Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that if lawmakers say he's not serious about giving them a pay raise, they should stand up and say they would support the ethics reforms he wants in exchange.
Cuomo and legislative leaders appear increasingly unlikely that they'll reach a deal before year's end for a special session that would give the Legislature its first pay raise since 1999.
Cuomo wants campaign-finance reforms, public financing of campaign and more disclosure about lawmakers' outside income. They haven't agreed to his demands.
"Let them call my bluff and let them stand up and say, ‘We’ll pass public finance,’" Cuomo said this morning on "The Capitol Pressroom," a public radio show. "Let them stand up and say, ‘We’ll pass meaningful campaign-finance reform. We’ll close the LLC loophole. We’ll reduce the limits.' Let them say that. It’s easy enough to call my bluff. But you haven’t heard it called, have you?"
With less than three weeks left in the year, the sides would have to come to a deal quickly to have a special session in and around the holidays.
Cuomo said that he has been criticized for not extracting more reforms in March when he disbanded a corruption-busting panel in exchange for some ethics reforms. But he said even with the enticement of a pay raise, he can't get them to do more now.
Republicans don't support public financing, and neither side appears interested in disclosing more details about their outside income -- the legislative leaders, Sen. Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, both have lucrative deal with law firms.
"So I can tell you this, if they are not willing to do it for a pay raise, they weren’t going to do it for anything else," Cuomo said. "So for all the critics last year who said, ‘Well, he could have gotten public finance if he really wanted to': This is a litmus test."
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Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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OSSINING,
N.Y. — Inside a cool, rugged chapel of tan brick and brown benches,
the Rev. Tom Ahearn read a passage about repentance from the Gospel of
St. Mark. “A voice of one that cries in the desert,” Father Ahearn said.
“Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.”
The
congregants nodded in recognition. The reading was anything but
abstract: The men in the pews were convicted felons serving time at Sing
Sing prison. Inside the chapel — fittingly named for Our Lady of Hope —
their voices were strong, rising above the laughter of men joking after
dinner or the rumble of Metro-North trains speeding past, just outside
the thick walls ringed with coils of razor wire.
The
faithful gather there for Mass and Bible study. Yet this particular
service, during the Advent season of hope for a weary world, was extra
special. A drawing by one of the inmates had been presented to Pope Francis who, in turn, sent a rosary, blessed holy cards and a promise to keep them in his prayers.
Denis
Martinez, 30, who has spent 11 years behind bars for a shooting, seemed
dazed. It was his drawing — of the three crucifixes on Calvary
reflected in an eye — that was given to Pope Francis.
His own faith, he admitted, is sometimes shaky. But like many of the
inmates who come to the chapel, he still feels great affection for the
pope.
“I
can’t believe one of my drawings was given to the pope, while I’m here,
trapped,” he said. “His message is one I believe in, one of social
justice. Those of us who’ve been on the floor, like I’ve been on the
bottom, we know about struggle.”
The
unlikely exchange of gifts and prayers was the result of an idea that
came to Betty Woodward, a former public relations executive in New York
who started volunteering at Sing Sing seven years ago. She had often
talked to the men about Pope Francis and how he was shaking up the Vatican.
She said the inmates were fascinated.
“They were blown away by the fact that one of the first things Pope Francis did was go to a prison and wash the feet of prisoners
on Holy Thursday,” Ms. Woodward recalled. “My personal reflection on
this is that Pope Francis is like a father figure to them. He is not a
distant person. He is warm, understands things and talks about mercy,
love and not judging. These guys devour that message.”
Their
enthusiasm prompted the idea to have the men create something for the
pope. Enlisting the help of her husband, Kenneth, who had been a
religion writer at Newsweek magazine, Ms. Woodward secured a brief
audience through the intercession of the archbishops of New York and
Chicago.
After
discussion among the inmates about a proper papal present, it was
decided that Mr. Martinez would do a drawing, accompanied by messages
from the other inmates. He used a fingerprint ink pad to draw the
crosses.
“It’s
a reflection in the pupil of the crucified Christ in the middle with
two smaller crosses for the good thief and the bad thief,” Ms. Woodward
said. “In Denis’s mind you have your choice: You can be the good thief
or the bad thief. You can be bad, but become good.”
She
personally presented the men’s gift to the pope during an October
audience. Ms. Woodward came back to the prison this month to recount her
journey, as well as to present the men with what Pope Francis had sent
in return.
Ms. Woodward also brought with her a second envelope from the Vatican personally addressed to Mr. Martinez.
She
called him to the front of the chapel and handed him the envelope. His
eyes grew wide as he opened it. Inside was a portrait of Pope Francis.
Mr. Martinez looked at it for a while, his eyes tearing.
“I
am the classic doubter,” he admitted. “My faith is basically on the
floor. But one thing I like about this pope is he does not put doctrine
or ceremony ahead of those in need.”
Mr.
Martinez shared the portrait with his fellow inmates, who crowded
around him. Some suggested that maybe the pope could stop at Sing Sing if he visits New York next year as planned. Mr. Martinez smiled.
“This
is the most beautiful gift I have received in here,” he said. “I’m not
the best Catholic, but my mother tried. Even if you doubt, you can take
something from the pope’s message. You can find yourself in the bottom
of the pit, but you can still hear his message and say ‘alleluia.’ ”
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