Politics Now

Bernard Tolbert's bid to unseat Mayor Brown could be viewed as a David vs. Goliath undertaking. But News Political Reporter Bob McCarthy tells Brian Meyer that Tolbert is a credible candidate with an ability to raise money and highlight key issues:

By Jerry Zremski

WASHINGTON -- Today the Washington Post goes deep inside what tea party groups went through to get their tax exemptions.

Meanwhile, The New York Times discusses the impact the recent IRS scandals will have on President Obama's second term.

And the Times also delves deep into the troubling issue of military suicides.

By Tom Precious

ALBANY -- A week after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo threatened to place commercial casinos in the backyards of gambling ventures now run by Native American tribes, a Central New York Indian tribe is expected this afternoon to agree to a deal with the governor to keep any new casinos out of their geographic territory.

The Oneida Indian Nation, which since 1993 has enjoyed the benefits of a lucrative casino deal with the state in which it does not have to share slot machine revenues with Albany, is expected to sign a new agreement to start making revenue-sharing payments in return for Cuomo blocking off a large Central New York area from his plans to expand casinos in New York.

The looming deal, which sources say could be announced within the hour at the Capitol, would put pressure on the Seneca Nation of Indians to make their own agreement with Cuomo to end a $600 million stalemate raging for several years over stalled payments by the tribe to Albany. In its deal with the former Pataki administration a decade ago, the Seneca Nation agreed to pay 25 percent of slot revenues to the state in return for gambling exclusivity rights in a large area of Western New York.

The Senecas several years ago stopped making the payments, saying the state breached the compact by, in part, allowing new forms of gambling devices at racetrack-based casinos in the region. The governor last week said he wants to permit three casinos in upstate New York in six different regions. If three tribes agreed to broker new deals with the state, Cuomo pledged to prevent any new commercial casinos from locating within their regions. For the Senecas, that would be a huge area from Route 14 east of Rochester to Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania to the western border of the state.

A Cuomo spokesman declined comment and an Oneida Indian tribe spokesman did not return calls for comment.

By Tom Precious

ALBANY -- Here is the statement from Assemblyman Vito Lopez on today's events: 

"In July 2012, the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance was tasked with looking into a complaint made by two Assembly employees who worked for Assemblyman Vito Lopez. Ultimately, that Committee looked not only at the claims of those two employees, but also looked into claims made by two other former employees who had received a monetary settlement from the Assembly and Assemblyman Lopez several months earlier.

The Assembly Standing Committee denied Mr. Lopez any opportunity to question the evidence or the witnesses. Having deprived him of this fundamental right, the Standing Committee recommended that Mr. Lopez be disciplined. In response, the Speaker censured Mr. Lopez with harsh penalties: Mr. Lopez was stripped of his chairmanship of the Assembly Housing Committee, his seniority was taken from him, which had the impact of reducing his compensation and staff, and corresponding benefits of office were rescinded. Those were the penalties deemed appropriate for all of the conduct alleged by all four of the complainants.

Yet, despite an onslaught of negative press attention, Mr. Lopez was returned to the Assembly in November 2012 by the vote of the overwhelming majority of voters in his district. Thereafter, a complaint was made to JCOPE, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. JCOPE was supposed to be looking into whether Mr. Lopez improperly influenced the Assembly to settle the first complaints and also whether the Speaker improperly authorized the settlement. JCOPE found that there was no impropriety whatsoever with regard to those matters. It cleared Mr. Lopez of any claim that he sought to influence the Assembly to settle the claims and it cleared him entirely of any claim that he ever misused funds or other resources of the Assembly.

However, the JCOPE report also rehashes the same allegations for which Mr. Lopez has already been punished – claims which the voters in his district utterly rejected when they returned him to office in November to serve them in the Assembly. Unfortunately, the JCOPE report entirely omits any reference to the evidence and witnesses presented by Mr. Lopez. And once again Mr. Lopez was denied the chance to question the witnesses.

Despite this, the electorate has rejected the claims. They wish Mr. Lopez to represent them. Salacious and sensational claims in the JCOPE report are fallacious. These claims, including that he made sexual references to a 14 year old intern and “opined that statutory rape laws should not exist”, are simply not true. Should there ever come a time when Mr. Lopez is actually afforded the fundamental rights supposedly allowed everyone, the truth will finally be told. Furthermore, the holes in the claims made by these complainants are manifest. Each claim is contradicted by the complainant’s own words; by the testimony of other witnesses; and by common sense.

Among the many examples that show that complainants’ claims are unworthy of belief are these: One complainant, a former chief of staff, claims that she was denied the opportunity to travel to a conference because she refused to share a room with Mr. Lopez. Yet while he was at the conference, she sent him texts, including: “I hope you won big at the casino last night and that you had a great time. . . Next time I hope that it will be me with you and you can teach me blackjack, but you have to teach me all the tricks because I play to win”; and “I had my lucky chip in my pocket all day today so you could win big tonight”.

Among her other communications to him, all at a time when she now claims he was making inappropriate advances to her and she sought to keep the relationship strictly professional, include her telling Mr. Lopez, “I had a really good time with you tonight”; “I really enjoy hearing you laugh and smile”; “I miss you and I can’t wait until next Sunday”; “I can’t wait until this week is over so I can see you”; and “I really love waking up and going to work just to be able to see you”.

Another complainant, a former staff member, claims she agreed to accompany Mr. Lopez to Atlantic City “for fun”, despite his allegedly having made inappropriate advances. Yet the morning of the trip, she texted him: Good morning Vito! I'm looking forward to today! I have the lucky coin ready to go! And though she now says he tried to kiss her and place his hand between her legs on the ride home, she told him the following the day after the trip: Good morning Vito! I was just thinking what a nice night we had being high rollers! One day later, she sent the following: “I'm excited and love this job, I'm going to show you that”. And there were other texts thereafter, including “I'm excited and love this job” and “I love this job”.

One has to wonder what is going on here. Assemblyman Lopez has never sent an email and over the last five years averaged fewer than 10 text messages a year to his family, friends, and workers. The report overly weighs text messaging amongst staff without giving credibility to the provocative text messages sent to Mr. Lopez by the complainants. One should wonder why a full revelation of such text messages is not part of the overall report or factored into the relationships established between him and complainants. Mr. Lopez expected staff to maintain communication with him, (preferably by phone), and also placed priority on a positive work attitude.

More than 18 letters from former staff of Assemblyman Lopez attesting to the quality of work, office professionalism, and staff performance were submitted but not made reference to in the report. There is an all out war against an ailing senior member. One must wonder why the actions in this matter were addressed without due process. Mr. Lopez looks forward to a hearing where all the facts are openly discussed and reviewed. Assemblyman Lopez continues to maintain his innocence and understands the political agenda involved in the one-sided nature of the findings.''

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By Tom Precious

ALBANY -- Looking for some countering spins on today's Vito Lopez matter? You'll get the picture here:

Michael Whyland, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver:

“Speaker Sheldon Silver has stated that the actions that were taken represented a good-faith belief that the Assembly was acting in the interests of the victims, and that has not changed. A full review of the facts by both JCOPE and the Special Prosecutor has found that all actions by the Assembly were lawful and there was no basis for an ethics complaint against the Speaker or his staff.

However, as the Speaker stated in August, it was a mistake not to immediately refer the initial complaints to the Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance, one that will not be repeated. The Speaker is deeply committed to ensuring that all our employees are treated with respect and dignity. As to Assemblyman Lopez, sanctions have been imposed and the Speaker has called for him to step down from the Assembly. Given that the JCOPE investigation has found significant violations of the Public Officers Law by Assemblyman Lopez, Speaker Silver renews his call for him to resign.” 

New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox:

"Whether or not there were legal wrongdoings on the part of Assemblyman Lopez or Speaker Silver is irrelevant. Vito Lopez's actions were morally and ethically reprehensible and totally unforgivable. Sexual abuse is not a partisan issue. Every member of the New York State Assembly, especially its Speaker, should be held to the highest moral and ethical standards.

Once again, Speaker Silver has lowered the bar; in this case, he even violated his own Assembly regulations. By silencing earlier victims of sexual abuse, both at the hands of Michael Boxley and Vito Lopez, Speaker Silver is directly responsible for their subsequent victims. We repeat our call for Vito Lopez to resign from the State Assembly and for Sheldon Silver to resign the Speakership."


Damien LaVera, spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman:

“We appreciate the reports by JCOPE and District Attorney Donovan. As they make clear, the Office of the Attorney General was not asked to serve as counsel to the Assembly in this matter, nor was our office asked to approve the settlement agreement. Also as noted, consistent with longstanding policy that predates our administration, office lawyers provided a limited response to an informal inquiry, as well as a model settlement agreement that did not include a confidentiality clause. We have since revised internal office policies to make clear that even informal consultations are elevated when the circumstances merit it."


NOW-NYC President Sonia Ossorio:

“Vito Lopez subjected his female employees to breathtaking and horrifying sexual harassment for years on end. Although JCOPE only began its investigation into allegations dating back to 2010, given the flagrant conduct described in the report it would seem highly likely that Lopez is a repeat harasser whose crimes pre-date the scope of the inquiry. The shocking details of psychological and physical abuse are absolutely outrageous. There are incidents that cannot be described as mere harassment, in many cases the conduct is so physically intrusive any sane person would describe it as an attack.

The isolation and violation that Vito Lopez's victims suffered was further maximized by the Assembly's abject failure to follow its own sexual harassment procedures which require a referral to the Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance once a complaint has been filed. It's clear that the Assembly leadership did everything in its power, not to engage a proper investigation and instead diverted the victims to a secret settlement to protect Mr. Lopez. In so doing, they allowed Mr. Lopez to harass successive employees while rendering his previous victims mute as their abuser continued to harass other women.

It's clear that neither the public interest, nor the interests of justice, were served. As is obvious, the Assembly engaged in a shameful cover-up at great expense to all women who live and work in New York State. This raises serious question about what other complaints the Assembly may have mishandled. Despite the fact that no criminality was found, Mr. Lopez is clearly unfit for office and the Assembly should take a no confidence vote immediately. Anyone who does not oppose Mr. Lopez's rumored political aspirations for City Council risks alienating all people who support safety and human dignity for women.’’

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By Jerry Zremski

WASHINGTON -- These are bad times for the Obama administration, as two of today's top reads make abundantly clear.

First, Politico looks at how the IRS and AP scandals damage the narrative that has carried the Obama presidency to date.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post questions whether the scandals destroy the president's credibility on civil liberties issues.

Now for something completely different, though, USA Today offers up a compelling look at whether public opinion matters to the Supreme Court as it considers gay marriage and other timely issues.

   By Robert J. McCarthy

   Republican Sergio R. Rodriguez knows write-in campaigns rarely succeed in New York State politics.

   But the Buffalo mayoral hopeful said on Tuesday he will nevertheless mount an effort to obtain the Independence line for the November general election after party leaders said they will support Democrat Byron W. Brown for a third term.

   "It's disappointing that control of the Independence Party line lies in the hands of a single man: Frank S. MacKay,"  Rodriguez said of the state chairman. "Over the past few months my campaign has made numerous attempts to reach out to the out-of-town Independence Party chairman to no avail.
   "Back room political deals like this are why people have lost faith in the political system," he added.
   Rodriguez may recall that what is known as an "opportunity to ballot" in the limited universe of a minor party stands a better chance than in a major party. Republican Kevin J. Helfer, for example,  challenged endorsed candidate Brown in 2005 and snared the Conservative line through a write-in campaign.
   Rodriguez also may realize that new voting machines make writing in a candidate's name a far less cumbersome process than on the old lever machines.
   The effort should prove an early test of the effectiveness of the Rodriguez organization.

By Jerry Zremski

WASHINGTON -- The IRS/tea party scandal is topic number one again today in the nation's capital -- and it's producing all three of today's top reads.

First, The New York Times shows us that in targeting tiny tea party groups for special scrutiny, the IRS let the big fish keep swimming.

Meanwhile, Politico tells us that because of the scandal, the really big political nonprofits are likely to receive even less scrutiny in the future.

And the Times' Nate Silver argues that the IRS scandal could have serious political ramifications in 2014.

By Jerry Zremski

WASHINGTON – It was a quiet week in Washington, with local members of the House voting along party lines on a series of relatively minor measures as well as a measure that's aimed to priortize government payments in the event that the nation crashes through its debt ceiling.

Meanwhile, the Senate casting a couple big votes: one in favor of taxing Internet sales, and another aimed at curbing the possible spread of Asian carp in the Great Lakes.

Here's a closer look, courtesy of Targeted News Service:

HOUSE

CONTRIBUTIONS TO VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL: The House passed the Vietnam Veterans Donor Acknowledgment Act of 2013  sponsored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. The bill would require the Interior Secretary to allow the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to display information in the memorial’s visitor center acknowledging donor contributions.

Young said: “This recognition will lead to larger donations, a faster fund-raising pace, and quick and timely construction of the education center. It will also make the act of giving more personal and more rewarding.”

 The vote, on May 6, was 398 yeas to 2 nays.

 Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, Y; Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, Y; Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, Y.

 IMPACT OF PAID TIME OFF LAW: The House passed an amendment sponsored by Rep. Christopher P. Gibson, R-N.Y., to the Working Families Flexibility Act. The amendment would require the Government Accountability Office to submit a report to Congress on the use of compensatory time off following the bill’s enactment, as well as complaints and enforcement actions taken.

Gibson said the report would be a protection against the possible abuse by employers of the option of granting employees paid time off in place of overtime pay.

The vote, on May 8, was 384 yeas to 42 nays.

Higgins, Y; Collins, Y; Reed, Y.

PAID TIME OFF IN PLACE OF OVERTIME WORK: The House passed the Working Families Flexibility Act sponsored by Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala. The bill would authorize private employers to offer their employees paid time off in lieu of overtime work.

Roby said employees in the private sector “should enjoy the benefit that federal employees have now, and that’s compensatory time and the right to choose what to do with their time.”

An opponent, House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said the bill “will result in a cut in pay for almost everybody” because employers will decide to offer time off rather than overtime pay to their employees.

The vote, on May 8, was 223 yeas to 204 nays.

Higgins, N; Collins, Y; Reed, Y.

DEBT LIMIT CONTINGENCY PLAN: The House passed the Full Faith and Credit Act sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. The bill would direct the Treasury secretary to prioritize payments on government debt held by the public and by the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Disability Insurance Trust Fund in the event that the debt limit is reached later this year.

McClintock said: “This bill tells credit markets that even in the event of an impasse on the debt limit, their loans to this government are absolutely safe.”

An opponent, House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said the bill would unfairly have the government “pay China first and other creditors before we pay our troops, seniors, health care and veterans benefits” promised by law.

Higgins, N; Collins, Y; Reed, Y.

SENATE

INTERNET SALES TAXES: The Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. The bill would authorize state and local governments to adopt their own sales taxes for purchases made on the Internet from retail sellers located in other jurisdictions with $1 million or more in annual sales.

Enzi said the bill would fix the problem of declining sales tax revenue being collected by communities that depend on the revenue to fund vital services.

An opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the bill would wrongly place the burden of collecting sales taxes on private business and would drive economic activity outside the U.S. by forcing domestic retailers to try to comply with the complex tax rules imposed by thousands of taxing jurisdictions in the U.S.

The vote, on May 6, was 69 yeas to 27 nays.

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D, Y; Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D, Y.

OVERSEEING PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES: The Senate confirmed the nomination of David Medine to serve as chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for a term scheduled to end on Jan. 29, 2018.

A supporter, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., called Medine’s confirmation “a significant victory for all Americans who care about safeguarding our privacy rights and civil liberties.”

An opponent, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that at his confirmation hearing, Medine gave unsatisfactory answers to questions about the use of profiling based on country of origin and how the board should address privacy concerns in its oversight of national security laws, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Patriot Act.

The vote, on May 7, was 53 yeas to 45 nays.

Gillibrand, Y; Schumer, Y.

FIREARMS AND WATER PROJECTS: The Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to the Water Resources Development Act. The amendment would have barred the Army secretary from prohibiting individuals legally authorized to carry firearms from carrying their firearms at Army Corps of Engineers’ water resource development projects.

Coburn said: “The purpose of this amendment is so law-abiding citizens who are granted the authority in their state will not be vulnerable to criminals or dangerous wildlife while on Army Corps land.”

An opponent, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the amendment “would put our national security at risk by making the nation’s dams, reservoirs, hydroelectric powerhouses, navigation locks, major river systems, levees and other flood risk management features vulnerable to attacks.”

The vote, on May 8, was 56 yeas to 43 nays, short of the three-fifths majority required for approval.

Gillibrand, N; Schumer, N.

CONSERVING OCEANIC ENVIRONMENT: The Senate passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., to the Water Resources Development Act. The amendment would create a  National Endowment for the Oceans to promote the protection and conservation of U.S. ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems.

Whitehouse said the program would give residents of coastal areas “a solid and fact-based appreciation of what the risks are to them from this worsening condition of stronger storms and higher measured sea levels” due to climate change.

The vote, on May 8, was 67 yeas to 32 nays.

Gillibrand, Y; Schumer, Y.

ASIAN CARP IN UPPER MIDWEST: The Senate passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to the Water Resources Development Act. The amendment would authorize an effort by multiple agencies to slow the spread of Asian carp in the Upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins and tributaries.

Brown said the Asian carp threatens the ecosystem of the upper Midwest, making the effort necessary to maintain environmental quality.

The vote, on May 8, was unanimous with 95 yeas.

Gillibrand, Y; Schumer, Y.

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE IN NEW YORK: The Senate confirmed the nomination of Nelson Stephen Roman to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., cited Roman’s experience as a judge on various New York City courts and the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court, and his prior experience as an assistant district attorney.

The vote, on May 9, was unanimous with 97 yeas.

Gillibrand, Y; Schumer, Y.

   By Robert J. McCarthy

   Speculation swirled around former State Supreme Court Justice Robert E. Whelan earlier this year, and the possibility he might run for Amherst town judge.

   But Whelan said Monday that after considering the idea seriously, he has decided not to seek the post. The former judge and Buffalo comptroller said he and his wife are enjoying traveling as well as a part-time job he holds.