It's All About The Billionaires Baby

Forget the "benjamins", in New York power and influence requires the cash that only billionaires can muster. Due to an extremely dysfunctional and corrupt state government, the people who have power are those that can spend gobs of money. With weak leadership from the Governor and the Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, politicians who regard ethics as a joke and reform as a campaign slogan are willing and able to through a wrench in the system if the price is right.

El Diario/La Prensa highlights two of those billionaires:

Golisano had a tantrum over the state budget earlier in the year because one of its outcomes is that billionaires like him would have to pay more taxes. He publicly announced that he would leave New York as a result and move to Florida. Instead, he encouraged a takeover and promised to back the ambitions of self-serving politicians.

Apparently, Golisano and others dismissed the desires of millions of New Yorkers who pulled levers on election day last fall. Why respect a mandate from voters when you can buy a politician and plot a takeover – all in the humorous guise of reform?

But Golisano is not the only billionaire dismissing the expressed wishes of voters.

Bloomberg pushed an operation to overturn term limits so he could run for office again. This, despite the fact that voters had already decided in favor of these limits in referendums. As part of this operation, heads of nonprofits organizations were called by Bloomberg administration officials to testify in favor of the City Council overturning these limits.

It can be stated enough about how corrupting money is in politics and especially in our state. El Diario/La Prensa has given up hope with these legislators and their sugar daddies and rightly states that it is up to us, the people of New York to push back. First we have to vote people like Monserrate and Espada out, then we must advocate like we have never advocated before and get a clean election law passed like the one that exists in Arizona and Maine. Without a comprehensive overhaul in that area, the Bloombergs and Golisanos will always be able to crush the will of the people with the will of their own.

Gang Of Three Officially Disbands, Dems Will Control The Senate

What was beginning to seem like an on-going soap opera drama, quickly came to an end today. Hiram Monserrate dropped out of a group opposed to Malcolm Smith becoming Majority Leader, but Espada, Kruger and Diaz held out for an entire month. Today it is being reported that the three sat down with Smith and everything is copasetic. Hmmm....

From The Daily Politics:

The leadership battle that has frozen the Senate since Election Day is over, and the three renegade senators known as the Gang of Three have all pledged to support Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith for majority leader in exchange for an agreement that will result in what Sen. Carl Kruger called "significant and historic reform" of how the chamber operates.

He refused to provide any additional information, saying that a press release will be forthcoming from Smith's office.

I called Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., and he confirmed: "It's over. It's a done deal. We agreed."

But what about gay marriage - Diaz's signature issue and the one thing he said he absolutely wouldn't abide coming to the floor?

The senator refused to tell me anything about what kind of deal Smith struck on that (recall that Diaz said he wanted a written pledge that whoever he supported for leader would not bring a bill legalizing same-sex marriage). The only thing he would say was: "I'm comfortable that everything's going to be OK."

Everything's going to be OK for whom exactly? It's great that the Democrats have control of the Senate, but at what price? Both sides are saying that we're going to have reform and things are wonderful but no one wants to talk specifics. Inquiring minds want to know what Kruger, Diaz and Espada are getting out of this. Something just does not smell right.

Golisano Intends To Knock GOP From NY Senate Perch

New York State Dems have gotten much closer over the last couple years to taking all three "rooms" in Albany, having a lock on the Assembly and a Democratic Governor for the past two years. The State Senate has been in Republican hands for quite some time, but now we are only two seats away from obtaining a majority there. Thanks to the generosity of Tom Golisano, campaigning against Republicans in several key races is looking fantastic from here on out.

From The Capitol:

The maverick billionaire and three-time gubernatorial candidate will next week travel to Albany to announce a plan to form a 527 political action committee to support candidates in State Senate races across New York.

A source familiar with Golisano’s thinking said the former gubernatorial candidate plans to spend $1 million of his own money on behalf of each candidate he supports. This includes targeting several incumbents, including at least one who was not previously in danger. Golisano could also potentially involve himself in contested Assembly primaries.

The source said Golisano plans on supporting candidates who share his agenda of reforming Albany, reforming the state budget and promoting economic development upstate, particularly in the region around Buffalo which he calls home.[...]

Golisano will be supporting Erie County Legislator Kathy Konst (D) in her bid to unseat State Sen. Dale Volker (R-Erie), former boxer Joe Mesi (D) in his primary bid to succeed retiring Sen. Mary Lou Rath (R-Erie) and former State Sen. Rick Dollinger (D-Monroe) in his bid to unseat Sen. Joe Robach (R-Monroe), though Golisano is unlikely to announce these specific candidates at his press conference next week.

This is certainly an interesting development with a huge infusion of cash into the State Senate races this year. Although the source says Golisano is going to be bipartisan about it, the Democratic party is highly favored here. Despite his emphasis on upstate, even downstate Dems like Dan Squadron could become privy to Golisano's efforts. The article hints at a possible boost to the campaigns of Henry and Newell who are challenging Speaker Silver.

All of this comes from what seems to be a quest to introduce "good" into our state government. Reform is crucial to opening up Albany and if Golisano is sincere about this, then more power to him. His history with the GOP was brief in 2006, but by and large he has been more associated with the Reform and Independence parties. The only way we can really tell is where he puts his money in this cycle.....and that could be happening soon.