Knickerbocker Blog

List of Candidates for State's Top Court Goes to Spitzer for an Early Decision (Joseph Goldstein/New York Sun)

Choosing among the list of candidates released yesterday for an opening on the state's highest court will require Governor-elect Spitzer to navigate political considerations that range from his relations with labor unions to the future of the death penalty in New York.

One of Mr. Spitzer's first acts as governor will be to nominate a judicial candidate to the Court of Appeals in Albany to replace Judge Albert Rosenblatt. Nominated to the court by Governor Pataki, Judge Rosenblatt must step down at the end of the year because at age 70 he will have reached the age of mandatory retirement.

Judge Rosenblatt's replacement will come from a list of seven candidates — a partner at a major law firm and six current judges — who have been approved by the state's Commission on Judicial Nomination.

Buffalo Niagara has two sites among five in the running for a contract to build a new state plant (David Robinson and Thomas Prohaska/Buffalo News)

In less than three weeks, Gov. George E. Pataki will announce where to build a billion-dollar power plant.

The project is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs for up to four years and about 140 permanent jobs. It's a titanic economic decision, and the good news for the Buffalo Niagara region is that two of the five sites being considered across the state are here.

With so much at stake, the competition between the local plants - NRG Energy's Huntley Station in the Town of Tonawanda and AES Corp.'s Somerset plant in Barker - has been fierce.

Misleading claims in county budget (Letter/Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)

It is misleading and incorrect for the county to claim in its budget executive summary, and for the newspaper to report, that there are no (property) tax increases in the 2007 Monroe County budget.

The only true measure of the impact of a governmental (be it county, town, or school district) budget on a community is the real estate tax levy, or total amount to be raised by property taxes.

The detailed 2007 Monroe County budget states that the real estate tax levy is "$15.9 million more than 2006," an increase to $321 million in 2007 from $305 million in 2006. This is a 5 percent tax increase.

No More 'Me, Too' (Joseph Mondello op-ed/New York Post)

In the weeks and months ahead we must renew our commitment to a party that presents a clear and consistent platform that attracts men and women from every walk of life, from every color, creed and ethnic background, because of its unwavering commitment to smaller government, lower taxes, less government regulation, robust private entrepreneurship and an unshakeable commitment to keeping our homeland safe and secure.

New York already has a party of big government and runaway wasteful spending - they're called Democrats.

As Republicans, we need to offer New Yorkers a clear choice by returning to our roots as the party that fights for the hard-working, middle-class taxpayers of our state who believe that all people are deserving of a good job, quality education, affordable health care, safe and secure communities and freedom from oppressive taxation.

Stick to it, governor; No raise for the Legislature should mean just that, no matter what deals are proposed (Editorial/Times Union)

No. And not an ordinary no, either. Make this one a halfway around the world no.

There was Governor Pataki, speaking to reporters at the state Capitol from Iraq, and in very little time the questions turned from an utterly ineffective government in Baghdad -- dysfunction that surpasses even the worst of Albany's horror shows -- to possible pay raises for New York legislators.

"I've opposed a pay raise," Mr. Pataki said. "I continue to do that."

That should settle things, then, right?

How can our legislators justify giving themselves a pay raise? Is it because they have done such a fantastic job of making us the highest-taxed state, or are they looking for credit for the droves of our educated people leaving for greener pastures in other states?

. . . .

The National Guard soldiers and airmen worked the recent storm disaster 10 to 14 hours per day for $125 per day. That's less than a state legislator gets for his hotel room in Albany. And these legislators want a pay raise. Earn it like the private sector has to and we'll pay it.

One Empire Zone official defends the benefits of the program in this letter to the editor in the Post-Standard.

When we met with The Post-Standard reporter about the Geneva Empire Zone project with Wilmorite, it was clear he wanted only to focus on the money and the "selling" of zone acreage. He preferred to totally ignore the nexus required for the project to be approved and its regional approach to assistance. Unfortunately, that skews what was a key development project for the city of Geneva, Ontario County and the Finger Lakes region.

. . . .

The key thing to remember when considering what some call "selling" of the zone and what we call regional development is that it becomes more difficult each year to keep property taxes reasonable. When there is an opportunity to offer incentives that will help the whole county and also receive funds and services for our own citizens and businesses, we'll go for it. Whether it's jobs and property taxes, or revenues in lieu of property taxes, all these revenues are used in the best interests of our citizens, and help to stabilize our tax rate.

The Spitzer Mystery (Editorial/New York Sun)

The big mystery in Albany is which Eliot Spitzer is going to show up in January to take over as governor. Is it going to be the hard-left Eliot Spitzer or the centrist Eliot Spitzer? The poser arises following a recent interview that Mr. Spitzer granted to his biographer, Brooke Masters, that was published in the Financial Times of London. In the first part of the interview, issued Monday, Mr. Spitzer was said by the newspaper to have "hit out at efforts by figures in the Bush administration and business to roll back corporate accountability reforms imposed in the wake of financial scandals such as Enron."

The FT reported that Mr. Spitzer "pronounced himself suspicious of the push to revamp the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability rules." That is the hard-left Mr. Spitzer — even Senator Smoot Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg wrote an oped in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month saying Sarbanes-Oxley "needs to be re-examined" as part of the effort to keep London from surpassing New York as the world's financial capital. In a second report on the interview, Mr. Spitzer is quoted as saying, "I'll work to make sure the financial companies stay here," adding, "We're going to look at the tax code to make sure we're not pushing capital elsewhere." That was the centrist Mr. Spitzer.

Albany opens the books; But lawmakers still reluctant to detail pork-barrel spending (Editorial/Buffalo News)

Everything you need to know about the state's blandly named "member item" system was revealed in the events leading up to this week's disclosure of how Assembly members spend some $85 million a year in unregulated taxpayer money. Those events can be summed up in two words: furious resistance.

Indeed, Assembly leaders revealed those details only at legal gunpoint, having lost a lawsuit brought by the Albany Times Union. And even then, they disclosed the figures in about as incomprehensible a way as they could manage. None of that is what anyone would call evidence of a guilt-free mind.

Then again, why should legislators' minds be guilt-free? Their member items, more derisively known as pork-barrel spending, allow them to distribute taxpayer dollars as though they were trinkets at Mardi Gras, with no restrictions.

Statues, cages, trips add up in state member items (Yancey Roy/Utica Observer-Dispatch)

Where does the New York political pork go? Doll museums, tennis clubs, Main Street flower boxes, Irish fests, parades, little leagues and statues of clergy members, just to name a few creative uses.

Plane trips to Washington D.C. for vets. Marketing brochures for cemeteries. A cage for a mountain lion. Even a trip to Bangkok for a dance/theater group.

Those are just some of the $180 million worth of pet projects in the 2006-07 state budget the state Legislature began to disclose this week, following an order by a state judge. These items -- called "member items" by legislators and pork-barrel spending by critics -- are doled out at the discretion of the Senate and Assembly leaders with little public scrutiny.

Meier got $2.2 million for projects; $675,000 for UC the largest (Cara Matthews and Rocco LaDuca/Utica Observer-Dispatch)

Republican Sen. Raymond Meier has doled out $2.2 million in grants, notably $675,000 for a new building at Utica College and $100,000 to send Oneida County World War II veterans to that war's monument in Washington, D.C.

The Senate posted a partial list of 2006-07 projects, known as member items, on its Web site this week. The rest will be posted soon, said a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

More: The OD lists all local pork in this story.

Bruno grants total over $12 million; University at Albany East Campus receives $4.8 million over two years (James Odato/Albany Times Union)

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno handed out a whopping $12 million in member item grants during a two-year period, including two huge checks to the East Campus of the University at Albany where his chief fiscal officer is landing in a newly created job.

Recently released records show the top recipient of the taxpayer money doled out by the Brunswick Republican was the SUNY Albany School of Public Health for the university's East Campus in East Greenbush.

The school got $3.4 million from Bruno in December 2004 and $1.4 million in February 2004 for "general operating assistance."

Records reveal state lawmakers' largess; Assembly Speaker Silver personally sponsored $15.2M in member items (James Odato/Times Union)

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver directed $23.6 million in member items to an assortment of pet projects during a two-year period, personally sponsoring $15.2 million for groups, including several represented by a close friend who is a lobbyist.

Silver, D-Manhattan, joined other Assembly Democrats for several projects sponsored in 2003-2004 and in 2004-2005. For instance, he partnered with Susan John of Rochester and Ron Canestrari of Cohoes to send $582,000 over the two years to Queens College for a labor training program.

Governor-elect Spitzer announced a series of executive actions he and Lieutenant Governor-elect Paterson will take "as first steps in implementing a broader reform agenda." In all the press coverage we've seen, there's little mention of this item:

Institute regular and rigorous evaluations of the Executive agencies, including requiring that agencies adopt performance measurements, establish goals, and track their performance over time.

Measuring performance is a routine practice in the business world, because business leaders know that you cannot improve the bottom line if you do not have established performance goals. The State government should adopt these same practices, so that we can make government more efficient and cost-effective, thereby reducing the need for additional taxpayer dollars.

The announcement from Governor-elect Spitzer is available here.

Eliot Pledges An Ethic$ Shake-up (Fred Dicker/New York Post)

Spitzer pledged to establish "numerically based measures" for government performance, modeled in part on those used by Mayor Bloomberg to gauge the effectiveness of city agencies.

Spitzer touts ethics reform package; Governor-elect says state executive branch to abide by tougher finance rules (Liz Benjamin/Times Union)

Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer sought to make good on his pledge to reform state government Thursday with sweeping new ethics rules that will apply to himself, the lieutenant governor and their top staff. He said he hoped the Legislature follows his lead.

The changes, some of which Spitzer said he will seek to make law, include campaign finance limits, a ban on all but nominal gifts and a pledge not to attend fundraisers in the Capital Region when the Legislature is in session.

Governor-elect starts with himself (Syracuse Post-Standard)

Plainville Farms President Mark Bitz, a frequent critic of state government who founded the freenys.org Web site, said Spitzer is "showing real leadership."

If the Legislature follows suit, it could begin reversing a harmful trend three decades in the making that has allowed organized special interests to become too powerful in New York, Bitz said.

"As that trend is reversed, the larger economy can thrive and businesses would thrive," he added.

Deb Warner, director of government relations for the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, called Spitzer's plan "impressive and refreshing."

"I think that any of these actions, suggestions, policies that reflect fairness, openness and balance are going to be welcomed by the business community and the state as a whole," she said.

Spitzer a breath of fresh air in Albany (Editorial/Daily Gazette)

In government, as in life, opportunities don’t come along all the time; when they do, they must be quickly seized before they pass. That’s just what Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer did yesterday when he announced sweeping reforms that will apply to himself, his lieutenant governor and executive branch employees he has control over. You name the reform issue, and Spitzer dealt with it.

Spitzer Will ‘Unilaterally Disarm' on Day One (Jacob Gershman/New York Sun)

It's not clear if other statewide candidates would follow Mr. Spitzer's approach. Attorney General-elect Andrew Cuomo said he was reviewing the plans and would release his own ethics package shortly.

Spitzer clamps down on executive branch (Tom Precious/Buffalo News)

"Today was like a breath of fresh air," said Blair Horner, a lobbyist with the New York Public Interest Research Group. "For the first time in a long time, the governor-elect is using the bully pulpit to advance the reform movement."

Spitzer announces unprecedented reform for governor's office (Mike Gormley/Associated Press)

Spitzer outlines reforms; He pledges action to begin changing ways of government (Cara Matthews/Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)

Spitzer said he would enact the measures by executive order, meaning they would not need legislative approval. They are the first step in a process to change government, he said, adding that he hopes they will spur lawmakers to take similar actions.

Spitzer to Cut Size of Gifts He Accepts (Michael Cooper/New York Times)

Yes, according to political activist and New York farmer Mark Bitz. The Post-Standard's Sean Kirst has more in this column.

Not for the first time, Mark Bitz was a few steps ahead of the news from Albany.

Bitz, president of Plainville Turkey Farms and an outspoken advocate for state reform, was supposed to give a speech to state Senate Democrats this weekend in Saratoga Springs. One of the points he intended to make was that closing some hospitals and nursing homes is necessary to help contain Medicaid costs. Bitz said the Democrats told him they were overbooked and canceled his speech.

Even so, the contention he planned to highlight in the speech is now, through sheer coincidence, the crux of statewide debate. Among many recommendations, a state hospital downsizing commission this week called for merging Crouse and University hospitals in Syracuse, eliminating the obstetrics unit at Auburn Memorial Hospital, and converting Fulton's A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital into an "urgent care" facility.

Each of those communities reacted with cries of shock and opposition. Yet Bitz prophesied about that reaction in the body of the speech he never gave.

"As much as the communities where hospitals are located will cry, some can be closed," Bitz wrote in a portion of the speech released Thursday. "Will it disrupt some lives? Yes, and this is extremely unfortunate. However, this must be weighed against the disruption of the lives of the million people who left New York between 2000 and 2004. . . . (It) must be weighed against making health care more affordable so a couple million more people can afford coverage."

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership takes a strong stance in support of rationalizing New York's (and Western New York's) health-care system, in an open letter from President/CEO Andrew Rudnick.

For more than 20 years, the local business community has called for reengineering the delivery of health care in our region. Our objective: to improve the quality of care, and reign in ever-increasing costs to patients, taxpayers and employers.

Efforts to achieve this through voluntary action have been unsuccessful. That is why I see great opportunity in the recommendations of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, and the $2.5 billion in state and federal dollars allocated to support their implementation.

The Business Council of New York State estimates the commission's recommendations would reduce Medicaid costs by an estimated $249 million a year, with similar savings for employers and other private purchasers of health insurance. Hospitals and other service providers would reap an estimated $721 million annually that could be used to help pay restructuring and other costs.

The recommendations will yield challenges for local hospitals as they’re implemented. But our community will emerge in the near future with a health care delivery system that is stronger, better and more affordable. That’s why the Partnership’s position on this issue has been, and is, that the status quo doesn’t work, and isn’t an option.

It’s important to keep in mind these recommendations were not developed by people with no ties to health care or Buffalo Niagara, but by representatives from our region, and experts in the delivery of health care services. The commission was mandated to be sensitive to local needs throughout its deliberations, and was comprised of statewide and regional members (nine total from our region), and a regional advisory committee representing Bufalo Niagara that included representatives from local hospital systems.

Union won't fight hospital closing; 1199 holds fire for budget scrap (David Saltonstall/Daily News)

Union insiders told the Daily News that - while unhappy with the sweeping recommendations of the state's hospital-closing Berger Commission - they are inclined to save their firepower for other looming battles with Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer.

"Our fight is likely to be when we see the executive budget," one high-ranking Local 1199 source told The News, referring to Spitzer's first budget in January and the likelihood it will include further health care cuts.

While anything can happen, experts said the likely retreat by Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union - widely viewed as the most potent political player in Albany - would make stopping the proposed hospital closures all but impossible.

...

Union officials said their decision not to go to war over the closures was an acknowledgment that, while painful, the plan was at least done in a "rational way."

There is "money behind it to make sure that patients can get the care they need," and to assure "that members of our union are secure," said one union insider.

Union leaders also seemed to acknowledge that starting a very public battle with a popular new governor - who campaigned on promises to cut health care costs by up to $1 billion - could well hurt them later.

...

Yesterday, the state quickly put one $15 million contract for worker retraining out to bid, with "health worker unions" specifically mentioned as among the eligible recipients. Local 1199 officials indicated they'd be among the bidders.

Berger, Spitzer see more health care cuts coming (Jay Gallagher/Journal-News)

The plan to cut the state's health-care system proposed this week, while called harsh by some union leaders and hospital executives, represents merely a start on reductions that need to be made, the chairman of the commission that recommended the cuts said in an interview yesterday.

Later, Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer disclosed that the savings from the plan to state taxpayers from the proposed closings is likely to be minimal. He reiterated that the "bloated system" needs to be further cut.

The commission chairman, former state Social Services Commissioner Stephen Berger, said the panel didn't propose more cuts because they would be too hard for the health-care system to absorb.

"Our goal was to improve the system to give additional strength to what remains," he said. "We decided it was not desirable by going by where we should be in five or six years in one fell swoop."

...

The cuts recommended by the commission, while reducing spending by about $800 million overall, will save only about $250 million in Medicaid costs, Spitzer said, with the rest going to the federal government and private insurers. Medicaid is the health-insurance plan for poor people that the federal government pays half of. The state pays just over one-third and local governments about 16 percent.

So the state savings from the plan could be less than $100 million. That's a relative drop in the bucket for the $46 billion program, which is the most expensive of any state.

Spitzer has said that far more needs to be cut to help pay for other spending in the state budget, including more cash for schools and a tax cut.

The key to further savings, Berger said, is reducing the average length of stay in hospitals. He said it is now a little longer than six days in New York, compared to the national figure of 4.8 days.

"New York historically has been two days or so longer than the national average," he said. "It's the way we practice medicine, and it needs to change."

Pataki the Deregulator Now Sides With Firmer Control of Hospitals (Richard Perez-Pena/New York Times)

The way New York controlled hospitals in decades past would have been unthinkable in most states. The state decided whether hospitals could add wards or expensive machinery, it plotted the shape of the industry and forced it to shrink, and it set the price of every service, from stitching cuts to delivering babies.

Gov. George E. Pataki set out to change that when he took office 12 years ago, saying that competition and the free market, not regulators, should make such decisions. The state stopped setting rates, it stopped picking survivors and casualties among hospitals, and it blocked costly new projects less often.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Pataki, a Republican, embraced the report of a commission, appointed mostly by him, marking a partial return to the state control that his administration once shunned. The Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century set out to determine in detail the right size and shape of the hospital and nursing home industries.

...

The hospital price-setting system the state imposed in 1983 essentially guaranteed every hospital a small but steady profit margin. But it also discouraged efficiency, and it is hard to find anyone today who advocates a return to it.

There's much more in the article, available here.

Hospital study’s recommendations should be embraced (Letter/Schenectady Daily Gazette, for subscribers)

Let us realize that this is an opportunity to enhance the care we provide, to improve the financial footing of our system for future decades and to pursue our communitywide mission of excellence.

Let us avoid the temptation to regard the changes ahead of us as "bad." Let us also hope that the cost savings sought by the commission are not lost on highpriced lawyers and consultants in endless financial and legal wrangling.

The state hospital downsizing commission rejected a recommendation from its New York City experts to shut down struggling Downtown Hospital - protecting the biggest medical center on the turf of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, The Post has learned. mmission flatly turned aside a closure recommendation in the city, and the move casts doubt on the panel's claims that there were no political "sacred cows."

Berger's Turkey, Cont'd. (Editorial/New York Post)

Well, no wonder so many key players are backing that long-awaited plan for a modest restructuring of New York's overbuilt, underused, ruinously expensive hospital system.

It seems that there's a whole lot of winking and nodding going on - and not much restructuring.

To help health care system, time to do nothing (Jim Klurfeld/Newsday)

At first blush, this should be a piece of cake for our representatives in Albany. All they have to do is do nothing. And, as we have come to learn over the years, the folks in Albany are very good at doing nothing. Usually, give them a choice between something and nothing and they'll choose nothing every time.

What I'm talking about here is the Berger Commission report to restructure the hospital and nursing home systems in New York State. The long-awaited report of the commission was issued Tuesday and, just as the commission wanted, it shook up the state's health care industry.

Hospital privatization not a good choice (Public Employees Federation letter/Post-Standard)

It's imperative that the taxpaying residents of Central New York react to the recommendations of the Healthcare Commission. It has proposed that Upstate and Crouse merge and be governed by an entity other that SUNY. This means privatization - not a good choice.

50 jobs coming to Brighton; Software company announces $1 million Canal View expansion (David Tyler/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Impact Technologies, a Brighton software and equipment company, said Friday that it will expand and create 50 jobs over the next five years.

The company will add 30,000 square feet in Brighton's Canal View office complex and spend $1 million on real estate and equipment.

Bechtel puts its move on hold; State, local officials hope to persuade company staying in Schenectady would pay off (Eric Anderson/Albany Times Union)

Bush Ind., Jamestown Container Strike Deal (Steven M. Sweeney/Jamestown Post-Journal)

Two local manufacturing giants are pinning their hopes for future growth on each other, savings jobs and boosting business in the process.

Bush Industries and Jamestown Container Corp. announced Friday they have signed exclusive supply contracts for packaging materials made at Jamestown Container's facilities in Falconer, Lockport and Cleveland for Bush's plants in Western New York, Erie and around the world.

Executives of the two corporations would not disclose details of the multi-year deal, but said it was mutually beneficial for both parties.

"Any time you're in a community like this, you try to do what works best for the entire community," said James L. Sherbert, Bush's chief executive officer. "What we've done is started concentrating on a smaller reservoir of suppliers. Jamestown does a very good job of managing cost."

Writer pens book on the upstate gravesites of notable Americans (Chris Carola/Associated Press)

Panel urges wider area for cheap hydropower (David Robinson/Buffalo News)

A state commission is recommending that low-cost hydropower currently limited to businesses within a 30-mile radius of the Niagara Power Project be made available to businesses in six Western New York counties.

The recommendation, released Friday by a commission led by Empire State Development Chairman Charles A. Gargano, would make low-cost expansion and replacement power available to companies in Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties.

Local housing market slows; But region avoids bursting price bubble seen elsewhere (Tory N. Parrish/Utica Observer-Dispatch)

Wal-Mart plan for supercenter causes waves in Village of Angola (Elmer Ploetz/Buffalo News)

When Wal-Mart announced last week that it wants to put a supercenter just outside the Angola village line, it provoked a variety of responses ranging from fear to optimism - and doubt.

"My first reaction, as a business owner, is that it's my worst nightmare," said Phil Van Koughnet, the owner of Shultz & Co. hardware and appliance store in Angola. He said he didn't fall asleep until after 3 the following morning after finding out the big retailer was eyeing the site of a drive-in.

"If the drive-in was already failing, I'd rather see a business thrive that would bring people to the area," said Maria Carlson, owner of Whistlestop Bakery, which just opened on Main Street. "Having a Wal-Mart here will certainly do that."

Syracuse is crown jewel of New York state; City is too great to be cited as book's worst (Sean Kirst column/Syracuse Post-Standard )

Syracuse Post-Standard columnist Sean Kirst responds to a book that apparently has snide things to say about the quality of life in Syracuse.

Late Saturday night, my teenage son and I made a quick run to Wegmans for ice cream, firewood and other necessities of December life in Syracuse. We cut across Wolcott Avenue in the southwest corner of the city, where we enjoyed the Christmas lights on many houses, and I made a point to my kid as we headed to the store:

The greater neighborhood, year after year, somehow holds together.

Sixteen years ago, when my wife and I brought our infant daughter to Syracuse, we moved into a flat on Fellows Avenue, a very cool flat in an old brick building that offered as much floor space as a house. Later on, we got an apartment on Geddes Street, near the Woodland Reservoir, and we fell in love with that part of Syracuse.

Indeed, you can argue that the sledding hill at the reservoir--yes, the outlawed sledding hill used by everyone, from cops to clergy--is the reason that we settled in this region. We were at a transient point in our lives. Between college and our jobs, we had spent time in four different Upstate communities. We had no family and no real link to Syracuse.

But the reservoir was a wonderful place to walk the dog in the summer--years later, I would learn Sen. Joe Biden remembers it for the same reason--and an extraordinary place to take our toddlers sledding in the winter. I had grown up in a city that was absolutely flat, a city where we'd go searching as children for the tiniest embankment to use for sledding in the winter.

Compared with that, the reservoir was paradise. We often grabbed the kids for what we knew as "moonlight sledding," going up the Woodland hill at night beneath the stars, where you could see the glittering skyline as you shot down the slope. . . .

And I began to think I had found the best city in the world.

. . . .

I love Syracuse for its hills and for its views. I love it for the vista you can see from Schiller Park or from the stadium where Corcoran High School plays its football games. I love Syracuse because my kids are in the city schools, where they have gotten an education--strong, loving and continuing--in the qualities that matter most to me in life.

I love Syracuse because of the way it stubbornly defies the naysayers who keep predicting the demise of so many city neighborhoods. I love Syracuse because of the parks, especially Elmwood, a green and quiet refuge where I go to walk and think. I love Syracuse because it has a real downtown filled with architectural treasures, and because of the sheer number of people who care about whether downtown comes back.

I love Syracuse for the wildly different people thrown together every day by the bumper cars of life. I love Syracuse for the way it celebrates or grieves as a community. I love it for its self-demeaning, salty civic humor, perfect for a town whose first industry was brine, a sense of humor that revels in what Gilmartin sees as our defects.

I love Syracuse for the way I can leave my house and get to the heart of the city, or to a Christmas tree farm, in 10 minutes. I love Syracuse for the storms it brings in the winter, because every kid deserves the joy of sleeping in on a snow day. I love Syracuse for the fashion in which your cholesterol goes up just from breathing the aromatic fog above the New York State Fair.

Most of all, I love Syracuse for the latent, powerful, simmering potential that so many people of good will feel just beyond their fingertips--the whole idea that if we disciplined ourselves and listened to our better angels that something extraordinary might happen here. . . .

Which is enough, in and of itself, to make me stay.

One of the worst places in America? That's just a joke, worth a quick laugh.

Finding comfort, connections in 'small-town' Rochester (op-ed/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

This essay in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle is by a former Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reporter who recently moved to a smaller paper in Manhattan--but not without some wistfulness for life in Rochester.

I am a traveler by nature. Since college I have lived in close to a dozen cities around the world, exploring each, liking some and always excited to move onto the next.

When I was younger, it was easy to pick up and move on, but in my late 20s I grew weary of living out of suitcases, and regretted that I hadn't gotten to know the cities or people better. I wanted deeper connections, but wasn't sure how to get them.

Then two Januarys ago I arrived in Rochester in the dead of winter for a job. And for the first time, I was in a city where I had no connections, not even a distant relative. I moved into a beautiful apartment but for at least several weeks did not see another soul. The sky was a perennial gray, and unlike all of the other cities where I'd lived, the rat race was seemingly nonexistent. Away from big-city hustle, I faced a foreign, frightening silence. It didn't help that locals asked me why I had come to Rochester. Why, indeed?

The city wasn't sexy, the economy was sleepy, the winters were infamously cold, and there seemed to be a dearth of singles. For comfort, I watched marathon rounds of Sex and the City and plotted an escape.

I also desperately sought connections. . . .

I joined all of these groups and felt more oddball than ever. "Maybe you're trying too hard," my sister suggested.

. . . . I started to look at the city as a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. I found joy in swimming with a group of people who shared a similar passion. I found an old-fashioned tea place, a Dutch market with to-die-for licorice. I became a Wegmans addict and discovered the beauty of wine country.

. . . .

Rochester has been trying to find its identity in the aftermath of mass layoffs by big companies, and the challenges of a global economy. Elected officials talk of making over the city with high-tech and the universities. However, one of the city's biggest sellers is already here: a sense of community. In this age of disconnect, it is a big sell.

So when the opportunity to return to the big city came, I surprised myself: I hesitated. Friends from the Big Apple thought that I had gone mad. They reminded me of my metropolitan roots, and the ambitious young woman I was.

On the cusp of my 31st birthday, here was my opportunity to live a Sex and the City lifestyle. "I don't know if I want to leave," I told a close friend. "I kind of like it here." There is little traffic, no long commute and the lifestyle is affordable. "It sounds like you're ready to retire," she quipped. It wasn't that, it was much more. Home is where connections exist, and happiness is found within those connections. It is a simple lesson but one that my younger self would have rolled her eyes at.

I reflected on the life that I had made over two years, and then I closed my eyes and imagined the chapter to come: the screaming sirens, the fast clip of rush hour, slipping into the anonymity of 8 million people.

I packed with a newfound sadness. Maybe it was a rite of passage from the tumultuous 20s to my more mature self. As I turned the ignition I knew that this would be one drive that would be bittersweet, but this time I had no regrets.

Every month, 20,000 people in WNY find a new job; Companies hire even during holidays (Michelle Kearns/Buffalo News)

Approximately 20,000 Western New Yorkers get new jobs each month as openings turn over and jobs shift from one employer to another. Yet, seasonal business surges can make finding a job easier now--an extra 10,000 new openings are created between August and December.

. . . .

The holidays, hectic with travel, family gatherings, office parties and shopping can leave employers eager to hire--because of extra business, or because openings languish while most people are too busy to apply.

"The economy is very dynamic. You have companies that are growing. And companies that are declining. The ones that are growing tend to be a lot quieter," said John Slenker, local analyst at the state Labor Department. "One of the best times in business in general is the build up to Christmas."

Factories in area report jump in new orders, output; More firms added workers in November (David Robinson/Buffalo News)

A burst in production at local factories, coupled with a flurry of new orders gave the Buffalo Niagara region's manufacturers something to be thankful for in November, a local purchasing managers group said Friday.

The November gain--the biggest one-month jump for the National Association of Purchasing Management--Buffalo's business activity index since July 2005--was the third straight month of faster growth among local manufacturers.

The index jumped by 5.1 points to a four-month high of 61.7 from 56.6 in October. "For Western New York manufacturers, business has improved," said William R. Ellis, the chairman of the group's business survey committee. "This change is surprising, because we usually experience a year-end slowdown."

Whenever the group's index tops 50, it indicates growth at local factories. Since the index has been above that since July 2003, the survey shows that the region's manufacturing sector has expanded for 41 straight months--the longest streak of consecutive improvement in more than nine years.

New York has assets to overcome its economic malaise (Brian McMahon/Buffalo News)

[A] survey of influential New Yorkers confirms the need for new policies and offers refreshing reminders about some strong assets New York can use to recover. The survey, by the New York State Economic Development Council, shows that New York's leaders in business, academia and government are pessimistic about the effects of high taxes and high job-creation costs - but notably cheerier about New York's strengths in other areas that are critical to growth.

Four of five respondents confirmed that New York's tax burden, especially income and property taxes, is a big problem. Seven of 10 expressed concern about two other key costs, workers' compensation and energy. And more than half said New York is at a disadvantage in trying to keep talented New Yorkers in New York.

But in other areas critical to development, respondents seemed downright sunny. For example:

*Two-thirds said employers' ability to find skilled workers with the right skills is either an advantage (17 percent) or competitive with other states (55 percent).

*Four of five said New York's training programs are an advantage (20 percent) or competitive with other states (59 percent).

* Eight of 10 said New York's climate for collaboration with colleges and universities is an advantage (41 percent) or competitive (40 percent).

* Nearly eight of 10 respondents said New York's opportunities for outdoor recreation are an advantage.

The complete report on the survey is availabl (in PDF format) at www.nysedc.org/2006_Preparing_for_the_Next_NY.pdf.

Area's campuses fuel the economy; Research, jobs drive the engine providing an edge for the future (Matthew Daneman/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

As industry after industry shrinks locally, higher education is one of the few growth areas in an economy long dominated by the Big Three local high-tech giants--Eastman Kodak Co., Xerox Corp. and Bausch & Lomb Inc.

Many of the area's college campuses are booming--from the buildings sprouting at Rochester Institute of Technology and the spreading of the University of Rochester Medical Center campus, to the mushrooming enrollment at colleges such as St. John Fisher and Nazareth.

Together, the area's dozen major two- and four-year higher education institutions are increasingly major players in the local economy. They employ tens of thousands, and bring thousands of out-of-state students to the area. Their research births new companies. And their resources help bolster existing companies.

. . . .

As nonprofit entities, they are exempt from paying property taxes. They face the same issues that hamper for-profit companies across the state, such as high utility costs, said Matthew Maguire, director of communications for the Business Council of New York. "RIT also has to attract talent from the four corners of the globe and has to pay workers' comp costs, has to buy electricity to run that researcher's computers, and has to pay her enough money to deal with property taxes she is likely to find absolutely stunning."

Communities across the East and Midwest are looking to higher education to help boost sagging financial fortunes, said Claire Van Ummerson, vice president of the Center for Effective Leadership at the American Council on Education.

Meanwhile, university research doesn't always carry a financial payoff, she said: "There are some things that may not catch on. Some of the basic discoveries may never be translated into anything commercial."

And with the local economic shift away from manufacturing, "your communitywide standard of living in terms of economics probably drops somewhat," said Rochester Business Alliance President Sandy Parker. "You don't have the Kodak manufacturing workers, 60,000 of them, making $14, $15, $16 an hour like we did 20 years ago. Those kind of hourly rates are not being paid to the entry-level workers that exist in a university setting or a health care setting.

"That being said, those kinds of wages aren't being paid to manufacturing workers, either."

. . . .

Higher education provides a monetary shot in the Rochester area's arm in numerous ways:

Local colleges employ roughly 20,000 people, from faculty and administrators to groundskeepers and secretaries.

UR is the area's single largest employer and one of the state's largest employers, according to the state Labor Department. In the past five years, its full-time employment figures have risen nearly 15 percent, hitting 12,701 as of June. Much of UR's growth has been in health care, and the university is in the midst of a year-plus planning process that will look at employment size, said President Joel Seligman.

Seligman indicated that student and faculty numbers likely will grow.

Other local schools have also seen notable employment growth in the past five years, including Rochester Institute of Technology, among the area's 10 largest employers, with 2,725 full-time workers; Monroe Community College with 901; and St. John Fisher College with 433.

The story also looks beyond the direct effects of institutional employment to the real benefits that institutions of higher education bring to a region's economy: ideas for new businesses, technologies, innovations, and jobs.

The colleges draw massive amounts of government and industry money via grants and donations for research efforts, especially at UR and RIT. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, the latest year for which Internal Revenue Service figures are available, UR received $351 million in grants and contracts for sponsored research. RIT that year got $48.6 million in grants and allocations for research.

Area colleges translate research into inventions and companies. "Rochester is probably better able to meet some of the changes in the economy resulting from the loss of manufacturing ... because they have the research going on in these institutions in the biomedical area and in the technology areas," said Van Ummerson.

And UR's Medical Center attracts from afar numerous medical patients and their cash. About 8 percent of Strong Health Service's inpatients and 4 percent of its outpatients come from outside western New York, said Peter Robinson, vice president for UR's Medical Center and Strong Health. Those patients have increased nearly 50 percent since 2000, he said.

Consolidate N.Y.'s archaic school system (letter/Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin)

Consolidation efforts should include the archaic school systems of New York state. Broome County is divided into 12 school districts employing 12 school district superintendents, one deputy superintendent and 14 assorted assistant superintendents for the purpose of delivering education to fewer than 32,000 students. New York's school system is the nation's most costly to operate, ranks 44th in graduation rates and 43rd in SAT scores. This is a terrible report card at a very high cost.

I worked 40 years in central Florida and its school services are delivered via a county system. My school district there, educating nearly 60,000 students, is administered by one superintendent and staff. My taxes, both property and school, were collected by one tax collector and distributed to 19 unique taxing authorities within the county.

Sheriff applauds restored budget; Campbell says funds for jobs and a jail annex will help ensure public safety (Carol DeMare/Albany Times Union)

Sheriff James Campbell, angry that 13 jobs at the jail were scrapped in the 2007 county budget, has had the positions restored after taking his case to legislators.

The positions, as well as other items in the sheriff's budget that were to be axed, are back in, and the 39-member legislature is expected to pass the spending plan at a meeting tonight.

Lowered bond rating will bite Elmira; City will have to spend more for long-term borrowing (Ray Finger/Elmira Star-Gazette)

Long-term borrowing will cost Elmira more after the downgrading of the city's bond rating, making it that much harder for the city to chip away at its $2.1 million deficit.

Moody's Investors Service, a bond rating firm, recently downgraded its rating of Elmira bonds from BAA2 to BAA3. City Manager John Burin does not know yet how much the change will cost the city.

. . . .

Bond ratings reflect a bond issuer's probability of defaulting based on an analysis of the issuer's financial condition and profit potential, according to Investopedia.com.

County lawmakers may get raise; Chemung County legislators saw no raises in previous years (Ray Finger/Elmira Star-Gazette)

A raise for Chemung County legislators will be considered by the Legislature's Budget Committee when it meets Monday.

The 4 percent raise is about $500 and will bring legislators' annual pay to $12,165, said County Executive Tom Santulli, who recommended the increase in his 2007 budget proposal.

The increase is consistent with raises for other county employees and officials, said Cornelius Milliken, R-7th District, who is chairman of the Budget Committee and also of the full Legislature.

Means of cutting tax rise in doubt; Rensselaer County Republicans find ways to pare proposed 26% increase but critics say not all methods valid (Kate Perry/Albany Times Union)

County Republicans have pared back a proposed 26 percent tax increase to 9 percent, but their methods for trimming may not pan out in 2007.

In the two months since County Executive Kathleen Jimino proposed a $278 million spending plan for 2007 that required the tax increase, county legislators have been tossing around ideas on ways to cut it back.

On Monday, lawmakers will adopt the Republican majority's new version of the budget, which will lessen the projected burden on taxpayers.

With the proposed increase in place, a resident with a home assessed at $100,000 would pay $639.27, an increase of $131.06 over last year. With the 9 percent increase, said GOP majority spokesman Rich Crist, the increase would be only about $52.

But Republicans found 7 percent of their savings by including $3 million of revenue from a tobacco surcharge--which needs approval from the state Legislature that hasn't been granted.

Some officials, such as Democratic County Legislator Keith Hammond, say including that revenue without approval is a mistake. If the money doesn't come through, the county could be in the red at the end of 2007, raising taxes through the roof.

Commercial property boosts assessments; 'I view it as positive news. . . . Downtown is back.' (Brian Meyer and Sharon Linstedt/Buffalo News)

Strong home sales in some Buffalo neighborhoods and new investment downtown are expected to result in thousands of property owners paying larger tax bills next July.

More than 12,000 homeowners and nearly 800 businesses started receiving letters Friday, announcing that the city has increased their assessments. About 15 percent of all properties in the city would see increases, although owners have the right to challenge new assessments. Another 2 percent would see decreases.

The tentative changes would add $807.6 million to the value of properties in Buffalo, including a $561.4 million increase in the value of commercial properties.

Most of the increase in commercial value occurred downtown, said Bruna Michaux, Assessment and Taxation commissioner.

"I view it as positive news," she said. "It's obvious that investors are optimistic about downtown Buffalo. Downtown is back."

There's more.

Strike was expected to be resolved quickly (Fred Williams/Buffalo News)

It looked like a wall of blue-collar unity one day last month in Tonawanda, when autoworkers marched alongside striking Steelworkers outside the Goodyear-Dunlop tire plant.

But the solidarity on the picket line overlays a big gap in tactics.

The United Steelworkers of America, in the ninth week of a strike against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., have taken a hard line against cutbacks - a sharp contrast to other industrial unions that are going along with reductions in jobs and membership.

"It sure is unusual, compared to the rest of industry" said Bruce Belzowski, automotive research analyst at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute.

Facing global labor competition, unions have largely accepted a shrinking factory base in the U.S., in return for buyouts that provide a soft landing for today's workers. The strategy avoids a confrontation with their already-weak employers, but puts pensions and retiree benefits on a dwindling base of support.

. . . .

Goodyear has reported profits in two of the last three years, but its financial statement reveals bruises beneath that surface. The $343 million total profits it reaped in 2004 and '05 amount to less than half the $800 million loss it took during its restructuring of 2003. Despite that move, which invested in U.S. operations, Goodyear remains vulnerable to imports without further productivity steps, the company has said, calling this contract critical to its survival as passenger car tires from China and elsewhere take an increasing share of the U.S. market.

As contract talks began, Goodyear North American president Jonathan D. Rich said, "to win in North America we must see reality."

Pay hike for legislators? You decide (editorial/Utica Observer-Dispatch)

New York's legislators insist they have no plans to vote themselves a pay raise when they return to the Capitol Dec. 13 to consider other issues. But they haven't ruled one out, either.

Well, they should. If state legislators were held to the same standards as employees in the private sector, they'd be fretting over whether they even have a job, let alone getting more money.

A state legislator's current base salary is $79,500 annually, third after California ($110,000) and Michigan ($79,650). In addition, every member of the Senate, all 45 Republicans in the Assembly and about two-thirds of the 104 Democrats get "leadership" stipends ranging from $9,000 to $40,000, hiking the average pay to more than $90,000 a year. And don't forget the $152 a day every legislator gets for expenses while in Albany or elsewhere on state business.

Most businesses reward employees with raises following a commendable, or at least, satisfactory, performance review. Let's see how our "employees" have performed in their job:

•Economy. The state Business Council reported in October that job growth in New York has lagged far behind the national average for the last decade. Since 1995, jobs in New York grew 8.7 percent, compared to 14.1 percent nationally. Upstate, jobs grew by only 4.8 percent in that decade. Losses across the Mohawk Valley have been particularly devastating, beginning with the closing of Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome in the mid-90s to more recent losses at Oneida Ltd. in Sherrill, and the closing of Ethan Allen in Boonville, LaSalle Laboratories in Little Falls and Union Tools in Frankfort.

•State debt. Legislators have a dismal record when it comes to reducing what we owe. According to the Citizens Budget Commission, New York's debt will reach a record $49.7 billion this year, placing the state in the commission's "danger zone," based on the states' ability to afford it. Even when presented with an opportunity to trim some of that debt--a $1.1 billion surplus this year--legislators opted to hand out tax rebates, which arrived just in time to pay school taxes, which was, coincidentally, right around election time.

•Bureaucracy. Nothing has been done to trim government. In fact, we have more government jobs than ever. According to an analysis of federal and state labor statistics by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, the number of state and local government employees rose to 1.33 million in July, about 30,700 more since July 2000, the high point for state private-sector employment. During the same period, the number of private-sector jobs that pay for government services fell 40,300 to about 7.15 million. Said Empire Center Director E.J. McMahon: "Even in economic tough times, government is really the last place to cut back."

•Spending. Legislators have refused to trim spending. In fact, the $113.25 billion budget it passed this year created the second-biggest one-year spending increase in state history. The spending increase was nearly $7 billion more than last year.

So, Mr. and Ms. State Taxpayer, there's a quick summary of your employees' performance. Do you think they deserve a raise?

Legislators' lousy record doesn't merit a pay raise (Letter/Buffalo News)

Before they grant themselves more of our money, they need to answer a few simple questions. How many good, private-sector jobs have they created? Why are gasoline taxes so high? Why do our colleges do a fine job of educating our children for the benefit of employment in other states? Why wasn't this pay raise brought up before last month's election?

Legislative leaders seek 3% hike for operations (Marc Humbert/Associated Press)

The leaders of the state Legislature called Friday for a 3 percent increase in funding for their operations in the fiscal year that begins April 1, and state Chief Judge Judith Kaye renewed her plea for judicial pay raises.

The legislative request did not include any funding for pay raises for lawmakers, according to aides to state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican. The leaders have been under pressure from rank-and-file lawmakers seeking a pay raise. Their base annual salary of $79,500 was last raised in 1999.

Niagara presses for aid to boost power plant (Thomas Prohaska/Buffalo News)

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise won't officially endorse efforts to bring a "clean coal" power plant to Niagara County, but at least it could help out.

County Legislature Minority Leader Dennis F. Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, has placed a resolution espousing that view on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.

His measure, which is expected to receive wide support, calls on Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, a Buffalo-based regional organization that promotes new businesses, "to assist Niagara County and Choose Niagara Now in using all their expertise to bring this clean coal plant and all of its jobs to Niagara County."

AES Corp. is bidding in a statewide competition to win the $1 billion plant for its property in Somerset. Choose Niagara Now, a special lobbying group boosting AES' bid, is headed by State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane.

AES' leading competitor in the contest appears to be NRG Energy, which wants the clean coal plant for its Huntley Station in the Town of Tonawanda. The State Power Authority is to select the site this month.

The Future at Indian Point (editorial/New York Times)

We confess we find this editorial in the New York Times on the future of New York's Indian Point power plant a bit murky. The piece notes that opponents of the plant have expressed safety fears (to which company officials have responded), and then notes that the case for keeping the plant is based on the significance of its contributions to New York's daily energy usage and the difficulty the state would have replacing that power.

The plant's case is basically one very big point: Indian Point is in place, and producing a large amount of much-needed energy. A recent National Research Council study found that the region's growing need for energy and the many obstacles to building new and relatively clean power sources would make replacing it very difficult.

Shutting Indian Point--which produces about 30 percent of the region's current energy demand--would make electricity more expensive. It would also put a heavy burden on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a groundbreaking agreement among Northeast and mid-Atlantic states to limit carbon emissions. And if Indian Point closed, spent nuclear fuel could sit for many years at the decommissioned plant, for lack of any other place to put it.

But then the editorial suggests that the federal agency considering the plant's future should consider only one side's (guess which one's!) arguments.

The most important question facing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, elected officials and area residents is whether it makes any sense to relicense a nuclear plant in a highly populated area from which swift evacuation is so problematic. The other critical issue is whether the age of the reactors, which date to the mid-1970s, should be a concern. As these reactors begin their fourth decade they may, like an old car, be more prone to breakdown. Faulty parts can be replaced, but it is worth asking whether the plant as a whole will remain safe through the end of its next licensing period.

The piece doesn't come right out and urge the decommissioning of the plant. But it's hard to be persuaded, one way or another, by a commentary that clearly lays out two sides of an argument and then seems to suggest that only one be considered.

GOP needs rethinking; State's not-so-Grand Old Party ought to retrench in principles (editorial/Buffalo News)

For years, now, New York Republicans have been largely indistinguishable from Democrats. Both love to spend taxpayers' money. Neither can so no to unions and others who seek to hold their leashes. Both love cramming unfunded mandates down the throats of local taxpayers. Both have voted to send the state's taxpayer-funded debt load into the stratosphere. What's the point of voting for Republicans if they don't stand for anything different?

It's possible to have a certain amount of sympathy for New York Republicans. They have to find their way in a left-leaning state and, to a large extent, they have been influenced by Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican whose governing philosophy has often seemed to be based more on pragmatic expedience than principal. That, no doubt, helps account for the behavior of Senate Republicans, whose concern for upstate taxpayers is spasmodic at best.

In that regard, the spanking they got last month may have been just the medicine they needed to relocate their principles. The next several years will be miserable for them, but if they can figure out how to consistently stand for conservative ideas in a Democrat-heavy state, they'll do better at influencing policy.

Newly-elected state party chairman Joseph N. Mondello of Nassau County's "dire straits" analysis was spot on, but his initial appeal-to-everyone speech misses the point--the party has to reset principles, not just seek to win by being "Democrat-lite." And Republicans have at their disposal a ready-made message and an audience primed to hear it. With the upstate economy in long-term decline, and with Albany's handprints all over the mess, a well crafted message of reform could resonate around the state. In any event, they could hardly help but do better than they did last month, when Democrats won every statewide office, and picked up seats in both houses of the Legislature.

We hope the victory of Democratic Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer will usher in an era of reform and accountability in government. There are strong signs it will. But even if it does, what about the next governor and the one after that? There's nothing like a party that has different ideas and the nerve to speak about them to keep the other one in line. Right now, New York doesn't have that.

Nassau County GOP leader takes state party's reins (Bob McCarthy/Buffalo News)

The new chairman of the New York State Republican Committee didn't avoid the obvious Thursday as he assessed the woeful condition of his party.

"We're in terrible shape; we're in dire straits," said Joseph N. Mondello, just after delegates from around the state unanimously elected the longtime Nassau County chairman as their party leader.

And then for good measure, he addressed the crucial question of finances.

"I'll be candid with you, there's just no money there," he added.

. . . .

Mondello said once he puts the party's finances in order, he will begin traveling the state to assist in local races, all the while operating out of Bruno's "nucleus" in the Senate. Still, while proclaiming, "I love Joe," he vowed he will call his own shots.

"Let's get it straight--I'm no toady--never was and never will be," he said.

New state GOP leader faces major rebuilding task (Marc Humbert/Associated Press)

Mondello, who has been Nassau County GOP chairman for 24 years, represents a shift for Republicans: The last two state chairmen, Minarik and Alexander Treadwell, were hand-picked by Gov. George Pataki. Pataki, who announced last year that he would not seek a fourth term, is eyeing a run for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination even though his approval ratings in New York have been dismal in recent years.

Pataki took complete control of the state party apparatus in early 2001 when he installed Treadwell as state chairman and got rid of William Powers, who had rebuilt the state GOP after the 1990 drubbing that saw Republican candidate for governor Pierre Rinfret collect just 22 percent of the vote. When he took control in 1991, Powers was a key aide to then-Sen. Alfonse D'Amato. Mondello was also a key ally of the Long Island-based D'Amato.

Pataki's ouster of Democratic governor Mario Cuomo in 1994 was in large part the work of the D'Amato-Powers-Mondello operation. In late 2004, when Pataki installed Minarik as state party chairman, Mondello was bumped from his seat on the Republican National Committee and replaced by Treadwell.

Mondello made it clear at his installation Thursday that he was no fan of Pataki and promised that the state party would become a bottom-up operation rather than top down.

Nonetheless, sitting off to the side and smiling broadly as Mondello spoke, was state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. With Pataki a lame-duck and Faso defeated, Bruno has become the most powerful Republican in state government and, as such, the titular head of the party. Bruno engineered Mondello's election. Sitting near Bruno at Thursday's meeting was his close friend, Powers.

More politics:

The PSC chair; There's still time for Gov. Pataki to do the right thing (editorial/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle))

It's disappointing that retiring Gov. Pataki chose to fill the chairmanship of the state's Public Service Commission just one month before he leaves office and the swearing-in of Eliot Spitzer.

True, there is still an opportunity for Spitzer to decide who will run the state's energy and telecommunications panel, but only if Pataki backs off.

The outgoing governor should not move to fill the new vacancy on the five-member panel created by his decision to move commissioner Patricia Acampora to the chairmanship. Pataki on Friday named Acampora, a member of the PSC since June 2005, to succeed William Flynn, who resigned last week to accept a lobbying job with the Pittsford-based law firm Harris Beach.

As the situation now stands, Acampora's appointment as chairwoman could be viewed as temporary, as it should be, if Pataki doesn't fill her seat. Doing so would allow Spitzer, who will be sworn in Jan. 1 as governor, the right to fill Acampora's seat and name that person as chairperson.

Spitzer deserves to appoint the next permanent commissioner because that person is likely to play a pivotal role in helping get New York's exorbitant energy costs under control. Electricity rates in this state, on average, are 63 percent above the national average.

As Spitzer pointed out during his successful campaign for governor, those costs are a huge impediment to economic growth. And that's particularly so here in upstate, where job losses are among the worst in the nation.

The chances of Spitzer's strategies for reducing energy costs and improving the state's economic outlook are clearly enhanced if he and the new PSC chairperson are on the same page.

Pataki's parting gifts to his pals; As the governor exits, loyalists receive protected--and prized--civil service jobs (Rick Karlin/Albany Times Union)

Gov. George Pataki has added more than 12,000 jobs to the state payroll over the last two years, wiping out half the cuts he once boasted of making to reduce the size of government.

As the governor prepares to leave office at year's end, Pataki also appears to be tucking scores of Republican loyalists into protected civil service jobs, dozens of which require no tests and, critics say, have only vague requirements.

While job shuffling to protect the party faithful is a time-honored feature of administration changes, some say the scale on which this is happening under Pataki sets a new standard for abusing the civil service system.

Even unions--which stand to benefit from having more people in the civil service ranks--question the necessity of some of the jobs being created in the waning days of Pataki's administration.

Pataki spokesman Michael Marr said without a precise comparison of job shifts 12 years ago when Pataki defeated Democrat Mario Cuomo, criticism by unions that the governor is stacking civil service is unfair.

Marr also noted that a big part of the recent job growth has been at the State and City Universities of New York, which, like state systems nationwide, have undergone an enrollment boom.

But Elizabeth Lynam, research director for the Citizens Budget Commission, a spending watchdog, notes that employment there grew faster than enrollment. The number of SUNY jobs alone, for example, has increased 21 percent over the last decade, while enrollment went up 8 percent.

"Does it fully explain the growth in the work force? The answer is no," Lynam said.

Pataki came into office with a pledge to trim government. At the time, New York had the equivalent of 243,625 full-time state employees, according to the state Comptrollers office. By December 2004, Pataki cut that to 219,208.

But between January 2005 and Oct. 1 of this year, the number soared to 231,851. The payroll rose by some $27.7 million a week.

Much has been written in recent months about how members of Pataki's inner circle, as well as their spouses and children, have netted high-profile positions on boards and authorities with terms that guarantee employment for at least the next several years.

There's much more.

Spitzer's leftover funds cover inaugural (Erik Kriss/Syracuse Post-Standard)

When it comes to his inaugural, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer says he's trying to keep it clean.

"I will not raise money for the inauguration," Spitzer declared last week, mindful of the headaches his predecessor created by doing just that.

"We will pay for it from the funds left over in the campaign account, so there will be absolutely no fundraising for that," the Democrat said. "I just think it creates all the wrong messages and imagery."

Joe Bruno deserves his position of power (editorial/Troy Record)

The reason Bruno either runs unopposed for office or whomps out runaway victories is that he delivers.

It is a remarkable feat that Bruno was able to maintain the Senate majority in the face of this year's voter revolution, remarkable and a tribute to his tenacity.

And for that and a host of other reasons, we congratulate Sen. Bruno on the unanimous vote Thursday that gave him his seventh consecutive term as Senate majority leader. Other pretenders to the throne have made forays at the office, but Bruno is the kind of colleague who engenders loyalty and respect.

On a strictly self-serving level, it is a tremendous boon for the area to have the state's most powerful Republican living in the neighborhood. The senator is fierce in fighting for the region to get its fair share.

Aide to Pataki in mix for GOP post (Albany Times Union)

An aide to Gov. George Pataki is among the list of names circulating for executive director of the state Republican Party.

John Haggerty, who heads Pataki's legislative affairs office, is in the mix, according to GOP insiders. Haggerty, a Queens native who also worked for former Republican Attorney General Dennis Vacco, would come with political experience: his last big gig was in 2005 when he took a leave from his $99,425-a-year state job to work as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's deputy campaign manager.

State Depends On Coalition's Success (editorial/Jamestown Post-Journal)

Revitalizing our state's economy--especially the upstate economy--demands a major effort. If I am elected governor, we are going to begin immediately to implement an aggressive strategy to reduce the cost of doing business in New York and make New York the best place to do business in the world."

So said Eliot Spitzer when he was running for governor.

As part of that major effort, we note he promised in September that reforming our state's economically crippling workers' compensation system is near the top of his to-do list.

"As governor, I will immediately go to work to build the coalition we need to get this problem solved so that we can once and for all fix this enormous drag on the competitiveness of New York's business," he said at the state Business Council's annual meeting before the election.

We agree with Larry Gilroy, chair of the New York Workers' Compensation Action Network, who cites Spitzer's unequivocal support for reform while campaigning. The solid mandate voters across the state gave Spitzer should mean that as our next governor, he has it within his means to finally to solve this devastating problem, Gilroy says.

. . . .

¯ New York has the highest workers' comp cost system in the nation even though the state's maximum weekly benefit is one of the lowest.

¯ Average workers' comp premiums in New York are 15 percent above the national average, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

¯ The average workers' comp claim in New York state is 86 percent higher than the national average, according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance.

¯ Permanent Partial Disability claims account for 13 percent of all workers' compensation claims, yet account for 79 percent of the total cost.

¯ Upstate New York continues to lose manufacturing jobs to states with cheaper comp costs, and established businesses are buckling under high comp costs.

Gilroy also points to an upstate business owner who defines his New York workers' compensation costs as a "penalty for doing business in New York." And what a penalty it is: His costs total $1 million dollars in New York. The business owner's costs in North Carolina for the same number of e