery.  America's most anti-energy president has suddenly become Barfrack Obama.

The Wall Street Journal has an opinion column noting that Barack Obama has done an about face and now seems to be boosting the prospects of natural gas (especially that derived from shale gas fields). The White House has released a report that notes the important role that shale gas has played in helping to spark job and industrial growth. The White House mentions the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania as playing an especially important role...

Meanwhile, in Albany, governor Andy Cuomo, who we suspected had already promised billions of dollars in fracking revenue to his state employee union masters, in spite of the fact that the rest of New York's anti-prosperity Democrats are fighting fracking tooth and nail, has suddenly gone a-wafflin'.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal will not include any funding for additional gas-drilling regulators, he said Monday.

Speaking after delivering remarks at a Martin Luther King Jr. remembrance ceremony, Cuomo told reporters he won’t move to add the appropriate staff until the state Department of Environmental Conservation determines whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing.

It’s a “chicken and the egg” situation, Cuomo said.

“You would not be hiring staff to regulate hydrofracking unless you believed you were going ahead with hydrofracking,” Cuomo said. “And we haven’t made that determination. So the budget won’t anticipate hydrofracking approval.”

What's up with the commissars?  We suspect it has to do with Barfrack wanting to be reelected president, and Wafflin' Andy looking to be reelected governor.  Ed Lasky has another theory about Frackin' Barry's suddden crush on shale, however.

George Soros -- a major donor to Obama, a major backer of so-called 527 groups, and the sugar daddy of the Democratic Party -- has recently made a major investment in a company that would be enriched if natural gas takes off as a fuel source for cars, trucks and buses.

 Apologies to Mrs. Howe for the run-on sentence, we couldn't stop ourselves.

Cuomo tobacco tax grab fails

Adam  Smith's invisible hand slaps Andy Cuomo right in his budget.

A memo sent to members of the New York Association of Convenience Stores from the group’s president, Jim Calvin — a copy of which I have on my desk — said, “I got a call from Gov. Cuomo’s budget office yesterday. In examining cigarette tax receipts so far this fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) it looks like they will fall considerably short of their projection in new revenues. . . .”

The sale of nontaxed smokes by stores on Indian reservations became an issue two years ago when the state cigarette tax was raised significantly and many smokers took more of their business to reservations — or to Internet sellers — whose packs aren’t taxed. Some folks even bought lower-taxed cigs smuggled in from out of state.

The State of New York estimated that taxing Indian reservation cigarette sales at the wholesale level would bring in an additional $130 million.  It appears resourceful NY smokers made other plans.

Union shill thinks your money belongs to the state

Ron Deutsch hobnobbing with the rich at Mohonk

Sentient New Yorkers should agree with Bill Nojay that Andy Cuomos' three-men-in-a-room "tax cut" or "tax code reform" is actually the biggest tax increase in New York in forty years.  Lonely Conservative expects her "middle class tax" cut to amount to less that a buck a week, and links to a quote from union-funded political operative Ron Deutsch:

“The average taxpayer will get a night out at the movies, courtesy of the state Legislature, without popcorn, I suppose,” said Ron Deutsch, of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a liberal tax policy watchdog group in Albany.

Bold added.  We need to remind Deutsch, paid servant of New York's powerful public employee unions, that said night out will not be "courtesy of the state legislature."  That's our money, confiscated at gunpoint by our state government, operating as bag man for those three men in that room.

Ever been to the Mohonk Mountain House?  Neither have we.

"Economic development councils" will prevent economic development

Planned city, now abandoned, former USSR

Who believes that that way to revive the once-Empire State's moribund economy is to allow the people who got us here to spend billions more of our tax dollars on Soviet-style central planning?  We'll tell you who:  Andy Cuomo and his gang of politicians, union bosses, academics and crony capitalists.

Dryden resident Tracy Marisa, speaking for the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition, takes to the Ithaca Journal to to explain why Cuomo's merry band is doomed to fail.

Central planning is not what New York needs; we need less government planning and a reduction in the role of government.

New York starts in the race for jobs with two strikes against it: one of the highest total tax burdens in the nation and excessive regulation coupled with bureaucratic administration. These are the problems that need to be addressed.

Marisa reminds us who's riding in Cuomo's clown car.

The composition of these councils also demonstrates a failure to understand how to achieve economic development as a majority of their members are drawn from academia and government.

Marisa provides alternative suggestions for shocking Upstate back to life.  Be sure to read the whole thing. 

Opening of the Erie Canal, 1825

Cheating death OK, sparklers still illegal

Too dangerous?

It wasn't that long ago that Finger Lakes citizens could celebrate Independence Day with sparklers purchased at their local grocery stores and gas stations.  Not the serious fireworks available just across the border in Pennsylvania, but a little low risk fun for the kids.

Now, New York's unstoppable nanny state prevents all forms of fireworks from being sold, including sparklers.  The Albany gang has decided that the colorful novelties are just too dangerous for simple minded New Yorkers to handle.  Safety is their number one priority, it would seem, regardless of what their subjects think.

None the less, a bill to re-allow sparklers made it's way to governor Andy Cuomo's desk this week.  Unwilling to allow even the slightest risk to his subject's life and limb, our second generation governor vetoed the attempt.

This one survived, 1876

Hence our surprise when, at the same time he was nixing sparklers, Cuomo gave his OK to a terrifying attempt by a wealthy show business celebrity to tiptoe across Niagara Falls on a high wire.  The Empire State says it is worth the risk to allow professional daredevil Nik Wallenda to attempt the stunt, despite his famous family's history of sudden death.

Nik Wallenda, the 7th generation of the famous Flying Wallendas, is making a lot of news lately. The Wallenda family, aerialists known for working without nets, have had their share of tragedy. In 1962, 2 members of the family - Richard Faughnan and Dieter Schepp - fell 70' to their deaths while attempting a 7-man pyramid in Detroit. In 1963, Rietta Wallenda (fell) to her death in Omaha while performing on the sway pole. In 1972, another relative, Richard "Chico" Guzman, was killed when he touched a live wire while on the metal rigging. And in 1978, patriarch Karl Wallenda, Nik's great-grandfather, fell to his death while performing (video here, difficult to watch but not gory). Last month, Nik and his mother Delilah Wallenda successfully completed the walk of a 300' long wire suspended 100' in the air between 2 towers of a seaside hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico - the same stunt that killed Karl.

New York's anti-business environment has left the city of Niagara Falls a hollow shadow of its former existence as a major tourist destination.  Approving Wallenda's stunt has been justified by pointing to the economic benefits the event might bring to the area.

The Wallenda bill passed both houses of the 212-member Legislature with only one no vote. A legislative memo accompanying the bill states simply that the walk will be good for tourism and economic development in Niagara Falls.

If the state really cares about reviving Niagara Falls, a less risky plan might be to stop collecting sales tax in the region, then stand back and watch the economy flourish on its own.

Solyndra Scandal Spreads

As regular readers know, half a billion of our tax dollars, dished out to to risky solar scheme Solyndra, have vanished.  We were all shocked to learn that Solyndra's major backer happens to be a big Obama donor.

In what The Lonely Conservative suspects may be a government butt-covering exercise, today the FBI raided the failed solar panel peddlers' offices.  We hope they find our $500 mil, because our school taxes are due this month.

Further to our surprise, we now learn that Solyndra honchos made more than 20 visits to Obama's White House during the days leading up to the massive federal loan guarantee being awarded to the crony capitalists.  This could prove to be beneficial to the Finger Lakes' economy, however, as we have lots of prison capacity in our pristine, scenic region.

Update:  Let's call it "Solargate"!

Update:  Are the feds looking to make evidence disappear?

Live Free

Stacy "The Other" McCain has arrived in New Hampshire to do some political reporting.  We recommend you read his stuff.  

In today's "Greetings from New Hampshire," McCain drops one sentence that should rivet the attention of all Empire State residents.

New Hampshire state legislators are paid just $100 a year, the legislature only meets part-time and there is no state income tax.

Bold added.  As New York's local governments compete to be the first to break Andy Cuomo's tax cap, read that sentence again, amigos.  

Time for a pay cut, Shelly?

Cash-hungry Cuomo: non-Indian casinos OK

Non-Indian, "commercial" casinos will soon join the competition for New York residents' shrinking budgets.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says his administration is actively investigating whether to bring commercial, non-Indian casinos and related gambling to New York.

By the time the graft has been distributed, New Yorkers can expect a net loss, to be made up with higher taxes. We should have gotten into the casino business in 1950.

We're #2!

Glenn Reynolds links to the news at Yahoo Finance:  States Where People Pay the Most (and Least) in Taxes.

2. New York
Taxes paid by residents as pct. of income: 12.1%
Total state and local taxes collected: $243.9 billion
Pct. of total taxes paid by residents: 71.4%
Pct. of total taxes paid by non-residents: 28.6%

 Additionally, the state has exceptionally high property tax rates. According to the Census Bureau, the top ten counties in the U.S. with the highest property taxes as a percentage of home values are all in New York.

New Jersey still has the lead, but the Garden State better watch its back...

Manufacturing returns to Seneca Falls

Don't write off our economy just yet.  Whether or not fracking ever happens, it appears manufacturing is making a comeback in the Finger Lakes region.  Finger Lakes Daily News reports:

The Cayuga Indian Nation of New York plans to begin manufacturing it's own brand of cigarettes later this year at the former Klionsky Scrap Metal property at 61 Ovid Street in Seneca Falls.

No need to wait for Andy Cuomo's expensive regional economic development councils.  Not subject to onerous New York regulations, not subsidized, not taxed, and producing a potentially deadly product, but a factory nonetheless.

Cuomo attacks NYT over fracking report

In a shocking turn of events, New York governor and rumored second-term Obama vice president Andy Cuomo has come down hard on the New York Times over its biased coverage of hydrofracking.

The Cuomo administration is charging The New York Times with using its news pages to crusade against natural-gas drilling in the impoverished Southern Tier section upstate.

"To get the story so blatantly wrong by posting a misleading headline on the Times' home page is a disservice to your readers," Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens wrote to the paper Friday in reference to a Times "exclusive" that Cuomo had supposedly given a go-ahead to use the controversial hydrofracturing technique for gas drilling.

"The Times has a responsibility to present accurate and balanced coverage of such a controversial matter, and it failed miserably in this case," Martens, a Cuomo appointee, continued.

In Fred Dicker's New York Post piece, linked above, we note the sympathetic reference to "the impoverished Southern Tier section upstate."  Fred left out "but nonetheless oppressively taxed."

Andy needs the money

New York Times today: 

Cuomo Will Seek to Lift Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing

"Gushers" in Pennsylvania

It worked out for him

With stories like this becoming more frequent, it must be getting very difficult for Andy Coumo and our state employee unions to continue to forgo the potential tax revenue here in New York.

Two unexpected gushers in northeastern Pennsylvania are helping to illustrate the enormous potential of the Marcellus Shale natural gas field.

Each of the Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. wells in Susquehanna County is capable of producing 30 million cubic feet per day — believed to be a record for the Marcellus and enough gas to supply nearly 1,000 homes for a year. The landowners attached to the wells, who leased the well access, numbering fewer than 25, are splitting hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly royalties.

We'd wager those royalties are being spent on F-150s, not Saabs.  That's the heart of the matter. 

For those who missed it, here's what's going on in the photo:

Jed Clampett is told by a representative of an oil company that the swamp behind his shack is full of oil. (The oil company employee has been hauled in by Jed's daughter Elly May who asks whether she can keep him.) Later, Mr. Brewster, the head of the oil company, does a deal with Jed. Jed tells Cousin Pearl that he'll receive 25 to 100 of "some new kind of dollar." Pearl, thinking Jed has been "slickered", asks what kind of dollar he's talking about. "Million dollars," Granny, Jed's mother-in-law, replies. "Jed, you're a millionaire," Pearl says.

Why they oppose fracking

Nice leather jacket, comrade!

Just in time for today's Frackingstock event at Ithaca College, Lonely Conservative discusses The Wall Street Journal's reasoned, balanced overview of shale gas extraction's benefits and risks.

...They dispel many of the myths about fracking, while reminding the industry to minimize risk. I’m surprised New York’s public employee unions aren’t screaming for fracking to increase revenues in order to keep their gravy train rolling.

Our takeaway from the WSJ's piece is found in the second comment, from WSJ reader Randall Dodd (bold added).

The environmental community is going to oppose any and all new development that lowers the cost of energy, because the environmental community isn't really concerned about the environment, it's a political movement with the goal of destroying capitalism and making America into a socialist or communist nation.

Anything that raises the cost of energy damages capitalism. Anything that lowers the cost of energy helps capitalism.