Austin Shafran | The New York Observer

Collateral Inconvenience: Bruno Case Ties Up Senate Computers

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:05:10 -0500

ALBANY—There's a computer shortage in the State Senate because federal investigators seized over 100 terminals in connection with their investigation of former Majority Leader Joe Bruno, whose trial is now underway.

"Due to the allegations against former majority leader Joe Bruno, the feds confiscated a number of Senate computers, which left the senate short in the number of available computers it had for staff and office use," said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the...

Paterson Says That the Senate Has Secretly Promised to Vote on Same-Sex Marriage

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:47:44 -0500

ALBANY—A vote on same-sex marriage will be held "at a date not certain between now and the end of the year," David Paterson just promised publicly.

"This is the first time the Senate leadership has indicated that it will support a vote on marriage equality," Paterson said. He also committed to putting the bill on the calendar for a special session next week.

Conspicuously absent from the Red Room press conference where Paterson spoke...

Senate Not Eager to Return

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:43:23 -0400

ALBANY—The State Senate, which is not known for promptness, doesn't seem eager to respond to David Paterson's call for a special joint session during the second week of November.

"The Senate will return when there is an agreement," Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Democratic majority, said. "We are conducting bipartisan, statewide budget hearings to protect New Yorkers from any additional tax burden and preserve vital services and when these are complete we will...

Appellate Judge: Espada Jr. Can't Be Senate President Yet

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:18:00 -0400

ALBANY—An appellate judge just granted a temporary restraining order preventing State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. from acting as temporary president of the New York State Senate, a post he claims to have assumed during a floor coup Monday. I'm still waiting for the actual decision, but Mike Kink, one of the top lawyers for Senate Democrats seeking to stop Espada Jr., Tweeted the results just now from a Kingston courtroom. Earlier this morning, an administrative judge...

Smith: We're Going to Court

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:58:00 -0400

ALBANY—After David Paterson called for a vote to resolve a leadership dispute in the State Senate, a spokesman for Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith announced he would file a lawsuit against Republicans. Here's the statement from Austin Shafran, Smith's spokesman: "The Temporary President and Majority Leader, Senator Malcolm A. Smith, was elected to a two year term pursuant to a resolution passed by a majority of Senators in January 2009. The purported coup was an unlawful violation...

Since When Have the Senate Dems Had a Problem With Thuggery?

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:30:00 -0400

It’s funny what a crafty and flawlessly executed backroom maneuver will do to people. Take the Democrats in Albany: They’ve suddenly discovered morality. The party’s public response to the Monday coup that saw Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate defect to the G.O.P. and hand Republicans control of the chamber has been loaded with self-righteousness and moral indignation. “A thief and a thug,” is how Austin Shafran, the spokesman for Malcolm Smith, the Senate majority until...

Democrats Put Out Dirt on Espada

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:35:00 -0400

ALBANY—Yesterday he was a "thief." Today, Pedro Espada Jr. is accused of "political extortion" by Austin Shafran, Malcolm Smith's top spokesman. "It comes down to money, and we obviously found out what Pedro Espada's price was," Austin Shafran, his spokesman said on WGDJ Talk 1300. "He was trying to give $2 million to sham groups with addresses that were clearly linked to Espada employees." Espada, as part of a deal that supposedly toppled Smith's control of...

Anatomy of a Coup

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:50:00 -0400

ALBANY—At 3:37 p.m. Monday afternoon, State Senator Jeff Klein, a Democrat, offered a motion to adjourn the State Senate. It was an act of desperation: there was a motion on the floor that would elect the Republican leader in the chamber--Dean Skelos--majority leader, and install a turncoat Democrat, State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., as the president pro tempore. The last word was barely out of Klein's mouth before his fellow Democrat State Senator Neil...

With Friends Like These, How Long Can the Republicans Hold On to the Senate?

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:27:00 -0400

Democrats waited 40 years to win back the state Senate and now, just five months after finally securing control, it’s been snatched away from them again. So it’s only logical that they’re furious. But they should really take a breath, because—while they will have a clear and profound impact on the workings of Albany through 2010—the surprise defections of State Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate to the Republican conference could end up, in...

Dem Spokesman on Espada and Monserrate: 'A Thief and a Thug'

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:05:00 -0400

ALBANY—Austin Shafran, spokesman for State Senator Malcolm Smith, just told me that this coup (which he called "illegal") in the chamber was orchestrated by "a thief and a thug." He was referring to State Senator Pedro Esapda Jr., who has run afoul of the state board of elections and is under investigation by the Bronx County district attorney and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office, as well as State Senator Hiram Monserrate, who has been...

Paterson Defends Shaw, Blasts Senate, Threatens to 'Illuminate'

Wed, 13 May 2009 15:44:00 -0400

ALBANY—David Paterson just, once again, said he was considering Marc Shaw to head the M.T.A. (or "another department") and had harsh words about reports that Shaw would't be confirmed by the State Senate. "I very much resent that people who I don't even remember being in the meetings have so much comment on the governor's staff and the governor's prospective appointees, and even the entire process," Paterson said at a press conference, where he announced...

Dilan: It Was Just a Draft

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:31:00 -0400

Malcolm Smith is downplaying a Post story saying that his conference was prepared to gut mayoral control and recommend reconstituting the Board of Education to oversee the city's public schools. Smith's spokesman, Austin Shafran, emailed this statement from Senator Martin Dilan, chairman of the committee that produced the report containing the recommendations: “Recently an internal report was made public that summarized the testimony received over the course of several months regarding Mayoral Control of New York...

Malcolm Smith Has a New M.T.A. Plan; 'We Did Not Take a Count,' Says Spokesman

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:10:00 -0400

ALBANY—It's the State Senate's plan to fix the M.T.A.'s finances, take two. Here's what it includes: a $1 surcharge on taxi rides in the 12 counties served by the M.T.A., raising $190 million; a sliding payroll tax on all businesses within that region, raising $1.49 billion; a $25 fee on motor vehicle registration, raising $130 million; a 25 percent increase on the fee to obtain a drivers license, raising $10.5 million; an eight percent increase...

Senate Democrats and Republicans, Together

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:07:00 -0400

ALBANY—Here's an unusual sight: State Senator George Maziarz standing in front a squadron of his Democratic colleagues at a press conference Maziarz crashed to blast the New York Power Authority for raising rates for bulk power in Niagara and St. Lawrence counties and approving employee bonuses. "All of us are united around the idea that there should not be bonuses or rate increases," said State Senator Kevin Parker. He said Maziarz wasn't invited to the...

Smith: Monserrate Will Be Conferenced

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:15:00 -0400

ALBANY—The official word from Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith on the felony indictment of one of his members is: he's going to conference on it. "He was just indicted a couple hours ago, we just found out about it today," said Smith spokesman Austin Shafran. "That's what needs to be discussed within the conference. We're not going to be going to be commenting until the conference has had a chance to weigh in with each...