Cuomo Reneges On Another Promise

Gee, here's a surprise:

Senate Democrats are fearful that Cuomo is reneging on his pledge to help elect his handpicked candidate to the seat of former Sen. Tom Libous of Binghamton.

Cuomo’s choice in the November special election is Barbara Fiala, his former motor-vehicles commissioner, and his summertime pledge to support her was supposed to signal a change-of-heart for a governor who has been accused by Democrats of favoring continued GOP control of the Senate.

But Cuomo has done nothing to raise significant cash or mobilize Democrats and independents on Fiala’ s behalf, Democratic insiders say.

Fiala ran an awful attack ad against her opponent (going after him for wearing a beard in the past - no, seriously...) and she's down significantly in a poll taken recently.

Quite frankly, she looks like a terrible candidate to me, but Cuomo touted her almost immediately after the Libous conviction.

Now he takes no actions to help her, not raising any money for her, not trying to roust up dome support for her.

Same old same old from Cuomo.

And this time, he's reneged with someone who worked in his cabinet for four years.

Co-Dependent Albany Dems Cave To Cuomo - Again

This movie's getting old:

When the Senate Republicans made a surprise announcement of the memorandum of understanding they had signed with a top Cuomo administration aide that appeared to indefinitely delay a key provision of the SAFE Act, the Senate Democrats immediately cried foul.

The minority conference questioned the legality of the MOU, signed by Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and state Operations Director Jim Malatras, which seemed to derail creation of a database for ammunition sale background checks.

Deputy Senate Minority Leader Mike Gianaris said the Senate and Assembly Democrats were in talks about a potential legal challenge to the MOU, which he saw as a slippery slope and something that established a dangerous precedent.

Even as the Senate GOP declared victory – a claim gun rights advocates said was overblown – the Cuomo administration immediately downplayed the significance of the MOU, insisting the database would still go ahead as planned, though failing to explain exactly how and when that would occur.

Apparently, the administration’s assurances were sufficient to quell the Senate Democrats’ concerns – at least in the short term. During a CapTon interview last night, Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins revealed the conference is no longer planning to pursue legal action.

“At this point…I take him at his word that this will not stop anything,” the Yonkers Democrat said. “It will not weaken anything. And what I’m looking for is a timeline as to when we will be getting this done. That’s where we are right now.”

Leaving aside the issue of the SAFE Act (which is unworkable), since when does the state Operations Director get to sign a memorandum of understanding with just 1/4th of the state legislature - in this case, state senate Republicans - that derails some part of legislation that had been passed into law by 4/4ths of the legislature?

Senate Dems should be suing on the principle that the governor (or his state Operations Director) doesn't get to make MOU's with 1/4th of the legislature that affect legislation passed by 4/4ths of the legislature, but instead Senate Dems have caved to Cuomo and pulled back from the legal challenge threat.

You can bet there's some Quid Pro Cuomo between Senate Dems and Cuomo over the state Senate seat Tom Libous vacated after he was convicted of lying to the FBI last week.

Cuomo, who famously has promised to work for a state Senate takeover by Dems in the past, pushed former DMV commissioner Barbara Fiala for the seat.

Fiala is expected to announce that she will run for Libous' old Senate seat on Thursday.

Why Senate Dems would be bought off by Cuomo's promises is beyond me - his word is worthless, as is his backing for the Binghamton seat - it's a conservative district where Cuomo is not terribly popular.

Nonetheless we have another instance of the co-dependent Dems in Albany compliantly coming back to their abuser to give him what he wants.

Apparently the co-dependent Albany Dems will never learn.

NYSUT Donates To State Senate Republicans

It's the political giving season:

Earlier this month records show the statewide teachers union donated $7,000 to the campaign arm of the same Senate Republicans.

....

In recent state elections, NYSUT's mission has been to flip the state Senate to Democrats. Last year, the 600,000-member organization went so far as to send out a controversial mailer charging that three Senate Republican candidates weren't protecting women from domestic violence. It drew bipartisan scorn.

Besides the $7,000 donation this year to the Senate Republican campaign arm, the union has contributed to a number of Senate GOP candidates.

NYSUT also has given $54,000 to the campaign arm of its Senate Democratic allies.
Carl Korn, a spokesman for NYSUT, said the GOP donations were to "ensure that our voices are heard in both conferences. Politics is politics and governing is governing, and it's important that teachers' voices are heard because they know best for students."

$7,000 donation to the Senate Republican campaign arm ensures "our voice" is heard in the Senate Republican conference?

Doubtful.

Cuomo Teamed Up With Republicans Against Democrats On Rent Regulations, Charter School Policy, Money For Private Schools

Fred Dicker in the Post:

Despite public claims to the contrary, Gov. Cuomo worked behind-the-scenes with the Republican-led Senate to defeat Assembly Democrats on such key “progressive” initiatives as tenant rights and a minimum-wage hike, knowledgeable insiders have told The Post.

Cuomo, the de facto head of the state Democratic Party, defeated a range of Democrat-sponsored proposals supposedly on his agenda through a “two-against-one” strategy in which he allied with Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk) against Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), leaving Heastie no choice but to fold, the sources said.

“Throughout the negotiations, there was never any real difference between the positions of Cuomo and Flanagan. It was two against one with Cuomo pulling Flanagan’s strings to corner Heastie,” said a source with direct knowledge of the secret end-of-session deal-making.

The source said Cuomo and the Senate GOP also worked to force Heastie to accept an expansion of charter schools for New York City and additional state aid to parochial schools, proposals Heastie and the Assembly’s other leaders repeatedly opposed.

“Not that there should have been, but if there was any doubt that Senate Republicans are nothing but a tool of Cuomo to use against his fellow Democrats, there isn’t anymore,’’ the source complained.

This isn't a surprise - anyone watching closely over the past few years knew this was what Cuomo was doing and what he was going to do in the final days of the legislative session.

But it's good to get this in print, even if it's anonymously sourced in Fred Dicker's column.

I'll have more on this story later because Dicker reports that one of Cuomo's primary motivations to work with Republicans against Democrats was to screw de Blasio - just cuz', you know?

Says an awful lot about Andrew Cuomo, alpha male, that a primary motivation in policy-making is remaining top dog.

In any case, if Cuomo still harbors any national political ambitions as a Democrat, his work with Republicans against his fellow Democrats, becoming more and more naked as his governorship goes on, ought to dispel them.

He literally now is seen as "New York's Republican governor," as one tenant activist put it last week after Cuomo screwed NYC residents by siding with Senate Republicans over Assembly Dems on rent regulation.

Carl Heastie: Senate Republicans Love Charters - Just Not In Their Own Districts

State of Politics:

Heastie on Friday reiterated the Assembly’s reticence to support lifting the cap on charter schools, which Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan has linked to an extension of mayoral control in New York City.

“For the most part, the Assembly conference are not big supporters of charter schools,” Heastie said. “Charters are something Senate Republicans like to support. They never want them in their district.”

Indeed, John Flanagan loves charters - and charter school money.


How many charter schools are there on Long Island, where Flanagan is from?

Just five.

Flanagan and his fellow Senate Republicans from Long Island sure do love their charters - just not in their own districts.

Has The Assembly Effectively De-Linked A Mayoral Control Extension From The Charter Cap Increase And Cuomo's Voucher Program?

A Capital NY piece by Bakeman and Shapiro reports the Assembly hopes they have:

ALBANY—State Assembly Democrats have effectively backed down from a fight over mayoral control of New York City schools.

It was generally expected heading into the final phase of the 2015 legislative session that much of the late-session political deal-making would involve renewing the state law that empowers Mayor Bill de Blasio to lead the nation’s largest public school district. The law, like the session, sunsets in June.

But the Assembly majority has decided to prioritize strengthening rent regulations, opting to take the path of least resistance on mayoral control. The Assembly on Monday passed a law extending the power for three years—not the seven years originally proposed, let alone the permanent extension de Blasio has sought.

Members also hoped to prevent an attempt by Governor Andrew Cuomo to link the extension of mayoral control to his end-of-session agenda, which includes lifting a cap on charter schools and establishing a tax credit for donations to private schools.

More on why the three year extension is a move to de-link mayoral control from the charter cap or Cuomo's voucher program:

In interviews, de Blasio administration officials and Albany lawmakers agreed that a three-year extension was the easiest way to maintain the current system of mayoral control without significant changes, a win for de Blasio.

And by not picking a battle with Cuomo over mayoral control, the Assembly and de Blasio may have more leverage on issues like the tax credit, and, of particular interest to de Blasio, the charter cap. De Blasio has repeatedly said he does not believe the cap on charters should be lifted, even as influential charter groups have intensified their calls for a lifting of the charter cap.

Charter advocates and education observers have said they believed the cap and mayoral control would be linked at the end of the session as a way to create pressure on both sides to pass versions of each proposal; that configuration seems unlikely if the extension passes.

The question is, do the Senate and Cuomo go for the de-linked extension?

There are 15 days to go in the session, Cuomo's taking time off after Sandra Lee's cancer surgery, and there are a lot of unresolved issues left to deal with, including rent regulations and the 421-a tax giveaway to the real estate industry.

On top of that, rumors continue to swirl that Governor Cuomo is a target of US Attorney Preet Bharara and he is enjoying his lowest approval numbers of his tenure as governor.

If ever there was a time when the heavy hearts in the Assembly could hold fast on a number of issues, from the charter cap to the Cuomo voucher plan, it is now.

But will they?

Cuomo's Lying About Influencing The Senate Majority Leader Race

Hey, here's a surprise - Cuomo's lying about stuff again:

Despite his claims to the contrary, Gov. Andrew Cuomo “definitely” influenced the recent leadership battle in the state Senate, according to the candidate who came up short in that fight, Syracuse Sen. John DeFrancisco.

Cuomo reportedly preferred the ultimate winner, Long Island Sen. John Flanagan, to succeed former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. But publicly insisted he had no preference, telling reporters “I’m not in the Legislature,” and “I see my job as working with whoever they send me.”

But during a wide ranging CapTon interview last night, DeFrancisco rejected Cuomo’s claims, saying his colleagues specifically told him they had received calls from the governor on Flanagan’s behalf.  

“Oh definitely he made calls, definitely, no doubt about it,” the Senate Finance Committee chairman said, adding: “He can do whatever he wants, but be honest about it.”

Honest?

Cuomo?

Nahh...

State Senate GOP Push Bill To Exempt Top 10% Of School Districts From Cuomo's Evaluation System

From State of Politics:

A bill backed by Republican Sen. Jack Martins would exempt the state’s top performing school districts from the newly approved teacher evaluation criteria.

Under the bill, introduced late last week, the top 20 percent of the state’s highest performing school districts would be allowed to submit their current evaluation plans along with a request for a waiver to the Department of Education.

The top 10 percent of the districts would be granted a waiver from the evaluation law. For school districts in the highest 11 percent to 20 percent category that do not receive waiver, the state education commissioner must release a statement in writing explaining the rationale for the rejection within 30 days.

This is a clear attempt to divide and conquer the growing opposition to the state's Endless Testing regime by making a two-tiered evaluation system.

It's also an attempt to short circuit the opt-out movement by dangling an evaluation exemption to "top-performing districts" who no doubt are "top-performing" based, in part, on Common Core state tests scores.

A similar bill passed the State Senate in 2012.

I would imagine it can pass again in the State Senate this year.

Can it pass the Assembly?

Would Cuomo sign it?

Cuomo's been telling us how bad the entire state education system is, which is why he needs to "break" the monopoly.

Can he go back on that vow now by only breaking 90% of it?

Cuomo Not Caving On Teacher Evaluations

Again, I keep hearing how Governor Cuomo's pushing for a commission to handle teacher evaluation reform is a "cave" from him.

It is not a "cave" at all:

A deal on education and ethics reforms remain the key dividing lines between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature before the fiscal year starts a week from today.

Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County, said the sides are trying to ensure that schools at least know a range of potential aid if a deal on new teacher evaluations lingers into June. Cuomo has linked school aid to tougher evaluations, as well as a longer tenure period of teachers: from three to five years. It appears the sides are moving toward a four-year period before a teacher could get tenure.

...

Schools want school-aid estimates as soon as possible as they prepare their budgets for a public vote May 19.

“We want to give as much clarity and predictability to school districts as we can to allow them to plan budgets,” Morelle said. “By the same token, the governor has been very clear that he wants, as part of the budget, a teacher-evaluation system different from the one we currently have.”

Tying school aid to the commission outcome is NOT a cave.

It's a way to force an outcome he wants a few months down the line.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, Cuomo's going to get at least half of what he wants on tenure reform.

Don't think he won't get the same on evaluations - and maybe more - before it's all said and done.

Hope I'm wrong but the trajectory I see in these negotiations is compromise from the legislature and the teachers unions where no compromise need be made.

Cuomo is an unpopular governor with an unpopular agenda.

He can be told to go scratch with his agenda - and if he doesn't like it, he can purposely delay the budget himself.

Cuomo knows what the poll numbers are on that.

NYSUT ought to mount an ad campaign blaming him for purposely delaying a budget because he wants to increase the weight and emphasis of Common Core testing in schools.

See if Cuomo would like to have to counter that.

It's a shame the legislature and the teachers unions leadership doesn't seem to get this.

But doesn't seem they do.

Cuomo Pushing For A Commission To Handle Teacher Evaluation Reforms

Because it's never too late for another jive commission empaneled to give cover to politicians who already know what they want to push through but don't want to take a political hit for doing it:

Majority Leader Dean Skelos on Tuesday said his conference is “just about there with him” on education issues following a lengthy closed-door conference on the issue.

At this point, state lawmakers and Cuomo are considering the creation of a commission that would develop teacher evaluation criteria.

It’s unclear what the final composition of the panel would be and what their purview would be.
“Now it’s really about the commission, the composition of the commission and really want their charge would be in terms of finalizing education reform,” Skelos said.

It also remains undetermined if the panel’s recommendations would be immediately acted up on or have to be approved by the Legislature, he said.

“They would come up with recommendations to the Legislature and the question is whether we would vote for it or whether they would implement what they recommend,” Skelos said.

Remember that idea yesterday that Cuomo was dropping most of ed reform agenda in return for the ethics agreement he got from the Assembly Dems?

Turns out it's not to be so:

Cuomo is continuing to press on with most of his initial education reform agenda, though a lifting of the statewide cap on charter schools is being left for later in the legislative session.

Assembly Democrats remain at odds with Cuomo on a variety of education issues, including a school receivership proposal as well as an effort to reform teacher tenure and the evaluation procedures for teachers.

It looks like receivership, tenure changes and evaluation reform all still alive in the budget talks, but the charter cap is out.

So much for Assembly Dems getting anything out of Cuomo for caving on ethics reform.

No Compromise With Cuomo

Fred LeBrun in the Times Union:

The governor seems off his A-game, and has since the day after he delivered his state of the state/budget message in late January.

That was the day Bharara's office dropped the bombshell that rocked Albany, charging long-time Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with corruption. Who would have guessed that the governor would be as rattled as he apparently has been by that?

Cuomo's popularity statewide, a fickle measure to be sure, has dropped by nearly 10 points since December in Quinnipiac University polling. But more revealing is how the public in the latest poll judges the governor on two key policy areas that he's staked out as the most significant of this legislative season.

On ethics reform, more see him as part of the problem rather than of the solution, and by a substantial 54 percent to 38 percent disapprove of how he's handled ethics in state government. Interestingly, the public wants full disclosure of outside income by legislators, which in modified form is part of the two-way deal the governor has crafted.

But the public also strongly favors that the same should apply to income by spouses and significant others, which is not part of the deal. Nor is the creation of a full-time Legislature — Scheiderman's proposal — although the public favors that as well.

What the two-way ethics deal also significantly ignores is equal application to the executive branch. Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos has made a telling point of this, and he's spot-on. ''Our biggest concern is, number one, with the different ethics proposals that have come from the governor ... is what applies to the Legislature should apply to the governor.''

And there is the uncomfortable matter of disclosing the finances of spouses and significant others, which strikes close to home for Cuomo. His partner is Food Network host Sandra Lee. But again, Skelos, who insists that that proviso belongs in any ethics package, is correct when he insists, ''It's not about his friend. She's a wonderful person. This is about equality in terms of disclosure between the executive branch and legislative branch.''

In the Quinnipiac poll, 64 percent say spouses and live-in partners should divulge the source and size of their incomes.

The other key policy area is public education ''reform.'' The public is abandoning him here as well. The poll shows that 55 percent believe the teachers unions can do a better job with education, and only 28 percent say the governor can.

For a governor who has had a remarkable touch in guiding and responding to public opinion and who has closely watched polls throughout his tenure, his growing divergence from the majority public view on these two major policy areas is striking.

Right before the State of the State/budget address, Cuomo was rolling out an announcement a day, all carefully choreographed to promote his image as a pragmatic, middle of the road "Get Things Done" kind of guy.

As LeBrun says, he hasn't been the same since Bharara took out Silver, upsetting the apple cart of power in Albany.

Hard to know if Cuomo's just not used to having to react to someone else (usually Cuomo's handling things so that other people are reacting to him) or if he's really worried that he's next for a police car ride downtown for booking.

Nonetheless the political calculations for Cuomo and his agenda have much changed since he unveiled it officially in January in that set of policy announcements and his State of the State/budget address.

Whereas in January it seemed like a done deal that Cuomo would get almost all of his agenda in the budget, in March the environment exists for him to get very little of it.

But that would mean the Assembly Dems, prodded by the teachers union leadership, would have to  stare him down in a battle of wills over his ed reform agenda.

After those same Assembly Dems caved last week on ethics and agreed to a lame ethics reform package that gave Cuomo everything he wanted (i.e., ethics reform that applies to the legislature, not the executive branch), I'm concerned that despite plummeting support in both the Siena and Quinnipiac polls and widespread protest over his education agenda, they're going to cave to him on his education reforms (with teachers union blessing, of course!)

On the other hand, Cuomo has been lashing out at Assembly Dems, claiming Shelly Silver is still running the show, so there's also some indication that budget negotiations on his ed deform agenda aren't going as he'd like.

We need to keep the pressure up - the public protests, the calls to members of the legislature, the social media protests.

We CAN win this battle with Cuomo over education reform - IF we put as much pressure onto the legislature and union leaders to NOT cave to Cuomo as we put on Cuomo TO cave.

Dean Skelos Supports Giving Governor Cuomo More Control Of The NY State Education System

From State of Politics:

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos signaled he would be supportive of granting Gov. Andrew Cuomo more authority over the state’s education policy making. 

In an interview with Time Warner Cable News and NY1, Skelos said he backed the idea of changing the process through which the Board of Regents is appointed — essentially controlled by the Democratic-led Assembly.

“We’ve passed legislation a number of times, I believe it was Senator LaValle’s bills that would change the way Regents were selected,” Skelos said in the interview. “Right now, it’s basically Shelly Silver picking the Regents and we think there should be an opportunity for the Senate to be truly part of that process by both houses voting on the confirmations separately so the person who passed the Senate would have to pass the Assembly.”

In addition to raising the possibility of changing how the Regents are appointed, Cuomo has indicated he wants more power over how the state runs public education, which is currently controlled by the semi-autonomous Department of Education and its commissioner. 

“I think we should consider giving the governor more control of education as appropriate,” Skelos said.

The chance that Shelly Silver and Assembly Dems are going to cede power to Cuomo is non-existent.

Nonetheless you can see from Skelos' statements that a) Cuomo and Republicans are on the same team on this and b) if given a chance, they will try and impose more executive control over the state education system.

Republicans have a slim majority in the State Senate but their numbers will be bolstered by the five members of the Independent Democratic Conference (e.g., Jeff Klein, Tony Avella, et al.)

It is quite clear that GOPers and IDCers will be voting to give Cuomo all that he wants on education policy.

It's only the Assembly that will stand in the way.

Cuomo Pow-Wowed With Billionaires Over How To Dismantle The Public School System

Jimmy Vielkind at Capital NY:

ALBANY—In the final days of this year's legislative session, Governor Andrew Cuomo left the Capitol, boarded a state helicopter and flew to Manhattan, where he spent an hour talking about education policy with a room full of billionaires, schedule records show.

It's not clear what Cuomo said during a panel discussion at the Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit.
An administration spokesman declined to offer details on the governor's remarks and a Forbes spokeswoman demurred, saying the summit was closed to the press.

Cuomo's schedules show he had three preparatory meetings with top staffers—including press aides Melissa DeRosa and Matt Wing as well as Ian Rosenblum, a deputy secretary for education policy—in the run-up to the June 17 discussion. Rosenblum, who left the administration over the summer, accompanied the governor.

...

 Cuomo's office did not announce that he was attending the Forbes event on the day it happened, but it was included on a schedule posted online this week.

...

The Forbes press release touted the presence of Blackstone co-founders Stephen Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson, Warren Buffett, junk bond king Michael Milken, Leon Black, Jim Breyer and Paul Tudor Jones, who as head of the Robin Hood Foundation has been a major advocate of charter schools. (He gave Cuomo a $25,000 campaign contribution in 2013.)

...

Cuomo discussed his support of charters, according to a person present for the Forbes conversation. An administration official said the governor discussed his record.

Forbes, the magazine, is expected to detail the summit in its November issue, which is devoted to philanthropy.

Couple the secret meeting with the billionaires to talk about education policy and charter schools along with his comments this week that he plans to "break" the public school "monopoly" by adding many more charter schools around the state and the obvious face that he has not fulfilled his promise to the Working Families Party to work for a Democratic taleover of the State Senate and what you see for the next four years is:

1. A governor who plans a full-on assault against the public school system
2. A governor who plans to either increase or completely lift the charter cap
3. A governor who plans to redo his teacher evaluation system to add "real sanctions" so that more teachers will be declared "ineffective" and fired.
4. A State Senate that will likely be run by the GOP/IDC and give Cuomo whatever he wants on education policy

That's what's coming, folks.

If the State Senate had swung to Democratic control, there's no guarantee that stuff wouldn't have happened anyway.

But you can be sure with a GOP/IDC-led State Senate, it certainly will.

That's why Cuomo hasn't lifted a finger to fulfill his promise to the WFP to push for a Democratic-controlled State Senate.

He wants it that way - as do his billionaire buddies at the Forbes meetings.

NYSUT Backs Indicted Senate Republican

Your union in action:

There was also no consensus among union leaders about the effort to flip the Senate into Democratic hands – a push that largely originated with unions during the labor-backed Working Families Party’s debate over whether to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Fordham Law Prof. Zephyr Teachout. In a deal brokered by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Cuomo ended up endorsing a Democrat-controlled Senate as well as the return of IDC members to the so-called regular Democratic conference.

But NYSUT members feel strongly that individual senators – both Republicans and Democrats – have been very supportive of their issues over the years, and they wanted to repay that loyalty with endorsements, Pallotta said. For example, NYSUT threw its support behind GOP Sen. Ken LaValle, longtime chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee; and another Long Island Republican, Jack Martins, who is among the Democrats’ top targets this year, even through it opted to take a pass in many of the Long Island districts – including the one represented by Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos.

NYSUT also remained loyal to the Senate Republicans’ second-in-command, Sen. Tom Libous, of the Southern Tier, despite his indictment on charges that he lied to federal agents about helping his son get a job with a politically-connected law firm.

Okay, I get paying back Republicans like Martins, who has been good on education issues.

But why back the indicted Libous?

And the next time you hear jive about Working Families Party backing Cuomo so that the State Senate could be taken back by Dems, remember this sentence from Liz Benjamin:

There was also no consensus among union leaders about the effort to flip the Senate into Democratic hands – a push that largely originated with unions during the labor-backed Working Families Party’s debate over whether to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Fordham Law Prof. Zephyr Teachout.

I'm agnostic these days about Dems taking back the Senate - many of them are ed deformers and pro-Common Core, after all.

But I do want to point out the jive around the WFP endorsement.