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Cuomo, Lazio Share Goal of Cutting New York State’s Agencies, Nypirg Says

by on May 23, 2010

By Mark Tannenbaum May 24 (Bloomberg) — Andrew Cuomo , the Democratic New York attorney general running for governor, shares a goal of restructuring government with Republican candidates Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino by slashing state agencies, the New York Public Interest Research Group said. Cuomo declared his candidacy this weekend with an agenda that includes reducing agencies, authorities and commissions by 20 percent. Lazio , a former congressman, and Paladino, a Buffalo businessman, say they too intend to reduce agencies, according to Nypirg’s review of candidate websites. Cuomo’s entry into the race comes as lawmakers in the state capital of Albany prepare to vote for the eighth consecutive week on emergency spending bills to keep the government running while they remain divided over a $9.2 billion budget gap for the year that began April 1. “It’s now clear that reforming Albany will be at the top of the 2010 election agenda,” Nypirg, a nonpartisan consumer group that advocates for open government and ethics rules, said in an e-mailed press release May 22. “It’s easy to promise reform, but it’s hard to achieve.” Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy , 50, another candidate for the Republican nomination in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost 2-to-1, doesn’t include cutting agencies as one of the “key reforms” on his website, Nypirg said. Ethics and Redistricting All four candidates have announced initiatives on ethics reform as well as independent redistricting after the 2010 Census, according to Nypirg’s report. “Unlike everything else, that’s an issue that has to be acted on,” Blair Horner , the Albany-based legislative director at Nypirg, said of redistricting in a phone interview. New York Democrats and Republicans will hold primaries in September to pick their candidates prior to the general election in November. Cuomo, 52, who announced his candidacy May 22, had been the Democrats’ unofficial standard bearer since February when Governor David Paterson abandoned his campaign amid an ethics inquiry. The candidate held a rally outside the old Tweed Courthouse in lower Manhattan, named for the 19th century political boss who built it. “The chronic dysfunction of Albany metastasized into the corruption of Albany, and it was a bipartisan affliction,” he said. “Unfortunately Albany’s antics today could make Boss Tweed blush.” Best-Financed As the best-financed and most popular New York official in public opinion polls, Cuomo entered the race as front-runner in the nation’s third most-populous state. Cuomo ruled out any tax increase. The state, he said, faces a “financial emergency,” requiring it to cap spending increases at 2 percent and freeze state worker salaries. Lazio, 52, has proposed capping property taxes. Levy has recommended spending- and property-tax caps similar to what Paterson has suggested, which Cuomo endorsed in his campaign announcement. Paladino, 63, also calls for lowering taxes and spending. Cuomo’s probes into alleged collusion among health insurers, abuses by student-loan companies and executive bonus practices have pushed his job approval rating to at least 68 percent in every Quinnipiac University poll since June 2008, the highest of any statewide official. Ahead in Polls A poll released May 11 by the Poughkeepsie, New York-based Marist Institute for Public Opinion reported Cuomo’s approval rating at 64 percent. In the same poll, Cuomo led Lazio 65 percent to 25 percent. He was ahead of Levy, who switched from his former Democrat affiliation to seek the Republican nomination, 63 percent to 25 percent. Cuomo led Paladino 67 percent to 22 percent. Cuomo reported $16.1 million in campaign funds to the state Board of Elections as of Jan. 15. Among the Republican candidates, Levy had $4.1 million and Lazio reported $637,000 . Lazio, in an e-mailed statement, said Cuomo “has been a central figure in Albany for thirty years, and bears responsibility for the worst four years in the history of New York government. Why should we give him another four?” Levy said it was he, not Cuomo, who first proposed wage freezes, spending and property-tax caps and non-partisan redistricting. “It is important that voters remain cognizant of who has been the leader in advancing these ideas,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Tannenbaum in New York at mtannen@bloomberg.net .

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Cuomo, Lazio Share Goal of Cutting New York State’s Agencies, Nypirg Says

Cuomo, Lazio Share Goal of Cutting New York State’s Agencies, Nypirg Says

by on May 23, 2010

By Mark Tannenbaum May 24 (Bloomberg) — Andrew Cuomo , the Democratic New York attorney general running for governor, shares a goal of restructuring government with Republican candidates Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino by slashing state agencies, the New York Public Interest Research Group said. Cuomo declared his candidacy this weekend with an agenda that includes reducing agencies, authorities and commissions by 20 percent. Lazio , a former congressman, and Paladino, a Buffalo businessman, say they too intend to reduce agencies, according to Nypirg’s review of candidate websites. Cuomo’s entry into the race comes as lawmakers in the state capital of Albany prepare to vote for the eighth consecutive week on emergency spending bills to keep the government running while they remain divided over a $9.2 billion budget gap for the year that began April 1. “It’s now clear that reforming Albany will be at the top of the 2010 election agenda,” Nypirg, a nonpartisan consumer group that advocates for open government and ethics rules, said in an e-mailed press release May 22. “It’s easy to promise reform, but it’s hard to achieve.” Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy , 50, another candidate for the Republican nomination in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost 2-to-1, doesn’t include cutting agencies as one of the “key reforms” on his website, Nypirg said. Ethics and Redistricting All four candidates have announced initiatives on ethics reform as well as independent redistricting after the 2010 Census, according to Nypirg’s report. “Unlike everything else, that’s an issue that has to be acted on,” Blair Horner , the Albany-based legislative director at Nypirg, said of redistricting in a phone interview. New York Democrats and Republicans will hold primaries in September to pick their candidates prior to the general election in November. Cuomo, 52, who announced his candidacy May 22, had been the Democrats’ unofficial standard bearer since February when Governor David Paterson abandoned his campaign amid an ethics inquiry. The candidate held a rally outside the old Tweed Courthouse in lower Manhattan, named for the 19th century political boss who built it. “The chronic dysfunction of Albany metastasized into the corruption of Albany, and it was a bipartisan affliction,” he said. “Unfortunately Albany’s antics today could make Boss Tweed blush.” Best-Financed As the best-financed and most popular New York official in public opinion polls, Cuomo entered the race as front-runner in the nation’s third most-populous state. Cuomo ruled out any tax increase. The state, he said, faces a “financial emergency,” requiring it to cap spending increases at 2 percent and freeze state worker salaries. Lazio, 52, has proposed capping property taxes. Levy has recommended spending- and property-tax caps similar to what Paterson has suggested, which Cuomo endorsed in his campaign announcement. Paladino, 63, also calls for lowering taxes and spending. Cuomo’s probes into alleged collusion among health insurers, abuses by student-loan companies and executive bonus practices have pushed his job approval rating to at least 68 percent in every Quinnipiac University poll since June 2008, the highest of any statewide official. Ahead in Polls A poll released May 11 by the Poughkeepsie, New York-based Marist Institute for Public Opinion reported Cuomo’s approval rating at 64 percent. In the same poll, Cuomo led Lazio 65 percent to 25 percent. He was ahead of Levy, who switched from his former Democrat affiliation to seek the Republican nomination, 63 percent to 25 percent. Cuomo led Paladino 67 percent to 22 percent. Cuomo reported $16.1 million in campaign funds to the state Board of Elections as of Jan. 15. Among the Republican candidates, Levy had $4.1 million and Lazio reported $637,000 . Lazio, in an e-mailed statement, said Cuomo “has been a central figure in Albany for thirty years, and bears responsibility for the worst four years in the history of New York government. Why should we give him another four?” Levy said it was he, not Cuomo, who first proposed wage freezes, spending and property-tax caps and non-partisan redistricting. “It is important that voters remain cognizant of who has been the leader in advancing these ideas,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Tannenbaum in New York at mtannen@bloomberg.net .

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Cuomo, Lazio Share Goal of Cutting New York State’s Agencies, Nypirg Says

Cuomo, Lazio Share Goal of Cutting New York State’s Agencies, Nypirg Says

May 23, 2010

By Mark Tannenbaum May 24 (Bloomberg) — Andrew Cuomo , the Democratic New York attorney general running for governor, shares a goal of restructuring government with Republican candidates Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino by slashing state agencies, the New York Public Interest Research Group said. Cuomo declared his candidacy this weekend with an agenda that includes reducing agencies, authorities and commissions by 20 percent. Lazio , a former congressman, and Paladino, a Buffalo businessman, say they too intend to reduce agencies, according to Nypirg’s review of candidate websites. Cuomo’s entry into the race comes as lawmakers in the state capital of Albany prepare to vote for the eighth consecutive week on emergency spending bills to keep the government running while they remain divided over a $9.2 billion budget gap for the year that began April 1. “It’s now clear that reforming Albany will be at the top of the 2010 election agenda,” Nypirg, a nonpartisan consumer group that advocates for open government and ethics rules, said in an e-mailed press release May 22. “It’s easy to promise reform, but it’s hard to achieve.” Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy , 50, another candidate for the Republican nomination in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost 2-to-1, doesn’t include cutting agencies as one of the “key reforms” on his website, Nypirg said. Ethics and Redistricting All four candidates have announced initiatives on ethics reform as well as independent redistricting after the 2010 Census, according to Nypirg’s report. “Unlike everything else, that’s an issue that has to be acted on,” Blair Horner , the Albany-based legislative director at Nypirg, said of redistricting in a phone interview. New York Democrats and Republicans will hold primaries in September to pick their candidates prior to the general election in November. Cuomo, 52, who announced his candidacy May 22, had been the Democrats’ unofficial standard bearer since February when Governor David Paterson abandoned his campaign amid an ethics inquiry. The candidate held a rally outside the old Tweed Courthouse in lower Manhattan, named for the 19th century political boss who built it. “The chronic dysfunction of Albany metastasized into the corruption of Albany, and it was a bipartisan affliction,” he said. “Unfortunately Albany’s antics today could make Boss Tweed blush.” Best-Financed As the best-financed and most popular New York official in public opinion polls, Cuomo entered the race as front-runner in the nation’s third most-populous state. Cuomo ruled out any tax increase. The state, he said, faces a “financial emergency,” requiring it to cap spending increases at 2 percent and freeze state worker salaries. Lazio, 52, has proposed capping property taxes. Levy has recommended spending- and property-tax caps similar to what Paterson has suggested, which Cuomo endorsed in his campaign announcement. Paladino, 63, also calls for lowering taxes and spending. Cuomo’s probes into alleged collusion among health insurers, abuses by student-loan companies and executive bonus practices have pushed his job approval rating to at least 68 percent in every Quinnipiac University poll since June 2008, the highest of any statewide official. Ahead in Polls A poll released May 11 by the Poughkeepsie, New York-based Marist Institute for Public Opinion reported Cuomo’s approval rating at 64 percent. In the same poll, Cuomo led Lazio 65 percent to 25 percent. He was ahead of Levy, who switched from his former Democrat affiliation to seek the Republican nomination, 63 percent to 25 percent. Cuomo led Paladino 67 percent to 22 percent. Cuomo reported $16.1 million in campaign funds to the state Board of Elections as of Jan. 15. Among the Republican candidates, Levy had $4.1 million and Lazio reported $637,000 . Lazio, in an e-mailed statement, said Cuomo “has been a central figure in Albany for thirty years, and bears responsibility for the worst four years in the history of New York government. Why should we give him another four?” Levy said it was he, not Cuomo, who first proposed wage freezes, spending and property-tax caps and non-partisan redistricting. “It is important that voters remain cognizant of who has been the leader in advancing these ideas,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Tannenbaum in New York at mtannen@bloomberg.net .

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Obama’s Approval Rating Rises After U.S. Health-Care Overhaul, Poll Says

March 31, 2010

By Chris Dolmetsch March 31 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama ’s approval rating moved higher after Congress passed the most sweeping overhaul of U.S. health-care policy in more than four decades, his key domestic legislative goal, a poll released today showed. The Marist Poll found that 46 percent of registered voters approve of the job Obama is doing, up from 44 percent in a survey conducted in early February. Forty-three percent disapprove of his performance, compared with 47 percent last month. Obama’s standing also rose among voters who describe themselves as independent, with 39 percent saying they approve of the job he is doing, compared with 29 percent last month. Forty-five percent disapproved of his performance, down from 57 percent last month. “President Obama has scored a big legislative victory, but this has only translated minimally into his job performance scores,” Lee M. Miringhoff, director of the Poughkeepsie, New York-based Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement . “For many voters, he still needs to swish a few three-pointers to become a driving force behind this fall’s midterm elections.” The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act put in motion the largest expansion of health-care coverage since the creation in 1965 of Medicaid, for the poor, and Medicare, for people 65 and older and the disabled. Obama signed the law on March 23 and yesterday signed a companion measure to fully enact the measure. The law, some provisions of which will take effect this year, is likely to shape Obama’s presidency and be a central issue in November’s elections to determine control of Congress. It was enacted without a single Republican vote. The survey of 860 registered voters was conducted by telephone on March 25, 26 and 29, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net .

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Video: Miringoff Sees Obama Rating Hit by Health Care Gridlock: Video

February 8, 2010

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Lee M. Miringoff, the director of Poughkeepsie, New York-based Marist College’s Marist Institute of Public Opinion, talks with Bloomberg’s Susan Li about President Barack Obama’s approval rating. The Marist Poll found that 57 percent of independent voters have a negative view of Obama’s job performance, up from 44 percent in a Dec. 8 survey. (Source: Bloomberg)

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