News

Sportsmen Rally For North Country’s Economy and Against More Addie Taxes

Assemblywoman Russell’s votes target of outrage for hiking costs
for licenses and fees on sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts

Hundreds of sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts from across New York, including members of the North Country ATV Association, yesterday gathered in Albany for the first-ever “Sportsmen & Outdoor Recreation Awareness Day.”

The attendees met with legislators to highlight the impact heritage sports have on the state’s economy and were particularly up in arms over anti-sportsmen votes cast last year by Assembly Democrats including Assemblywoman Addie Russell (D-Theresa).
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City Hall News: Several Challengers Eyeing Race Against Embattled Queens Assemblywoman

Queens Democrats stick with Carrozza, despite residency, tax problems

By Chris Bragg

In July, the Daily News published a series of damaging articles about Assembly Member Ann-Margaret Carrozza, revealing that she was living in a Long Island mansion 15 miles outside her district, had double dipped on tax rebates and had accumulated the worst attendance record in the Assembly.
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Poughkeepsie Journal: Skartados adding to state fiscal mess

Poughkeepsie Journal
Letter to the Editor

Our assemblyman, Frank Skartados, was called back to Albany recently to fix a mess he helped to create.

This year, Skartados voted to hike taxes and fees from everything from DMV license plate fees to eliminating STAR property tax rebate checks. All this was done by Skartados to pay for a record state spending spree. Now that the economy has tanked and state revenues have bottomed out, the chickens have come home to roost for Skartados’s bad budget, and the state soon may not be able to pay its bills.
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ICYMI: NY Post – “Rockefeller Reform Could Backfire If Dope Fiends Are Released”

Assemblyman Alessi voted in favor of “Get Out of Jail Free Cards” for
drug dealers – some of whom may be rapists and other dangerous criminals

“In case you missed it (ICYMI), the New York Post has a frightening story on the estimated 1,500 convicted drug criminals waiting to be sprung from prison under newly enacted Rockefeller Drug Law reforms including one drug dealer who “took part in a vicious gang rape, another outfitted his pad with closed-circuit TV to thwart cops, and a third swiped a car with a child in the back seat and led police on a high-speed chase.”

Democrat Assemblyman Marc Alessi (D-Wading River) voted in favor of this controversial measure as part of state budget bill A.156-B, which allows almost all convicted class B felony controlled substance offenders, including drug dealers, to apply for re-sentencing before a court.

Among those who could potentially see their sentences reduced or even be freed are criminals who sold drugs to children or sold drugs on school grounds. Other drug dealers that may be released committed crimes such as operating meth labs. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, up to 1,500 inmates will be eligible for re-sentencing. (more…)

ICYMI: New Feature Story in The Capitol: “Assembly Republican Target Number One? Staten Island’S Hyer-Spencer”

Huffington Post picks up on The Capitol’s article about RACC “keeping Assemblywoman honest” on her votes to hike taxes, kill jobs

In case you missed it (ICYMI), The Capitol has a new article on how the New York Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC) is keeping Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer (D-Staten Island, Brooklyn) honest about her repeated votes to hike taxes and kill jobs.

The Huffington Post has already picked up on The Capitol’s story.

This year alone, Hyer-Spencer voted for the largest tax hike in New York’s history ($4.4 billion in A.157-B) and to eliminate STAR property tax rebate checks (A.153-C). Hyer-Spencer raised taxes on beer and wine sales (A.157-B and A.156-B) and voted for a series of tax and fee increases on health insurance, auto insurance and home purchases (A.158-B and A.156-B).

Perhaps most notoriously, Hyer-Spencer hiked DMV fees by 25 percent on driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations and license plate renewals (A.159-B) — a vote so reviled that it has galvanized the public and a wide swath of local and state officials to successfully reverse the new DMV license plate plan.

“In the article, Janele claims to be the quickest, best, and brightest. Yes, Janele, we agree you are when it comes to hiking taxes in Albany,” said Kathleen Hennessey, Spokeswoman for the New York Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC).

The Capitol’s article is linked above and pasted below.

The Capitol
Assembly Republican Target Number One? Staten Island’s Hyer-Spencer

Kolb touts plan to run in every district, but so far mostly focused on one Democrat
Andrew J. Hawkins
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:00:00
To hear the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee tell it, two-term Staten Island Democrat Janele Hyer-Spencer is responsible for all the dysfunction in New York, from joblessness to soaring energy costs to the state’s overwhelming tax burden.

“Staten Island Assemblywoman voted to allow drug dealers who sold to kids to apply for re-sentencing and possibly be freed from state prison,” screams one press release.

“Staten Island, Brooklyn jobless rate near 10 percent, as Assemblywoman Hyer-Spencer hikes taxes, spending,” wails another.

Unsatisfied with their position as a permanent minority, Assembly Republicans, down to a new membership low, are determined to capitalize on what they believe is an anti-incumbency mood among voters by winning as many seats back from the Democrats next year as they can.

Minority Leader Brian Kolb went a step further recently, declaring the ambitious goal of running a Republican candidate in each of the 109 districts held by Democrats in 2010.

But so far, most, if not all, of their attention appears to be focused on Hyer-Spencer.

“I’m really livid,” she said of the Republican attacks. “It has nothing to do with me or my legislative career. They want the seat and that isn’t going to change.”

Hyer-Spencer said that she will always be a target for Republicans as long as her district represents such a narrow margin between Democratic and Republican voters.

“It could be me or Mother Teresa holding the seat,” she said. “It’s not the person they give a shit about, it’s the seat they want back.”

Hyer-Spencer narrowly won the seat vacated by Republican Assembly Member Matthew Mirones in 2006, beating her opponent by less than 1,000 votes. Two years later, buoyed by an intensive door-to-door campaign, a strong-looking legislative track record for a freshman legislator and the Obama-Democratic momentum, Hyer-Spencer beat Joseph Cammarata by more than 3,000 votes. But Republicans are still encouraged by the large number of registered independents in the district—over 15,000—and say they will be looking for any opportunity to tie Hyer-Spencer to a deeply unpopular Democratic governor and a general level of disgust among voters with Albany.

“Her last races were closer than she would have liked for an incumbent,” said John Friscia, chair of the Staten Island Republican Party. “She may even be target number one next year.”

As for the progress of Kolb’s grand strategy to run a candidate in every district in 2010? Kolb says things are going swell so far.

“There’s been a great influx of people that are interested and feeling now they have a reasonable chance at running,” he said.

Kolb declined to discuss any particular seats he had hopes of flipping, but said he believed the results from the 2009 elections, where Republicans made huge gains in Westchester and Nassau counties, portend a strong showing in 2010. But he stressed that he is also a realist, noting that the odds in New York have never been in the GOP’s favor.

“You know I usually just tell it like it is, but I think right now I’d like to just be saying: I’m very, very optimistic,” he said, when asked to predict how many seats his conference will pick up next year. “It’s going to be more than a handful.”

Friscia and Brooklyn GOP chair Craig Eaton recently met with Kolb to begin plotting a strategy for 2010, with Hyer-Spencer’s seat presenting the best opportunity for a pick-up.

“Matt Mirones did a great job bringing back resources to the district,” Eaton said. “We want to return that seat to a Republican.”

But Hyer-Spencer’s district, which covers the eastern coastline of Staten Island and a small portion of Brooklyn, may have moved far beyond the Republicans’ grasp. Working Families Party-backed Council candidate Debi Rose’s solid victory against Kenneth Mitchell, a moderate Democrat and former staffer to Rep. Michael McMahon, shows how parts of the district are trending leftward, Hyer-Spencer said.

“The district went overwhelming for Debi,” she said. “For the first time in a while, this district is voting for the person, not the party.”

She countered criticism that she rarely attends rallies, steers clear of giving interviews with the borough’s main newspaper and is a close ally to Speaker Sheldon Silver by talking up her attributes.

“I am the quickest, I am the best and I am the brightest,” she said, sounding every bit like the former beauty queen she is. “[Republicans] should come up with something original. I’ve been very vocal about what I support. I don’t owe them bullshit press releases.”

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Mid-Hudson News: GOP assembly members talk up “People’s Constitutional Convention”

NEWBURGH – Assembly Republican Minority Members Nancy Calhoun and Marc Molinaro met with the public Friday afternoon at the SUNY Orange Newburgh campus to discuss legislation proposed by Minority Leader Brian Kolb that calls for the enactment of a “People’s Constitutional Convention” to address issues in New York State’s government and economy.

The goal, said Molinaro, is to motivate New Yorkers on the concept that they have the power to reform state government.

Calhoun said it is required by law that a constitutional convention be considered every 20 years, 1997 being the last year it was brought into question.

“The People’s Constitutional would empower the average person; it would not have partisanship,” she said.

The Kolb plan would start the process of convening a people’s constitutional convention seven years early by putting it before voters on the ballots in the 2010 elections, said Calhoun.

“I think 2010 is a particularly unique opportunity for this,” said Newburgh resident Margaret Conroy, because of the large number of voters that will turn out to decide the significant amount of leadership positions that will be up for re-election. “Everyone, whether they agree with me or not, should voice their opinion. We ought to have a vigorous discussion in the state and in the country.”

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/November09/14/GOP_peop_conv-14Nov09.html

Public Outrage Mounts Against New DMV Fee Hikes Supported By Assemblyman Reilly

Reilly voted to increase consumer fees at the DMV for
driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations and license plate renewals

While state officials spent the week unveiling new license plates, public outrage continued as New Yorkers learned more about the new DMV fee hikes passed into law by Assemblyman Bob Reilly (D-Latham).

Taxpayers now must pay 25 percent more to obtain a driver’s license — an increase for Class D driver’s licenses from $50 to $64.50. Registration fees for an automobile weighing 3500 lbs climbed from $45 to $56.
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