Jose Serrano

Citizens Against Government Waste published its annual list of congressional earmarks (they actually call it the Congressional Pig Book list).

Of course, what one person calls wasteful spending, another person calls bringing home the bacon, and now that Democrats are in the majority, New York was supposed to be getting more federal money.

The state made out with a good portion, particularly in the Catskills, where Maurice Hinchey brought in $43.7 million.

Here is a list of what some members from New York, and a few from elsewhere, brought their districts, according to the list. (It's in numbers of millions):  read more »

So when David Paterson officially comes into office on Monday, what will happen to some of the initiatives that stalled under Eliot Spitzer?

For example, State Senator Jose Serrano led an effort, during the drivers' license controversy, to get Spitzer to enact a statewide "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy for immigration status that would allow residents to access services, and interact with state officials, without having to fear being reported to authorities if they weren't here legally.  read more »

Although some members of Congess were cautious about the significance of Fidel Castro's resignation this morning, Congressman Jose Serrano of the Bronx thinks that the U.S. should engage with his brother, Raul, who is now in power.  read more »

Hillary Clinton carried the districts represented by New York City’s two Latino members of Congress, Nydia Velazquez and Jose Serrano.

According to the unofficial voting numbers emailed to reporters by the state Democratic Party, Clinton won Velazquez's district (which includes parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens) 52,954 to Barack Obama's 28,455. That would give Clinton three delegates and Obama two.

In Serrano’s Bronx district, Clinton earned 39,472 votes to Obama’s 18,086, again giving Clinton three delegates and Obama two.

It's barely 2008 and likely Bronx Borough President candidate and City Councilman Joel Rivera has already spent $144,852 of the $201,996 he raised.

According to the city Campaign Finance Board's rules, Rivera has exceeded his out-year spending limit for a borough president candidate, which is $129,000. Any money spent beyond that limit will be counted towards the $1,386,000 spending limit for the 2009 primary.

More after the jump.   read more »

State Senator Jose Serrano of the Bronx joined constituents calling for a new middle school in the High Bridge section of the Bronx this morning.

Over the last few rough months for Eliot Spitzer, it’s been easy to forget that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno has problems of his own.

One Democratic official I spoke to hopes that the big Times story on Bruno this weekend--it dealt with Bruno's employment with an investment firm that handles money for a number of unions whose interests Bruno champions in Albany--is a signal that the media's critical attention is beginning to shift to Bruno again.

“All that Joe Bruno and the Republicans have been doing to try to embarrass the governor is essentially a smoke screen to divert many of the issues that the Republicans are having,” Democratic state Senator Jose Serrano just told me.

He added, “I think what we’ll see now is a bit more of a level of the playing field, and there will be equal time for everyone to look very closely at what the governor is doing and to look at what Joe Bruno and the Republicans are doing.”

After weeks of criticism, Eliot Spitzer is backing away from his controversial driver’s license policy, according to a spokeswoman for the governor and lawmakers who have received calls tonight from the governor’s aides.

“The governor deserves a lot of credit for attempting to address the issue,” said state Senator Jose Serrano, Jr. of the Bronx, who vociferously defended Spitzer’s plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.

The battle “exposed so many of the fear mongers and hate mongers in this state,” Serrano said.

When reached for comment, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson emailed to confirm the governor was withdrawing the plan.

In recent days, Mr. Spitzer had hinted that his support for the plan was conditional.

Since he introduced the plan on September 21, it has transformed Spitzer into a lightning of criticism for local Republicans and national commentators who said the licenses would allow would-be terrorists to move about the country undetected. Recently, Spitzer modified the plan to introduce two other forms of identification available only to citizens which could be used for crossing borders and boarding planes.

Democrats around the state in last week’s elections either backed away from the policy or actively campaigned against it. On the presidential trail, Hillary Clinton came under fire for repeatedly not saying whether she supported the measure.

“I will not blame the governor for trying to where many others would not even try,” Serrano said. “Fear is a very powerful tool to divide.”

Lawmakers who met with Eliot Spitzer about his new driver’s license policy have asked the governor to sign a "don’t ask, don’t tell" executive order guaranteeing that undocumented residents can access state services without fear of having their immigration status reported to law enforcement officials.

“I raised the issue to him as sort of a way to help immigrants feel comfortable even applying for this license,” state Senator Jose Serrano, a Democrat from the Bronx, told me a few minutes ago.

Serrano brought up the issue earlier during a breakfast on the East Side, where he and other lawmakers met with Spitzer to discuss the driver’s license policy.

More after the jump.  read more »

It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton isn’t the only one trying to get squared away with Eliot Spitzer’s new license policy.

The governor’s (original) plan would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain a driver's license, but now it's being linked to federal guidelines that will be outlined in the Real ID Act. Although Spitzer backed Real ID this week, a number of Democratic congress members from New York opposed it during a 2005 vote (which may explain why it hasn't been easy getting most of them to say anything about Spitzer's new plan).

One congressional aide was kind enough to refer me to the results of the 2005 vote on the Real ID Act.

Democrats Gary Ackerman (Queens/Nassau), Tim Bishop (Suffolk), Joe Crowley (Queens/Bronx), Eliot Engel (Bronx/Westchester), Carolyn Maloney (Manhattan/Queens), Greg Meeks (Queens), Jerry Nadler (Manhattan/Brooklyn), Charlie Rangel (Manhattan), Jose Serrano (Bronx), Ed Towns (Brooklyn), Nydia Velazquez (Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens) and Anthony Weiner (Queens/Brooklyn) all voted against it.

UPDATE: Another congressional staffer, putting this story in context, noted that every Democratic congress member in the state voted against Real ID, except for Mike McNulty, who voted for it, and Maurice Hinchey who was absent.

In case you missed it, here are state Senators Jose Serrano, Jr. and Marty Golden debating Eliot Spitzer's driver's license proposal on CNN the other day.

Watch what happens at the three-minute mark, when Serrano makes the case that “what we need to do is go after those that wish to do harm to this nation, not just have a blanket approach to all immigrants.” The line seems to outrage Lou Dobbs, whose glasses seem perilously close to falling off his face.

Serrano, to his credit, seemed very much to be debating two people at once.

Here's state Senator Jose Serrano of the Bronx at City Hall the other day, talking about the different fund-raising rules for state and city candidates, and explaining why he thinks state candidates need a public financing program similar to the one in the city.

H. Carl McCall was going to be the finance chair for the Senate Democrats, but things went awry.

A Brooklyn rivalry seems to be on the mend.

Jose Serrano blogs about the fight in his chamber over rules changes.

Former Assemblyman Ryan Karben is doing some pro bono work.

The Supreme Court won't revisit the landmark Kelo case that outlined the use of eminent domain.

TNR weighs in on Rahm Emanuel's Hillary-Obama dilemma.

John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani look good in Iowa.

The Village Voice has fun with the notion of a British bank getting naming rights for a basketball stadium in Brooklyn.

And pictured above is Councilman Domenic Recchia, who jokingly tried to kiss the proverbial ring of colleague Simcha Felder after the mayor's State of the City speech.

-- Azi Paybarah

"We were all a little bit stunned," Bronx Senator Jose Serrano told me, reacting to the latest indictment of colleague, Efrain Gonzalez, Jr. "We didn't assume it was him because he had previously been indicted."

On whether it'll somehow weaken legislators' efforts to vote for a pay increase or add pressure to pass some of the legislative reforms Eliot Spitzer has been discussing, Serrano said, "I don't know if it plays into that. I don't know if what he's going through is new news. He's been having some ongoing problem. I doubt that would be enough to change the atmosphere because it's been news for a while."

He added, "It's sad. You don't like to hear these sort of things and you feel bad for everyone involved. It's important we wait to see how this plays out before we rush to any judgment."

-- Azi Paybarah

Barack Obama is in talks with Kerry and Gore operatives.

Senator Jose Serrano can't get an endorsing interview with an environmental group that wantsto clean up Albany.

George Pataki's trip overseas was to Iraq, where he said the local government "is not delivering either the security or the services" that are needed.

He also said it was "obvious" the 50 bullets fired at Sean Bell and company was excessive.

Andrew Cuomo pulled the plug on post-election talk by his campaign aides.

AIG chairman and erstwhile Eliot Spitzer target Hank Greenberg is reportedly buying lots of New York Times stock.

The Manhattan Institute is taking further interest in the idea of congestion pricing.

And above is Barack Obama, who, word has it, may seek higher office in 2008.

-- Azi Paybarah

At 10 a.m. Mayor Bloomberg is interviewed by Fox News Live

At 10:30 a.m. the Thanksgiving Invitational Turkey Eating Championship is held at Artie's Delicatessen (83rd Street and Broadway).

At noon, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, state Senator Jose Serrano and others rally in support of East Harlem's only public hospital (at 2nd Avenue and 98th Street).

At 5 p.m., Mayor Bloomberg attends the Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon inflation.

The executive committee of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats meets at 7 p.m.

-- Azi Paybarah

Question: Why wouldn't the state's biggest labor union, the AFL-CIO, endorse the head of the state's largest Democratic organization in a shoo-in election?

Vito Lopez is running a non-competitive race for re-election to the Assembly against a little-known Republican-Conservative candidate, and his control of the Brooklyn Democratic Organization is only getting stronger.

Yet unlike the vast majority of his Democratic colleagues on the long list of state legislators endorsed by the AFL-CIO, Lopez suffered the unusual indignity of a "no endorsement" from the union in his race.

So why the diss?

A spokesman for the AFL-CIO had no comment. But sources say the opposition stems from NYSUT, the state teacher's union, which is an AFL-CIO affiliate. NYSUT, it seems, doesn't like the bill Lopez sponsored to eliminate the cap on charter schools.

The NYSUT is working on an explanation.  read more »

A district-by-district list of AFL-CIO endorsees is after the jump.

-- Azi Paybarah

Freddy stopped in at a nursing home in Riverdale this morning to cast his vote, promising "a steady diet of ideas" from here on in and sympathizing with a voter who said she needed a drink.

Down the hill, the ad agency Weber Shandwick put a mule and a mustachioed Hispanic man with a broad-brimmed hat in front of "supporters" with "Vote for Juan" signs, promoting the character Juan Valdez as "favorite advertising icon."

"Tacky to say the least," said Congressman Jose Serrano.  read more »