ALBANY—State Senator George Winner just suggested Paterson's appointment of Richard Ravitch is an impeachable offense.
"I think that any time you're talking about willful violation of the constitution for political purposes, as I believe the governor is doing, I think it's a fair game to take a look at it," the Elmira Republican Read More
ALBANY—Judge Thomas McNamara is back, and he still doesn't want to get involved in the State Senate leadership struggle.
After hearing an argument from Republican attorney Jack Casey, who filed a motion on behalf of State Senators George Winner and John Flanagan, McNamara declined to sign a temporary restraining order against Read More
ALBANY—The State Senate leadership battle is going back to court.
Two Republican state senators are filing a lawsuit against Angelo Aponte, the Democrat-designated secretary of the State Senate, seeking to restrain him from exercising his position. Aponte seems to control the nuts and bolts of the chamber, including sergeants at arms who on Read More
ALBANY—Around 3 p.m., pandemonium broke out in the State Senate chamber, proving the ongoing leadership struggle in the chamber is anything but resolved.
Democrats had entered around 12:30 p.m., and occupied the chamber's dais. Their strategy was to preserve control of the chamber's center in preparation for a special session convened for 3 Read More
ALBANY—They came, they gaveled, they left.
Despite pending litigation, the Republican-led coalition claiming to control the State Senate after a coup Monday entered the chamber and conducted some brief business, but left without passing any bills.
I didn't get back to Albany in time to see it (Liz has a blow-by-blow here), Read More
ALBANY—Today's game of chicken in the State Senate leadership battle is over the question of whether session will actually take place indoors.
"I don't know if we have a firm decision on location but session is going to take place," State Senator George Winner, a Republican from Elmira, just said. "We are committed, with Read More
ALBANY—State Senator George Winner, who led an investigation in his own chamber into the "Troopergate" affair, said the members of the Commission on Public Integrity are "dragging their feet" in dealing with a complaint concerning leaks about Caroline Kennedy from David Paterson's office.
"The fact that they're dragging their feet is once again Read More
ALBANY—The State Senate's
Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Smith, said that a bill will be introduced Wednesday, and a vote will take place next week.
Counting Padavan as a "yes" and Foley and Johnson as "no," and assuming all the other Democrats will vote yes (everyone I've seen has said they will, but I Read More
ALBANY—Sheldon Silver has a new idea about finding Republican allies as lawmakers seek consensus around a package to fund the M.T.A. - look upstate.
"They should be on line first to make sure there's a well-funded M.T.A. capital plan," Silver said to reporters after giving a speech to T.W.U. Local 100, whose members are Read More
ALBANY—I spoke with Republican State Senator George Winner, who, before he was elected to the Senate, served in the State Assembly's minority conference for more than 25 years.
In November, I asked Winner about the prospect of being again in the minority: "If I end up in the minority, it's as though I escaped after Read More
ALBANY—State Senator George Winner, an Elmira Republican, just brought up an interesting scenario in the still-unresolved fight to be the chamber's majority leader.
A "fusion" scenario would exist if two elected Democrats kept their party enrollment, but crossed lines to vote for Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Skelos was re-elected unanimously as his conference leader Read More
Before Eliot Spitzer’s official resignation, I spoke with Republican State Senator George Winner, who is leading the charge at Spitzer’s other legal problems.Winner said he’ll be in court tomorrow fighting Spitzer’s refusal to respond to a subpoena for emails relating to the effort to use state police to discredit Joe Bruno.“Our inquiry moves forward Read More
Here is a clip from the hearing in Albany yesterday where state Senator George Winner asks state Inspector General Kristine Hamann about a private conversation in which Hamann told him she never interviewed anyone in the governor's office during her investigation into the Trooper scandal.
It's significant because Hamann had the power Read More
State Inspector General Kristine Hamann said today for the first time in public that her report on the governor’s aides using state police to track the governor’s Republican opponent would not have brought “finality” to the issue. Therefore, Hamann told a hearing committee in Albany, she didn’t issue a report on her investigation, nor subpoena Read More
So, to no one’s surprise, the Senate Republicans are starting to turn the screws on state Inspector General Kristine Hamann at her hearing in Albany. Hamann told the committee just now, "I did not believe that my writing a report on the man I report to directly in this atmosphere would have brought resolution to Read More
