New York State Legislature

Yes, Eliot Spitzer’s re-election is three years away, so keep that in mind when you consider the importance of his poll numbers.

But in a new survey from Siena, which will be posted here shortly, Spitzer has a 36 percent approval rating from state voters, and one in three Democrats is prepared to re-elect him.

Also, 67 percent of voters oppose a pay raise for state legislators, which Spitzer said he’d support.

Sewell Chan goes into the history of congestion pricing.

Eliot Spitzer wants to ban flavored cigarettes.

More--and video of Rev. Jesse Jackson reading Rolling Stones lyrics at Al Sharpton's convention this afternoon--after the jump.  read more »

At a Crain's breakfast this morning in midtown, Eliot Spitzer said that the way the state budget was negotiated in his first year was "wrong" and not something he wanted to replicate in the future. But he said that the "back and forth" he had with the health care industry was worth it because it had resulted in a reduction of the rate of Medicaid spending.

Also, when asked why gay marriage had not been included in his list of legislative priorities, Spitzer said that he considers it something that "is not likely to be passed in the next ten weeks" of the legislative session. He emphasized that this did not represent a change in his feeling that it should be law.

A copy of his prepared remarks advocating cleaner energy use in New York is here.

NYC got a property tax instead of a commuter tax because Mike didn't win (or even play) chicken with state lawmakers, according to the Mayor of Pittsburgh.

According to a Pittsburgh newspaper, "...Bloomberg recently lost a bruising battle with the New York State Legislature about imposing a commuter tax in the city. As a result, Bloomberg was forced to raise property taxes 18 percent. Pittsburgh was able to avoid a similar fate when, after much wrangling, the Legislature passed a new $52-per-year emergency and medical services tax on city and suburban residents who work in the city.  read more »

"Recalling his conversation with Bloomberg, [Pittsburgh Mayor Tom] Murphy said in an interview, We had this conversation and he said, 'How did you win?' I said, 'Because I was willing to take the city into bankruptcy.' If I were [New York] mayor, I would probably have shut down the bridges coming in from Long Island...We just didn't blink and the Legislature blinked."