Knickerbocker Blog

Can't afford New York From a letter in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Taxpayers are paying too much in New York state. I am thinking of moving to Pennsylvania. Between the gasoline prices and taxes, I can't afford New York.

I hope we get a governor who will do something. Taxes are so high that the factory jobs are moving out. You can't blame them. I hope we can afford to heat our homes this winter.

Visit to a region still recovering From a Newsday story by Errol Cockfield:

Before the floodwaters rolled through in June and left the imprints of devastation, this stretch of Route 7 was home to quaint rows of businesses whose decorative lights punctuated the darkness at nightfall.

Now many are gone, victims of the swollen Susquehanna River. Yesterday, gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer visited Jane's Diner, one of the establishments that has come back after water rose to five feet and moved tables, chairs and heavy equipment around like toys.

. . . .

Spitzer, a Democrat, and his running mate, state Sen. David Paterson (D-Harlem) toured the area as part of a campaign swing that centered on assessing the economic plight of upstate communities that have seen the departure of corporations and people. The flooding earlier this summer heaped a new burden on a community that was already dispirited.

Faso accuses Spitzer of conflict of interest over donor From an Associated Press story by Mike Gormley:

Republican candidate for governor John Faso accused Democrat Eliot Spitzer Thursday of a conflict of interest for taking campaign contributions from a lobbyist whose client is in court against the state.

The Wisconsin Oneida tribe is represented by lobbyist Richard Fields, who is a contributor to Spitzer's campaign for governor. Spitzer, as state attorney general, is representing the state against the tribe in its effort to secure ancestral land in New York state. The tribe also hopes to build a casino and hired Fields, who is also a casino developer, to lobby Albany for approval.

Spitzer Sprints Upstate, Courting Votes for the Primary (New York Times) Spitzer addresses flood recovery in visit to Conklin (Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin) Black-owned newspaper in Harlem endorses Suozzi From a New York Sun story by Jacob Gershman:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Thomas Suozzi collected one of his first newspaper endorsements yesterday, winning the backing of the New York Amsterdam News, a black-owned weekly newspaper in Harlem.

In a front-page endorsement, the publisher emeritus of the tabloid, Wilbert Tatum, called Mr. Suozzi the "perfect candidate for Governor of New York State," writing that the Nassau County executive has "the competence, experience, and perseverance that one needs to fill the spot in government."

Turning to Mr. Suozzi's primary challenger, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Mr. Tatum credited Mr. Spitzer for bringing "many white collar criminals to justice," but suggested that he was overly driven by political ambition. "There is not much more to be said of him except his ambition is real," he wrote." r. Spitzer will sacrifice anything for his ambition."

Food, beer, speech earn Spitzer cheers From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Hundreds of people munched sausages and sipped beer at state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's campaign barbecue at the state fair Thursday.

Spitzer delivered a speech that brought cheers from the crowd. He talked of reforming Albany and addressing issues facing Central New Yorkers, especially property taxes.

"Property taxes are killing the people of Upstate New York," he said. "Things are going to change the day I take office."

Bankruptcy court approves Oneida Ltd. reorganization plan From the Associated Press:

Oneida Ltd., once the world's pre-eminent maker of stainless steel flatware, will emerge from bankruptcy court protection next month as a privately held company following approval of its reorganization plan by a federal judge on Thursday.

Under the plan, a lending group led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. will become the new owners of the 126-year-old company, which also arranged a $170 million borrowing package with Credit Suisse to refinance certain debt and fund future operations, according to a company statement. Common and preferred stockholders will not receive any distributions under the plan, Oneida said.

Sale of company keeps jobs in Southern Tier From the Associated Press:

A private equity firm has purchased Universal Instruments Corp. and says it will keep the company's three Binghamton-area plants open.

Francisco Partners, with offices in California and London, agreed Wednesday to acquire Universal for an undisclosed amount.

The company makes automation equipment used in the electronics industry. It employs 600 people in plants in Conklin, Kirkwood and Binghamton. It also operates a manufacturing facility in Shekou, China.

"We were attracted to Universal due to the strength of their products and talented work force," said Francisco managing partner Dipanjan Deb.

Crystal IS expects to double staff to 40 Influx of $10.6M in seed money permits growth From the Daily Gazette of Schenectady story by Michael Mullaney:

An influx of $10.6 million in seed money will help Green Island firm Crystal Innovative Semiconductors double its staff to 40 employees by the end of 2007, company officials said Thursday.

Crystal IS will use the cash to ramp up manufacturing capacity of its patented aluminum nitride substrates. The small, ultra-thin crystal wafers are used as bases for tiny computer chips and electric conductors.

$10.6M investment to fund Crystal IS growth; Venture capital from several groups will increase production of substance for electronic devices (Larry Rulison, Albany Times Union) N.Y. part of emissions pact; Some states will trade right to pollute to cut greenhouse gases From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

An ambitious plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Northeast by creating a market in which the right to pollute can be bought and sold has moved one step closer to realization.

This month, the seven states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) agreed upon a model rule--the rules of the game, so to speak--in anticipation of the start of emissions trading in 2009.

Power plants in New York would have to limit their emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, to 64 million tons annually.

If they could not meet the new cap, they would be forced to buy pollution credits from competitors or to fund other greenhouse gas reduction projects known as "offsets."

The story, which is just sort of 1,200 words long, quotes environmentalists at length but makes no mention of industry's concerns about the undisputed effects RGGI will have on electricity costs in New York State and its minimal effects on global warming. Charging taxes on Indian cigs is fair From an oped in Newsday:

There is a continuing controversy over New York's American Indian reservations' selling unlicensed, untaxed tobacco products. And last month Gov. George Pataki vetoed legislation aimed at stopping manufacturers from providing tobacco to distributors who supply unstamped cigarettes to Indian tribes.

The passive acceptance of these questionable tobacco sales--combined with a multitude of Internet sites that engage in tax-free cigarette sales--make a mockery of claims by politicians that they discourage smoking under the guise of improving public health.

For several years, government officials have made it much more difficult for many businesses to offer tobacco products. Licensing harassment and zoning restrictions have practically prevented tobacco products from being sold in vending machines by licensed, legitimate, taxpaying enterprises. The smoking ban in New York State now makes it punitive for smokers to be in indoor commercial establishments and eliminates any motivation for consumers to buy tobacco products at these places.

Four view to rebuild office campus From the Albany Times Union:

Four development groups are vying to rebuild the W.A. Harriman State Office Campus as a university research and technology park.

The winner is expected to transform the 300-acre complex into a mix of office buildings, shops, a 120-room hotel and about 850 homes, apartments and town houses. Work would likely start on 35 to 45 acres near the northwest corner of the site.

Located just east of the University at Albany between Washington and Western avenues and state Route 85, the Harriman campus was built from 1958 to 1970. At twice the size of Crossgates Mall, it could be one of the largest rebuilding projects in the city since the Empire State Plaza.

Faso slams Spitzer travel; Attorney general traveled to fundraisers on jet owned by gambling lobbyist From an Albany Times Union story by Jim Odato:

GOP gubernatorial candidate John Faso hammered Democrat Eliot Spitzer Thursday over a "jet-gate scandal" and demanded the front-runner return hundreds of thousands of dollars Spitzer collected at a fundraiser arranged by a gambling lobbyist.

"The state's attorney should not be traveling on a luxury jet owned by the Wisconsin Oneida's lobbyist while he is defending the state against an active lawsuit by the Wisconsin Oneida," said Faso. "It is a clear conflict of interest that, at the very least, creates the appearance of impropriety."

Spitzer's campaign, which says it abided by all laws, disclosed $200,000 in campaign donations from companies controlled by Richard Fields, a tribal casino developer working with the Wisconsin Oneida on a proposed Catskills project.

Local, state teachers lack new contracts; Health-care costs major sticking point From the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

Six local school districts won't have contracts with their teachers' unions as school begins next week--including Herkimer County BOCES, where contract talks have moved into a third year.

Statewide, continued double-digit increases in health-insurance costs is one of the main reasons contract impasses between school districts and teachers' unions are 33 percent higher than last year, the state Public Employment Relations Board reported.

. . . .

The number of districts with disputes being mediated by the state board is 61, and 20 of those are in Central New York. Contracts in 37 districts expired before the 2005-06 school year began, and 13 of those were up in 2004 or earlier. The rest expired this year.

This is the third consecutive year impasses have been on the rise, although the total is lower than historic average and the all-time high of 132, the board said. Two of the 61 have tentative agreements that have not been ratified.

A Buffalo News editorial says problems at the state's Liquor Authority were only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "the state's freewheeling public authorities," and the next governor should tackle authority reform.

That is a huge task, and among the two or three most crucial reforms the new governor - whoever he is - must undertake if he hopes to create a state that is affordable for its residents and its shrinking supply of employers. Spitzer's pursuit of the liquor industry, whose infractions are linked to the indifference or collusion of the State Liquor Authority, suggests that he gets the mission. But as intolerable as the SLA's malfeasance was, its ramifications pale in comparison with the financial consequences of policies at many of the state's public authorities.

. . . .

But the problems with the state's authorities go far beyond misconduct, though there has been enough of that to warrant reform. For one thing, there are too many of them - 643, according to the state comptroller, including 169 major authorities and their subsidiaries.

Authorities pursue public business, often important, but without sufficient oversight. Perhaps worst of all, they have become the alternative of first resort to state legislators who want to borrow money at public expense, but don't want to bother with the constitutional requirement of a public vote.

While all debt is supposed to be approved by voters, authorities in 2004 accounted for $35 billion in state debt, or about nine times the amount of debt actually ratified by referendum. And that excluded an additional $80 billion of authority debt designated as "non state-supported." Only Californians carry more debt per capita than New Yorkers.

It's a fundamentally devious process. Legislators, with a governor's consent, order authorities to borrow money for some defined purpose, with taxpayers picking up the bill. Lawmakers did it again this year, loading another $11.7 billion in non-voter approved borrowing into the budget they approved in the spring.

As we noted earlier this week, a bus accident in which many people died has reinvigorated debate about whether the state should enhance cell-phone service in the Adirondacks over the objections of especially zealous environmentalists who oppose new cell towers. Yes, it should, an editorial in the Glens Falls Post-Star argues.

The "Frankenpine" cell phone tower has risen from the deep forest of Washington County. Few people seem to be bothered by its appearance after years of protest by a resourceful environmental group. Many are happy that the disguised tower will mean better cell phone reception for part of our area.

. . . .

These days, there is an expectation of clear cell phone service in all but the most remote areas.

No doubt, spotty coverage will continue to exist for a while, even in places where logic argues otherwise. An interstate highway, even remote areas of an interstate, should not be on the "spotty" list.

In Essex County on Monday, a Greyhound bus flipped over between Ticonderoga and Plattsburgh. Five people died and dozens were hurt after a tire on the bus blew out. After the crash, some bus passengers reported difficulty getting a strong-enough signal on their cell phones, apparently due to the lack of cell phone towers in the area. Such delays in summoning help can have deadly consequences.

The Northway is a vital north-south link between Canada and the United States. But it also has sections where it's just trees and asphalt for miles. In the long stretches between exits 29 and 34, where the next exit is sometimes 20 miles away, the options are few if a driver breaks down and can't find a working call box or can't use a cell phone.

The burden of providing these improvements, the piece agues, should fall on cell-phone companies.

That best course of action is for a cell phone company, or companies, to step up and provide the technology needed to ensure coverage up and down the Northway.

In the village of Lake George, portable cell phone antennas are rolled in to get the job done when tourists start jamming the streets and the airwaves in the summer. The ability to provide a clear signal in Lake George translates into minutes and money for cell phone companies. With that in mind, maybe it's time for state and local governments to work together to insist that obvious cell phone coverage gaps be filled across the state, starting with large dead spots on major highways.

When a developer proposes a condominium project, it is often approved with the condition that park space or other public benefits be created for the community. Similarly, local governments can (but often don't) negotiate for public access channels and equipment when cable TV contracts are up for renewal. It's time for government to play hardball with cell phone companies to have them pay down on improving coverage in rural areas. These are the same companies that come before municipal boards seeking permission to install antennas in state forests and on village water towers to support user demand in growth areas.

Buffalo's public employee union is now picketing homes of members of the city's control board, saying the wage freeze is unfair. From the Buffalo News:

The elegant brick building at 800 W. Ferry St., home to Robert G. Wilmers, made the "perfect backdrop" Thursday afternoon for city unions to point out the chasm between "haves and have-nots," according to Joseph E. Foley, president of the Buffalo firefighters union.

Several hundred pickets marched in a circle on the sidewalk outside the structure, protesting the city control board's wage freeze on city employees. Wilmers, chairman of M&T Bank and a control board member who lives in the penthouse at the address, was not home.

It was the second such protest at a control board member's home in as many weeks. And union leaders promised it will not be the last. Last week, union members picketed the Irving Place home of Dorothy A. Johnson, the control board's executive director.

"What else can we do?" asked Phil Rumore, Buffalo Teacher's Federation president. "Our overall goal is just to let control board members know we're unhappy and we don't like the way they're treating poor people."

. . . .

One minor confrontation occurred when the driver of a silver Mercedes-Benz attempting to enter the driveway was briefly blocked by a picket. When the driver threatened to call 911, the picket responded "911? We're all here, you [expletive]."

Lovely.

"I am not anti-union; I merely believe in the competitive bid process." An employee of an electrical contractor in Syracuse offers this, well-reasoned, thoughtful argument against project-labor agreements in the Post-Standard. PLAs mandate that government jobs are given to unionized labor.

PLA's constrict the American concept of free trade and open competition by discriminating against nonunion trades people.

Owners and employees of non-union businesses, all of whom are consumers in one community or another, should have equal right and freedom to competitively bid, work and spend the well-earned funds from these projects, to support their families and segments of the economy.

Furthermore, there is concern for cost overruns. A mere 10-20 percent increase due to unforeseen problems will not only be a substantial burden for taxpayers but will ensure that the school district is not getting the biggest bang for their buck, a fact that a wise, future political opponent will seize and exploit.

America was built on the concept of free trade and open competition. Rather than regressing as a community, I believe it's prudent to progress toward eliminating, rather than implementing, PLA's.

A new analysis by the Public Policy Institute shows that New York is lagging the nation in keeping and creating jobs, both in the short term and over the past 10 years. The analysis is part of the Institute's Just the Facts series, which is available here. From our release on the analysis:

From 1995 through 2005, overall private-sector employment in New York rose 8.7 percent, according to the Institute's analysis of data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Upstate's private-sector job growth was barely more than half that level, at 4.8 percent. Both figures are far below the national average of 14.1 percent for the period. Just The Facts also shows employment trends for the past three years, and the past year. New York State, and the Upstate region in particular, lag well behind the nation's performance for those periods, as well.

New York ranks near the bottom of the states in manufacturing trends. Over the 10 years ending in 2005, manufacturing employment in the Empire State dropped by 28.4 percent. Nationally, the loss was 17.5 percent. New York's manufacturing job losses were also among the worst in the nation over both the last three years, and the past year.

. . . .

Over the past three years, New York ranked 36th among the states for employment growth in the financial sector, a key player in the state's economy. In 2005, New York produced new financial jobs at a slightly higher rate than the nation as a whole. Over the last 10 years, the state lost jobs in the financial sector, partly because of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Just The Facts shows that employment trends Upstate have been consistently worse than those throughout the state and nation. Excluding health-care and social-services employment, much of which is supported by taxpayers, Upstate's private-sector job growth from 1995 to 2005 was lower than that of all but three states. In the last three years, such "adjusted" private-sector employment figures show Upstate failing to create any net, new jobs at all.

The Daily News reports that

Four mayors who have endorsed Andrew Cuomo for state attorney general blasted his rival Mark Green yesterday for showing "insensitivity" toward upstate New Yorkers.

In a letter to Green, the mayors criticized him for saying "we live in an urban state" at a recent debate and remarking in May, "There are no good restaurants in Albany."

"How could upstate New Yorkers trust that you would be there to fight for us if you simply dismiss the entire region?" they asked.

It was signed by Mayor Shawn Hogan of Hornell, Mayor Daryl Hayden of Fulton, Mayor Dan O'Hara of Baldwinsville and Mayor John Heindorf of North Syracuse.

Green's team said he is well-aware of the splendors of upstate and has frequently talked to upstate voters during the campaign. He is set to go to the Syracuse State Fair this weekend.

Mark Johnson of the Associated Press reports that

School districts across the state want teachers to pay for a greater share of their health care benefits, even as dozens of school districts have reached impasses in new contract negotiations with their teachers, according to a survey released Thursday.

. . . .

Of the 412 school districts that responded to the survey, 70 said they were able to win some concessions on health care premiums while 50 said they had not.

The survey found that the average premium for family coverage rose 11 percent to $12,190 annually from a year earlier. The average new teacher pays 13 percent of those costs while the district pays the rest.

A federal survey released in July covering the year 2004 found that private sector workers pay an average of 20 percent of their costs for family coverage.

"The school districts have a point," said Matthew Maguire of the New York State Business Council. "The average teacher pays less for coverage and generally gets better coverage."

It's also worth noting that the health insurance benefits that teachers' unions members typically pay less for are usual better than the benefits private-sector workers get at work. And: Cara Matthews of the Gannett News Service has a story here.

While giving a talk before a mostly union crowd in West Seneca on Thursday, gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer said that as governor he would send more taxpayer money to Buffalo, the Buffalo News reports.

Of Buffalo's fiscal problems, he said that "New York state is going to show up - we're going to be here to invest - the (Empire State Development Corp.) is finally going to realize where Buffalo is."

. . . .

The remarks came at a campaign stop before a crowd of union leaders and members at the Ironworkers Local 6 hall.

"You are the friends I'm counting on," Spitzer said. "When there's an upside to benefit from, we'll benefit together."

One union worker summed up his thoughts on the candidate by saying:

While Spitzer pledges to cut state spending, "I don't think he's going to cut back against labor," [Teamsters Local 449 President Richard] Zak said.

An editorial in the Albany Times Union criticizes the state Senate and its majority leader, Senator Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer County), for earmarking $1 million in spending to opposed a proposed Upstate-to-Downstate powerline.

Please, Mr. Bruno, level with the public. It's their money, after all.

The truth, best as we can tell, is something much closer to this. Mr. Bruno is dipping into his $85 million booty, rather innocuously known as legislative member items, so he can buy some votes.

There are five of his fellow Republican senators cheering him on in his quest to kill the Utica-to-Orange County power line project. They're John Bonacic and William Larkin of Orange County, Thomas Libous of Binghamton, Ray Meier of Oneida County and James Seward of Otsego County. That means five Senate districts where that $1 million can be spread around, in an election year yet, reminding voters of how those Republicans fight the good fight.

Four of those senators are up for re-election this year, too. (Mr. Meier is giving up his seat to run for Congress.)

Only who's really paying for this campaign blitz?

The taxpayers of New York are--including, of course, the very upstate voters that $1 million is being aimed at. Talk about a captive audience.

Interestingly, the editorial also voices opposition to the proposed powerline.

. . . . The power that would be generated would be sent to the New York City suburbs. Upstate might be left with even higher energy costs, while its landscape sustained damage from the construction of a power line along a railroad bed.

Mr. Bruno and the rest can fight the power line project from their positions as elected officials. The use of public money ought to be off limits.

Mr. Bruno has a tendency to forget that last part. He acts as if the money he spreads around is his own. Nor does he want the public to be able to know where all of that money goes.

An editorial in the Utica Observer-Dispatch urges Albany to enact workers' compensation reform to reduce employer costs and improve injured workers' maximum weekly benefits. The editorial is based on a new analysis of costs by Fred Buse, who knows as much about workers' compensation in New York State as anyone we know.

A new report on New York's workers' compensation system tells the same old story: New York pays injured workers low benefits, but the program is among the most expensive in the country for employers.

The report, compiled by Frederick Buse, an Albany-area insurance consultant, says what we have said many times before: The workers' compensation system is broken, and it's long past time for state lawmakers to address this situation.

This state certainly cannot afford to drive businesses away. The high cost of workers' comp--$4 billion a year--does nothing to attract new jobs, and is one more factor driving existing employers to other states or overseas. And the irony is that despite the high cost, New York's injured workers get the lowest maximum benefit in the country, $400 a week.

Does that make sense?

Of course not, and viable solutions are out there. It's time for Albany to adopt some significant reforms.

Here's an idea: Perhaps Albany can enact this reform and gives its many economic-policy critics something positive to accentuate.

Mike Gormley of the Associated Press reports on an outburst of frustration from Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno about depictions of the Upstate economy that he says focus too much on the problem and not enough on solutions. From a political perspective, what's interesting here is that Senator Bruno was directing his criticism at the Republican candidate for Governor John Faso.

In a televised forum Wednesday, Faso said upstate cities are in a "fiscal death throe." Faso has previously said upstate cities were "withering on the vine" and in a "death spiral."

"I don't agree at all that it's withering on the vine," Bruno told WROW-AM. He was asked his reaction to the "withering" and "death spiral" quotes without being told who said them.

"What I do agree with is they do need support," Bruno said of upstate residents.

Bruno said the upstate economic problems are clear and the candidates for governor and U.S. Senate, including Faso, are focusing too much on the problem and too little on solving it.

. . . .

"I want to hear positives," Bruno said. "I don't want to hear negatives. I don't want to hear what's wrong. I want to hear how we're going to fix it. I'm sick and tired of everybody throwing stones (about) what's wrong. We know what's wrong. It's apparent what's wrong."

Well, Senator Bruno's frustration is understandable. For one thing, the negative news about Upstate's economic record just keeps coming. As we noted earlier this week, New York's jobs total for July was up 86,000 above the year before--paced by strong growth in New York City--but Upstate added jobs at only one-fifth of the statewide pace in the past year. And the state as a whole, largely because of Upstate's economic travails, has been behind the nation in economic growth to an extent that, frankly, is embarrassing to anyone who still likes to call our home the Empire State. In the 15-year period between 1990 and 2005, for example, the nation's job growth rate was just under 22 percent and Upstate's job-growth rate was just over 4 percent. But we must respectfully disagree with the Senate Majority Leader when he says not enough attention has been paid to the solutions. Virtually every editorial page in the state has been saying for months that New York State must reduce its taxes and trim job-creation costs such as costs of workers' compensation, electricity, and health insurance. These pleas have also come from countless think tanks, policy wonks, economic-policy advocacy groups, and, yes, blogs. (The Senate, of course, has at least proposed many of these policy changes. See, for just one example, this.) But it's simply not realistic to expect New Yorkers to accentuate the positive if Albany does nothing to eliminate the negative--and plenty to worsen it. Did Albany enact cost-cutting workers' compensation reform this year? serious tax reduction? health-insurance mandate-relief? Not nearly. Did it renew the state's long-expired plant-siting law, which all experts recognize as an essential step in increasing electricity supply and, thus, reducing prices? No. In fact, the state Legislature--yes, including the Senate--focused much of its energy this year on passing a stream of giveaway bills designed to make lavish public-sector pensions even better and, in the process, curry political favor with the powerful public-employee unions. The push was so dramatic that an unusual coalition of public-sector employer groups and business advocates sent the gubernatorial candidates a letter this week asking them to use their sway to get the Legislature to cut it out. Public relations, an early practitioner once noted, is doing the right thing and getting caught at it. Well, Albany's PR on the economic-policy front is not going to improve until it starts doing more of the right things and fewer of the wrong things. And legislators' frustration with the state's bad PR on economic policy, although understandable, will not change that. And: Fred Dicker of the New York Post, who elicited the comments from Senator Bruno in a radio interview, has a story here.

Psst, Want to Buy a Party? From an editorial in the New York Times:

New York's campaign finance laws are notoriously loose--a farce, as the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University noted last month. But even within that disturbing universe, some areas are worse than others. Take the "housekeeping" accounts for state political parties, a gaping loophole that allows donors to give unlimited amounts of money for party housekeeping. You want to write a $500,000 check to the state Democratic Party? Write away. Mayor Michael Bloomberg sent a $705,750 donation to the state Republicans 2001 before he was elected mayor.

The money is supposed to go for party building. But despite laws forbidding use of the money for "promoting the candidacy of specific candidates," most donors know their housekeeping dollars are not going for floor wax.

. . . .

Rest assured that . . . all those businesses and unions giving housekeeping money are not in it for the civic joy of getting out the vote. They want tax breaks, pension bonuses, and all the things that taxpayer money can buy in return for a small down payment in the name of party housekeeping.

Improve state bottle returns From an editorial in the Poughkeepsie Journal

For three years the "Bigger Better Bottle Bill" has floundered in Albany, as mundane concerns and lobbying interests have taken precedence over common sense.

The bill passed the state Assembly in 2005 and this year, but has yet to make it through the Senate. There is no good reason for further delays.

The bill would update New York's successful but antiquated bottle deposit law. Enacted in 1982, the Returnable Container Act put a 5-cent deposit on all plastic, glass and metal bottles and cans for carbonated drinks, such as soda and beer.

. . . .

Attempts to update the container deposit law, however, have met with resistance from beverage manufacturers. They object on the grounds the deposits are an imposition on consumers, and that collection is an imposition on retailers. But their real incentive to oppose the change to the law is a new stipulation that would require the bottlers to hand over unclaimed deposits to the state. That is the practice in several other states. Since 1982, bottlers have kept these deposits in New York, to the tune of more than a billion dollars. Those nickels add up. They could be applied toward state recycling and environmental programs. State lawmakers should consider splitting the unclaimed deposits with manufacturers, thereby keeping their costs and aiding New York's coffers as well.

State Senate candidates for debate From the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

State Senate candidates Oneida County Executive Joseph A. Griffo, a Republican, and Leon Koziol, a Democrat, will participate in the 11th annual Meet the Candidates Forum on the "Common Cents Radio Show."

The show will be broadcast at 9 a.m. Sunday on radio stations, WXIT (1230 AM), WRNY (1350 AM), WADR (1480 AM) and WUTQ (1550 AM).

Wegmans rated best market in magazine From a Gannett News Service story by Joy Davia:

The [Wegmans] grocery chain on Thursday nabbed the top spot in a Consumer Reports survey of 24,000 readers.

Wegmans also topped the list for best produce and meat and received high marks for products sold under the store's label.

The overall ranking was based on service (helpfulness of staff and checkout speed), perishables (quality of meat, produce and fresh-baked goods), price and cleanliness.

"Our employees take our motto very seriously: Every day you get our best," chief executive Danny Wegman said in a statement.

At 80, Amo keeps busy From the Elmira Star-Gazette:

Nearly two years after leaving office, former U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton remains engaged in political, economic and religious issues--regionally, nationally and globally.

Houghton, who celebrated his 80th birthday Aug. 7, spends much of his time at home in Boston with his wife, Priscilla. She has undergone three operations for lung cancer.

. . . .

Houghton, who represented the Southern Tier in Congress for 18 years before stepping down Dec. 31, 2004, remains committed to the region's economy. He helped organize the Committee for the Future, which brings together top thinkers from universities and business to analyze how the region can grow.

"We're trying to get a venture capital group to create a pool of money to bring people into the area to start businesses," Houghton said.

States look to new ways to fight old problem From an Associated Press story by Mark Johnson:

Investigators across the country are trying new tactics to crack down on the old problem of auto insurance fraud. The tools to combat the crime, from health insurance fraud mills in New York to "swoop and squat" schemes in California, include wiretaps, undercover agents and prosecutors who view auto fraud as organized crime.

In 2001, New York Gov. George Pataki appointed state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as special counsel to investigate the fraud that has helped drive up New Yorkers' auto insurance premiums to second highest in the nation, second only to New Jersey.

New York Deputy Attorney General Peter Pope, who oversees 100 lawyers and 100 investigators statewide as the head of the office's criminal division, said simply going after street-level perpetrators isn't enough.

Instead, he's taken an organized crime approach, using wiretaps, undercover agents and investigative grand juries to nab doctors, lawyers and the "silent owners" of medical fraud mills that bilk the insurance industry out of $25 billion to $30 billion a year. In many cases, syndicates running fraud operations have been charged under New York's Organized Crime Control Act, a state statute used to go after larger criminal enterprises. Perpetrators are often charged with enterprise corruption, a major felony calling for longer and mandatory prison time. A conviction can carry a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

Making businesses grow From a story by Rick Moriarty in the Syracuse Post-Standard:

The second annual Fuse conference, scheduled Sept. 19 and 20 in Syracuse, will spotlight technology initiatives that are creating business opportunities in Upstate New York.

Fuse 2006 is expected to attract 500 entrepreneurs, business executives, college presidents, venture capitalists, public officials and economic development specialists. Last year's conference drew 400 people.

Optics training program has room for job-seekers From a story in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by David Tyler:

A program to train workers for jobs in the regional optics industry is having trouble drawing enough students.

Monroe Community College is seeking to train workers in optical fabrication, a mix of the optics and precision machining expertise for which the school is known.

The program, a partnership among MCC, Monroe County and optics and photonics manufacturers, was introduced in December and patterned after a similar program in precision manufacturing. At the time, officials said area optics companies anticipated needing 100 trained employees per year for the next five years.

"I think that might end up being conservative," said John Hart, president of the Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster, an industry group that is a sponsor of the MCC program. "The need is there. We had a board meeting recently, and our members are looking to hire."

Cornell to forge closer state ties; New university president looks for political, economic, social leadership roles From an Albany Times Union story by Rick Karlin:

Fresh from 26 years at the University of Iowa, including three years as president, [Cornell University's new president David Skorton] wants Cornell to assert itself as a player in New York's political, economic and social life of New York.

In an interview last week, Skorton outlined his vision for the 20,440-student university. Like the 64-campus SUNY system, Cornell, Skorton says, should play an important role in a variety of initiatives, including efforts to improve K-12 education and attempts to reverse the economic slide that has afflicted much of upstate.

Two Erie County firms have been named to Inc. 500 magazine's list of the fastest-growing companies, the Buffalo News reports.

Wendel Energy Services of Amherst and SLR Contracting and Service of Buffalo are in different lines of work, but they have something in common: Their sales have boomed in the past three years.

. . . .

Wendel was ranked No. 38 in the 2006 edition, with a sales growth rate of 1,452 percent from 2002 through 2005. SLR was No. 195, with a 610 percent growth rate over that period.

Inc. relies on nominations to compile the annual list. Companies needed minimum sales of $600,000 in 2002 to be eligible, and had to be based in the United States, privately owned, and independent.

Watchdogs awaken; City Council is right to beef up its oversight efforts From an editorial in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

News that former Mayor William A. Johnson had, for example, spent more than $200,000 in city funds on fuel pumps at the ferry terminal left the public surprised. Incredibly, so was Rochester's City Council.

An embarrassing state comptroller audit recently revealed that City Council was in the dark about several questionable and expensive mayoral actions concerning the ferry. City Council must become a more effective watchdog.

Over the past year, council has taken worthwhile steps to strengthen its powers of oversight. In response to the comptroller's audit, City Council will now request an independent audit of all the city's professional service contracts from last year.

. . . .

Maintaining a strong system of checks and balances is especially important in a government such as Rochester's, which is controlled by one party.

With more information, and by simply staying alert, council can make better decisions for the city it serves.

Taxes, spending, economy at top of voters' list From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Taxes and spending are what potential voters want to talk about in the Oswego County Legislature's 9th District, according to incumbent Fred Beardsley, R-Hastings, and challenger James McMahon.

"People have had it," Beardsley said.

"People are upset with taxes," McMahon said.

Beardsley said people also are concerned about the economy. "We could use more jobs in Oswego County," he said.

Vital issue: Can our water, sewage facilities handle growth? From an editorial in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Rick Miller, Endicott's director of public works, waved an important red flag the other day--one that former Town of Union Supervisor Jack Cheevers and others have waved over the years. It's a warning flag that the entire Greater Binghamton community should heed.

Miller reminded village trustees that there are several development projects on the drawing board for the Town of Union, and all of them seem to assume the village's water treatment system can handle the additional load. He's not so sure. "We're looking long term," he said. "Do we have enough (capacity) today? Yes, we do. But we need to look down the road--10 to 20 years."

Indeed. If the community is going to grow--new or expanded business; increased population--it is going to need new or improved water treatment and sewage treatment facilities. And as Cheevers often pointed out, this shouldn't be simply a matter for the individual villages and towns, or the Binghamton/ Johnson City Wastewater Treatment Plant officials, but for the entire county.

. . . .

Clean water is a communitywide concern, and it ought to addressed by a comprehensive countywide system. That's common sense, too, and the sooner we come to our senses the better.

Ferry flap prompts review of city deals; Council seeks outside analysis of 85 contracts From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

In response to a harsh state audit of Rochester's oversight of the ferry project, City Council is proposing a special review of dozens of city contracts.

Council President Lois Giess said Friday the review would seek to ensure that contract work complied with council ordinances. The review is a response to a state audit that found that the former Mayor William A. Johnson Jr. administration modified a city ferry-related agreement without informing City Council.

The review, which will examine 85 city contracts from 2005 and 2006, is an extra measure of comfort that likely will demonstrate that the rules are being followed, Giess said. "My expectation is we will not find variances."

Orange isn't the only county with tax breaks From the Middletown Times Herald-Record:

Those who pushed for a generous tax abatement to lure employers to Orange County were right about one thing: Other counties already bait their hooks with even bigger breaks.

Sullivan County, for example, will ease in property taxes on a new or expanded business over as many as 20 years, twice as long as Orange's new offer.

Farther north, the tax abatement in parts of rural Greene County lasts just as long as Sullivan's but is even juicier: For the first 10 years, the company pays nothing.

It was this sense of competition that led Orange County's Industrial Development Agency and its allies in the business community to wheel out a similar policy this year. Cut the taxes, supporters said, or big business will settle elsewhere.

Proposed Ulster town budget up, would cut taxes From the Kingston Freeman:

Supervisor Nick Woerner's combined $8.29 million general and highway budget proposal for 2007 would reduce the average homeowner's tax bill by $11 a year.

But while the actual tax rate shows a decrease, spending proposed by the Democratic supervisor would increase--including a hike in Woerner's salary, from $37,900 to $40,000. The spending increases would be offset by revenues, which the supervisor is projecting upward.

Under the proposal, town taxpayers [in the town of Ulster in Ulster County] would pay $5.68 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2007, down from $5.79 per $1,000, in general and highway taxes.

County GOP drives again for later budget deadline From a story in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by Joe Spector:

Each year, the local nonprofit group The Children's Agenda spends about three weeks reviewing the roughly 720-page Monroe County budget to determine the impact on children's programs.

Soon, they may need to speed up their review.

Republicans in the Monroe County Legislature have resurrected a plan defeated two years ago that would push back the annual submission date of the county budget. The result would be about a month less time than officials and the public now have to review the budget.

Critics say the change would limit debate and scrutiny of how the county expects to spend almost $1 billion a year of the public's money. The budget is the most important part of the County Legislature's business and lays out how revenue will be raised to pay for social services, parks, police services, transportation and the environment.

Supporters of the idea say the change would give the administration more preparation time and avoid political wrangling because the budget submission would be after Election Day in early November. And, they say, the public would still have ample time to review the budget before it's approved.

Surveys guide initial Gates budget; Leader's plan will cut Saturday library hours, town celebration From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

Funding for Saturday library hours and the annual town summer celebration will be gone when Supervisor Ralph Esposito gives his initial budget to the Town Board later this month, with a savings of $58,000.

The cuts were the result of recommendations made by residents in surveys sent out by the town.

Esposito looked through 2,039 surveys in which residents suggested which town services should be kept, expanded, reduced or eliminated.

A majority of residents said they would rather see services cut than have to pay an extra $60 a year in taxes to maintain all town services.

With a tax rate of $6.37 per $1,000 assessed value, residents pay an average of $552 per year in town taxes.

County, union reach 5-year deal From the Poughkeepsie Journal:

Dutchess County has reached a five-year agreement with its largest employee union, County Executive William Steinhaus' office announced.

The pact with the CSEA spans from Jan. 1, 2005, to Dec. 31, 2009, and was approved by the union's 1,400 members in a landslide, according to a news release.

The agreement will be presented to the county Legislature at its Sept. 11 meeting.

. . . .

The agreement includes wage increases of 3.5 percent in 2005, 3.6 percent in 2006, 3.8 percent in 2007, 3.85 percent in 2008 and 4 percent in 2009.

Reductions in services likely in 2007 From the Ithaca Journal:

Tompkins County will get its first peek at the full 2007 budget today, opening what officials are predicting will be another tough budget season with the strong possibility of reductions in services.

County Administrator Stephen Whicher said on Friday that he will release a budget that meets the goals the Legislature set out earlier this year--a budget that includes no increase in the 2006 tax rate--but it will not be a budget he recommends legislators pass in November.

"We can't maintain services if we are going to achieve the goal the Legislature set," Whicher said.

The 2006 budget set local share spending--the amount the Legislature controls plus state mandates--at $65 million. The total budget was about $114.5 million. The 2006 tax rate was $6.59 per $1,000 of taxable assessed property value.

Whicher said the county was hit with $1.2 million in increased state mandates, specifically in the Department of Social Services and the Health Department. While Medicaid spending was capped by the state last year, spending for juvenile delinquency programs has increased at DSS, and the cost for an early intervention program at the Health Department has also risen.

"The mandates increase the tax levy about 3.5 percent," Whicher said. "We were expecting about a $450,000 increase in mandates and got $1.2 million."

One Erie County taxpayer, in a letter to the Buffalo News commenting on a plan that would shift some Erie County costs, points out that whether the money comes from the state or the county, taxpayers are still footing the bill.

All of us who live in Erie County also live in New York State. As such, we pay taxes to both. Giambra's scheme simply changes the source of money. Rather than that $24 million coming from Erie County tax dollars it will come from New York State tax dollars. Either way we are still paying it!

While it might be spread out over the whole state, the goal should be to reduce spending, not shift the cost burdens to others in the state. The plan may be "a neat trick," but it is just a variant of an old classic: rob George to pay Joel.

Cara Matthews of the Gannett News Service reports that

The Senate is expected to approve legislation Sept. 15 that would require insurance coverage for mental illness to be on a par with other health problems.

The Democrat-led Assembly and Republican-controlled Senate reached an agreement on the controversial topic in the waning hours of the legislative session two months ago, but there was not enough time to vote on it. Leaders agreed to take up the issue the next time they convened.

. . . .

Proponents of the bill say it is long overdue and, if it is passed, will bring New York in line with dozens of other states. The business industry is concerned about the measure's cost, which has not been determined, but financial assistance to small businesses is built into the legislation.

Employers would still prefer that Albany stay out of the business of deciding what health insurance employers and individuals can or must buy. But the bill we've heard described has been changed to lessen its impact on employers, especially smaller businesses.

We were struck by a national story by Associated Press on an analysis of the competitiveness of different high-tech boom towns around the country. The survey found that the top-ranked region benefited not just from its high-tech assets, but also from relatively low taxes and costs of job creation.

San Francisco Silicon Valley placed last in an annual ranking of 12 U.S. technology hubs because of the region's notoriously high housing costs, traffic congestion, unemployment rate and other quality-of-life problems.

According to a survey by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the nation's top-ranked tech hub is North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham area, which enjoys relatively affordable housing and a thriving job market. The region wins points for local kids' performance on eighth-grade math tests and for comparatively low sales taxes and affordable utility bills.

This is something that some of the business and civic and political leaders in the Capital Region would do well to keep in mind. As we noted in this post in late June, there is an alarming tendency in the Capital Region to cite its recent nanotech successes in suggesting that the Capital Region doesn't have to worry about things like taxes and high job-creation costs. As this survey suggests, nanotech can't be enough. As impressive as the region's nanotech gains have been, it would be hard to argue that the Capital Region's high-tech assets are the equal of Silicon Valley's or even close to it. And yet this survey shows that Silicon Valley is not deemed competitive with the Research Triangle Park part of North Carolina for reasons that have nothing to do with technology and everything to do with economic-policy issues. We remain convinced that our friends and colleagues in the Capital Region ignore statewide issues with taxes and high job-creation costs at their peril. This survey supports that view.

Mixed Signal Sent as Spitzer Dodges a Teachers Event From the New York Sun:

The Democratic Party's designated candidate for governor, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, will be marking the first day of school by sending his running mate, state Senator David Paterson, to a United Federation of Teachers press conference calling on Mayor Bloomberg to shrink class sizes by hiring more teachers.

Mr. Paterson, who is running for lieutenant governor, will be lending his support to a high-profile campaign waged by the teachers union to pressure the city to set aside a chunk of its education budget for increasing the teacher workforce.

Mr. Paterson's involvement in the union event, where he will be standing beside the president of the UFT, Randi Weingarten, represents a signal by the Spitzer campaign on a key education issue that is emerging as a major flash point between Mr. Bloomberg and the teachers union, a powerful force in Albany.

Mr. Bloomberg and his schools chancellor, Joel Klein, are opposed to mandated class-size reductions and have blocked an effort by the union to amend the city charter by requiring the city to spend more than $1 billion a year on more teachers.

Notably absent from today's press conference will be Mr. Spitzer himself. Department of education officials said the UFT had indicated to them as late as Friday that Mr. Spitzer would be attending. A union representative said Mr. Spitzer was welcome to come but not formally invited.

"I've been saying very clearly we're going to reduce class size," Mr. Spitzer told The New York Sun yesterday. "It's one of the critical ways to improve the educational quality that our kids receive."

There's more Spitzer's straddle From an editorial in the New York Sun:

Give the Democratic candidate for governor, Attorney General Spitzer, some credit for skipping this morning's event calling for "smaller class sizes"--i.e., more dues-paying members for Randi Weingarten's United Federation of Teachers. But don't give him too much credit; his running mate, Senator Paterson, will be there, marking the first day of school by pledging fealty to the union's agenda.

This conveniently lets Mr. Spitzer have it both ways. He can signal to the taxpayers by his absence that he isn't the union's pawn on education policy, but he can signal to the union by the presence of his would-be lieutenant governor that he is the union's pawn on education policy.

NCCS estimates costs for facilities improvements; Centralizing elementary may not be most economical, estimate shows From the Plattsburgh Press-Republican:

Early estimates show Northeastern Clinton Central School taxpayers' pockets would be harder hit by construction of a completely new consolidated elementary facility than if the existing buildings were expanded and renovated.

That's because state aid for the former would come in at about 82 percent versus an estimated 58 percent for a stand-alone building. Aid of about 57 percent would be given were the district to adopt its plan to close the elementary buildings in Rouses Point and Mooers then add on to the Middle/High.

The jury is still out, however, on whether consolidation in Champlain would produce enough savings to offset that lower aid figure.

SV district faces tough rebuilding; Conklin, Kirkwood were hit hard From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

The buildings of the Susquehanna Valley Central School District escaped largely unscathed from June's flooding. No water reached the district's four schools, and none suffered major physical damage.

But the lack of physical damage doesn't begin to tell the story of the flood's serious long-term impact on the 2,100-student Broome County district.

The flood devastated lives in Conklin and Kirkwood, the two main communities served by Susquehanna Valley schools. Conklin had 760 homes and businesses damaged, 102 residences destroyed, and residential losses between $40 million and $50 million. Kirkwood had about $2 million to $3 million in damages.

Since local property taxes pay roughly 41 percent of the district's budget, this property loss will have financial implications in terms of programs and staffing, budget preparation and approval of budgets, Superintendent Carol S. Boyce said.

The district is in for some tough times, she said. "It could play out in staff and program cuts," not this year, but next spring when the district puts together its 2007-08 budget.

Walton displays resiliency; District finishes most major fixes From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

When she looked at the damage in June at the Townsend Elementary School, Sylvia Morgan doubted the school would be ready for the start of the year.

"I didn't feel they could pull it off," the president of the Walton Teachers Association said. "I thought they would have to delay the opening."

Water covered 80,000 square feet of the school, which is part of the Walton Central School District. The first floor was flooded from one end of the building to the other. In the kindergarten wing, the water was nearly 2 feet deep. The bus garage and the softball field at the Stockton Avenue campus also suffered damage.

The total cost district-wide is estimated at $2.5 million to $3 million. District officials expect flood insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state Emergency Management Office to pay most of the recovery costs. The state also has approved a 90 percent reimbursement by the state Education Department for any costs not covered by other sources, Superintendent Jonathan W. Buhner said.

"State education department officials ... felt we took the worst hit of any school district in the area," Buhner said. But the Delaware County district had a goal, he said. "We didn't want our kids to go to school in trailers."

That goal will be met.

Schools feel pinch at the pump; Districts rethink routes; hybrid buses offer an expensive option From the Albany Times Union:

As school starts this week, local districts are looking at a range of tactics to help save on the high cost of fuel--from using hybrid buses and special engine heaters to tweaking routes and doubling-up sports teams for travel.

Districts that buy diesel through a state contract are now paying $2.31 a gallon. That's up from about $1.84 at this time last year, to a level that one local transportation director called "a killer."

"They're all looking at how many runs do they really need," said Peter Mannella, executive director of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation. "They're trying to maximize the miles that they ride out there."

An editorial in the Daily News criticizes the state Senate's plans to spend $1 million in taxpayer dollars to opposed a proposed Upstate-to-Downstate powerline.

Not only is Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno fighting a power line that would deliver much-needed electricity to New York City, but he expects city taxpayers to help him block it. What gall.

Bruno is putting up $1 million in state funds to cover the legal bills of upstate counties battling the New York Regional Interconnect, a $1.6 billion, 200-mile transmission line that would allow Con Edison customers to tap into cheap power.

The project--pending before state and federal regulators--is stirring a battle between upstaters who don't want high-tension wires in their backyards and downstaters thirsty for juice. If the NIMBY forces go to court, which seems inevitable, New Yorkers could wind up paying to sue themselves.

If Bruno and his fellow Republicans in the Senate want to join the anti-N.Y.C. team, that's their right. But they have no business playing favorites with state funds.

Legislators never approved this spending. Bruno is dipping into one of the seemingly bottomless slush funds that he, Gov. Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver build into the state budget.

. . . .

Alas, the deep thinkers of the Senate GOP have no interest in a debate on the merits. They and the Assembly have already voted to ban the use of eminent domain for the project--a bill that Pataki should not hesitate to veto.

And: The Middletown Times Herald-Record reports that

The federal regulatory official who drew upstate ire by calling the New York Regional Interconnect power line a "no-brainer" won't participate in any future proceedings on the project.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Marc Spitzer sent a letter to the commission's chairman Tuesday saying that standing down from possible hearings on NYRI was the only way to preserve the agency's integrity.

"It is critical that the affected parties, including the people of the State of New York, have the highest respect for the FERC's adjudicative process," said Spitzer, a former Arizona energy regulator. Before assuming his new federal job, he appeared to laud the 190-mile power line proposal in an interview with the Tucson-based Daily Star.

"There is a proposal to bring clean, cheap energy to New York City from Niagara Falls," he told the paper. "It's a no-brainer, but there is opposition to the transmission line. New York City is on the cusp of blackouts as we speak."

And: The Oneonta Daily Star has a good, long story on the debate over the proposed powerline.

The war over New York Regional Interconnect Inc.'s plan to construct a 200-mile-long power line from Oneida County to Orange County continues, although not as openly as earlier this year.

Last month, the firm's application to the state's Public Service Commission was deemed deficient by the PSC. No public hearings on the controversial proposal will be held until the application is complete.

According to PSC spokeswoman Anne Dalton, there is no deadline for submitting the additional information.

"That's up to the company," she said.

NYRI spokesman Jon Pierce said Wednesday that company employees are striving to fill in the gaps and will submit more information to the state's regulators.

"That's coming along well," Pierce said.

NYRI already has signed an agreement to run its $1.6 million, 400-kilovolt line along the tracks of the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway from Marcy to Norwich. Along NYRI's preferred route, the line would continue from Norwich in Chenango County to Deposit in Delaware County on a right-of-way owned by the New York State Electric & Gas Corp.

Pierce said NYRI has been negotiating with the local utility, which is a subsidiary of the large holding company, Energy East.

"We're right where we thought we would be with NYSEG at this stage of the process," he said.

NYRI argues that its proposed electrical transmission line is needed to provide more power downstate, although the firm acknowledges its project will raise the price of electricity about 5 percent upstate.

At meetings earlier this year, hundreds of upstate residents questioned the need for the project and warned of adverse consequences for people's health, the environment, and real estate values along the power line route.

Politicians have responded to people's worries and anger by forming a regional group, Communities Against Regional Interconnect, whose stated purpose is to stop the project.

Republican state senators announced Wednesday they will provide as much as $1 million for this group in the next year.

There's much more.

As we noted a week or so ago, there are questions about the value to charter-schools skeptics of recent federal research that at first was widely spun to show that charter schools aren't necessarily outperforming government-run schools by academic measurements. Here's an excerpt from the Daily Gazette of Schenectady editorial we cited:

The two sides in the charter school debate did their best to spin that new report comparing the performance of charter schools vs. traditional public schools in reading and math tests. Such comparisons are inevitable but not terribly useful, especially at this stage of the charter school experiment.

The study, of 6,500 fourth graders from charter schools and 376,000 from traditional public schools, found charter school kids underperforming their counterparts by 5.2 points in reading and 5.8 points in math. That's statistically significant, but there were a lot of factors making it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions. For one thing, the tests dated back to 2003, when charter schools were still in their relative infancy. (Indeed, charters' fourth-grade reading performance had caught up to the public schools' in the 2005 national assessment, though it still lagged in math.)

It hardly seems fair to compare a program that's only been in operation a year or two, to a school district with decades or more of experience. The kids in the charter programs may have only been away from their old school for a year (or less) when the tests were administered, so it's hard to know who to credit (for a good performance) or blame (for a bad one).

A new editorial in the Albany Times Union pays little heed to all that nuance and uses the government-schools spin to raise its familiar objections to increasing the number of charter schools in New York State.

Anew federal study on charter schools should be must reading for New York state lawmakers. The bottom line is that charter schools are not the panacea some supporters have claimed them to be. Indeed, the study for the U.S. Department of Education found that charter schools trailed other public schools in academic performance--the exact opposite of what supporters had been predicting ever since charter schools became a trend in one state after another.

The study, which tracked students in 2003, found that fourth-graders in charter schools scored below their peers in traditional public schools. That's sobering.

One study of one set of tests shouldn't be enough to doom the charter school experiment, of course. And not all charter schools are alike, as even this study found. Consider the results in Albany, where New Covenant Charter School continues to flounder, while Brighter Choice charter schools seem seems to have found the formula for classroom success. Or consider Troy's Ark school, which has been struggling, while the International Charter School of Schenectady appears to be flourishing.

. . . .

Regrettably, some state lawmakers want to lift the cap on charter schools, which are publicly funded but largely free of the bureaucracy in public schools, on the grounds that they offer low-income parents a choice for their children's education. But what kind of choice is it if the local charter school isn't keeping pace with the public schools?

Ben Rand of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle documents the fact that New Yorkers tend to pay much more for gasoline than residents of other states, shows that high taxes are to blame.

Going for a long drive outside the borders of New York state requires some strategic thinking these days for the budget-conscious among us.

On a recent Friday, for instance, had you stopped to fill up your tank at Wade's Keystone Mini Mart in Westfield, Chautauqua County, you would have paid $3.04 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.

But just 14 miles farther down the road, at the North East Truck Plaza in North East, Pa., you'd have paid just $2.76 a gallon--28 cents, or 9 percent, less. The story is the same elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Ohio and many other states.

New Yorkers on average pay more for a gallon of gas than their counterparts in every state except four: Hawaii, California, Montana and Connecticut, according to AAA.

New York's higher prices aren't a new phenomenon but have been highlighted for drivers this summer as the price of crude oil and other factors drove gas above $3 a gallon.

. . . .

The biggest factor in New York, analysts say, is likely taxes. Drivers here pay 62.3 cents a gallon in combined federal and state taxes, according to the American Petroleum Institute. That's more than every state except California and Connecticut. New York also levies a petroleum business tax and a spill tax.

The state earlier this year took steps to limit the impact of taxes on motorists. Gov. George Pataki signed legislation that puts a cap on the state's 4 percent sales tax at $2 a gallon. In other words, drivers will pay no more than 8 cents a gallon in state tax even when the price at the pump exceeds $2.

The goal of the legislation was to give households some relief from the rising price of fuel, rather than making New York competitive with other states, said John Sweeney, a spokesman for the state's budget division. New York collected more than $1 billion in petroleum-related taxes in 2005.

The relative tax burden is very much on the minds of local service station owners. New York's 62.3 cents a gallon exceeds Pennsylvania (50.7 cents), Ohio (46.4 cents), Massachusetts (41.9 cents), Vermont (38.4 cents) and New Jersey (32.9 cents). Of surrounding states, only Connecticut (63.4 cents) levies more.

The story also notes that gasoline stations on New York's borders generally do much less business than gasoline states just across the state line. Big plans for tax rebate: Fill 'er up and let's go From a letter in the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Well, our short Central New York summer is almost gone, but the good news is that the great State of New York is going to be sending us all a huge tax rebate. Now, what will I do with it? Pay off the mortgage? Buy a new car? Pay my school taxes? What? It's not that much? Well, maybe I can invest in a tankful of gas. And this is free money, folks, like the refund the IRS gives us in April, so we can enjoy it. I heard some people were complaining that it would cost $3 million to mail out all those checks, but, hey, the state is paying for that, not me, right?

. . . .

What a great state! I wonder how far south I can get on my tax rebate? Virginia, maybe?

Nonetheless: Taking aim at cap on gas sales tax; Albany County comptroller will urge lawmakers to take back reduction in levy From an Albany Times Union story by Carol DeMare:

County Comptroller Michael Conners, a vocal opponent of Albany County's cap on gasoline sales tax, intends to ask lawmakers next week to remove the cap because it has not proved to be savings to consumers.

"I'm going to the County Legislature on Sept. 11 and suggest rescinding" the measure that took effect July 1 and was designed to cut 3 cents of county taxes off the price per gallon.

"Instead, I will recommend a series of steps that I believe will have a greater impact at the pumps as an alternative," Conners said.

Jay Gallagher of the Gannett News Service reports that

Job growth in New York has lagged far behind the national average for the past decade, with the upstate region generating jobs at barely a third the norm, according to a new report.

From 1995 until last year, jobs in New York grew 8.7 percent, compared with the national figure of 14.1 percent, according to a report from the research arm of the state Business Council.

Upstate, jobs grew by only 4.8 percent in that decade, according to the report.

The state ranked 40th or 41st among states for adding jobs during the past year, three years and 10 years.

The reason is that it is expensive to create jobs in New York, said the report's author, Robert Ward of the Public Policy Institute.

"Working people are suffering because the state government makes it hard to keep jobs here," he said. "To turn it around, we need to reduce costs and act like we want businesses to grow jobs here."

The report points out that in 2004, New Yorkers paid more in state and local taxes, $5,260 per person, than any other Americans. That figure was 53 percent above the national norm of $3,447.

Ward said other costs, including energy, health insurance, workers' compensation and liability insurance, are also among the highest in the country. He said they, too, needed to be reduced for the state's job picture to improve.

Commentary: From an editorial in the Elmira Star-Gazette:

Ask the average voter in the Twin Tiers to list issues that concern him or her the most in the upcoming election and that answer is likely to be either jobs or taxes--or both.

And when it comes to those issues, New York, particularly upstate areas such as the Southern Tier, have struggled to keep up with the rest of the nation. As the fall campaign season kicks into higher gear, state and local candidates need to talk about what's on constituents' minds--jobs and taxes.

The latest report from The Public Policy Institute of New York State suggests that those talks need to offer some relief for New Yorkers who have seen their tax burden climb to No. 1 in the nation while job growth wallows in the bottom half of national rankings.

Specifically:

•New York is tops in the local and state tax burden on its residents with $5,260 in taxes per capita, according to 2004 statistics cited by the institute in its latest edition of "Just the Facts." The study is a compilation of economic and financial statistics that show how New York compares with other states. It's not good.

•Nationally, private-sector job growth was 14.1 percent from 1995 to 2005. In New York, it was 8.7 percent. Upstate it was 4.8 percent. The Empire State didn't come off as imperial in those rankings, although some of the decline might have been from Sept. 11's impact on employment in New York City.

•Manufacturing, the heart and soul of much of upstate's economy, was beating at a much slower pace during that same 10-year period. Nationally, manufacturing declined by 17.5 percent as foreign competition stole a significant share of that job sector. In New York, it was even worse, with manufacturing jobs dropping by 28.4 percent.

More: E.J. McMahon Jr. of the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center reviews his analysis of growth in public-sector employment in an op-ed in the Syracuse Post-Standard.

From the perspective of Labor Day 2006, employment and wage trends in New York since the beginning of this decade could be described as a tale of two sectors: private and public.

While private payrolls throughout the state have yet to get back to their 2000 pre-recession peak, New York has more public-sector workers than ever. In the Syracuse region, for example, private-sector employment is down 6 percent but government employment has risen 6.7 percent in the last six years.

The bulk of the public-sector job increase has been at the local level in school districts, counties, cities, towns and villages.

Government jobs are not only virtually recession-proof, but on average they also pay more. In 51 out of 62 counties, government workers collect higher average salaries than private-sector employees.

Where the manufacturing sector is still relatively large, as in Oswego County, private salaries still exceed the average for state and local government. But in nearby Cortland County, which has lost more of its manufacturing job base, state and local salaries exceed private averages by 32 percent. (In Onondaga County, the average pay for both sectors is roughly equal, with the public sector only slightly ahead.)

Of course, wages and salaries are only part of the story. From vacation time to pensions, public employees generally have a cushier deal than their private-sector counterparts. When times are tough and sometimes even when they aren't elected officials prefer to balance budgets by offering their senior workers even bigger pensions as an incentive to retire.

Just over 2 million New York state workers are union members, and fully half of them work in the public sector. One out of every eight workers in the Empire State is a unionized government employee while in the rest of the country, the ratio is roughly one out of 19 workers. And an increasing share of private-sector union membership in New York is composed of workers employed in heavily government-subsidized industries, such as health care.

And: Mark Johnson of the Associated Press also has a story on the Empire Center's analysis of growth in public-sector employment.

There are more government jobs than ever in New York, even as private employment has declined, according to a new report by a government fiscal watchdog group.

The number of state and local government employees rose to 1.33 million in July, about 30,700 more than in July 2000, according to an analysis of federal and state labor statistics by the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

During the same period, the number of private-sector jobs that pay for government services fell by 40,300 to about 7.15 million, Empire Center Director E.J. McMahon said.

"Even in economic tough times, government is really the last place to cut back," McMahon said. "And as soon as there is any improvement in the economy, it's the first place to start adding people again."

In a piece about new data on changes in income in New York State, Jay Gallagher of the Gannett News Service mentions the candidates' different perspectives on how to help the Upstate economy.

The candidates had some different ideas on what to do about the upstate economy and the growing income disparity. Among Spitzer's ideas are raising the minimum wage and improving SUNY to bring in more high-paying jobs. Faso would tie more aid to school districts with a cap on school spending and cut business costs like workers' compensation and liability insurance. Suozzi emphasized changing the culture of Albany, so policies would be directed toward helping out average citizens rather than "powerbrokers."

It would have been helpful to hear these three men actually discuss these ideas together, but Spitzer, in classic front-runner style, has turned down most chances to do that. Last week's appearances were separate events, with no interaction.

There are some understandable reasons for the state's grim poverty numbers, as Disability and Temporary Assistance Commissioner Robert Doar pointed out: we are an immigrant state and most immigrants start out poor. And we have a larger proportion than average of babies born to single parents--maybe the single biggest predictor of who will be poor as adults.

He also pointed out that the census figures don't count some of the benefits the poor get. They include $3 billion in earned-income tax credits (sort of a reverse income tax) and the benefits of food stamps and free medical care.

And: Joe Spector of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle also has a long story on the Upstate economy and how the next Governor might address its problems.

Phillippa Thiuri recognizes that the biggest issues facing the Rochester area center on the stagnant economy and loss of jobs.

But she's just not sure which, if any, of the candidates for governor can turn things around.

"They all agree about what the issues are, it's just that they each have a different approach," the 33-year-old Brighton woman said after watching a 90-minute forum among them Wednesday at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Thiuri is not alone in wondering if the next governor can improve an upstate economy that has lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs since 1990. During the same period, the Rochester region had the worst private-sector job growth of any large metropolitan area.

The problems have become so glaring that the economy has taken center stage as the race for governor heads to a Sept. 12 Democratic primary between front-runner Eliot Spitzer and Thomas Suozzi. The winner faces Republican John Faso, who has also made the economy and taxes his top themes.

. . . .

A poll this spring by the Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research found that taxes and the economy ranked as the top issues facing the Finger Lakes region.

Recent studies show that New York has the highest local and state tax burden of any state in the country. At $5,260 per person a year, the average tax bill in New York is 53 percent higher than the national average.

The poll also found that nearly 70 percent of people in the area feel the economy has gotten worse over the last five years, compared with 40 percent statewide. From 2000 to 2005, the Rochester region had a net loss of 19,000 jobs, or 4 percent of its work force, a rate worse than Buffalo or Syracuse.

. . . .

Spitzer, who enjoys huge leads in polls, says he wants to be optimistic about New York's future, a theme that runs through his television advertising. He's already spent $10 million on television ads. "There has been a lot of pessimism tonight," Spitzer, the state's attorney general, said during the forum. "There has been a lot of negative talk about how dire our circumstances are. And they're serious, and that is why we need to turn things around. But at the bottom of all this, I'm an optimist."

Spitzer has proposed a $6 billion property tax cut over three years, funded by $11 billion in budget cuts and reforms. He said his plan would provide middle-class taxpayers an 80 percent increase in the school tax relief benefit known as STAR.

To pay for it, Spitzer has a list of 26 budget cuts or revenue generators--such as stamping out Medicaid fraud and putting bottle deposits on water and juice containers. Spitzer also talks about a broader vision of reviving urban downtowns and building greater collaborations between government, the private sector and colleges.

But Faso and Suozzi have hammered Spitzer, saying his plan doesn't offer enough specifics, doesn't address onerous business taxes and doesn't put necessary caps on spending.

"That's one of the reasons why I think Eliot Spitzer and I should be debating more," said Suozzi, who has only been able to get one head-to-head debate with Spitzer. "He has failed to give specifics."

Suozzi, who is Nassau County executive, has also focused on lowering the property tax burden. He said he can find $5 billion in savings in state government, largely by clamping down on Medicaid fraud. The savings would be used to pay billions to settle a court order to provide more funding to New York City schools and to provide $2 billion in property tax cuts--largely to downstate suburbs that pay the highest taxes.

Faso and Suozzi have talked about lowering the cost of doing business in New York, including reforming the Wicks Law, which requires multiple contractors for building projects. They knock Spitzer for refusing to take a position on the issue.

Faso, meanwhile, says property tax relief must be tied to a cap on spending. He proposes that school tax increases should be capped at 4 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. He estimates the cap would save taxpayers $18 billion over six or seven years. But Faso would also double STAR benefits over four years.

It's not the perfect year for Suozzi From a column by Jay Gallagher of the Gannett News Service:

He has been called "the perfect candidate for governor."

He is not only handsome, articulate and personable, he also has an impressive resume, including turning around one of the most dysfunctional government bodies in America.

And he has a background that could have been crafted by a political consultant as the ideal for a statewide run: an Italian father and an Irish mother (New York's two largest ethnic groups), Catholic (there are 7.3 million of them in New York) and from the suburbs (upstate and city voters can consider him their own). In addition, he has raised millions of dollars for the campaign.

Only trouble is, this perfect candidate, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, is trailing his opponent in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary for governor in some polls by more than 50 points. After spending months and millions of dollars, his poll numbers have barely budged.

In fact, the New York magazine article that called him the "perfect candidate for governor" went on to say, "in any other year than this."

Spitzer outspends opponent Suozzi From the Associated Press:

Eliot Spitzer spent almost three times as much as his Democratic rival Tom Suozzi since early August and still has $12.1 million on hand compared to Suozzi's $1 million, according to state elections records filed Friday.

Spitzer spent $2.7 million since the Aug. 8 filing while Suozzi, who is almost 50 percentage points behind in the polls, spent about $1 million.

Contractor provided Faso with jet From an Associated Press story by Mike Gormley:

Republican John Faso, who has criticized Democratic gubernatorial rival Eliot Spitzer's use of a lobbyist's jet for campaign travel, also has flown on the wings of a campaign contributor who does business with the state, records show.

In 2002, when Faso was running unsuccessfully for state comptroller, he used the turbojet aircraft of Cushing Stone Co., owed by John Tesiero Jr. of Amsterdam at least twice, state election records show. Faso's campaign reported the flights as in-kind services provided by Tesiero, who billed the campaign for $1,314 around March 21, 2002, and $2,299 around May 3, 2002.

Cushing Stone has landed 26 contracts with the state in recent years, according to state comptroller's office records.

Suozzi, Beyond the Numbers From the New York Times:

As he pursues his uphill bid to deny Eliot Spitzer the Democratic nomination for governor, Thomas R. Suozzi has seized on a central theme: that he has management skills Mr. Spitzer does not. As proof, he cites a long record of accomplishment as Nassau County executive.

"I can do it, because I've done it" is Mr. Suozzi's slogan, which he repeated seven times in his hour-long debate with Mr. Spitzer in July. It is Mr. Suozzi's shorthand for his claimed successes, including rescuing Nassau County from near-bankruptcy; leading a statewide campaign to curb Medicaid costs; and taking on the political status quo with his Fix Albany campaign.

In fact, Mr. Suozzi has earned high marks from independent institutions for his signature achievement, the resuscitation of Nassau's finances. A review of his years in public office shows that he has begun a number of major programs--though not all have come to fruition--and has managed to reform a stubborn and malfunctioning county bureaucracy.

In 2005 he was named a "public official of the year" by Governing magazine, a national journal on state and local government. It praised him as "the man who spearheaded Nassau County, New York's, remarkable turnaround from the brink of fiscal disaster." On Wall Street, Nassau's bond rating--which had fallen to one notch above junk--was restored to the A rank with 11 upgrades in two years, a more marked improvement than for any other government in the nation in that period, Mr. Suozzi says.

Nassau was a certified mess when Mr. Suozzi took over in 2002. Despite being one of the nation's richest and biggest suburbs, with a population of 1.3 million, it had been drowning in red ink since the 1990's, a result of mismanagement, corruption and a slowing economy. Eventually the state imposed a financial review board and granted a $105 million bailout and $382 million in debt financing help, which proved a lifesaver to Nassau and Mr. Suozzi.

Elected on a reform platform, Mr. Suozzi initially raised the county portion of the property tax by 19 percent but also promised to freeze taxes after that. He has kept them steady the last three years, contrary to Mr. Spitzer's accusation during their debate that taxes had been "repeatedly" raised. Mr. Suozzi shrank the county work force by 1,200 jobs to less than 9,000, the lowest level in three decades, and wrung givebacks from the unions. He cut millions of dollars in spending, drastically reduced borrowing and debt, eliminated deficits and accumulated surpluses.

There's much more. Spitzer 'tsunami'; Record blowout predicted From a column by Fred Dicker of the New York Post:

Runaway gubernatorial leader Eliot Spitzer is heading for the biggest electoral victory in New York's history, with a record-shattering 70 percent-plus of the November vote, Republican and Democratic strategists agree.

A senior GOP official with firsthand knowledge of private polling data said Attorney General Spitzer's tally against John Faso, his little-known and cash-poor Republican opponent, could reach 75 percent.

That would be 10 points higher than Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo's record-holding 1986 win over Westchester County Executive Andrew O'Rourke.

. . . .

Another senior Republican said Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's "real terror" over the potential loss of the Senate explained his seemingly inexplicable attack last week on little-known GOP gubernatorial contender Faso.

Bruno blasted Faso for saying the upstate economy was a disaster, and did so fearing the former assemblyman's comments would be used against Republican senators.

"With [Gov.] Pataki and his record already radioactive for Republicans, Bruno didn't want Faso out there making matters worse," said the source.

Spitzer rises from sound defeat to top of the heap From an Associated Press story by Mike Gormley:

Retired school teacher Patricia Ulrich remembers the last time she had hope in a politician.

"I was in high school when JFK came to Buffalo," she said of Kennedy's 1960 campaign stop. "My girlfriend and I walked down to what was then the Memorial Auditorium ... it was like he was a rock star. I have not cared about politicians since then."

That began to change four years ago when state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, another Democrat, took on Wall Street and corporate America to end conflicts of interest in stock ratings and improper trading for insiders. It was cemented this year when, as a candidate for governor, Spitzer jolted New York politics by comparing upstate's economy to Appalachia and made a top issue of ending the exodus of college graduates seeking better jobs, like Ulrich's son who moved to Massachusetts.

"He was told he can't do this, yet he did what was right," said Ulrich, now 62 and volunteering for Spitzer. "I think many of us have been the victims of wheeler and dealers that effected our retirement ... The more I know about him, the more I like him."

Gambling with a Reputation; Gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer should steer clear of racing and gaming interests From an editorial in the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Eliot Spitzer's cozy relationship with gambling interests seeking the state's racing franchise undermines his credibility as an irreproachable choice for governor.

In late May, Spitzer, the Democratic state attorney general, flew to fundraisers in Phoenix, Tucson and Cincinnati, then back to New York City, on a private jet provided by Richard Fields, a principal in Excelsior Racing Associates. Excelsior is one of several groups trying to land the 20-year state franchise at the Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga racetracks.

Whoever wins the franchise will get a piece of the billions of dollars in bets placed at the tracks each year. The winner also could expect to rake in a generous share of the tracks' video lottery terminal money.

. . . .

It really doesn't matter that Spitzer's campaign committee paid for use of the jet (questions remain about whether the reimbursement covered the actual cost). The fact is, Spitzer accepted a favor from a man who wants something from him after he's in the governor's office. It just reinforces the notion that you have to pay to play in New York state government--a practice that Spitzer had pledged to end.

Spitzer should have known better. It was just this February that the state lobbying commission found that state Sen. David Paterson had underpaid Fields by $4,500 for another plane ride in 2005. Fields wound up paying a hefty fine. And Paterson, who Spitzer chose as his running mate in January, repaid the difference.

High-flying Spitzer hits ethical turbulence From a Daily News column by Bill Hammond:

Eliot Spitzer is running for governor as the best guy to clean up Albany, including its corrupt "pay-to-play" system of shaking down interest groups for campaign donations and other goodies.

So what the heck is he doing jetting around on the Gulfstream of a Wyoming businessman who wants to run race tracks and build casinos in New York?

It's one thing for Spitzer to pile up money and endorsements from insiders. Fish gotta swim, pols gotta grub for cash.

But accepting deeply discounted air travel from a gambling mogul doing lots of business with state government--as Spitzer and an aide did in May--is too cozy for comfort. The would-be Sheriff of Albany should be keeping a safe distance from favor seekers, not putting himself in a position where he owes them anything.

There's more.

Last week, we noted, and expressed concerns about, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's recent criticism of Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso (and countless others) who have expressed concerns about the state of the Upstate economy and the failure of Albany to do enough to address the public-policy problems that do so much to undermine the Upstate economy. Since then, several editorials have also disagreed with Senator Bruno on this question, usually using pointed language. 'As an architect of that stagnation, what else would Bruno say?' From an editorial in the New York Post:

Along with Gov. Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the majority leader was supposed to be a steward of the state's economy for the past 12 years.

So he shares much of the blame for the current mess.

Plus, since he's a Republican--at least in name--there's an even greater expectation of him to stand firm against high taxes and government regulation, which send jobs fleeing.

He didn't.

Just the opposite, in fact: Bruno has pushed tax hikes, greater government spending and a job-killing boost in the minimum wage.

The editorial also cites new data from the Public Policy Institute on Upstate's lackluster job growth.

On a less anecdotal note, a new study by the Public Policy Institute of New York notes that "employment trends upstate have been consistently worse than those throughout the state and nation."

Except for in the heavily tax-subsidized health-care and social-service sectors, Upstate's private-sector job growth from 1995 to 2005 was lower than that of all but three states.

"In the last three years," the report says, such "private-sector employment figures show Upstate failing to create any net new jobs at all."

That's shocking--but, sadly, no surprise.

And Faso would be utterly remiss not to focus on it.

Indeed, statewide over the past decade, private-sector jobs grew by only 8.7 percent--while the nation enjoyed 14.1 percent growth.

Upstate, the story was much worse: The 4.8 percent, 10-year growth there was barely half that of the state as a whole (and barely a third that of the nation).

But Joe Bruno doesn't want to hear it. (He's already worried enough, you see, that Republicans will lose Senate seats Upstate this November, which could cost them control of the Senate--and end his tenure as majority leader).

And: From an editorial in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

On this Labor Day, too few upstate New Yorkers, particularly those in the Rochester region, have jobs to return to tomorrow.

Going after people who draw attention to upstate's economic woes, the way that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno did last week, certainly doesn't help.

Bruno, a Republican, threw a fit in response to comments by John Faso, his party's candidate for governor. During a televised forum, Faso characterized upstate cities as "withering on the vine" and in a "fiscal death throe."

Bruno, who lives outside of Albany, believes Faso's descriptions were over the top. "I'm sick and tired of everybody throwing stones (about) what's wrong. We know what's wrong. It's apparent what's wrong."

So don't talk about upstate's problems? We don't think so. Actually, the candidates for governor, in particular, should talk even more about upstate's economic issues and pose solutions. They can't say enough about upstate's problems and their remedies.

. . . .

Bruno insists that he'd rather focus on the solutions. No argument there. But it can't be ignored that Bruno has been leading the Senate now for more than a decade, and while the Albany area's economy has fared better than other parts of upstate, the remainder of upstate has been struggling.

Just as Bruno points out that "we know what's wrong," we also know what the solutions are. They include significantly lowering the heaviest tax burden in the nation and getting rid of job-stunting state regulations.

Now there's something for Bruno and all New Yorkers to get angry about: the foot-dragging in Albany on his watch that's helped upstate to slide into this present predicament.

Over the long weekend, there was the usual assortment of stories, editorials, and commentaries that directly or indirectly used Labor Day to consider the state of the labor movement specifically and the economic health and well-being of New York's workers generally. For example: The latest installment of the Associated Press's ongoing series of questions and answers with the candidates for Governor includes interesting responses to a question about the power of unions in Albany. Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso and Democratic longshot Tom Suozzi are notably more precise in their answer than Democratic frontrunner Eliot Spitzer.

Do unions have too much power in Albany?>

Faso: "Yes; unions have too much power as do other special interests. Too often in Albany the narrow special interests win over the broad public interest. I think it is time for the voice of the taxpayers to be heard over all others."

Spitzer: "The problem is not that any one group has too much power, it is that the governor has not shown the leadership necessary to bring all sides of an argument to the table to agree on how we can work together to accomplish real reform. We need a governor who can build coalitions and bridge the gaps between competing interests such as business and labor, upstaters and downstaters, Republicans and Democrats. We'll need to work together if we are ever to turn New York state around."

Suozzi: "Yes. Along with corporate and lobbying interests, unions are among the many special interests that have too much power in Albany. Ironically, the only interest underrepresented in Albany is the voters."

Say, does Labor Day weekend mean you don't have to describe a union think tank as a union think tank? We don't think so either. But we saw several stories over the weekend that quote Albany's high-profile Fiscal Policy Institute (which is supported mainly by unions, especially public-employee unions) without mentioning its affiliation. How does that serve readers interested in evaluating the opinions offered by sources quoted in news stories? It doesn't, we submit. For example: The Buffalo News's fine economics columnist, David Robinson, completely neglects to describe the FPI's union ties in a column that relies heavily on its perspective. Another like that: In this story, Craig Wolf of the Poughkeepsie Journal relies on the public-employee unions' think tank without mentioning the connection. He does allow that the FPI is interested in "broad sharing of prosperity," which alert readers will recognize as code for higher taxes and more redistribution of wealth. But we think directness is preferable to coyness in this case. Here's another. This Newsday story also neglects to mention the public-employee unions' think tank's affiliation. Jay Gallagher gets it right: In this story on income trends in New York State, Jay Gallagher of the Gannett News Service needs only four words--"union-backed think tank" to provide that service to readers. He provides the same service in this story, describing the FPI (accurately) as "labor-backed" and the Public Policy Institute (accurately) as "the research arm of The Business Council." See? That's not so hard. More Labor Day stuff: An editorial in the New York Sun reflects on what the new federal data on poverty do and don't say about the economic health of New York State.

No sooner had the Census Bureau released its annual survey showing the poverty rate for 2005 was unchanged at 12.6% while real median household income rose by 1.1 %, than the Democrats started complaining about income inequality. "Growth alone is not the answer," the New York Times editorialists hectored. "What have been missing are government policies that help to ensure that the benefits of growth are broadly shared," the Times wrote, mentioning the need for "a progressive income tax," by which it means tax increases for many readers of The New York Sun.

But to the extent that "the rich" are getting richer--and, as the Wall Street Journal editorialized Saturday, they are, though not as dramatically as during the final years of the Clinton presidency--it's not clear that raising taxes on the rich would help matters. The rich are getting richer, after all, in part because of a long bull market. If the stock market were to decline sharply, it would have the effect of reducing income inequality--but it would also hurt the non-rich.

The graphic that ran alongside the Wall Street Journal editorial showed that in 2001 and 2002, the percentage share of total income that was earned by the top 1% of income earners decreased. But by lots of other measures, those were disappointing years for the American economy, years of layoffs in which job-hunters had tough times finding work.

. . . .

It's hard to see what is progressive about pursuing, in the name of decreasing income inequality, policies, such as a more "progressive" income tax, that have such unprogressive effects as holding government programs for the poor hostage to the rich or precipitating economic downturns that hurt the poor. The real progressives are those like Presidents Kennedy and Reagan, who understood the destructiveness of high marginal tax rates on all persons, and bet on the proposition that a rising tide lifts all boats.

And: From an editorial in the Daily Star of Oneonta:

Labor Day is no longer just a celebration of union members--it is a celebration of work, of American business and of all that this nation of workers does throughout the year.

The idea of Labor Day as a political holiday, a day to honor workers rather than their bosses, is a narrow definition of a day that can be recognized in a meaningful way by everyone.

Workers and employers who work on Labor Day can honor the holiday on the job by taking time to familiarize themselves with workers' rights under the law.

We can also celebrate Labor Day by patronizing locally owned businesses. By supporting our neighbors, we can contribute to the success of labor on a local level, keeping jobs close to home and keeping money flowing into the local economy.

We can't always buy everything we need in locally owned stores, but now is a good time to visit local merchants. We may be pleasantly surprised by what they have to offer.

More Labor Day commentary and coverage By the sweat of the brow (Daily News editorial) Parade theme is 'right to unionize' (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) Diminishing Rewards: Not all Americans have reason to cheer this Labor Day (Syracuse Post-Standard editorial) Discouraging labor news: Working more with less to show for it (Newsday editorial) Remember story behind Labor Day (Troy Record editorial) Labor Day: Don't undervalue American workers (Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin editorial) Labor's 'Big Concern'; Unionists march in solidarity in fight to keep benefits (Syracuse Post-Standard story) Examine Changes This Labor Day (Jamestown Post-Journal editorial) Workers urged to step to union beat; Event at Central Park serves up message extolling benefits of organized labor along with hip-hop music (Albany Times Union)

Danny Hakim of the New York Times delivers a long and fascinating story on how high costs of public employee pensions are threatening the economic future of Lockport, Niagara County. The story is especially compelling because it focuses on the efforts of the mayor, a former leader of the autoworkers union, to help taxpayers by reining in those costs.

For two and a half years, Michael Tucker was mayor of this small city by day and an autoworker by night.

Then in May, he became one of the nearly 50,000 workers at General Motors or its former Delphi parts division to take buyouts, lured by the $33,000-a-year pension his company offered. That pension, and a smaller one he expects to collect from the state after his years as mayor, makes him a little unusual in a nation where more and more workers are not covered by such plans.

But now, as mayor of Lockport, Mr. Tucker, 49, is seeing the budget of this city north of Buffalo consumed by the kind of pension and retiree health care costs that helped push Delphi into bankruptcy. So he is preparing to do what his former employers, G.M. and Delphi, have already begun to do: ask the city's five unions for concessions, including limiting wage increases and cutting benefits, when labor contracts expire next year.

Cities across New York State are only now starting to grapple with the so-called legacy costs of pensions and retiree health care benefits, and the situation in Lockport--with its rising property taxes and strained budget--is emblematic of what other cities may face in the future.

Pension costs in New York City have quadrupled in the last five years, and they will soon consume 10 percent of the city's budget. In Buffalo, the state's second-largest city, pension costs have risen to $24 million, from $4 million, in the last five years, and the city is now overseen by a financial control board.

"It's going to be tough negotiations," Mr. Tucker said last month, as he stood in front of the giant Delphi radiator plant where he once worked and served as an officer in the United Auto Workers union. "We're going to be looking for some concessions," he added. "No question about it."

Lockport's pension costs for public workers have increased more than tenfold since 2000, to $1.6 million projected for this year, from $111,083. During the same period, the cost of providing medical coverage to city workers and retirees has risen 71 percent. Together, pension and health care costs have grown to 14.5 percent of the city's budget last year, up from 7.6 percent in 2000.

"Those are the two biggies, and they cripple cities like ours," Mr. Tucker said.

One big part of the problem is that the State Legislature has imposed new burdens on local government pensions around the state, just as it has in New York City, where the vibrant economy is better able to absorb such costs. But local governments have played their part in letting these costs rise.

. . . .

Another issue is the Legislature's moves to enhance benefits for various union workers in cities across the state, often after prodding by unions. Though the state pension fund assumes the majority of the costs, localities are also required to foot part of the bill. (New York City operates its own pension funds, separate from the state system.)

In 2000 alone, the Legislature approved more than $2 billion in new costs for the state and municipalities outside New York City by granting retirees recurring annual cost-of-living adjustments, waiving contributions into the retirement system for thousands of workers who have 10 years or more of service, and increasing the pension formulas to allow workers to collect bigger checks upon retirement.

Since the State Constitution prohibits taking away pension benefits already granted to public workers, Mr. Tucker is looking to hold the line on salaries and for health care concessions, and he is also considering more innovative ways to trim the budget.

"We're looking to other cities, merging together to do water, merging together to do assessments, privatizing ambulance service, privatizing garbage service," he said.

. . . .

A Republican, [Tucker] faces the same problems as other upstate mayors: an exodus of population, jobs and tax revenue. Lockport's population decreased by 9 percent in the 1990's, to about 22,000 today, while steel and paper plants have been shuttered. The workforce of Delphi, the city's largest employer, has shrunk to between 3,000 and 4,000 today, from more than 10,000 in the 1970's.

The city has taken a number of cost-saving steps over the years, including significantly cutting its work force and consolidating its medical plans, and it has not relied on debt as heavily as other municipalities.

But the costs of providing for the city's retirees are already increasingly consuming the city's budget.

A recent report from the state comptroller's office said that Lockport faced greater fiscal challenges than most other upstate cities. To offset the rising benefits costs, the city has raised its property tax rate to $15.27 per $1,000 of assessed property value this year, up from $12.89 in 2000. That brings the cost to a little over $3,000 for a $200,000 home.

To avoid raising taxes further, the city, which tends to run a slight deficit, has been depleting its reserves, giving it less cushion in the case of unforeseen calamities.

"We're getting on shaky ground," said Mr. Mullaney, the city's budget director.

There's much more. Living life after Delphi From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

Roxanne Ross' workdays are no longer dictated by shift changes or time cards. In June the spirited 47-year-old woman took a pre-retirement package from Delphi Corp. after working on the production line for 28 years.

Although her income will be about one-third less, she decided to trade the uncertainty of her future at Delphi for the certainty of a pension and health care coverage. With the auto parts maker in bankruptcy and the future of its labor contracts in doubt, almost 900 Rochester-area Delphi employees have made the same choice.

"If they stayed, who knows what's going to happen?" said John Huber, president of United Auto Workers Local 1097.

For some, the move has cleared the path to a new career. Ross, for example, has gone from factory worker to entrepreneur. In the basement of her Gates home she runs Dream Windows, making draperies and curtains.

As of late last week, she was one of Delphi's 504 Rochester-area workers who have accepted a pre-retirement package. To be eligible, workers must have 26 to 29 years of service with the company. An additional 386 workers with at least 30 years' service, which makes them eligible for retirement, also have left or signaled their intention to do so.

There's much more.

N.Y. needs plan for site in W. Utica From an editorial in the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

At a recent neighborhood meeting in West Utica, more than 30 residents discussed ways to crack down on the prostitutes, vandalism and roaming groups of youths.

There is no doubt West Utica is struggling, but with the renewed vitality along Varick Street and the potential redevelopment of the former Bossert site, the neighborhood could be on the cusp of a significant revitalization.

. . . .

Locating a proposed state data processing center here would be a great way for the state to live up to its obligation to the neighborhood and enhance the efforts residents and officials are making to bring West Utica back.

The $99 million project would consolidate four Albany-area facilities and store police, tax and other state records. With the Record and Artifact Center for the state Office of Mental Health already there, the site is an excellent choice for the data processing center. And the 200 jobs well-paying jobs, with salaries of $50,000 a year or more, could go a long way toward spurring growth in West Utica.

Businesses adjusting to post-9/11 economy From a story in the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

Marie Latus had high hopes when she opened her travel agency five years ago.

She had no way of knowing that two months after opening her Utica-based business, Cruises in Paradise, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, would send the U.S. tourism industry into a downward spiral.

"I didn't have hardly any clients, and no one was really interested in going on a plane or going anywhere," said Latus, also the director of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents' Upstate Chapter.

Business now is going well at Cruises in Paradise, whose clients often fly to Florida to board their cruises to the Caribbean, Latus said. Five years after the terror attacks, other Mohawk Valley businesses are recovering from the economic downturn that followed.

* The attacks, combined with high claim losses from prior years and years of suppressed rates, prompted Utica National Insurance Group to reassess where and what it would insure.

"We lost $117 million to our Policyholders' Security Fund in 2001, the worst year in history for our company and our industry," spokesman Michael Austin said.

* Officials at Oneida Ltd., which recently announced it will emerge from bankruptcy protection this month, said the company's profit margins were reduced when its airline, restaurant and hotel clients lost business from reduced travel after 9/11.

Attacks hastened Oneida Ltd.'s decline From a story in the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

The days of free meals and shiny cutlery during flights are long gone and unlikely to return. The same can be said for Oneida Ltd.'s local manufacturing operation.

Not only did the airline industry suffer financial losses after Sept. 11, but the terrorist event was the impetus behind airline safety measures that impacted profits in the foodservice supply industry.

The financial result was two-fold for Oneida Ltd., a Sherrill-based flatware and dinnerware distributor that for more than a century was one of Oneida and Madison counties' leading manufacturers.

"First and foremost, knives and stainless steel utensils were merely pulled, and that had obviously a huge impact on our stainless steel flatware sales to the airline industry," Oneida Ltd. President James E. Joseph said.

"In addition to that, a number of people stopped traveling or there was a downturn in business because you had less travelers, business or otherwise, and that impacted hotels and restaurants," he said.

New bill aims at counterfeit tax stamps From a story in the Syracuse Post-Standard by Erik Kriss:

New York could rake in an extra $75 million in cigarette taxes each year by using new technology to stamp out smuggling, according to a bill being pushed by two lawmakers.

The bill would require the use of encrypted, counterfeit-resistant cigarette tax stamps, which have resulted in a huge increase in tax collections in California, the legislation's sponsors say.

Officials believe as many as a third of the cigarettes sold in New York are not stamped by the state.

Land trust opponents going to D.C. From a story in the Syracuse Post-Standard :

Officials from Cayuga and Seneca counties are heading to Washington, D.C., next week to vent their concerns about the Cayuga Indian Nation's land trust application.

The Sept. 14 meeting was arranged by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who opposes the Cayugas' attempt to gain sovereign tax-free control over about 125 acres in their 64,000-acre land-claim area in both counties.

"Placing noncontiguous land into trust undermines local government control, depletes the public treasury and creates an unacceptable checkerboard of territories," Schumer said in an electronic message forwarded Tuesday by spokeswoman Bethany Lesser.

Cayuga County Legislator Raymond Lockwood, R-Aurelius, and Seneca County Board of Supervisors Chairman Robert Shipley and lawmaker David Dresser, D-Ovid, are to meet with Schumer and a federal Bureau of Indian Affairs official.

Housing slowdown worst in decades; Home prices nearly at standstill; Rochester is an exception From a story in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

The Rochester-area housing market continues to buck the trend nationally, in which price increases have slowed more than at any time since 1975.

A federal agency reported Tuesday that average home prices across the country inched up 1.2 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter. When compared with the same period of 2005, when prices rose 3.65 percent, the slowdown was the most dramatic in three decades.

. . . .

In the Rochester area, prices are growing ahead of the national average. That has been the case consistently this year, with the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors reporting that in July, the average price of a home in the 11-county survey area was $137,619, up 4.6 percent from the same month in 2005.

Border Patrol says no to permanent I-87 roadblock From a story in the Plattsburgh Press-Republican:

The head of the U.S. Border Patrol's regional operation said Tuesday his agency has abandoned plans for a permanent checkpoint on the Adirondack Northway.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Ronald Vitiello said an engineering study of the North Hudson location proposed for the permanent checkpoint showed it would be too expensive to build and maintain.

The Border Patrol conducts an intermittent roadblock there now, in the southbound lanes of Interstate 87 between exits 29 and 30.

And: Plans for permanent border checkpoint scrapped (Associated Press) Pan Am takes flight today; Fourth carrier at airport is offering flights to, from Boston this week From a story in the Elmira Star-Gazette by Jeff Aaron:

The Elmira-Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats gets its fourth air carrier today when Pan Am Clipper Connection of Portsmouth, N.H., begins local service with two daily departures to and arrivals from the Boston area.

As of Tuesday, three tickets were sold for that first departing flight early today. But the carrier's president, David Fink, is confident that future flights will carry more passengers.

"We are filling a market need, and we see a niche that we can serve for the Boston and Washington, D.C., areas. We also think that down the road, if traffic warrants it, we will also go to Florida," Fink said.

Pan Am Clipper Connection focuses on business travelers who want convenient service into major metropolitan cities without the hassle of large hub airports.

New flight path; Adding 4th airline could push competitors' pricing and develop a southern-bound hub From an editorial in the Elmira Star-Gazette:

Convenient connections. They're critical to any air traveler, and today, the debut of a fourth airline at the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport means potential ease and savings for passengers who have used other airports as starting points for their trips.

Maines to propose facility expansion; New distribution building also planned From a story in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Maines Paper & Food Service Inc. is proposing to expand its corporate headquarters and construct a distribution facility nearby.

Under review by the town are the company's proposals to:

* Add about 76,400 square feet to existing corporate headquarters in the Broome Corporate Park in Conklin for a dry storage warehouse and associated loading dock, a legal ad published recently said.

* Construct a one-story, approximately 76,655-square-foot food distribution facility on a 14.1-acre site on Maple Drive in the Broome Corporate Park. The facility would feature cooler and freezer space, dry storage, a cooler loading dock, a dry loading dock and associated offices, a second legal ad said.

Johnson Outdoors to share military contract From a story in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Johnson Outdoors Inc. said Tuesday that it is among seven vendors that will share a consolidated military contract to produce a variety of military shelters, trailers and other military supply components.

This marks the second year of the contract, originally announced in September 2005, under which total combined orders could range from $25,000 to $96 million across the seven vendors.

The Racine, Wis.-based company received 12 orders totaling $19.7 million under the first year of the contract. No orders have been placed yet with Johnson Outdoors under the renewed contract.

Ignoring tough choices; Too few taxpayers seem willing to compromise services From an editorial in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

The survey says: Taxpayers want the best available services and low taxes.

That was the message in results from a recent survey of Gates residents asked by the town's leaders for input in planning next year's budget. They seemed to say what voters communicate to elected officials all the time: Give me this, this and that. Now you figure out how to pay for them.

The problem is that elected officials typically respond by raising taxes. So guess what Gates town residents said? The 2,039 of you who responded to surveys mailed in July have essentially endorsed Supervisor Ralph Esposito's plan to increase taxes by at least 10 percent. That's likely to occur on the heels of double-digit tax increases in each of the past three years.

. . . .

A whopping 80 percent of respondents wanted to keep or expand the town's Police Department, which accounts for nearly $3 million in annual spending. Never mind that the adjacent town of Chili doesn't have a police department and that residents there seem satisfied and safe with county sheriff patrols.

. . . .

Elected officials in Gates and across the county must find more effective means to better educate voters about alternatives. It's not good enough for lawmakers to say they're abiding by the wishes of voters when costs and taxes continue to spiral out of control.

Increasingly, those carrying this burden as young people move away are aging citizens with limited or fixed incomes. Where are the leaders?

[Tompkins] County budget looks tight From a story in the Ithaca Journal:

Tompkins County Administrator Stephen Whicher delivered a 2007 budget plan to the Legislature on Tuesday, but added a warning to go with it.

Whicher's budget--which he is not recommending--fit perfectly with the goals set by the Legislature: It includes no increase in the tax rate, which was $6.59 per $1,000 of taxable assessed property value, and includes a modest 2.6 increase in the tax levy, which is driven by increased property value and the completion of new commercial construction.

But in remarks at the Legislature meeting Tuesday night and in a summary letter that accompanies the budget, Whicher clearly stated that if the county board wants to hit the goals it set earlier this year, legislators are going to have to make tough choices and possibly eliminate services that are popular with the public.

"I think if you do not make drastic program reductions, you will not hit your target," Whicher said at Tuesday's meeting.

There's much more City council rejects pay increase; 'We don't deserve it,' Massar says From a story in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

After lengthy debate riddled with bouts of self-deprecation, Binghamton City Council on Tuesday night voted 6-3 against a proposal that would have raised pay for future members. The resolution would have given council members elected in November 2007 an annual salary increase equal to the previous year's Consumer Price Index.

"This is stupid," said Councilman Anthony Massar, D-1st District. "To sit here before the public and request a cost-of-living increase. With all due respect to this body, we don't deserve it."

With members receiving $7,500 a year, the annual increase would have had a nominal effect on the city's property tax rate, supporters said. "Every property owner would pay 10 cents and get change back," said Robert Weslar, D-2nd District. "It's a tiny, tiny amount for future council members."

[Tompkins] County Legislature gives real estate transfer tax the OK From a story in the Ithaca Journal:

The Tompkins County Legislature passed a real estate transfer tax on Tuesday. The tax passed by an 8-7 vote.

The tax will allow the county to collect a $1 tax for every $500 of real estate sold as part of the transaction, according to the local law. The tax will be paid by the seller. For example, if property is sold for $100,000, the county will collect a tax of $200 for the transaction from the seller. The state already collects $4 per $1,000 in real estate transactions though its real estate transfer tax.

District deserves praise for thinking outside the box From an editorial in the Troy Record:

Following a public outcry, that plan was dropped, thanks to state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, who came up with $500,000 in one-time state funds to keep the Grafton Elementary School going for one more academic year.

The problems facing this sprawling rural school district, however, remain: decreasing enrollment, inconsistent and dwindling state aid and increased operational costs.

Out of this morass of bad news, however, hope has arisen.

The district has formed a committee that will work to come up with a long-term solution to the situation without affecting the district's quality of education. The call went out for 25 volunteers, and 31 people came forward--an amazing number in this day and age when busy schedules and volunteerism simply don't mesh.

. . . .

We applaud the efforts by the Berlin Central School District in thinking outside the box on these tough issues, and we urge district residents to get involved when public input is required.

Leaner district budgets force activity cutbacks From a story in the Poughkeepsie Journal:

Kindergarten has been reduced from full-day to a half-day program in the Highland district this year.

It's one of several cuts to Highland programs this year after district voters defeated the $32.3 million budget for 2006-07 twice.

The Wappingers, Highland and Marlboro school districts are all operating under contingency budgets this school year.

Classes for Highland and Marlboro opened Tuesday and Wappingers opens today.

Depending on the district, students may see fewer or more expensive field trips, cuts to sports programs and changes to academic programs.

There's much more. S-E has mixed tax outlook; 2006-'07 rates to decrease in New Berlin, Plymouth, Smyrna From a story in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

The tax rates for 2006-07 are going up in seven of the 11 townships in the Sherburne-Earlville school district, including Sherburne and Earlville.

The tax rates are the result of a district-wide levy of $5.6 million that shows a small downward trend in the district's full value tax rate.

Tax rates will go down in the Towns of Brookfield, New Berlin, Plymouth and Smyrna. The largest portion of the school tax, however, is paid by the towns of Sherburne and Hamilton, where rates will rise.

A two-day conference in Syracuse will highlight technologies that are "creating business opportunities in Upstate New York," the Syracuse Post-Standard reports. The conference, slated to be held Sept. 19 - 20, will feature a keynote address by Linda Sanford, a senior vice president at IBM Corp. and chairman of The Business Council of New York State.

The second annual Fuse conference, scheduled Sept. 19 and 20 in Syracuse, will spotlight technology initiatives that are creating business opportunities in Upstate New York.

Fuse 2006 is expected to attract 500 entrepreneurs, business executives, college presidents, venture capitalists, public officials and economic development specialists. Last year's conference drew 400 people.

Errol Unikel, chief executive officer of Unicorn Technologies and senior adviser to Fuse, said this year's conference will focus on all of Upstate. The focus of last year's conference was more on Central New York, but interest in it was so widespread that organizers decided to expand the focus, he said.

In a letter in the Middletown Times Herald-Record, a Democratic candidate for the state Senate argues that a proposed Upstate-to-Downstate powerline should be put in the Hudson River.

I suggest that the NYRI line be redirected from its current path to an easterly direction (from its point of origin) toward the Hudson River.

The line could then be submerged and run down the Hudson to New York City.

The Hudson River route would be much less offensive to the people of New York because of the fact that the path would run through much less populated areas.

. . . .

As your state senator, I would require that NYRI do the right thing and reroute the power line to the Hudson River.

That's an interesting idea. But we'd be astonished if this didn't produce yowls of outrage from the many environmental groups that oppose almost anything and everything that involves the Hudson River and is motivated by perceived economic benefits. We'd be interested to see how long this candidate stood by this idea if he were elected to the Senate.

Control board wins suit role; Police union contends wage freeze nullifies Taylor Law From a story in the Buffalo News by Brian Meyer:

Buffalo's control board has won the right to get involved in a lawsuit that will determine whether police officers can legally go on strike.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph D. Mintz ruled Tuesday that the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority can intervene in a lawsuit filed by the police union because the outcome could affect the oversight panel's future powers.

Officers believe that a 29-month-old wage freeze imposed by the control board gives them the right to strike, claiming the panel's action nullified the state Taylor Law, which bans municipal unions from walking off the job.

The police union insisted that the control board had no right to get involved in fighting the lawsuit. One argument advanced by union attorney W. James Schwan was that the police contract was ratified before the state created the control board.

Union President Robert P. Meegan Jr. took Tuesday's ruling in stride, saying it was no surprise.

"The more the merrier," Meegan said as he left court.

A Rochester attorney hired by the control board to challenge numerous court fights launched by city unions thinks the judge made the right decision.

A. Vincent Buzard noted that the union's lawsuit makes 19 references to the control board, including allegations that it is "micromanaging" city government. Buzard said any court decision that would give police officers the right to strike would have a major impact on the board's efforts to achieve fiscal stability.

"That would really turn upside down what the control board has been so far successful in doing," Buzard said, adding that the union's motives for the latest court fight are unclear.

There's more.

As we noted recently, opponents of charter schools have probably overreached in arguing that recent federal data justify the kinds of criticism of charter schools typically offered by the teachers' union and the rest of the government-schools establishment. Now, a new op-ed in the Daily News offers the best possible evidence that charter schools really are a good alternative to conventional government-run schools: the unrelenting demand by parents and kids to get out of the latter and into the former.

. . . as we mark the start of a new academic year in New York City, another trend is refuting that argument from the ground up. Fifty-eight charter schools--including 12 new ones--opened their doors to more than 15,000 mostly poor and minority city kids. And parental demand for alternatives is growing: Some 12,000 families are now on charter school wait lists. The ratio of applications to available seats is about 3 to 1.

Why is there such strong interest in charter schools if, indeed, they're not offering a high-quality education? Because, simply put, the federal statistics present a distorted picture of reality.

For one, the most recent statistics in New York State show that a majority of charter students here did better than their traditional public school counterparts in reading and math--by about 10 percentage points--in the 2004-05 academic year. Tests in New York measure performance trends over the course of a school year and incorporate regular yearly assessment data.

Ultimately, charter schools must be judged on whether students are making academic gains over time and by the progress they produce, not student performance on some arbitrary day on the calendar. And by this measure, many New York City charter schools are doing outstanding work.

. . . .

Opponents argue that charter schools accept only the best students. Not true: Students are admitted through an open lottery. And opponents claim charter schools aren't real public schools. Wrong: They are just as public as your corner PS--but they happen to be run by parents and community groups.

In a system where less than half of New York City's black and Latino students graduate from high school with a Regents diploma, we're clearly not doing the job at present.

The anecdotes and data are New York City-specific, but the arguments have merit across the state.

A sensible editorial in the Jamestown Post-Journal addresses the "almost ritual gnashing of teeth" about the gap between the rich and the poor that typically accompanies any release of data about income and poverty.

The Census Bureau's release of its annual statistical snapshot of the nation provoked what is by now almost ritual gnashing of teeth about a supposedly ''widening gap between rich and poor.'' Lost amid the usual raft of stories focused on this alleged social worry is the fact that a person's income level in this country is highly dynamic, a function of opportunity, choices and, yes, circumstance. Few people remain permanently ''rich'' or ''poor'' in the United States.

It's not a bad thing for there to be an ''income gap," usually described in group terms as the difference in income between those in the top and bottom 20 percent of income earners. It's not desirable for incomes to be leveled, for the differences animate the incentives necessary for people to act as productive citizens. Assured of an income the same as one's neighbors--no more, no less--what thinking person would work harder to achieve more?

In any event, ''rich'' and ''poor'' are relative; in the United States, a vast infrastructure of transfer payments and social services affords all but those who refuse to cooperate with the system a degree of comfort entirely unknown in other parts of the world.

. . . .

. . . . We remain an incredibly prosperous nation full of opportunity, which is why millions of people seek to come here and live. The son or daughter of today's lowliest laborer may be tomorrow's corporate chieftain.

There are many, many stories of virtually penniless immigrants achieving incredible success in just a few short years--perhaps because they spend far more energy on making themselves industrious and marketable than they do whining and waiting for someone else to solve their problems. The United States remains a land of plenty--and of tremendous opportunity.

A silly editorial in the Daily Gazette of Schenectady notices that gasoline costs more in New York than other states, and promptly implies that a recent reduction in gasoline taxes is to blame No, really.

. . . state and county politicians, who all said government shouldn't profit from runaway gas prices, should admit they were wrong and go back to the old tax formulas--unless they can figure out a way to stop the profiteering. Better that government should get this money than the greedy oil industry.

How, exactly, a tax increase would reduce gasoline prices is not explained here. And, amid the predictable and tiresome huffing and puffing about the greedy oil industry, one interesting question is left unaddressed: If the problem with New York's gasoline costs really were greedy oil companies, is there really any serious argument that oil companies that are greedy in New York are not greedy, or are less greedy, in other states?

Negativity is earned; Since Bruno was kind enough to ask, some positive advice on fixing Albany This editorial in the Buffalo News criticizes Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno for fretting about "too much negativity" on the Upstate economy.

Poor Joe. New York's Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, is tired of all the negativity, including the downers being served up by his party's gubernatorial candidate, John Faso.

Faso last week had the poor taste to tell the truth about upstate's economic condition and the even worse judgment to put the blame where it belongs: in Albany. Bruno, fearing the loss of his chamber's long-standing Republican majority, leapt to the defense of the most dysfunctional Legislature in the country. On an Albany radio program, he rejected Faso's acid comments, though without knowing it was Faso who made them.

. . . .

"I want to hear positives," Bruno said. "I don't want to hear negatives. I don't want to hear what's wrong. I want to hear how we're going to fix it."

The editorial then accepts Senator Bruno's challenge to focus on solutions that will benefit the Upstate economy, and offers a few specific policy suggestions.

Reform the Taylor Law that covers public employee unions. There's no problem with a fairly administered law that takes into account the importance of public sector labor, especially when the right to strike is taken away. But the law isn't fair; it tilts too far toward labor and away from taxpayers. Reform it to force arbitrators to factor in the ability of taxpayers to pay and, just as important, to encourage the parties to come to terms without resorting to arbitration.

Stop using the public authorities to run up debt. Too much debt is bad, sir. It burdens taxpayers now and for generations to come.

This one is for you, especially, senator, and for your Republican colleagues in the Assembly: Start acting like Republicans. We're not looking for Tom DeLay, here, but how about raising holy you-know-what when the Assembly passed bills to fatten the pockets of the lawyers and the unions? There's no point in voting for Republicans if they're just going to act like Democrats.

The editorial also urges legislative redistricting reform, a reining in of various incumbent-friendly legislative practices, and steps to give real power to legislative committees.

Faso says his Medicaid plan will save $13 billion From an Associated Press story by Mike Gormley:

Building more community health centers, attacking fraud like a virus and making sure Medicaid recipients don't get better health care coverage than other New Yorkers are measures Republican John Faso said he would push to create a leaner Medicaid program if he becomes governor.

Faso said Tuesday he would build as many as 40 community health centers in rural areas and city neighborhoods, adding to the current 60 centers providing primary care intended to head off more expensive treatment in emergency rooms and hospitals.

He also would increase the payments to physicians and specialists so they would treat more Medicaid patients earlier, which can also prevent hospital stays.

"New Yorkers pay for the most expensive Medicaid program in the nation, with per capita costs 130 percent above the national average," said Faso. "Currently, we put far too many resources into policies that do not provide the best care. My reforms will ensure that the program is motivated by patient needs, not driven by status-quo institutions."

One of his Democratic opponents, Tom Suozzi, said the plan is misdirected and creates "the same false choice of hurting the poor by cutting programs or continuing wasteful spending" that has dominated the debate in Albany. The Nassau County executive forced the state's biggest Medicaid reforms two years ago during his Fix Albany campaign to cut waste and fraud in a system that was driving up local property taxes. Suozzi has promised during the campaign to use future savings to reduce local property taxes.

The candidate ahead in the polls, Democrat Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, said Faso's plan resembles a proposal Spitzer made in January.

"In spite of the similarities, Faso's plan would never be able to achieve the real reform and the Medicaid fraud recoveries he promises without supporting two pieces of critical legislation--the Martin Act for health care and the false claims act," said Spitzer campaign spokeswoman Christine Anderson.

There's more. And: Faso faults Spitzer's Medicaid oversight From a story by Jay Gallagher of the Gannett News Service:

Seeking to gain some traction and attention in his long-shot race for governor, Republican candidate John Faso on Tuesday unveiled a plan to overhaul the state's Medicaid program that he said would save taxpayers $13 billion over four years.

Faso and his lieutenant-governor running mate, Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef, also blasted the likely Democratic nominee, Eliot Spitzer, for not doing enough to fight fraud in the $46 billion health-care program for the poor in his role as attorney general.

State officials have been talking about overhauling Medicaid, by far the state's costliest program, for decades, but the price tag has continued to rise far faster than inflation. Faso pointed out that New York spends more on the program than Florida and Texas combined, even though those states together have roughly twice as many people as New York. On a per-person basis, New York's program costs 30 percent more than the norm.

Faso said Spitzer has been "asleep at the switch" by not more aggressively pursuing fraud cases.

The GOP plan "bears a remarkable resemblance to the very plan Eliot laid out in January over seven months ago," said Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson. "In spite of the similarities, Faso's plan would never be able to achieve the real reform and the Medicaid fraud recoveries he promises without supporting two pieces of critical legislation--the Martin Act for Health Care and the False Claims Act."

There's more. And: From the Albany Business Review:

The proposal includes steps to uncover and prosecute fraud; expand the use of primary care and community health centers; make provider reimbursements more competitively priced; right-size hospitals to achieve a more efficient system; improve technology systems; increase the use of generic drugs; and promote home care and non-institutional care over nursing home care.

Faso's own press release said that:

The Faso Medicaid Program will be governed by a clear set of principles.

Some background on Medicaid costs: Last year, the PPI documented New York's high medicaid costs in a 9-part series.

-- Government should promote efficient, quality health care services over higher-cost, lower-quality alternatives.

-- Transform Medicaid to better reflect the actual cost of services and to minimize waste.

-- Public benefits should not exceed private benefits.

Root out and Eliminate Waste and Fraud: John Faso is the only candidate who is committed to eliminating fraud in New York's Medicaid program. He will ensure the Medicaid Inspector General is a tough prosecutor, who is given the tools and finances necessary to protect the taxpayer's investment and root out fraud. John Faso will also rely on the experience of his Lieutenant Governor, Scott Vanderhoef, who has been a pioneer employing anti-fraud technology to expose those who game the system.

Overhaul Medicaid: John Faso will fundamentally reform Medicaid in order to bring the program's costs in line with national standards, cut property taxes for New Yorkers, and improve the care provided to State beneficiaries. His recovery plan includes:

-- Expand use of primary care and community health centers that provide better health care services at reduced costs;

-- Ensure New York Medicaid provider reimbursements are competitively priced.

-- Right-size hospitals to ensure a more efficient system that maintains quality care.

-- Improve technology systems, expand preferred drug list; increase use of generic drugs.

Improve Long-Term Care: The Faso Plan will expand the Partnership for Long-Term Care to promote individual responsibility for long-term health management, as well as minimize the risk of impoverishment due to excessive care costs. The Faso Plan also promotes home care and non-institutional care over expensive nursing home care and uses managed care practices that have worked for other populations to lower costs for long-term care.

Suozzi, Faso warn of growing upstate-downstate rift From an Associated Press story by Mike Gormley:

Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican John Faso warned upstate voters Tuesday night that they are on the losing side of the upstate-downstate divide, and losing ground.

Faso and Suozzi said powerful politicians from New York City and Albany are insulated from the pain of most New Yorkers because of the benefits of Wall Street and Broadway in Manhattan and, in Albany, state government's rampant spending and its spinoff commerce.

The arguments were aimed in part at front-running Democrat Eliot Spitzer of Manhattan, who has served two terms in Albany with the current power structure. Faso and Suozzi noted that, again, Spitzer declined the face-to-face confrontation a week before the Sept. 12 Democratic primary.

"People downstate don't understand what's going on" upstate, said Suozzi, a native Long Islander and current Nassau County executive. "They think the reason the economy is bad in Buffalo is because it's cold outside. . . so the power base of the politicians in New York City doesn't realize there is a problem."

"Why are these state legislators so out of touch?" he asked. He took aim at the powerful and self-protected majorities of both chambers of the Legislature.

"There is no accountability among the Assembly Democrats or the Senate Republicans," Suozzi said. "There have been more legislators indicted in the past three years than have lost their jobs at the polls."

He has made cutting property taxes, cutting waste and fraud in the Medicaid health care system, and cleaning up Albany politics top campaign top issues in his campaign.

Faso said that if the upstate region was a state unto itself, it would be the slowest growing state except for North Dakota and West Virginia. . . .

. . . .

"It's time to make New York more competitive so those young graduates of today won't have to leave for a better tomorrow somewhere else," said Faso, the former Assembly Republican leader.

Faso, born on Long Island and a longtime Columbia County resident, has made cutting property, sales and business taxes a top priority in order to make New York more attractive to employers. He also aims to cut state spending and take on Albany's special interests, including unions representing teachers and other public sector workers. Most of them have endorsed Spitzer.

And: Reforms top issues at candidates' forum; Faso, Suozzi attend; Spitzer not present From a story in the Buffalo News:

Property taxes, loss of jobs and failing urban school districts--Suozzi said Western New York has the same problems as Nassau County, where he serves as county executive.

Those problems are "much more related to dysfunction in our state government than they are in our local governments," he said. "The State of New York has pushed these problems to the local governments, and we are paying for it."

Candidates were asked where they stand on "Unshackle Upstate," the slogan of business groups pushing for reforms in state government. Would they support legislation to exempt this region from certain state policies--such as contracts with public employee unions--that ignore municipalities' ability to pay?

"The answer is absolutely yes," replied Faso, a former member of Buffalo's Fiscal Stability Authority. "The state has made places like Buffalo uncompetitive."

Suozzi also voiced his support, saying the upstate-downstate divisiveness is fueled by lack of understanding by downstaters, who imagine Buffalo's reputed cold climate is the reason for its plight. "It's not the climate--it's the economic climate," Suozzi said.

The candidates were asked if they're concerned about the sheer volume of government--in its myriad forms--in the state. "Too many governments is an absolute, real concern," said Suozzi, who noted that Long Island has 900 governmental entities. "The problem is this has happened over a long period of time, and people are fiercely loyal," Suozzi said.

"We do have too much government in New York State," agreed Faso, who said the existing state law makes consolidations a tough proposition.

The candidates also were asked about how small businesses could be helped in providing health care insurance to their employees.

Faso said insurance law needs to be reformed to allow small businesses to offer pretax health care savings accounts to employees.

Suozzi said he would pitch for universal health care, not only for the state, but throughout the country.

Primary day seems to hold secondary interest From a Newsday column by Larry Levy:

. . . Democrat Tom Suozzi has tried to make a race of the gubernatorial primary. The Nassau County executive has raised millions of dollars and many key issues that wouldn't have been otherwise. But polls suggest Democratic voters don't want to hear a discouraging word against front-runner Eliot Spitzer--especially the "liar-liar" name-calling from an increasingly desperate Suozzi.

If Suozzi really cared about his issues, he would have ended his own bid before a huge loss Tuesday could be spun as a referendum on their importance.

But yesterday Suozzi was conducting another low-impact "town hall meeting" in upstate Depew, not far from where Spitzer, the New York attorney general, bopped in Buffalo's West Indian Day parade. So Suozzi apparently will fight to the bitter end, likely a loss by 40 points or more.

Study: Consumers in Tier don't save or invest enough From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

In Binghamton, housing values are affordable but "well below" the national average and at levels that don't necessarily boost nest eggs, said Sophie Beckmann, A.G. Edwards financial planning specialist. Local mortgage balances also are lower than the national average, she said.

...

The cost of living in Binghamton is increasing faster than pay, said Val Sherwood, branch manager of the Binghamton office of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central New York. High energy costs and taxes are a likely factor.

Cost of college too high? From the Times Union:

New York students are well-prepared for college, compared with their counterparts nationwide. But they are struggling to pay once they get there.

...For example, New Yorkers have a 45 percent chance of enrolling in college by age 19, one of the lowest rates nationally, due to a high dropout rate and the fact that many young people take more than four years to finish high school.

Those who do get through high school, however, are well-prepared, with lots of New Yorkers taking and passing Advanced Placement courses.

County votes against rate increase From the Troy Record:

A $23 million plan to improve decades-old county Sewer District No. 1 infrastructure died an abrupt death Wednesday after nearly a year of preparation.

. . . .

After voting against it, Legislator Edward Swartz cited feedback from a public taxed to its limit.

Public deserves to hear from principals in Water Authority audit From an editorial in the Democrat & Chronicle:

As for Stanwix, what taxpayers and the authority's 600,000 ratepayers most want to know, no doubt, is whether he will pay back at least a sizeable portion of the $290,000 in additional benefits he received upon retirement in 2002. That handsome sum includes pay for additional sick days, health insurance for life for Stanwix and his wife, and a lump sum of $72,274.

Erie County's control board has rejected county lawmakers' four-year plan to balance the county budget and asked lawmakers to try again, the Buffalo News reports. The plan would have "balance[d] future budgets by shifting the flow of sales tax money from public schools."

"They hold the cards. They hold all the cards," [control board Chairman Anthony J.] Baynes said. "All they have to do is do their job."

Unions do benefit from the Taylor Law, one Buffalo-area resident writes in response to a letter in the Buffalo News that we blogged last week (we can't provide a link because of technical problems).

The News truthfully and accurately opines that, overall, the law has benefited the unions. Despite the examples the writer cited, the recent history of negotiations with public unions has resulted in continual increases in compensation despite declining population, tax base and tax receipts. It is generally agreed that this public sector burden is the single, largest factor causing that decline.

In 2000, Governor Pataki and the Legislature (both houses, with support from Democrats and Republicans alike) eliminated New York's extra estate tax. It was great news for entrepreneurs and investors in the Empire State, eliminating a major incentive for the most successful to move elsewhere. Due to changes in the federal tax code, New York's estate tax is now back in place, at 16 percent, and once again encourages family-business owners and others to take their assets to a more friendly location. The list of such locations is growing, as The Wall Street Journal notes in this editorial for paid subscribers.

Soon it will be safe to be caught dead in Virginia. Last week Democratic Governor Tim Kaine and the Republican-controlled legislature struck a deal to abolish the state's estate tax, effective July 1 next year.

...

Only a few years ago nearly every state taxed estates at death, in part because a federal tax credit allowed states to keep part of the revenue that would otherwise go to Uncle Sam. Last year the federal tax credit was abolished and in two dozen states the death tax died along with it. But not at first in Virginia, which had decided way back in 1978 that it would go on collecting its death tax even without the benefit of a federal tax credit. Not any more.

With more than 50,000 state-government workers, the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area historically has enjoyed greater economic stability than the rest of the state. The Capital Region is finally getting serious about private-sector growth, and the Times Union reports that one key indicator suggests it's none too soon.

Capital Region residents have seen their incomes lose ground over the past four years relative to those in much of the rest of the country, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Per capita personal income locally totaled $34,996 in 2005, according to estimates from the bureau, a unit of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Capital Region ranked 73rd of 361 metropolitan areas nationwide, down from No. 66 in 2004, 68 in 2003, and 56 in 2002.

Eric Anderson's story is here.

The Albany Business Review reports that some elected officials will hold rallies and protests today to draw attention to the state's noncompliance (thus far) with the court ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. (For background on the CFE case, visit here.)

Elected officials in Albany, N.Y., and Schenectady will hold events Thursday designed to pressure the state into complying with the court ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case.

. . . .

In Albany, city Common Council members Barbara Smith and Catherine Fahey will join the executive directors of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the Alliance for Quality Education and the state School Boards Association at a news conference to call for state compliance with the CFE ruling.

In Schenectady, Mayor Brian Stratton said he planned to appear with school children, local officials and parents to call for the state to meet its obligations under the court rulings.

Local elected officials in New York City, Long Island, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Kingston planned similar events this week.

Meanwhile, the story reminds us that:

The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, is scheduled to hear arguments on Oct. 10 in Albany in what could be the last available appeal left to the state in the case.

Folks in the hometown of suspected cop-shooter Bucky Phillips have enough to worry about even without a dangerous criminal on the loose, the Albany Times Union reports. Like many other parts of Upstate New York, locals say, the area is filled with good people who are simply struggling to get by.

Like many upstate communities, Ralph "Bucky" Phillips' hometown is feeling the pangs of economic starvation, residents say.

...

Like the basket factories and dairy farms, the churches have vanished, and many young people have left to look for jobs elsewhere.

"People moved out and got jobs in the city. All the kids left, got jobs in other places where things are thriving," said Carlson, who lives in the village of Cassadaga, in the town of Stockton.

...

Next door, a considerably angrier man stood in the doorway of his ramshackle, closed variety store, lambasting politicians he says have strangled the economic life in this part of New York.

There's more in the story by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist. It's available here.

An editorial in the Utica Observer-Dispatch points out that the deadlock over teacher contracts in that area hurts taxpayers, since districts must follow old contracts until new ones are ratified. The solution, the paper says, is for teachers to realize that they must pay a larger portion of their health-care costs.

The Public Employment Relations Board said that this is the third consecutive year there has been an increase in districts at impasse with their teachers unions.

. . . .

Such deadlocks hurt everyone. It detracts from the educational process and is a poor example for young people who are expected to meet their deadlines. Furthermore, impasses do a disservice to taxpayers who end up paying more because districts are bound by old contracts until new ones are worked out.

A major sticking point is health care.

. . . .

It's wrong to expect taxpayers to subsidize higher premiums. It's a double whammy for those who work in private industry, who already pay higher health-care contributions and co-payments for themselves and their own families.

More: Tough call, but what other choice was there? That's pretty much Troy Record's James Franco's opinion of the city of Troy taking away retirement benefits from 99 retirees.

On the one hand, it is easy to just give the mostly elderly people the benefits even if they technically did not work long enough for the city, or were not full-time employees when they retired from the city work force. Some have been getting the benefits for so long what difference would it make? And some probably made retirement decisions based on the assumption they would have decent health-care coverage for life.

On the other hand, taxpayers should not the shoulder the burden to provide people with coverage they did not earn and are not entitled to. And it is a pretty good amount of money. On average, the retirees pay about $167 a month, but since Troy is self insured the city pays for any health care services that cost over and above that number.

And: The Oneonta Daily Star takes note of the New York State School Boards Association's calling attention to the cost of school employee health insurance. That story is here.

That's what the Times Union says, in an editorial about Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno's recent comments on gubernatorial candidate John Faso's portrayal of the Upstate economy.

Talk about being in denial. Things are bad upstate, even if Mr. Bruno doesn't want to hear about it. How bad? Bad enough for Eliot Spitzer to have compared upstate to Appalachia earlier in the campaign, only to stand corrected -- Appalachia is doing better than upstate. And bad enough that any candidate who cares about his or her credibility will acknowledge these grim facts.

That comparison is a reference to our analysis of recent population and economic trends in Appalachia and Upstate, available here. The TU editorial is here.

The state Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether requiring religious employers to pay for abortions and contraception violates the employers' Constitutional rights. We're agnostic on that question, but bemused by the lack of debate about whether the controversial law actually does what it says it does: help women. The Times Union relates a key argument from the state's defense of the law, in this story.

In her argument, Puri said lawmakers who spent four years from introduction to inclusion of the women's health act were responsive to the clear and abundant evidence that the law, modeled on California legislation, helps women.

Health-care mandates generally help some individuals, but hurt others. Those who gain tend to be better-educated, better-paid workers whose skills are valuable enough that employers can afford to pay more for their health coverage. Employers of lower-skilled workers can't afford to spend as much on pay and benefits--which is why such workers are more likely to lack any coverage at all. If it meets its stated purpose of forcing employers to provide coverage they otherwise would not, the so-called Women's Health and Wellness Act of 2003 will take some compensation dollars from elsewhere--wages or other benefits. That will hurt, not help, some women. To our knowledge, there simply is no "clear and abundant evidence" to the contrary.

The Utica Observer-Dispatch reports that Eliot Spitzer has said he opposes a proposed high-voltage powerline that would run through parts of Central New York.

"The way I see it now, it's impossible to see how the current plan would be approved," Spitzer said after a campaign stop at the Matt Brewing Co. in Utica.

He offered a similar comment in July after running the Utica Boilermaker 5K Training Run. Pressed on his own view Wednesday instead of the prediction, Spitzer said, "I'm not differentiating here," and said he was personally opposed.

Spitzer previously declined to comment on his personal view, citing his role as state attorney general.

What do voters want from the next governor? Some major concerns seem universal, as Errol Cockfield's story for Newsday makes clear.

As a campaign bus took him across the state yesterday to greet voters in a last push before Tuesday's primary, many of the potential voters Eliot Spitzer encountered treated the Democratic front-runner as if he were already in the governor's chair.

During an intimate gathering over pastries at a home with views of the Hudson River, Susan Spear, a resident of Mahopac, said she hoped the attorney general would take his tenacity for confronting corporate fraud to the halls of the state Capitol.

She and other families, Spear said, are suffering under the burdens of rising property taxes and energy costs. "The harder we work as families, the more gridlock we see in Albany," she said.

More: John Faso says Spitzer is too close to some public-employee unions, the Times Union's Liz Benjamin reports. That story is here. Joseph Spector and Jay Gallagher have more in this story for the Democrat & Chronicle. And: Against the odds, Tom Suozzi keeps pushing his message that Spitzer won't really reform Albany. AP's Frank Eltman reports here.

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso had more to say about his plan to reform Medicaid at a campaign stop in Syracuse yesterday, the Post-Standard reports.

Faso, the Republican candidate for governor, stopped in Syracuse to promote his plan to overhaul Medicaid and take his front-running Democratic opponent to task for the continued existence of fraudulent claims that he said could cost state taxpayers up to $4.5 billion annually.

. . . .

As part of the plan, Faso would spend $100 million over two years to expand community health centers. He would shrink some hospitals, increase the use of generic drugs and raise rates for some physicians to encourage office visits over emergency room treatment.

He would also restructure the long-term care portion of the program to promote less-expensive home care, managed care and other options over costly institutionalization.

More on anti-fraud efforts: A test computer program, based on software from Upstate's Salient Corporation, has found six cases of possible Medicaid fraud in Onondaga County, totaling nearly $100,000, the Post-Standard reports.

The cases, Social Services Commissioner David Sutkowy told a Legislature committee, include one in which a Medicaid recipient photocopied 150 times a prescription for OxyContin, a narcotic painkiller, and had it filled at 150 pharmacies across New York.

The cost to taxpayers: $7,000.

Who paid for the 150 photocopies?

... an examination of mental health patients' claims revealed 30 cases where patients could have been getting case management, but instead were using a more costly psychiatric emergency room.

More on all the candidates' Medicaid plans: Gotham Gazette, an online publication of Citizens Union Foundation, reports on the plans from all three candidates. That summary, with plenty of links to more detailed information, is here. And our own in-depth look at why Medicaid costs so much in New York, and what could be done about it, is here.

Sales tax, energy costs worry rural businesses From the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

Rural business owners are facing the same challenges as their urban couterparts including high sales taxes and energy costs.

About 25 people gathered Thursday at Dibble's Inn for a discussion where small business owners spoke about the problems they face trying to stay afloat in a rural community.

Deborah Gaiser, owner of The Big Red Barn gift shop in Vernon, talked about how difficult it is to run a successful retail shop in a small area where the sales tax is greater than 9 percent.

"It's hard and it really rips into a small business," she said.

Utica converters jobs safe From the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

The sale of Utica Converters to a South Korean company shouldn't affect the company's 175 local jobs, company officials said Thursday.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is selling the tire fabric plant, as well as three others, for $80 million to Hyosung Corp.

"We don't anticipate any of those jobs being affected negatively," said Howard Wood, president of Utica Converters.

Kraft Foods, state invest in Lowville cheese plant From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

Kraft Foods will invest more than $10 million and retain 331 jobs at its facility in Lowville, Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue said Thursday.

Kraft will receive a state grant of up to $950,000 to buy equipment and for facility improvements. The plant, in Lewis County, is Kraft's largest cream cheese manufacturing plant.

Developer Wants to Build Huge Armory Square Project From a story in the Syracuse Post-Standard by Tim Knauss:

The chief executive officer of The Pioneer Cos. says he's planning to spend $70 million to $90 million to build a mix of housing, retail and office space on two parking lots he bought last week near Armory Square.

But first he's looking for ideas.

So Michael P. Falcone is sponsoring a class this fall at the Warehouse, the downtown quarters of Syracuse University's School of Architecture. The Warehouse sits between the two lots.

Ten architecture students participating in the semester-long "Pioneer Studio" will develop designs for the buildings, at least one of which Falcone hopes to use as a basis for his project. Falcone said he's given the students little direction beyond asking them to consider a mix of apartments or condos, retail and office space, and possibly student housing.

He's hoping for results that are "completely different than anything that's been done here," he said. "They're going to give the market something that they haven't seen before."

Faso shares his viewpoint with locals From a Schenectady Gazette story by Bob Connor on a speech by Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso before two Capital Region chambers of commerce:

Faso and Suozzi have debated without Spitzer, and Faso said he wants to schedule more post-primary debates than the two that Spitzer has agreed to attend. Faso said he does not always agree with Suozzi, but "he's at least offering substance instead of fluff." He criticized the "presumptuousness" of Spitzer's commercials and lack of specificity in his proposals. He said Spitzer's proposals for increased spending, especially on education, confl ict with his pledges to cut taxes.

Faso said Spitzer has avoided taking a position on the Wicks Law, which requires separate bids on major public construction contracts. Faso said this law drives up costs and should be repealed.

Christine Anderson, spokeswoman for the Spitzer campaign, said later that Spitzer thinks "the Wicks Law should be significantly reformed so that municipalities and school districts can manage construction projects more cost-effectively and efficiently, while ensuring that subcontractors are protected from being taken advantage of by larger general contractors."

Anderson also said Spitzer wants reforms in other areas, including education, and has an $11 billion plan to save money in the state budget. This plan, according to Spitzer's campaign Web site, relies heavily on reducing fraud and inefficiency in the health care system.

. . . .

For most of his speech, Faso stressed the need to reduce business costs in New York. Taxes and spending must be cut, he said, claiming that Medicaid costs here are twice the national average. Workers compensation reform is needed to reduce costs to employers, he said, along with reform of the "scaffold law" to eliminate the liability standard that drives up costs on building sites.

Faso also backed changing laws governing public-sector unions to give public employers a better chance of saving money, for example, by eliminating health coverage for cosmetic surgery, which he said is a significant expense for the hard-pressed Buffalo school district. Upstate cities such as Buffalo are in urgent need of such reforms, he said, so that their private-sector economies can be given a chance to recover.

A Mandate for Reform From an editorial in the New York Post:

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer stands to win the Democratic primary for governor next week virtually by acclamation--and he's poised to do the same in November's general election.

One thing is perfectly clear: Spitzer doesn't need the help of this newspaper--or any other--to defeat Democratic challenger Thomas Suozzi.

Nevertheless, we urge enrolled Democrats to pull the lever for Spitzer on Tuesday--notwithstanding the fact that we have had many political and policy differences with the attorney general in the past, and fully expect to have more the in future.

Eliot Spitzer is an intelligent, ambitious man plying a fundamentally honorable trade--politics--in an era of cynicism and low expectations generated by self-serving politicians who have long since dishonored their calling.

People don't expect much from Albany these days; rarely are they disappointed.

This must change.

But it won't unless the next governor of New York takes office with an overwhelming mandate for reform--of the sort that Spitzer seems to be consciously crafting as his campaign proceeds.

. . . .

On one side, there will be him.

On the other, there will be the Albany establishment: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, unions, lobbyists, favor-seekers, self-interested activists and a Legislature filled to overflowing with dimwitted hacks guaranteed re-election, thanks to scandalously gerrymandered districts.

Truth is, only a statewide star, with deep public support, stands any chance of cracking Albany's corrupt political culture.

Development supporters turn out; Hearing attendees overwhelmingly favor re-zoning From the Plattsburgh Press-Republican:

The yeas outweighed the nays by a lot at a public hearing on whether to re-zone thousands of acres for the proposed Big Tupper development.

The Thursday night hearing, held in the basement of Tupper Lake's library, drew scores of residents.

Of the 24 people who spoke before the Town Council, nearly all of them encouraged council members to approve the re-zoning request. A few people cautioned town officials to gather more information before acting; several warned the town that it was on the verge of making procedural missteps.

But the overwhelming majority of speakers and, judging by applause, a similar proportion of audience members threw their support behind the project, hailing it as a spark that will rekindle Tupper Lake's economy.

Cayuga Green tax plan gets push from public From the Ithaca Journal:

The majority of speakers at Thursday's public hearing on tax abatements for Cayuga Green Phase II spoke in favor of granting the project approximately $3 million in tax relief.

Today the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency will vote on whether to approve the abatement package. IDA members Dan Cogan, Jeff Furman, Tim Joseph, Jean McPheeters and Martha Robertson attended the hearing. Kathy Luz-Herrera and Michael Hattery were absent.

Advocating for the introduction of market rate housing and additional retail space, those in favor thought the $16.78 million project would be a benefit to downtown.

During his comments, former mayor Alan Cohen noted that the development would fill a space that has not been a significant revenue generator for the city in years.

Border checkpoint was a weak link; Government right to reallocate resources to more effective measures From an editorial in the Glens Falls Post-Star:

It's a good thing for citizens that the feds finally abandoned plans for a permanent border stop in the Adirondacks.

Maybe now the government can refocus its resources on truly effective methods of stopping terrorism and interstate drug trafficking.

The temporary border stop on the Northway near North Hudson proved to be not only dangerous to motorists, as evidenced by several fatal accidents there, but also easily avoidable by all but the most inattentive criminals. It was even questionable whether the border stop's presence so far within a state was even constitutional. Making this debacle permanent would have only exacerbated the problems of the temporary checkpoint.

But thanks to pressure from our state and federal representatives, the bad idea is a gone. But that still leaves government with the problem of catching terrorists and drug dealers who come across the border and use Interstate 87 as their pipeline to New York City.

Board hears unions' pitch From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

The board that oversees an impending $255 million renovation of seven Syracuse schools heard an argument Thursday about why it should opt to use a project labor agreement.

William Towsley, president of the Central and Northern New York Building Trades Council, made the pitch. The board has not decided whether to go for the agreement.

It's a deal between a labor organization and project manager in which typically labor makes concessions on certain work rules and agrees not to stop work in return for certain pay scales and work conditions. The agreement can cover a broad range of issues.

Towsley said the arrangement can save money, get Syracuse students trained through union apprenticeship programs, increase women and minority participation and increase safety.

The board heard an opposing argument at a previous meeting from Rebbeca Meinking, president of Associated Builders and Contractors, Empire State Chapter, which represents nonunion contractors.

Norwich school district tax rates to rise in some areas From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Norwich City School District tax rates will rise in five communities in 2006-07, based on school board approval Tuesday for rates in the 11 municipalities that make up the county's largest district.

Tax rates will increase in the City of Norwich and the towns of Norwich, McDonough, North Norwich, and Oxford. Tax rate decreases are scheduled for the towns of Guilford, New Berlin, Pharsalia, Plymouth, Preston and Smyrna.

The combined Guernsey Memorial Library and Norwich school district tax rates range from a low of $22.01 in New Berlin to a high of $41.46 in the Town of Norwich. The Town of Norwich's rate is based on a 51.65 equalization rate, lowest of the district's municipalities.

The district tax rates are based on a total levy of $10.7 million, which represents an increase of $517,836. The levy includes $9.7 million for school purposes, up $424,407, and $926,035 for library purposes, up $93,429. Taxes are payable without interest by Oct. 31.

More state money sought From an Syracuse Post-Standard story by Pete Lyman:

As classroom doors swung open for another year in Syracuse Thursday, elected officials and educators called on the state Legislature to meet the terms of a court ruling and put up billions of dollars to provide poorer school districts with the same resources as wealthy ones.

At a news conference at H.W. Smith Elementary School, Mayor Matt Driscoll declared September to be Act for Education Month in Syracuse and called for changes in the state aid formula to provide equitable funding for all schools around the state.

Syracuse district Superintendent Daniel Lowengard appealed to the Legislature to close "the divide between the haves and the have-nots," as the courts have ordered.

The state Supreme Court has declared that the state's school aid system fails to meet the constitutional mandate of providing a sound, basic education for all children. The decision has been upheld on appeal, and the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, is expected to issue a final ruling in the case next month.

GM's CFO, Fritz Henderson, said this week that GM will find a solution with the union workers at its former parts-maker, Delphi, that will avoid a strike, Bloomberg News reports.

"Resolution of Delphi remains my top priority," he said Thursday at a Credit Suisse automotive conference in New York. "I am absolutely convinced we will find an equitable solution."

GM is in talks with Delphi, its bankrupt former parts unit, and the union to try and avoid a strike at the supplier that could shut down the automaker's operations. Delphi has asked a bankruptcy judge to let it scrap labor agreements and impose terms including wage reductions of as much as 55 percent. The UAW has threatened a walkout if Delphi implements cuts.

Workers at Ford's local plant to vote on contract changes From the Buffalo News:

Unionized workers at Ford Motor Co.'s Woodlawn Stamping Plant will vote Sunday morning on a package of local contract changes aimed at making the Hamburg factory more competitive, a union official said Thursday.

The changes sought by Ford management to the local contract with members of Local 897 of the United Auto Workers union also could be an important factor in the efforts to bring work on new Ford models to the Woodlawn plant.

Mark Johnson of the Associated Press reports that

Republican candidate for comptroller J. Christopher Callaghan said Thursday he wants to replace the expensive public pension system with a 401(k)-type system for new state, local and school employees.

The Republican running to manage investments in the massive state pension system said current state and local pension benefits are too costly and unfairly punish taxpayers.

Callaghan, the former Saratoga County treasurer, proposed that new state and local public employees participate in defined contribution, or 401(k) plans, instead of getting traditional pensions. He would require new government employees to contribute 3 percent of earnings to the plans for the length of their employment. The state would still contribute between 5 and 7 percent to the retirement plan, he said. In some private 401(k) plans, the employer does not contribute.

"Frankly, our need to protect retirees from the vagaries of the market is dwarfed by our need to protect taxpayers from the pandering of politicians," Callaghan said.

Villages, towns, cities, counties and school districts in the early part of the decade faced mounting pension costs following the decline of financial markets after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The increase staggered local governments and schools that had been exempt from pension charges amid the bullish market of the '90s.

. . . .

GOP candidate for governor John Faso also proposed switching from pensions to 401(k)-type accounts for new hires along with other measures to cut costs.

There's more. Some perspective: As we noted in last October this analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data,

New York's state and local government employees collect higher retirement benefits while contributing less than state and local government employees in other states. . . .

State and local government retirees in New York collected an average $23,483 in pension benefits in 2004, some 18 percent above the national average, according to the Institute.

New York's state and local governments contributed a total of $4.2 billion in taxpayer funding for pensions in 2003-04, according to the Census Bureau. That was up from $2.4 billion the previous year, and $1.5 billion in 2001.

New York government employees contributed 3 percent of total receipts to the state's pension systems in 2004. Nationwide government workers contributed an average 8 percent of public pension fund revenue.

Comptroller candidate seeks pension reform; Challenger Callaghan proposes system like 401(k) program From a Gannett News Service story by Cara Matthews:

Essentially, newly hired employees would not receive a traditional pension with defined benefits, meaning a guarantee of a certain amount of money depending on how many years someone worked and what the salary was, said J. Christopher Callaghan, who is challenging Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democrat. Instead, the state would contribute a certain amount to a retirement account. The amount of money for retirement would depend on what the employee put away over the years and what the state contributed.

Callaghan said the change was needed because state officials have a penchant for "sweetening the pot," which helps pensioners but ultimately hurts all New Yorkers in the wallet. New York's roughly $140 billion pension plan is the second largest in the country.

"The main thing is to dissuade the Legislature and the governor, when times seem to be good, from saying, 'Here's some benefit, here's a little bit more,'" said Callaghan, who resigned as Saratoga County treasurer to run for comptroller.

Hevesi, who is in his first term, is viewed as the front-runner. He has not been actively campaigning. He is against Callaghan's proposal, a spokesman said Thursday.

. . . .

State lawmakers implemented a number of pension "sweeteners" in 2000, but contribution rates rose because of the post-9/11 stock market plunge and an unstable economy, he said.

In 2002, with the major gubernatorial candidates calling for it, lawmakers gave pensioners a permanent cost-of-living adjustment.

The state has added different tiers to the pension plan--which covers public employees but not teachers--since 1973 because pension benefits were getting more expensive, according to Callaghan. Each tier would provide lower benefits for new employees. He would add a tier 5 for new state workers. Employees would contribute 3 percent, and the government contributions would be reduced to about 7 percent, he said.

Callaghan said in a statement that the new system would be a good alternative for employees and would rein in state elected officials that wanted to increase pension benefits.

"Frankly, our need to protect retirees from the vagaries of the market is dwarfed by our need to protect taxpayers from the pandering of politicians," he said in his plan. "Anytime Albany is in a position to grant a benefit to public employees ... the taxpayers are in mortal danger."

Hospitals worried by report From a New York Sun story by Jacob Gershman:

Panic is setting in among New York's money-hemorrhaging hospitals as Governor Pataki's health care commission nears completion of a first draft of proposals for revamping the state's troubled health industry.

Late next week, commission members are set to receive confidential advisory reports that will likely include lists of hospitals and nursing homes marked for downsizing or closure. Although the reports are nonbinding, they represent the first time the commission is formally considering recommendations and are the object of intense speculation and fear in the industry.

"If you're on this preliminary list, it's going to be hard to turn this around," the director of government affairs for the Business Council of New York State in Albany Elliott Shaw, who specializes in health care policy, said.

. . . .

There are growing signs that hospital executives are girding for a massive public relations battle--along the lines of the protests that greeted Mayor Bloomberg's firehouse closings in 2003--that will grow with intensity in coming weeks and draw into the debate city leaders, state lawmakers, and the front-runner in the governor's race, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

In preparation for worst-case scenarios, hospitals are quietly retaining lobbying and public relations firms and reaching out to local lawmakers for support, according to advisers to the commission.

The behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the hospitals is expected to give way to a full-scale campaign, entailing television advertising, protests, and lawsuits, that could be coordinated with the expected return of lawmakers to Albany after the November elections for a special session.

Also looming in the background is the powerful health care workers union, 1199/SEIU, which earlier this year spent millions of dollars on a television and print advertising campaign that lambasted the governor for trimming Medicaid funding for hospitals and nursing homes. The ads were thought to have contributed to a further dip in the approval rating of Mr. Pataki, who later agreed to restore much of the cuts in a budget deal with lawmakers.

The story also notes that any closing in hospitals may not lead to any reduction in the state's highest-in-the-nation-by-far Medicaid spending.

[Stephen Berger, head of the state commission that is exploring hospital closing,] said he expects that any money saved by the restructuring and closings proposed by the commission would be reinvested back into the health care system, either in the hospital industry or in other areas such as primary care or managed care. He does not anticipate an actual reduction in total Medicaid spending, which is approaching $50 billion a year. "The issue is how you stop the growth," Mr. Berger said.

Huh? Wasn't the whole point of the commission to attack a key factor in keeping Medicaid spending so high so that this spending, and the tax burden it inflates, could be reduced?

Spitzer vows to cut; If elected governor, he says, he'll improve efficiency by trimming Medicaid services, closing some hospitals From a Newsday story by Errol Cockfield:

Fixing his attention on health care, the costliest area of the state budget, Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic front-runner in the race for governor, said yesterday that, if elected, he would shutter some hospitals and pursue cuts to certain Medicaid services.

"I have said very clearly we are going to close hospitals," Spitzer said during a stop at a home in this suburb of Syracuse. "These are going to be tough decisions."

The attorney general said that belt-tightening would be part of an elaborate restructuring of the public health care delivery system in the state aimed at improving efficiency and freeing up dollars to provide health coverage to uninsured children and adults.

Spitzer also said, as he told business leaders last January, that his health-care policy ideas include adding people to Medicaid rolls that are already populated by about one-fifth of all New Yorkers. It's heartening to hear the Democratic candidate talk about the need to reduce Medicaid spending, but we still remain curious about a spreadsheet that shows how New York can dramatically inflate Medicaid enrollment and still significantly cut costs. Cockfield's story also notes Spitzer saying his Medicaid changes, if successful, would prompt him to propose universal health care in New York. We're also curious about the cost implications of that proposal. The story also notes criticisms from other candidates.

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso said during an interview yesterday that Spitzer was making promises he would be unable to keep, given the dynamics of the state budget. Faso, who is far behind Spitzer in the polls, has repeatedly said that the attorney general offers vague policy positions with no price tag.

"He's proposing programs that are extraordinarily expensive and he's not leveling with us about where the dollars are going to come from," Faso said.

But Faso, an upstate attorney, and Spitzer agree on much about reforming the health care sector. They agree there should be more of an emphasis on primary care in clinics instead of emergency rooms, but where they differ, Faso said, is over the timetable for expanding coverage to more New Yorkers. "The first thing we've got to do is get control of the existing Medicaid system," Faso, a former Assembly minority leader, said.

For his part, Spitzer has said he would pay for his health care cuts through improved fraud prevention and other initiatives in an $11-billion savings program that would run over three years.

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who is expected to be easily defeated by Spitzer in Tuesday's primary, has said he would duplicate a concept he implemented in Nassau, where all health-related services are under one roof.

Spitzer Says He's Willing to Close Hospitals to Trim Medical Costs From a New York Times story by Danny Hakim:

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said on Thursday that if elected governor he would close hospitals and drastically cut spending in an effort to restore fiscal discipline to New York State.

Giving his most candid glimpse yet of his plans to put the state's fiscal house in order, Mr. Spitzer said that to fulfill his pledge to cut property taxes he would have to take aim at the state's health care system.

"We're going to take the tough medicine," he said at a campaign stop in this Syracuse suburb, adding: "I'm saying to folks this isn't all milk and honey. These are going to be tough decisions. Nobody likes to hear that a hospital is going to close, or a wing of a hospital, or beds are going to be shifted, but that is what we have to do."

. . . .

With such a wide lead, Mr. Spitzer increasingly sounded on Thursday like a man looking ahead to governing and preparing voters for the challenges ahead, including making budget cuts to finance his campaign promises.

Much of Mr. Spitzer's campaign up to now has been spent making costly promises to voters, including cutting property taxes by $6 billion over three years, offering tens of thousands of uninsured children medical care and increasing education spending by billions of dollars.

His opponents--Mr. Suozzi, a Democrat, and former Assemblyman John Faso, a Republican--have said he did not have a clear plan to pay for his proposals. Mr. Spitzer has laid out a variety of cost-saving measures that he said would reduce spending by $11 billion over three years, though some of the measures have failed to pass in the Legislature.

The story also notes that Spitzer talked about the need to enact cost-cutting workers' compensation reforms. Spitzer visits Baldwinsville home; Candidate promises change to young couple who might move out of state. From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

If you missed Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's hourlong stop in Baldwinsville Thursday, don't worry.

He'll be back.

At least that's what he told Dennis and Lindsay Wellman in the living room of their Artillery Lane home, after listening to the young couple talk about their struggle with high property taxes, scarce jobs and unaffordable health insurance.

Without change, the recent college graduates told him, they may be forced to follow the lead of Lindsay Wellman's older brother, who works in Las Vegas, and move out of the state with their 10-month-old son, Nico.

Spitzer, on the second day of a four-day campaign swing across New York state, asked them to give New York a chance. He promised to work for a host of reforms if elected, and asked them to hold him to his word.

"If we win, we'd like to come back here a year from now," Spitzer told them. "We'll report to you on what we've accomplished and you can tell us if we've lived up to what we said. I want you to hold us accountable."

Spitzer campaign stumps in Rochester From a Rochester Democrat and Chronicle story by Joe Spector:

Joined by local Democratic leaders including Mayor Robert Duffy, Spitzer called on supporters to join him in trying to improve the state's future--by cutting taxes, revitalizing urban downtowns and improving schools.

"We know what we have to do," he said. "It's a question of having the willpower to do it together."

But Spitzer rejected questions about why he hasn't held an upstate debate against his primary foe, saying he is comfortable with the number of debates he has agreed to. He and Suozzi held only one head-to-head debate, last month in Manhattan. He has two planned against Faso. The three candidates were also in a town hall-style forum last week, hosted in part at Rochester Institute of Technology.

During a news conference Wednesday in Rochester, Faso said Spitzer "arrogantly refused" to do more debates. Asked about the comment, Spitzer said, "A lot of politicians will use a lot of cheap words. I'm running on a record that the public understands and appreciates, I hope."

'Hard choices' frame talks; Spitzer, Faso both bemoan cost of workers, health benefits and their effects on state growth From a story in the Albany Times Union:

Meeting with residents of this Syracuse suburb Thursday in the home of a young, middle-class couple, Spitzer was at one moment discussing the "hard choices" needed to reduce health care and business costs and also cut property taxes, and in the next, intoning a feel-good platitude about how "half the battle is knowing you can win."

"We know we're going to win because we have the optimism that's inherent in being a New Yorker," said Spitzer, who polls show is far ahead of primary challenger Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and Republican John Faso.

After the hourlong gathering at the home of Dennis and Lindsay Wellman, both 23, and their 10-month-old son, Nico, Spitzer stood on their lawn and spoke in broad terms about cuts in areas dear to many special interest groups that support him.

Spitzer said he will seek to change the Medicaid system, perhaps cutting payments to hospitals for high-cost and high-profit procedures--although he didn't specify which ones--to free up cash for more basic primary and preventive care. He also said some Medicaid services "may not be affordable; some of them may be reconsidered."

On workers' compensation, Spitzer noted New York has the nation's lowest maximum benefit but on of the most expensive systems. He blamed "administrative costs and overhead," but also conceded permanent partial disability payments, which New York is one of the few states not to cap, are also to blame.

"We are also going to have to deal with some tough issues, and everyone knows this, in terms of permanent partial disability," Spitzer said.

The state attorney general was careful not to give any specifics.

Asked if he would seek to limit or even cap permanent partial disability, he said only: "It's on the table." Asked which hospitals should be shuttered as part of a "right-sizing" effort, he said he would wait to see what a commission appointed by outgoing Gov. George Pataki recommends in its report due in late November.

Buffalo News columnist Donn Esmonde says gubernatorial hopeful Tom Suozzi is the better of the two Democratic candidates.

The cost of everything from Medicaid's public health program to public-worker payrolls, benefits and pensions is among the highest in the land. Big-shouldered New York City can carry the load, but the burden buckles Buffalo. "There is a tremendous opportunity for investment here, every element is in place," Suozzi said on a recent visit. "What stinks is [state] government. That is what holds you back."

. . . .

"You have to fight [Democratic Party boss] Shelly Silver to change anything - he is as much to blame as [Republican boss] Joe Bruno and George Pataki," Suozzi said. "Yet [Silver] is the guy who's supporting Spitzer."

. . . .

In a perfect world, such straight talk would get Suozzi elected. In New York's state of confusion, he's barely been heard. Political volume is only as high as campaign dollars raise it, and Spitzer - with crusader credentials and party backing - tied up all the big money. Which, of course, is part of the problem.

"Spitzer has the money and the insider support," he said. "Well, that's what got us into trouble in the first place."

Alert readers will have noticed some oddities on this blog this week. Permalinks and other links aren't working reliably. Some paragraph returns aren't showing up no matter how hard we hit the "enter" key. Dates aren't appearing as they should. Our nonpareil Web master is working on it. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Hospital finances improved in 2005 From the Buffalo News:

Erie County Medical Center is improving financially and making progress toward reducing its taxpayer subsidy, officials said Friday while releasing an annual report.

The hospital tried to put the financial numbers in the best possible light, reporting that it ended 2005 with a $1.5 million surplus compared with a $15.7 million loss in 2004.

Those figures don't take into account the medical center's annual subsidies from Erie County. If they did, the year-end results show improvement but losses of $28 million in 2004 and $17.5 million in 2005.

Nevertheless, ECMC officials characterized the results as a healthy sign.

City is the heavyweight in tax dollars not paid on time From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Genny's got a huge tax bill but deal works out a reprieve From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

"Genny" survived 24 presidents, World War I, Prohibition, World War II, the '60s, '70s, '80s and the '90s.

But life was never easy, and the last six years were among the most difficult.

By 2005, the High Falls Brewing Co., which makes the Genesee family of beers, among others, became one of Monroe County's largest tax delinquents.

In addition to the thousands of dollars owed in city property and school taxes, the company also didn't pay for about 400 million gallons of water it used in 2004 and about the same amount in 2005, according to city and county records.

The delinquent water charges were added to the tax bill, pushing Rochester's oldest and largest brewery's debt to $5.8 million.

Agreements with the city show that the company's leadership approached the city in 2005 to find a way to pay off the debt. By November, the city and the brewery agreed to spread payments on almost $2.9 million through 2010.

At the time, High Falls put up its first payment of about $287,000 and has since remained current.

By March of this year, the company reached a similar agreement with Monroe County to pay the $2.9 million worth of outstanding taxes, interest and future taxes in installments.

Unpaid taxes up ante for all; [Monroe] County's tab totals $16 million overdue from all sorts of taxpayers From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

Tax delinquents in Monroe County owe millions of dollars each year in unpaid county, town and school property taxes, forcing those who pay on time to pick up the slack.

Last month, the county's Finance Department disclosed that about $16 million went uncollected this year, about 3 percent of the almost $506.9 million the county, towns and special districts requested in property taxes.

In some cases, the unpaid taxes are two years overdue on properties that could land in foreclosure next month unless their owners pay up.

Almost 8,300 properties are included in an annual list of delinquents.

Most owners of those properties, commercial and residential, haven't paid their 2006 taxes, which were due last February.

Attacks spur some local business growth From a story in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Craig Wolf:

The theory, and hope, was that out of the clouds of Sept. 11, 2001's disaster in Manhattan, some silver lining would emerge for the Hudson Valley.

Businesses may relocate, the thinking went.

For the most part, that didn't happen. Some point to city-based entrepreneurs who decided to move north to start their business. But there are a few spots where ripples from the event have made a corporate difference--in server farms, defense manufacturing and airports.

Near Wappingers Falls, in a former IBM Corp. building that had lain empty for years, a start-up server farm called Cervalis has survived some rocky years from its opening here in May 2001 to become a solid success. Much of the 70,000 square feet the company occupies hums with computers belonging to clients who hire Cervalis to care for them and keep them going.

Border Patrol was right to cancel plans for I-87 checkpoint From an editorial in the Plattsburgh Press-Republican:

The controversial checkpoint has been the site of several motor-vehicle accidents in recent years, including one in 2004 in which four people died when a tractor-trailer truck rammed into vehicles waiting at the checkpoint.

. . . .

. . . . Not only have North Country residents railed against the stop, but motorists who frequently travel the four-lane highway have been very vocal in newspapers and public meetings about the safety of the roadblock. Federal, state and local lawmakers representing this area have weighed in against the checkpoint.

Then there's been the matter of safety. The National Transportation Safety Board issued a report that pointed to safety deficiencies in the operation. As a result, the Border Patrol made changes that included rumble strips and additional warning lights. It says the checkpoint--smack dab in the middle of a highway where the legal speed limit is 65 mph--is as safe as humanly possible.

Well, in our opinion, it's still not safe enough.

. . . .

We're pleased to see the Border Patrol has abandoned the idea of a permanent I-87 roadblock, even if they want to blame it only on the expense.

Any kind of checkpoint that doesn't divert traffic off the Northway is a mistake.

A solid vote from dad; Former governor draws spotlight in rally for Andrew Cuomo, others (Rick Karlin/Albany Times Union) Weather, gas prices take toll on tourism From a story in the Gloversville Leader-Herald:

As a summer tourism season--which featured flooding, bad weather, and high fuel prices--comes to an end this month, a collective sigh of relief can almost be heard in Fulton and Montgomery counties.

Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Tourism Director Erika Squillace said because of the June 28 flood, a lot of local tourist attractions have suffered.

"Some were more affected than others, but almost every site was affected," she said.

Squillace said before the flood, everyone expected a lot of summer boaters along the Erie Canal who would have spent time and money at businesses dependent on canal traffic. But, because of the flood, the canal was closed most of the summer.

"All we can do is wait until next season," she said.

"What has hurt is the river being closed," Amsterdam Best Western General Manager Susie Maye said. "Boaters have not been able to come from which we normally would get their business."

There's much more. Mike aides look to 'Gov. Eliot' as hire power From a story in the New York Post:

Thousands of jobs will be up for grabs in January when Eliot Spitzer is expected to take over the governor's mansion--and officials in the Bloomberg administration are likely to be among those lining up to get them.

"A lot of people are getting their résumés ready," said one insider.

Sources said the list includes at least two high-level commissioners.

Thus far, there has been relatively little turnover in the administration. But with term limits looming, some officials aren't waiting to join the hordes of job hunters looming as 2009 approaches.

Representatives of the government-schools establishment around the state are continuing their start-of-the-school-year PR campaign for spending even more taxpayer dollars in chools. Upstate schools want aid if N.Y.C. gets more funds (Gary McLendon/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) Support for school funding lawsuit Peter Iglinski/WXXI) Revamp school funding system, leaders urge (Kingston Daily Freeman

New Yorkers have good reasons for making sure they vote this November, says Ken Wojcieszek, a Niagara Falls resident, in this oped for the Buffalo News.

Many elected officials on every level view the concept of government "of the people, by the people and for the people" as merely words in a history book as they make decisions affecting our lives based on the premise that their own self-preservation comes first.

We see how Albany regards the taxpayer, as last-minute legislation handing out millions of dollars to the special interests ensures their future support and funding at our expense. We have seen county legislators thumb their noses at the taxpayers' demand for change. And when a new face promoting change comes into power, we see how those who adore the status quo viciously attack any call for change, for that change may uncover waste and mismanagement.

. . . .

It's not rocket science. Ignore the campaign slogans and sound bites. The duty of any elected official comes down to one simple axiom: Provide the taxpayers with the best possible services at the lowest possible costs.

Government is not an employment agency. The waste in the personnel segment of government is mind-boggling. I can't find any department in any municipality that cannot have its manpower reduced.

It's our money. We are one of the highest-taxed areas in the country. We are the most unionized. We now have two control boards. It isn't a coincidence. When leaders depend on our tax dollars to create programs meant to repay financial backers and ensure their continued support, we all lose. The taxpayers are leaving this area in droves, and yet they ask for more.

Jim Lawrence, editorial page editor of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, previews a three-day series of editorials and reports on what the Rochester region's economic future can and should look like. From an editorial-page commentary in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by editorial page editor JimLawrence:

The Editorial Board believes the Rochester region needs a lot more than 200 jobs here or 25 or so jobs there. While these economic improvements must not be minimized, the reality remains that our economy needs a major remake.

With that in mind, late last year the Editorial Board began examining what Rochester's once-fabled manufacturing-dominated economy needs to look like to compete in this quarter of the 21st century.

More than eight months later, and after extensive interviews with more than 100 people, including economic experts and everyday workers, we've compiled "Reworking Rochester: Jobs for the Future." It's a comprehensive, three-day report that will consume our editorial and Speaking Out pages starting next Sunday.

. . . .

We believe our proposals can help stem the exodus of thousands from their hometowns around the region in search of job opportunities. In a turnabout, the reworked Rochester that we envision will become a magnet for others elsewhere seeking the same opportunities.

David Robinson, economics columnist for the Buffalo News, reviews new federal statistics on personal income and its (discouraging) implications for prosperity in the Buffalo region.

New statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show that per capita personal incomes for Buffalo Niagara residents grew by 3.2 percent last year, which was 20 percent slower than the 4 percent growth nationwide. What's more, the pace of income growth here, which slowed from 5.2 percent in 2004, cooled at almost twice the pace of the slowdown nationally.

That unfortunate news is hardly surprising in a region that, unlike the rest of the country, never really started growing again after the 2001 recession and still is struggling to add jobs.

"It's another dimension of the same story," says Richard Deitz, the senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Buffalo branch. "We know we're losing manufacturing jobs and gaining service jobs, while the overall number of jobs is holding steady."

Even worse, per capita personal incomes here actually fell by 0.1 percent last year after you take into account the corrosive effects of inflation. Over the last decade, real personal incomes here have managed to beat inflation, rising by 13.9 percent from 1995 to 2005, but that growth was more than a third slower than the 21.9 percent jump in inflation-adjusted personal income nationally.

. . . .

It also doesn't help that the region is losing population, which cuts into the overall amount of personal income here. In fact, the Buffalo Niagara region's total personal income--the sum of all wages, dividends and other sources of income, including transfer payments such as Social Security and welfare benefits--grew by just 2.7 percent last year, only a little better than half the 5 percent nationwide growth rate.

The region's painfully slow wage growth also hurts. The average wages per worker here rose by just 1.1 percent last year, just a third of the 3.4 percent growth nationally, Deitz says, citing Labor Department data.

The column notes that much of the rest of Upstate New York is in the same economic boat.

But misery loves company, and the Buffalo Niagara region's sluggish income growth is hardly unusual in upstate New York. Only Elmira, Binghamton and Rochester managed to eke out per capita personal income growth rates that topped the national average, while Syracuse and Utica fell just short and Albany's 3.1 percent growth rate was the slowest in upstate New York.

No wonder our wallets always seem empty.

Related thoughts? Matt Glynn of the Buffalo News has a long and interesting story on the challenge of convincing executives to relocate to Buffalo and how some employers are meeting that challenge.

"No matter how attractive Buffalo is, people will not come here simply because of the quality of life," [Gareth Powell, HSBC Bank USA's senior vice president and group director of corporate human resources] said. "Employer and job have to carry the initial appeal."

Buffalo can be a difficult sell for high-level job recruiters. Some candidates who have options in bigger cities think of Buffalo for heavy snow or a weak economy--and perhaps stop thinking at all about moving here for a job. Others are lured elsewhere by higher pay.

But some big employers interviewed say they have been successful in drawing talent from all over the country. They insist the notion that people won't come here because of the city's weather or image is overblown, and that a great job opportunity remains the trump card.

The recent Old Home Week placed renewed attention on the region's long-standing wish to bring back local natives who have left for warmer weather and more plentiful job opportunities.

Population trends underscore the challenge employers face. The Census Bureau estimates Buffalo Niagara's population dropped by 22,400 in the past five years, more people than it lost in the entire 1990s. That type of drain forces employers to search more widely to find the skilled personnel they need.

Even if recruiters run into reluctance about moving here, there is a flip side: If an employer has an attractive job to offer, someone who might never have thought of moving Buffalo might take a look.

Some common themes emerge from employers who have succeeded in recruiting. Persuade candidates to visit to change their perceptions. Play up the region's short commutes, variety of neighborhoods, distinct architecture and housing prices. Have them talk to potential co-workers who made similar moves, and who once had similar reservations.

The story also notes the special challenging of attracting young people to Buffalo.

Drawing young people to work in Buffalo remains a challenge for employers, something which the downtown-based law firm Hodgson Russ knows firsthand.

Gary M. Schober, the president and chief executive officer, calls recruiting the firm's "lifeline." But persuading freshly minted law school graduates to choose Buffalo over other cities can be hard. "It is admittedly sometimes a tough sell," he said.

Some graduates are turned off by upstate New York's economic problems, he said, or worry about an absence of people in their age group here.

"Attracting young people to Buffalo is difficult these days," Schober said. "It doesn't have to be that way, but we're kidding ourselves if we don't think it is that way."

. . . .

One strategy the firm uses: keeping in touch with graduates after they have worked elsewhere for a few years, to see if their perspective changes and they want to move back.

There's much more.

Under that sharp headline, Gannett News Service columnist Jay Gallagher has a pointed assessment of the challenges Eliot Spitzer will face in enacting the kinds of change he is promising as a candidate.

Go to an Eliot Spitzer rally and you'll hear two things: the Tom Petty song "I Won't Back Down" and Spitzer himself say, "on Day 1, everything changes."

Neither, of course, is true.

Spitzer backed down--as virtually anyone enjoying the huge lead he has in the polls would--by passing up several opportunities to debate his opponent in Tuesday's Democratic primary for governor, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. Spitzer agreed to a single debate--and has signed on for only two in the general election (if he wins the primary) with Republican candidate John Faso.

. . . .

Certainly those people hearing Spitzer speak and asking him questions as he campaigned across the state this week think everything will change. Property taxes will go down. Schools will improve. The upstate economy will revive. Housing downstate will become more affordable. Albany's dysfunctional government will be transformed into a true asset to the state.

Spitzer has managed to turn himself into the answer for everyone who sees state government as the problem, which is an important reason he is so far ahead in the polls. Never mind that Suozzi and Faso would probably change things even more were they to win.

Spitzer being seen as the answer for all that ails the state is itself a problem for three reasons.

First, even if he turns out to be Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington all rolled into one, Spitzer will most likely face the same Legislature that has had a large say in setting current state policies and has a big stake in the status quo.

Most of the changes Spitzer is likely to seek will have to win the approval of lawmakers, meaning many if not most of the ideas could be blocked.

. . . .

. . . some of the people cheering him at rallies have contradictory goals. Consider:

* New York City wants more money for its schools, while suburban homeowners want lower property taxes.

* Urban parents all over the state want better schools but certainly not higher taxes.

* Businesses want lower workers'-compensation costs while unions want higher benefits.

* Businesses want to make it tougher to bring lawsuits against them but trial lawyers live on them.

* Everybody wants cheaper power and clean air, but the cleanest fossil fuel to burn in power plants (natural gas) is now the most expensive.

Spitzer promised this week to "break some china," if necessary, to make the state a more competitive and prosperous place. But he didn't spell out what dishes he plans to start throwing around.

Spitzer disappoints; Front-runner should refuse donations the rest of the way From an editorial in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

If (and that's a little "if") Eliot Spitzer wins the Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday, he should be prepared to do a better job of demonstrating his support for significant campaign finance reform in New York.

Actually, Spitzer, who is the hands-down favorite in the polls to defeat Thomas Suozzi for the Democratic nod, can start showing his sincerity by refusing to accept campaign donations for the general election campaign.

That's hardly asking too much, considering Spitzer is sitting on about $15 million in donations after having spent more than $10 million on advertising already. Besides, Spitzer's not only wealthy, but he leads his Republican opponent, John Faso, by at least 50 percentage points in the polls.

. . . .

Spitzer can start to redeem himself by providing at least a semblance of the kind of free-from-special interest campaign that New York needs. Yes, refusing to accept any more donations would only be symbolic for well-heeled Spitzer. But it's still a worthwhile symbolism.

Candidates for governor talk of issues, nation, life From the Associated Press:

If you had a say, would you vote to remove Joe Bruno and/or Sheldon Silver from their leadership positions?

Faso: "I support term limits for legislative leaders of 4 terms or 8 years."

Spitzer: "Removing one or two people won't change things in Albany when the entire system is broken. What we need is fundamental, systemwide reform. This involves upending the entire status quo in Albany _ not making scapegoats out of individuals."

Suozzi: "Yes. But the problem is not fundamentally the people; it's the system that's structured to pay out special interests and keep legislators from being accountable to the people. I will also work to end the gerrymandering and special interest culture that pervade Albany and ward off all attempts at real reform. I will work with anyone who holds leadership positions."

. . . .

Will you seek to limit the power of majority conference leaders in the Senate and Assembly?

Faso: "As the Assembly's minority leader, I worked hard to bring reforms to the Legislature, including televised sessions, conference committees, equity, and more input from rank-and-file legislators. I will continue to support reforms that bring fairness, transparency and accountability to the Legislature."

Spitzer: "Yes. I believe in productive and open conference committees and a system of committee meetings rather than simple rubber-stamping sessions. Further, I support enhancing the right of the minority to move legislation and other agenda items that would foster greater participation by the members."

Suozzi: "Yes. As the Brennan Center's reports have made clear, excessive consolidation of power in the hands of conference leaders is one of the key problems in Albany in need of repair."

Spitzer dominates Governor's race From an Associated Press story by Mike Gormley:

Spitzer has called for projects to transform the state's economy including universal broadband Internet access and high-technology research and development, in addition to economic revival outside New York City and billions of dollars more aid each year to schools in New York City.

"We're getting out the vote, talking to voters with simple messages that are right: About bringing back the economy, keeping jobs here, educating our kids, doing it in a way that keeps taxes down, simple concepts so that the public knows we can do it," Spitzer said. "We are trying to talk to the public about values."

Spitzer's commanding lead is a long way from 1994, when he finished fourth in a four-way primary for the Democratic nomination for state attorney general. Rivals painted him as a spoiled rich kid campaigning with what they called a questionable loan from his father. That's usually obituary material in New York politics.

"In 1994, I made the mistake of running for statewide office without having put in the necessary time to get to know New Yorkers in every corner of the state," Spitzer said.

. . . .

Suozzi has taken a more centrist road, focused on cutting property taxes that he says are driving away the middle class and on reforming Albany's pay-for-play politics with special interests.

"That way of doing politics in the state does not work," Suozzi said in July. "We have the highest local taxes in America. We have more people leaving our state than any state in the United States of America."

On the Republican side, Faso is a longtime fiscal conservative who has pledged to cut taxes and spending and opposes abortion. He is considered a threat to Albany's powerful special interests, including labor unions.

"We've got to make New York more competitive," said Faso, who beat former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a moderate, to become the party's designee. "But in order to reduce taxes we need to put the budget on a diet in Albany."

And: John Milgrim of the Ottaway News Service also has a detailed story on the three leading gubernatorial candidates' views on key issues of interest to Upstate New York voters.

[Faso opposes the proposed Upstate-to-Downstate powerline.] "I am very doubtful that project is either necessary or efficient. It's very hard to justify how upstate energy rates should have to rise to help pay for this."

SPITZER: "Based on what we've heard, it's inconceivable to me that it would gain approval, but I need to always state that there is an opportunity for the company to make its case."

SUOZZI: "I understand the need to increase transmission capacity to the downstate region but am also mindful of the concerns of upstate. That is why I oppose the New York Regional Interconnect project as it has been presented."

THE UPSTATE ECONOMY

Much of upstate New York can't envision a booming economy and has seen an exodus of population. What plan, if any, do you have to change that?

FASO: Upstate cities are in a "fiscal death spiral" because the cost of government is outstripping the ability of the private sector to pay for it. Wants to cut business, personal and property taxes and reform workers' compensation laws, contractor liability laws and the public pension system.

SPITZER: "Any successful effort to revitalize cities must include a sustained commitment to improve failing schools, ensure public safety and strengthen social services." Promises immediate property-tax relief and a five-point plan to revitalize upstate cities.

SUOZZI: Promises to appoint a state-funded economic development czar for each community, reporting directly to the governor and charged with working in concert with the local mayor. Would grant waivers to localities to redesign Medicaid programs and reform the binding arbitration system for uniformed officers and the Wicks Law.

PROPERTY TAXES

What is your plan to control skyrocketing property taxes?

FASO: Would double the STAR benefit for homeowners over four years and cap school spending increases at 4 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

SPITZER: The current STAR benefit is "fundamentally unfair," because it does not take into account whether homeowners can afford property taxes. Promises a $6 billion property-tax relief plan that would steer benefit increases directly to the middle class. Those making more than $235,000 would see no increase in benefits.

SUOZZI: Claims to have identified $5 billion of waste to cut out of the state budget and would dedicate $2.15 billion of billion for property tax relief.

There's much more. And: Fiscal concerns dominate campaign From the Poughkeepsie Journal:

Property taxes.

Those words are among the few things state Assemblyman Patrick Manning, R-East Fishkill, and Dutchess County Legislator Marc Molinaro, R-Tivoli, can agree on.

Heading into Tuesday's GOP primary for the 103rd Assembly District, both candidates agree property tax reform is one of the biggest--if not the biggest--issue facing voters.

There's more. And: Power line, taxes divide Griffo, Julian From a Utica Observer-Dispatch story by Elizabeth Cooper:

The issues that plagued [the relationship between Oneida County Executive Joseph A. Griffo and Utica Mayor Timothy Julian] before they became candidates for higher office are front and center as they attack each other's records in their run to replace state Sen. Raymond Meier, R-Western, who left the seat to wage his own campaign to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert.

?Topping the list of Griffo-Julian conflicts is the Oneida County sales tax. In 2004, Griffo proposed to hike the tax, then 8.25 percent, by 1.5 percentage points to 9.75 percent, the highest in the state, to cover the skyrocketing costs of Medicaid. Julian said if that was going to happen, Utica and the county's other municipalities should get a share because they had their own fiscal problems and their citizens would all pay the hiked tax. Griffo refused, saying the county couldn't afford it, and that Medicaid was a service used in all the municipalities.

?Julian says Griffo is playing insider politics as he tries to forge connections to get ahead. He says Griffo's already beholden to the state-level politicians who have made Albany so dysfunctional. Meanwhile, Griffo, who has recently announced several windfalls of cash from the state, says his good relations with government officials above him are evidence of his ability to work well with others to accomplish goals for the area.

?Both Griffo and Julian have been active in the fight against the New York Regional Interconnection power line. Julian has hired a lawyer to represent his city in the fight. Griffo has joined the county with a group of other counties that have banded together to pool their resources against the plan. Griffo says it's better to combine resources and hire better lawyers and experts in what looks like a long and difficult battle, and that Julian is wasting precious resources by going off on his own. Julian says the coalition hasn't kept him in the loop and if he doesn't look out for Utica's interests, who will.

Other advances on Tuesday's primary votes: Spitzer, Clinton face challengers (John Milgrim/Ottaway News Service) Cuomo, Spencer will be pacing Tuesday night (Marc Humbert/Associated Press) Lopsided primaries likely to cut turnout (Liz Benjamin/Albany Times Union) Green and Cuomo Trying to Ride Spitzer's Coattails (Marc Santora/New York Times) Key questions in the primary (Bob McCarthy column/Buffalo News) Dems should pick Spitzer (editorial/Buffalo News)

The most fundamental political need in New York State is reform of a broken system of state government--one that concentrates too much legislative branch power in the hands of Legislature leaders, channels too much state spending through the back-door channels of off-the-books public authorities and spends far more effort in protecting the political status quo than it does on open and transparent governance.

Both Spitzer, 47, and Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, 43, pledge to push reforms. But the overriding question facing Democrats in the Sept. 12 primary is which candidate has not only the savvy and skills but the stature to face down political power in Albany and force change on reluctant lawmakers and political parties. The better answer is Spitzer.

. . . .

The odds against success in battles with [powerful adversaries challenged by Spitzer in his role as attorney general) gives credence to Spitzer's oft-repeated claim that his choice of crusades is based on what's right, not just what's winnable. And his record of victories is evidence of his passion for the battle and his skill in fighting it. Both qualities will be much needed, if the next governor is to change the crippling political ways in which this state does business.

Suozzi's strengths are his experience as a chief executive in government and his role in turning around a county financial disaster that was worse than the one facing Erie County. He beat a party-endorsed candidate to become his Republican county's first Democratic executive since 1917, then turned around Nassau's financial disaster with a combination of work force reductions, labor concessions, waste and abuse reforms, borrowing cuts and an initial 19.4 percent property tax hike. In 2004, he also launched a "Fix-

. . . .

[Spitzer's] program also includes $6 billion over three years in statewide property tax relief, to be funded along with new initiatives through $11 billion in savings opportunities he says he has identified, but he acknowledges that's not enough for a state with the nation's highest tax burdens. Realistically it can't be more, he says, and long-term relief must come through controlling state spending because property tax relief is "emblematic of what we need," but only one piece of the solution. He promises a timetable for such solutions, not just long-term goals, and to push for changes in Medicaid funding, worker compensation policies and the way state authorities borrow and spend money.

But as Suozzi argues persuasively, more than that needs to be done early in the first term of whoever is elected governor. Bedrock issues such as independent redistricting, Medicaid reform, property tax reduction and reforms of labor laws including the Taylor Law, Wicks Law and Scaffold Law must be prominent goals.

Spitzer expected to win big in primary (Bob McCarthy/Buffalo News) No upsets expected Tuesday; Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo seen as easy winners in state primary. (Erik Kriss/Syracuse Post-Standard) Solid races fuel primaries (editorial/Poughkeepsie Journal) Full speed ahead for pol hopefuls (Daily News) Last laugh for Suozzi (Celeste Katz/Daily News) Primary voters head to polls Tuesday (Local news story/Elmira Star-Gazette) Spitzer predicts Green will sing the landslide blues (Fred Dicker/New York Post) State Senate Veteran [Marty Connor] Faces First Serious Rival (Jonathan P. Hicks/New York Times) Newsday's guide to politics and politicians (Newsday) Andew Cuomo campaigns in Rochester (Peter Iglinski/WXXI) Poll: Spitzer by a large margin; Cuomo on top also (Michael Rothfeld/Newsday) Suozzi, Far Behind in Polls, Exudes Confidence in the Race Against Spitzer (Marc Santora/New York Times) Brother Gives to Green's Bid, and Cuomo Offers Rebuke (Jonathan P. Hicks and Danny Hakim/New York Times) Spitzer Heads Into Primary With Powerful Momentum (Danny Hakim/New York Times) Desperately seeking Spitzer (Editorial endorsing Spitzer for Democratic nomination/Daily News) A vote for Elliot Spitzer (Editorial endorsing Spitzer for Democratic nomination/El Diaro) Party time: On Tuesday, the parties pick their standard bearers--don't miss your chance to have your say (Editorial/Newsday) Leaders of the pack: Spitzer still leads big in governor's race in recent poll; Clinton ahead by large margin against Republicans (James T. Madore/Newsday) Spitzer's, Suozzi's stands on issues (Newsday) Candidates might face voter apathy (Errol Cockfield/Newsday) Spitzer's lead big in race for governor (James T. Madore/Newsday) Three Days Before Vote, Democrats Avidly Stump (Jonathan P. Hicks/New York Times) Primary Contest for Governor Overshadowed (Patrick Healy/New York Times) 'Neutral' Hill hypes Andy's bid (Heidi Singer/New York Post)

Mike Gormley of the Associated Press has a good, detailed story on economic-policy experts' assessments of the different gubernatorial candidates' tax-reduction ideas.

Each of the candidates would expand the state's STAR program. The school tax relief program provides state funds to school districts to help reduce the most burdensome of property tax bills.

Faso would cut school property taxes by $6.8 billion over four years by doubling STAR tax relief. But only the Republican-Conservative candidate would cap school districts' spending at 4 percent or the inflation rate if that's less, unless local voters overwhelmingly agree to lift it for rising enrollment or new academic offerings.

Faso also calls for specific changes or repeals in pro-union laws that protect benefits even after a contract expires, require multiple contractors at union scale in construction. He also proposes switching from pensions to 401k retirement accounts for new hires, and other measures to cut costs.

"He gets a star for curbing spending _ a key," said professor Joseph Marbach, who teaches political science and is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. "To reduce taxes on a permanent basis you need to permanently reduce government expenditures ... "

"Municipalities need help in getting out from under onerous union contracts which place significant burdens on locality budgets and fiscal management," said professor Robert Wenk, chairman of the accounting department at the University of New Haven who also has experience in an accounting firm.

Faso's cap matches a nationwide trend in which states are increasingly regulating local property taxes and spending, said professor Kirk Stark, who focuses on tax policy at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School. He sees Faso's plan as simple in that it basically would double most taxpayers' STAR tax exemption. But that, he notes, doesn't address the regressive nature of taxes, as does Spitzer's.

. . . .

Spitzer would provide $1.5 billion in property tax relief next year, $2 billion in 2008 and $2.5 billion in 2009, all targeted at middle class families.

Spitzer's tax cuts would come through an increase in STAR. Families at or below the typical median state income of about $60,000 a year (higher for wealthier areas) would see up to an 80 percent increase in the STAR benefit. That would taper off until the household income is twice the median income. New Yorkers earning in the upper 2 percent of income _ over $235,000 a year _ would see no additional benefit.

"Providing the benefit to all but the wealthiest 2 percent probably stretches the exemption too far," Wenk said.

Stark counters: Spitzer "is trying to make his increased and enhanced STAR program more progressive."

"Democrats want to offer tax cuts, but they want to have them targeted to their constituency, so the only way to do that really is through these phase outs," Stark said.

But Spitzer's plan in effect creates a "tax" on people with high incomes, creating a potential disincentive to keep high-paying New Yorkers in the state. And upstate New York is already facing a drain of its well educated youth. But there's no hard evidence that a tax on high incomes drives people out, Stark added.

"I think those are all legitimate views, but I don't think it's a truly damning feature of the (Spitzer) plan," Stark said. "It's just something that is not a criticism you could make of the Faso plan."

Suozzi would cut $2.15 billion from local property taxes, with each county receiving cuts in proportion to their need for relief. He would provide a voluntary plan in which schools that agreed to a five-year spending plan with no more than 5-percent annual increases in spending could get more aid.

"I think (Suozzi) seems to address a lot of the basic questions about what is leading to the increase in property taxes and the only way to really reduce it is to increase state aid," Marbach said. "But I'd want to see that more money results in lower property taxes."

Stark also credited Suozzi's plan as a broader reform.

Still, Spitzer's plan "to my personal way of looking at things is probably the best," Stark said.

"For voters looking for an immediate impact, (Faso's and Spitzer's) proposal would put money in the voters pockets," Marbach said. "From a policy perspective, I think (Suozzi's) makes the best sense."

Faso's "cost cutting is really the direction the Legislature should be going," Wenk said. "But then again it implies you would have to take on the special interests _ the labor unions, the teachers and all that and that's a very powerful group ... I question whether some of those cuts will take place."

. . . .

"Rather than expanding STAR or reforming STAR, why not start from scratch and find out what is the best way to finance local public schools and other local services," Stark said. "Nobody is kind of stepping back and saying, `What are we trying to accomplish?"'

Vt. officials vow to fight IP tire burn From the Associated Press:

Gov. Jim Douglas and Attorney General William Sorrell said Monday they would continue their legal battle to stop International Paper from burning tire-derived fuel at its mill in Ticonderoga.

"No tires will be burned without a fight--a big fight," the Democrat Sorrell said as he joined the Republican Douglas in denouncing the tire-burning plan.

. . . .

Monday's news conference by the Vermont officials coincided with two deadlines. They said the state would make the deadline for appealing a New York court decision permitting the tire burn.

And they said Monday also was the deadline for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to formally object to the proposed tire burn, which it didn't do.

The Connecticut-based IP is expected to get a final permit, possibly as early as this week, from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to run a two-week test burn with tire chips at its Ticonderoga mill.

The company first proposed in 2003 to use tire-derived fuel in place of fuel oil to run its main boiler, which generates both electricity and steam for plant processes.

Ti mill spokeswoman Donna Wadsworth said the company would conduct a rigorous test and would shut it down immediately if emissions "even approach" limits for specific pollutants.

Land sought in sewer project From the Syracuse Post-Standard :

Onondaga County environmental officials are seeking to offer nearly $900,000 for property and easements for the Harbor Brook Sewer Improvement Project, including almost $380,000 to the developer of Carousel Center.

The developer, Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, would be offered $376,000 to sell and give easements on four parcels the company owns on State Fair Boulevard and two neighboring parcels on Rusin Avenue, if the county Legislature agrees to a resolution sought by the Water Environment Protection Department.

Chicago mayor vetoes law mandating 'living wage' Liquor distributor to build facility in Salina; Southern Wine & Spirits to spend $19M on structure near Syracuse China plant. From a Syracuse Post-Standard story by Rick Moriarty:

A major national liquor seller plans to build a $19 million distribution facility on Court Street in Salina, replacing a leased facility in Clay.

Southern Wine & Spirits of Upstate New York Inc., a subsidiary of Southern Wine & Spirits of America Inc., plans to build the 250,000-square-foot facility on a 37-acre site just east of the Syracuse China plant.

Laurence Chaplin, administrative vice president of the liquor distributor, said Monday the deal is subject to the purchase of the site from Libbey Inc., owner of Syracuse China.

The purchase is expected to occur soon. Chaplin said Southern Wine, based in Miami, hopes to start construction Nov. 1 and have the facility operating by Sept. 1. The project will require the relocation of three Lyncourt Little League fields.

The facility will not result in new jobs. The company employs 135 people at a distribution facility it has leased since last year at 4530 Steelway Blvd., Clay, and at administrative offices at AXA Tower II in downtown Syracuse. That number will not change when both operations move to Court Street, Chaplin said.

Baker opens 2nd shop to spread sweetness; Etna Pastry expands with East Rochester site From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

After 28 years in business on Lyell Avenue in Gates, Nuccio Scuderi is expanding his business and menu.

Scuderi, who owns Etna Pastry, has opened his second store at East Rochester's Piano Works Mall. The new store has an expanded bakery concept that includes coffee, paninis and gelato.

With many customers traveling from Fairport and Pittsford for his baked goods, Scuderi decided to open a new store in East Rochester to accommodate them.

. . . .

The move was necessary not only to expand the business, but also to meet customer demands as well, Scuderi said. He initially started with two employees but now has 25, with business growing at a rate of 5 percent to 10 percent a year.

ECIDA trims tax breaks for cable firm From the Buffalo News:

The Erie County Industrial Development Agency, responding to criticism of its tax breaks for Time Warner, trimmed those incentives by $725,000 on Monday and added provisions to reclaim that aid if the cable company's local employment doesn't meet promised levels.

IDA officials said the revised incentive package will protect 950 local jobs while also giving taxpayers additional protection in case Time Warner's total employment here falls short of its promised levels by 100 jobs over the next three to five years.

The agreement's provisions to revoke or even force Time Warner to repay the tax breaks it has been granted are a highly unusual step for the IDA, which typically does not include conditions for recovering incentives if a company fails to meet its promised job target.

In exchange for $6.48 million in sales tax savings, Time Warner is promising to keep 950 jobs in Erie County, which is home to a 500-worker call center that had been part of the recently acquired Adelphia Communications Corp. and another 200 technology-related jobs monitoring cable, telecommunications and Internet facilities.

Merger of two IDAs will be studied From the Buffalo News story by David Robinson:

The Erie County Industrial Development Agency, taking its first step toward a possible merger with the Amherst Industrial Development Agency, agreed Monday to form a committee to study the impact of combining the two agencies.

While the Amherst IDA staunchly opposes the notion of merging with the Erie County IDA, the Amherst Town Board voted last month to ask the state Legislature to back a proposed merger between the two agencies.

The five-member committee appointed Monday by the Erie County IDA is charged with studying ways to streamline economic development services in Erie County, including the proposed merger of the two IDAs.

A tax to wall us in A letter in the Ithaca Journal directs some sharp criticism of a real-estate transfer tax in Tompkins County.

The communists of East Germany erected a wall bedecked with barbed wire to keep subjects from leaving. Eight comrades on the Tompkins County Legislature are now erecting a financial barrier to leaving, a real estate transfer tax. Residents who now attempt to leave this high tax utopia of Tompkins County are to be plundered as they exit, all thanks to Tim Joseph, et al. See, a fundamental freedom is the freedom to exit. "Do not like it? Then leave," is often spoken by those able to exercise their freedoms. Now likely to be spoken by the Tompkins County nomenklatura is "Do not like it? Tough!"

Safety, reform are themes of first Ryan budget; Plan raises city property tax 2.65% From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Mayor Matthew T. Ryan presented a proposed 2007 budget Monday night to the city council, city hall employees and a few residents, saying the spending plan reflects a commitment to neighborhood safety and government reform.

Ryan's first budget calls for a general fund spending increase of 5.2 percent to $48.6 million in 2007, compared to $46.2 million this year. The proposed tax levy of $24.2 million would require tax increases of 2.65 percent for residential properties and 3.21 percent for commercial owners in 2007.

For the owner of a $70,000 house--the average in the city--the property tax bill would increase $28.42 to $1,099 based on a rate of $15.69 per $1,000 of assessed value. The commercial rate would be $27.76 per $1,000.

"City residents have expressed the need for government to be more responsive to their service requests, more efficient in its operations and more attentive to their concerns over neighborhood safety," said Ryan, a Democrat who was elected in November 2005.

There's more. City Officials’ Salaries On The Agenda Yet Again From the Jamestown Post-Journal:

Salaries for the Mayor and base salaries for City Council members in Jamestown take up exactly $87,500 a year.

The total is enough to roughly compensate one city department head along with retirement and health benefits, yet discussion over what the mayor and council to be will earn between 2008 and 2012 is taking a great deal of time on council.

''Having been there and through it we have to ask what we can reasonably afford,'' said Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2 at Monday's City Council work session. ''I have had constituents who have had it up to here with reassessment and taxes. We need to be very conservative on how far we go with this.''

Other members disagreed.

''We're not looking at freezing this thing for next year, we're looking at freezing this thing for 2008 to 2012,'' said John Calamunci, I-Ward 4 and City Council president.

B-G school tax rates to rise 16.7%-36% From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Tax rates in the Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District are going up anywhere from 16.7 percent to 36 percent, with the exception of the Town of Coventry. Because Coventry saw an increase in assessed valuation, it will see the only decrease in rates among the 10 towns that make up the district.

New tax rates for towns in Broome, Chenango, Delaware and Otsego counties result from a levy of $4.9 million to offset a $14.3 million budget. The spending portion of the budget is up 10.9 percent from 2006-07's $12.9 million. The 2006-2007 tax levy of $4.9 million is up 24 percent from last year's $3.97 million tax levy.

Large increases and spending for the 2006-2007 school year are based on increases required to put items into the district spending plan that had been eliminated in 2005-2006, when voters defeated the budget.

There's more, including projected tax-rate increases for specific towns. It's worth remembering that the state Budget Division has estimated the rate of inflation at 3.5 percent for this year and 2.6 percent for 2007. School board focuses on graduation rate; Auburn has plan to lift figure from 63 percent to 80 percent by 2010 From the Syracuse Post-Standard :

Unhappy with a 63 percent graduation rate, Auburn school district officials will unveil a plan to address the matter at today's school board meeting.

By 2010, the plan has a goal of increasing the graduation rate to 80 percent for the current ninth grade and to reduce the dropout rate from 22 percent to 10 percent for that group.

Towards the bottom of David Robinson's story in the Buffalo News is a factoid suggesing that New York State still relies too much on taxpayer-funded jobs for its job growth:

The survey found the strongest job prospects in the public administration field.

More area firms plan to add workers this fall From the Buffalo News story by David Robinson:

More companies in the Buffalo Niagara region plan to hire additional workers this fall, although some of that optimism will be tempered by a jump in firms planning to cut back, a survey found Monday.

Thirty percent of the Buffalo Niagara businesses surveyed by Manpower, a temporary employment agency, said they expect to hire more workers from September to December, matching the statewide average. That's also an improvement from the 19 percent of firms that planned to add workers last fall.

At the same time, 17 percent of the local companies surveyed said they expected to cut their payrolls during the quarter, the second-highest percentage among the 20 metro areas included in the Manpower survey, topping only Troy, where 23 percent of the firms contacted said they planned to decrease their work force.

Overall, the hiring outlook in the Buffalo Niagara region appears to be improving, said Tom Winner, a local Manpower spokesman.

While the Buffalo Niagara region matched the statewide pace for firms expecting to add workers, the 17 percent of companies that planned to cut jobs was more than double the 8 percent statewide average, the survey found.

In comparison, a third of the firms surveyed in Albany and Syracuse expected to add workers, while 30 percent of the companies surveyed in Rochester planned to hire more workers.

Regional jobs outlook varies; Albany employers most optimistic among cities about adding workers From an Albany Times Union story by Kevin Harlin:

More companies in Albany are planning to fill openings in the fourth quarter, though job-seekers in Troy and Schenectady may have a tougher time, according to a survey out today.

Milwaukee-based staffing company Manpower Inc.'s quarterly survey found 25 percent of employers throughout the Capital Region might hire in the October-through-December period, though another 10 percent expected to cut jobs.

But the sentiment was mixed throughout the region.

Employers in the Albany area seemed most optimistic, where a net 23 percent expected to hire--33 percent said they would hire, minus the 10 percent who expected to cut. A year earlier, a net 16 percent of companies expected to hire.

The mood was darker in Schenectady, where hiring companies fell to a net 7 percent--14 percent increasing, and 7 percent expecting to cut. A year earlier, a net 57 percent of companies expected to hire.

"We're basically looking at a mixed bag," said Alexander Courtney, president of the Manpower office in Albany.

Courtney said the smaller sample sizes for Capital Region markets could account for part of the wide swing in sentiment in places such as Schenectady. And while fourth-quarter sentiments were down across the region from third-quarter levels, Courtney said those followed normal seasonal patterns.

Outlook is upbeat for valley jobs From a Poughkeepsie Journal story by Craig Wolf:

Hiring prospects are "robust" for Dutchess County in the coming quarter and "healthy" in Ulster, according to an employment services firm's research.

Manpower Inc.'s survey of hiring intentions found that 32 percent of companies interviewed said they expected to add staff in the October-December quarter, while none predicted job cuts. Half plan to stay the same, but 18 percent aren't sure.

In Ulster County, 37 percent of those employers surveyed expect to gain headcount, but 13 percent expect to decline. Another 47 percent see themselves remaining the same, while 3 percent aren't certain.

Though Manpower doesn't disclose who's in the survey, one big plus coming to the Dutchess scene is ShopRite, which is opening a supermarket at the South Hills Mall space previously occupied by Price Chopper. ShopRite has said about 250 jobs will result.

Contract changes will help area Ford plant get new work; Workers OK'd terms that will boost output From the Buffalo News story by Fred Williams:

Labor contract changes at Ford's Hamburg plant, approved by workers on Sunday, improve the plant's odds of winning new products, a company representative said.

Decisions on where to make parts for new Ford vehicles are still pending, but "they (local workers) have put themselves in a good position for that," spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said.

The metal stamping plant employs about 1,440 people including salaried workers. Production workers are represented by United Auto Workers Local 897.

UAW members approved new contract terms to streamline production by 91 percent in voting Sunday, according to union sources.

"We're thrilled," Gattari said. "Buffalo Stamping is showing a lot of understanding of the company's business realities."

Many of the state's newspapers and other media outlets Tuesday carried an assortment of pieces on the primary vote. Here's a quick look at the various advances, commentaries, and summaries of endorsements. It's Primary Day, the beginning of the end for Faso Daily News columnist Bill Hammond argues that the primary signals the beginning of the end of John Faso's campaign for Governor, and that even Republicans are eager for a change from 12 years of Republican rule in the state's executive suite.

. . . Faso, the Republican who's running 40 to 50 points behind Democrat Spitzer in general election polls, has about the same chance in this contest as a snowball in hell.

Any Republican starts out swimming against the tide in New York, where the Democratic Party has grown five times faster than the GOP over the last decade. Unhappiness with President Bush and the war in Iraq will only make things worse.

Add to that the fatigue New Yorkers feel after 12 years of Gov. Pataki. Even many Republicans are itching for a change. While Spitzer talks about bringing passion back to Albany, Faso--who served on Pataki's transition committee in 1995 and backed him to the hilt as Assembly GOP leader--feels like the same old same old.

Then there's the candidate himself, who, though a capable guy, has little history of making big things happen. He headed the marginalized Assembly minority for four years and ran a solid but losing race for controller in 2002. In terms of raw impact, his résumé doesn't stack up against the Sheriff of Wall Street.

Nor will his platform knock anybody's socks off. His No.1 proposal is to expand Pataki's ill-conceived school tax rebate program. Faso's cap on future tax hikes makes his idea better than Spitzer's parallel rebate plan, but not by much.

Hammond also compliments Faso for raising good and pointed questions about the campaign promises of his likely rival, Democrat Eliot Spitzer.

It's a shame Faso isn't getting more traction because he raises good questions about what kind of governor Spitzer is likely to be.

It's true, as Faso says, that Spitzer is making a lot of expensive campaign promises--a huge investment in public schools, universal health coverage for children, and big spending on stem cell research, to name a few--that he probably can't afford without raising taxes.

It's true, as Faso says, that Spitzer is dodging some of the toughest questions facing state government, such as how to control the soaring cost of public employee retirement benefits.

And it's true, as Faso says, that Spitzer--who has vowed to break the insiders' grip on state government--is running with the full support of those same insiders.

. . . .

Good points, all of them. Too bad no one is listening.

Time to choose From an editorial in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

There aren't many primary races concluding today, but wherever they are and whatever the party nomination up for grabs, we hope voters participate in the process. Americans are far too apathetic about elections even though they tend to be very vocal about their dissatisfaction with government at all levels.

It's almost as if Americans can't grasp that the two things are directly related. We get the government we choose.

. . . .

It doesn't matter if the job is municipal dog catcher or president of the United States--the elected official is supposed to serve all the people, not just the favored few. But over the years "the people" have largely abandoned their responsibility to vote. Sometimes they complain that the general election provides a lousy choice between unattractive candidates--and that indeed may be the case.

Well, whose fault is that?

Sitting out is voters' prerogative From a column by Fred LeBrun in the Albany Times Union:

. . . I'll saunter out on a branch and predict an all-time low number of voters will be sidetracked from more pressing errands like buying clothespins into cranking that voting booth lever. Oh sure, rabid loyalists of the various politicians whose futures are at stake will show and can have a surprising impact because of low turnout. Incumbents tend to have more loyalists, one reason they do better in primaries.

But for whatever reason, my feeling this year is that the primary election does not require our attention or attendance, and that's not such a bad thing. Wait until November for the main event.

Polls have a lot to do with that. What's the point of voting for or against Eliot Spitzer if he supposedly leads his Democratic opponent, Tom Suozzi, by 50 points? You feel like a chump either way.

There's more. Democracy's turn; That's what every election is, and today's primary is no different From an editorial in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

The 2006 New York election season is on the launch pad, and voters hold both the fuse and the spark. If the electorate turns out in the numbers merited by the races, and by the money spent by the candidates, the blastoff could be impressive.

If voters stay away, thus declaring their apathy, the launch will do more than fizzle. It will signal to candidates entering the fall races that there's no sense in trying to wake up a sleepy populace, that playing it safe and protecting a lead is the best way to victory in November. Indeed, that's already been a characteristic of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer's primary campaign against challenger Tom Suozzi.

The way to forestall a don't-wake-them-up campaign is to wake up on your own. If you've gone to the trouble of enrolling as Republican, Democrat or in a third party, it makes sense you'll follow through by helping your party choose its standard-bearers.

A few big names, but little drama, at polls (Liz Benjamin/Albany Times Union Poll Shows Primary Races Virtually Unchanged From a WXXI story by Karen DeWitt:

A Quinnipiac University poll released one day before primary elections shows gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer with a 67 point lead over Tom Suozzi, at 79% to 12%, and Senator Hillary Clinton 76 points ahead of Jonathan Tasini, at 85% to 9%.

The Attorney General's race is closer, says pollster Mickey Carroll, but Andrew Cuomo still has a double digit lead over Mark Green at 50% to 31%.

Primary contests for governor, Senate appear to be all over but the shouting (Yancey/Gannett News Service) The Post's endorsements (editorial/New York Post) Eliot and Hill riding primary tidal wave From a story in the New York Post by Fred Dicker:

Gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are on their way to blowout victories today, while Andrew Cuomo seems certain to defeat Mark Green in the Democratic race for attorney general, according to yesterday's final primary poll.

The Quinnipiac University survey of likely Democratic voters found the gubernatorial contest between Attorney General Spitzer and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi nearly as lopsided as Clinton's race against little-known anti-Iraq war opponent Jonathan Tasini.

Suozzi, who has trailed Spitzer by 50 or more points in several polls all year, was being swamped, 79 percent to 12 percent, with no significant support in any region of the state, the just-completed poll showed.

. . . .

The only contest resembling a competitive race among Democrats is the hotly and, at times, angrily fought battle between Cuomo and Green, according to the poll.

On primary eve, poll shows Clinton and Spitzer with huge leads (Marc Humbert/Associated Press) Your vote in primary is important (editorial/Utica Observer-Dispatch) 9/11 Pause, but Much Campaigning Behind the Scenes Patrick Healy's New York Times story includes a quote from Spitzer on how he'll be able to change what Albany does and how.

As for Mr. Spitzer, who faces Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, a sizable mandate from Democrats today would strengthen his hand with Albany Democratic leaders whose loyalty--and obedience--he would want as governor. First among them is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has been both an ally of Mr. Spitzer and a symbol of the insider, authoritarian rule that he has pledged to end.

Mr. Spitzer, asked how he would change Albany with Mr. Silver as speaker, said in an interview Friday: "By winning big. I need the support in November to create what is perceived to be a significant foundation for reform. If people stand up with me, be heard, and, whether it's Shelly or Joe Bruno or anyone else, we will change the direction of the state." Mr. Bruno is the Senate majority leader.

Healy's story also quotes a political science professor commenting on the future of the Republican Senate majority.

Douglas A. Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, said that today's results could be the first step toward a landmark political year for New York Democrats, but quickly added that huge victories for the primary nominees would not guarantee a sweep in November.

"A big question mark for this new Democratic ascendancy is the State Legislature, and whether Democrats can win so overwhelmingly that they take control of the State Senate," Mr. Muzzio said. The Democrats need to win five seats to take control. "That would make the statewide offices totally blue."

Primary election choices (editorial/New York Times) Top state races at stake in today's primary (Charles McChesney/Syracuse Post-Standard ) Excuses, excuses From an editorial in the Syracuse Post-Standard :

We know.

The majority of primary races today hold about as much suspense as the 100th rerun of a Seinfeld episode.

. . . .

So why go to the polls? Because choosing not to go to the polls today as nearly 80 percent of registered New York voters may do means that the majority of voters aren't choosing people for office. They will have abdicated that responsibility to a faithful few. What kind of example, then, are adults setting for the "younger generation" they often accuse of being apathetic about government and politics?

If citizens, whatever the age, disconnect at literally the most "primary" level, they may be likely some day to kiss off voting altogether. That future possibility is discouraging to people who run for office even when the odds are against winning.

. . . .

But honestly, Americans are a spoiled bunch. They blow off a privilege that people have spilled blood to obtain and for which many people still deeply and passionately long. Many citizens around the world face life-threatening barriers to voting; Americans just face lifestyle-threatening situations.

"It's raining" . . . "I'm tired" . . . waah, waah, waah.

The polls open at noon and close at 9 p.m. That's more than enough time to do the right thing the primary thing.

Die-hard partisans must vote out the status quo From a letter in the Syracuse Post-Standard :

The cancer on New York state's economy continues to grow at a robust rate. While private sector employment fell 40,300 positions, state employment rose 30,700 since the year 2000.

Empire Center Director E.J. McMahon states that half of the growth is in school districts. New York State School Board Association's Barbara Bradley defends this upswing, when in fact, there are fewer children to teach in New York state.

Stephen Madarasz of the CSEA also defends ripping off the taxpayer. State and local government jobs pay an average of $45,956 plus health insurance in an absolute ridiculous program of 82-100 percent of their salary.

Compare that to an Upstate, privately employed person who earns $32,620 on average without any benefits, but also has to still pay for these bloodsuckers. New York state is so corrupt we are listed as the last in government procedures.

Spitzer rising An editorial in the New York Sun says the ascendancy of Eliot Spitzer comes despite some "terrible" policy proposals.

This newspaper is not endorsing in the Democratic primary, but we don't gainsay Mr. Spitzer's extraordinary accomplishments. They are all the more dramatic for the fact that he has not announced more than a handful of concrete policy proposals and most of those have been terrible. On the state's oppressive state and local tax burden, Mr. Spitzer has proposed expanding the existing School Tax Relief, or STAR, program and "closing" corporate tax "loopholes." Since STAR only shifts the school tax burden from local property taxes to state income taxes while creating perverse incentives for localities to spend more, the net effect of Mr. Spitzer's plan would be to increase state and local taxes instead of cutting either.

The editorial also criticizes Spitzer's investigations of Wall Street, but then offers some praise for his avowed intention to clean up Albany.

. . . . Yet he has been saying many things about cleaning up Albany that the full spectrum of New Yorkers, including us, wants to hear. Listening to Mr. Spitzer's stump speech, it can be easy to forget one is hearing a Democrat. His indictment of Albany's political culture, his recognition that the budget is out of control, that state and local taxes are too high, sounds like a Republican oration.

Mr. Spitzer's rise has no doubt been helped by the failures of the Republicans on Governor Pataki's watch – and by the fact that many Republicans don't seem to appreciate the nature of the problem in the state. Senator Bruno is actually criticizing his own party's candidate, John Faso, for painting too pessimistic a view of the upstate economy. But New Yorkers know things aren't going right in their state. Mr. Spitzer has managed to out-Republican some of the Republicans' own leadership. He's for the death penalty. He supports lifting the state's cap on charter schools, though there are still questions about whether he'd require unionization of charter-school teachers. He opposed rolling 50,000 home healthcare workers onto the state payroll and is against the bills of attainder aimed at Wal-Mart. He purports to be opposed to tax increases, even though the technicalities of his STAR proposal belie that claim.

Once all this is sorted out today and we head into the general election, we'd like to think that Mr. Faso's long record will come into focus. He is right on just about every issue, and has demonstrated over his career in Albany that he's one of the few Republican lawmakers in New York to hew to principles. His greatest weakness this cycle has been his party, from Governor Pataki's clumsy effort to crown William Weld as the Republican nominee to Mr. Bruno's bizarre disputations on the condition of the upstate economy. After today the candidates will have the opportunity to put intra-party strife behind them and the rest of New Yorkers will look for the real differences in policy between the two parties led by two brilliant men.

Suozzi failed us From a New York Sun column by Andrew Wolf:

There is no shortage of insiders who believe that of all the current candidates for governor of the Empire State Thomas Suozzi is the best prepared, the best qualified, and the most independent. Yet all too often, he failed to elbow his way into that space between himself and the camera, and never got his share of coverage in print.

I have been closely monitoring Mr. Suozzi press announcements and daily schedule since the spring. As a moderate Democrat, I had high hopes for the Suozzi effort. He lives in the real world where it is recognized that there is a price paid to increase government services. The too-high tax burden that results is, in turn, paid for by a loss of jobs and economic opportunity. NewYork's economy reflects this.

Moreover, as an independent, Mr. Suozzi was ready and willing to take on the Albany political culture that has linked the two major parties as partners in governmental gridlock. New Yorkers are ready for the kind of tough medicine they know is needed to fix things. For all of Mr. Spitzer's efforts to paint himself as a "reformer," his ties to the Albany establishment and clubhouse politicos remain troublesome.

It became apparent that Mr. Suozzi wasn't doing what needed to be done in order to develop momentum for his campaign. While day-to-day campaign appearances in Gotham rarely get attention, that is not the case upstate and in many suburban towns. There is free publicity there for the taking. But the Suozzi campaign rarely took advantage of it. His schedule of campaign stops was shockingly thin. Many of these appearances took place in his home county of Nassau. Despite the strong case that can be made for a Suozzi governorship, he and his campaign organization didn't harness the energy needed for his campaign.

There's more. Cuomo Shows Gain in Poll On Eve of Vote (New York Sun) Primary vote today has new overseers (Bob McCarthy/Buffalo News Sept. 11: Two Democrats continue ads, Assembly GOP goes golfing From an Associated Press story by Mark Johnson:

While most statewide candidates suspended campaigning Monday on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, two Democrats for attorney general continued their TV ads while many Assembly Republicans held a golfing fundraiser.

Plattsburgh ranks high on economic survey; Malone also rises on micropolitan list (Plattsburgh Press-Republican)

Plattsburgh has achieved a high ranking for economic strength among America's micropolitan areas.

Plattsburgh is now the highest-ranked area in New York state and stands at 27th in the nation in a survey by Policom Corp., a Florida-based economic consulting firm.

The Plattsburgh micropolitan area moved up more than 100 places in the 2006 rankings of 577 micropolitan areas nationwide compared to its 2004 ranking. Plattsburgh was 139th in 2005 and 67th in 2005.

"This is further confirmation of the great progress we have made over these last several years," Garry Douglas, president of the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release.

"It follows our ranking among the Top 10 small cities in America for economic-development success by Site Selection Magazine for eight straight years and the 92-percent Business Confidence Index expressed by the regional business community this year."

We took note of this survey here. Local companies to add staff later this year, survey shows (Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin)

More than one-third of the companies surveyed by a local staffing agency said they plan to hire additional staff in the fourth quarter.

The balance in the survey said they intend to maintain staffing at current levels.

The employment service said hiring momentum in Greater Binghamton was stronger in the fourth quarter than the previous quarter and one year ago. While 37 percent indicated that they will add staff in the final three months of the year, just 33 percent said they would add to their payrolls in the fourth quarter.

Dryden to consider alternative energy ordinance (Linda Stout/Ithaca Journal)

A renewable energy ordinance up for a vote by the Dryden Town Board would be the first in Tompkins County to make zoning provisions for household wind energy.

Town Board member Mary Ann Sumner is scheduled to introduce a draft of the law, which also addresses solar energy, at the Thursday, Sept. 14 board meeting.

The provisions would be for small-scale business and residential solar and wind energy.

The ordinance came about after a Dryden couple's request to build a wind turbine behind their home was rejected.

Sumner said she wants to push the process along because residents and small businesses that add wind or solar equipment could benefit from a variety of incentives. Cash rebates cut the costs of installing wind or solar power, and there are 4 percent loans and other incentives through NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (www.nyserda.org or www.powernaturally.org).

Ulster faces hard choices on budget (editorial/Poughkeepsie Journal)

When it comes to dealing with their overwhelming budget problems, Ulster County officials are going to have to spread the pain around.

Last year, the taxpayers were soaked with a 39 percent tax increase. Something of that nature must not happen again. To avoid it, county officials are going to have to make a series of cuts, including to some employee benefits. The county won't be able to grow its way out of the fiscal problems it has created, at least not in the short term.

Democrats took control of the county Legislature in January and have made some budget reductions, albeit modest ones. Legislators also approved hiking the hotel/motel tax to generate more revenue, but they still need the state's OK to go forward with this plan, as well as raising the mortgage tax.

They also are considering cuts to the benefits package given to managers. Some of those reductions make sense, considering the county's bleak financial condition. They include ending the practice of allowing managers to cash out unused sick and vacation time, as well as eliminating the flex plan that enables managers to be reimbursed for certain health fees they incurred in the prior year. The Legislature also needs to take a serious look at how it is doling out benefits to the rank-and-file employees once those contracts come up for renewal.

The situation demands hard decisions. In years past, lawmakers have failed to make the difficult choices and, instead, steadily dipped into the fund balance to pay for annual expenses. They no longer have that option. . . .

85 county employees garner raises; Pay hikes for department heads, managers opposed by 8 of 19 county supervisors. (Alaina Potrikus/Syracuse Post-Standard)

Over the objection of eight supervisors, Madison County leaders approved about $94,000 in raises for 85 employees Tuesday. The bump, the third in as many years, results in an 8.5 percent pay increase per worker over the past three years.

Department heads and managers will receive a 2.5 percent salary increase in 2007 as part of a long-term plan to provide cost-of-living pay increases for county personnel. Those employees who receive a rating of "meets expectations" or better in their 2006 performance review will get an additional 1 percent raise. The new wages will go into effect Jan. 1.

The same group of employees got 3.5 percent raises in 2005 and 2.5 percent raises in 2006. The move toward merit-based pay has been a stormy subject in Wampsville. On Sept. 5, the full board spent more than two and a half hours debating the raises.

Effort to end gasoline tax cap stalls; Onondaga County legislative committee debates benefits of gas cap to taxpayers (John Mariani/Syracuse Post-Standard)

Onondaga County's cap on gasoline sales taxes survived a challenge Tuesday, but the question of whether to keep it after May appears destined to be part of upcoming budget discussions.

A resolution by Minority Leader Edward Ryan, D-Syracuse, which would have canceled the cap as of May 31, fueled heated debate at Tuesday's Ways and Means Committee meeting.

Under the cap that went into effect July 1, the county limits the sales taxes it collects on gas and diesel at 8 cents a gallon, the amount collected when the pump price hits $2 a gallon.

The original resolution, sponsored by Legislature Chairman Dale Sweetland, is to expire May 31. Ryan's resolution would have declared the Legislature's intention not to extend the cap beyond that date.

By capping the cap, Ryan said, the county could count on an extra $3 million from sales tax next year that the lawmakers otherwise would have to collect through property taxes.

"Anything we can do to lower the property tax is the right thing to do," Ryan said.

Conners wants to lift cap on gas tax; Funds go to oil companies, not consumers, comptroller says From the Albany Times Union:

County Comptroller Mike Conners made good on his promise to urge legislators to rescind the county's cap on the gasoline sales tax, which was designed to lower the price at the gallon by about 3 cents.

Conners, an outspoken opponent of the local law, said several surveys by him of service stations shows "the well-intentioned gas tax cap has not been passed along."

City council challenges Ryan's budget; At issue: 4 new jobs, 42% raise for deputy mayor From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

A 42 percent increase in the deputy's mayor's salary and the addition of four new administration positions during a year of rising taxes are among aspects of Mayor Matthew T. Ryan's budget that will likely be challenged, city council members said Tuesday.

Ryan's budget, presented to the city council and the public Monday, includes increasing the salary of Deputy Mayor Tarik Abdelazim to $53,200 from $37,500. It also adds funding for at least four other positions not included in last year's budget. . . .

Residents learn how to dissolve villages; Info sessions seen as first step in process to let voters decide From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Signatures on a petition to dissolve a village won't automatically erase its boundaries; it's just the best way for residents themselves to initiate the discussion, Broome County's attorney said Tuesday.

"Let's support the process, move it forward, then everyone can make their own decision to support the plan or not," County Attorney Joseph Sluzar said at one of two information sessions for residents interested in circulating petitions to dissolve their villages.

As villages continue to cover costs while facing declining tax bases and increases in areas such as health insurance, County Executive Barbara J. Fiala and others believe villages should dissolve to save taxpayers money.

Since Fiala announced her "Petitioning for Progress" effort in early August, her office has received calls from residents in each of the county's seven villages who want to learn more about what dissolution would involve, said county spokeswoman Darcy Fauci.

"We're here to educate and facilitate," Fauci said. "We're not going to go out and circulate petitions."

But the county is making petitions available on its Web site, through village clerks' offices and to the two dozen residents who attended one of Tuesday's two information sessions.

Audit questions school costs; State comptroller calls district's documentation of expenses inadequate From the Albany Times Union:

A state comptroller's audit criticized the Schuylerville Central School District for not adequately documenting such purchases as camera equipment and employee food gifts.

The audit faulted the Board of Education and the district for failing to keep track of computer equipment and not having policies in place requiring detailed documentation for employee expenses.

It cited $17,800 in expenses without adequate documentation.

School union workers win new pact at Union Springs From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

The 35 members of Local 200B of the Service Employees International Union employed by the Union Springs school district have a new contract for the period of July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2009.

The two school nurses will receive 6 percent pay hikes each of the three years. All others, which include teacher assistants and aides and the secretarial staff, will receive 4 percent pay hikes in each of the three years.

There may be millions waiting (editorial/Syracuse Post-Standard)

There may be millions waiting to be found in the Medicaid program It is not surprising that an experimental software program, in operation for just 90 days, may have uncovered $100,000 worth of fraud and abuse in Onondaga County's Medicaid program. Opportunities have long abounded for health care practitioners and recipients to rip off the costliest programs in the county and state budget if Medicaid fraud estimates of 4 to 10 percent waste per year in the health care benefit for the needy are even remotely accurate. For Onondaga County, which spends 46 cents of every tax dollar, or more than $90 million per year on the program, undetected fraud and waste in the program could add up to millions.

Yet, the state had not launched a long-term, full-throttle hunt for Medicaid fraud dollars. In eight years of office, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was able to find only about $415 million in fraud; a fact that he blamed on the state Health Department, which is supposed to monitor fraud and refer cases to his office.

. . . .

Last week, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso offered a plan that would cut Medicaid by $13 billion, including the use of technology to detect fraud and appointing a inspector general who would be a "tough prosecutor." He has accused Spitzer of dragging his feet as attorney general. Spitzer responded by accusing Faso of borrowing from his Medicaid fraud reduction ideas.

And, Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, has made Medicaid fraud investigation a key part of his platform.

. . . .

The bottom line is that there are obviously health practitioners and patients abusing the Medicaid program. That hurts the people who really need the services and the people who pay for them. The only way to find the wasted dollars is to look for them, which is something the counties and state needed to do . . . yesterday.

And: (Josh Gerstein/New York Sun)

A Senate hearing today on high charges billed to uninsured patients at nonprofit hospitals is expected to focus in part on New York-Presbyterian Hospital, drawing new scrutiny to the multimillion-dollar compensation and perks provided to the medical center's executives.

Senator Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, said yesterday that an investigation of 10 large nonprofit hospitals, including New York-Presbyterian, underscored concerns that the institutions were not always living up to their charitable mission.

"Non-profit doesn't necessarily mean pro-poor patient," Mr. Grassley said in a statement previewing today's Senate Finance Committee hearing. "Non-profit hospitals may provide less care to the poor than their for-profit counterparts. They may charge poor, uninsured patients more for the same services than they charge insured patients. They sometimes give their executives gold-plated compensation packages and generous perks, such as country club memberships. All of this calls into question whether non-profit hospitals deserve the billions of dollars in tax breaks they receive from federal, state, and local governments."

Mr. Grassley's statement did not single out New York-Presbyterian, or any other hospital, for criticism. However, some data the senator released about the New York hospital could fuel questions about its practices.

New York-Presbyterian said its list prices for procedures, office visits, and hospital stays represent on average a 98% markup from the hospital's costs. Insured patients and their insurance companies almost always get a discount, which averages 47% for private plans, according to the new data. New York-Presbyterian said it never sees about 82% of the billed amount for uninsured patients and, in a recent two-year period, filed 59 lawsuits to collect on unpaid bills.

Meanwhile, in 2004, the hospital's CEO and president, Dr. Herbert Pardes, made more than $4.6 million, while the hospital's director and executive vice president made about $3.4 million, not counting retirement contributions, according to paperwork filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

There's much more. More: Wealth to improve local health; Foundation planning to fund $10 million in projects annually (Joy Davia/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

The Greater Rochester Health Foundation hopes to spend about $10 million by December 2007 on projects such as those that cut obesity rates, improve the health of poor people and strengthen the local health care system, President John Urban said Tuesday.

The foundation, with assets exceeding $200 million, was created out of the merger of health insurers Preferred Care and MVP Health Care of Schenectady. It has begun to accept preliminary proposals and expects to dole out about $10 million annually.

. . . .

The foundation will present its funding priorities and grant-making processes at its first community invitation-only event at 8:30 a.m. today at the RIT Inn and Conference Center. About 125 to 150 people are expected to attend, including representatives of health and school systems, human service organizations and neighborhood groups.

. . . especially if they are public-sector jobs, that is, a Rochester Business Journal editorial argues.

Despite numerous studies showing this state with one of the weakest job-creation records nationwide in recent years, one segment of the work force has been expanding at a brisk clip: public-sector employment. Unlike private payrolls, which still have not fully recovered to their pre-recession peak in 2000, employment by state and local government is at its highest level ever.

What’s more, in most parts of New York, public-sector employees earn more—and work fewer hours—than their peers in the private sector.

The RBJ looks at this study by the Empire Center, which reports that:

[W]hile New York’s private-sector economy has yet to fully recover from its last downturn, state and local government employees are more numerous than ever, economically more secure, and generally better compensated than private-sector workers.

The RBJ editorial continues:

With the growth of public-sector employment, one in every eight New York workers now is a union-member government employee, the study found. Nationwide, the average is one in every 19 workers.

Anyone looking for key reasons why New York taxes are so high should know where to start.

Spitzer wins Democratic nomination for governor (Mike Gormley/Associated Press)

Saying "the future of the state we love hangs in the balance," Eliot Spitzer called for a new New York journey after rolling, as expected, past Tom Suozzi to win the Democratic nomination for governor Tuesday.

"It is not a journey of party or politics or any one candidate, but New Yorkers in search of hope, in need of change," Spitzer said. "New Yorkers ready to bring back the greatness that New York once defined."

"This election should not and cannot be about the city or town in which you live or the party for which you've traditionally voted," Spitzer said. "We must realize that we're all in this together. That it will not be upstate versus downstate, urban versus rural, business versus labor, Republican versus Democrat."

Spitzer won 81 percent of the vote to Suozzi's 19 percent with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

. . . .

Suozzi said he was proud of prompting Spitzer and Faso to make priorities of cutting property taxes and reforming waste and fraud in the Medicaid health care system.

"My light will continue to burn and so will yours because we're all in this together to fix Albany," he told supporters. "Together we will bring widespread system change ... to make government work again for the people."

Top Democrats crush opponents (Joe Spector-Jay Gallagher/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

As expected, the biggest names in New York Democratic politics--Clinton, Spitzer and Cuomo--cruised to victory Tuesday as Democratic voters overwhelmingly chose them as their statewide candidates for the November election.

. . . .

Eliot Spitzer [sailed] to the nomination for governor over Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi. Spitzer led 81 percent to 19 with 99 percent of the vote counted. In Monroe County, Spitzer received 80 percent.

Spitzer faces GOP candidate John Faso on Election Day, Nov. 7.

In the race to succeed Spitzer as attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, won the closest Democratic race of the night, receiving 53 percent of the vote statewide.

Former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green had 33 percent and former Clinton White House official Sean Patrick Maloney had 9 percent. Rockland County attorney Charlie King, who dropped out last week, was still on the ballot and received 5 percent of the vote.

Cuomo now faces former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a Republican.

Clinton, Spitzer easily win primaries (Tom Precious/Buffalo News)

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Eliot L. Spitzer and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton handily swept aside their primary challengers Tuesday, an easy warm-up for what polls suggest could be a precursor to big victories against Republican challengers in November.

With their campaigns on auto-drive against distantly trailing challengers that led to light voter turnout across much of the state, Spitzer, the state attorney general, captured 81 percent of the Democratic primary vote in his race while Clinton attracted 83 percent against a cash-poor candidate who made her support of the war in Iraq his central theme.

Spitzer's opponent, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who never obtained the traction needed to dent the Manhattan Democrat, received 19 percent of the vote, with 97 percent of precincts reporting before midnight.

Speaking to supporters outside a Harlem restaurant, Spitzer sought to portray himself as the agent of change.

"Over the next 56 days, we will travel across New York to let people know that if Albany will not bring back opportunity or responsibility or accountability - if Albany will not bring change to us - then we will bring change to Albany," he said.

"On day one, we will begin giving you a government that's open, accountable and ready to get taxes and spending under control," Spitzer added.

Spitzer now faces Republican John Faso, a former Assemblyman who also served on the Buffalo fiscal control board. Faso, busy raising money in Plattsburgh on Tuesday night and with a full campaign schedule today in New York City, insists the polls should be ignored because voters will now start paying attention to the governor's race.

Victorious Spitzer Vows To Change Albany (Jacob Gershman/New York Sun)

Eliot Spitzer's landslide victory over his primary opponent sets the stage for a two-month battle against Republican John Faso, a former assemblyman who will try to stave off a historic Democratic takeover of the governor's mansion by picking apart the attorney general's record in fighting corporate crime and by enticing voters with a pro-business, tax-cutting platform.

Mr. Spitzer yesterday won his party's nomination to challenge Mr. Faso in the general election. He was beating the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, by a margin of 81% to 19% with 96% of the vote counted.

Standing in front of his family, Mr. Spitzer, 47, told boisterous supporters who gathered at a barbecue restaurant in Harlem last night that "if Albany will not bring change to us, then we will bring change to Albany." He spoke of a "chance to turn this state around" and warned, "The status quo always has powerful friends."

Mr. Spitzer also pledged to "get taxes and spending under control," to provide every child in the state with health insurance, and to "fully fund" public education. He sounded a unifying theme, saying that the campaign for governor is not about "business versus labor."

Mr. Faso, in an interview with The New York Sun, insisted that the dynamic of general election, which involves a broader range of voters, would work to his advantage.

"The biggest difference is that Suozzi had a general election message and was trying to sell it in a primary," Mr. Faso said as he headed to a fund-raiser in Plattsburgh. He has scheduled a flurry of campaign events today in New York City, with plans to meet voters at a Midtown subway entrance and at the Queensborough Plaza subway station later in the day.

. . . .

The victories by Mr. Spitzer, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Cuomo complete one of the strongest statewide Democratic slates in decades, as the party pushes toward what it hopes will be a rare November sweep. Democrats are hoping their momentum will tip the fragile balance in the state Senate, where Republicans are holding on to a 35-to 27-seat majority. Party members expect tight Senate races in districts in Syracuse, Staten Island, Suffolk County, and Staten Island.

Mr. Spitzer is taking on Mr. Faso with 10 times more money on hand and with a lead in the polls of almost 40 percentage points.

The immediate challenge for Mr. Faso, who lost the race for comptroller in 2002, is to raise enough money to get on television. With a little more than $1 million on hand as of mid-July, Mr. Faso trails the fundraising pace set by Governor Pataki in 2002, who had $23 million at the same point. Mr. Spitzer has raised $39 million and has $12 million on hand.

If the race does get closer, the Spitzer campaign, whose field staff and interns have spent months amassing opposition research, is ready to pounce on Mr. Faso's social conservative voting record as minority leader from 1998 to 2002.

Suozzi throws his support behind Spitzer (Erik Kriss/Syracuse Post-Standard)

Spitzer, the two-term attorney general known nationally for cracking down on Wall Street fraud, won 81 percent to Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi's 19 percent, according to unofficial results based on 97 percent of precincts reporting.

Spitzer now takes on the socially and fiscally more conservative Republican nominee, John Faso, in the race to succeed retiring Gov. George Pataki.

Cuomo, the former federal housing secretary and son of ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo, won 53 percent to 33 percent over former Ralph Nader aide and ex-New York City Public Advocate Mark Green, according to the unofficial results.

. . . .

Spitzer told supporters at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Q in Harlem Tuesday night that property taxes and health care costs are too high, while schools are failing and jobs are disappearing.

He pledged change, and though his campaign slogan is "Day one, everything changes," he warned change can be slow and difficult.

The cases he brought as attorney general, he said, reflected "honesty, integrity, fairness and decency."

He talked of being warned not to take on powerful interests.

"The status quo always has powerful friends," Spitzer said. "But I have my own more powerful friends; I have the men and women of this state who struggle every day to give their children a better life than they had."

He pledged to change "the very culture of government," and said, "The common good must rise above partisan and parochial interests. This will take time, this will take effort and this will require the commitment of every single New Yorker."

Spitzer & Hill roll on; Storm past their feeble Dem foes (Fred Dicker-Stephanie Gaskell/New York Post)

Eliot Spitzer swept to a smashingly lopsided primary victory over Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi last night in the governor's race, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sailed to an easy win over her anti-war challenger.

Spitzer's defeat of Suozzi--which saw the nationally prominent "Sheriff of Wall Street" chalk up massive margins in all regions of the state--had been predicted by polls for months.

But even many Democratic and Republican Party professionals were surprised at how badly Suozzi--a strong and proven vote-getter on his own Nassau County turf--did as a statewide candidate.

With 95 percent of the vote in, Spitzer had 81 percent to Suozzi's 19.

Spitzer prevails by wide tally; Democrat leads in polls heading into gubernatorial election against Faso (Liz Benjamin/Albany Times Union)

Gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer coasted to victory Tuesday night in a primary against Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi that proved to be little more than a speed bump on the road to the general election.

Suozzi conceded the race to Spitzer, the state attorney general, just after 10 p.m.--about one hour after the polls closed--and endorsed Spitzer for governor.

Blowouts in Dem races for governor, Senate (Errol Cockfield/Newsday)

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton easily crushed their Democratic rivals yesterday in primary races that were so devoid of suspense that they kept voters away from the polls in large numbers, setting up what are expected to be similar lopsided victories against their Republican opponents in the general election in November.

Spitzer, who in the past eight years gained national recognition for his crusades against fraud in the halls of corporate America, soundly defeated Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the suburban Democrat who failed to convince voters he could use the experience he had gained turning around his own county to dramatically change long-standing ills in state government.

Spitzer and Clinton Win in N.Y. Primary (Patrick Healy/New York Times)

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer won an overwhelming victory yesterday in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York, with his party, in its strongest shape in 12 years, uniting politically in hopes of making postwar history this November with a sweep of top statewide offices.

. . . . Andrew M. Cuomo handily beat a fixture of New York City politics, Mark Green, in their combative Democratic contest to replace Mr. Spitzer as attorney general.

. . . .

. . . in hopes of extending the party unity to November, Mr. Cuomo--who said last week that Mr. Green would go down in history as a negative campaigner--thanked Mr. Green last night for making him "a better candidate." Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Suozzi traded similar compliments in speeches last night, though Mr. Suozzi did get in a small dig about his rival's heavy spending. And aides to Mr. Spitzer said he would endorse Mr. Cuomo today in order to quickly unify Democrats and cement his role as leader of the party alongside Mrs. Clinton and Senator Charles E. Schumer.

For Suozzi, a Hot Race Fizzles Out (Bruce Lambert/New York Times)

Thomas R. Suozzi's political career has been described as meteoric. His campaign emblem is a star with a long, wavy tail.

But the shooting-star symbolism proved all too apt Tuesday as his hopes of becoming governor crashed and burned in the Democratic primary. "A meteor gets very hot, then burns up" as it plummets to the earth, said Lisanne G. Altmann, a Democratic Nassau legislator, who has sometimes been an ally and sometimes a critic of Mr. Suozzi's.

In his concession speech, Mr. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, congratulated State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on his victory for the party's nomination and promised to vote for him in November. Mr. Suozzi lost overwhelmingly across the state and failed to carry his own county, where he had about 40 percent of the vote to Mr. Spitzer's 60 percent, with results in from more than 90 percent of precincts. He has twice won as county executive by wide margins.

Speaking to supporters at the Chateau Briand catering hall here, Mr. Suozzi tried to put the best face on the campaign. He took credit for prodding Mr. Spitzer to address issues that included cutting Medicaid waste, reducing property taxes and shaking up Albany.

In an interview, Mr. Suozzi displayed a self-deprecating side, saying, "I accomplished everything I set out to do--short of getting elected."

Cuomo wins Democratic nomination for New York attorney general (Mark Johnson/Associated Press)

Former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo easily won the Democratic nomination for New York attorney general Tuesday, defeating a former New York City public advocate in the race to succeed incumbent Eliot Spitzer.

Cuomo, the elder son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, beat Mark Green 53 percent to 32 percent. The third candidate, Sean Patrick Maloney, a former aide to President Clinton, had 10 percent of the vote.

Cuomo, 48, will face Republican Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester County district attorney, in the general election in November.

Primary win signals Cuomo 'comeback'; Democratic candidate for attorney general will face Jeanine Pirro in election (Jim Odato/Albany Times Union)

In the race to fill Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's shoes, the former federal housing secretary--who angered party leaders and rank-and-file loyalists in 2002 when he challenged their favorite in the governor's race--won the primary vote overwhelmingly.

"Tonight you made me the comeback candidate," Cuomo said in accepting the nomination.

. . . .

With 97 percent of the vote counted, Cuomo held a 53-33 percent lead over [Mark] Green with [Sean] Maloney getting about 10 percent.

Cuomo takes Green for AG (John Riley/Newsday)

In a remarkable political turnaround, Andrew Cuomo last night was poised to win the first electoral victory of his career and secure the Democratic nomination for attorney general to succeed Eliot Spitzer just four years after an embarrassing withdrawal from a failed race for governor.

By 10 p.m., Cuomo, 48, the son of former governor Mario Cuomo and federal housing secretary during the Clinton administration, had taken an insurmountable 52 to 33 percent lead over his closest rival, former New York City public advocate Mark Green, 61, with 59 percent of the precincts reporting.

Cuomo Wins Primary Race for Attorney General by Big Margin (Jonathan P. Hicks/New York Times)

Andrew M. Cuomo, President Clinton's housing secretary and the son of a former governor, won a decisive victory in the Democratic primary for attorney general yesterday over his closest rival, Mark Green, the former New York City public advocate.

Mr. Cuomo's victory pits him against Jeanine F. Pirro, the Republican former district attorney of Westchester County, in the November general election. Ms. Pirro is also running on the lines of the Independence and Conservative parties.

After Another Loss, Green Says He'll Never Run Again (Diana Cardwell/New York Times)

After Mark Green narrowly lost the bitter contest for mayor in 2001, his longtime friend and former employer, Ralph Nader, gave him some blunt advice: Get out of elective politics, and return to citizen advocacy or television commentary.

This time around, Mr. Green is finally listening.

Andy in easy victory over faded Green; Next up is Pirro (Ken Lovett/New York Post)

Andrew Cuomo capped a bitter Democratic primary campaign for attorney general last night with an easy victory over Mark Green.

Cuomo, the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo and himself a former federal housing secretary, was leading Green, 53 to 33 percent, with 96 percent of the precincts reported as of 11 p.m.

"Tonight, you made me the comeback candidate," Cuomo told supporters, in a reference to his failed gubernatorial campaign four years ago.

"Now let's make the state of New York the comeback state." A little-known third candidate, former top Bill Clinton aide Sean Patrick Maloney, garnered about 10 percent.

GOP chooses Griffo; Democratic race tight; Julian pledges he'll keep campaigning (Elizabeth Cooper/Utica Observer-Dispatch)

Joseph Griffo defeated Timothy Julian in the Republican primary for the 47th state Senate District by about 3,000 votes Tuesday in an election featuring two high-profile candidates.

Oneida County Executive Griffo had 8,587 votes to Utica Mayor Julian's 5,644 votes, according to unofficial results. Julian has an Independence Party line in November, and while he congratulated Griffo Tuesday night, he also pledged to remain in the race.

Their opposition remains unknown. In the Democratic primary, Leon Koziol and John Murad were separated by 37 votes, according to unofficial results.

Brockway wins State Assembly primary (Dan Heath/Plattsburgh Press-Republican)

Democrat Andrew Brockway will face Republican Janet Duprey in the November election for the 114th Assembly District.

Brockway, 25, defeated Kevin Nichols, 50, a Malone attorney, in the Democratic primary Tuesday for a chance to take on Duprey, the current Clinton County treasurer.

The district includes all of Clinton and Franklin counties, as well as the Town of St. Armand in Essex County.

No Show In Ellery For County Conservatives (Dennis Phillips/Jamestown Post-Journal)

Tuesday was primary day across the state, but apparently no one told voters in Ellery.

For the Conservative Party's county committee, there were four candidates in Ellery's District 1 and three in District 4, but no votes.

In District 1, two candidates were supposed to be elected to the county's Conservative Party committee, but none of the candidates--Elizabeth Jones, Randall Jones, Richard Stacey and Irynne Stacey--received any votes. The story was the same for District 4, where Patrick Charest, Cindy Raynor and Rosemary Stage received no votes as well.

The situation wasn't much different in Pomfret, where only five votes were tallied for four candidates. Sheri Wickham and Robert Jones were elected to the Conservative Party's county committee with two votes each.

Candidate Loretta Jones received one vote and Wayne Peterson didn't receive any votes.

The days before Day 1 From an editorial in the Daily News:

Spitzer's lopsided win over Tom Suozzi and his commanding lead in the polls over GOP contender John Faso reflect the fact that New Yorkers are fed up and looking for the candidate with the most promise to banish the Pataki-Silver-Bruno Axis of Feeble.

But there's an election to be held--regardless of how eager the voters may be for the coming of Spitzer's Day 1, when he has promised to improve education, tame Medicaid, bring down property taxes and clean up political corruption. He and Faso, who is hobbled by a moribund Republican Party, as well as a lack of money and name recognition, owe New York as bracing a contest as possible.

For Faso, that means articulating the principles that inspired GOP leaders to pick him over Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld--even if Faso's positions are not all that far to the right of Spitzer's.

And Spitzer should give more specifics on issues, such as how he will resolve the lawsuit over funding for the city schools and control the soaring cost of public employee pensions.

The editorial also argues that Spitzer should grant Faso more debates than he has committed to so far. And: November is next; Primaries should lead to issue-based contests this fall (editorial/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

There's too much at stake in New York, and in the Rochester region, to permit Rose Garden-style, no-debate campaigns this fall. Tuesday's primary winners and legislative incumbents must not try to slide into office without tackling the issues such as the upstate economy.

The two Democrats at the top of Tuesday's statewide ticket, gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, breezed to victory. Spitzer polled about 81 percent of the vote to 19 percent for Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. Suozzi ran an active, reform-minded campaign but he was overmatched by Spitzer's reputation as a government crusader. Spitzer, who leads his Republican challenger, John Faso, by a huge margin, must tell the voters, in detail, how he will handle such issues as upstate decline, school funding and budget reform.

What has Suozzi gained by losing? (Larry Levy/Newsday)

. . . . Suozzi's campaign, as ineffective as it was in winning votes, helped focus the debate around high Medicaid costs and property taxes a lot sooner and more sharply than it would have if he hadn't been pounding away. He also kept front and center the desperate need to reform the dysfunctional culture of Albany.

This favor doesn't fly; Eliot Spitzer needs to choose his flying mates more carefully (editorial/Middletown Times Herald-Record)

. . . Spitzer stubbed his own toe recently on a typical Albany conflict of interest--accepting a flight on the private jet of a businessman who has major interests in horse racing and casino proposals that will come before the new governor. What could Spitzer have been thinking?

The flight in question happened in May. Spitzer and an aide were returning from a fundraising trip and were looking for a quick way to get from Phoenix to New York, with stops in Tucson and Cincinnati. To the rescue came Richard Fields, a wealthy Wyoming businessman who is trying to get a casino in Sullivan County for the Oneida Indians of Wisconsin. He's also part of an effort to acquire Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct racetracks. (Also of interest, Fields has since donated tens of thousands of dollars to Spitzer's campaign through limited liability corporations not bound by limits on contributions.)

State law on jet-setting politicians requires candidates to reimburse the owner of private planes at first-class rates, which Spitzer's campaign did. Both Tom Suozzi, who lost the Democratic primary, and Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso complained that the $4,301 Spitzer paid was a bargain rate. But the real kicker here is that Fields has a lot of irons in the state fire and, in fact, had previously agreed to pay $9,000 for violating state lobbying laws by letting state Sen. David Paterson use his jet. Paterson is running for lieutenant governor on Spitzer's ticket. In other words, red flags were flying all around Fields, and Spitzer, of all people, should have spotted them.

There were no surprises in the major statewide primaries, but there were some interesting outcomes in some legislative races. One incumbent ousted, another in trouble after primary (Mark Johnson/Associated Press)

One lawmaker embroiled in a recent scandal lost a primary contest on Tuesday, a rare defeat in a state where incumbency almost always equals re-election, while several incumbents beat back strong primary challenges.

Assemblyman Patrick Manning, who briefly ran for governor this year, lost a challenge in the Republican primary to Tivoli Mayor Marcus Molinaro. Molinaro won by 248 votes out of 5,076 cast in the district covering parts of Dutchess and Columbia counties.

Molinaro's camp last month filed criminal complaints against Manning after the assemblyman impersonated one of Molinaro's consultants on the phone to get information about a poll being conducted for Molinaro.

Manning admitted he pretended to be the consultant, but said that he didn't break any law.

Democratic incumbent Sylvia Friedman lost her primary to challenger Brian Kavanagh for the Manhattan Assembly district. Friedman won the seat in a special election earlier this year. She stays on the Working Families Party line.

Another incumbent, Queens Democratic Sen. Ada Smith, appeared to be in trouble, trailing challenger Shirley Huntley by just 197 votes. Smith last month was found guilty of harassing one of her aides after being accused of throwing hot coffee in the staffer's eyes. Smith was fined in 2001 for failing to obey a direct order from a police officer after improperly driving through a security checkpoint at Empire State Plaza.

In Brooklyn, Sen. Martin Connor--a former minority leader--battled housing developer Ken Diamondstone in his first Democratic primary in 14 years in the 25th District. Connor's 55 percent to 45 percent win came after a contentious campaign in which Diamondstone spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Molinaro is holding slim lead; Race too close to call, Manning campaign says (Rasheed Oluwa/Poughkeepsie Journal)

Dutchess County Legislator Marc Molinaro, R-Tivoli, appeared to have a slight lead over incumbent state Assemblyman Patrick Manning, R-East Fishkill, during Tuesday's GOP primary for the 103rd state Assembly District.

While unofficial results showed Molinaro with a solid lead over Manning in Dutchess County, the unofficial Columbia County results showed Manning with a slight advantage over Molinaro.

Manning's campaign said the race was still too close to call and did not concede Tuesday night.

The winner of the primary will be headed for a November showdown with Democratic candidate Virginia Martin, a resident of Claverack, Columbia County.

. . . .

The months leading up to the primary were easily one of the most contentious of any of this year's local elections.

They included allegations from Manning that Molinaro's campaign tried to intimidate his supporters through the use of a private investigator and conducted push polling, polls designed to push voters away from another candidate by using rumors or lies to sully that candidate's reputation.

Those allegations were counteracted by claims from Molinaro's campaign consultant, Brendan Quinn, that Manning committed the act of political espionage when he called a calling center and pretended to be Quinn in order to obtain sensitive polling information.

Manning admitted to impersonating Quinn, but said he did so to prove Molinaro's campaign was conducting push polls.

Seeming Defeat for Incumbent From Queens (Jonathan P. Hicks/New York Times)

A Queens State senator who endured a wave of negative press headlines appeared to have narrowly lost her State Senate seat last night in a rare defeat for a legislative incumbent.

The longtime incumbent, Ada L. Smith, was running behind Shirley L. Huntley, a first-time candidate who is president of the Community Education Council in District 28 in Queens.

With all election precincts reporting in unofficial results, Ms. Huntley had 51 percent of the vote to Senator Smith's 49 percent. The New York City Board of Elections said it would be several days before it determined how many paper ballots remained to be counted.

Ms. Smith has become something of a controversial figure in the Legislature and in her district, which includes parts of southeastern Queens. In 2004, she was convicted of speeding through a security checkpoint at a garage in Albany.

After her conviction in the checkpoint episode, State Senator David A. Paterson, the leader of the Democratic minority, stripped her of her party leadership position in the Senate. That same year, a former staff member accused her of directing antigay remarks at him, but the State Division of Human Rights found insufficient evidence to support his claims. And more recently, in March, an aide accused the senator of throwing coffee at her.

Eliot Spitzer, good for business? (Doug Cunningham/Middletown Times Herald-Record column)

I heard this surprising prediction recently from one expert who watches the intersection of business and politics in Albany: Spitzer will act on business issues as a centrist, not as a traditional New York Democrat.

The reasons are several. The situation upstate (farther upstate than we are) is dire; economic development, in many of these areas, will be the measure of success or failure.

Meanwhile, from here south through New York City, no one is going to want to upset what are essentially positive economic trends in construction, job creation and so on. Too, Wall Street, a driver of a huge chunk of the state's wealth, has made a remarkable recovery since 9/11.

In other words, basic economics will constrain Spitzer the governor in ways he rarely faced when attacking fraud and ill-gotten gains as attorney general.

. . . .

There are some background questions for Spitzer, the near-certain winner in November, of considerable interest to the business community. One is the cost of public pensions, a financial time bomb, especially for the state's municipalities. Another is the cost of health care, especially Medicaid. All that takes money--taxes, to you and me. And don't even mention workers' compensation rates and skyrocketing local property taxes, which are part of the cost of doing business, too.

At the end of the day, I think the state's best measure of the business climate is this: If businesses are fleeing to set up shop somewhere else rather than paying taxes here, that's bad for any governor, Democrat or Republican.

Public comment starts on member-item tally From the Times Union:

People concerned with how lawmakers use taxpayer's money have 30 days to review and comment on the Assembly's list of 2,675 member items for this budget year before the cash starts flowing.

The list -- an incomplete itemization of how the Assembly plans to use less than two-thirds of its 2006-2007 member item allotment -- went up on the Democrat-led chamber's Web site Wednesday (http://www.assembly.state.ny.us).

Can we talk? From an editorial in the Press & Sun-Bulletin:

That's one small step, and potentially one giant leap for Broome County. On Tuesday, about three dozen Greater Binghamton residents gathered at the Broome County Public Library to hear the steps they need to take to dissolve their villages into the neighboring towns. ...

City firm to bring home 76 jobs From the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:

HF Technologies found that managing an operation half a world a way isn't the easiest thing to do, said President David Fletcher.

So the maker of parts for copiers and printers is closing its operations in Beijing, China, and moving jobs back to greater Rochester.

A chance for parity From an editorial in the Times Union:

After years of debate and delay, it now appears the Legislature is close to embracing the principle of equal health coverage, or parity, for physical and mental illnesses. All that is needed now is for the state Senate, which returns to Albany this week, to support Timothy's Law. The Assembly, which has long supported mental health parity, could follow suit later this year.

How encouraging.

Senate majority fights to lower taxes From an op-ed by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, in the Democrat & Chronicle:

The state had a multi-billion-dollar surplus. It's the taxpayers' money, and the Senate majority fought to return as much of it as possible. That is a record that we are proud of and it's a record of tax relief that could have been even stronger. Had it been solely up to the Senate, the tax relief would have been even greater. The Senate proposed many additional tax reductions, including reducing energy and health insurance costs to small businesses and cutting taxes on manufacturers, that did not make it into the final state budget. The Senate has to work with the governor and Assembly, and all three sides must agree to get a budget done.