Michael Bloomberg’s tax policy is giving his political allies a headache.

At a breakfast in midtown last week, State Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos tried to send a clear anti-tax-increase message to business leaders.

“As I said before, the Senate is ready to do what’s appropriate to reduce spending, but we should not raise taxes, as some have indicated. In this fragile economy, it would be disastrous to raise taxes,” Skelos said.

The speech, hosted by the Association for a Better New York event, went over well with the pro-business crowd. But speaking with reporters afterward, Skelos had a slightly harder time dealing with a question about Michael Bloomberg's recent comments that, in order to balance the budget,  read more »

The Senate Democratic minority is seizing on Majority Leader Dean Skelos' inaccurate criticism of yesterday's Siena poll.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, emailed reporters to say, "Senator Skelos's understanding of statistics and polls is equivalent to the Senate Republicans' understanding of arithmetic and budget—both ways New Yorkers lose,"

Reacting to the Siena poll released yesterday that showed State Senate Republicans on the verge of losing their majority status, Senate Leader Dean Skelos told reporters today, "I don't think the Siena poll is correct."

After delivering remarks at the ABNY breakfast, Skelos said of the Siena poll that the Republicans have polls "that have been done within all of these districts for the past 20 years that indicate a lot differently."

Referring to Siena, Skelos said, "They used the random digit dialing. Siena has never done a poll in senate districts and random digit dialing, for all you know, all the calls could have gone into Great Neck.  read more »

Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos told business leaders this morning that the economy is in for tough times, but “we should not panic and we must not act out of fear.”

“In this fragile economy, it would be disastrous to raise taxes,” he said, speaking at the Association for a Better New York breakfast at the Hilton in midtown.

Afterwards, when asked about Michael Bloomberg’s economic plan, which would likely include repealing the seven percent property tax cut, Skelos said, “Everybody has to do what they think is appropriate for their constituents."

He went to say that raising the personal income tax “would be the worst thing that can happen in New York City or any other part of the state.  read more »

Are New York Republicans, in trying to hang onto their slim majority in the State Senate, riding the wave of excitement over Sarah Palin?

Here's an invitation to a September 9 fund-raiser with three female senators.  

That date, by the way, is primary day.

In response to David Paterson’s call for billions of dollars in new budget cuts, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos put out a statement opposing the reduction of aid to local governments because, he says, it might force a rise in local property taxes.

Which the State Senate just voted to cap.

Skelos said in a public statement, “While we are working cooperatively to get a head start on the 2009-10 State Budget, it’s important that the Governor and Legislature not take any actions that would force local governments to raise their local taxes to make up for a shortfall from Albany. We are concerned that reducing local government assistance funding may have such an effect.”

Michael Bloomberg didn’t deny a published report that he was approached by Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos, who told him Republicans need $10 million to hold onto their two-seat majority in that house.

“I have no idea what it costs to run a Senate race or State Assembly race,” Bloomberg said when asked about it at a press conference in Foley Square this morning. “I can tell you what it costs to run a mayoral campaign. I’ve been through two of them.”

He went on to say that political races are expensive, and that “[a] lot of democracy has degenerated into fund-raising.”

Bloomberg  read more »

State Senate Leader Dean Skelos just announced he’s bringing lawmakers in his house back to Albany this Friday to pass a property tax cap bill.

It’s a measure that Skelos notes is favored by Democratic Governor David Paterson.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has said earlier that he opposed capping property taxes because that could leave school districts, which rely on property taxes, unable to pay their bills.

Which puts Silver in a familiar role of opposing the governor and State Senate leader. Just like old times.

Here’s that decade-old shark ad I referenced earlier, in which the New York Republican State Committee told upstate voters that “Sheldon Silver and the New York City Democrats just picked a New York City liberal for every major statewide office.”

And they’re going to tax and spend, the ad says. While the ad only names Sheldon Silver, it was a not-so-veiled effort to protect Republican Senator Al D'Amato from his Democratic challenger that year, then-congressman Chuck Schumer.

The regional appeal is similar -- in spirit, at least -- to the plea Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos made in his letter to upstate billionaire Tom Golisano - who says he’ll spend $5 million in this year’s legislative races.  read more »

In a letter dated today to billionaire Tom Golisano - who is vowing to pour $5 million into this year‘s elections - Republican Senate leader Dean Skelos makes the case that Republicans are the ones who have tried to make state government fiscally prudent and transparent.

And Skelos ends the letter by reminding Golisano, a Rochester man, that Democrats aren't so much from upstate. (Old theme!)

“Without the checks and balances we assure, state government would be totally controlled by Democrats from New York City. Keep in mind that a Democrat-controlled Senate would be lead by Malcolm Smith of Queens, Tom Duane from Greenwich Village (Manhattan) and Jeff Klein from the Bronx. The Assembly would be lead by Speaker Sheldon Silver of Manhattan. Thus, it is critical that you join our fight and help us achieve reform.”