Legislative Gazette Show 1316, 2013 April 19

From WAMC in Albany, this is the Legislative Gazette.
A weekly magazine about New York State government and politics, your host is David Castino,
with political commentary by Dr. Alan Shartock, political scientist and professor emeritus
at the University at Albany.
Statewide distribution for the Legislative Gazette is made possible by New York State United
teachers, representing professionals in education and healthcare, online at nysut.org.
And NISCASA, the New York State Coalition against Sexual Assault, working to support men and
their decisions to end sexual violence with the My Strength is not for hurting campaign
online at nyscasa.org.
Coming up this week, lawmakers return to the Capitol with reform on their minds.
Our political observer Alan Shartock shares his thoughts on the reform package and the
new federal common core standards face criticism from parents and school boards.
Two stories and more on the Legislative Gazette.
At the state Capitol, New York lawmakers scrambled this week to put forward plans to react
to the latest twin corruption scandals involving bribery charges against a state senator
and assemblyman.
It was the Assembly Democrats turned away in this week and Governor Cuomo also rolled
out two more components of his own reform plan.
The Legislative Gazette's Karen Dewitt has an update.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is proposing a public campaign financing law that would
allow candidates to receive $6 in public funding for every dollar they collect in contributions.
Silver says it's important to get the influence of big money donors out of politics.
Realistically, the average citizen is finding that the cost of running for election has
become too expensive for many prohibitively so.
We cannot allow elected public service to become the exclusive domain of the wealthy and
the well connected.
Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo announced two more portions of his reform agenda.
The governor wants to revoke a law known as Wilson Pacula.
It permits parties to run candidates for office who are not actually members of their parties.
It's named after two legislators who sponsored it back in 1947.
One of them is former governor Malcolm Wilson who served in the legislature at the time.
State Senator Malcolm Smith, a Democrat, is charged with trying to bribe Republican
County chairs in New York City to convince them to invoke the Wilson Pacula Act and allow
Smith to run on the GOP ballot for mayor.
Cuomo says Wilson Pacula creates ethical conflicts.
He says in addition to the bribery accusations, candidates also exchange money to obtain
ballot access by making large donations to the party coffers.
You've heard the expression paid a play.
This is paid a run, right?
The allegation is that the minor parties basically on occasion have used campaign contributions
to determine who gets the line.
And it's almost that the line goes to the highest bidder.
Assembly Democrats are not backing a repeal of Wilson Pacula at this time, says Speaker
Silver.
I don't think we should, you know, we should preclude people from running on more than
one line.
And there are only a lot of be registered in one party.
There has to be a mechanism for us, for people to gain dual endorsements or more.
The only faction in the legislature that is currently supporting a repeal of Wilson
Pacula is the breakaway Democratic faction in the Senate, known as the Independent Democratic
Conference.
Senator Smith was a member of the IDC until he was asked to leave by the other members after
the bribery charges.
Cuomo would stop short, though, of eliminating all party cross endorsements.
New York, unlike many states, permits so-called minor parties like the Conservative Party and
the left-leaning working families party to also endorse major party candidates and
permit them to run on their ballot lines and elections.
The governor says ending cross endorsements would also mean the end of those parties.
That would be eliminating minor parties, right?
That is a de facto elimination of the minor parties.
Cuomo would instead open up primaries to allow candidates registered in one party to run
in a different party's primary if they wanted to.
Cuomo's proposal would also make it easier for voters to change their party enrollment
so they could vote in those primaries.
Governor Cuomo did not present any proposals for campaign finance reform, though he says
public financing of campaigns remains very important to him.
Cuomo says he's been talking with legislative leaders, but he thinks writing an actual
governor's program bill at this time would only hinder a deal.
I will give you a hint.
Normally when we release bill language before an agreement, it means the probability
of that bill passing is very, very long.
Cuomo says it's sufficient to put out his goals and agenda instead.
In Albany, I'm carrying the wind.
Joining us now legislative Gazette political observer Alan Shartalk Allen, of course the
governor unveiling two more components of his reform plan.
Part of it involves expanding power to the local DAs in the state, something they support,
but you spoke with Albany County District Attorney David Sores, who sits in the capital
of the state, has the power to prosecute.
He's not happy about the lack of funds going along with this.
Well, let's put it this way.
The Albany District Attorney is a guy I've always referred to, no matter who it was, as
the cardinal, because his office is responsible for bringing corruption charges because everybody
is paid from Albany.
So Albany is the central sort of place.
Now Sores is a brilliant man, soft-focun, and doesn't take garbage from anybody, including
the governor.
You may remember that the governor decided that the Occupy protesters who were here several
months ago should be arrested because they were standing on the wrong patch of grass
or in the wrong place.
The DA refused to do that.
He said we've got much more important things to do than that.
That has, of course, wrankled the governor.
I don't think there's any question.
Sores told us, interestingly, that he used to have, in terms of helping him, a state police
component in his office, and that those people have been yanked out of his office.
That's terrible, because if you remember, state police have always been used in political
ways, and when they are used that way, there's hell to pay.
And right now, we've seen it before.
We've seen it in different administrations, and it is a real problem when governors start
to do that.
Can I say that Andrew Cuomo is set by the telephone and say, I want the state troopers
out of Sores office?
No, but one in one makes, too.
I'll be honest with you.
So therefore, we have a guy who is purposely underfunded.
Sores.
Every day, the legislature and the governor are coming up with yet new agencies.
So last time the governor did this was with a corruption agency here in Albany that he
put together.
It had the advantage of being in charge of both the legislative and executive groups for
the first time.
That was good, but they haven't distinguished themselves in any way.
And so that didn't work.
Now he wants, the governor wants yet another one.
And this gets interesting because the attorney general, remember Cuomo used to be the attorney
general.
Is Eric Schneiderman.
He wants to appoint yet another anti-corruption agency, which he would appoint.
Although in 2010, he promised that he would share the authority over all of this with attorney
general Schneiderman.
And he didn't do it.
He hasn't done it.
And if he's done it, he hasn't done it enough.
So what we have is a bunch of competing interests.
We have that, Democrats in the state Senate saying they know how to fix it.
And we have the Republican majority, so-called majority in the Senate saying that they have
a fix.
We have Jeff Klein who is the guy who deserted the Democratic majority and came over to
keep the Republicans in office.
He says, he's got a fix.
But I guarantee you this, folks, if you just look at what's going on, you know, the
thing is going on here.
You know that, and the assembly Democrats, of course, on the Shelley Silver say they've
got to fix.
So let me tell you, they all have a fix, but all the fixes, all of them are either helping
them acquire and maintain power.
That would be Quillow or protecting them so that whatever the fix is, they can go on
doing the skull duggery that they're doing right now.
That's the problem.
Like this, a malgum of people all yelling, but in the end, it's everybody pointing at
everybody else, everybody yelling at everybody else, everybody coming up with some absurd
fixes, which do everything except what needs to be done.
Meanwhile, what got done in New York was the Safe Act.
And while there are challenges to it, the governor pushed for this and got it done rather
quickly.
Now we see on the national scene that the gun legislation in Washington has failed.
The families in Newtown are outraged.
The president is called the NRI at Liars.
And I'm wondering as you, we reflect sort of in retrospect now, whether even though the
governor was criticized for moving very fast on that law, whether that may have been the
right way to go.
Now as you know, David, I have always tried to tell the truth about people in power.
I just gave you an analysis on campaign financing, which was not, which is not a proving of
the governor's actions.
However, in this one, he deserves a great deal of credit.
He got it through in a rosveltian type manner.
He did what he had to do.
He knew that the people who were on the other side were anything, but were anything, but
nice about the way that they played the NRI and their groups and the rest of it.
And he got it through in the middle of the night with a so-called message of necessity.
Now just because the gun folks are yelling that that was wrong, it wasn't.
A message of necessity is when you put bills in front of legislators and you don't have
the three day waiting period because you have an emergency on your hands.
And in the shootings and in the violence and the guns that are going on and going off
in this, in our area, including everything from the Bronx up to Buffalo, I got to tell
you it was justified.
It was a genuine emergency.
He was right in doing it, but what's much more important he got it done.
Now of course, this is in Mississippi.
This is New York State.
And the chances of getting a gun, the chances of getting gun legislation here in the,
in New York City, New York State, upper New York State are much better than they would
be in the southern area where those senators voted against.
And Cuomo has proven masterful in the way he handles the legislature and he deserves
a great deal of credit for this one.
Legislative Gazette, political observer Alan Chartoff.
You are listening to the Legislative Gazette program about New York State government and
politics.
I'm David Gissteena.
Third through eighth graders in New York schools began taking high stakes standardized tests
this week that for the first time or a line to federal common core state standards.
Parents and school boards from as far afield as Sarah Toga and Long Island are speaking
out about what they see as an overemphasis on testing.
Legislative Gazette's Dave Lucas reports.
The common core state standards are a set of learning guidelines designed by federal officials
that define what students should learn and be able to do so that all of them are prepared
for college and careers.
The standards have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.
School boards in Saratoga, Socrates, Kingston and New Pauls oppose high stakes testing while
parents on Long Island are opting to exempt their children from the testing.
The head of the New York State United Teachers, the state's largest union Dick Ionuzzi, says
students are going to be tested on material they haven't been taught yet.
He says polling commissioned by his union showed 91 percent of parents say students have
not had enough time to work with the common core standards.
Parents are accept.
They really don't want their children being put in the position where they are being
assessed on material that simply hasn't been presented.
The State Department of Education says the assessments are designed to improve classroom
instruction and get better results in the graduation rate and college and career readiness.
State Education Commissioner John King.
The fact that the test will be more challenging that the percentage of students who earn proficient
or advanced on the assessments was likely to be lower.
All of that has generated anxiety which is understandable.
Ionuzzi says State Education officials acknowledged that scores will drop, perhaps as much as
30 percent.
He doesn't want them used to promote students, choose students for gifted and talented classes
or to receive remedial services.
Ionuzzi also doesn't want teachers' performances evaluated on these test results.
My members will have at least part of their end of the year evaluation based on a score
that will be meaningless in terms of reflecting their efforts in their classrooms and the growth
of the children in front of them.
Ionuzzi adds he finds that the State Education Department listens very carefully but doesn't
hear anything you say.
Again, Commissioner King.
What's unfortunate is the lack of leadership that has been shown by the statewide teachers
union on this issue.
They have expressed emphatically and repeatedly their commitment to the common core.
And the notion that the shifts in instruction that the common core requires are exactly what
we need to do as a state to ensure that students are college and career ready.
And yet, they are arguing that we should base assessments on a different set of standards.
Nice its Carl Korn turns the tables on King's stance.
What we see here is the failure of the State Education Department to take accountability
for its own missteps in the uneven rollout of the common core curriculum.
We have said many times that the common core holds the potential to enhance student learning
and improve critical thinking skills if implemented correctly.
Korn makes a chilling analogy.
If the brakes on your car didn't work and you took your car to the mechanic, the mechanic
would never tell you, well drive the car with bad brakes because if you crash we need a baseline
to see what it will look like down the road once we fix your brakes.
Korn says nice it simply doesn't want schools or students to fail by taking high stakes tests
before New York State has provided all necessary curriculum and before students and teachers
are fully prepared.
For the Legislative Gazette, I'm Dave Lucas.
A new State Senator from New York's.
A new State Senator from the Hudson Valley introduced legislation this week that would hold
dog owners financially liable for the first time their dogs bite others.
More now from the Legislative Gazette's Allison Dunn.
Frankie Flora is 9 years old.
On this day in 2009 he was severely mauled by a relative's dog.
The bill is that our kids like me from having to go through what I did.
He was playing with his cousin's pit bull in the front yard when the attack occurred.
He has undergone 28 surgeries after extensive damage to his head and face and has more surgeries
ahead.
He and his mother, Maria Flora, live in the town of Pekipsi, which is in the 41st Senate
District represented by Democrat Terry Gibson.
Gibson, who is sponsoring Frankie Flora's law, says Maria Flora had approached him about
the legislation.
Right now in New York State, if your dog bites someone and causes an injury, state law
basically gives you a path the first time.
It's not until the second time that your dog causes an injury that the state laws that
regulate dog bites and insurance laws that regulate dog bites injuries kick in.
Democratic senators Neil Brexlin and Ruben Diaz are co-sponsors of the bill, which amends
the general obligations law in relation to the liability of owners for dog bites.
Maria Flora has also been speaking with Senator Brexlin for some time about such legislation,
and Brexlin introduced a similar measure last year to change the so-called one-bite rule.
The bill on valed Tuesday provides strict liability for medical costs resulting from a dog
bite or bites, and it does allow exemptions for police work, dogs, and service dogs.
The measure also allows additional financial recovery where it can be proven that the dog
had dangerous or vicious propensities, and the owner had knowledge of such propensities.
Maria Flora says dog bite victims should be compensated when the dog inflicts injury
the first time around.
She also hopes the bill acts as a preventative measure.
I believe that it will have people think a little bit more on whether their dog needs
obedience school, whether they need to walk their dog out of leash.
I think when there's accountability for cost of medical expenses, then I just think that
people will be a little bit more aware to get their dogs the proper training and things
like that.
In addition, it points out that certain provisions already on the books will not change.
There are laws in the books right now that are very specific about what kind of medical
coverage is available for dog bites and what kind of injury has to be there for that
to happen.
Whatever those specifics are will remain intact.
They don't change.
What would change, he says, is they would come into force when the first dog bite occurs,
rather than upon the second bite, from the same dog.
For the legislative gazette, I'm Allison Dunn.
You are listening to the legislative gazette, a program about New York State government and
politics.
I'm David Gissteena.
The city of El Maira is just seven miles from the Pennsylvania border.
And for four years, the natural gas boom in Pennsylvania's northern tear crossed over the
border and boosted El Maira's economy.
But that boom has slowed down.
And as the Innovation Trails Matt Richmond reports, there's disagreement in El Maira about
whether a temporary boom is worth the costs.
At a public lecture organized by an El Maira anti-fraking group, three well-known speakers
laid out the arguments against fracking.
So, that's a typical fracking site.
It's not one acre.
It's not here today, going tomorrow.
That's heavy industrialization that's going to be there every year.
Cornell professor Tony and Grafya spoke first.
He's a co-author of a controversial study claiming that fracking's methane emissions
could cause more rapid climate change than the use of coal.
In Grafya was brought to El Maira by a group pushing for a local ban on fracking.
El Maira is the largest city in Shaman County and along with nearby Binghamton is the center
of commerce in the heart of the gas rich Marcella Shail.
And Lake Binghamton and its mayor Matt Ryan, El Maira's mayor Susan Skidmore is strongly
opposed to fracking.
I don't think anybody can make it safe enough to protect our water and our environment.
Skidmore points to the industrial zone in neighboring horse heads as an example of what
comes with fracking.
There, rail cars bring in silica used in the fracturing process.
It's then loaded onto trucks and sent to Pennsylvania.
So, you go down there and you stand on a city street which is right around the corner.
You can see these piles of silica that have been released from the undercarriages of the
rail cars.
In industrial settings, inhaling silica can lead to the lung disease silicoses.
For years, the federal government has delayed rules to protect workers exposed to silica
because of industry opposition.
The Environmental Protection Agency doesn't regulate silica released into the air.
Why would I be happy about it?
I'm not too happy about it.
I want some better control over it.
That's for one thing.
And the prosperity that came to the El Maira area with intent drilling across the border
has begun to subside too.
In the peak of activity between 2008 and 2011, Shimon County had a median income growth
of 27 percent according to County Executive Tom Santulli.
But starting in 2012, that growth began to reverse.
That led to a $3 million decline in sales tax revenue.
Santulli says the growth and last year's decline were mainly driven by the natural gas industry
across the border.
Right now, we're somewhat in a slump.
And obviously, there's no business being driven by New York because we're not doing it.
Fracking opponents point to quick reversals like the one in Shimon County has a reason to
be wary of the industry's promises of economic revival.
But County Executive Santulli adds that the cycles in the natural gas industry where companies
shift their focus from region to region are similar in any sector of the economy.
I can't think of any occupation or any job or any company.
General Motors, Ford, IBM, that you're guaranteed a job and a full job for forever and large numbers.
Economist Jeanette Barth also spoke in Almira.
Barth frequently writes and gives lectures on the long-term economic effects of the natural
gas industry.
Areas of the United States having the highest levels of long-term poverty tend to be found
in the very places that were once the site of thriving extractive industries.
Barth went on to site studies that found it's the people at the lowest end of the economic
scale who feel most of the negative impacts that come along with drilling.
Fracking in New York is on hold while the State Department of Health reviews health impacts.
But at least in Almira, the process of dealing with the industry is already well underway.
In Almira, I'm Matt Richmond for the Innovation Trail.
Support for the Innovation Trail comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The Innovation Trail is a collaboration between five upstate public media outlets reporting
about New York's innovation economy.
You can hear more at innovationtrail.org.
And that about does it for this week's show.
We had help from the New York State Public Radio Network.
Copies are available, call 1-800-3239262, at number 1-800-3239262.
Ask for program number 1316 or just listen or podcast on the web at wamc.org.
And join us again next week at the same time for more news on New York State government
and politics.
For more legislative gizette, I'm David Gissteen.
Statewide distribution for the legislative gizette is made possible by New York State United
teachers, representing professionals in education and health care, online at nysut.org.
In Niskasa, the New York State Coalition against Sexual Assault, working to support men
in their decisions to end sexual violence with the My Strength is not for hurting campaign
online at nyscasa.org.