Landlord Lobby Rules The Day In Albany

Democrats may officially have control in Albany but that doesn't mean reform on all the key issues will immediately be coming down the pike. While Rockefeller Drug Law reform last week was a huge victory, translating that into upsets for tenants over landlords is a whole other matter. The prison industrial-complex lobby could not overcome the demand for a change in the drug laws but the landlords and their minions in Albany knew how to cover the board with more than a million dollars in cash and prizes, meaning that tenant rights' organizations will most likely fall short in their goals this year and lose faith in the nascent Democratic majority in the state senate. What people should be paying close attention to is who getting what.

From The Gothamist:

The Daily News notes that Brooklyn Senator Carl Kruger, who has 40,000 rent-stabilized units in his district, took in $27,700 from landlord lobbyists, and has yet to take a position on the issue. Groups like Tenants PAC are working to change the vacancy decontrol laws that landlords have exploited to take thousands of apartments out of the rent-stabilized system. Under the current laws, they can do this if rents reach $2,000 a month and household income exceeds $175,000, or if renovations on a vacant apartment require raising the rent above $2,000.

Though the Assembly has passed 10 rent reform bills since November, reform in the Senate is tied up in committee, just like in the Republican era! Pedro Espada, chairman of the housing committee, opposes reform because he says it would just help the affluent: "If we rubber-stamp the Working Families Party housing agenda, we would virtually provide protections for people who earn $175,000 or more annually — which is essentially a Manhattan-based constituency."

Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal finds Espada's argument specious, noting that far fewer units (4,223) are decontrolled because their occupants earn $175,000 a year, compared with the 70,000-plus decontrolled by becoming vacant. Many tenants in rent-stabilized apartments complain that landlords pressure them to leave so they can make renovations and get out of the rent stabilization system; that's why the City Council passed the Tenant Protection Act last March. Rosenthal tells the News, "This has nothing to do with the rich. This is about a calamity for people of middle-income means. "It’s not a Manhattan issue. That’s what landlords are saying."

The landlords will say whatever they have to in order to keep the status quo as it is. For decades now a Republican state Senate has given them all they want and more. Landlords will go after the amoral Democrats in order to thwart the will of the new, but slim majority and then some. The Gang of Three/Four are certainly a part of their strategy and the actions of those Senators reflects the lobby's power. This shouldn't mean tenants should turn apathetic about the new majority though. It is a sign that not only do we need Democrats in control, but that better Democrats need to replace those that so willing to sell out their constituencies for a campaign contribution.

Bruno's Reformation? Hell Will Freeze Over First

Joe Bruno may not be one of the three men in the proverbial room anymore, but that doesn't mean he's stopped adhering to a similar way of doing business. While he is busy paying in and out of state lawyers to keep the FBI off his trail, seventy-nine year old Joe is working hard to lobby for his friends. That isn't too surprising, but what the company in question is hawking is quite hilarious.

From The NY Times:

Over the nearly 14 years he served as Senate majority leader, Mr. Bruno became to some critics one of the symbols of Albany’s secrecy, inefficiency and profligacy. Now, as the chief executive of CMA Consulting Services, an information technology and software firm based just outside Albany, Mr. Bruno is preaching the virtues of smaller, leaner, more accountable government. (The aforementioned Web site, by the way, is called Project Sunlight.)

Where Mr. Bruno once steered hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development money to his suburban Albany district, he now pitches municipal agencies on how to save money by switching to paperless payroll systems.

The man who went to court rather than reveal details of the Senate’s pork-barrel spending now speaks proudly of his company’s role in designing a program for the state comptroller that allows reporters or the public to examine any contract between a state agency and a vendor.

The Times does a good job of fleshing out the irony in the interview and as you read it, you can tell Bruno could care less how people feel about what he's doing and how he goes about it. In a nutshell, the lobbying he's doing now comes naturally to him and whether he's selling this technology or pork bellies, it really doesn't matter. The response to his critics really says it all.

“Bruno wasn’t some rank-and-file legislator,” said Blair Horner, the legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group. “The bottom-line corporate reason is, they’re hoping that he will fatten the bottom line, that his personal relationships will help them to keep and expand the amount of government contract work.”

Indeed, some do not buy Mr. Bruno’s new enthusiasm for transparent government or his claims that it is consistent with policies he advocated as senator.

Mr. Bruno, for example, was the first Senate leader to require the release of every internal expenditure made by the Senate.

But those reports are published only every six months, in a book format that makes it extremely difficult to examine the spending in any systematic way. (Asked about it, Mr. Bruno joked, “You noticed that, huh?”)

Yeah Mr. Bruno, we've noticed, but unfortunately for those that truly believe in good government, it is nearly too late to hold him accountable for all of his secretive actions. Now the focus has to be on the here and now, and hopefully the time of Joe Bruno will come to an end shortly after the man himself leaves Albany.

Giuliani's Latest Project: Messing With Big Pharma

Rudy Giuliani played his part at the Republican convention and will probably be an intermittent surrogate for McCain in the next several weeks, but that isn't what will take up most of his time. Giuliani held onto his lobbying firm aptly named Giuliani Partners, albeit loosely while he was running for President. That's how he rakes in his cash, dealing with shady figures from around the world so they can have "Mr. 9/11" at their side. Giuliani will do anything for a buck and this week we learn he'll even go up against the U.S. Pharmaceutical industry to do so.

From BBC News:

Indian drug firm Ranbaxy has hired ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as an adviser, the company says.

The move comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the import of more than 30 generic drugs made by the drug firm.

The FDA said it imposed the ban after it found manufacturing quality problems at two Ranbaxy factories in India.

Gee, how can Rudy Giuliani bring a pharmaceutical maker into compliance with the FDA? Apparently the FDA put the black mark on Ranbaxy for having unsafe conditions and contamination problems at their facilities. Will the Mayor go into the factory and shout "9/11, 9/11, 9/11" and make all violations go away?

Of course not, but it is important to remember that the FDA is run by a combination of Bushies and Pharmaceutical industry lobbyists. They don't care about unsafe conditions, just take a look at the dangerous drugs that have been allowed out into the market due to lax regulations. So what is the real problem here?

Well as Forbes points out, every single drug that was banned was being made by U.S. competitors. In fact, the only drug that was left on the shelves was Ganciclovir Sodium and no one in Big Pharma made it. The crony at the top of the FDA talked tough about safety and holding other countries up to high standards but she really isn't fooling anyone.

So the question is, what will Rudy do to grease the wheels at the FDA of the Bush Administration to help Ranbaxy out? I'm guessing that somehow, somewhere and some way, money and favors will be exchanging hands when and if Ranbaxy is suddenly found to be in compliance again.

Image from NY Mag