John Flanagan Rakes In $150K In Outside Income Despite Claims To The Contrary

Go get him, Preet:

ALBANY — Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan earned up to $150,000 last year from a Long Island law firm despite claims that he was giving up his outside legal work, according to documents made public Tuesday.

Flanagan's 2015 financial disclosure statement showed that he earned between $100,000 and $150,000 from Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana in Uniondale — the same amount he reported earning in 2014.

After he became majority leader in May of 2015, Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) told reporters that he’d stopped working for the firm to fully concentrate on his legislative job.

Flanagan spokesman Scott Reif insisted that Flanagan has not done any “active legal work” since becoming majority leader.

Must be nice to do "no active work" and still make an extra $150K a year.

According to the DN, Flanagan's disclosure claimed:

that he did not provide “direct services” to clients in 2015. Instead he provided “indirect services to the law firm in the areas of corporate trusts, tax certiorari, wills and estate, land use and planning.”

I bet if somebody with subpoena power were so inclined, he/she could look to see just how much "indirect service" Flanagan provided for the $150K.

Pathological Cuomo Just Can't Help Making Stuff Up

Governor Cuomo at a press conference on the shooting and killing of one of the escaped prisoners from the Clinton  Correctional Facility in Dannemora:

Cuomo has drawn mixed reviews for how he has publicly associated himself with the search in the last month, and his appearance at the press conference came after a day in New York City. Wearing a grey, two-button suit jacket but no tie, the governor stood next to D'Amico as he answered questions, but fielded just one inquiry himself about the cost of the search.

“There's no doubt that it's expensive, but there's also no doubt, in my opinion, that it is worth it. This is the first escape from this prison in the prison's history,” Cuomo said. “These are truly armed and dangerous people, and we will do what we have to do to bring them to justice.”

Governor Cuomo to ABC News on June 7:

The governor, who toured the prison Saturday, described the escaped convicts as "resourceful" and "dangerous." 

"This was the first breakout since 1865 and I want to make sure that it's the last," Cuomo said.

Interesting how Cuomo went from claiming this was the first prison breakout since 1865 to now claiming it's the first escape in the prison's history - all in the course of 19 days.

No matter, a NY Times report from June 9 shows he's wrong on both counts:

Since Clinton opened in 1845, dozens of inmates have escaped over, under or through the prison’s thick walls, their exploits detailed in breathless, often sensationalistic, newspaper reports of earlier eras.

The NY Times also ran a piece on June 9 about two inmates who escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in 1974 - one was caught in 1976, the other in 1980:

The Hamiltons seemed to make for an enviable family.

They lived in a sprawling brick house in Great Falls, Va., and drove around in a silver Mercedes. Neighbors knew the father of the family as Norm, a successful real estate investor and antiques dealer who shared stock market tips with his friends. The Washington-area police had a different name for him: a one-man crime wave.

Norm Hamilton was the unobtrusive creation of Bernard C. Welch Jr., a serial burglar who escaped from the grounds of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., decades before Richard W. Matt and David Sweat burrowed their way out last week. In 1974, Mr. Welch and a fellow inmate staged a less elaborate break, scaling a 20-foot cyclone fence and taking off for the anonymity of the Washington suburbs.

That other inmate, Paul Maturano, was caught in 1976 in West Virginia, but Mr. Welch parlayed the guise of Norm Hamilton, wealthy suburbanite, into a dodge that lasted until 1980. When the police searched Mr. Welch’s home, they seized 51 boxes of valuables. The loot, with an estimated value of millions, included candelabras, antique clocks and porcelain Hummel figurines.

Wouldn't it be great if reporters covering the Cuomo Prison PR Tour asked him why he keeps making up stuff about the prison break and the story keeps changing over time?

It's pathological that Governor Andrew Cuomo just can't the truth about this.

And really, to what end?

Stephanie Miner: Cuomo's Reforms "Scapegoat Teachers"

From Syracuse.com:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Mayor Stephanie Miner has once again challenged Gov. Andrew Cuomo, this time by demanding more money for poor school districts like Syracuse.

Saying Cuomo's educational policies "scapegoat teachers'' for the problems of failing schools, Miner said many failing schools do not get as much state aid as they are entitled to by law.

Miner today joined forces with another occasional Cuomo critic, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to demand better school funding.

They issued a joint news release calling on the state to honor a 2006 decision by the state's highest court, which held that the state had provided inadequate financial support to New York City and other poor school districts.

In an interview today, Miner said she understands Cuomo's effort to reform schools and to weed out bad teachers, but she said money must be part of the discussion.

"You cannot scapegoat teachers, then say 'We're going to give them more tests and more evaluations,' and walk away from the significant constitutional underfunding that's been going on in this state for years,'' Miner said.

It is good to see someone of Miner's stature call Cuomo out on his jive.

Cuomo likes to use the average per pupil amount New York spends on education to say we spend too much on education with too little in the way of results.

But that number is deceptive - as a commenter at the Syracuse.com story points out:

The Governor's office is misleading people: "New York today spends more per pupil than any other state in the nation -- $19,552-- nearly double the national average of $10,608 per pupil. Over the last 15 years, spending on education in New York has more than doubled, from $28 billion to $58 billion, and we spend more per pupil than any other state in the nation, yet our students remain in the bottom half when it comes to results."  This quote is misleading.

The governor is simply overlooked the higher average costs of operating a school in NYC (one of the most expensive places in the world) and mixes the number in with the figures for the rest of the state. If you just used Upstate NY alone, then he'd see the rate is much, much lower.
He also ignores the actual rate of inflation over the past 15 years in his numbers. If he adjusted his numbers to include the actual rate of inflation then the "spending" he claims to have doubled is much closer to being "FLAT" and not increasing!
Even his own numbers do not show NY education at the bottom. NY is, at worse, in the middle.

He also leaves out the fact that much of the "public school" spending has been slipped over to charter and private schools. 

In short, Cuomo is lying through his teeth in order to push his destructive privatization agenda.

Turns Out Brian Williams Misremembers A Lot Of Things

I'm sure you've heard by now how Brian Williams "misremembered" being in a helicopter that was forced down by enemy fire in Iraq in 2003.

It turns out, there's a lot more he misremembers:

The NBC news anchor, who apologized Wednesday for telling a false story about taking fire in a helicopter while covering Iraq, is being called out for possibly lying about his experience covering Hurricane Katrina, according to a report.

Williams claimed to have gotten dysentery from drinking flood water and seeing dead bodies float past his hotel in the New Orleans French Quarter while covering Hurricane Katrina.

However the The New Orleans Advocate noted that the French Quarter was not flooded and quoted a local health expert who did not recall anyone getting such a stomach ailment.

Williams recalled his bout with the bug in interview with Tom Brokaw last year, when he said: “I accidentally ingested some of the floodwater. I became very sick with dysentery."

The Advocate said a public health official never heard of people getting things like dysentery after the storm.

“I don’t recall a single, solitary case of gastroenteritis during Katrina or in the whole month afterward,” Dr. Brobson Lutz told The Advocate.

“I don’t know anybody that’s tried that [drinking flood water] to see, but my dogs drank it, and they didn’t have any problems.”

Williams said also during an interview in 2006 that he saw dead bodies float past his window in the French Quarter.

“When you look out of your hotel window in the French Quarter and watch a man float by face down, when you see bodies that you last saw in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and swore to yourself that you would never see in your country,” Williams said in 2006.

But the French Quarter, the original high ground of New Orleans, was not impacted by the floodwaters that overwhelmed the vast majority of the city, The Advocate said.

He also said in his Brokaw interview: “Our hotel was overrun with gangs, I was rescued in the stairwell of a five-star hotel in New Orleans by a young police officer. We are friends to this day.”

NBC News brass don't want to hold Williams accountable, but former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw does:

“Brokaw wants Williams’ head on a platter,” an NBC source said. “He is making a lot of noise at NBC that a lesser journalist or producer would have been immediately fired or suspended for a false report.”

Brokaw's own credibility is in question here, since he apparently knew the Iraq helicopter tale was a fable:

Brokaw, 74, was still the “Nightly News” anchor when Williams came back from his Iraq expedition — and an insider said he knew the story Williams later spouted was bunk.

“Tom Brokaw and [former NBC News President] Steve Capus knew this was a false story for a long time and have been extremely uncomfortable with it,” the source said.

NBC News execs had counseled him to stop telling the tale.

NBC put a guy who made shit up about his Iraq war reporting experience into the Nightly News anchor chair - heckuva job NBC!

While the elites at NBC are trying to save Williams' lying ass, some of the plebes feel differently:

NBC brass hasn’t been talking to lower-level employees about the situation, leaving people in a panic, the insider said.

“NBC bosses don’t understand how serious this is. Nobody in a leadership position is talking to the troops. Nobody has addressed it,” the source said.

One longtime NBC employee who has worked with Williams on several occasions had a few dirty words to describe the celebrated anchor, calling him a “real pompous piece of s–t.”

“He’s an a–hole,” he fumed. “He’s not a journalist. He’s a reader.

“Oh, the fireworks that are going off inside,” he said. “It’s embarrassing. He’s the face on NBC. He’s a liar.

“Everyone knew it.”

Can't wait for the next NBC Education Nation where the pompous Williams asks directs questions to Michelle Rhee about the importance of holding teachers accountable for their performance and behavior.

Same goes for Brokaw, who has been known to pontificate about teachers unions allowing poor performing teachers to remain in their profession.

Brokaw knew Williams was full of shit, NBC News brass knew he was full of shit, Williams himself knew he was full of shit - and yet, there was Brian Williams, hosting the NBC Nightly News last night.

Ah, yes - accountability is only for the little people.

When Will Teachers Union Leaders Stop Trusting Andrew Cuomo?

NYSUT's press release/reaction to Cuomo's veto of the teacher evaluation shield law:

The governor reneged on an agreement. With this veto, the governor has decided that teachers are the only ones who should be held accountable for the state’s failed implementation of the Common Core. We can’t understand why he is refusing to sign his own bill. What has changed? Could it be that the governor is doing the bidding of billionaire hedge fund managers — many of whom, like Paul Tudor Jones, don’t even live in New York state? This governor has to decide whether he’s going to support the goals of students, parents and teachers or those of billionaires who want to destroy public education in order to privatize it and profit from it.”

Meanwhile, educators from across the state — joined by parents, students and community members — will gather outside the Executive Mansion on Eagle Street in downtown Albany beginning at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to stand together against attacks on public education and teachers, and to call on the governor to listen to all stakeholders before bringing forth another wave of misguided educational policies designed to dismantle public education.

The demonstration coincides with the governor’s annual New Year’s open house and will include an invitation to the governor to attend public forums on public education so that he can hear, unfiltered, the concerns of parents, students and educators about his so-called reforms.

Going forward, there must be no "deals" with Cuomo from teachers union leadership.

It's clear Cuomo's word is worthless.

He reneged on the promises he made to the Working Families Party in return for their ballot nod.

He reneged on his promise to fight for a Democratic State Senate.

He reneged on the teacher evaluation shield bill.

That's three strikes - Cuomo's out.

Do the teachers union leaders understand this?

They're talking a good game for now.

But we'll see if they follow up their words with more actions than just press releases and calls for a demonstration outside the governor's mansion one day before hand.

Teachers Unions Discover Andrew Cuomo Is A Cheat And A Liar

Jessica Bakeman at Capital NY has a piece out this morning suggesting Governor Cuomo never attended to amend his teacher evaluation law to "shield" teachers who were harmed by the Common Core test scores even though he called for such a shield bill himself.

She reports that NYSED changed the release date for teacher evaluation ratings this year, moving it from October to December, something which Cuomo used to beat back the bill he himself had called for:

Cuomo said last week during a cabinet meeting at the Capitol that new data regarding the results of the second year of the evaluation system, which included New York City for the first time, caused him to reconsider signing the bill.

“I think we should reevaluate the evaluation system in light of this data, and I don’t know that those changes would make a significant difference to this data," Cuomo said when asked if he would sign the bill.

It turned out to be convenient for Cuomo that the Education Department released the data—which showed that the vast majority of teachers were high performing under the system—the day before the “safety net” bill was sent to Cuomo’s desk.

Last year, the education department released the results from the first round of teacher evaluations in October. This year, officials presented the data two months later, allowing Cuomo to explain his plans to veto the bill after re-election by arguing that new information had changed his mind.

The bill was among the last to be sent for Cuomo’s approval after the recent session; more than 600 bills were delivered to the governor before this one, and a recent Capital analysis showed that the later a bill is sent to Cuomo’s desk, the more likely he is to veto it. If he vetoes the bill, it will be a first for Cuomo; so far, he has signed all 67 of the program bills that made it to his desk.

Did Cuomo's office coordinate with NYSED to have the release date of the evalation system ratings coincide with the exact time that the "shield bill" was being sent to his desk to sign?

It certainly was a fortuitous change in ratings release, wasn't it?

And Bakeman spends much of the article reporting how Cuomo really didn't want to change anything about the evaluation system at all.

Teachers union leaders tell her they're mad over this:

Leaders of local teachers’ unions are offended by what they argue is a reversal on Cuomo’s part.

“He should be a man of his word and honor his commitments to sign the bill,” said Phil Rumore, Buffalo Teachers Federation president and another active member in the W.F.P.

Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, said Cuomo is using teachers’ union as scapegoats for New York’s education problems in order to pander to pro-charter school billionaire hedge funders who have donated millions to the governor’s campaign.

“Even if he prevails, he is no closer to the solution, because the real problem is not teachers and their unions,” Urbanski said. “The real problem is concentration of poverty and wrong-headed policies that are clueless about how teaching and learning really work.”

NYSUT did not respond to requests for comment but released a statement last week quoting the governor’s previous comments on the “safety net” bill.

“This is the governor’s own bill,” the union said. “He proposed it, and it was negotiated in good faith.”

NYSUT is wrong, of course.

As the Bakeman article makes clear, Cuomo did NOT negotiate the "shield bill" in good faith.

It was a pre-election head fake, that's all.

And this does have consequences for teachers, despite Cuomo's and State Senator John Flanagan's insistence that it doesn't:

And Cuomo’s delay in signing this bill was especially impactful because the legislation, which would have taken effect immediately upon its signing, had implications for the start of the school year. Some teachers and principals are months into completing intensive professional development plans individualized for their improvement that they wouldn’t be required to undergo if Cuomo had signed the bill by September.

The lesson the teachers union leaders MUST finally learn here:

Andrew Cuomo does not negotiate in good faith - he is a cheat and a liar and they should not trust him in any negotiation.

His track record is there for all to see.

Just ask the teachers who got dinged on the Common Core test scores and now have to live with the "intensive professional development plans individualized for their improvement."

Lt Governor Duffy Makes Excuses For Charter School Con Man "Dr" Ted Morris

We've already seen how nobody at the Board of Regents or the New York State Education Department wants to take responsibility for giving a charter school to a con man who lied about having a BA, an MA, a Ph.D, a MSW (yeah, that's a new one) and maybe even his high school diploma.

Now we get this doozy from Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy:

This man is young/made mistakes but can learn/succeed. Young charter school founder Ted Morris Jr. resigns http://t.co/oupYcSoZlZ via @DandC
— Robert Duffy (@LtGovDuffyNY) November 26, 2014

Lying about credentials and work experience on a state application for a charter school is a "mistake"?

What exactly, under this definition of "mistake," entails "fraud"?

Is cheating okay?

How about stealing?

It is amazing how much these pro-charter people are willing to forgive when it comes to charter schools and charter school folks.

It seems accountability is only for public schools and public school staff.

Like so much around the charter school/public school divide, there are two sets of rules here and the one for the charters is awfully forgiving.

Another Andrew Cuomo Lie In His Education Ad

Last night I posted how people shouldn't be fooled by Andrew Cuomo's new education ad.

In the ad, Cuomo claims the following:

“Education is the gift we give our children, and they deserve the very best,” Cuomo narrates in the ad. “Over the years, I’ve helped my kids by just being there. That’s why I want real teacher and school evaluations; to stop over-testing our children; not to use Common Core scores for at least five years, and then only if our children are ready. I want to invest $2 billion dollars to build the new technology classrooms of tomorrow. And I still believe the best education equipment is the kitchen table, and the best teacher is the parent.”

In yesterday's post I took on the "not to use Common Core scores for at least five years, and then only if our children are ready" line.

There is no five year moratorium on anything in New York State.

The budget agreement last spring brought a two year moratorium on using test scores from the Common Core assessments for students:

As part of the state budget approved in March, Cuomo and the Legislature approved a number of changes to the state's implementation of the Common Core, including a two-year pause on using standardized test scores as the basis for promoting students to the next grade level.

In addition, the legislature passed a bill shielding teachers who teach students who take the Common Core assessments from the worst effects of having those scores used in the state test component of Cuomo's APPR teacher evaluation system:

ALBANY – Legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo struck a deal Thursday that would largely hold teachers harmless from poor student scores on Common Core-based exams for two years.

A bill introduced Thursday would essentially exclude Common Core test results from some teacher evaluations through the 2014-15 school year, which starts July 1, shielding them from the negative consequences of a poor review caused by the scores.

Both the moratorium for students and the moratorium for teachers run through the 2014-2015 school year - this year - and then things go back to the way they were before, with districts able to use the test scores to hold children back.

Nothing actually changes for teachers because Cuomo never signed the so-called teacher safety net into law - teachers still have the CCSS test scores used in their APPR teacher evaluation ratings without the shield devised in the legislature bill.

So when Cuomo says he has pushed to "not to use Common Core scores for at least five years, and then only if our children are ready," he is looking voters directly in the eye and lying to them.

That's Pathological Lie #1 in the ad.

Here's Pathological Lie #2 in the ad:

That’s why I want...to stop over-testing our children

Right before that lie, Cuomo brags about bringing "real teacher and school evaluations" to the state - which in practice means he added to the batteries of tests that were already in place so that teachers and schools could be evaluated using student performance and test data.

Cuomo's vaunted APPR teacher evaluation system (vaunted in his own mind, at any rate - nearly everybody else seems to hate it) works this way:

A) 60% of a teacher's rating comes from "subjective measures," like classroom observations and student surveys
B) 20% comes from "state measures," based upon state tests that students take
C) 20% comes from "local measures," based upon local tests and assessments devised by districts.

There was an immense amount of testing even before the new APPR teacher evaluation system was put into place, but that "immense amount" has now gone to "insane amount" in many schools.

For example, some districts have students taking "pre-assessments" early in the school year and "post-assessments" later in the year in every grade in every subject in order to evaluate their teachers via Cuomo's APPR teacher evaluation mandate.

These local tests and/or performance assessments come on top of the state tests mandates - math and ELA Common Core tests in 3rd-8th grade, Regents exams in high school - the field testing that is done by NYSED to try out new test items on students, and the PSAT test that sophomores and juniors take at their schools in some districts that are used as pre-assessments for APPR as well.

Cuomo is once again looking voters directly in the eye and lying when he says he wants "to stop over-testing our children."

His APPR teacher evaluation system has taken the Endless Testing regime that was already in place pre-APPR and shot it up with steroids.

That Cuomo feels the need to lie so blatantly twice in this election ad shows you how desperate he is feeling in this election.

It would be interesting to see what his internal polling is telling him that he felt the need to dress up all in white, pull his daughter into the ad to help her with her "homework" (or maybe it's her taxes - she looks old enough to be filing a 1040A form) and claim there's a five year moratorium on Common Core consequences when there isn't anything of the sort while saying he's against "over-testing" even as he pursues policies that force "over-testing."

Cuomo Says New York Has At Least A Five Year Moratorium On Common Core

The State of Politics blog reports Cuomo is running a new ad touting his education record.

The ad, all bright and cheery with Cuomo in a white sweater, shows the governor helping his daughter with her homework,

Here's the text of the ad:

“Education is the gift we give our children, and they deserve the very best,” Cuomo narrates in the ad. “Over the years, I’ve helped my kids by just being there. That’s why I want real teacher and school evaluations; to stop over-testing our children; not to use Common Core scores for at least five years, and then only if our children are ready. I want to invest $2 billion dollars to build the new technology classrooms of tomorrow. And I still believe the best education equipment is the kitchen table, and the best teacher is the parent.”

Here's the ad:



State of Politics notes this oddity in the ad:

Policy-wise, the ad is interesting on another level.

The ad’s line about a moratorium for using Common Core scores for “at least five years” is especially intriguing. It’s unclear if the governor is pursuing a new policy stance for a second term. At the same time, Cuomo says he would only allow the test scores “only if our children are ready” but no guidelines are given as to how that would be defined.

Cuomo still hasn't signed the safety net for teachers whose students took Common Core tests that didn't count for them but did count for teacher ratings.

Now he's saying there's "at least a five year" moratorium on using Common Core scores for children, but if I remember correctly, the budget settled on just a two year moratorium.

In addition, he says nothing about whether those Common Core tests just won't count for students but will still count for teachers.

Given how he brags in the ad how he wants "real teacher and school evaluations," I would think he doesn't plan to delay APPR ratings for teachers based upon those Common Core tests - especially since he hasn't had the time to sign that safety net he negotiated with NYSUT into law yet (though he did have time to make yogurt the official state snack.)

This ad shows you how desperate he is to run up the score on Astorino - it's clearly aimed at women (the soft focus, the white colors, the presence of his daughter) and maybe it will win a few votes to him.

But I'm skeptical of that - many mothers know the reason there is Common Core in the schools and the reason why there are Common Core tests is because Andrew Cuomo wants it that way and has taken no steps to change the state's education policies.

Sure, Cuomo doesn't control the SED or the Regents, but he surely could change the direction of the state policies if he wanted to.

Instead he simply lies in his ad that he's instituted a Common Core moratorium for "at least five years" that doesn't actually exist.

Andrew Cuomo - liar, hypocrite and he looks goofy in white.

How's That Deal With Cuomo Working Out?

It took all of a few days before Andrew Cuomo made it quite clear that he does not intend to live up to his end of the bargain he made with Working Families Party for their endorsement:

ALBANY -- Republicans Thursday mocked Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for vowing to help Democrats take over the State Senate, and then, days later, touting his ties with GOP legislators.

Republicans called it a "180-degree flip-flop."

A Democratic spokesman said there was no inconsistency about the governor highlighting his record getting legislation through and promoting party candidates.

On Saturday, Cuomo, a Democrat, blasted Republicans as "ultra cons," or conservatives, and said they should be removed from power in the Senate. He did so as a condition to win the endorsement of the liberal Working Families Party.

Then, on a western New York swing Wednesday, Cuomo appeared at a news conference with a Republican senator and touted that he'd "reversed that partisanship that existed in Albany."

Asked if residents now represented by Republicans should worry about losing influence, he said no.

"How can anyone trust this guy?" the state Republican Committee said in a news release.

"Andrew Cuomo is trying to have it both ways, playing to his liberal base downstate while feigning bipartisanship upstate."

The state Republican Committee got this story EXACTLY right - how can anyone trust this guy?

First he's working behind the scenes to ensure Republicans control the State Senate so he can get his Wall Street-friendly policies through, then when he takes heat from the left, he pledges to help Democrats take back the State Senate, then he goes upstate and tells Republican, "Nahh, don't worry about what I said on that hostage video I did for Working Families Party last weekend, I have no intention of doing what I said I would do in that video.

How can anyone trust anything this guy says?

And how bad does that deal the WFP made with Cuomo look now that he has made a mockery of it?

Cuomo Already Begins To Renege On Working Families Party Deal

Well, that didn't take long - not even 24 hours before Cuomo started walking back the promises he made in the deal with the Working Families Party:

A day after securing the nomination of the Working Families Party, Gov. Cuomo said his support for their liberal agenda only goes so far.

...

Cuomo, who endorsed a higher minimum wage with an option for localities to hike it further based on cost of living in his video message to the convention, said he still opposes complete local control of the minimum wage.

“I oppose municipalities being able to set their own wage. I did and I do,” he said. “I would allow localities within a state-prescribed formula to adjust a local wage but not that the locality gets to set the rate wherever they want. I'm against that. I was against it. I am against it.”

He also said his support for Senate candidates would be based on who supported his agenda, not down the line support for Democratic candidates.

“This is about electing people who support an agenda. I also will oppose Democrats who will oppose the things we try to pass,” he said. “I've been trying to support something called the Women's Equality Act that protects a woman's right to choose in New York. There are Democrats who don't support that. It's not as easy as all Democrats are good, all Republicans are bad, or vice versa. You have to also look at the issues and where people stand on the issues and that's what voters should be doing.”

In short, he's creating some wiggling room to wiggle out of what he promised in order to get the WFP ballot line.

And this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody who has watched closely over the past few days.

Even last night, as he was making the video that was to be shown at the WFP convention where he detailed all the parts of the party's agenda that he would be supporting as part of the endorsement deal, he showed how he was going to try and wiggle out of some promises:

The party’s endorsement of Cuomo wasn’t sewn up until moments before it was announced, said sources involved in the negotiations. One of the W.F.P.’s conditions for the endorsement was Cuomo’s public embrace of every element of the party’s platform, including a plan for Democrats to re-take the State Senate, and a slate of progressive legislation, including an increase in the minimum wage, the Womens’ Equality Act and the Dream Act. Party leaders haggled in the early afternoon in an attempt to get Cuomo to appear in person, but he opted instead to send a video and then call into the convention via Skype.

Sources said the first video Cuomo’s campaign sent did not include all the planks of the platform, touching off a tense last-minute fight between party leaders and the governor’s campaign.

The W.F.P. heads demanded another video.

Sources said party leaders including Karen Scharff, as well as Bill de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe, were on the phone with Cuomo campaign officials minutes before the endorsement was supposed to be announced, threatening to push for an endorsement of Teachout unless the video was improved.

Cuomo will mostly play nice with the WFP agenda for now, but he won't work very hard to get that Democratic-led State Senate the WFP heads and union leaders were crowing about and once he wins re-election, he will renege on much of this deal and retaliate against WFP rank-and-file for making him grovel by video and speaker phone for the WFP nomination.

You can bet on that just as much as you can bet on Cuomo's re-election victory.

Cuomo Caught In Lie Over Independence Party Nomination

Governor Cuomo is famous for avoiding on the record interviews and Q&A's with reporters because this is the kind of thing that can happen with a shifty politician like Sheriff Andy - they can catch him in a lie:

Gov. Cuomo appears to have misled reporters Thursday when he said a decision on whether to seek the Independence Party nomination would be made “down the road.”

Documents submitted by the party to the State Board of Elections indicate that Cuomo signed an official acceptance form Thursday in Suffolk County – site of the state Democratic Party nomination. Cuomo traveled from Suffolk to Cooperstown, where he spoke to reporters at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Clearly, the governor lied to reporters when he was asked about it last night, which is extremely troubling” charged Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino.

“Sadly this is what we have come to expect from him, protecting his political allies over every day New Yorkers,” Proud continued. “He’s got to come clean about why he lied about it.”

Requests for comment sent to Cuomo’s press office, his campaign and state Democratic Party officials have so far not been returned.

During his Q&A in Cooperstown, Cuomo was asked whether he would seek the Independence Party’s line.

“Those are decisions that we’re going to be making down the road,” Cuomo replied before moving on to talk about the state Democratic Party’s nomination earlier that day.

The Independence Party is a bogus party with a lot of controversy surrounding it, so Cuomo didn't want to go on record saying he was going to take the Independence Party ballot line.

But given that the Independence Party line helped Bloomberg win City hall three times (people often vote on the line thinking it means "Independent") and given that there is an outside chance the Working Families Party doesn't nominate Cuomo and puts somebody else on their ballot line, I think it makes sense politically that Cuomo would seek the ballot line of the bogus (and kinda criminal) Independence Party.

Too bad he didn't have the guts to admit it to the press when he was asked about it.

Now they have caught him in a lie.

Will they pursue it and get him on record explaining why he lied directly to their faces?

Or will he go back into hiding now that the Democratic Party convention is done and only surface for non-Q & A events and motorcycle rides with Billy Joel?

Chancellor Tisch Attacks Rob Astorino For Opting His Children Out Of State Tests

Yesterday the Cuomo Campaign sent State Senator George Latimer out to attack Westchester County Executive and GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino for announcing that he and his wife were joining with thousands of other parents around the state and opting their children out of the Common Core state tests starting today.

Today the Daily News reports that Regents Chancellor Tisch launched an attack against Astorino as well:

Astorino's pronouncement pulled immediate criticism from state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, who told the Daily News in an email, "If you are against standards, you are contributing to our decline."

As is usual with education deformers, Tisch sets up a straw man argument here, equating Astorino's opposition to the Common Core State (sic) Standards with opposition to ALL standards, which is most definitely not what Astorino said in the video.

Watch for yourself:





Astorino very clearly states that we don't need lower standards in our schools, we need higher standards.

Astorino also clearly states that "many experts now agree that Cuomo's Common Core may actually lower standards for our school children over time" and points to the problems with "Common Core math for our younger children," which "wasn't developed properly."

He then tells a story of his children having trouble with their Common Core math homework and he and his wife having trouble helping them because "Common Core math methods left us all scratching our heads."

These criticisms of Common Core are widespread across the country - just google "Common Core" and "math" and see what comes up.

Chancellor Tisch may think creating a straw man argument for the Astorino opt out problem (Astorino doesn't want standards in schools) and knocking it down (he's contributing to the decline of this country with his opposition to the Common Core) will be an effective way to defuse it.

She is wrong.

Her dishonest and deceitful method of pushback will do nothing but fan the flames of the opposition against the Common Core, the Common Core tests, and the rest of the NYSED/Regents/Cuomo reform agenda.

This has been a problem with deformers since the beginning of the CCSS pushback.

Rather than honestly deal with the criticism of the CCSS, they have created straw man arguments about the opposition or tried to marginalize critics as wackos and crazies.

But as we can see from the burgeoning opt out movement, the growing opposition to the Common Core, and the anger aimed at the education reform movement, that deformer pushback strategy is failing miserably.

The deformer attacks against the opposition are getting shriller and shriller and it speaks to the desperation they're feeling over the impending demise of the education reform agenda they worked so hard to shove down the throats of America.

Clinton To Administer Oath Of Office To De Blasio

The only oath Bill Clinton should be taking is raising his right hand in court and promising to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:

Former President Clinton will administer the oath of office for the mayor-elect at his Jan. 1 inauguration ceremony at City Hall, the transition team announced Saturday.

And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who hired de Blasio as her campaign manager during her 2000 Senate campaign — will attend with her husband.

"Chirlane and I couldn't be more excited to have President Clinton and Secretary Clinton stand with us,” de Blasio said in a statement, which highlighted that he had worked for President Clinton as a regional director at HUD.

...

De Blasio will recite his official oath at midnight on Dec. 31. The de Blasio campaign would not say where the official swearing in would take place or who would administer that oath.

...

De Blasio's hour-long inauguration ceremony will take place at noon on Jan. 1, on the steps of City Hall.

 A commenter writes:

Recommended reading: No one left to lie to by Christopher Hitchens. Excellent study of the redoubtable Clinton, who, apart from needlessly sanctioning the capital punishment of the mentally retarded Ricky Rector, also bombed countries to deflect from his libidinous shenanigans. Clinton was an awful President, who is pimping his equally unethical, selfish wife for President. Don't buy it. As a Dem, no way I vote for Hillary. No way.

Politicians on average are selfish, self-centered narcissists who should be trusted slightly less than car salesmen.

Bill Clinton is more selfish, more self-centered, more narcissistic and less trustworthy than even the average politician.

Not surprised de Blasio, who made his bones in the Clinton administration, is having BC do the oath of office honors.

But frankly, it's just one more reason why I suggest a close eye should be kept on Mayor de Blasio.

Cuomo Says Common Core Standards Are A "National Curriculum"

You know, in the all the fun yesterday with Cuomo saying he was open to legislative fixes on Common Core but he was powerless to do anything about that because he's just, you know, a little ol' governor, I managed to miss this important part of the story:

Cuomo calls Common Core a "national curriculum" http://t.co/9qutpQbvmf (Somebody didn't get the memo!)
— Lisa Fleisher (@lisafleisher) November 19, 2013

A commenter at Capital NY puts Cuomo's goof in perspective for us:

Wait..did he say "National Curriculum"??? National??? Um..Governor Cuomo I thought they were just "standards" because it is illegal for the federal Government create or mandate curriculum of any kind..isn't that correct Governor??!!

The other ed deformers, including John King, fall all over themselves to say these are "state standards," not a curriculum and certainly not a national curriculum since as the commenter at Capital NY noted, a national curriculum is illegal.

But cowardly Cuomo, ever slippery and sneaky, is trying to make believe he had nothing to do with the Common Core State (sic) Standards winding up as the state standards here in NY, nothing to do with tying the state tests to the standards and nothing to do with evaluating teachers based upon test scores from the tests based on those state standards.

Thus he calls it a "national curriculum."

You fool nobody, Sheriff Andy.

Nobody.

Reshma Saujani, Wall Street's Favorite Democrat, Caught Lying About Family Finances

How do you know when DFER-approved public advocate candidate Reshma Saujani is lying?

She's talking, that's how.

She has claimed in debates that she is sending money home to her parents because they are struggling to make ends meet. 

You can see here how badly her parents are "struggling."

Note the moat behind the mansion in the wealthy Chicago suburb where the Saujanis live.

Note the amount of money the Saujanis donated to Reshma's campaign.

I have to admit, I took a dislike to this woman back when she ran as one of those DFER-sponsored ed deform candidates a few years ago.

But the more I see, hear and read about her this election year, the more I dislike her.

The scrubbing of her Wikipedia page of any of reference to her Wall Street or hedge fund past, her refusal to own up to the scrub job she had her campaign do at Wikipedia, her work defending corporate malfeasance as a Wall Street lawyer, now her misleading voters over her family's financial status - she  is a congenitally dishonest person who does not belong in public office, certainly not as public advocate.

And let's not forget her attack of one of her opponents in the public advocates race, Dan Squadron, as "Trust Fund Dan" for having grown up in a family of means.

Only one problem with Reshma's attack - Squadron's family lost most of their money to Bernie Madoff.

Yeah, really.

Did that stop Saujani's attacks?

Not a bit - she said Squadron was "whining" and playing the victim for mentioning that his family lost their money to Madoff.

On top of that, she compared Squadron to Madoff because, well, here's what her campaign spokesperson said:

"Trust Fund Dan is not a victim of Bernie Madoff, but a beneficiary," a said Saujani spokesman. "Irving Picard, the trustee for the real victims, has rejected Squadron's poverty routine as totally bogus. The money he claims to have lost is chump change compared to the millions in fictitious profits he made before the scam was exposed."

"Now Trust Fund Dan is whining and fighting in court to avoid paying the true victims of the Ponzi scheme. Only someone from incredible privilege whose Dad was close personal friends with Bernie Madoff would have the audacity to plead poverty after making millions off so many ruined lives," he continued.

Reshma Saujani truly is a despicable, despicable person.

To be frank, it worries me a little that Bill de Blasio hired her to work as a deputy public advocate in his office.

Something to keep an eye on with de Blasio - a willingness to hire and work with congenitally dishonest former Wall Street lawyers who spent their careers defending corporate malfeasance.

De Blasio hired this piece of work long after the Maloney race she ran when she exposed herself to the world as a) a Wall Street shill b) a clueless politician and c) a moron

If de Blasio is elected and Saujani is not, will Mayor de Blasio hire DFER-approved Reshma Saujani for his administration?

He has once before, you can see him doing so again.

And if he does, what does that tell you about the "progressive" de Blasio?

Arne Duncan Calls Common Core Critics Liars

From the Oregonian:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan emphatically called on education reporters today to truth-squad critics' claims that the federal government is staging a takeover of education by pushing Common Core State Standards, adopted by Oregon and 44 other states.

Such claims are "just not intellectually honest. For journalists, the truth should matter," he said. Speaking of the Common Core standards, Duncan said, "Anyone who says we developed them or mandated them, they are lying."

Duncan made a similar statement back in June:

I believe the Common Core state standards may prove to be the among the most important things to happen to public education in America since Brown versus Board of Education — and the federal government had nothing to do with creating them.

The federal government didn’t write them, didn’t approve them and doesn’t mandate them, and we never will. Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or willfully misleading.

Now — I will tell you what we did do. And then you can do your job by confirming it — and by questioning anyone who says otherwise — because all kinds of people are saying all kinds of things that are simply not true.

When the Obama administration came into office in 2009, the Common Core standards were in development, and gaining momentum. We set out to support states and districts in changing the conditions that were limiting educational opportunity, and raising standards was a vital part of that.

Rick Hess responded to that Duncan speech in June like this:

Duncan offered a slight nod to the role that federal funds, Race to the Top, and ESEA waivers have played in pushing the Common Core forward. He acknowledged that the Obama administration "supported[ed]" and "encouraged" the enterprise. He could have used this as an opportunity to sketch a bright line regarding federal involvement and to convince reasonable skeptics that the feds aren't on a slippery slope. Once again, he passed, saying of the standards: "The federal government didn't write them, didn't approve them and doesn't mandate them, and we never will. Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or willfully misleading." Uhh, hold on now, Sparky. This depends on what the meaning of "approve" and "mandate" is. Duncan certainly made adoption of approved standards a key in Race to the Top and mandatory for obtaining ESEA waivers (and there weren't a lot of options besides Common Core). He's free to argue the semantics of "approve" or "mandate," but he's over the line in asserting that those who disagree are "misinformed or willfully misleading."

Duncan's doing some willful misleading of his own when he says the federal government didn't have something to do with developing and mandating them.

The Common Core State (sic) Standards didn't adopt themselves and you rarely see 45 states do anything in synch like adopting the Common Core without either some carrots or sticks involved.

When it came to Common Core adoption, the Obama administration used both.

Anthony Weiner Admits He Used To Be "Carlos Danger"

It took an appearance on Univision for the candidate formerly knows as "Carlos Danger" to own up to that moniker:

Anthony Weiner was finally forced this morning to acknowledge he used the much-mocked nickname “Carlos Danger” for his latest batch of digital dalliances.

“Why did you pick a Hispanic name? And how dangerous were you really?” Mr. Weiner was asked during an awkward interview with Univision’s Despierta América.

The moniker, which has inspired endless videos, jokes and late night TV gags, has also drawn criticism from some in the Hispanic community, inducing from his long-shot rival Erick Salgado, who demanded an apology. But Mr. Weiner had previously managed to successfully ignore or side-step repeated inquiries about the nickname.

Pressed directly, however, the former congressman admitted the truth.

“It was a joke in my personal life between me and one person,” he responded.

“I’m not gonna comment on anything about the information that that person has chosen to release,” he added. “They can do whatever they want. They can try to harm me in any way that they want. I’m moving forward talking about the people of the City of New York.”

It was a joke in his personal life between him and one person.

Okay, that's a joke I don't want to hear any more details about.

In any case, he finally admitted to to using the name.

Like so much else about his behavior, he just should have owned up to this when it broke, gotten everything out into the open and said, "Okay there's the truth.  Accept my candidacy or reject it, but that's the whole truth about the sexting."

Instead Weiner has evaded questions, offered half-truths or out-and-out lies, and given the press the opportunity to follow him around trying to pull every sexting scandal detail out of him they can.

In short, Weiner's mostly gotten what he deserves in this media circus - had he been honest from the start, he could have avoided a lot of the pain he's caused himself.

Spitzer's Hiding Something Too

Scandal-scarred Eliot Spitzer got into the race for NYC comptroller after he saw the success scandal-scarred Anthony Weiner was having running for NYC mayor.

Weiner was receiving favorable news coverage and a friendly reception on the campaign trail, so Spitzer figured why the hell not jump into the race for comptroller and try and resurrect his own political career.

Spitzer and Weiner were connected this campaign cycle even before the revelations that Anthony Weiner was less than forthcoming about his sexting behavior broke this week.

At first when Spitzer jumped into the race, the connection between he and Weiner helped him.

After all, if Weiner could be making such a good showing on the campaign trail post-scandal, with some polls showing him leading the Democratic primary contest and voters saying they could envision him as mayor, didn't that bode well for Spitzer's chances in the comptroller's race?

And indeed, polls taken after Spitzer entered the race showed him leading his opponent, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, by a double digit margin.

But now that voters have been confronted with new pictures of Anthony Weiner's penis that Weiner sent over the Internet to a stranger just last year, when he was already devising a run for mayor, the connection between Spitzer and Weiner is no longer helping Eliot:

It has come to this in New York City’s election — a reporter asked Eliot Spitzer on Wednesday whether he has slept with prostitutes since resigning as governor.

“Absolutely not,” Spitzer said as he greeted morning commuters on Staten Island. He added, “I’m done answering this question."

...

Spitzer found his political comeback overshadowed this week by the new sexting scandal buffeting former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s mayoral dreams.

But Spitzer could not leave his own scandalous past behind.

Some analysts said Weiner’s new troubles pose a risk to Spitzer’s campaign for city controller, by reminding voters of the bad-boy behavior that got Spitzer into hot water and raising questions in the minds of voters whether he has changed his ways.

Spitzer was forced to step down as governor in 2008 amid revelations he used the services of high-priced call girls.

“I think when people think about it, they’ll ask, ‘How do we know Spitzer is over his problem? Did this leopard change his spots? Maybe he’s just like Weiner,’” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Spitzer took pains Wednesday to distance himself from Weiner’s sexcapades

The question is, given the scandal connection between the two, can Spitzer really distance himself from Weiner's sexcapades?

Spitzer is a lot smarter than Weiner so you would think he's smart enough to know if he was still hiring prostitutes post-resignation that would pose a problem for him in this race - especially because unlike Weiner, Spitzer has a dedicated cadre of Wall Street people, hedge fundies, and union leaders who hate his guts and are looking to destroy him.

He has to know that they've hired detectives to look into him and dig up any dirt they can use to torpedo his bid for comptroller. 

That said, Spitzer is also as arrogant a man as Weiner and his behavior as governor suggests he may be as pathological as Weiner as well, since he had to know his reckless behavior hiring hookers when he was governor would eventually be exposed given how many enemies he has and how badly his governorship was going.

So, let's ask the question again:

Has Eliot Spitzer hired any prostitutes since he resigned his governorship back in 2008?

He is on record now unequivocally saying he has not.

But he's also on record saying that he's not going to answer that question anymore.

That kind of defiance around the prostitute issue raises more questions, however, and suggests that Eliot may not be as genuine and truthful as he wants us to think he is being over this matter.

Weiner has played fast and loose with the truth, claiming he told the public more sexting photos and text would surface but neglecting to note that these would be photos and sexts sent after his resignation from Congress.

The way Spitzer is responding to these questions around his use of prostitutes, now defiantly saying he won't answer the prostitute question as if it's actually an affront for anybody to ask it after we have learned of Weiner's post-resignation sexting adventures, smells fishy and suggests he may be hiding something here.

If I'm right about this and he is hiding something or playing fast and loose with the truth around his use of prostitutes, that will come out in the end.

Spitzer's has lot of enemies who want to do him in, so if he is hiding something or lying, we'll know soon enough.

But if I were him and I were trying to distance myself from Weiner and convince the public that I had truly rehabilitated myself post-resignation, I don't think I would get so testy and defensive when people ask legitimate questions over when I stopped hiring prostitutes.

Daily News Calls Weiner A Repeated Liar, Demands He Quit Mayor's Race (UPDATED)

That didn't take long:

Anthony Weiner led all New Yorkers to believe that he stopped recklessly, immaturely and compulsively sexting after his resignation from Congress in abject humiliation. Lie.

Weiner reinforced the message that he had achieved maturity and self-control by citing wisdom gained with the birth of his son in December 2011, six months after he stepped down. Lie.

As he laid the groundwork for for a reentry into politics, Weiner sat beside his wife Huma Abedin as she told People magazine last July: “Anthony has spent every day since (resigning) trying to be the best dad and husband he can be.” Lie .

Weiner’s dishonest, impulse-driven psyche is once more stripped as naked as the images of his texted private parts.

He is not fit to lead America’s premier city. Lacking the dignity and discipline that New York deserves in a mayor, Weiner must recognize that his demons have no place in City Hall.

Weiner must also see that, having built his campaign on deception, he has badly damaged the process of selecting the city’s next chief executive.

He needs now to announce, loudly and clearly, that voters should bypass the name of Anthony Weiner, which at this late juncture is locked onto the Democratic primary ballot.

Four candidates for mayor and now the Daily News have called for Weiner to drop out of the race.

More calls for him to drop out will surely follow.

How long does he last?

UPDATE - 11:30: The Times has also called for Weiner to bow out:

At some point, the full story of Anthony Weiner and his sexual relationships and texting habits will finally be told. In the meantime, the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City. 

Mr. Weiner, who resigned from Congress two years ago after sending lewd messages and photos of his crotch to women he had not met, was forced to revisit the issue on Tuesday, and so were we all. A Web site called The Dirty had another woman’s story, another round of sex texts, and another picture of Mr. Weiner’s penis. The startling news was that this new episode apparently took place last summer, only a few months before Mr. Weiner was to begin another run at public office. The marital trauma that Mr. Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, had said was behind them was not as far behind as we thought. 

When the first texts were revealed two years ago, Mr. Weiner lied about it, saying he had been the victim of hackers. Then he owned up, tearfully abandoned his office and retreated into private life. Then he was back, telling the world that therapy and his wife’s forgiveness had turned him around and that he was ready to begin a new chapter. That turned out to be the mayor’s race, which he entered in May. What he did not say then, and what voters did not realize until Tuesday, was that his resignation had not been the end of his sexual misconduct. 

The timing here matters, as it would for any politician who violates the public’s trust and then asks to have it back. Things are different now, he insists. “This behavior is behind me,” he said again on Tuesday. He suggested that people should have known that his sexting was an unresolved problem well into 2012. 

That’s ridiculous and speaks to a familiar but repellent pattern of misleading and evasion. It’s up to Mr. Weiner if he wants to keep running, to count on voters to forgive and forget and hand him the keys to City Hall. But he has already disqualified himself. 

It’s difficult not to feel for Ms. Abedin. The couple deserved privacy as they worked through their problems — and they had it, until they re-emerged in public life and Mr. Weiner decided he was a good fit to run New York City. Mr. Weiner and Ms. Abedin have been saying that his sexual behavior is not the public’s business. Well, it isn’t, until they make it our business by plunging into a political campaign. 

I am sure the Murdoch papers will follow the Times and the News in calling for Weiner to drop out.

Again, how long does he last in the race?

Tomorrow?

The end of the week?