The New York Observer » Dean Skelos

Republicans Meet Today on Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Republicans will meet later today to decide whether the State Senate will have a vote on same-sex marriage, which currently is one vote shy of the 32 votes needed to pass. “We’re going to conference the language of the amendments,” said Republican Senate Leader Dean Skelos after meeting privately with Governor Cuomo. Asked if he Read More

Deal Schmeal: The Fight for Real Property Tax Reform Is Far From Over

Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver held a celebratory news conference last week during which they announced an agreement on implementing a 2 percent cap on property tax increases. Welcome though that announcement was, it's clear that the work of achieving real property tax reform is far from over.

Mr. Read More

Same-Sex Marriage Advocates Aim at Republicans [Updated]

Same-sex marriage advocates, who have been coordinating their efforts with Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, announced they're bringing their Republican counterparts into the fold.

"We are thrilled to have Log Cabin Republicans join the coalition" said Brian Ellner of the Human Rights Campaign.

What impact they will have on Republicans--many of whom voted against the Read More

Morning Read: Obama Starts 2012 Officially, Cuomo Eyes Ethics, Bloomberg Keeps Advertising

2012: Obama's re-elect kicks off with testimonials from the grassroots. [BarackObama.com]

FOIL: Wikiaccountability.org collects FOIL requests scrutinizing Obama. [Noam Cohen]

Federal Budget: Schumer doubts there'll be a shutdown. [Thomas DeFrank]

Redistricting: Tie-breaking professor endorses "Democratic-drawn map." Christie a loser. [Lisa Fleisher]

Redistricting: Christie got very involved. [Richard Perez-Pena]

Comparing Cuomo: He's like "Happy Warrior" Read More

Skelos Remembers What Happens to Budgets When Democrats Controlled Albany [Updated]

Dean Skelos is out with his own celebratory budget video, in which the Republican Senate majority leader assigns credit to his own party, despite the fact they control just one house of state government.

"For the past two years, when state government was controlled by the Democrats, New Yorkers were hit with late budgets that increased Read More

Roundup: Sheldon Silver’s Wrestling Teammate is Andrew Cuomo

State Budget: Skelos and Silver offer some details. [Jimmy Vielkind]

Libya: "[T]he Democratic president echoed the language of his Republican predecessor." [Michael Shear]

Libya: A Kos blogger ties Obama's argument for action in Libya to the health care debate. [nyceve]

Obama in NYC: "Brilliant sun shone down on the baseball fields where the helicopters Read More

Joe Strasburg: Cuomo ‘Will Crush You Like His Father Did’ [VIDEO]

With the governor taking a hard line on budget negotiations, no one would accuse Andrew Cuomo of being a wimp these days, least of all the real estate industry:

"If any of you know the history of the Cuomo family, it's either my way or I'm going to screw you," said Joseph Strasburg, head of the Read More

Morning Read: Attacks in Libya, Budget Fight in Albany

Libya: Allies deny report civilians were killed. [NYT]

Libya: Not helping Obama with his domestic agenda. [Jeff Zeleny]

Libya: Why not remove Khadafy? [Mike Lupica]

Libya: "Obama administration has delivered a clinic in the liberal way of war." [Ross Douthat]

NJ: Christie does things that may be unpopular locally, but appealing nationally. [Bob Jordan]

N.Y. Post State Editor Sees Cuomo’s ‘First Major Blunder;’ Offers Advice

Some daylight is emerging between Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York Post State Editor Fred Dicker - undoubtedly one of the most important voices in Albany.

The critique arose in response to how Cuomo reacted to news that two Democratic lawmakers were swept up in a corruption and bribery probe from the US Attorney Read More

Alec Baldwin as Senator Dean Skelos

Emily Atkin finds famous people who look like New York politicians. If there's any good (awful?) celebrity-politician lookalike combos, stick it in the comments section.

Koch Says GOP Leader ‘Not Going to Honor His Commitment’

The reform movement paints a target on Dean Skelos' back, with Ed Koch firing the opening salvo.

"The constitutional objections that he is making today were not made when he made the commitment and we believe it is simply an effort to derail the whole operation," Koch said after meeting with Skelos.

Cuomo’s Independent Redistricting Plan Gets Mixed Response From Lawmakers

State legislators from across the aisle and both ends of the statehouse are responding to Andrew Cuomo's proposed plans for independent redistricting legislation and their reactions should surprise no one: enthusiastic cheers from those in the minority, and wait-and-see from those who have the power to redraw the lines.

Democratic Leader John L. Sampson has released Read More

The New Dean of the Republican Senate Tries to Keep His Majority Safe, and Maybe Even Make It Grow

On Monday afternoon, inside his office on the third floor of the State Capitol, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos, sat in a high-backed red leather chair and talked about the strangeness of being allied, at least in theory, with the Democratic Governor, Andrew Cuomo.

"We do have a unique situation, with a Democrat governor Read More

Paterson Invites Skelos Over for Some Wine

Governor Paterson had a long back and forth with Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos this morning at the legislative leaders meeting in the Capitol, as the two fought over the recent and future emergency budget extenders, which Skelos and his conference have repeatedly voted against.

The spat between the two—which mostly involved repeated pleas by Read More

Parker Attacked for ‘White Supremacist’ Remark

State Senate Minority Leader, Dean Skelos, is criticizing the latest comments by Democratic State Senator Kevin Parker, who called another Republican state senator a "white supremacist" on a radio show this morning.

Fun stuff, even by Albany standards.

Where it gets more interesting, I think, is Parker's impact on another colleague: Eric Schneiderman. He's running for Read More