Astorino slams Cuomo's War on the Suburbs

REMARKS BY WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE ON

GOV. CUOMO’S BASELESS ATTACK ON COUNTY 

October 2, 2014

Andrew Cuomo says Hillary Clinton’s town is racially discriminatory. It’s not. It’s just expensive.

His comments made yesterday the most important day in the campaign.

Andrew Cuomo revealed who he is, what he stands for and where his allegiance lies.

Given the chance to stand up for our local communities, Andrew Cuomo put himself all in with HUD and its war on America’s suburbs.

In a short and rare unscripted moment before the press, New York’s governor did three remarkable things.

He showed his blind allegiance to an overreaching federal government.

Demonstrated his disdain for the communities he was elected to protect.

And put his ambition ahead of the truth.

I am not sure which one shocks me more, but let’s look at all three.

Blind allegiance to HUD.

When asked if agreed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s assessment that New Castle, the town where he and Hillary Clinton live, was discriminatory, his incredible response was: “I have no reason to disagree with the federal findings.”

This is the Governor of New York, whose Constitution embodies the principle of home rule. And yet he couldn’t even give his hometown the benefit of the doubt.

The response showed complete disdain for local communities. Did he ever take time to think that there might be another side to the story? Did he ever ask to see those “federal findings?”

Apparently not.

Because there are none.

One of the things that is so frustrating in dealing with HUD is that it doesn’t issue its own findings. The governor should know that – he ran HUD.

HUD’s approach is for others to do all the work and then the agency criticizes their findings endlessly, hoping they will eventually capitulate from exhaustion, legal threats or the withholding of federal funds.

To try to satisfy HUD, the county has submitted eight separate versions of a document called an Analysis of Impediments, or AI. No other county or municipality across the United States has done as many AI’s or been as thorough in its research as Westchester. These documents examined all 853 zoning districts in Westchester County and run into hundreds if not thousands of pages.

(Here they are right here.)

Eight different times, they reached the same conclusion: there was no evidence of exclusionary zoning in Westchester.

And eight times HUD rejected the county’s AI’s. Each time because the county refused to bend to HUD’s pressure to find exclusionary zoning where none existed.

HUD has made it abundantly clear that it will only accept an AI that concludes Westchester’s zoning is exclusionary.

But don’t take the county’s word for it.

Last week HUD also rejected the zoning report by the Monitor it has hired to oversee the settlement. HUD wrote, and I quote from agency’s September 24th letter:  “All statements purported to absolve individual communities from having practices that can potentially exclude blacks and Hispanics should be deleted from the Monitor’s Analysis.”

HUD also faulted the monitor for using the most up to date information saying, and again I quote from the letter: “Data regarding demographic changes between the 2000 and 2010 census can be removed.” In other words, HUD does not want to know what has happened in Westchester during the last decade.

But this is the group the governor “no reason to disagree with.”

Instead of blindly agreeing with HUD, the governor should be supporting his local communities.

Where’s the governor’s outrage that HUD has taken millions away from some of our neediest communities. The county is in court fighting to get the money back.

The legal battle over the money has been going on for years and never once has the governor, despite repeated requests, offered to help the county.

Not only is the governor rooting for HUD. He also has a problem with the truth.

The most troubling thing he did yesterday was to continue to smear Westchester County, his home, saying it is violating the fair housing act.

Now I can see the response already. It is not me saying it. It is the federal government. But that’s not true either.

In 2009, my predecessor Andy Spano reached a settlement with Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice over an allegation that the county under Spano and Larry Schwartz – Spano’s deputy at the time and now Cuomo’s senior advisor – had failed to adequately consider race as an impediment to fair housing.

The settlement was a way to avoid costly and protracted litigation and address the issues that had been raised to the satisfaction of all the parties.

But there was never a finding of fact against the county or an admission of guilt. And Larry Schwartz will tell you that.

So to smear Westchester County by saying the county is in violation of fair housing act, when he knows it is not true, is an insult to everyone in Westchester of every race and ethnicity.

Cuomo opened his campaign by attacking me as a racist. The commercials he ran with Jim Crow references were beyond the pale.

The governor portrays himself as a progressive. But there is nothing progressive about race baiting. Racism will never be eradicated if those in leadership positions put their ambition above the truth and cynically deal the race card for political gain.

Westchester is a welcoming place to all who seek to live and work here. Discrimination will not be tolerated in Westchester, and I have said repeatedly, and say it again today, allegations of discrimination will be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law while I am county executive.

But we also need to have an honest discussion of what racism is and is not. Zoning and discrimination are not the same thing. Zoning restricts what can be built, not who lives there.

I opposed the settlement 2009 because I was afraid it would open the door for the federal government to overpower the decision making authority of local communities.

As it turns out my fears have been realized.

But the day I took office on January 1, 2010 – which was the day I inherited the settlement – I made the point as clearly and as forcefully as I could that as County Executive I would fulfill my responsibilities to make sure Westchester met its obligations under the settlement.

The county’s record of compliance has been outstanding. We are ahead of schedule in meeting the benchmarks for building 750 units of affordable housing by the end of 2016 in 31 Westchester municipalities, which were selected because they are mostly white. Think about that – a government project that is ahead of schedule.

Ironically, the only agency, besides HUD that has put up roadblocks to us building the affordable housing is the Hudson Valley Regional Board of Review, which is part of the New York Department of State and reports into the Governor.

We are also becoming increasingly diverse. The minority populations of the 31 settlement municipalities increased by 56 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census.

That compares to a 25 percent increase for Westchester as a whole, which is ranked as the fourth most diverse county in terms of African Americans and Hispanics, behind only Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx and tied with Manhattan.

Of course none of that is good enough for HUD.

HUD will not be satisfied until it finds a way to take away zoning decisions from local elected officials. Why? Because its national ambitions depend on it.

HUD was hoping Westchester would be its “grand experiment” for rolling out its new rules for ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.’ Use statistics to find the county guilty of exclusionary zoning – and then let HUD’s bureaucrats take it from there. The only problem is that Westchester and New Castle are not guilty of anything.

So the choice is defend the innocence of our communities or throw in with HUD to let its bureaucrats make decisions about the future of our local communities.

Governor Cuomo thinks New York should be run from Washington.

I think New York should be run for and by the people of our state.

Zoning may seem obscure. But it provides the framework for how cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods are developed, our families are safeguarded and our environment preserved.

The stakes are high and now we know how Governor Cuomo cast his vote.

Against the people of New York.

Local zoning will never be outsourced to HUD if I am the next governor.

To anyone who has invested their life in their home and struggled to make a mortgage payment, please know I have got your back.

I live in the next town over. Truth is I can’t afford to live in New Castle, next to the Cuomo’s and Clinton’s. But that is ok.

I love my quarter acre in Mount Pleasant, a town where I grew up, served on the school board and town board. My first job wasn’t Secretary of HUD.

But on the small stage of government, I learned that when you get into office, you have to understand the limits of power. You can’t be all things to all people. You have to be willing to make tough calls, And you have to say ‘no’ to people – even when they are bigger and stronger than you – if you think you are right.

This situation with HUD is simply saying to our government – you have gone too far. Your intentions may even be good. But a bad idea is a bad idea and someone has to be the voice of the people to say so.  I have spoken out for the people. Governor Cuomo has taken side of the bureaucrats who make findings.

That’s the choice.

Cuomo and Obama Strike Out in Cooperstown

Anti-SAFE Act activist Al Belardinelli reports from Cooperstown

To recieve Al's updates, send an email, subject line:"sign me up" to albel1@aol.com

The Shocking Fact:

A Presidential visit combined with the Governor of New York Draws Fewer Than 200 supporters to Cooperstown, NY.

On May 22, 2014, the president of America and the Governor of New York came to The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY on a mission to promote tourism and baseball. Yes, on a bright spring day – at the start of the baseball season – at the Baseball Hall of Fame the 2 most influential elected officials were the stars of an utter failure. Even a trumped up media cannot spin it into a major positive event.

The True Facts:

There were more media reporters attending than spectators who came to see the president and the governor; and the Protestors outnumbered everyone combined by at least 7 to 1.

One would expect huge crowds, traffic jams, parking problem, stores filled and hordes of activity to occur. NONE of that happened:

• The village was deserted
• Businesses and shops were absolutely empty
• The streets were void of even normal traffic
• Parking lots were empty
• NO baseball stars, sports stars or baseball enthusiasts were in attendance.
• NO baseball paraphernalia was to be seen .
• There was NO joy, celebration or “tourism” to be seen anywhere in the area

Jeanine for Governor!

Bill Nojay Represents Upstate New York

From the comments:

This is a list of EVERY REPUBLICAN NYS ASSEMBLYMAN AND SENATOR WHO VOTED FOR THE SAFE ACT!

NYS SENATE:
Skelos, Libous, Flanagan, Fuschillo, LaValle, Marcelino, Hannon, Boyle, Golden, Grisanti, Lanza, Martins

NYS ASSEMBLY: Curran, Losquadro, Lupinacci, Malliotakis, McDonough, McKevitt, Ra.

Emperor State Of Mind

h/t TVM

No Mo Cuomo

Saratoga Deputies: Cuomo turning law-abiding citizens into criminals

Via Bob Owens, a remarkable letter to the Cuomo Gang from the Saratoga County Deputy Sheriff’s Police Benevolent Association.  The Deputies address Cuomo's gun-grab on both fronts: the unconstitutional  law itself, and the corrupt process used to pass the abhorrent act.  Albany Republican co-conspirators are also called out.

Dear Governor Cuomo, Senators Klein, Marchíone, Skelos, Stewart-­Cousins, and Chairman Cox:

By this correspondence, the Saratoga County Deputy Sheriffs’ Police Benevolent Association (SCDSPBA) would like to announce our strong opposition to the passage of the SAFE Act and the manner in which is was negotiated and subsequently voted upon. The SCDSPBA represents the sworn men and women police officers of the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office.

Our objections to the legislation are numerous and begin with the process under which the bill was voted on in the Senate. It is deeply disturbing to our membership, as public servants and Citizens of the state of New York, the manner in which this legislation was brought to the Senate for vote. It is our understanding that many Senators had approximately 20 minutes to read the legislation before being forced to vote on it and note that the bill was brought before the Senate and voted on so quickly that its authors failed to make provisions for the exemption of police officers or the National Guard with respect to the new magazine-capacity requirements. Having reviewed the legislation and given the time constraints, it is our conclusion that there is no possible way any normal person could have read the entire bill and understood its implications prior to voting on it. They most certainly could not have requested and received the input of their constituency and considered their opinions in the matter which is the most basic tenet of a representative government. The entire process was one of secrecy and of intentional withholding of information from the public. We condemn this in the harshest terms. Had there been an opportunity for the public to exercise their right to be involved in the legislative process prior to the bill being voted upon, We would have offered a letter of opposition. Instead, we find ourselves in the rather unique position of opposing legislation after it has been passed. Our membership believes we were denied one of the most basic rights of a democracy by this process and we cannot and will not accept this type of behavior from our elected officials.

In our opinion, there was absolutely no reason for the Governor to use a message of necessity to bring this bill to vote. We note that the Governor has used the message of necessity 35 times since taking office and for nearly every major piece of legislation he has sought to pass. This particular bill has 56 sections; 53 take effect in 60 days, 2 take effect in 1 year and 1 section, which requires owners of certain firearms to register them within 1 year, takes effect immediately. In other words, given the language of the bill itself, there is no emergency. As the message of necessity is to be used solely in the case of a true emergency that warrants the waiver of the 3 day maturing process for all legislation, the Governor’s actions were questionable at best and a deliberate attempt to bypass the Constitutional process and thus opposition to the bill at worst. The evidence strongly suggests the latter.

The Senate Leadership also had a responsibility to negotiate this legislation publicly and to call the Governor out on his excessive use of the message of necessity. Unfortunately, they chose not to do either, thus depriving approximately 19.5 million citizens the opportunity to offer meaningful comments and criticisms of the bill, and to exercise their rights under our system of government. In short, the Senate Leadership allowed the Governor to force legislation upon the citizens of our state. Instead of offering a check-and­-balance against the Executive Branch, the Senate Leadership condoned and authorized what may fairly be described as ruling by fiat. Whether one is for or against the new legislation, all citizens should be truly concerned by the manner in which our allegedly representative government behaved and we condemn this in the harshest terms.

As a predominantly rural county in upstate New York, the lawful ownership of firearms is and has been a valued tradition enjoyed by many of our citizens.

Sadly, the legislation effectively turns countless law­-abiding gun owners into criminals for absolutely no reason. Many of our membership are gun-owners and have gone through the same licensing process as non-police officers and it is our belief that this process has served our citizens well. Mandating law­-abiding gun owners to now have to register certain types of firearms on a yearly basis, in addition to registering them on their permits (which now must be renewed every 5 years), accomplishes nothing in the area of public safety and is unnecessarily burdensome to a citizen who has done nothing but abide by the laws of our state.

The SCSDPBA reminds the addressees that “assault weapons,” which are banned under the new legislation if they have 1 military­-type feature, were responsible for 5 out of 769 homicides in New York last year or .007% – hardly a public safety crisis for our state. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted 4 cases involving assault weapons last year none of which involved their use in the commission of a crime and a recent FBI report showed that hammers and clubs were responsible for more deaths than rifles and shotguns. Given the foregoing, our membership questions why there was a need to ban the lawful use, possession, and sale of these firearms at all. Again, many citizens of our county previously enjoyed the use of these rifles for activities such as hunting and target shooting, and are now being forced to register these firearms, on a yearly basis, when they have done nothing wrong. In addition, any semi-automatic pistol that has 1 “military-type” feature will, under the new law, be considered an assault weapon. While it may come as a surprise to the authors of the legislation, most semi-automatic pistols do in fact come with a pistol grip, making nearly every semi-automatic pistol an assault weapon and thus subject to registration on a yearly basis. This registration is in addition to registering the pistol on one’s pistol license every 5 years. The SCDSPBA believes this is absurd, serves no public safety interest in the slightest, and crosses the proverbial line from reasonable restrictions on gun ownership to outright harassment of law-abiding gun owners.

As police officers who encounter criminal activity on a daily basis, our membership finds the notion that a criminal might somehow wait in line to turn in his or her high-capacity magazines or sell them to someone out-of-state to be so ridiculous as to be not based in reality. It is beyond shocking that a member of a body entrusted to legislate the very laws that govern our society could, with a straight face, argue this point. Our membership believes, as do most people of sound mind, that the only persons who will abide by the new high-capacity magazine ban are the law-abiding, leaving the same high-capacity magazines in the hands of those who choose not to obey the law. Additionally, from an ethical and moral standpoint, we question why, if high-capacity magazines are as destructive and deadly as the legislature contends, they would be allowed to be sold to someone out-of­-state. Certainly, they would be as dangerous in New Jersey as they would be in New York. Since 85 to 90% of guns used in crimes in New York originate from out-of­-state, it is nothing short of incredible to us that the authors of this legislation could not have foreseen the possibility of these magazines finding their way back into New York. However this is the proposed solution offered by our elected officials, for which we can find no discernible logic.

Whíle there are some areas of the legislation that the union finds encouraging, such as addressing glaring shortcomings in the mental health system, by-and-large, our membership finds the legislation to be little more than a thinly-veiled attempt at regulating lawful gun ownership out of existence. From the manner in which the legislation was negotiated in secret, to the fashion in which it was brought to the Senate floor for vote, there was nothing about the process that was transparent or that took into consideration what cannot be disputed that law-abiding gun owners are not and have not been the source of criminal activity.The legislation fails miserably to offer any meaningful solutions to the epidemic of gun violence and places the blame squarely where it does not belong on the shoulders of law­-abiding citizens. One need look no further than the embarrassment of New York’s Combined Ballistic Identification System that devoured $44 million in taxpayer money over ll years to regulate lawful gun ownership and which resulted in no convictions of anyone for anything to illustrate the non-complicity of lawful gun-owners in recent events.

In recent days, we have also become aware of published reports describing a large and growing movement within our state of citizens who have apparently announced their intention of non-compliance with the new statutes as they relate to assault weapons and registration. With an estimated 1 million assault rifles in existence throughout New York, it is beyond comprehension that the legislature and the Governor would needlessly place police officers in a position where they might be called upon to confiscate the previously lawfully owned property of an American citizen. There can be no denying the potential danger this prospect places law enforcement in and once again strongly suggests a bill that was rushed to passage without aforethought or any regard for its potential implications. We cannot excuse this and do not appreciate our very safety being sacrificed for political gain.

In conclusion, we would be remiss were We to not mention our outrage at the conduct of the Senate Republican Coalition. Many of our membership contacted Senator Skelos’ office on a regular basis to voice opposition to additional regulations of firearms and were assured that the senator’s office was being flooded with similar calls. We have, in the past, always looked to the Republican party to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens much in the same way we place our lives on the line every day to protect the rights of all citizens. To have them negotiated away in secret and to be stripped of them in a clandestine vote is both appalling and unforgivable. It will most certainly give pause to many of our individual members when considering their voting choices in the future and we condemn this in the strongest possible way. For the foregoing reasons, we cannot offer our support for this legislation. We encourage members of the legislature to hold hearings where the public is afforded the right to participate in the legislative process, to address the issue of gun violence in a way that might actually produce meaningful results, and to stop holding law-abiding citizens who choose to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment hostage for the criminal behavior of another, and the political aspirations of the Governor.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Fuller
President – SCDSPBA

Andrew Cuomo visits rustic, backward, rural Upstate New York

Seven quills in the Emperor State.

h/t Trophy Wife

He Beat Me To It!

Cuomo Pledges His ‘Full Support’ for Obama’s Gun Proposals

High Speed Rail In Action

New York's dynastic governor, Andy Cuomo, thinks government-run high speed trains are just the ticket to transform Upstate's moribund economy.

"High-speed rail could be the 21st Century Erie Canal for New York State," with bullet trains zipping from New York City to Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal in the future, Cuomo said.

Andy better hope global warming is real.  In the frigid Ukraine, Andy's like-minded colleagues have been embarrassed by repeated breakdowns of costly high speed trains during this winter's record cold  temperatures.

Eight fancy and modern South Korean-made high-speed Hyundai Rotem trains, purchased for $30 million apiece this year, are turning out to be lemons, some passengers say, with frequent breakdowns amid one of the coldest Decembers in many years.

Passengers have complained of frequent stoppages along routes from Kyiv to Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Donetsk. Apart from delays, passengers have also complained that heat on trains has malfunctioned. And travelers who bought Hyundai train tickets for the Kyiv-Lviv route, have been given old Soviet trains instead.

Check out the video, and be sure to watch it to the end.  Our Rusian translator, Ludmilla Idetsneg, tells us the voices you'll hear are Russian railway workers, having a laugh at their commissar's expense.

Pay up, suckers

Memo to NYS bloggers: remember to bring this up in 2016: 

Convenience store operators are not happy with plans for new black and white drivers' licenses in New York State.

State leaders said they will be secure and provide good value. However, store owners said they present a challenge in checking ages and identities.

"Having a color picture and a color print especially the red under 21 is important for us," said Jay Schhreiber of Nathaniel Square Corner. "We sell a lot of alcohol and have been very diligent to make sure everyone has been approved properly."

The state made a deal with a Canadian company to produce the licenses. The $88 million dollar contract is a 40% increase from the cost of the previous contract.

And: the new driver license contract was awarded to the high bidder! 

Cuomo looks to 2016: Thruway toll hike postponed

When we were really the Empire State:  Thruway opening ceremony, 1955

New York's unemployment rate is 9%, Staten Island residents are entering their third week without food, water or heat - time for Andy Cuomo to run for President!

It’s only days after the presidential election, but the buzz is already under way about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s potential run for president in 2016.

Time magazine put him on its short list, calling him the “rough-hewn son of a Democratic icon.”

Coincidentally, our "rough-hewn" multimillionaire second generation governor seems to be backing off from his economy-hammering, rural highway death rate-increasing 45% Thruway toll hike.

The state Thruway Authority again postponed a meeting to consider a major toll increase on trucks on the 570-mile thoroughfare.

The Authority's website said the meeting scheduled for today at 11:30 a.m. in Albany has been postponed. No new date was announced, and no explanation was given for the delay.

It's the second time in a week that a vote on a potential toll increase has been postponed. The authority was originally scheduled to meet Friday in Rockland County, but canceled just hours before the meeting.

Rest assured New York bloggers will be working overtime when Cuomo the Younger, architect of the nation's financial crisis, throws his hat into the ring.

Why did Cuomo delay fracking decision again?

What's that look about?

Why has Andy Cuomo suddenly decided to delay hydrofracking for another twenty-eleven years?  Today, Assembly candidate Bill Nojay theorized why Cuomo the Younger would write off the Southern Tier's 20 percent unemployed workers, and we think Bill has hit the nail on the head.

Bill blames Cuomo's decision to study the "health effects" of hydrofracking on the Lybian terrorists who raped, murdered, and mutilated our ambassador.  According to Nojay, the breaking story that our diplomats in Benghazi had requested increased security before the embassy was attacked, but were denied by Hillary Clinton's State Department, will mean the end of our former junior senator's political career.  And no mo' Hillary means Andy has an open shot the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination.   So, Nojay hypothesizes,  our most recent Governor Cuomo needs to keep the Democrats' environmental wacko majority on his side.

We think Mr. Nojay is on to something. 

Protesters pressure administration on gas prices

Protester in "New York" t-shirt with effigy of politician - Andy Cuomo?

While Andy Cuomo was at the DNC in Florida, fighting to secure his opportunity to run against President Romney in 2016 by calling for higher taxes,  Finger Lakes gasoline prices crossed the four dollar/gallon threshold.  

Not allowing the administration to ignore the economy-crushing energy costs, student protestors took to the streets.

Student and youth groups affiliated to various political parties continued their protest against the recent price hike in petroleum products on Thursday by enforcing one-hour long chakka jam (road blockade) in front of different colleges and academic institutions across the country.

Fortunately for New York's second generation Democrat governor, the chakka jam was held in Nepal, not Watkins Glen.  It appears Upstate New Yorkers, blinded by Andy's media induced celebrity, would rather not talk about record high fuel prices under Cuomo II, not to mention ever-increasing taxes and years of 8 percent unemployment.

Cuomo backing off thruway toll hike?

The two-lane is still toll-free!

Second generation New York governor Andy Cuomo has been supporting the absolute necessity of billionaire Howie Milstein's "modest" 45 percent Thruway truck toll hike. 

“The Thruway Authority has to be financially capable,” Cuomo said in an interview Friday on public radio’s “Capitol Connection.” He said the authority created to operate the statewide system decades ago must be able to meet its debt payments from capital borrowing. Compared to other states, Cuomo said, truck tolls “are not that high.”

The toll for a three-axle truck traveling from Buffalo to New York City is about $88. That could increase to $127.

We're not sure that Andy's view from his cozy Albany/Washington bubble allows him to understand how increasing Thruway tolls forces more traffic onto rural two lane roads, resulting in more traffic deaths for his Upstate constituents.  Perhaps Andy's presidential aspirations have cleared his head, however, as yesterday the millionaire career politician seemed to backing off a bit.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday agreed a toll increase must be a last resort, but he said the Thruway Authority run by his appointees need to make sure it is fiscally secure enough to pay its contracted debt. Mr. Cuomo also said public hearings under way are also considering the option of raising tolls for passenger cars as a way to spread the burden. Car tolls were last raised in 2010.

"The first question for them is, can they find more efficiencies?" Mr. Cuomo said. "The economy isn't coming back. The answer can't be more taxes. So the answer must be finding a way to run that organization more efficiently."

So car tolls haven't been raised since 2010?  Most Upstaters, if they're still employed at all, haven't had a raise since 2008.  We predict these outcomes:  higher tolls for trucks, higher tolls for cars, higher salaries for Thruway employees, and higher accident rates for Finger Lakes roads.

Dr. Andy: now your meterologist, too!

"After the break, I'll raise Thruway tolls!"

Not only is he now your doctor, Andy Cuomo wants to be your weatherman, too.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is urging New Yorkers to be prepared as severe thunderstorms storms pass through the state today. The storms are forecast to bring heavy rain, high winds and possibly tornadoes, and may cause widespread power outages, his office said in a written release.

Hey Andy, want to help out your fellow New Yorkers?  Leave the weather forecasting to Wayne Mahar and do something to lower our sky-high electricity rates.

Trusting your future to Kirsten Gillibrand?

Pals Sharpton and Gillibrand

With the US facing an existential crisis that will make World War II seem like a speed bump, lets' check up on what New York's junior US Senator, the hot Kirsten Gillibrand, has been doing to save our nation.

 First, helping out our masses of unemployed workers.

To encourage investors, a complete exclusion on all capital gains is offered if you hold the stock of a company with under $50 million in gross assets for five years. There is also a provision that allows small businesses to write off up to $500,000 in tangible property, and all in one year, rather than over the lifetime of the equipment.

Yeah, that should help.  Why not a complete exclusion on all capital gains taxes for everybody, period?

Then of course, there's always shrub willow.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., toured Eileen Yager’s Dunlap Road farm in Richland Thursday afternoon, announcing support for a $4.3 million federal grant to encourage New York farmers to grow shrub willows as a renewable energy source.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has earmarked more than $4 million under the USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program to pay farmers to plant up to 3,500 acres of willow in 2013 and 2014. Land preparation will start this year.

Shrub willow?  Kirsten Gillibrand made big bucks short selling sub prime mortgage companies after she and her pal Andy Cuomo at Bill Clinton's HUD forced banks to make the bad loans.  Now she's spending four million of your hard earned tax dollars to plant weeds. 

If we were advising Wendy Long, we'd suggested she start explaining who Kirsten Gillibrand really is.

Democrats to pound another nail into Upstate's coffin

Next time you hear double-dipper Bob Duffy gassing about creating jobs in Upstate New York, ask him how this helps.

State lawmakers are in talks over a plan to lower New York's cap on carbon emissions, a move that would likely boost costs for coal-fired power plants and revamp the state's participation in a regional climate-change program.

Under pressure from environmental groups, lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office have discussed lowering the limit through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a nine-state cap-and-trade program in which carbon allowances are auctioned off to power producers.

Let's think about this for a moment.  If you're a struggling Finger Lakes homeowner, your second-highest-in-the-US electric rate will go up again.  If you're a swell who's invested in carbon credits, however, your net worth will increase.

"One of the most serious things that has been looked at this year is adjusting the cap, and by adjusting the cap the credits themselves will regain value," said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, a Kingston Democrat who chairs the chamber's energy committee.

And if you happen to still have a job in a coal fired power plant, don't worry.  

The legislation would likely have a significant impact on the state's coal plants, particularly financially troubled facilities in Lansing, Tompkins County, and three others in western New York.

You and your fellow taxpayers will be forced to hand over more cash to your local government, which by the tortured logic of the state legislature, will make it all better.

Current discussions, however, center around providing state aid to municipalities should a power plant close, according to the bill language. Forty percent of the additional revenue from the emissions auctions would be earmarked for communities that are "substantially adversely impacted by the loss of property tax revenues" or a payment in lieu of taxes agreement "due to the closing of a major electric generating facility."

State to push more heavy trucks onto rural roads

Aurora, NY - April, 2010

2008:

“For far too long, people living throughout the Finger Lakes in Onondaga, Cayuga and Tompkins counties have been suffering, trying to get big rigs off the back roads winding through the region,” said Governor Paterson. “Residents have rightfully voiced concerns about trucks spilling garbage into lakes and watersheds. People also have expressed concern that the large trucks are damaging roads and houses, emitting fumes, creating noise and making it dangerous to walk or ride bikes on the roadways. I am pleased to announce that I have directed the New York State Department of Transportation to develop a new regulatory policy aimed at keeping large trucks off the Main Streets of Central New York and on the Interstate System, where they should be.”

“These state regulations are something that the people of Skaneateles and the Finger Lakes area have sought for a very long time. There is finally light at the end of the (garbage truck) tunnel,” said Senator Schumer. “Governor Paterson, to his credit, has seen that state regulations are the way to go to get trucks – whether they be public or private, from New York City or elsewhere – off our community roads and onto the highways where they belong.”

 2011:

The state Thruway Authority on Wednesday proposed a 45 percent increase in tolls for most trucks on the superhighway to help bail out the financially strapped agency.

The authority’s board voted Wednesday to allow executive director Thomas Madison to “proceed with necessary actions” to implement the toll hike, which would apply to trucks with three or more axles.

Everyone is safer when big trucks stick to divided highways, which is one of the reasons we have a Thruway in the first place.  We believe the increase in heavy truck traffic on the Finger Lakes' rural roads has been the direct result of Thruway toll increases.  Its long past time to fire Howard Milstein, disband the Thruway Authority and remove all tolls.  A toll-free Thruway will make Upstate safer while slowing the disintegration of the Empire State's economy.

Billionaire Cuomo donor to raise Thruway tolls

How can our state government help revive Upsate's reeling economy?  Raise Thruway tolls, of course!

A top official at the state Thruway Authority on Wednesday didn't rule out a potential toll increase as the authority develops a long-term financial plan.

Yeah, that's the ticket!  Raise the cost of transportation!  Take more money out of Upstaters' pockets, while at the same time raising the price of all the goods and services thy need to live!

Who's responsible for this brilliant insight?  While, its Howard Milstein, a billionaire real estate developer from Manhattan who also happens to be one of Andy Cuomo's biggest donors!

Milstein, a billionaire banker and real estate businessman and a major donor to Cuomo and other state Democrats and Republicans, is the governor’s choice to head the Thruway Authority. Cuomo rejects the notion that Milstein’s donations had any link to his appointment, and maybe that’s possible. What does a billionaire want with a high-level patronage job, anyway? Defending the appointment, Cuomo said, “He’s an extraordinary businessman and having a private sector businessman who’s successful in real estate and finances makes total sense for the Thruway Authority.”

Well, maybe. First, though, you have to define successful. The fact is that Milstein’s real estate record in Niagara Falls has been abysmal. Milstein and his brother, Edward, have purchased about 441 parcels in downtown Niagara Falls over the last 12 years under the company name of Niagara Falls Redevelopment.

The Milsteins have done virtually nothing with these properties. They have outsized influence over economic development in Niagara Falls and that influence is shown in a swath of vacant, unimproved properties. Now—from the perspective of Western New Yorkers, at least—that disastrous record is being rewarded with a plum assignment from the governor. It’s deflating.

Bid out Thruway maintenance to private contractors?  Privatize the whole thing?  Don't be meshuggina.  It won't bother Milstein to an spend an extra buck to see a specialist in Rochester, or take his kids to the State Fair.  And as for you, who cares?