Required Reading for a New York Mindset

In most communities, there are some groups who are agitating --- more importantly, just by raising your voice. I'm always surprised when I hear legislators say they get 15 or 20 calls on an issue and that's a lot. It doesn't take that many citizens who are outspoken and in contact with their legislators to make a difference. I'd say: pay attention; be informed about what's going on. And if you don't like it, then give your elected representatives an earful. That's what they're there for.

The above is taken from an interview Krestia Degorge did with Gannett News Service's Albany bureau chief, Jay Gallagher. The interview ran in last weeks City paper and can be read following this link. Gallagher has just released a book, "The Politics of Decline", which examines the dysfunction of The Empire State and things that can be done to turn things around.

I've already ordered my copy.

There is a lack of focus on upstate from leaders and policy makers. AG Spitzer just announced a downstater as his running-mate in yet another snub to the interests of our area. The increasing chasm between the economy of a world-class metropolitan area and the milder and volatile rust belt characteristics of upstate becomes more and more difficult to negotiate every year. This regional problem transcends political party, because neither group seems incredibly willing to stand up and make the necessary changes to the financial barriers of this state. As long as downstate hums along, it doesn't faze any of the leaders in Albany that the cost of doing business in this state is astronomical and the tax rate is oppressive.

Are they aware that not all of us can commute to Manhattan to work?

A Medicaid Petition on the Monroe County Website

Those that have followed this blog for a while are aware of how concerned I am of New York State's burdensome Medicaid costs. I believe that the cost of this system, bared both by the state and the counties, is one of the reasons New York taxes are so outrageous, which leads to a high cost of doing business in this state. Oh, there are other factors there too, and they should be addressed. But, as I've stated before in other blog entries, Medicaid is so far out of alignment with where it should be, it's the obvious first place to start.

So I'm researching a post concerning Governor Pataki's budget, the Governor's race, and County Executive Brook's secret plan to plug the budget gap which is due in 90 days. My focus is on how Medicaid costs play into all this. While surfing around, I find a petition on the County Website concerning Medicaid reform.

One point shall now be awarded to Ms. Brooks. Bravo.

It's pretty simple. It briefly touches on things that you could read about in the aforementioned links above and then offers this:

There are solutions to the challenges presented by Medicaid, but there must be the political will in Albany to debate and enact such solutions. The New York Association of Counties, and others, have presented options they believe can lead us out of this crisis.

I believe that the following options are all worthy of consideration and enactment:

1. Capping counties share of Medicaid costs at 2001 Levels, alleviating county taxpayers from the responsibility of the program’s rapidly escalating costs.

2. Giving New York State the revenue from one percent of the sales tax currently levied by counties in return for eliminating counties’ Medicaid responsibilities.

3. Complete funding of Medicaid by the State immediately removing the burden for the program from counties. 48 states do not mandate that their counties pay for a significant portion of Medicaid. Only New York and North Carolina place such a burden on their counties.

It's never easy to make these kinds of changes, and I doubt that the solutions will be very easy either. However, I feel it is incumbent on us all to remain active and continue to push against the line that says we are powerless to change things.

Voicing our displeasure through any possible means will be the only way we get policy makers in Albany to understand that spending is too high and taxes are too high.

I encourage you all to go to the petition link and sign it.

Ferry Fatigued, a Hovercraft, and the Monorail Episode from the Simpsons

I'm having trouble getting myself to revisit the whole Fast Ferry situation. It isn't that I don't think it's news worthy, because given the amount of money and time that has been focused on it, this isn't something that should be swept under the rug. However, I also don't want this thing to consume us. There are larger and more pressing things out there. There are projects, like Renaissance Square, that will be forced to live in the shadow of the Spirit of Ontario's collapse. It's important to keep things in their proper perspective or else we run the risk of believing that nothing we do can improve our community. That simply is not true. The reality is that the Fast Ferry project had good intentions at its start, but quickly became about something else: pride. In this case, we proved the cliche Pride goeth before a fall completely true. Mayor Duffy brought the thing to end before things got even further off the tracks.

Many people, including myself, would have liked the ferry to get a fair shot at a full season, but in the business world there are no fair shots. The likelihood that it would have made a difference was small. The business plan should probably have anticipated losses for the first few years of operation. At least it would have had the virtue of being realistic.

Moving on, here's two related things.

Zinnfan, over at Zinnian Democracy, should have gotten an award for this post. I've waited, half-expecting and half-dreading, someone to mention the Simpsons episode where the town gets bamboozaled, "Music Man" style, into building a monorail. The similarities between Springfeild and Rochester were always somewhat alarming. As long as Rochester resists the urge to build an "escalator to nowhere".

Finally, at the end of it, we arrive at the idea of the Rochester to Toronto Fast-Hovercraft. That's when I know I'm fatigued with this whole business. Honestly, if the market will support it as a private venture, nothing would make me happier and it may just give this community some kind of positive closure. It's an interesting proposition that has only received some light reporting in this WROC news article with companion video.

Chapell, of East Rochester, proposes a hovercraft. It's a cross between an airplane and a boat, and can travel up to 80 m.p.h. Chapell says it would use 80 percent less fuel than the ferry, tickets would cost about $10 less, and it would get to Toronto in little more than an hour - twice as fast as the ferry.

"It's going to carry about 100 to 140 people, 10 to 12 cars and do it in an hour," Chapell said.

Perhaps the best selling point in a ferry-weary city is that the $10 million hovercraft would be privately-funded. Chapell says HTS has lined up half of the financing it needs.

"The business model is hands down better than the fast ferry," Chapell said. "Ours is the true fast ferry."

Chapell says HTS would need the city to commit to modest infrastructure improvements at the terminal and the port.

I'd be curious to know what kind of changes need to be made at the Port of Rochester and whether it would have a different environmental impact than the Ferry, but I'm skeptical. Given all that we've seen with this thing, don't show up on the scene and say, "I've got a better business model." We've heard it all before. Navigating the red-tape in these deals is more treacherous than any nautical dangers. Want to level with us? Recognize that fact right up front. But like I said, if you'd like to do it as a private venture? Nothing would make me happier that to see it work.

I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook and by gum it put them on the map!

Warming to the Weather

It's a little more gray today than it was yesterday, but you won't hear me complaining. An excellent day for a hike on the more finished trails at Highland Park and Genesee Valley Park. Given the fantastic tropical heatwave we've got going right now, breaking us from any potential cabin fever, I thought it would be a good chance to break from politics, economics, and all that other stuff and mention something a bit more universally positive: the Monroe County Parks.

Visit the Monroe County Park system homepage and check out the map here.

If you're a city dweller, don't feel left out. Rochester has a great page that tracks a list of all the metropolitian parks as well as trails.

Although the weather should chill considerably this weekend, it's being said that we could see a return to warm temperatures next week. No complaining about 9 months of snow this year. Get out there and enjoy this! 

On the Rocks

The city of Rochester is now out of the ferry business. This is a good thing. From the beginning I've been consistant one the fact that a government should focus on governing, not managing a venture better suited to the private sector. However, this is not how I was hoping it would play out. Some did. Some people in the city and county desired and anticipated the endevours failure. I can only imagine these are the same people that watch NASCAR for the crashes, get upset when the TV cameras avoid showing fights at NFL games, and complain about 5 months of snow in Rochester or a lack of snow, whichever position is counter to reality.

These people are going to have a very good day today.

Last night, Mayor Duffy ended the funding of the fast ferry from Rochester to Toronto. The decision, while painful for many, was the right one and easily justified. Simply put, the project had defied all estimates and projections when it came to things involving red ink, and the cost of maintaining it, of one more chances, was taking funding away from other projects that could be more successful. Simply put, it cost more than it was worth.

I understand some folks are going to be concerned with the question,"why approve a $9 million loan when another million would give the ferry another season?" The reasoning here is that $9 million is what it costs to put this boat down for the last time. Effectively, given one more season that fails, you've only deferred that cost as well as racked up another $10 million in additional debt. One way to look at it, is that Mayor Duffy had to decided between a loan to end the ferry of $9 million or a loan to end the ferry after one more season for $19 million (there are additional costs that would make this number higher than $19 million after 1 year, but we should keep this simple).

People will also likely decry that the ferry deserved a full season to show its value. I agree. There was a missed opportunity not having this boat running during the spring. However, if we want to track missed opportunities, weren' there many that we should consider? Pilotage fees on the order of $5000 a day were never resolved. How many riders a day paid money to cover that cost alone? It was wasteful. I'm not saying that it wasn't neccessary or that they weren't working to resolve it. What I'm saying is that the reality of this project wasn't planned for. The complexity of costs, rider demand, and the price structure wasn't realized by those that moved this project forward. Its a sad fact. A mistake I wish wasn't made. But one that will impact many municiple projects for years to come.

More on this later.

Rep. Slaughter to give national Radio Address this weekend

I focus this blog squarely on New York state and Rochester related items. From the outset, I decided that because everyone there were so many blogs dealing with national politics, I wanted to go for the underserviced local route.

I also decided that I would cover an item at the federal level if it involved Rochester or the state. Well, I think this is the first time I'm employing that special privilege.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter will be giving the Democratic Radio address this weekend and she'll be speaking about the current Republican ethics scandal.

From her post at The Daily Kos:

Hi folks. Again, please only recommend this diary if you think others should see the information I'm posting.

I wanted to let you know that the Democratic leadership requested me to give our party's response to this weekend's (Saturday January 7, 2006) radio address of President Bush. While local radio stations do not carry this speech, the cable network channel C-Span will carry both starting at 2:50 p.m. You will also be able to listen and read my speech at the national Democratic Committee's web site.

The topic of my address is going to be what else - the Republican culture of corruption. Speaking of which, I am posting below a backgrounder I distributed to the national media on Jack and his Republican pals in Washington, making it clear - THIS IS A REPUBLICAN SCANDAL. Keep repeating this over, and over, and over again.

So, again please tune in this Saturday. Let me know what you think by posting your comments here.

Thank you again for making me so welcome to your wonderful community. -LMS

MYTH:

The Jack Abramoff scandal is a bipartisan scandal.

FACT:

The Abramoff scandal reveals the scope and depth of the corrupt Republican power structure that dominates Congress and Washington today:

Jack Abramoff personifies the Republican culture of corruption through cozy relationships (going well beyond giving out campaign contributions) between Republican Congressional lawmakers, various high level administration officials from government agencies, and the powerful lobbying interests in Washington's K Street. His central role in the numerous, inter-related scandals weave a web of corruption that exemplifies the dangers of one party rule, and one that is truly unique in its scope, nature and impact to the Republican Conference which runs both houses of Congress.

*Abramoff was a Bush "Pioneer," raising more than $100,000 for the President's reelection in '04.
*Tom DeLay once called Abramoff one of his "closest and dearest friends"
*Abramoff was a major part of the Republican's "K Street Project"
*All four lawmakers said to be under Justice Department investigation for the Abramoff scandal are Republicans (Ney, Burns, Doolittle, and DeLay)
*Nearly 2/3rd of contributions from Abramoff's tribal clients, Abramoff himself, his lobbying team, and their spouses from 1999-2004 went to Republicans.
*64 of the 72 skybox fundraising events held by Abramoff between 1999 and 2003, were put on for Republicans, many of them members of the House leadership, and many of them undisclosed.

JACK ABRAMOFF's REPUBLICAN RESUME:

HE AND HIS WIFE ONLY DONATED TO REPUBLICANS AND CONSERVATIVE PACS:From 1992-2004, Jack Abramoff and his wife personally donated $189,003 to Republican candidates, and $111,735 to Republican and conservative PACs. They donated no money to Democrats. [opensecrets.org]

A BUSH "PIONEER":Abramoff was a Bush "Pioneer," raising more than $100,000 for his reelection in '04. [R. Jeffrey Smith, "A High-Powered Lobbyist's Swift Fall From Grace," Washington Post, 8/12/05.]

MEMBER OF BUSH'S PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM:Abramoff was a member of Bush's Presidential Transition Team, "advising the administration on policy and hiring at the Interior Department, which oversees Native American Issues." [Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey, "Oil Dilemma," Newsweek Web-Exclusive Commentary, 4/21/05.]

TOM DELAY'S "CLOSEST AND DEAREST" FRIEND: Tom DeLay once called Abramoff one of his "closest and dearest friends." [Jeff Shields, "GOP's best friend could be its nightmare," Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/7/05]

CHAIRMAN OF THE COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Abramoff was chairman of the College Republican National Committee in the early 80's, where he met his longtime associates Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed. [Michael Crowley, "A Lobbyist in Full," New York Times, 5/1/05]

MAJOR PART OF THE REPUBLICAN'S "THE K STREET PROJECT": Abramoff was a major part of "The K Street Project," in which lobbying firms were pressured to hire and donate to Republicans. ''It was my role to push the Republicans on K Street to be more helpful to the conservative movement.'' [Michael Crowley, "A Lobbyist in Full," New York Times, 5/1/05]

NEARLY 2/3RD OF CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ABRAMOFF'S TRIBAL CLIENTS, ABRAMOFF HIMSELF, HIS LOBBYING TEAM, AND THEIR SPOUSES FROM 1999-2004 WENT TO REPUBLICANS: Of the $5,355,039 in contributions from Abramoff's tribal clients, Abramoff himself, his lobbying team, and their spouses from 1999-2004, 63.7% of it went to Republicans. [Derek Willis and Laura Stanton, "How Abramoff Spread the Wealth," Washington Post, 12/12/05]

ALL FOUR LAWMAKERS KNOWN TO BE UNDER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION FOR THE ABRAMOFF SCANDAL ARE REPUBLICANS: All four lawmakers known to be under Justice Department investigation for the Abramoff scandal are Republicans (Ney, Burns, Doolittle, and DeLay). A former Bush Administration official has also been charged in the case. [Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi, "Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist," Washington Post, 11/26/05]

64 OF HIS 72 SKYBOX FUNDRAISING EVENTS BETWEEN 1999 AND 2003 WERE PUT ON FOR REPUBLICANS: Of the 72 skybox fundraising events held by Abramoff between 1999 and 2003, 64 were put on for Republicans, many of them members of the House leadership, and many of them undisclosed. [Susan Schmidt and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "Tribal Money Linked to GOP Fundraising," Washington Post, 12/26/04]

ACCORDING TO THE HILL, BIGGEST FIGURES IN THE ABRAMOFF SCANDALS ARE ALL REPUBLICANS: In a December '05 article, The Hill listed the 17 biggest figures in the Abramoff scandal. All were Republican lawmakers, officials, and aides save one, a business partner of Abramoff's with ties to the mob. [Josephine Hearn, "High-stakes players who gambled at the table with Casino Jack," 12/7/05]

Rep. Slaughter has been an outspoken critic of House Republican ethics abuses for quite a while now. It's good to see our local representative gain some national prominence.

A Great Fast Ferry Piece

Mike Caputo launched his newly re-minted Political Notebook site last month with little fanfare from this blog, which wasn't very sporting of me. However, I'm going to make sure to keep a close eye on the great material that Mike puts out and will steer you all over there accordingly. Which is to say, you should be surfing over there frequently.

Not waiting long to hit his digital stride on his new typepad home, Mike has already posted an interesting three part piece looking into how the Fast Ferry company is structured and the reasons why the City Council constructed the organization in that way. Mike Caputo is an accomplished journalist, having once worked at the Democrat and Chronicle, and is currently the News and Public Affairs Director at WXXI. He also hosts WXXI's Need to Know, and does columns for the Messenger-Post Newspaper.

If you only follow one Rochester-based blog, it is his you should be reading.

His Fast Ferry features are linked below:
Rochester Ferry Chronicles pt. 1
Rochester Ferry Chronicles pt. 2
Rochester Ferry Chronicles pt. 3

Pataki's Final State of the State Address

Yesterday, New Yorkers saw Governor George Pataki give his final State of the State address. These addresses are usually fairly innocuous. After their delivery, most consideration deals with sifting through them to find anything that is remotely noteworthy. They are, generally speaking, wishful and hopeful. Two qualities that all our lives could use more of. However, they are fairly divorced from reality. I'm not coming down on the Governor for what was an optimistic speech. This speech was built on optimism. I'm only pointing out that both his perception of New York over the last 11 years and his vision for his last year do not track with reality.

First, I believe the Governor will run for President in 2008 and that he will also lose the race for the nomination quickly and without contention. The first he is already planning for, the second he needs to consider. Yesterday’s speech does little to further his ambition. I disagree with Assemblywoman Susan John who said:

"He is offering few new programs to revitalize our economy. To me, this seemed more like a speech aimed at the citizens of Iowa."

I don't see what that speech held in it for the people of Iowa or New Hampshire. Let's face it. Those folks want to see what we want to see: results. And the bottom line is that the Governor has done very little to improve things in New York. And the things that he did accomplish, notably Albany reforms, came much too late in his term to warrant him any special credit. No, it would seem that Governor Pataki did what he had to do at that point in order to satiate voters. He didn't lead us to the reforms, he was taken there kicking and screaming. So did the rest of the representatives in Albany. Both sides of the party lacked solid leadership in this achievement. It was an achievement in spite of itself.

And so that is the reality from where we sit in Rochester. The optimism is wonderful though. Optimism can be a powerful thing, because it can surge like breaking tide and carry us over rocks of disappointment that could break us apart. Considering it now, a positive pragmatism seems to be in very short supply here in western New York. Too often are we left to ponder the latest closings of businesses that have either migrated away or burned out. Everyday, we see the fallout from closing a budget gap, or another night of violence. These things hover about us like spirits while obscuring our vision of where the future leads us.

These are hard times in western New York. We do not feel like we live in "a stronger, safer, cleaner, more prosperous state than it's been in generations".

Given that, I do not fault the Governor for his optimism. I don't think I ever have. I find fault with him that he has never pursued his vision with enough vigor to see it carried out. It is not his vision, it was his execution. The hard times we face in western New York require big men* who sense that large problems require brave, bold solutions. Pataki was never willing to put too much of his own reputation on the line to solve these problems. This is why he won’t be regarded as much of anything in the long run, I’m sorry to say.

Let's hope our next Governor, whoever it may be, will not only have an ambitious vision for New York, but the courage and conviction to make it a reality.


*"big men" was used for its cadence. Don't get all up in my face about it please.

End-of-the-Year Type of Post

The biggest current event story in the last week of the year always seems to involve reflecting back on events that are no longer current. Somehow the irony escapes everyone involved. Sorry if I just spoiled the mood by pointing it out.

For 2005, local TV newscasts are talking about how, for the 2nd straight year, the Fast Ferry was the top local news story. I've heard them say it just barely beat out the city Mayor's election. How do they figure this kind of stuff out? Some kind of poll, or do they actually look at the time used to cover the story? Either way, what's the point? Maybe it's just me, but I find this kind of navel-gazing fruitless and uninteresting. First, the idea that there is any kind of significance in a top news story of the year is kind of wishful thinking. Are we honestly to believe that when we look back at 2005, we're going to say to ourselves, "Ah yes... the second year of the Fast Ferry", as we look off in the distance with a thoughtfully wistful expression?

Seriously, this kind of pre-judging of history just looks silly in the long run. It's like being in 1977 and saying, "You know, I really think disco will never die."

So yeah. Let me allow all that to preface what I think was the biggest news story of 2005. Yes, I know what I just got done saying. If you haven't figured it out yet, I have no qualms concerning my role as a public fool. Consider it a service, and one that you get at a premium I might add. Instead of directing attention on the biggest news story, which could really be anything, the local news agencies should consider focusing on the news event of the year.

Let me tell you what that would be.

The biggest story of 2005 was the University of Rochester surpassing Eastman Kodak as the largest employer of the area. It's a significant milestone in a couple of ways. First, how long has this community ruminated over the fact that Kodak will someday be gone? And whatever are we to do when it leaves? Guess what. That day has come, my friends, and somehow we are still standing. I'm not trying to make it sound like there aren't rough roads ahead, because there are. My point is that 2005 marks a year that the transition from the 20th Century economy to the 21st started leaving some marks. Rochester has, for years, been hooked on the easy money from a Fortune 500 conglomerate. Weening ourselves off that gravy train and back into the hustle and flow of cultivating and growing businesses is what will turn things around for this area.

The fact that it's the U of R that is carrying the water for the local economy is a good sign. The increasing investment into the high-tech and bio-tech sectors will spill over into other aspects of economy and hopefully begin to buoy it. The real trick is capturing the intellectual property from U of R and RIT for local development. If the region can develop these start-ups and help foster an environment where they can get their legs, Rochester's chances of transitioning to a 21st Century economy begins to look a lot brighter.

Hopefully.

At least that's how I see it.

Oh yeah... and disco will never die. Happy New Year.

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All My Prayers...

Hilton soldier, 21, killed in Afghanistan

I'm from Hilton. Although I don't know the Hasenauers, I know the village. I understand the pain that his family, friends, school mates, and the fire department must be dealing with.

Please give thoughts and prayers to his fiancee and 4 week old daughter.

NYS GOP DOA?

I have a problem with New York State and Monroe County GoP Chairman Steve Minarik. That isn't news. When people in his own party have a problem with him, then that's news.

A LEADING national Republican, citing sweeping losses in last Tuesdays elections, has declared the New York GOP a disaster area and says shell close her enormous checkbook to the party next year.
...
"There was no investment in New York in developing future party talent, no investment made in building the partys future," added Mosbacher, the Manhattan-based CEO of Borghese, an international cosmetics firm.
"Who is responsible for this? You hold Gov. Pataki, [former state GOP Chairman] Sandy Treadwell, [current Chairman] Steve Minarik, all of them, responsible."
...
Asked if she planned to contribute to New York Republican candidates in 2006, Mosbacher responded, "Contribute to what? Im always ready to step up when theres something I believe in and see is worthwhile."

I'm looking forward to seeing Minarik on Need To Know going on about how encouraged he is by this year and how the GoP will sweep elections next year.... in Fantasyland.

City Newspaper Does an Election Postmortem

City Paper posted Krestia Degorge's write-up concerning the fallout from the Monroe County elections. There is a strong emphasis on the Democrats reactions and very little in terms of Republicans. I think I have something I can post concerning the New York Republican fallout in a little bit.

I highly recommend it to anyone that is even remotely interested in party politics. Degorge does a great job covering multiple facets in the story.

Check out the article here.

Revisiting Medicaid

On Tuesday, State Assemblyman Dave Koon (D- Perinton, Penfield, Webster) was on the 1370 Connection on WXXI just taking calls concerning the election and general what-not. I built up a little nerve in the parking lot outside of Burlington Coat Factory in Henrietta and called in. I was the last caller taken.

I thanked the host, Bob Smith for taking my call and then directed my question to the Assemblyman. It was about Medicaid. My question was something like, "New York is number one with a bullet when it comes to state expenditures on Medicaid. We spend 33% more on the program than the next state, California, which has the 8th largest economy in the world. I'd like to know what the Assembly is doing, or what the Democrats are planning to do in order to rein these costs in?"

The Assemblyman didn't really evade the question or hemmed and hewed around it. He didn't really address it either. His answer concerned two things: the problem needs to be examined very closely, and they need to make changes without reducing the level of benefits. Host Bob Smith added to my question by addressing the potential that around 20% of state Medicaid expenditures are due to fraud. Again, the response was, it's something that needs to be looked at.

I'm not getting the impression that this is a real priority in Albany.

First, legislators need to start looking at the problem and finding ways to make sure that benefits are granted to those who need them. They shouldn't shy away from denying benefits to those who do not require assistance. By stating that we don't want to reduce benefits before even doing any serious accounting for where the cost centers are, is like tying our hands before we start bailing water out of our sinking boat. New York State is spends more than any other state. Why are we so out of alignment with states our size with similar demographics? This requires benchmarks. Ideally, we want to be right there in the middle of the pack.

Spending more than California should be a major wakeup call to everyone. Instead it's just not sinking in. The Rochester-based Rump Group has a great position paper concerning steps that can be taken to bring New York back in line with where it should be. The Democrat and Chronicle also runs special reports concerning Medicaid which they archive in one place. I highly encourage both social progressions and fiscal conservatives to examine these resources. This is a case where New York State can be doing more with less.

Furthermore, the allegations of fraud in the Medicaid system falls squarely to the State Attorney General to investigate and take action upon. Let it never be said I go easy on Democrats. Elliot Spitzer needs to tackle Medicaid fraud squarely in the next year or I will find it very hard to take him as a genuine advocate for the people of New York. I will not diminish the things he did on Wall Street, but if he isn't addressing the potential of fraud costing the tax payers of this state in the ballpark of $8 billion, I'm not sure what his motivations for seeking the Governorship are. I will tell you this, Golisano will be addressing Medicaid (he is a member of the previously mentioned Rump Group), Bill Weld will be addressing Medicaid (Massachusetts had sky-rocketing Medicaid costs before Weld reined them in. Now Massachusetts is considered one of the states New York should benchmark itself against.), and they will both look to Spitzer and ask why he hasn't done more to address the fraud in the system. It infuriates me to see Spitzer allowing such a huge opening for which his two major opponents will be able to directly flank him and hit him on a major issue.

What's more important though, is that the problem gets fixed. If Spitzer isn't willing to do it, he should sit down and get out of the way of people that are willing to. If that means I vote for someone else for Governor next year, than I'll do so happily.

Firefox versus Internet Explorer

I use both IE and Firefox. Mostly I use IE at home because it's what my wife likes, and I like her to be happy. On my antiquated laptop, I've got Firefox and Opera because I'm doing the linux-using-rebel thing there.

Let me tell you, this blog and many other sites are rendered much better in Firefox. I was actually getting upset with how the site was layed out in IE and was considering changing some things, when I surfed over to it in Firefox. The left hand column is a more managable size, the links look and behave better, and the body content just reads better. That sounds kind of strange.... Yeah, I think reading my stuff in Firefox makes it better, which means Firefox makes me a better writer. It also makes me taller and better looking. Nevermind all that. Now I'm being silly.

If you haven't surfed using Firefox I highly recommend it. Surf over to www.getfirefox.com and download it. You really won't be sorry. I even replaced Outlook Express with their e-mail application, Thunderbird.

Back from the Dead

Real life got in the way of this blog at the most inopportune time, keeping me away from giving my insight and commentary during one of the more interesting local elections in a very long time. That isn't really true though. I don't consider myself one of the liberal illuminati, one who electronically downloads what you should think directly into your soul by way of a Pentium chip. No, I'm probably a lot like you. I surf around, read some articles, and then respond to it. No ulterior motives other than I like to write. That's it.

That should be quite enough about me. I have better things to write about, and I insist that you must have better things you could be reading.

So let's get to the interesting stuff, shall we?

Over at The Political Notebook, Mike Caputo pens this article which takes stock in how things shook out following the election, and the fallout in the wake of Irondequoit supervisor upset. Democratic challenger Mary Ellen Heyman beat incumbent Republican David Schantz in what was likely the big upset of this year. Mike starts down an interesting path with this:

The County Legislature is still in the hands of the GOP, but they have a lot of new faces in the mix. Perhaps they will still have a common interest with County Executive Maggie Brooks' administration and they will let her take the lead. But maybe, if the budget situation remains bumpy, they will start breaking away.

But doesn't take it to its next logical step. With the tobacco settlement money gone, which I wrote of here, it will be increasingly more difficult to hold property taxes constant and continue to balance the county budget. This presents a real opportunity for competent democratic candidates to make inroads in the County Legislature. I think that is the greatest pitfall facing the Monroe County GoP, considering how much they've banked on their ability to keep property taxes low (or more accurately, their growth in check).

Caputo also teases at the fallout within the County Democrats ranks with the election of Duffy as Mayor.

It's progress. But Democrats still have to craft a message that will work in places outside the city. And the mayor's race picked at the scab of dissention among Democratic leaders. Should internal division linger over the next few years, and should the Duffy administration stagger out of the gate, well, that would make things far more difficult for the party in the coming years.

It could come to pass that if the county budget should start to give under its own weight, the message could craft itself. But there is some time before that happens.

Nico penned some results from around the 'Cuse and all of western NY that involved party changes like we got in Irondequoit. Also you can read the Prop 1 postmortem here.

Krestia Degorge still hasn't posted anything over at City Paper yet. When he does, I'll be sure to link to it.

What do I think about the elections? I'm flattered you asked. I think people made the right choices. Ultimately, with the exception of Irondequoit, people voted in favor of keeping things in the same hands as they were previously. Mayor-elect Duffy is the logical extension of the Johnson administration (which voters largely agreed with, Duffy being the only candidate that thought the city was on the right track), the county legislature stayed in Republican hands, and most towns continued dancing with the dates that brought them. This also indicated something else. Despite the spate of violence, Kodak's layoffs, and Delphi on life support, there hasn't been anything in the community that has really changed the dynamic of power. If anything, that should be a good sign that life in The Flower City is not as perilous as we sometimes think it is. Hopefully, things will improve. Whether they do or not, I promise I'll be around to say something about it.

"Shunned" or Just Not a Credible Candidate?

According to this WXXI article by Alex Crichton, Chris Maj, the Red White and Blue candidate for Rochester mayor, claims he was "shunned by the leadership of the Rochester Rotary Club" by not being invited to participate in the Mayoral debate.

At the risk of sounding like a political elitist, I'm going to say some politically elite things.

There are times when non-viable candidates add value to the race. This is not one of those times. I admire Mr. Maj for his dedication and fortitude in his campaign for the mayor's office. I think it is important to realize, just as anyone can seek public office, you can't force everyone to sit there and entertain your ideas as if they have merit. Because, sadly in Mr. Maj's case, many of them don't.

Let's see what his website says. Some of these things aren't in the capacity of the mayor to accomplish. Hell, kings have had trouble accomplishing this much!

• Develop a School of Agriculture to teach children how to grow their own food so we can make ourselves more self-sufficient. Use abandoned skyscrapers to grow food as hydroponic vertical gardens.



• Increase student representation on the school board. Consider a completely student run school board as a complement to mayoral control of the schools.



• Increase student representation on the school board. Consider a completely student run school board as a complement to mayoral control of the schools.



• Create a 25% tax on all marijuana transactions. Require reasonably priced annual licenses for all marijuana producers. Only arrest those who fail to pay the fees or sell to children.



• Make every roof a green one: plant a small garden on top of each building to prolong the life of the roof and create a beautiful skyline. Additionally, roofs with plants can reduce the need for air conditioning in the summer.



• Seize all residential property not occupied by the owner within one year of the discovery of lead paint on the property, raze the building, and then turn it into a public vegetable garden. The use of eminent domain to seize delinquent landlord property is justified in the case of lead paint because of the proven harm it causes to children.

He has some fresh ideas, I guess you can say. Not sure what exactly this all accomplishes. If we make Rochester look like some Utopia-in-the-works, as if it were plucked out of some first-season episode of Star Trek (the original, because these ideas would so fit right in with Shatner's acting), would that really attract jobs to Western New York? Or would everyone hold their breath and wait for the mess that the student-run school board makes of things?

This one really stuck out for me:

Instruct city police officers to actively oppose federal or state interference by following new city ordinances that put non-violent drug possession crimes at the lowest level of enforcement priority. Allow for dumping of small amounts of drugs by the police. As of August, the California Highway Patrol has ordered its officers to stop confiscating medical marijuana during routine traffic stops, so an alternate strategy is legally possible. And if necessary, organize militias of city residents for protection from federal or state interference.

Uh, did he just say what I think he said? We are to.... wait for it... take up arms against state and federal officials? I think that's what he means. If not he should consider clarifying that. I mean, I have a degree in English and I'm a pretty good reader and all, but I hope I misread that.

Makes you wonder why he was shunned by The Rochester Rotary Club.

However, I am a silver lining kind of guy. I did like this:

Replace all city computer systems running Microsoft Windows and other proprietary operating systems with free and open source alternatives like the Free/Net/OpenBSD and GNU/Linux operating systems. Draft students from area universities to first assist city government officials in the process, and then keep them in the loop as the changes are rolled out to city schools. Provide them with housing incentives to stay and work in the city upon graduation.

Well, the market should be able to provide the housing incentives. But what I liked was deployment of opensource software. I suspect that there are real savings to be had by moving away from Microsoft related products and relying more on opensource and Linux based packages. I've switched over to openoffice.org in most of my home office uses and I'm very happy. My old laptop that could barely run Windows 98 is cruising wirelessly using Damn Small Linux, so he makes some sense here.

Not enough to get him an invitation to a debate, but still, good enough to get a nod from me. Which is nice.

What is Proposition One?

With election day coming up, I haven't yet touched on Proposition 1 in a way I'm satisfied with. Let's take a swipe at this. Essentially, what Prop 1 is attempting to change is the budgeting process in a way that will both steer budget negotiations to conclusion while minimizing the economic impact of such a budget coming in late.

It slices, it dices...

NYPIRG supports Proposition 1 and they write a little about it here:

The vote on the budget reform amendment is less than two months away. NYPIRG, joined by our colleagues at Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, are urging the public to support the budget reform amendment (Proposal 1) and other proposals that are part of the package because it improves the state's budget process in three important areas:
•  Transparency. The proposal requires greater openness in the development of the Governor's executive budget.
•  Accountability. The proposal creates and independent budget office that will provide bipartisan fiscal analyses(sic).
•  Certainty. The proposal creates a “contingency budget” (essentially the previous year's budget with some exceptions). The contingency budget kicks in when there is no budget agreement by the beginning of the fiscal year. This provision guarantees that a budget will be in place if there is no agreement on a new budget by the beginning of the fiscal year.
It is the third issue listed above that has generated the most controversy. The proposal has been criticized as a “power grab” by the legislature at the expense of the executive branch and been derided as inevitably leading to “runaway spending” by irresponsible legislators.

It doesn't sound too bad. They go on to say that New York is out of alignment with 46 other states in the Union whose budgeting process is more concentrated in the Legislature. At heart, Proposition 1 really wants to do good. However, it seems like you need to take a lot of bad the good here.

The most obvious problem I have with this is, if there is a “contingency budget” in place, that kicks in during the event of a late budget, what on Earth is the motivation for lawmakers to get the budget in on time? That's just one flaw with the concept. It gets uglier.

From upstateblog.net we get The Runaway Spending Amendment Homepage. You can go over there and cruise around it at you leisure. Marvel at their attempt to compile all the editorials that have come out against this proposition. Here's a nice summation of some points:

Does this sound like Budget Reform to you?

• It does not require that the Legislature pass an on-time budget.

 
• It gets rid of the requirement that lawmakers lose their paychecks when the budget is late.

 
• And if the Legislature fails to pass an on-time budget, the Assembly and the Senate take control of the budget-writing process.

 
• The Legislature has already added $12 billion to the budget in just 10 years. More budget power for the Legislature means more spending, which means more taxes. Is that what New York needs?

Which leads me to the one benefit of having the state executive ultimately responsible for the budget: you can blame him or her for it. Pissed at Albany overspending? Write the Governor. If it was the Senate and the Assembly? Good luck finding the guilty party. This kind of set-up gives those in the Legislature political cover for overspending. I can't fathom this will lead to lower spending and lowering the tax rate. I have a feeling that this concept will be going back to the drawing board after the election this November.

Additionally, I'd like to add how much I like NYPIRG. I think the organization and especially its members (politically active college kids) do some great things. We are just on different sides of an issue this time.

On the same subject, but in a lighter vein, WXXI has a good article concerning the Proposition 1 mascot, Porky.

No, it isn't the same guy from those movies in the '80s.

How Do They Know What Jesus Looks Like?

We made national news, even being mentioned on my beloved Countdown on MSNBC. Why? Because people have seen Jesus's face in a maple tree on North Clinton Ave.

I think it's fortunate that it wasn't Elvis's face in that tree. Then everyone would think we were weird.

The Fast Ferry Report Card

The 6 month report on the CAT, or Fast Ferry, is out. The numbers are worse than originally projected. For those of you who are either not from Rochester, or have managed to avoid listening to the news since.... oh, about forever here's a Democrat and Chronicle primer.

I just want to react to some things in the article.

The high-speed ferry between Rochester and Toronto lost $4.2 million through August, a progress report released Wednesday shows far surpassing initial projections of a $725,000 deficit in its first year.

The operating shortfall alone erases half of the $8 million cushion set aside for anticipated deficits in the first three years. What remains of the cushion, and what is needed long term, might not be sorted out until the ferry board releases its 2006 plan in December.

"We're actually within budget on expenses," said City Councilman and ferry board President Benjamin Douglas. "So it becomes a revenue issue."

The loss is not so much of the blow to the operation. Given a late start for the ferry, a lack of tour promotions because of the uncertainty of the start-up, the high price of fuel, and still paying piloting fees, the revenue shortfall isn't such a terrible thing. Oh, it is terrible though. It's terrible because it is so much greater than the original projection, and that it consumes so much of the fund set aside to finance future shortfalls. Given this information, I can't fathom that the Ferry can avoid requiring more cash from public sources in the near future. The indications here are that someone didn't get their numbers right. Unfortunate, but not impossible to understand. There are a lot of unknowns in getting this thing up and running, and the sooner that is understood, the less these choppy waves will cause us trouble.

Our esteemed Dean of the Simon School of Business, Mark Zupan, was able to weigh in on the report:

An important number, not included in the 13-page report, is the operating profit or loss in August, said Mark Zupan, dean of the University of Rochester's William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration.

Zupan said operators must define their plan to hedge future energy costs.

Which makes a lot of sense. I'm curious as to what kind of hedging Bay Ferries has in place for its fuel costs, and whether the Rochester CAT is part of that hedge, or if the city is responsible for any fuel hedges. A hedge is essentially financial insurance constructed with marketderivativess, notes, eyes of newt, and other icons of monetary witchcraft. In this case, you want to buy something that will keep the price of fuel from going too high. You'd rather pay for some insurance you don't use than expose yourself to the risk of increasing fuel costs. I;d be very interested to see what the hedge they had in place was, and what they intend to do about it.

I want WHO Living Next Door?

Don't get me wrong. I want Senate candidate Pirro to have a respectful performance come November 2006. I firmly believe that if she gets at least 30% of the vote, she should consider it a personal victory of the highest order. I also think it is in her capacity to make it happen.

However, not when she says stuff like this:

During a speech to Chemung County Republicans on Tuesday night, Pirro continued her criticism of the Democratic-controlled state Assembly for its refusal to adopt legislation that would civilly confine violent sex offenders after their prison sentences end.
"That's a difference between Democrats and Republicans _ we don't want them next door molesting children and murdering women," said the Westchester County prosecutor, according to Wednesday's Elmira Star-Gazette newspaper.

Yeah, that's the difference. I'm glad she highlighted that so elegantly. That example should be used in High School Civics Classes. Well done Madam.