By Colin Campbell 3/28/12 11:34am

Beef

(Photo: Getty)

Cuomo’s Got Nothing But Love for Bloomberg

On Fred Dicker’s radio show this morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo was asked if the reportedly frosty relationship between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and himself has warmed with the recent budget deal cheered by Mr. Bloomberg.

“Those stories of the mayor and I being at odds were grossly overblown. I understand the sensational value of them, but it just wasn’t true,” Mr. Cuomo responded. “It is true, institutionally, a governor and a mayor sometimes advocate for their own causes and sometime advocate for different causes, because of their institutional roles.”

Mr. Cuomo went on to stress his personal friendliness with New York City’s mayor. Read More

By Hunter Walker 4:41pm

Tier VI

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Bloomberg And Cuomo Donate To Somos After Unions Withdraw Support

After a group of unions angry over the passage of the Tier VI pension reform plan pulled support from the Somos El Futuro’s annual Legislative Conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the organization a pair of hefty donations.

“We think the unions’ actions are unfortunate, and don’t want the conference to suffer as a result. We both support the Somos El Futuro Conference and, as such, we will be donating $72,000 to Somos El Futuro and the scholarship to make up for the donations that the unions withdrew,” the mayor and governor said in a joint statement. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/20/12 2:20pm

Night of the Living Deals

Governor Cuomo (Photo: Wikimedia)

Cuomo Stands His Ground On The ‘Big Ugly’

Governor Andrew Cuomo defended himself against criticism of last week’s night of dealmaking in an appearance on Fred Dicker’s radio show, “Live From The State Capitol” this morning. While critics say the all night Albany negotiations didn’t allow for public input and went against the governor’s promises of transparency and his pledge to veto redistricting lines not drawn through an independent process, the dealmaking also led to the passage of some of his pet projects; pension reform, the expansion of the DNA databank, lifting the ban on casino gambling and teacher evaluations. Overall, Mr. Cuomo described the marathon legislative session as a success and dismissed critiques of the suite of deals that have been described as the “big ugly.”

“Last week, the government worked it performed it passed bills,” Governor Cuomo said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/15/12 8:46am

Night of the Living Deals

Governor Cuomo (Photo: Getty)

Pension Reform Deal Draws Praise From Bloomberg And Cuomo, Anger From Unions

Albany’s “Night of the Living Deals” included the passage of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform plan for public employees. Both the governor and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, perhaps the most high profile supporter of Tier VI, released statements praising the passage of the proposal.

“This bold and transformational pension reform plan is a historic win for New York taxpayers and municipalities that will save more than $80 billion over the next 30 years, while preserving retirement security for public workers. Without this critical reform, New Yorkers would have seen significant tax increases, as well as layoffs to teachers, firefighters and police,” Mr. Cuomo said. Read More

By Colin Campbell and Hunter Walker 3/14/12 6:15pm

Wheeling and Dealing

(Photo: Getty)

Cuomo Makes The Big Deal

On the eve of the court deadline for the Legislature to present their progress on state legislative redistricting, lawmakers in Albany are set to announce deals on the new boundaries and nearly every other major issue on the table tonight. A member of the Assembly told The Politicker lawmakers are in conference and the precise details of the various deals are still being worked out, but somethnoing will definitely emerge this evening.

“We’re going to be doing something tonight,” said the lawmaker, who didn’t want to have his name published, adding it is expected to be a late night.

A staffer in the Legislature familiar with the machinations behind the dealmaking told The Politicker Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to get a slew of his pet projects passed; a DNA databank, pension reform and a constitutional amendment legalizing casino gambling, in exchange for allowing the Legislature to draw their own redistricting lines.

“The Governor’s holding redistricting over their heads,” the staffer said. “It probably had to do with a few things like DNA or pension reform in exchange for getting redistricting.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/13/12 12:22pm

Pension-apalooza

Peter Abbate (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Lawmakers Push For Legislation To Allow AG To Go After Pension Fund Fraudsters

Against the backdrop of the contentious turf war over Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform plan, a trio of Democratic Assemblyman and several labor leaders are calling for passage of the Institutional Investor Recovery Act. This legislation would allow the Attorney General to seek damages and recoveries when public pension funds suffer losses due to securities fraud. Currently, the Martin Act gives the Attorney General broad powers to prosecute securities fraud, but it does not allow the State to recover losses on behalf of public pension funds. Pursuing losses from financial firms is a favored topic of opponents of the governor’s pension reform push who argue the focus should be on penalizing Wall Street firms that lost money from the pension fund rather than cutting benefits.

“All the focus on the issue of pensions has been on the benefit side of the equation. We need to look at what happened on the investment side. It simply doesn’t make sense that the pension funds have no practical way to recover investment losses caused by fraud,” said Assemblyman Peter Abbate the lead sponsor of the bill to update the Martin Act. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/13/12 11:56am

Tier VI

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Launches Coalition To Back Pension Reform With TV Ad Blitz

Mayor Michael Bloomberg continued his push on behalf of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform plan by launching New York Leaders for Pension Reform, “a bipartisan coalition of mayors and county leaders from across the state” that will run television ads “advocating for sensible pension reform.” Mayor Bloomberg announced the group’s formation in a speech at the Long Island Association breakfast this morning where he warned that, without pension reform, this state will be forced to make drastic cuts that will return us to the “horror film” of the 1970′s.

“This week, our coalition will be urging New Yorkers around the state to make their voices heard. In fact, we will begin airing television ads statewide calling attention to the issue,” Mayor Bloomberg said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/12/12 9:11am

Tier VI

An inflatable pig at a past union protest. (Photo: UnionMaine.org)

AFSCME Plans To Greet Albany Lawmakers With Anti-Pension Reform Inflatable Pig Protest

Legislators are returning to work at the Capitol in Albany after four days out of session and, on their way back, they’ll be greeted by a “giant inflatable Wall Street pig” named “1%.” AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, announced their intention to stage the porcine protest against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pension reform proposal in a statement sent out yesterday.

“’1%,’ a giant cigar-chomping Wall Street pig will be making his debut and welcoming politicians back to Albany. The pig, “1%,” is named after the greedy Wall Street special interests and large corporations in the one percent that willingly distort the facts, and outright lie in order to promote Tier 6— Governor Cuomo’s 40% pension-cutting scheme,” the statement said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/09/12 10:49am

Tier VI

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Bloomberg Comes To Cuomo’s Aid In Pension Reform Fight

Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Fred Dicker’s radio show, “Live From The State Capitol,” to discuss Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Tier VI pension reform proposal. Despite rumors of a strained relationship between hizzoner and the governor, Mayor Bloomberg, who was joined by Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, praised the push for pension reform and blasted legislators who are trying to block Tier VI.

“Our message is that we have an expense that none of us can afford; pension costs that were voted by the Legislature are just destroying the budgets from one end of New York State to the other,” Mayor Bloomberg said. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/08/12 2:09pm

labor

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Photo: Getty)

Governor Cuomo Says He Can’t Negotiate Pension Reform With Public Employee Unions

In a Q&A session with reporters after the cabinet meeting today Governor Andrew Cuomo discussed the state of his push to reform the pension system for public workers. Governor Cuomo was asked about legislators who are demanding he negotiate the reforms with the unions and get them to agree to a plan, but he was adamant that there’s nothing to negotiate and the unions are inherently opposed to reform.

“We just finished negotiating quote-un-quote with our public employee unions; salaries, benefits, et cetera when we did contracts. The contracts were ratified. Pensions are not subject to collective bargaining negotiations, so you can’t negotiate a pension in the collective bargaining. If you just finished negotiating a contract and someone says, ‘Well, go negotiate the pension with the unions and I’ll only pass pension reform if the union agrees,’ there’s nothing left to negotiate with the union,” Governor Cuomo said. “By definition, the unions don’t want a reform that would diminish pension benefits, so the answer’s always going to be, ‘No.’” Read More