And Joe Bruno's Sentence Is....

It is late in the afternoon in Albany (though I am typing this from Brooklyn) and ex-State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno has finally been sentenced for his crimes against the people of New York. Bruno was making jokes shortly before the sentencing, saying that he knows he did nothing wrong among other things. Unfortunately for the 81 year old boxer, two years in the slammer (in addition to a $280,000 fine) is no laughing matter.

From The Times-Union:

“I know that you don’t believe that you did anything wrong,” Sharpe told the Brunswick Republican, “which is why I didn’t hear one word of contrition here.”

Sharpe said that the federal government’s recommendation of eight years or more in prison would have been too harsh for an 81-year-old, but a sentence that involved no jail time would have sent the wrong message about the severity of Bruno’s offense.

Bruno and all those that received the benefits of having an alliance with a powerful corrupt politician proclaimed Joe's good name. However, independent observers and most importantly the presiding judge realized the seriousness of this matter. Eight years in federal prison is a long time for an octogenarian, but the jail time was meant to show the ex-Senator and all current and future politicians that there is a price to pay if you defraud the people you are elected to serve.

At the moment Bruno continues to proclaim his innocence and generosity for New Yorkers, hoping that the Supreme Court strikes down the law that he was convicted on. Whether or not that happens, the fact remains that he was a corrupt politician that used his office for personal gain to the detriment of our state.

P.S.: Exactly!

Schneiderman Scolds Republicans For Putting M.T.A. In Its Current Mess

Dean Skelos has been holding his minority caucus together to vote no on the M.T.A. bill. His band of 30 have repeatedly criticized the Democratic plan, but with no mention of their culpability in creating the mess that Democratic members have decided to start cleaning up. Well Senator Schneiderman had a few choice words for them from the floor of the Senate today:

Sen. Schneiderman Argues To Remedy The Damages Done By Rockefeller Drug Laws

Senator Schneiderman addresses his critics concerns, then goes full throttle in his defense of the smartest thing the Senate has done since Democrats took over. Watch it here:

Another Millionaire's Tax Proposal

There are thousands of millionaires in New York but still no millionaire tax schemes to get them to chip in with the state's fiscal mess. Senator Jeff Klein is the latest legislator to come up with a plan that would have the wealthy pay a higher rate than they do now. Currently those that make $50,000 pay the same percentage as the very wealthy do. Plenty of Democrats want to change that, but the way to go about it is up for debate. Klein's submission is slightly different from what Eric Schneiderman proposed last week.

From PolitickerNY:

Klein said his bill is different in that it will provide a credit for people earning less than $250,000, instead of just raising rates on the higher earners. Schneiderman's bill mirrors a proposal put forth by the Working Families Party, and a companion bill will be introduced in the Assembly.

"It doesn't just tax the rich, it really provides a fairer tax structure," Klein said by phone. "We're still working out the details. But if someone makes $250,000, we would leave them at the same tax rate they were at next year."

Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is not supporting either bill.

Even if Smith does not support it, I certainly hope that he sticks to his word on reforming the Senate in such a way that other Senators can bring legislation to the floor. The Majority Leader can believe what he wants, but putting the burden entirely on the backs of the working class isn't such a bright idea, even if they don't have as many lobbyists on their side to pitch it to him. Shared sacrifice is where we make spending cuts that primarily affect the middle and working classes and add taxes that affect, well, those that pay a significant amount of tax. It should not just be one or the other.

More Progressive State Tax Begins To Take Shape

6.85%

That is the same rate of income tax that a person who earns $50,000 as one that makes $500,000 or even $50,000,000. The burden of course, is on the middle class taxpayer, who feels that 6.85% much more than the other two. Yet in our quest to fill a $13 billion dollar budget gap, our Governor is asking the middle class to bear the brunt of the cuts he wants to enact. The idea of a millionaire's tax was initially floated by progressive groups and unions, only to morph into a more solid plan to make the tax on a more equitable scale. Last week there was talk of this in the State Senate and finally, it is an actual piece of legislation trying to make its way into law.

From The NY Times:

A group of Senate Democrats plans to introduce a bill on Tuesday that would impose an income tax of 10.3 percent on the highest-earning New Yorkers, a rise of 3.45 percentage points, and increase taxes on all households that earn more than $250,000 a year.

The plan, which supporters estimated could bring in up to $6 billion annually to the depleted state treasury, is one of several options Albany lawmakers are considering as an alternative to the reductions in social services and smaller, more focused tax increases that Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed.[...]

With the Democrats now in control, the bill seems to stand a better chance of passing. But not all 32 Democratic members have signed on, including Malcolm A. Smith, the majority leader, who said on Monday that he was not convinced a tax increase was the right solution for New York’s budget crisis.

“Let’s talk about what the problem is,” Mr. Smith said to reporters as he was leaving a conference of the New York Bankers Association in downtown Albany on Monday afternoon. “The problem is foreclosures. The problem is a $15 billion deficit. The problem is trying to figure out how do we create jobs in this economy. So in that regard, I’m not sure if taxes is the way you do that.”

Malcolm seems to be hanging out with the Governor a little too much lately. That was Paterson's argument last month and it didn't hold weight. First of all, the deficit is at $13.7 billion (according to the Governor), not $15 billion. Second, that is still a big number, and we need different ways of addressing the problem. No one is calling this a panacea but closing half of the gap in a progressive tax is a smart idea. The rest can come in smaller cuts and whatever we get from the economic stimulus that the President will hopefully sign soon. The state budget can be balanced, but our leaders need to show...what's that thing called again? Oh yeah, leadership, leadership to get us through these tough times and practice the "shared sacrifice" that they preach.

Sen. Schneiderman Chides Republicans For Reform Criticism

The Democratic rules reform for the State Senate may be far from perfect, but they are at least a step in the right direction. For Republicans to criticize Democratic efforts now is hypocrisy redefined. Good for Senator Schneiderman in his speech yesterday lambasting the "late-majority."

The Campaign For Better Schools Chides The Mayor

Mayor Bloomberg thinks of himself more of an authoritarian or a King than a democratically-elected official. He's responded to "King Mike" before but it is his policies that have most of his critics concerned. The forced extension of term limits is just the latest and most public of his decisions that help a few to the detriment of the many. Just ask the people who have been priced out of their neighborhoods thanks to his zoning laws. Another issue that has many parent up in arms is his total control of the school system. NYC's schools were broken before he came into office, but singular rule by Bloomberg hasn't done much to help alleviate the situation.

From The Daily Politics:

Here's a brief video of an anti-mayoral control of schools rally that took place at City Hall yesterday and gives some idea of what Mayor Bloomberg will be up against as he tries to convince state lawmakers to reauthorize legislation that put control in his hands before it sunsets next summer.

Participants, who shouted "one man rule has got to go," deemed mayoral control a "failure" and announced the formation of the Campaign for Better Schools, which includes more than 25 groups like AQE, the New York Immigrant Coalition and the Coalition for Educational Justice, to fight its reapproval without changes.

Elected officials on hand for the rally: Councilman Bill de Blasio, Sen. Eric Schneiderman and Sen. Kevin Parker. Schneiderman and Parker both voiced support for stronger public participation in education policy-making, which is an issue that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has also cited (specifically, the need for more parental input) as a priority for his Democrat-controlled house.

Earlier this fall, some Assembly Democrats warned it would be more difficult for Bloomberg to preserve mayoral control - a key element of his legacy - if he sought to extend term limits and run for re-election.

Bloomberg thinks he knows what's best for all of us but if anyone knows how dysfunctional the school system is, it would be the parents who send their children by the hundreds of thousands off in the morning. He's already dismissed the will of the voters on their decision to enact term limits, but here we have a chance to not only strip him and the Council of that decision in the newly reconfigured State Legislature but rescind his power over our schools as well.