Meet the NEW BOSS, Same As The OLD BOSS or “Way to go, Dems!”
Dear Nieces and Nephews, one would think
that during this crisis of leadership in the NYS Assembly, the majority party would
take the opportunity to REALLY clean up it's act. One would think that
they would elect someone squeaky clean to offset the recent troubles. And
maybe, just maybe, to illustrate that the charges of NYC’s needs overriding the
whole state are false; they would appoint someone outside of NYC to the post.
And how about someone who has not been in the same elected office for more than
10 years? or with a good attendance record and no financial “mishaps”.
But no! What are
they doing? Why the Democrats are strongly considering Carl Heastie from the Bronx,instead of the gentleman from Rochester, Joe Morelle, who has been in the
number two spot. (There goes the NYC influence again). And Squeaky
clean? Well, if you consider someone who paid his Ex (significant other, girlfriend
or whatever) for work she did not do, (using campaign funds) as
squeaky clean, then you are getting what you deserve. (See NY Post 1-30-15) This
girlfriend is also the mother of Carl Heastie’s child.
From the NY Daily
News: ww.nydailynews.com/news/politics/carl-heastie-line-replace-sheldon-silver-article-1.2098592
“In 2014, Heastie
received $23,441 in total travel expense reimbursements, the third-highest
amount in the chamber.
Since 2010, Heastie
was second in per diem expenses to only Assemblyman William Scarborough, who
has been criminally charged for misusing the expense-account system.
Despite seeking
reimbursements for all that time in Albany, Heastie managed to miss 173 votes last year, or 15% of the
total taken in the house.”
“An internal
memorandum prepared by the Moreland staff cited Mr. Heastie among 28 lawmakers
— out of the 213-seat Legislature — whose campaign reports from 2008 to 2013
showed more than $10,000 in spending that was not detailed.”
But wait, there’s
more! Heastie, dubbed “The Silent One" by NY Daily News reporter, Bob
Kappstatter, has the endorsement of… wait for it…the disgraced, outgoing
speaker, Sheldon Silver!!!!
Carl Heastie has been
in the Assembly for over 14 years and was in the NYC Comptroller's Office for almost
a decade beforehand. He has a poor attendance record, poor financial skills (strange considering
his BS degree in Applied Mathematics/Statistics and his stint in the
Comptroller's office) and poor personal planning. He is endorsed by the
outgoing ethically challenged speaker. Great Credentials!
Do you see what’s happening
here? And yes, we realize there is am movement afoot in the form of an interrogatory
letter for speaker candidates to answer; purporting transparency, participation
and Leadership role blah blah blah. That’s all it is, talk! Because when you
say one thing and do another you are engaging in “prevaricacion”, mes amis!
And we do hope that Mr. Heastie is not the frontrunner because the so called
enlightened ones will be able to proudly say that they elected the first African
American Speaker! That would be an insult to everyone, choosing someone based
on race or ethnicity.
No matter the race or ethnicity.
From the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/nyregion/race-for-silvers-seat-is-a-fight-until-the-end.html?ref=nyregion&_r=1
(published prior to Morelle dropping out)
“The contest to
succeed Mr. Silver has narrowed to three: Joseph D. Morelle from upstate*; Carl
E. Heastie from the Bronx; and Ms. Nolan. Behind the scenes, county party
leaders were herding votes and hedging bets, and Ms. Nolan said she wondered
what had happened to the thunderbolt of reform that was supposed to guide the
Assembly after Mr. Silver fell from grace.” (This was prior to Mr. Morelle dropping out)
(*Note the terminology “upstate”
clearly illustrating the Upstate-Downstate (NYC) divide. FYI to those in NYC, Rochester is no-where near Orange County.)
Good point, where
is that “thunderbolt of reform”?
Rep Cathy Nolan
(who?) from Queens in NYC is the only challenger in the running and is not even
supported by her home committee (Queens Democrats). Is she any better? Possibly,
but she is unknown in Orange County and probably would impose her city-centric
view on us (e.g. MTA tax) just as much as the others.
The only thunderbolt we know is the US Attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara. The politicos in Albany better not emulate Ben Franklin by flying a kite in this storm, they just may get struck by that thunderbolt.
The only thunderbolt we know is the US Attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bharara. The politicos in Albany better not emulate Ben Franklin by flying a kite in this storm, they just may get struck by that thunderbolt.
MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS!
Don’t forget to write!
Hon. Kevin Cahill CahillK@assembly.state.ny.us
Hon. Aileen Gunther GuntheA@assembly.ny.us
Hon. Frank Skartados
SkartadosF@assembly.state.ny.us
Hon. James Skoufis SkoufisJ@assembly.state.ny.us
Hon Joseph Morelle morellej@assembly.state.ny.us
Hon. Cathy Nolan NolanC@assembly.state.ny.us
Assemblyman Carl Heastie HeastieC@assembly.state.ny.us
posted by Auntie Alibi @ 5:14 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
The culture of NYS Government is so deeply entrenched that
there is little hope for things to change. Scheming, behind-the scenes deals and power plays are standard operating procedure.
Long standing leaders of both the Senate and Assembly have now been disgraced, but nobody dares challenge the status quo. Sad!!
Cathy Nolan has been the biggest proponent of the self appointed advocate driven farm worker labor bill. She is a not too bright blathering hypocrite and would be a disastrous choice as Speaker. When I get back from my Washington DC trip I will post my "best of" material regarding Nolan.
Here is my favorite piece I have ever posted about Cathy Nolan over the years:
From: "chris_pawelski"
Date: June 14, 2009 2:24:32 PM EDT
To: BuyLocalNY@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [BuyLocalNY] Re: Farmer Calls for Farmworker Bill of Rights
Reply-To: BuyLocalNY@yahoogroups.com
Okay, here is the second half of my reply to this.
Once again the blathering hypocrite Cathy Nolan attempts to apply that farmworkers in NYS lack protections and they alone are under some of these exemptions.
FACT: Over a dozen federal, state and local governmental agencies oversee a plethora of laws that govern and protect both the working and living conditions of farmworkers in NYS. These laws include the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) which is specific federal legislation that only applies to farmworkers. We have probably one of if not the most protected and regulated employees in NYS. We are talking about a literal handful of exemptions to our laws.
FACT: Farmworkers aren't the only class of employees subject to some of these literal handful of exemptions. Yes, many of these same exemptions that apply to farmworkers, like overtime pay also apply to the employees of non-profits and religious organizations. Yes, the very same organizations that are pointing their fingers at agriculture and dictating our exemptions are "unjust" can happily "exclude" their own workers from receiving overtime. I should also add that in the case of overtime there is another class of employees that are exempt, EMPLOYEES OF THE NYS LEGISLATURE. Yes, the very same people that work for the people that want to end our exemption are exempt from overtime. The level of hypocrisy is astounding.
Now here is some fun facts about the hypocrisy of Cathy Nolan:
When the NYS legislature ended the separate minimum wage order for agricultural workers late in 1999 (signed into law by Governor Pataki in 2000) an unintended consequence occurred. It seems the NYS legislature wasn't aware that agricultural workers weren't the only workers with a separate state minimum wage order. At the time separate minimum wage orders existed for a number of industries and employees in New York, including the hospitality industry, household/domestic workers, taxicab drivers, non-profit making institutions, amongst others. (By the way, as even the New York Daily News acknowledged in it's series written at the time about the farmworker issue, the separate minimum wage for farmworkers wasn't a prevailing wage. The Daily News acknowledged twice, in pieces written on 8/1/99 and 11/17/99, "the average wage for field hands (in NYS) is $7.20 an hour.") When the increase was passed increases also were passed for the far more (than farmworkers) waiters and waitresses that work in NYS. That increase though never was seen by those workers. As Andrew Hsiao pointed out in his article "Stiffed! State Legislature Slices Waiters' Minimum-Wage Raise " which appeared in the April 12 - 18, 2000 edition of the Village Voice:
"The Democratic-led New York State assembly passed a bill cutting back a minimum-wage increase for tipped workers in restaurants and bars. The bill was quickly approved by the Republican-dominated State Senate and signed by Governor George Pataki on March 31, leaving labor activists steaming."
Continued ...
He adds:
"Enter the state's powerful $14.2 billion restaurant industry, which launched an intense lobbying campaign that culminated in the last-minute assembly bill. The legislation, shepherded through the assembly by speaker Sheldon Silver and labor committee chair Catherine Nolan, capped the tipped workers' minimum at $3.30. Mario Cilento, a spokesperson for the state AFL-CIO, says, 'It's unfathomable that they would go to all this trouble to deny these low-wage earners 20 cents an hour.' Worse, adds the Immigrant Rights Clinic's Chakshu Patel, the bill unhooked the tipped workers' minimum from the general minimum, meaning, she says, that 'if other workers get a raise in their minimum wage, restaurant workers won't. Instead, they'll have to fight a new and separate battle to increase their wages every time the general minimum is increased in the future.'"
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/index.php?issue=0015&page=hsiao&id=14002
Queens Assemblywoman Nolan has been one of the most vocal proponents of self-appointed farmworker advocate proposed legislation over the years. I will note though that she probably has far more waiters and waitresses living in her district in Queens than farmworkers and farmers. I don't know if my (and others from upstate) objections to her positions (in respect to the fact she has virtually no firsthand knowledge or experience or real understanding in regards to agriculture and agriculture issues but has no problem pontificating about it) constitutes "agricultural exceptionalism" or not. But I will argue though that Nolan's callous move to backpedal on her minimum wage increase legislation in order to maintain the lower minimum wage "exclusion" for waiters and waitresses, so as to appease the powerful restaurant lobby, smacks of rank hypocrisy and cynical politics.
Yes, her political courage and concern and support for "justice" for the disadvantaged and downtrodden waiter and waitress melted faster than a soft serve ice cream cone dropped on a Queens parking lot on a hot day in mid July.
Finally, she has NEVER held a hearing regarding the farmworker legislation but has relied purely on the claims of a one-sided and very misleading source that had no problem lying to the NYS Lobby Commission and has repeatedly spread misinformation and clear distortions regarding the working and living conditions of farmworkers in NYS and the laws associated with them and their enforcement. Can Nolan and the other backers of this terrible legislation point to the economic impact study regarding the intended and unintended impact and consequences of the enactment of it? No, they can't, because it hasn't been done. It's the height of legislative irresponsibility that the sponsors of this legislation have introduced it without doing such as analysis first. Currently the upstate economy is reeling and the one aspect of it that is even remotely functioning is agriculture and they want to pass a bill that could seriously derail it?
During the debate on Monday Nolan repeatedly railed on and on about the lower minimum wage for children that work on farms. This is something that the twit Kerry Kennedy has used recently as well ("In the fields, children 14 and 15 years old make a mere $3.20 an hour for their back-breaking servitude." http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opken0712848549jun08,0,4102276.story) Nolan implied this was a typical or normal wage across the board (as is Kennedy). But when pressed on it she eventually admitted during the debate that the NYSDOL told her staff a literal handful of workers were paid that wage last year. That's Witt and RMM and that's Nolan. So typical.
Continued ...
The hypocrisy of this is only matched by the sheer stupidity. If Nolan et al want to end the overtime exemption, fine, THEN END IT FOR EVERYONE. Pay the staff of the Legislature, and the Catholic Diocese of Albany, and United Way, and every other non-profit in the state overtime. That should be the position if your argument is "equal justice for all." But it's not really that at all. Blathering hypocrites.
C.
They were in a hurry to choose,
and it is the people that will lose,
The new speaker Carl,
makes us want to snarl
And gives us NYS Government Blues!
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