ALBANY—More than 200 people showed up at the New York Athletic Club Thursday night--overlooking Central Park--for a reception hosted by the state Conservative Party. George Pataki was one of them. He wasn't scheduled to speak at the event, which was held to honor former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.
But the ex-governor--a moderate, particularly by national Read More
ALBANY—David Paterson said that if the courts don't uphold the constitutionality of his appointment of Richard Ravitch as lieutenant governor, he'll introduce a bill making it legal. State Senator Joe Griffo, a Utica Republican, had this message for the governor:
"He should get behind my bill!" Griffo told me by phone yesterday. Read More
Now that the Republicans have failed in their prolonged attempt to seize control of the State Senate, will heads roll?
It would seem that the answer is no. Republican Leader Dean Skelos looked slightly dejected Thursday night talking to reporters about the re-defection of Senator Pedro Espada Jr., and the re-relegation of Republicans Read More
ALBANY—Republicans are determined not to let the special election in the 23rd Congressional District be a repeat of their against-the-odds loss earlier this year in the 20th District, starting with the selection process.
While the Capitol melted, the Republican State Committee detailed a system of four candidate forums in various parts of the district, Read More
ALBANY—They're allied with him in the quest to wrest control of the State Senate leadership, but there are some lingering misgivings among Republicans in the chamber about the partnership with State Senator Pedro Espada Jr.
"Several of them are in ‘Oh my God, what have we done' mode," said one Republican who is Read More
ALBANY—It's been just a little over 24 hours since Representative John McHugh accepted Barack Obama's call to become secretary of the Army. Already, Representative Steve Israel has been in touch with Democratic leaders plotting about how best to win the seat.
"This is all very much pre-game," Israel, the national recruitment chair for the Read More
ALBANY—Let the mental chess game regarding who might run to replace Representative John McHugh, and how the process may go, begin.
I just spoke with John Conklin, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections, who hashed out a few scenarios for the actual vote--depending on what McHugh and David Paterson do next: Read More
ALBANY—Sure, there are factories that produce components of hybrid buses in his district, but State Senator Joe Griffo dismissed Sheldon Silver's suggestion that he should be among the Republicans 'first on line' to support a plan to rescue the M.T.A. from its fiscal woes.
"They're really searching right now," Griffo said of the 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—With fireworks not normally seen in committee hearings, the Senate Elections Committee just voted along strictly partisan lines to approve a
Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler told me earlier that this issue is "not on [his] agenda."
The bill will now go to the Senate Finance Committee. It is currently also sitting in the Assembly Read More
ALBANY—What do a Democratic assemblyman from the Bronx, a Republican state senator from Rome, a good-government advocate and the Niagara County Republican chairman have in common?
They all oppose New York's current system for selecting a vacancy for the U.S. Senate.
"New York has a system of special elections for vacancies in the state legislature--why Read More
ALBANY—Not everyone knows that tomorrow is Bruce Lee's birthday, but for fans of mixed martial arts, it's the perfect excuse for a lobbying trip to Albany.
Advocates of the sport are planning a rally here tomorrow that they claim will bring 10,000 "karate kids" to support the passage of a bill to Read More
