GOP Majority In State Senate, With Help Of IDC, Will Push For More Charter Schools, Vouchers, Social Program Cuts

Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said his conference in the upcoming year will aggressively push for new tax cuts, reduced business regulations, and education alternatives.

Skelos, during a Sunday morning radio appearance on supermarket mogul and and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis' AM 970 radio show, made it clear he believes voters this past week rejected much of the progressive agenda the Democrats had pushed.

...

He spoke of the need to adequately fund the traditional public school system while at the same time making clear that charter schools need to be part of the solution, particularly in minority communities.

Skelos also said he will push to help parochial schools. While he didn't specifically reference it, the Senate GOP and Catholic Church last year pushed for enactment of an education investment tax credit that was blocked by the Assembly Democrats.

Skelos also hinted his conference might take aim at various state-funded social programs, saying they should only be available to those who "truly" need them in order to give them a "helping hand up, not a hand down."

He reiterated he believes his conference will work closely with Sen. Jeffrey Klein and his group of breakaway Democrats. He didn't say exactly what form that would take. The past two years, with the Republicans lacking enough members to make up its own majority, the GOP and Independent Democratic Conference formed an unprecedented bipartisan governing coalition to run the chamber.

The blueprint is being laid out for all to see:

The State Senate GOP majority, with the help of the Independent Democratic Conference, will push for an increase or complete elimination of the charter cap, they will push for a voucher program to further undercut the public school system, and they will look to cut social programs to people in need in order to fund more tax cuts for the wealthy.

Yesterday Jimmy Vielkind reported that Independent Democratic Conference head Jeff Klein said it's time to rethink what it means to be a Democrat:

“I think we have to take a step back, also, and maybe redefine what it means to be a Democrat.”

Since Klein and his fellow Democrats in the IDC plan on joining with the State Senate Republican majority in order to push through pro-charter school proposals, voucher programs, and social program cuts for people in need in order to fund tax cuts for rich people, we do indeed need to "redefine what it means to be a Democrat."

It seems to me that since Klein, Governor Cuomo and so many other Democrats push Republican programs and policies these days, the redefinition of "Democrat" is "Republican."

Andrew Cuomo's Budget Causes SUNY Tuition Increases

From Newsday:

Students at Suffolk County Community College will face a tuition increase of $250 this fall, bringing the annual charges to $4,390 at the two-year school.

The tuition hike is part of the $208.4 million 2014-15 operating budget that college trustees sent to county officials Friday.

The increase comes even though the Bellone administration agreed after two days of talks with college officials to a 2 percent increase in the county share of college costs -- or $780,000. College trustees, in the budget vote Thursday night, also included a one-shot use of $4.3 million from the college's $24.9 million reserve fund to keep tuition from rising further.

"Two hundred and fifty dollars may not sound like much unless you don't have it," said trustee Jim Morgo, head of the trustee budget committee, noting the college's mission is to provide affordable education where many students come from "very challenging economic backgrounds."

...

College officials blamed the increased tuition on the state, which increased operating aid for each full-time student by only $75. College presidents had sought $250 and the State Senate had proposed $125. The Assembly, which had sought a $50 increase, compromised with the Senate on $75, to make the per student aid $2,497. In all, the state share is 25.9 percent of college costs.

County aid has remained flat over the past six years with just a 1% increase in aid to SCCC in that time frame, another contributing factor to the cost of SCCC tuition going up next year.

Tax breaks for rich people, tuition hikes for community college students - that should be an Andrew Cuomo campaign ad.

The Assembly and Senate are to blame too.

But this is Cuomo's budget, the one he's bragging about every chance he gets, so the buck and the responsibility for it lie with him.

Cuomo Administration: Middle Class Is $300,000 A Year, Upper Middle Is $500,000

The Cuomo administration explaining its "middle class tax cuts":

In defense of new regressive tax cuts in the most economically unequal state in America, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide tonight told the Journal News that those making $500,000 a year are merely “upper middle class” and those making $300,000 a year are “middle class.” In fact, the median household income in New York is $53,046 and in wealthy Westchester County it is $79,585. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, those making $500,000 a year salary are among the top 1 percent of New York’s earners. - Sirota

Yeah, middle class is $300,000 a year, upper middle class is $500,000 a year.

They must be talking about Eva Moskowitz, who makes over $475,000 a year.

Not too many people in that "middle class" tax bracket.

Andrew Cuomo, class warrior, cutting taxes for his wealthy campaign donors, then claiming he's helping out the "middle class."

Cuomo: No Raises For Human Services Workers For Sixth Straight Year So That Rich People Can Get A Tax Cut

There's a special level in hell for a governor who operates this way:

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Cuomo administration has proposed keeping pay flat for the sixth straight year for caretakers of the disabled and others at state-funded nonprofits.

Most Assembly members, in response, have signed a letter calling for the 2 percent cost-of-living increase in the final negotiated budget for the next fiscal year. They say that continuing the already low pay forces many staff to work unsafe amounts of overtime or take second jobs.

Advocates say that also erodes care for the vulnerable people in the nonprofits' group homes and programs because of attrition and turnover.

"In a perfect world people should get a raise when they deserve a raise. It's not a perfect world. It's not a perfect economy," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. "We're trying to reduce costs for the state. We're trying to spur the economy. Would it be nice if everybody got a raise every year? Yes."

The administration estimates saving $76 million by deferring the 2 percent increase for human services workers, part of its effort to keep overall state spending increases annually below 2 percent. It will affect about 5,200 community-based programs operated by nonprofits in the statewide service system for mental hygiene, according to the Budget Division.

The administration's longer-term financial plan currently assumes adding raises the following three years.

Oh, but I'm sure there will be an issue next year too and the raises Cuomo planned for in next year's budget will have to be cancelled as well.

How bad is it for these workers?

This bad:

Allison Sesso, deputy executive director of the Human Services Council, said they don't know how many workers are affected statewide, but it's in the thousands and ranges from cooks to social workers in a profession where few people make more than $40,000 a year.

Tiffany Williams, 34, a housing specialist for Barrier Free Living, which finds housing for disabled clients in New York City, said she's been working there 10 years, had one raise in the last five years and makes $39,000 before taxes. Between helping clients, paperwork and limited staffing, she said work weeks can go 80 hours. "I'm in a rented room. I cannot afford an apartment. ConEd went up 20 percent. I try to let my clients know I'm going through the same thing."

The truth is, Cuomo cares nothing for these people - either the disabled and elderly getting the care or the human services workers taking care of them.

All he cares about is making sure his rich friends and donors get tax cuts so that he can run on that platform in 2016.

Fighting Cuomo's Budget Proposals

It's important progressive people and groups take Governor Cuomo on over his budget giveaways to Wall Street and the 1%:

A coalition of progressive groups announced Wednesday afternoon that it would launch grassroots efforts to knock out what it described as giveaways to the wealthy in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget proposal.

“Right now, we cannot afford to spend a $2 billion surplus on tax cuts for the wealthiest New Yorkers,” said Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.

He singled out proposed changes to the estate tax and reduced business taxes as “a misguided effort” in a state with what advocates says is the nation’s most profound income inequality.

That dubious superlative “is killing our economy,” said Michael Kink of the Strong Economy for All Coalition.

“Our state can’t afford a billion dollars a year in new tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires and Wall Street,” he added, indicating that the groups backing the effort “have proven over the last several years that people power can beat money power when it comes to big tax and budget issues.”

The coalition includes the Working Families Party, labor unions including New York State United Teachers, the state AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America, plus advocacy groups such as MoveOn, the Hunger Action Network and Community Voices Heard.

Legalized gambling proceeds to pay for education programs while tax cuts go out to millionaires and billionaires.

More mandates on school districts when so many are already underfunded and on the brink of fiscal disaster.

It's an election year and Governor Cuomo does not want a fight over the budget.

But if ever there is a year to have that fight with the governor, it's this year.

Not just over the budget, of course.

There's so much more to fight him over - like Common Core, APPR, inBloom, etc.

But the budget too.

Fred Dicker: Cuomo Won't Give De Blasio Tax Hike, But Will Find Pre-K Money For City

Interesting piece in today's Dicker column:

Gov. Cuomo, fearing a clash with a Mayor Bill de Blasio over the poll-leading Democrat’s tax-the-rich plan to fund a universal pre-K program, has directed his staff to explore “alternative options’’ to let the city raise the money without an income-tax hike, The Post has learned.

“The last thing the governor wants is a clash with a Mayor de Blasio,’’ a Cuomo administration source said.

“He has his staff looking at the options. There are things that the state could do other than permitting the city to raise the income tax that could make this [de Blasio’s campaign pledge] possible,’’ the source said.

De Blasio has vowed to fund his full-time universal pre-kindergarten plan with a tax boost of more than $500 million annually on those making $500,000 or more a year.

At the same time, Cuomo has pledged to cut taxes next year — when he’ll be seeking re-election.
Administration sources said the seemingly opposite tacks could be harmonized.

“The governor wants tax cuts for next year, which obviously suggests that there’s going to be some form of budget surplus in the current fiscal year, and if there’s a surplus, that means there could be money for spending increases, such as money for a universal pre-K program,’’ said a source.

Another possibility for Cuomo to help fund deBlasio’s campaign promise: state authorization to increase several smaller city taxes that are largely paid for by the well-to-do.

Sources said the governor is determined to prevent de Blasio from imposing a new tax on the rich, because Cuomo has already imposed his own “millionaire’s tax’’ after vowing not to do so.

Cuomo also intends to avoid a head-on clash with de Blasio and the “progressive,’’ or left-of-center, wing of the Democratic Party that de Blasio represents, since they could be crucial if the governor seeks to run for president in 2016.

More on this later, but it's a good sign that Cuomo administration officials are signaling off the record that they don't want a head-on clash with "the left-of-center" wing of the Democratic party prior to 2016.

That means we just might be able to challenge Cuomo on his education policies too.

More on this later.

Is Cuomo Afraid Of The "Democratic Left?

Earlier in the week, Fred Dicker thought so:

A Mayor Bill De Blasio would have “the power to destroy’’ Cuomo’s presidential ambitions if, as expected, the governor blocks De Blasio’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, a source close to both men has told The Post.

The source, who insisted on anonymity, said Cuomo is nervously aware of the danger posed by the front-running De Blasio’s election and has privately conceded that a Mayor de Blasio would have “enormous leverage,’’ since he’ll be viewed as a hero of the party’s influential progressive, or leftist, wing, which often dominates presidential primaries.

“If Bill de Blasio is mayor in January, he will be a national sensation with the Democratic left and he’ll have the power to speak out and destroy Cuomo’s presidential aspirations if the governor blocks his agenda,’’ the source continued.

The governor, who faces re-election next year, has told big-dollar campaign contributors that he’s planning to cut taxes in 2014, not raise them. He also has claimed he wants to make the state business-friendly by reducing its enormous tax burden.

However, Cuomo, stung by criticism in 2012 by progressive Democrats angry that he has worked closely with Republicans and cut state spending, shifted to the left earlier this year by unexpectedly renewing his own state tax on the wealthy, backing union-favored public financing of elections, refusing to OK “hydrofracking’’ for natural gas, supporting a controversial “women’s agenda’’ sought by abortion-rights groups, and winning passage of tough, new restrictions on gun ownership.

“There’s no doubt that Cuomo is nervous about the power of the Democratic left,’’ said the source.

Until the "Democratic left" (whatever the hell that is) turns on Cuomo, he will not be afraid of them.

Clearly he can't be too afraid of people to the left of him, since he just hired George Pataki, the man who defeated his father for governor, to co-helm a task force to find tax cuts for rich people and corporations.

Jealous Andy Cuomo

Anyone else wondering if @NYGovCuomo is getting jealous of @deBlasioNYC's poll numbers?
— David W. Chen (@davidwchen) October 4, 2013

We'll know soon enough.

I suspect that Cuomo's tax cut commission headed by the man who knocked off his father as governor is the first sling aimed at de Blasio.

Hard to see how Cuomo runs as a tax cutting governor next year but allows de Blasio to raise taxes on wealthy NYC residents.

Cuomo To Appoint Pataki, McCall To "Tax Cut Task Force"

Anybody who thinks a Mayor de Blasio is getting a tax increase on rich people in Governor Andrew Cuomo's re-election year should take note of this news:

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo is turning to the Republican who defeated his father to come up with ways to cut taxes, the Daily News has learned.

In a surprising announcement scheduled for Wednesday morning, Cuomo will appoint former Gov. George Pataki and former Democratic state Controller Carl McCall to head a task force charged with finding ways to cut between $2 billion and $3 billion in taxes next year, a source with ties to McCall said Tuesday night.

Cuomo wants to announce an aggressive tax-cutting plan as he heads into his reelection run next year.

Having a Republican like Pataki on board could help him upstate, where polls show he is weakest, said one insider.

Ah - an election year maneuver to try and run up the score and set himself up for a 2016 White House run if Clinton doesn't run.

That's our Andy - always looking at a way to finagle higher office for himself