Broadband internet and rural economic development

The juxtaposition of a story about New York state's failure to deliver broadband internet to the North Country and the story about the closure of Dannemora and Watertown prisons is insightful.

State prisons were added in the north country in the 1980s by the current governor's father and Republican Senator Ron Stafford as a rural economic development program.

Now with the prisons being closed as the inmate population plummets, the state and localities have to come up with a sensible and sustainable rural economic development plan(s). Broadband internet is essential to any such plan.

With the pandemic (and terrorism concerns before that), many people have been looking to get out of densely populated urban areas. The Adirondacks' stunning natural beauty is a great draw. But they're not going to move somewhere without access to high speed internet... even less so when they are working and their kids going to school from home.

How bad governance botched needed bail reform in New York

The shambolic implementation of needed bail reform in New York is a great example of the state government's dysfunction and how its abysmal processes lead to embarrassments like the governor admitting a law needs revamping only a few days after it takes effect.

Far from being a new development with the Democrats taking control of the state senate, this has been the depressing status quo for decades.

Some of the good things are being misrepresented by political hacks or flat out misunderstood by well intentioned folks, no doubt. Some of the reforms were needed. Some were bad ideas. Some were good ideas badly implemented. 

But why was this reform implemented so chaotically that the governor is conceding the need for changes only a week into the law's existence?

The process.

The reforms weren't passed via the normal legislative process that first world governments use to pass important legislation. Which is by holding hearings seeking feedback from all of the stakeholders, using that feedback to make tweaks to the initial bill and get rid of previously unforeseen consequences and then holding a public debate and vote on the stand alone bill.

Instead, the reforms were shoved into the unrelated budget with no separate debate while constituents were focused on the countless other things that might or might not end up into the budget.

No democracy. Whatever the legislative "leaders" and governor agreed on. The other 221 legislators are useless. This is nothing remotely close to the good governance that candidate Andrew Cuomo promised us in 2010.

The tactic of shoving policy into the budget, used on many issues, is designed to shield the other legislators from constituents opposing or questioning whatever is being passed. It's designed to protect rank and file legislators from having to do their job.

 

Process matters. And the state's processes have always been horrible. It takes good ideas in principle and ruins them in implementation. Even the good laws that come out of Albany seem to arrive despite the process not because of it.

#HimToo ?

Today, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman resigned, hours after The New Yorker revealed serious allegations against him of violence toward women. Many called for him to step down immediately.

On one hand, it's good that, at least in some quarters, public revelations of violent misogyny cause the accuser to be shunned into slinking out of public life, not excused or, worse, actively embraced.

And it is fitting that Schneiderman - a vocal backer of the #MeToo - may be punished under laws that he helped pass as a state senator.

On the other hand, some of his accusers claim that they told others of his actions a long time ago and they were not acted upon.

Clearly many men in positions of power - Republicans and Democrats alike - think they are above the law - to say nothing of basic human decency - in how they treat (usually) women. Far too often, they are right.

The bipartisan rogues gallery of Albany

This is a recap of recent developments in New York's legislature.




The Democratic Assembly speaker has been indicted for a massive bribes and kickback scheme.




The Republican leader of the Senate is under investigation, also for his outside sources of income.



The Republican deputy leader of the Senate has been indicted for lying to the FBI.



Every living former Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader has been indicted, all for financial crimes.




So how has that "lesser of two evils" voting strategy working out?




"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -Benjamin Franklin.




If you're tired of the insanity, check out the Green Party of New York. Or if you're so inclined, the Libertarian Party of New York. These are the only two organized alternatives in this state to the two corporate parties.

Who's not welcome in Emperor Andrew's New York

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been in hot water lately for his administration's apparent role in a bridge closure debacle and its alleged role in denying disaster aid to a mayor, both based on a political grudge.

  

New York's own Andrew Cuomo has the same arrogance problem as Christie. It makes you wonder when Cuomo’s Bridgegate will explode.

Just last Friday, Emperor Andrew told the public broadcasting show Capital Pressroom, speaking of conservative Republicans, “Who are they? Right to life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay — if that’s who they are, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.” Not surprisingly, he quickly ran away from his reckless words.

Readers of this blog know that I am as harshly critical as anybody of right-wingers and their extreme positions. But to suggest they should be purged* from the state is pompous and despicable. Not quite as despicable as blaming autism and dementia on anti-bigotry efforts, but highly irresponsible for someone with presidential aspirations.

People have criticized me for describing him as Emperor Andrew. But until he realizes that his job is to represent all New Yorkers, including the ones he would rather discard, then the label will fit.

(*-I’m not suggesting Cuomo would actually engage in the sort of actual purge that Vladimir Putin is stirring up in Russia or Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria. But when you say they have ‘no place in the state,’ it is leaves just enough rom for interpretation.)

'Economic development' scams three times more likely to lose jobs than create them

The slush funds known as economic development programs not only lavish 7 billion in New York state tax dollars each year, not only lavish these special perks to a mere 4% of businesses, they do so in a secretive fashion that provide no accountability to assure the recipients actually produce the number of jobs they promise. Over a quarter of projects receiving "economic development" funds were not obligated to promise to create or retain a single job.

To the extent that the data could be analyzed, only 13% produced the number of jobs proposed while 40% either didn't create a single job or actually lost jobs.

NYS ballot proposals

As an odd-numbered year, it's only local offices up for vote here in New York. But voters in the Empire State will have a number of statewide propositions to vote on. All would amend the state constitution.

The exact wording of all amendments can be found at the website of the state Board of Elections.

PROPOSITION 1 - GAMBLING - NO
The most controversial of the amendments would authorize up to seven non-Indian casinos in the state. Governor Andrew Cuomo has come under fire for manipulated the wording of the amendment after passage by the legislature, a move of dubious legality. Further, it makes one suspect that makes one suspect that accusations of him being in the back pocket of gambling interests might be true; revelations that he and other pro-casino legislators have taken large brib... I mean, "donations" from the industry add to the appearance of sleaze. Many New Yorkers think the amendment would cause far more problems that it would solve. The process has been so rigged that I can't have any confidence in supporters' claims.

PROPOSITION 2 - CIVIL SERVICE CREDIT FOR DISABLED VETERANS - YES
Current law gives state workers credit for being disabled and credit for being a veteran, but not both. This change would allow them to get credit for both.

PROPOSITION 3 - MUNICIPAL DEBT AND SEWAGE - YES
The change would allow municipalities to exempt debt incurred for sewage facilities from their constitutional debt limit.

PROPOSITION 4 - TOWNSHIP 40 - YES
This amendment would settled disputed land claims in the Raquette Lake area. The change has been negotiated by the state and landowners. It is supported both by local officials and by all the major environmental groups. There isn't any known opposition.

PROPOSITION 5 - NYCO AMENDMENT - NO
This is another amendment regarding state land but is more disputed than Prop 4. The mining company NYCO is offering to swap some of its land for state owned land. It would mine the land and then return it to the state forest preserve. Not surprisingly, this is supported by the business community and most local officials, but it has divided the environmental community. The Adirondack Council and Adirondack Mountain Club support it. Protect the Adirondacks and Adirondack Wild oppose it. I think both sides' arguments have merit but it seems to me that if public land can be handed over the private interests for open pit mining, then it's not really 'forever wild.'

Note: North Country Public Radio has a more in-depth look at Props 4 and 5.

PROPOSAL 6 - JUDICIAL AGE LIMIT - NO
Prop 6 would increase to 80 the maximum age to which some state judges could serve before mandatory retirement. This is a good idea in theory but poor in execution. It does not apply to all judges and has some many exceptions as to defeat the purpose. This amendment should be rejected and the legislature instead should raise the retirement age of ALL judges.

Emperor Andrew and his new clothes

North Country Public Radio's In Box blog did a piece entitled 'Voters slap down four school budgets that bust prop[erty] tax cap.' That title is misleading because in at least one of them, the budget was approved by a majority of voters, but not the arbitrary 60% required under the new law for any proposed increase above the artificial tax cap (generally seen as 2% but other factors can make it vary).

This has been a pet peeve of mine. School budgets are the only taxes people get to vote on, at least in New York. As the only tax approved by direct democracy, imposing an arbitrary supermajority requirement seems particularly unfair.

But the real problem is how Governor Andrew Cuomo has shamefully broken his promise twin the tax cap with much needed mandate relief for schools, counties and municipalities.So basically he's told these entities: we're going to micromanage everything you have to do but we're going to make it as difficult as possible to raise enough revenue to do all those things we impose on you without your consent.

I suggest a different kind of cap. If the state mandated part of a school district's budget rises by more than 2% - the part that Albany has total control of and the districts zero - then the state should pay the difference. This might make Albany think a little more carefully before imposing every mandate under the sun. A little accountability would be nice.

But this is Albany. If there were any accountability in the place, Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver would be out on his can for *repeatedly* aiding and abetting sexual predators, using our tax money to do so. So localities shouldn't expect a fair shake anytime soon.

Cuomo is big on lecturing lower levels of government. He wags his finger at others on how all they have to do is make 'tough decisions' and things will be hunky dory... even though a huge number of the decisions are imposed on them by Cuomo himself and his minions. A typical county budget in New York has 80-90% of its expenses mandated by the state; its actual flexibility is minimal.

But Emperor Andrew's real sham is the elaborate shell games he likes to play precisely so he himself can avoid making tough decisions. The vaunted tax cap is a great example. He didn't do a darn thing. This doesn't require him to make a single tough decision. The law just tells other people what to do, people who had nothing to do with passing the law, and makes them pick up the pieces.

The law ties the hands of lower levels of government so Cuomo can puff his chest and say "I kept taxes in check"... while avoiding having the make the tough decisions involved with paring down mandates. The mandate part, he passed of to some commission years ago and we've heard virtually nothing since.

This way, the counties, municipalities and school districts who will take the heat for laying off staff and cutting programs while Emperor Andrew keeps himself above the fray and pontificates on tough decisions... the kind he's too gutless to make himself.

Cuomo is a master at doing nothing, passing the buck and portraying it as progress. His latest shell game has to do with tax-free zones, similar to the discredited Empire Zone scam. The idea is that if new businesses set up in towns with a state university campus, they can get tax-free status for up to a decade.

Emperor Andrew is a very smart politician. He proposes things like this and the tax cap which sound great, so long as you don't look to carefully at some... something which he's counting on most people not done.

But for the tax-free zone plan, more than likely, taxes will actually INCREASE for most people in those places.

These new businesses will be apparently exempt from property taxes. Yet they will still be using the same public services like roads, snow removal and fire and police protection. The total cost of public services will remain the same, but with fewer property taxpayers (because of all the exemptions) to share that burden, those who actually are paying taxes will pay more.

The only way this could be avoided is for Albany to reimburse localities for the revenue lost from these tax-exempt businesses.

And that's about as likely to happen as a wave of honesty and good governance to break out in the Capitol.

Run North Country schools like a business... and police and prisons too!

"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara.

At North Country Public Radio's In Box blog, reporter Brian Mann wonders if we are 'cutting our North Country schools to death?'

Predictably, it provoked comments of relief that schools are finally being run like businesses. A bit of a dubious claim, since schools are being suffocated by unfunded mandates from Albany and Washington far greater than businesses... to say nothing of the fact that the right to a public education is enumerated in the state constitution.

But while the idea that public services should be run identically to businesses strikes some as absurd, but I say let’s expand it beyond schools!

 If a sheriff’s department is short of cash, let them give out more tickets; I’m sure there’s some rarely enforced statute about covering your mouth when you sneeze that could bring in more revenue.

 If the corrections [sic] service has trouble meeting payroll, just release some prisoners. That’ll help them live within their means. Maybe police and fire departments should close at 5:00 or 9:00 pm, just like a regular business.

If you get robbed or your house burns down overnight, oh well just call in the morning. Maybe these men and women in uniform don’t need the 'luxury' of health care. That’d slash expenses significantly.

Maybe EMTs should make you pre-pay before splinting your broken leg, just like gas stations make you pre-pay.

Public services run exactly like businesses? Great idea! I’m sure you folks can come up with some more such innovations.

Trying to understand the gun culture

Note: this essay is about the gun culture, not about gun control legislation or proposals.

NCPR’s In Box blog has an interesting essay on northern New York’s cowboy culture.

I grew up in upstate New York and have spent virtually my whole life here. I’ve seen enough of isolated rural New York that I understand perfectly well why someone might feel the need to own a gun to protect their family and home. But while I get most of the gun culture, even if I don’t partake in it, there are still aspects about it that I simply don’t get.

An acquaintance of mine last week brought up the issue of guns last week following the passing of a gun control measure by the New York legislature and governor, the first since the Sandy Hook massacre. This was a bit surprising since we’d never directly talked politics before. He’s an evangelical Christian and very socially conservative (at least based on his Facebook page). He was extremely upset by the law. Fair enough.

He was so agitated that he was speculating on the possibility of moving to Canada or to Vermont... not mere ranting since he lives a stone’s throw away from the latter.

To him, the key issue seemed to be the mere (to my eyes) fact of having to register his weapons. when he asked if guns had to be registered in Canada and I said I think they did, he said the heck with that.

He seems like a nice reasonable person. Not a bloodthirsty fanatic. Not a drone intoning from a script. Not a raving lunatic blaming video games for Newtown. He is religious, pleasant, even boring, family man.

But the gun issue was so important to him, it seemed to trump his other views... to the point that as an evangelical social conservative, he’d considered moving to a far more secular country than ours and to a state where gay marriage was legal (and probably the most liberal state in the nation overall).

Evangelicalism seemed to be at the core of himself and his family’s everything, yet when guns were threatened, it seemed to trump even something as strong as religious belief. *This* is what I don’t get about gun culture... and frankly what unnerves me a bit.

How fracking interests are buying 'experts'

I'm down in southern New York visiting relatives. This area is Ground Zero for the debate in New York over the controversial and polluting natural gas drilling procedure known as hydrofracking. Around here, it's clear the fracking industry is waging a very aggressive and high-profile campaign touting its alleged virtues;  most expect New York's business-owned governor to allow towns who want the procedure to have it (such decisions will be made locally but will the dollars for the pollution clean up be strictly local too? I doubt it). The campaign is actually very clever, appealing not only on economic grounds but claiming that 'responsible drilling' will reduce the number of wars we fight (not bloody likely).

The public journalism site Pro Publica has done a significant amount of excellent journalism on the perils of hydrofracking and the dishonesty of the industry.

Another good source, Mother Jones, ran a piece recently exposing the degree to which fracking interest are buying 'experts' from academia to purchase credibility for their efforts.

Southern NY's environment

I just discovered an interesting new blog entitled: Thoughts From Mount Moses. It's a blog written apparently by someone from New York's Southern Tier and devoted to environmental issues. Not surprisingly, the controversial issue of hydrofracking is one that it tackles. Check it out here.

Update: on a visit to the Southern Tier, I saw that the fracking industry's propaganda was in full force, and quite clever.

Legislators vs people in the real world

The Post-Star has editorialized against New York legislators seeking a pay raise. (I won't link to it due to their pay wall).

NYS lawmakers are paid a bare minimum of $79,500 for their part-time jobs; committee chairmen and those in leadership positions earn quite a bit more. Incidentally, 'part-time' is the description they themselves use so as to weasel out of transparency laws that might reveal their corruption and conflicts of interest.

In addition, they are given a $171 per diem for every day the legislature’s in session. 

The legislature opposes a raise in the minimum wage. Gov. Cuomo pretends to be in favor of the minimum wage but won't push for it, for fearer of alienating his corporate backers.

A minimum wage earner would have to work SIXTY hours a week every week for THREE AND A HALF YEARS to earn what the poorest of these bozos in Albany get for five months of *part-time* 'work.'

This calculation does not count their per diem. In order to earn $171, a minimum wage worker would have to clock in 23.5 hours.

Pay no attention to the main behind the curtain

New York public radio reports that hours after speaking out in favor of campaign finance reform, NY Gov. Cuomo attended a $20,000 a plate fundraiser. It's well-known that he is joined at the hip with the big business lobbying group The Committee to Save New York. This might why Cuomo is doing a lot of talking on campaign finance reform, but zero acting... sorta like his fellow Wizard of Oz Pres. Obama and Citizens United. The pair is counting on liberals paying more attention to their words than their actions, which is usually a good bet.

The cost of a 'part-time' legislature

New York legislators have to be among the most well-paid 'part-time' workers in the world. 

(They insist they are 'part-time' as an excuse to avoid conflict-of-interest disclosure laws that might reveal their leve of corruption). 

Legislators receive a base salary of $79,500 for 62 scheduled work days in Albany, plus more if they chair committees or serve in leadership posts. 

Yes, I know they do some work in their districts but this base salary works out to nearly $1300 a day of the legislative session. Plus, they get a $165 per diem for every day of the legislative session they are in Albany (or, apparently, even if they’re not).

If the state is only run by three people -- the Assembly speaker, the Senate majority leader and governor -- as many rank-and-file legislators complain, then why do we need the other 210 legislators at $1465 a day per member?

But apparently $1465 a day isn't enough. These part-timers want a pay raise.

Polls show we're not doing our job

This morning, North Country Public Radio just did a news brief, about 30-ish seconds, about (what else) a pol -- this time,l showing that hardly any New Yorkers knew anything about the primary challengers to NY Democratic US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. I have heard similar polls relating to Massachussetts' Democratic US senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's primary challengers. Is it possible that this is because the mainstream media refuses to do any actual reporting on said primary challengers?

Hydrofracking's 'toxic legacy'

Initially, it may have been nothing more than stalling to appease public opinion, but New York state's controversial temporary moratorium on hydrofracking is looking increasingly wise. The Diane Rehm Show had a comprehensive discussion on the benefits and dangers of the process. Officials from the Southern Tier who want fracking at any costs should check out this NPR All Things Considered story on its 'toxic legacy' in neighboring Pennsylvania.


Reminder: the excellent site Pro Publica has done some comprehensive investigative journalism on hydrofracking, its dangers and state government complicity with gas polluters.

Update: A few days ago, Vermont became the first state in the nation to ban hydrofracking.

New York comptroller exposes IDA racket

Late last year, New York's attorney general concluded that regional economic development and industrial development (EDCs and IDAs) slush funds were rife with the potential for seal-dealing, nepotism, improper loans and exorbitant expenses.

These taxpayer-supported rackets do government business but have little oversight and are exempt from being audited by the state comptroller's office. To say nothing of the massive redundancies of similar overlapping agencies. I've opined many times that a sober and thorough cost-benefit analysis would show this.

So it's little surprise that the comptroller has recently concluded that IDAs are a huge waste of money. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said more than 4,000 businesses received the tax breaks, but that IDAs realized 22,000 fewer jobs last year than the year before while using the economic development tool.   "Taxpayers are not getting enough bang for their buck when it comes to IDAs,"DiNapoli said, according to the Associated Press.


The comptroller noted that the cost of the average IDA-secured job increased 9 percent from 2010 to 2011.

DiNapoli proposed a bill that would allow taxpayers to better analyze the effectiveness of IDAs and their tax breaks. His bill would require clearly described job goals when a tax break is provided, followed by an accounting when the tax break expires. If the jobs promised weren't created, local governments would have a "claw back" provision to extract the avoided taxes from the company.   


DiNapoli's proposal would also require annual reports from IDAs and a report card on projects and their job success. 

Update: The Innovation Trail public radio project has a great piece on the lack of transparency in IDAs and its consequences.

Governor One Percent pretends to denounce his puppetmasters

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is jumping on the fake populist bandwagon by pretending to rail against so-called Super PACs -- even as the largest and most secretive one in the state, the ironically-named Committee to Save New York, is spending huge sums of money on his behalf. That Super PAC was given an 'F' by Common Cause New York for its complete lack of transparency; by contrast, none of the public sector unions so demonized by Cuomo received anything close such a failing grade. Governor One Percent is obviously counting on liberals to pay more attention to pious words than actual deeds, which is usually a good bet. A bill before the state legislature would implement a degree of public financing of political campaigns. We'll see if the governor, so beholden to corporate campaign bribes (I mean, "donations"), will throw his considerable influence behind public financing or if his words on this are as hollow as his promises on mandate relief.

NYS budget observers 'heartened' by secrecy

There’s something appropriate about the fact that the New York state budget is due on April Fool’s Day.

Public radio journalist Karen DeWitt reported on the adoption of the budget. She noted that observers “were heartened by the process” immediately before commenting on the nature of “the secretive negotiations”...

The fact that this can be said without apparent irony speaks volumes about NYS government.