From WAMC in Albany, this is the legislative gazette, a weekly magazine on New York State
government and politics.
The state says its merely informing citizens about the 21st century environmental bond
act, but the courts disagree.
We'll continue our look at the important issues in various regions of the state.
Adderondack residents want more representation in the Adderondack Park Agency.
Those stories, Alan Chartackelby here, and we'll have much, much more on this week's
legislative gazette.
Citizens' three, New York State nothing.
That was the score Tuesday after the state's latest battle to promote the 21st century environmental
bond act failed in the courts.
Four residents of Washington County say that citizens' tax dollars should not be used
to promote a ballot issue.
The state says its merely trying to inform the public about the issue.
This time it was the appellate division of the state's Supreme Court making the decision.
The state says it will try to get the latest decision overruled.
Our Karen DeWitt reports on the first set of efforts of four citizens to stop the state
from promoting or informing the public about the act.
The quarter of a million dollar effort that the state of New York is conducting to publicize
the 1.9 billion dollar environmental bond act has been a subject of a series of court
actions brought by four Adirondack residents who say the state is using taxpayers' money
to launch a misleading promotion to sway voters to approve the bond act.
Carol LaGrasse, along with her husband Peter and Donald Gertz, all of Warren County,
and Robert Schultz of Washington County have brought the suit without the aid of a lawyer.
What they have done is with the material that they publish, the pamphlets, the different
publications and brochures.
They have emotionalistic appeals and persuasive statements that give the voter an impression
that the state approves the material.
The LaGrasse and Donald Gertz belong to groups opposed to Governor Cuomo's commission
on the Adirondacks in the 21st century report, but say they're not trying to seek revenge.
We don't have access to the taxes of the entire state of New York to promote our viewpoint,
but big government is using its taxing power to promote the viewpoint that we oppose.
A Supreme Court judge has partially agreed with the four.
Judge Lawrence Khan on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order, which forced the
state to curtail operations for about two hours until it appealed to a higher court for
a stay of the order, pending a hearing on Friday, October 5.
In a complex set of legal maneuvers, Schultz, the LaGrasse and Gertz obtained a second
restraining order, but the appeals court has put a hold on that one as well.
Now, the appellate division of State Supreme Court in Albany has asked the state to show
cause, meaning it must give a good reason why the restraining order should not be enforced.
Leslie Gersling of the Attorney General's Office says the state through distribution of
literature is simply trying to convey why the legislature and governor Cuomo thought
the bond act was important enough to be on the ballot.
We are arguing the broader issue, which is that we don't believe that the government
should be proscribed from using taxpayer money for this purpose.
Judge Khan's restraining order specifically objected to the bond act efforts logo, keep
New York clean and green, which is accompanied by a graphic of a leafy green tree.
Well, that's a soft sell.
People see that and they don't know that they are being appealed to.
Whereas if the Department of Environmental Conservation said vote for the bond act, then
they would know that the department was saying vote for the bond act and they'd say,
gee, the department's telling me how to vote.
But this way it's suggesting and it's conveying approval without even forthrightly telling
them.
And that's even more insidious.
Frances Schien, one of the eight employees of the Department of Environmental Conservation
and Office of Parks and Recreation on loan for a cost of $100,000 to work on the bond
act, defends the slogan.
We feel there's an accurate short indiscretion of precisely what the bond act would do.
The bond act includes unprecedented amounts of state grant funds for local communities
to close leaking land sales, undertake aggressive new recycling programs, and improve water quality
in area drinking water supplies by the construction of food treatment facilities.
In Albany, I'm Karen Duet.
Karen Duet's report courtesy of the New York Public Radio Albany Bureau.
Meanwhile, people living in the Adirondacks want more representation in the Adirondack
Park Agency.
Lee Farman has a report.
There is concern among some local officials located within the Adirondack Park that decisions
about land use could be made without their input.
Currently, the Adirondack Park Agency is the body which designs land use matters on
both private and public lands in the park.
The 11 members of the agency are all appointed by the governor.
By law, three must be former officials with the State's Departments of Environmental Conservation,
Commerce, and State.
Three can be residents of any part of New York, and the remaining five must be year-round
residents of the park.
According to Joe Rode, the town supervisor of Dresden in Washington County, the trouble
is with these five members.
Lee says while he's concerned about the park's future, he does not want to see strict development
regulations imposed by New York State without the local population being fairly represented.
Those members were supposed to represent Adirondack local government, but it's really been
circumvented.
The intent has not been not followed through.
Through no fault of the legislators, because I'm sure that when they incorporated that into
the law, that was the safeguard and that was the balancing act for the agency.
But with the governor making appointments, he makes appointments wherever the most pressure
is.
Right now, Rode says that pressure has been coming from conservationists.
What we're saying is that the law operates correctly, and we don't want to change the
law.
What we're saying is that we would like to have more meaningful representation on those
five seats.
So what we've proposed is to set up a procedure for submitting names to the governor.
We understand that the governor has the right to assign and the right to choose.
But what we would like to do is to have the counties represent people in their districts
that they feel would represent their best interests, since that's the intent of the act anyway.
And then submit those names to the governor, up to 36 names, and let him choose the five
representatives of those 36.
Joe Rode, a supervisor of the Washington County town of Dresden.
A spokesman for Governor Cuomo says the governor strongly favors meaningful representation
for the park's residents, and may include Rode's plan in future appointments.
For the legislative Gazette, I'm Lee Farbman.
This week we're continuing our series on the important issues and races going on throughout
New York State.
Last week, we looked at what was going on in the Rochester and Syracuse areas.
This time we'll look at the southern tier.
Our Mike Fundacaro spoke with Tom Pichano of WSKG Public Radio in Binghamton.
In Albany, we hear a lot about the low level radioactive race sighting process out in
your area.
Will this have an effect on any of the races?
It's hard to tell at this point because of the low level issue.
It's kind of sitting in the wings now.
There is opposition, of course, in Cortland County where some areas have been noted as
being cited.
Shinango County residents back in the earlier part of the year had some concerns when they
were put off the list.
But at this point, low level race does not appear to be an issue in the races that will
be taking place in either of those counties as far as state legislators go.
It seems to be a thing that's not solved but set off to this side at this point.
What do you see as being some of the big issues?
It's interesting for our listening area which covers a wide area of central and southern
tier areas of New York.
If I could pick one issue, it would probably be solid waste.
We have very many rural communities trying to deal with the solid waste problem.
We have one county in particular, Taiyoga County that, very rural county, they've been trying
to get rid of their solid waste.
They don't have their own landfill.
They've been dealing with contracts with companies to get their waste hauled away.
They're still waiting to decide what to do.
Other areas like Tomkins County where Yifuk is located, they've been trying for a couple
of years now to site a landfill and they've been having some difficulty there.
Brume County, the Binghamton area, they have landfill space but there's a big sticking
point and that's a proposed incinerator.
This project we cost anywhere up to $100 million and residents aren't too happy about
that.
They're also not too happy about the potential environmental effect of an incinerator.
That's a situation that within the next few days could come to a head when this contract
that's already been signed with the company between the county's resource recovery agency
and the vendor has a chance of just dropping out.
So solid waste is a big issue and recycling is something that a lot of the counties in
this area are also trying to pick up to reduce the waste.
What do you see as being some of the key races out in New York area?
In terms of the state senate, we have four senatorial districts.
There are two which could be termed as targeted races, targeted by the Democrats perhaps.
We have two Republicans in one in the 50th, one in the 51st district.
In the 50th district, it's James Seward.
He's a two-term incumbent.
He's the chair of the state senate energy committee and he's right in the middle of this
solid waste rather than a low level radioactive waste issue.
He represents all or part of our CO, Tomkins, Cayuga, Shinango and Cortland County.
He's being opposed by Democrats Beverly Livsie, who's a member of the Tomkins County
board of representatives.
There have been some cross talks so far.
We haven't seen any real debate between the two but it seems that if senator Seward makes
comments on specific issues, Beverly Livsie comes back and comments.
They will be debating a bit later.
It'll be interesting to see how a county legislator and two-term state senator will work
in these debates.
Also in the 51st senatorial district for Brune, Cayuga and part of Shinango counties,
Thomas Libbis, who's a one-term incumbent of freshmen, is also the chair of the alcoholism
and drug abuse committee.
Two years ago, he replaced Senate Majority Leader Warren Anderson, who is of course a long-time
Senator and Senate Majority Leader for over 15 years.
At this point, it looks like he has the edge as far as money goes and support goes and
it has traditionally been a Republican district.
However, two years ago, when he was running for his first term, it was very close race.
The Democrat who's opposing him this time is Dr. Kathleen Gaffney.
He's a former health commissioner in Brune County and she's waging a campaign against state
spending, a campaign against the same old business.
She said she represents change, whereas Senator Libbis and the people in office now, the
same old business type of people.
Tom Pichano of WSKG Public Radio in Binghamton.
To find out what concerned citizens of the Hudson Valley, Mike spoke with Ed Weer of
WRWD Radio in Highland.
Salad waste seems to be a problem throughout New York State, but it especially appears to
be a big issue in the Hudson Valley, Ed.
It certainly does.
It seems to be dominating particularly in the two counties, Duchess Ulster County region.
Both the counties have appointed resource recovery agencies and they're going about
seeking different solutions for their solid waste problem.
Duchess, they're looking for an incineration plant and with a landfill for the ash and
overflow waste.
In Ulster County, in the sorbities area, they're looking for a landfill at this time.
That seems to be dominating some of the races for assembly in our region with either a
opponent taking different sides on that particular issue.
A lot of talk and discussion so far on whether or not the state is doing enough to help
local communities solve the solid waste problem.
A lot of talk about whether or not the DEC will be more helpful, at least in the opinion
of the locals be more helpful in plumbing up with locations for landfills.
Ultimately, whether or not the state is going to be doing more to help finance the problem.
In many cases, in Duchess and Ulster, the feeling among the local community is that the
state DEC is added to the problem by closing landfills down.
And while that may be environmentally necessary, they've done a little to help the surrounding
communities determine whether or not this situation or that option would be a better one
for solving the problem.
So it's probably the big issue in the Hudson Valley right now.
Throughout the entire upper and lower Hudson Valley, what do you see as being some of the
big races?
I think perhaps the key race, and it's one that's getting a lot of attention across the
whole and entire state because of the fact that it could have an outcome on whether or
not the Republicans are able to control the state Senate.
And that's the race between Arthur Gray and incumbent Senator, but a first term incumbent
Senator, and Bill Warkin, who has been an assembly for years representing a district in Orange
County.
Gray got in two years ago when Richard Scurmerhorn was under an indictment.
He had a whole number of legal problems with the IRS.
He's since been sent to jail, found guilty in federal court.
And Gray got in under that cloud, so to speak, when the Republicans had a lot of trouble.
And there was a lot of discussion whether or not Scurmerhorn should even have been in that
race or pulled out ahead of time.
So Wark Gray was able to get in as a Democratic Senator from this region, which is very unusual.
It's very controlled by the Republicans in the Hudson Valley.
And now Gray is up for re-election this time.
They come out with a big heavyweight such as Bill Warkin, who has been in the assembly
for quite some time and had been looking to move on.
And with the Scurmerhorn no longer around, Gray moves, I should say, Warkin moves up.
And that has opened an opportunity.
And that's probably been the most heated campaign between Warkin and Gray, incredible amounts
of money being spent on that race.
So an unusual district that involves all the way out to Orange County, the Pennsylvania
border, Gray being from Port Jervis, which is basically on the border, all the way up
down along that quarter of Orange County, then up through Ulster County, right up to
the Kingston area.
So it's a sprawling district and both sides are going out at tooth and nail and are spending
a lot of money on that campaign.
Ed Weer of WRWD Radio in Highland will continue our discussions with other reporters around
the state next week.
The New York State Hospitality and Tourism Association has concluded its annual meeting
in the Warren County Community of Lake Luzern.
Bruce Robertson reports that the activities of the legislature were frequently discussed
during that meeting.
Hospitality and Tourism President James McCart says the main concern of the association
is the slashing of funds from the I Love New York campaign.
I think it's going to be severely detrimental.
When you look at, most states are increasing their budget's competition for the tourist
and the leisure and business traveler is at a height, reducing the I Love New York marketing
and advertising budget by literally about 50% of what it was to a two and a half years
ago.
I think we'll be very significant.
We're seeing a downturn in tourism right now that certainly can be blamed on a number
of things.
In my opinion, the 5% tax certainly has had a ramification to the convention traveler,
but you're going to see that more in the future because the conventions have already been
booked, but even the leisure traveler is being much more judicious with their spending
money.
Add to this, the fact that higher gasoline prices usually mean less leisure travel and a
soft economy as well.
And McCart says the picture looks pretty bleak.
As for this past summer, he says the season and all of 1990 so far just does not look good.
But right now, we know across the entire state tourism has been down all of this year.
The summer has been affected in our resort areas rather substantially.
In fact, New York City is down.
Again, it's a combination of I think both the taxes, the marketing and also the economy
is in general.
It certainly is affecting us at this point.
With neighboring Massachusetts initiating in-state, national and foreign tourism campaigns
over the summer, McCart says an increase in funds for the I Love New York campaign is
as essential as ever.
For the legislative Gazette, this is Bruce Robertson.
Our Brian Shields took some time out to discuss current political issues with Fred Digger
of the New York Post.
Well, Fred, this week the press was taken to task by Pierre and Frey and in fact he mentioned
you by name.
What's your reaction to that?
Well, you know, in the last couple of weeks, Ren Frey has been attacking a Republican party
and I think that line of pursuit right out of steam so he had to come up with another
one this week's attack of the week seems to be to attack the press.
I'm reasonably well known in the opening press course, so I think that was one of the
most convenient targets.
Also, he was stung by a characterization that I had made in his campaign as being a circus
and they decided to respond to that.
I don't think it's going to get him very far.
I think everybody knows this campaign is turned into a circus that's probably the most
commonly used adjuk in these days to describe what he's been up to.
Do you think though attacking the press is one way to win over some votes?
Not necessarily, although we surely pull show that the press in the minds of many people
are probably slightly less popular than politicians.
On the other hand, Ren Frey's tactic which seems to be to rally the populist causes attack
for politicians to make himself an anti-establishment character attack the media can only succeed
in my judgment if he has credibility as a candidate to begin with and that's when he failed
to establish in this campaign.
I don't think too many people are taking fear of Ren Frey and he's serious in these days.
I have to say, for the two party system in New York and my judgment.
Do you think the New York press score though has been paying as much attention as it should
to the other candidates including Governor Como, Louis Wien and Herb London?
Well, it's difficult to determine what the phrase as it should means in each newspaper
or television or radio organization makes its own decisions.
Generally, I think they haven't getting enough attention.
It hasn't been much attention but that's because every indicator from polls to political
opponents to, in the case of Ren Frey, his own party members show there's no real race for governor.
That the governor of Governor Como is going to win so overwhelmingly that when it comes to a competition
for space and papers or on radio or TV editors and deciding that other stories deserve more attention.
It's not as if Ren Frey has come up with any major solutions to the state's problem disorders
or articulated a message that has poured on with the public and we in the media are ignoring that.
He's failed to get his campaign off the ground and I think the relatively light coverage that he's now receiving is merely a reflection of that.
Since Governor Como was virtually assured of re-election, do you think the press and the pundits will be looking to see
if he can get the bond issue passed and if he doesn't, would that be a defeat for Governor Como?
Yes and yes. And once more, I think there's some other tests there now going to be applied to the governor to a good question.
Members of the media take it for granted. I think correctly so that the governor will win re-election.
Because of that, Ren Frey's poor campaign is hurting the governor.
So what are the other, because even though he'll have a great victory by judgment, that's not going to be anything he gets a whole lot of credit for.
So what then are the other tests? The bond issue, the amendment, the bond issue, the governor has put his own reputation in the line for to the extent of spending his own campaign money to boost it.
If that goes there, it will be a defeat for the governor. In addition, these problems to help the Democrats take control of the state senate.
If the Republicans retain control, that too will be seen. And I think correctly so is it defeat for Cuomo.
And finally, the governor says he's trying to help Cal Bellamy, the former New York City Council President, defeat the incumbent Republican state controller, Ned Regan.
Again, if Regan wins in Bellamy loses, that too will be seen as a defeat for Cuomo. And conversely, the bond issue passes, the Democrats take the senate and Bellamy wins a state controller.
That'll be quite a sweep that the governor will get a great deal of credit for.
The New York Post's Fred Dicker, speaking with legislative gazettes, Brian Shields.
The New York Post's Fred Dicker, who is the president of the state, is the president of the state, who is the president of the state, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president, who is the president
and I'm Dave guy buena Okay?
Family link.
and a professor at the State University of New York College at New Ports.
Alan, this week Pierre and Frey has really been saying that the media has had it in
form all along.
Well, it is extraordinary when you're considering who he's talking about.
I mean, he singled out Fred Dicker for criticism.
Now Fred Dicker has a reputation for being real tough on Governor Cuomo.
And if anything, I think that Fred Dicker really understands the necessity of a two-party
system and has been very, very even handed where the Republican Party is concerned.
And so it is absolutely astounding to see this guy turn around and critique the guy who
I believe gave him a very, very fair hearing as this all went on.
Fred Dicker is known to take a conservative stance every once in a while, but he is known
for covering it evenly.
And I am just a guest that he not only has attacked his best friend in politics, Roy
Goodman, who got him the nomination.
He's not only attacked the Senate Majority Leader Ralph Moreno, but now he attacks a guy
who has a reputation for being a very tough man where Mario Cuomo is concerned.
It just defies the imagination.
I just later, Gazette, political observer Dr. Alan Shartock.
Joining us next with the rest of the week in state government.
Here's Paul Rosenthal with our legislative notebook.
Wild sex parties hosted by employees of 9x might lead to the breakup of the regional
telephone company.
New York's utility regulators have authorized a study of whether 9x should be broken up,
much like AT&T was in 1984.
The top lawyer for the state public service commission says a breakup of 9x might lead a
better telephone rates for New Yorkers.
The study into a possible state-order divestiture of 9x came in a report to the PSC by the panels
council, William Cowan.
Cowan says that if 9x were separated from its two main subsidiaries in New York telephone
and the England telephone, those companies might be better off.
The PSC did not endorse a breakup of 9x and instead only permitted the study to go ahead.
It's unclear how long the study could take.
The recommendation comes after allegations that vendors who attended the wild parties in
Florida may have received special treatment when seeking business with another 9x subsidiary
known as material enterprise company.
At those parties, dubbed perverts conventions, awards were reportedly given to the most
perverted party goer and the man who procured the most women.
State officials say 9x forced New York telephone to do business with material enterprise, even
though contracts with the company were expensive.
Federal officials have postponed voting on whether to allow hearings on the environmental
impact of decommissioning the short-term nuclear power plant on Long Island.
The vote by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not been rescheduled.
The hearings had been requested earlier this year by the short-mwaiting river school
district and scientists and engineers for the New York City-based Group Secure Energy.
The school district relies on the power plant for most of its tax revenue.
The scientists oppose decommissioning short-term on technical and environmental grounds.
Short-em is to be closed by New York State in return.
The Long Island Lighting Company has been allowed to raise utility rates about 5% a year
for 10 years.
The State Public Service Commission says Niagara Mohawk Power has overestimated the reliability
and value of the 9x and 1.1 nuclear power plant near Oswego.
The Commission's criticisms are a response to a 9mo analysis released in March.
9mo included in its report the environmental benefits of running the plant, but PSE Technical
Express criticized the utility for not giving any real consideration to the environmental
costs.
In March, 9mo claimed 9-mile 1 is a valuable asset to its customers and should be operated
even if it performs poorly.
For the legislative gazette, I'm Paul Rosenthal.
And that about does it for this week's show.
Join us next week at the same time for the legislative gazette.
I'm Dave Goulettley.
The program is made possible with grants from the legislative gazette, the newspaper About
Stay Government, subscription information available by calling 518-473-6482.
And Empire Information Services, serving New York and New England with electronic
news release distribution.
Four citizens are opposing New York on its method of publicizing the Environmental
Bond Act and they've been winning.
I'm Dave Goulettley.
Coming up on this week's legislative gazette, we'll look at the battle over publicizing
the bond act.
Alan Chartoff will be along as well.
Join us each week for the legislative gazette.
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