By
Rick Karlin,
Capitol
bureau
On
Day One Everything Changes, vowed Gov. Eliot
Spitzer in his campaign.
Anyone familiar with the Capitol's culture
of entrenchment, entitlement and inertia
could have predicted that no one person
could upend the entire system, even if they
had a nearly 67 percent voter mandate, as
Spitzer did.
The governor the other day graded himself
3.8 on a scale of 4. Others are less generous.
Clearly, Spitzer has had an impact in his
first three months. He signed laws on civil
confinement of sex offenders and workers'
compensation. The Legislature funded his
plan to give health coverage to 400,000
more youngsters and 900,000 adults. He successfully
pushed for a massive increase in school
aid that settled long-standing complaints
about under-funding of New York City and
other urban districts. He obtained 100 more
charter schools and at least some kind of
income-based progressivity with an expanded
property tax relief plan.
But his budget finally came together much
as it did in years past -- in a back room
with legislative leaders -- and it's replete
with $170 million in pork-barrel spending.
The Senate tinkered with his simplified
school aid formula, to its political advantage.
One of the biggest changes may be how Spitzer,
after a 12-year run by George Pataki, has
changed Albany's power landscape. Government
is as much a creature of personalities and
political alliances as it is policy, and
any new governor is bound to have an impact
on the pecking orders, voting blocs and
cliques that exist.
Here is a rundown on how the state's legislative
leaders are faring under the new governor.
Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno:
Last elephant standing. He's under federal
investigation and has a shrinking majority,
but he's also the state's top Republican
and exhibited his deal-making acumen during
budget talks by fending off a big chunk
of the governor's Medicaid cuts, turning
Spitzer's middle-class tax cuts into a broader
rebate program and getting more school aid
for the Republican bastion of Long Island.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver: Loyal
opposition. He's gone from No. 1 to No.
2 Democrat in the state, and the result
has been of two minds. Early on, he fought
Spitzer and won over the choice of a new
state comptroller and then quickly moved
to make peace, at least publicly. He's got
a balancing act, as Spitzer is aligning
with some Assembly Democrats who support
traditionally Republican causes such as
increased charter schools and tax deductions
for parochial schools.
Beyond the state's top leaders are a number
of other power players. Here's a look at
how some of the majors are faring under
freshman Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco:
Free to speak his mind. Without a lot of
consequences, that is. Since taking over
the job last year, Tedisco has been a colorful,
energetic spokesman for the Assembly's 42
Republicans. With a Democrat in the governor's
office, he may be even less constrained
in his criticism, but lacks the votes to
force any changes.
Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith: On
a Mission from God. As he mentioned during
a church talk a while back, Smith is intent
on getting a Democratic majority in his
chamber. With Spitzer already demonstrating
his ability to help him in Craig Johnson's
special election on Long Island and now
looking to send more money for pork projects
his way, Smith has been a big winner so
far.
Lt. Gov. David Paterson: Stem-cell test
ahead. Paterson has appeared at many town
hall meetings with Spitzer, but he rarely
speaks, instead sitting silently at the
governor's side. It's at least a signal
that he's important enough to be present,
but observers are waiting to see how he
does with his first big assignment -- rallying
support for a bond issue to stem-cell research.
Chief Judge Judith Kaye: Still waiting
for that raise. With judicial pay raises
falling victim to budget machinations, and
by some accounts being linked to legislative
raises, an increase was off the table for
the state's judges, who, like the Assembly
and Senate, haven't seen a bump since 1999.
But there is talk of a new commission to
re-examine the whole system of making pay
raises dependent on lawmakers.
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: Shouldn't have
been an issue? Many people who followed
his election by the Legislature are now
wondering why Spitzer, who pushed for New
York City Finance Commissioner Martha Stark,
ever got involved in this to begin with,
given the law surrounding such elections
and the political capital the governor wasted
on it.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo: Following
his predecessor's footsteps. Cuomo and Spitzer,
a former attorney general, have not been
close, and some describe them as fierce
rivals. But any tension isn't public, and
Cuomo is borrowing a page from Spitzer's
days in the attorney general's office by
acting like a reform crusader, cracking
down on questionable college loan companies,
insisting on reviewing legislative pork-
barrel spending and setting up an anti-corruption
Public Integrity Unit with Albany County
District Attorney David Soares.
The Long Island Senate delegation: Still
bringing home the bacon. State senators
won big by holding on to approximately 13
percent of the school aid budget, despite
a streamlining of the system to get more
money to poor districts. Their success shows
that New York's fault lines are as much
urban-suburban as upstate-downstate.
The Assembly Westchester delegation: Unhappy
campers. Democrats and Republicans alike,
they were the losers in efforts to keep
that school aid flowing to Long Island.
Expect some big demands from the likes of
Richard Brodsky in next year's budget.
Local 1199/SEIU: Battered, but not beaten.
This largely NYC-based health care union
was squarely in Spitzer's cross hairs with
the governor's effort to contain health
care spending costs. They took a hit, but
their ally Bruno fought off the deepest
of the cuts.
New York State United Teachers and United
Federation of Teachers: Dodging the governor's
budget ax. Spitzer, perhaps prudently, took
on only one behemoth public employee union
at a time, and this year went after health
care spending while giving more money to
schools. Teacher interests weren't happy
about more charter schools, but were otherwise
satisfied.
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