Monday’s Briefing: Down To The Wire

by Contributor | June 23, 2008 12:11 pm

It’s the final week (or so) of the state legislative session. For the year. As usual, there’s a boatload of stuff to get to and another boatload of stuff to ignore. For those of you trying to keep score, here’s how it’s going so far:

The Official Big Deal Of The Week is the school property tax cap. Republicans may be bending their “no’ into something that will look like “yes”[1] by the end of the week. In fact, NY Post columnist Fred Dicker says Senate Republicans secretly offered[2] to pass the plan in order to pressure Democrats in the Assembly. Gov. Paterson said “no, thanks” but is offering a compromise[3].

The Democratic Gov’s good relations with Republican Senate leader Joe Bruno led to a very unusual story at the end of last week, one which touched our area. Democratic State Senator Darrel Aubertine says he was offered the job of running the New York State Power Authority[4]. He turned it down. But it’s odd that, in a year when Democrats are *this close* to taking control of the Senate that a Democratic Governor would use on a fellow Dem a tactic normally used to get a lawmaker from the opposition party out of the way.

By the way — it’s also interesting that this URL:

http://www.senatorwright.org/48/default.aspx[5]

…takes you to Aubertine’s website.

Also in the Blizzard Of Bills:

• Industrial Development Authorities wait as the Leg decides whether to extend a law or let it die[6].
• Identity theft, toy safety and green housing all got their due[7].
• A bill to allow locals to set lower speed limits[8] gets the “go slow” treatment in Albany.
• A bill to stop state pension abuse[9] may get through.
• A plan to let cops and firefighters retire a little later[10] is speeding along.
• And hunters could get younger[11].

Other Legislative Trivia:

• If you can’t collect the taxes, deprive ’em of the stuff they’re not collecting taxes on[12].
• Some dentists pull impacted lobbyist. Lobbyist pulls back and wins[13].
• The bizarre run downstate to succeed a resigned-in-disgrace Republican congressman gets weirder: The GOP’s candidate dies[14].
• Paterson’s same-sex marriage recognition heads to court today[15].

Your State Dollars At Work:

• Deputy state tax commissioner retires, is rehired, works from South Carolina home[16], draws pension and new salary.
• Omerta: The code of the New York Power Authority[17] for some who left the agency.

News About Food:

• Food prices rise, food stamps don’t[18].
• Bid farewell to the humble banana[19].

Apropos Of Not Very Much:

• Rochester D&C covers nudist weekend[20], fails to supply photo gallery. Upshot of story: Nudists are like the rest of us, only naked. And was the headline — “Nudist Group Aims To Remove Stigma” — a cheeky little joke?
• $50K to play a child’s game[21]? Sign me up.

And Finally:

George Carlin[22], RIP. Lots of stuff here, on YouTube[23]. None of these videos is safe for work, but they’re essential for democracy.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/editors-desk/mondays-briefing-down-to-the-wire/

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