Grace Meng (photo: gracefornewyork.com)

Assemblyman Rory Lancman may feel his colleague Grace Meng's temporary support for Tier VI during the voting proceedings is a winning issue as they compete for a congressional seat in Queens, but Ms. Meng's campaign isn't sitting down and sent out a blistering statement from her campaign spokesman, Michael Tobman, criticizing Arthur Cheliotes, the president of CWA Local 1180, for stating his disappointment in her and accusing her of misleading workers.

"It’s offensive that any labor leader would stoop so low as to use such a dishonest attack to prop up his endorsed candidate," Mr. Tobman said. "This is especially disturbing from a labor leader so clearly embarrassed by his actions to disenfranchise minority voters by opposing the minority candidate in a district drawn for empowerment. I would say 'it reminds me of the good old days' but there was nothing 'good' about those days."

Mr. Tobman went on to explain Ms. Meng's rationale for indicating she would initially support Governor Andrew Cuomo's pension reform plan.

"Everyone knows the truth here – in typical Albany fashion, Assembly Republicans were all going to vote in lockstep for Tier 6, but for political reasons were dragging the vote out as long as possible," he said. "Instead of playing along, Assemblywoman Meng allowed the Republicans to believe that she might vote for the proposal. After exposing the Republicans' cynical game, Assemblywoman Meng did what she always does – voted to protect the working people of New York."

Nowhere in the statement is Mr. Lancman, who said "my light doesn't flicker" on labor issues in response to the ordeal, mentioned. Instead, Mr. Tobman's fire remained focused on Mr. Cheliotes.

"These kinds of baseless attacks are expected from Republicans who have made their disdain for minorities and immigrants clear. This Labor leader, who represents significant numbers of minority workers and claims to be progressive, should know better," he concluded.

Also in the race, and staying relatively quiet recently, is Democratic Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and her Republican colleague Dan Halloran.

Update (7:40 pm): Scott Levenson, a spokesperson for Mr. Cheliotes, issued a statement of his own responding to Mr. Tobman's remarks. 

'There is no one in New York City who has a better record on progressive politics than Arthur Cheliotes.  What's truly offensive is that a consultant, who is nothing more than a hired gun, would personally attack a labor leader in order to distract from his client's position on the issue.'

Rory Lancman (photo: rorylancman.com)

Assemblyman Rory Lancman, a candidate for Congress in Queens, declared his consistency on labor issues in response to The Politicker's story yesterday noting one of his rivals for the nomination, Assemblywoman Grace Meng, initially indicated she supported Governor Andrew Cuomo's Tier VI pension proposal before ultimately voting against it.

"I can't speak for anyone else but when it comes to the issues that matter to working people, you'll always know where I stand -- my light doesn't flicker," Mr. Lancman said in a statement after we discussed the issue with his campaign.

Ms. Meng's initial support for the legislation may have been to help break a procedural log jam caused by Assembly Republicans refusing to vote one way or the other until additional Democrats came out in favor of the pension plan, a move referenced by Arthur Cheliotes, the president of CWA Local 1180, in a statement also sent The Politicker's way.

"I'm disappointed to learn that Assemblywoman Meng changed her vote to facilitate the passage of Tier VI at a time when my members and other working New Yorkers were counting on her to stand up for their pensions," he said." But I'm particularly disappointed to have been misled for these past few weeks into believing that she was a consistent, solid opponent of efforts to chip away at the retirement security of hardworking New Yorkers."

The Tier VI proposal, where new entrants into the pension system will received scaled back benefits in an effort to restrain costs, is staunchly opposed by public employee unions affected by it and Mr. Lancman's campaign likely hopes the issue could provide some policy daylight between two solidly liberal candidates in the Democratic primary.

It's a tricky issue to frame as Ms. Meng did indeed vote against the bill in the end, however,  it was apparently an issue at a recent DC-37 endorsement hearing.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley is another main candidate for the nomination, the winner of which will face off against GOP Councilman Dan Halloran in the general election.

Governor Cuomo (Photo: Getty)

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.

Mayor Bloomberg, who led a public push for the plan in the past week, praised Governor Cuomo and the leaders of the Legislature for passing pension reform. The Republican-controlled State Senate included pension reform in their budget, but prior to last night, the Assembly did not.

"Governor Cuomo has shown extraordinary resolve and deserves an enormous amount of credit for taking on this challenge. Senate Majority Leader Skelos, Assembly Speaker Silver and Assembly Minority Leader Kolb also deserve real credit for stepping up and meeting the challenge. This agreement – which many predicted would never happen – will provide long-term savings that will allow New York City and State to invest in our future and ensure that our best days are still ahead," Mr. Bloomberg said.

The new Tier VI pensions will not affect existing public employees. For new workers, the plan will result in the retirement age being raised to 63, some increased pension contributions, limits in the number of sick and leave days that can be counted toward retirement service credit and adjustments to the pension multiplier and final average salary calculation. Tier VI also limits the number of different jobs that can be counted toward a pension to two and includes a 401(k) type option. Workers who make more than the $179,000 the governor earns will not be able to count the portion of their salary above that amount toward their pension. All of these changes are designed to stop rapidly growing pension fund costs.

Unions have vigorously opposed the governor's pension reform proposal. CSEA President Danny Donohue, who's currently mounting a campaign to lead the New York chapter of AFSCME, released a statement of his own blasting the pension reform agreement.

"Tier 6 shoved down the throat of state legislators fixated on their own self-preservation, will be devastating to 99 percent of New Yorkers," Mr. Donohue said. "This deal is about politicians standing with the 1 percent – the wealthiest New Yorkers – to give them a better break while telling nurses, bus drivers, teachers, secretaries, and laborers to put up and shut up."

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

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.

The pig will be erected in front of the Capitol building at 1 p.m. today, it's part of a large push by the unions to fight the governor's pension reform plan. AFL CIO has reportedly spent seven figure sum on ads criticizing the proposal. AFSCME's statement on the pension protest said the governor's plan would slash benefits for public workers while preserving loopholes and "taxpayer giveaways" for corporations.

"Under the Governor’s Tier 6 scheme, the retirement security and pensions of first responders, law enforcement personnel, teaching assistants, nurses, and other public service workers is slashed by 40% while the same Wall Street firms that crashed the economy in the first place will be rewarded with billions in new administrative fees," the statement said. "This is on top of the billions in taxpayer giveaways, offshore tax shelters and other corporate loopholes that Wall Street insiders and other large corporations already receive, which the Governor’s Tier 6 plan protects."

In his repeated defenses of his plan, Governor Cuomo has said it would only affect future hires and not existing workers. The governor has also said the state simply cannot afford to continue funding pensions at existing levels. Governor Cuomo's plan would raise the retirement age for public workers and offer an option similar to a 401(k) to new workers. The Republican-controlled State Senate has included the governor's proposal in their budget, but the Democratic-controlled Assembly has not.

AFSCME's statement also referenced the purportedly $2.5 million pro-pension reform ad campaign launched by the Committee to Save New York, a lobbying group created by business leaders who back Governor Cuomo. The union statement described the committee as a "shady Wall Street group."

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

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.

Mayor Bloomberg said county executives and mayors are united in their belief local governments can't pay for the current pension system in the dire economic climate.

"The truth of the matter is, we have a pension system that taxpayers cant afford," he said. "I think for the first time, Fred, you're really starting to see county executives and mayors across the State say, 'We really can't take it any more.'"

With all of this opposition from local leaders, Mayor Bloomberg said pension reform still faces a tough fight because of well-organized unions.

"Single issue advocacy groups like those that receive the pensions ... they have a disporporationate amount of power compared to the amount of power that the taxpayers have," Mayor Bloomberg said. "The taxpayers are not organized."

Mayor Jennings chimed in to point out his view pension reform could actually benefit unions by minimizing the need for layoffs of public employees.

"This isn't an attack on unions because, as Mayor Bloomberg said, if we have to cut, we're going to have to cut members of our police or fire, who then won't be paying dues to the unions," Mayor Jennings said.

Mayor Bloomberg blamed the current pension system on members of the State Legislature who rely on campaign contributions from unions and granted the current benefits "without any consultation whatsoever with the cities and counties." He also criticized those who argue against pension reform by saying Wall Street woes caused the problems with the pension system.

"Every county executive I've talked to, every mayor, they're starting to lay off people in big numbers. ... Why do we not have a Legislature that understands?" Mayor Bloomberg asked. "They try to blame others, they say that it's the result of the stock market, they say that the economy is coming back and it's all going to be peaches and cream. That's just not true."

Currently, the Republican-controlled State Senate plans to include Governor Cuomo's Tier VI pension reform proposal in their budget, the Democratic-controlled Assembly does not. Mayor Bloomberg said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver might actually be closer to agreeing to pension reform than people think, but he needs "cover" for members of the Assembly who rely on union support. Either way, Mayor Bloomberg said the Legislature would "close down the State" with crippling layoffs if they don't pass Governor Cuomo's pension reform plan.

"The blood will be on their hands," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Despite the opposition from some legislators, Mayor Bloomberg said Governor Cuomo is "too smart" and "too dedicated" to give up his push for pension reform.

"He's going to do what's right," Mayor Bloomberg said.

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Photo: Getty)

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.'"

A reporter mentioned that Governor Paterson was able to get unions on board the Tier V pension reform in 2009 by promising not to lay off public employees for two years, but Governor Cuomo reiterated his point that, at the moment, there's nothing other than pension reform left for him to negotiate with the unions.

"If the Legislature requires acquiescence, it will not happen now," Governor Cuomo said. "Tier V was negotiated by the governor with layoffs, but we have just finished negotiating layoffs and everything else in our contract discussions, which were just ratified a few months ago. So, there are no open items left in our discussions with the unions."

Governor Cuomo criticized reporters for focusing on the "politics of" the pension reform push. He pointed to the dire financial situation in Suffolk County to say that pension reform is absolutely necessary due to "a crisis in this state" with "local governments that are really teetering financially." While the governor admitted it would be "nice" to maintain pensions at the current levels, he said reforming the system is absolutely necessary with the current financial situation.

"You look at the cost of the pension system and the increase in the pension system, it's just unaffordable. There's no political debate, or policy debate or ideological debate. It's a question of numbers," he said. "Would it be nice to do? Yes, but you cant afford it? That's why all these things are a tradeoff. Do you support this? Do you support this? I support everything. I support all nice things. The question becomes can you afford it? Can you pay for it? And we can't afford this level of public pensions, period, on the numbers."

Governor Cuomo was asked if he might be willing to decouple the pensions from the budget to avoid the overall budget getting bogged down in the pension reform debate. He dismissed that possibility.

"It's in the budget. If I were willing to do that, why do I have it in the budget?"

Governor Cuomo was also asked his take on a monthly newsletter put out by DC37, New York's largest public employee union, that critically compared his pension reform proposal to President George W. Bush's efforts to cut social security. The governor shot back with a rather cheeky response.

"I guess they oppose the pension reform plan," he said. "I have divined that from that statement."