PlanetAlbany

AFSCME robos against Gibson

AFSCME, the Washington-based parent union of CSEA, which is the largest public employee union in New York state, is calling homes in the Saratoga County town of Malta to urge attendance at tomorrow's town hall meeting to be held by GOP Congressman Chris Gibson. The caller also urges opposition to Gibson's "proposal to end Medicare and replace it with vouchers for private insurance," which would allegedly increase out-of-pocket costs to seniors by $6,000 a year "in order to give more tax breaks to millionaires and big corporations." Welcome to the permanent campaign.

UAlbany's goose cooked

The Times Union today says UAlbany may "drop a rung" in the SUNY hierarchy, if and when a plan to upgrade UBuffalo goes ahead. Albany County state Sen. Neil Breslin is resisting, but UAlbany cooked its own goose last fall with an extraordinary act of academic vandalism (which it now may partially reverse).

The Breslin star seems on the wane with the Democrats now in the Senate minority and brother Mike not running for re-election as county executive. Buffalo, meanwhile, lost 10 percent of its population in the last decade, and the university plan there, which shifts resources downtown, has bipartisan support and looks like a winner. If Gov. Cuomo aims to help Albany, too, he should back the plan of his old ally and Breslin rival Mayor Jerry Jennings to build a downtown convention center.

Welcome home

U.S. Army Spc. Mary "Molly" Conner (my daughter) is due to arrive at Fort Campbell, Ky, later this morning after a 10-month tour in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Her husband, Spc. Jason Eller, is scheduled to arrive later in the week. Both were on their second deployments in that country.

They met in Italy immediately following his first tour, when he served with Chosen Company in the Korengal Valley experiencing an intensity of combat I was completely unaware of until I read Sebastian Junger's book "War" and saw his and Tim Hetherington's film "Restrepo."

Following their marriage and first deployments, they both transferred to the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division. The 101st had parachuted into Normandy the night before D-Day, and six months later its acting commander at Bastogne responded "Nuts" when surrounded by the German army and confronted with a demand for surrender. In-between, the 101st participated in Operation Market-Garden, an offensive into Nazi-occupied Holland which took place a month after Anne Frank was arrested there. (She died of typhus in the Belsen concentration camp.)

Molly played the lead role in a Glens Falls High School production of "The Diary of Anne Frank." In Kandahar, she defended other girls, other people, in equal jeopardy -- and the United States of America. I am proud-humbled, heartful, grateful. 

Horner on Lanza, Cuomo, ethics bill

I bumped into NYPIRG Legislative Director Blair Horner this afternoon behind the Assembly chamber and asked him about Sen. Lanza's position on the ethics bill. It's impossible to know exactly what Lanza means when he says he supports full disclosure, Horner said, because there is no Lanza or Senate Republican bill. Is Lanza misrepresenting Gov. Cuomo's position, I asked Horner, and he said that's impossible to say, too, because there is no Cuomo bill. Nor is there a bill put in by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. What we have instead is a typically secret Albany negotiation that may or may not come up with meaningful reform.

While it is Horner's impression that the Senate Republicans are resisting reform, he has no real evidence to that effect. He said he remains hopeful that something will emerge better than the 2007 ethics law, which did more harm than good. What if the new bill just represents marginal improvement, I asked, and he replied that he would have to support it. "Roundheels Horner, they call you," I said, turning to go, and he responded: "You know what I am, it's just a question of price." [Note to the literal-minded: We were laughing, joking. Horner does not bear any physical or metaphorical resemblance to a lady of the evening.]

Lanza: I'm for full disclosure

As the Legislature and governor continue to negotiate ethics reform behind closed doors, I asked Staten Island's Andrew Lanza, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, about the issue on the Senate floor following this afternoon's session.

Lanza said he is for full disclosure of legislators' private-sector incomes and clients, including for attorneys, but that Gov. Cuomo's bill (i.e. proposed bill language) focuses too narrowly on attorneys and does not have broad enough disclosure provisions. "The more disclosure the better," Lanza said, adding that it would provide valuable information to voters. I asked him whether Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos agrees, and Lanza did not answer directly but said "I am continuing to press" for full disclosure. Skelos, like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, is a lawyer who has not disclosed his income and clients.

I also asked Lanza whether negotiations over the bill should be public, but he was not enthusiastic about this, noting "people behave differently" when the cameras are on and may be reluctant to put forward ideas and brainstorm.