Gov. Paterson Will Not Release Information on How Hilary Clinton's Successor Was Picked

And, his staff is changing quickly - after receiving pay raises.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Information is power, dear reader. Often the public is not given appropriate and timely information because those in powerful positions dont want anyone seeing what is going on behind closed doors. Government should be transparent.

QUICKLINK New York · February 23, 2009 · Freedom of information
N.Y. governor won't release candidates' questionnaires
LINK

The governor of New York has refused to release the questionnaires completed by candidates who sought to fill Hillary Clinton's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

The Associated Press reports it requested the documents under New York’s Freedom of Information Law. The questionnaire -- essentially an applicant background check -- was sent to an unknown number of candidates as part of Gov. David Paterson's vetting process, which resulted in the appointment of upstate New York lawyer Kirsten Gillibrand (pictured at right and below with Mrs. Clinton) to the junior senator seat. The form requested information on professional licenses, URLs for personal blogs and Facebook pages, and whether the candidate had ever hired an illegal immigrant.

The Paterson administration refused to release any portion of the questionnaires on the grounds that doing so would violate candidates’ privacy, the AP said.

Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group (pictured below at NYPIRG's 35th Anniversary) told the AP the governor appeared to intentionally limit the records it created during the vetting process "to avoid FOIL." He, along with other open government advocates, called for the release of the records related to the process separate from AP's request.

— Dana Liebelson, 5:06 pm



N.Y. governor rebuffs AP request for Senate-pick records
By The Associated Press, 02.21.09
LINK

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson is refusing to make public any of the responses candidates gave to his written questions in his much-criticized process to appoint a U.S. senator, or to provide a list of who was considered for the job.

Responding to a request by the Associated Press under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, the Paterson administration said it kept no list of candidates and that their responses to questions, even on public policy issues, should be kept secret under a legal provision intended to protect people’s privacy and safety.

“That’s mind boggling,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

He suspects Paterson and his staff purposely avoided taking notes and making lists to protect the secrecy of the process that culminated in the Jan. 23 appointment of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand.

“It was pretty clear from the beginning that the governor wanted to avoid FOIL, so they would do everything they could not to leave a paper trail,” Horner said.

Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, had called for Paterson to release the blank questionnaire during the process. Freeman maintained that some of the responses also probably should have been made public, but he said the administration isn’t required to create records after the fact.



Throughout the process begun in December, Paterson refused to identify anyone who expressed interest in the seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, now secretary of state. Paterson wouldn’t say how many candidates applied, and at various times he estimated the field at a dozen or more than 20.

The candidates who publicly identified themselves included Caroline Kennedy, Gillibrand, several other members of Congress and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. During the decision process, none would release the extensive questionnaire seeking background information such as family status, investments, any criminal record as well as education and career data.

Gillibrand posted her complete questionnaire on her Web site after she was selected but blacked out some information.

“They simply cannot defend the position that those records are exempt from FOIL,” Horner said. “They are certainly within their rights to redact certain information from the forms, but I cannot imagine under any scenario that they are put in risk of personal harm if their name was released.

“I don’t get it,” Horner said. “This is supposed to be the open, transparent government. Instead we’re getting stonewalled.”

The AP is appealing the administration’s response.

Paterson’s press officers did not respond to questions about the administration’s response in time for this story.

State law provides for, but doesn’t require, the retention of “certain essential records documenting the governor’s major accomplishments,” said Bob McDonnell, head of the state’s retention scheduling unit in the state archives.

Those records include letters, communications, directives, and “related supporting documents received or generated by the government and executive chamber staff.”

Previous
N.Y. official questions governor's process for picking senator
LINK

LBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson's secretive process to select Hillary Rodham Clinton's successor in the U.S. Senate conflicts with his campaign promises to open up government and New York's top regulator of open-government laws says it appears to violate state law.

Just days from announcing his choice, Paterson won't identify "about 10" people he says are in the running to follow Clinton. He won't release the blank questionnaire he sent to each of them looking for background information. He won't turn over the candidates’ completed forms. And the public isn't getting any idea how the hopefuls feel about broad or regional public issues — or even if public policy is being discussed.

"The process is confidential," is the stock answer from his office for the appointment to what has been called the world's most exclusive club.

The list of hopefuls and the questions posed to them in the questionnaire seem to most clearly violate the state's post-Watergate freedom-of-information laws designed to make sure government officials are accountable to the public. And at least some of the answers by candidates in their background checks should likely be public, too.



"How could it not be public? It's a blank form," said Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, the state agency that regulates enforcement of the good-government laws. Since 1976 Freeman, a lawyer, has been the top state employee who advises government and the public on interpretation of the public officers' law.

The names of those under consideration — among them Caroline Kennedy, perhaps state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, several members of Congress and other elected officials — should also be disclosed, Freeman said.

"In my mind, the identities of those seeking one of the highest offices in the land would not rise to the level of unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," Freeman told the Associated Press in an interview.

Some case law also would appear to go against Paterson. A court found not even a village board could legally go into a closed-door executive session to discuss filling a vacant seat. Freeman said state law in some ways recognizes less privacy protection for those in public office or seeking public office compared to private citizens.

Cuomo, who as attorney general is the governor's lawyer, didn't respond to a question of whether he supported the secretive process. Cuomo has refused to say if he is seeking the Senate seat.

"Their personal privacy does not trump the public's right to know who their next senator will be," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.



Horner says the need is particularly acute in light of accusations that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (at right) tried to sell to the highest bidder his appointment for the vacant Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama.

"So why doesn't Governor Paterson get the candidates to pledge they won't raise campaign funds for him, so his appointment is not seen as just in the best of interest of his own political position?" Horner said.

Paterson's spokesmen wouldn't respond to that question yesterday.

Paterson said yesterday that he hadn't publicly disclosed the information he had received from potential candidates because the request wasn't "a government action. That was a personal request I made of the candidates. Some of the information was rather private."

At a news conference, Paterson said the list of candidates is "personal."

"The law is on his side as far as whether he has to do any of this with transparency," said Barbara Bartoletti (pictured below) of the League of Women Voters. "But good government is not on his side here."



A copy of the questionnaire to applicants, obtained by The New York Times after Paterson's office refused to release it, asks about finances and job history, but not about policy positions.

"I don't think I've heard any public positions," Bartoletti said. She noted that most of the hopefuls are in office and so have a record for the public to judge. The exception is the perceived front-runner — Caroline Kennedy — who has never held public office and has guarded her political opinions and privacy.



Meanwhile, Kennedy continued her efforts to reach out to political leaders and state and local officials.

While stopping short of a traditional campaign, Kennedy has been courting local power brokers. U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel released a photograph of Kennedy's meeting with him and state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz yesterday. And on Jan. 11, she traveled to Brooklyn to meet with black lawmakers.

In 2005, then-state Sen. Paterson relied on sarcasm when some of Albany's notorious secrecy was peeled back after some outrage by himself, voters and good-government groups.

"I'm astounded that I'm here," said Paterson at his first public budget negotiation that included minority party leaders.

Then, as a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2006, reform was central to his platform shared by Eliot Spitzer, whom Paterson would succeed a year later following a prostitution scandal.

"Reform is the biggest joke that the Legislature tries to perpetrate on the public, and the public is not laughing," Paterson said in 2006.

"This governor ran on a ticket whose major thrust was government reform and that's what people thought they would get when they elected that team," Bartoletti said. "I think everybody is watching."

Open-government agency chief says secrecy surrounding David Paterson's selection of Hillary Clinton's successor may violate state law.
First Amendment Center, 01.13.09

Related

N.Y. governor won't seek leaker of Kennedy rumors
LINK

'You have a First Amendment right to protect your sources,' David Paterson tells reporters in announcing he won't probe accusations spread after Caroline Kennedy quit contest to be state's next U.S. senator.

Shield Laws, Subpoenas, and Confidentiality Cases

Bush officials mount campaign against media-shield bill
By The Associated Press, 04.04.08
LINK

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey and three other top Bush administration officials are weighing in against legislation that would allow reporters to protect the identities of confidential sources who provide sensitive, sometimes embarrassing information about the government.

The "Free Flow of Information Act" proposed by Republican Sen. Arlen Specter could harm national security and would encourage more leaks of classified information, the four officials wrote in letters to senators made public yesterday.

The legislation gives an overly broad definition of journalists that "can include those linked to terrorists and criminals," wrote Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.

"All individuals and entities who 'gather' or 'publish' information about 'matters of public interest' but who are not technically designated terrorist organizations, foreign powers or agents of a foreign power will be entitled to the bill's protections," Mukasey and McConnell stated in their joint letter.

Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, responded: "My staff met today with DNI and DoJ officials regarding the concerns expressed in the letter, and we are considering them."

"I think the legislation has an important purpose," Specter added. "I think we can make reasonable accommodations to their concerns, and we're working on it."

In a separate letter, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the nation would be more vulnerable to "adversaries' counterintelligence efforts to recruit" those shielded by the bill.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the bill would create roadblocks to gathering information "from anyone who can claim to be a journalist, including bloggers" and Internet service providers.

The opposition of the top Bush administration officials follows recent high-profile episodes in which reporters have fought efforts to reveal their government sources.

Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy is seeking to reverse a contempt of court citation for refusing to reveal her Justice Department and FBI sources for stories about the criminal investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Among the government leakers of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity, it turns out, were President Bush's then-top political adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to identify Libby to investigators.

The leaks of Plame's identity occurred after Plame's husband publicly accused the administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald eventually won convictions against Libby for perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI. Bush commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence.

Co-sponsors on the bill include Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Sens. Barbara Boxer, Christopher Dodd, Charles Schumer and Tim Johnson, all Democrats; along with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Lugar of Indiana.

“We've already sought to address these security concerns in a careful way," Schumer said in a statement. "The administration ought to overcome its visceral dislike of the media and do the right thing."

House votes to give journalists shield for confidential sources
By The Associated Press, 10.17.07
LINK

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives yesterday strongly backed the right of reporters to protect the confidentiality of sources in most federal court cases, saying that right was crucial to a free and effective press. The White House, warning that the media-shield bill would encourage leaks of classified information, threatened a veto.

Under legislation that passed 398-21, reporters could still be compelled to disclose information on sources if that information was needed to prevent acts of terrorism or harm to the national security.

That was not enough for the White House, which said the privileges for reporters "could severely frustrate — and in some cases completely eviscerate — the ability to investigate acts of terrorism or threats to national security."

Advocates of press freedom have pushed the issue this year in the wake of several high-profile cases, including subpoenas for reporters to testify in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Supporters pointed to press reports on Abu Ghraib, clandestine CIA prisons and shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center veterans hospital as examples where source confidentiality was crucial.

"Freedom of the press is fundamental to our democracy and it is fundamental to our security," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

“The federal government's policies and actions should protect and preserve the press's ability to speak truth to power, and this legislation does so with appropriate national security safeguards, striking a careful balance between liberty and security,” the California Democrat said.

More than 50 news outlets, including the Associated Press, support the bill, which faces an uncertain future in the Senate. A similar bill, S. 2035, sponsored by Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, but it is uncertain if the full Senate will take it up in the final legislative weeks of this year.

Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence, a conservative who co-sponsored H.R. 2102 with Virginia Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher, said he promoted the bill because "I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press." The act, he said, "is not about protecting reporters, it's about protecting the public's right to know."

Pence also said: “It is arguable in fact that the Free Flow of Information Act is the first legislation regarding the freedom of the press since the words 'Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press' were added to the Constitution. As such, and I say humbly, passage of this legislation today would be both momentous and historic.”

The Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are on record as opposing the legislation, saying it would make it nearly impossible to enforce federal laws pertaining to the unauthorized release of classified information. Justice also said the bill's definition of who is a journalist was too broad.

But backers said the bill was crafted to strike a balance between the need to protect a reporter's sources and the need for courts to see critical pieces of information.

Exceptions to the reporter shield are allowed to prevent an act of terrorism, apprehend the source of a past terrorist attack or stop harm to national security. Disclosures can also be ordered to prevent imminent death or significant bodily harm, or to identify a person who has revealed trade secrets or information involving personal medical or financial records.

Just before passage, the House accepted language by Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, the lead opponent of the bill, allowing judges to consider the public interest in forcing disclosure in all cases involving leaks that could be harmful to national security, not just criminal cases.

“The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the press their freedom to report, and for 200 years in this nation the press has flourished,” Smith said. “Information has flowed freely. And that is why I believe this bill is simply a solution in search of a real problem."

The final bill consists of "a lot of compromising," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "This has required enormous amounts of time and money and effort" by news and nonprofit groups. Pushing a legislative agenda, she said, "does not come natural to us."

The impetus, she said, was more than 40 cases in the past three years where reporters have been asked to identify sources or testify in federal criminal and civil cases.

"America is not a country where journalists should be jailed," said Clint Brewer, national president of the Society of Professional Journalists. "This bill will allow the working press and those acting as journalists to serve society without fear of reprisal or intrusion from overzealous prosecutors."

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for 85 days in 2005 for refusing to identify which Bush administration officials had talked with her about CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The Justice Department, in questioning the need for the legislation, said it had approved the issuances of subpoenas to reporters seeking confidential source information in only 19 cases between 1992 and 2006.

The Supreme Court in 1972 ruled in Branzburg v. Hayes that journalist-source relationships were not protected under the Constitution, and currently reporters have no privileges to refuse to appear and testify in federal legal proceedings. The situation is different in state courts, with 33 states having media shield statutes and 16 others with judicial precedents protecting reporters.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said, “In recent years the press has been under assault, as reporters are increasingly being imprisoned for obstruction of justice and other charges... . Today we are here in an attempt to reclaim one of the most fundamental principles enshrined by the Founding Fathers. Freedom of the press is the cornerstone of our democracy.

But the problem of getting timely and appropriate information is national:

CIA Destroyed 92 Interrogation Tapes
Agency Admits It Destroyed More Tapes Than Was Previously Believed
By PIERRE THOMAS and JASON RYAN, March 2, 2009
LINK



The CIA has destroyed nearly 100 interrogation tapes of terror suspects, a number far greater than was previously acknowledged by the agency.

The agency's admission came in new documents filed in a lawsuit seeking details about the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody outside the country.

The agency "can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed" stated a letter from government attorneys to the judge presiding over the case. "Ninety-two videotapes were destroyed."

The tapes purportedly show CIA agents using harsh interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, on terror suspects. The Obama administration has condemned that technique, with Attorney General Eric Holder calling it torture.

"The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systemic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations and to evade the court's order," American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Amrit Singh said in a statement.

He added that it's "time to hold the CIA accountable for its flagrant disregard for the rule of law." Motions filed in the case have been pending for more than a year.

But CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said the number of tapes revealed in the court documents does not contradict past statements.

"We never said publicly how many tapes from the agency's detention program were destroyed, so it's wrong for people to claim the figure is higher than before," he said. "That's just not true."

"If anyone thinks it's agency policy to impede the enforcement of American law, they simply don't know the facts," Gimigliano's statement concluded.

The March 2 letter, addressed to U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, indicated that the CIA is culling more records pursuant to the case but noted that some of the information might be classified.

In addition to the ACLU's lawsuit, the CIA has been under fire since December 2007, when then-CIA Director Michael Hayden acknowledged that the agency had destroyed several interrogation tapes in 2005.

Those recordings, made three years earlier, featured interrogations of two detainees, including key al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah.

After divulging the news of the 2005 tape destruction, then-director Hayden acknowledged that there were more tapes beyond those originally discovered in connection with the Moussaoui appeal, though did not give an exact number of tapes involved.

Hayden had said that tapes were no longer of value to the agency, and were destroyed to keep the identities of the interrogators confidential. He also said that the agency notified the appropriate lawmakers about the action.

The Justice Department is investigating the 2005 tape destruction, and John Durham, the career prosecutor tasked with the inquiry, is expected to wrap up his probe soon.

It's not clear when the other tapes were destroyed, but the ACLU contends that those tapes should have been turned over pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request it filed, and claims the tapes were also withheld from the 9/11 Commission.

Additionally, before the trial of the only terror suspect indicted in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the CIA had told the Justice Department that it did not have any interrogation tapes.

Moussaoui Appeal Reveals CIA Tape Information
Zacarias Moussoui pleaded guilty to terror charges, and a federal judge sentenced him to life in prison in 2006.

But Moussaoui's lawyers have filed an appeal, contending that government officials withheld evidence from his defense, and that the CIA had submitted inaccurate declarations to the U.S. District Court that no recordings of detainee interrogations existed.

In late 2007, court documents filed in the appeal revealed that the CIA had obtained three recordings "under unique circumstances involving separate national security matters unrelated to the Moussaoui Prosecution."

Government attorneys submitted transcripts to the court, but said it was unclear from the court documents whether the tapes still existed.

In his statement, CIA spokesman Gimigliano said that the tapes mentioned in the 2007 filings in the Moussaoui case are not the same as the tapes referred to in the ACLU suit.

"Those three tapes still exist. It's a separate issue," he said.

As for the most recent admission from the CIA concerning the 92 destroyed tapes, Moussaoui's legal team had learned of their existence as much as a month ago.

In transcripts declassified and released late last Friday, Moussaoui's lawyers say that the revelation that there "could be a whole bunch of other tapes" should cause the case to be sent back to the court that originally handled the case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is currently considering that request.

Last summer, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey notified lawmakers that he would not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the actions of CIA interrogators.

Noting that Justice Department lawyers had authorized the controversial techniques, Mukasey said in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., that "it would be unwise and unjust to expose to possible criminal penalties those who relied in good faith on those prior Justice Department opinions."

ABC News' Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report.

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse
The Brechner Center For Freedom of Information
The California First Amendment Coalition
ACLU
Americans For the arts: Cultural Policy Listserv
Center For First Amendment Studies
Sunshine in Government Initiative
The FOI Advocate

Who is Accountable For School Finances?

The New York Times reported yesterday that Tom Napoli, Comptroller of New York State, (pictured at right) is auditing all school districts. We have no information that New York City is one of them, looking at the New York City Oversight webpage. On page 27 we can see a general comment on the financial status of the Department of Education, but this is not what is called for at this time, when misinformation and possible corruption is rampant. Mike and Joel, have you handed out copies of the School Districts Accounting and Reporting Manual? Does anyone remember my article on The Gill Commission? Can we say that anything has changed? Charter Schools are fighting any audits of their books at all, by anyone, ever. Parent Associations are told by school staff to buy products they need from "approved" vendors that charge triple the amount other retail outlets might charge...and the NYC BOE keeps on hiring more people despite a hiring freeze.

No one is stopping the run to deplete scarce resources, it seems. It's business as usual, and no one is minding the store, at least not in New York City.

February 27, 2009
Auditors Peer Into Finances of New York Schools Statewide
By WINNIE HU, NY TIMES

State auditors found that the Niagara Falls, N.Y., school district overpaid 272 employees by more than $500,000 in 2006, apparently incorrectly sending out an extra paycheck to each of them.

Separately, they discovered that a laptop computer assigned to a school administrator in Vestal, west of Binghamton, had been used to visit Internet sites for pornography.

And they determined that districts in Mount Vernon, Newburgh, North Syracuse, Schenectady and Williamsville could have saved a total of $212,000 on electricity if they had shut off computers at night and used power-save settings.

Under a mandate to audit all 840 of New York’s school districts, charter schools and regional education agencies by March 2010, Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has dispatched hundreds of number-crunchers who have churned out multipage reports — more than 550 so far — that provide a revealing look at the day-to-day operations and finances of the state’s public education system. The audits are the first such routine checks of school district finances in decades, and they were prompted by a scandal in which half a dozen people, including the former superintendent, were convicted of stealing as much as $11.2 million from the Roslyn district on Long Island.

“If it could happen in Roslyn, it certainly could happen in any district,” said Mr. DiNapoli, who sponsored the legislation while a state assemblyman from a district including Roslyn. “You really have to be sure that money is not being used in a wasteful way, because for many of the communities, school district spending is such a large part of the property tax burden, which is the most onerous tax for people to pay.”

Superintendents and school board members at several local districts said that the audits had tightened financial controls and had made employees at every level more careful about spending taxpayer money, but that they also took up a lot of time and resources. Some also complained that the audits could be too focused on relatively minor infractions and accusatory in tone.

“For the most part it was helpful, but in some areas we felt that they took gratuitous shots at the district in a way that was self-serving for the comptroller’s office,” said Alan B. Groveman, superintendent of the Connetquot district on Long Island. (Editor: here is Mr. Groveman's bio
Alan Groveman
LI Chapter Public Relations Chair
Superintendent of Schools
Company: Connetquot Central School District
Address: 780 Ocean Avenue Bohemia, NY 11716
Phone: 631-244-2215 x3508
Email: agroveman@connetquot.k12.ny.us

Personal Bio or Company Description:

Dr. Alan B. Groveman has over 30 years of experience in the education field, most recently as the Superintendent of the Connetquot Central School District of Islip. He has served as an Assistant Superintendent for Business as well as for Personnel and for Curriculum and Instruction. He has a background in Psychology and Special Education, has taught at the graduate level and has consulted with schools and government agencies on a national basis. In addition to his educational career, Dr. Groveman has also served with Fire/Rescue departments including the Huntington Township Tactical rescue Team and worked closely with OEM, the police and other investigative agencies. He is a graduate of the City University of New York and received his Masters and Doctorate from Colombia University.)

The audit cited Connetquot’s multimillion-dollar surplus as evidence of lax budget oversight, but Dr. Groveman said the district had been purposely trying to build up reserves.

“Our explanations were ignored,” he said. “They said it was poor budget planning, and we said it was intentional. It would be dumb and inappropriate to spend every dollar we budgeted just because it’s budgeted.”

Complicating the audit process is a lawsuit by the state’s charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently operated, arguing that the state comptroller lacks the authority to investigate them. An appellate court ruled in favor of the state last month, but the charters are appealing the case. Mr. DiNapoli has suspended audits of charter schools until the case is resolved.

The state comptroller routinely audited school districts until the 1970s, when budget cuts led the office to limit them to a handful a year. The new law, passed in 2005, came with $5.4 million to hire 90 new auditors, and two years later, another $2.4 million for 45 more. In addition, nearly every district is required to submit an independent audit, using local funds, to both the comptroller and the state’s Education Department.

The state auditors started with districts where they had received complaints about financial problems, then selected others randomly. A typical audit lasts about 40 work days. William Reynolds, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, said that “school officials are given ample opportunity to respond to these audits, and their responses are included in the audit reports for the public to see.”

In the Grand Island district, northwest of Buffalo, an auditor sat in a spare room near the business office from June until December last year, reading through attendance records, purchasing orders and payroll accounts. At the auditor’s suggestion, the district has started requiring school employees who travel for workshops or conferences to submit the agendas along with reimbursement requests.

“It’s not gross change; it’s fine-tuning, what we should be doing anyway,” said Robert W. Christmann, the superintendent(pictured at left).

Mr. Christmann said that he and other superintendents had paid attention as their neighbors were audited to make sure they did not make the same mistakes, and were generally being more careful with their finances and record-keeping. He said he had noticed more sign-in sheets at educational meetings across the state lately that people were “signing because at some point you may be asked to prove that you were there.”

Because of the sheer size of the New York City school system, the comptroller has been auditing those schools on an continuing basis. Recent reports have cited inaccurate records of textbook inventories and special education services and inconsistent use of green cleaning products required by law.

Robert N. Lowry Jr., deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said the audits have too narrow a focus because they look only at compliance rather than larger fiscal issues. For instance, he said, state law prohibits districts from putting more than 4 percent of their budget into a general reserve fund — a cap that school officials have said could hamper their ability to avert budget problems in the future.

“It would be helpful if state leaders like the comptroller would question some of these mandates and restrictions,” Mr. Lowry said. “If you do these audits and criticize districts for failing to comply with all these detailed requirements, it reinforces the presumption that they all make sense. In some cases, it would be missing the forest for the trees in terms of what would be most helpful to taxpayers.”

Mr. DiNapoli said the purpose of the audits was to evaluate compliance and not to debate policy, though his auditors also assess districts financial condition and suggest ways to save like turning off computers at night. In addition, the auditors will review criminal background checks of employees.

In Vestal, auditors found that district laptops had been used to play children’s games and casino games, and in one case, to visit pornography sites. Vestal officials said that the administrator responsible for the laptop had lent the laptop to a family member who then used it inappropriately off school property.

After auditors found that the Niagara Falls district had overpaid employees, they were asked to repay the money or give up days off. Cynthia Bianco, the interim superintendent, said the audit was helpful but used overly harsh language in presenting its findings.

“I think a lot of it was instructive, but the tone of it was almost accusatory,” said Mrs. Bianco, who added that many of the issues cited were corrected before the audit was released. “We agreed with much of what was said in the audit. It’s been years since there was this kind of oversight, and many laws have changed during that period.”

FAQ on New York State Education Law Amendments affecting Charter Schools

Charter schools group to appeal ruling on state audits
Cara Matthews, Albany bureau, Democrat and Chronicle, January 18, 2009
LINK

ALBANY — The New York Charter Schools Association plans to appeal this week a mid-level court decision that says the state comptroller has the authority to audit the publicly funded but privately run schools.

The association and more than a dozen of its members filed suit against Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli a year ago, contending that his office did not have the constitutional power to audit public entities that are charter schools, which are also nonprofit organizations.

The group is not objecting to others having oversight over charter schools. That's already in place with the state Education Department and the agency that authorizes the charter (either the state Board of Regents, the State University of New York, or the two city school districts that have opened up their own charters), said Peter Murphy of the Charter Schools Association.

The state Supreme Court agreed with the association's arguments, but the Appellate Division disagreed by a vote of 4-1. The next step will be the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

"We think both constitution and precedent place limits on the comptroller to audit recipients of public dollars," Murphy said. "If the ruling holds, every recipient of a public dollar at any level is now subject to the reach of the comptroller, and that is clearly not the constitutional system we have."

DiNapoli said in a statement that as the state's chief fiscal officer and auditor, he has the responsibility to oversee how tax dollars are spent, no matter where they go.

"The courts have correctly upheld the state comptroller's power to audit charter schools. Taxpayers have a right to know how the $140 million in taxpayer money that goes to charter schools each year is spent," he said.

The Comptroller's Office said in court papers that charter schools, like public school districts, lack the capacity to challenge the constitutionality of state legislation.

Because of the lawsuit, charter-school audits by the Comptroller's Office have been frozen for the past nine months, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli said. The agency issued 18 before that.

State legislators passed a law in 2005 to increase the comptroller's fiscal oversight of all school districts, including charters, following audits that found serious incidents of financial mismanagement in the Roslyn School District on Long Island.

The state Legislature and governor authorized charter schools 10 years ago to provide a new vehicle for improving education and give families more choice in schools. There are 115 charter schools operating this year, and nearly 30 more have been approved to open in the next year and a half, according to the Charter Schools Association. The state can authorize up to 200 of them.

New York State United Teachers praised the ruling. The court case is about accountability for using public dollars, said NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi. "Charters were looking to be excused from that accountability, and that was just wrong."

The comptroller is saying that the standard has to be the same for everyone, Iannuzzi said.


NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi speaks to reporters at the end of an intense day on Capitol Hill. L-R: New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein; Rep. George Miller; Iannuzzi; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy. Photo by Mike Campbell.

"I don't know why they would want to avoid it unless they have something to hide," he said.

NYSUT represents about 600,000 classroom teachers and other school employees, along with faculty and other professionals at the state and city universities and other education and health professionals. The union, which represents teachers in some charter schools, has been critical of charters and the financial impact they have on the public school system. Money follows students as they move from public school to a charter school, and cities with a large number of charter schools have been heavily impacted financially.

Charter schools are "incubators for new ideas" and methods that could improve education, Iannuzzi said.

CLMATTHE@Gannett.com

Parents Advocating School Accountability

Article published Feb 25, 2009
Creative school solutions welcome
LINK

An interesting proposition arose in New York City earlier this month. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio (see following article - Ed.) of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn suggested that four Catholic schools scheduled for closing could be turned into public charter schools.
Details of the plan were reported in the New York Times, including skeptical comments from those involved in Catholic education elsewhere.
"Charter schools have taken some of the key elements we've prided ourselves on over the years. I'm very concerned about enrollment," said Sister Jane Herb, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Albany.
There has also been some speculation that Bloomberg's move would play well for him in a future election.
The report also noted that in New York state, such a move would require a approval by the state legislature because current state law bars charter schools from being tied to any religious institution. Both Bloomberg and DiMarzio noted that the city would lease the buildings and religious instruction would be banned and religious symbols would be covered.
The Erie area has found success with temporary leasing arrangements between public schools and closed Catholic schools. J.S. Wilson Middle School rented St. Andrew School while Wilson, in the Millcreek Township School District, was renovated. The Erie School District currently has a lease at Sacred Heart School while Erie tries to determine how to replace its aged Roosevelt Middle School.
Could there be room for a longer-lasting alliance? The federal stimulus money has funds for shovel-ready projects, but it would be worthwhile to explore whether buildings that were shovel-ready decades ago could find new, permanent reuse to educate our youth.



Brooklyn bishop Nicholas DiMarzio donates to politician whose ma will rule on saving diocese schools
BY Brendan Brosh, DAILY NEWS WRITER, Tuesday, February 17th 2009, 4:00 AM
LINK

Brooklyn's Catholic bishop made a rare political donation last month to a City Council candidate whose mother has power over a plan to save several parochial schools, the Daily News has learned.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, (at right) whose diocese also includes Queens, personally contributed $250 to Queens candidate Geraldine M. Chapey (pictured at right) on Jan. 7, city campaign finance records show.

The donation came a month before DiMarzio and Mayor Bloomberg announced the city plans to convert some struggling Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens into charter schools.

Chapey's mother is a member of the state Board of Regents, which has the power to approve charter schools.

"I guess religion has a place in politics now," said Glenn DiResto, a retired NYPD lieutenant who is running against Chapey in a special election for the Council seat vacated by new state Sen. Joseph Addabbo.

"It creates a suspicion of impropriety. This is politics as usual," DiResto said.

Another candidate, Lew Simon, called the contribution a "conflict of interest."

"I've never seen the church speak out on a candidate before," Simon said.

DiMarzio - who heads a diocese of nearly 1-1/2 million Catholics - said there was no quid pro quo with the politically connected family.

"You can't make the connection," said DiMarzio, who said he has known Chapey for the past five years. "It doesn't exist."

The donation is actually worth $772, because it qualifies for a $522 match with taxpayer money under Campaign Finance Board rules.

It appears to be the 64-year-old bishop's first donation to any city, state or federal candidate, a search of campaign finance records shows. DiMarzio said he had donated to "very few" candidates "back in New Jersey" but couldn't remember their names.

A search of New Jersey campaign finance and lobbying records did not reveal any donations from DiMarzio.

Chapey's mother, Geraldine D. Chapey, who has sat on the Board of Regents since 1998 did not return a call for comment.

The plan to convert four Brooklyn and Queens Catholic schools into charter schools is still fluid, but the diocese plans to establish a nonprofit to oversee them. They could no longer offer religious education.

The proposal faces a number of legislative hurdles, and the state would need to pass a law for the plan to go through.

Council candidate Chapey - who seeks to represent portions of the Rockaways, Howard Beach and Ozone Park - said she hadmade no agreement with the bishop.

"The bishop is a citizen, and he's participating in the democratic process," said Chapey, a local Democratic district leader. "There was no discussion about charter schools. Absolutely and totally not. N.O. No discussion. That would be evil."

DiMarzio stressed that his donation was made as a private citizen. He said he doesn't expect Chapey to vote along church lines if she's elected.

"She's not the regent," DiMarzio said. "Her mother is. She is a very good parishioner of the diocese."

EXCLUSIVE
The National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers

Is Joel Klein As Pseudo "Chancellor" About to Be Ditched?

Held Back
Will Bloomberg dump Joel Klein?
By Jacob Gershman, New York Magazine, Feb 20, 2009
LINK

Earlier this month, New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, once a star White House litigator, thought he had presented a solid case before the State Legislature. He pointed to small gains in graduation rates, a spike in fourth- and eighth-grade math proficiency, and signs of a narrowing gap in achievement among the races. Then he said, “There is a lot more work to do.”

But he may not be the one to do it. The seven-year “experiment” in mayoral control of the schools comes up for renewal this June, and legislative approval of its continuation might come at the price of the chancellor’s job. The day of the hearing, the lawmakers let their feelings toward Klein be known in no uncertain terms. (“Hogwash! … Your superintendents control nothing,” declared one assemblyman. “We have no choices. We’re overcrowded,” said another. “You’re violating the law,” squawked a third.) After the hearing, Bloomberg’s lobbyists were overheard bemoaning “how much the legislators hate Klein,” says a City Council member. Klein later dialed lawmakers one by one to calm them down. “There was a feeling it was too little, too late,” says an Assembly source.

Which means Klein’s days as education-reform bad cop might soon be over. Dennis Walcott, the deputy mayor for education, says, “There’s no space between the mayor and chancellor. There’s total alignment. They have honest direct interaction with each other and they will continue to form that strong partnership into the third term, if there is one.” But others aren’t so sure. “There’s no question [the mayor’s] going to get rid of him,” says a City Council member. Bloomberg’s “more convinced than ever that he’s created so many enemies.”

Klein, even more than his aloof boss, was never a particularly charismatic technocrat. He grew up in public housing in Queens, and comes off as a street-tough nerd, with a blunt style and a way of speaking that makes him sound angry even when he’s not. Both he and Bloomberg are self-made sons of bookkeepers, tenacious, restless, corporate-minded, and distrustful of ideology and public-education orthodoxy. Over the years, Klein has also been helpful to the mayor as a target for lawmakers, parents, and teachers. Bloomberg bought peace with the teachers union by increasing teacher pay by more than 30 percent and conveniently left Klein in charge of the bloodier battles over spending, restructuring, teacher firings, and teaching to the standardized tests.

Which means that the problem for Klein is not so much in the data (though critics have accused him of juicing the numbers) but himself. This is a big problem for Bloomberg’s dreams of a third term as “education mayor.” He can’t pay off the United Federation of Teachers, which sat on the sidelines last election, with a better contract this time. “If the UFT decides, based on Klein, to oppose Bloomberg, you’re talking about a lot of troops on the ground,” says labor activist Jonathan Tasini. Knowing this, the union is said to be pushing the mayor to sacrifice Klein. While lawmakers have piled on the chancellor, UFT head Randi Weingarten has restrained her attacks in recent weeks, stirring speculation of a pact with Bloomberg. Walcott says, “The mayor is not one to make deals for anything that sacrifices individuals.” But on the question of Klein’s fate, Weingarten answers gamely: “I’ve found the mayor easier to deal with and more responsive than the chancellor.”

The "Who Are You Kidding??" Award Goes To: Joel Klein, New York City Board of Education Pretender

Editorial: The New York City Department of Education is a Sham and Mike Bloomberg is the Flim-Flam Man

COMMENT:

AS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA CLEANS UP WASHINGTON, DC -
MAYOR BLOOMBERG SHOULD CLEAN UP THE NYC SCHOOLS SYSTEM

The unforgivable havoc which former Federal Prosecutor Joel Klein, Esq. has visited upon one million children and their thousands of dedicated teachers, is a crime of epic proportions.

Dictators, whether of banana Republics or large nations, generally possess certain predictable mental characteristics in common. That is to say, an exaggerated opinion of their own native intelligence, (completely out of all proportion to objective reality) and an almost delusional sense of certainty that they, and they alone know what is best for everyone else.

One can compose a list of any dozen "dictators" at random, from the entire history of civilization, and discover this to be true. Joel Klein, Esq. is no exception to this rule. In fact he is the "poster child" of this idea.

Once decorated personally by Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as a Teacher of the Year, I was the Senior member of the faculty of the High School of Art & Design on Sept 26, 2004, the day Klein's Dept of Education had me removed from the building when I refused to surrender taped evidence of Federal Civil Rights violations occurring at my school.

The Principal at the time, was allowing a physically adjoining predominantly White Elementary school to use the second floor of my school to expand its stellar Music Program, while simultaneously denying the legally required subject of Music to her own predominantly Minority (Black and Latino) students.

I had previously written to Chancellor Klein of similar serious Federal Civil Rights violations occuring at my school in an Oct 2, 2003 letter - a letter which initiated a blistering Whistle-blower retaliation war against me by Klein's numerous lapdogs, lackeys and assorted enforcers.
This case, N0. 08-CV-7673 (DAB)(KNF) is now in the Federal Courts.

Joel Klein, Esq., a "legend in his own mind", will be relegated to the scrap heap of history soon enough. But Mayor Bloomberg and one million school children, their teachers and their parents, would be well served by replacing Chancellor Klein at the earliest opportunity.

David Pakter, M.A., M.F.A.

Disarray at PS 154X in the South Bronx, Teachers There Report

What is going on at PS 154X in the South Bronx? And what is Joel Klein doing about it?

Teachers are in an uproar at PS 154X in District 7 in the South Bronx. A source there has told us that one of the Assistant Principals, Derrick Townsend, is harming the children with rough and abusive actions that are excessive. They say that what is happening at PS 154 does not serve the best interests of the children.

The school has 500 students, yet there are three assistant principals. The school has an "administrative teacher" and basically no one knows what her duties entail. There is no SAVE room because as the principal has said, according to teachers, "I don't believe in the SAVE room", and "I do not wish to discipline students".

Students are moved out of a CTT class into a mainstream class without parental notice or consent. The 12:1:1 kindergarden class is currently being taught by the third teacher in the classroom for this year, and there are many questions as to whether or not any of the children in this class are appropriately placed. When a student from this class was asked to leave with AP Townsend, and this student decided that he did not want to walk any more, Mr. Townsend dragged him 40 feet down the hall (September 29, 2008).

Also from a source at the school:

On February 13, 2009 a young third grade girl told her teacher that a boy had touched her. Mr. Townsend went to the classroom and humiliated the girl. A struggle ensued, leaving the girl's arm buised. She was taken to the nurse, who said the bruises were "old".

On or about November 7th 2008 AP Derrick Townsend grabbed a 3rd grader by the shirt, dragged him and tore the boy's shirt. The mother, who is in the school everyday, was never initially informed.

On October 14 student A in the 5th grade said he wanted to blow up the school. His punishment - he can't go outside for lunch and that he has to do "community service" for two weeks with a first grade class at that time - was never carried out. Nor was it ever reported.

A student has made several threats to a teacher. The principal's reaction has been to give more counseling to the student and it has never been reported. There is no SAVE room, so students that act up are simply placed in another classroom, disrupting instruction at the new location. Similarly, students are brought into the school after being suspended from other schools and placed in PS 154X classrooms at random. Almost always this starts trouble. Sometimes these displaced students are supposed to receive special education related services and/or staffing, which, as the teacher at PS 154 does not have the IEPs, cannot be provided. Often, a student who gets disruptive, spends the rest of the day in the office with Mr. Townsend, without any instruction.

Former Senator Alfonse D'Amato is BAAAAACK

From the desk of Betsy Combier, Editor:

I and my twin sister Jill grew up in the world of politics - our dad was Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York under Louis Lefkowitz - and I also have the fortunate position of parent to my oldest daughter Sari, who was close friends in nursery school with Whitney, the adopted daughter of Judy and Bruce Nathan. Judy then divorced Bruce and married Rudy Giuliani to become Judy Giuliani. Judy wants to be wife to The Most Important Person in New York. In my opinion, she doesn't care who that person is, as long as she has position Number 1.

D'Amato In Shady Bank Deal
By Roger Stone

D'Amato: Shady
Speaking of bail-outs we learn that $120 million of TARP cash went a New York bank who didn't need the money, a bank whose board includes former Senator Alfonse D'Amato. The Signature bank has no toxic assets and its capital ratios are among the highest in the private bank business. The bank's CEO was paid $1.4 million in 2007. Salaries and benefits for bank executives have risen from $15 million to almost $20 million from 2007 to 2008. Did D'Amato pull string to get the bank TARP funds it really didn't need while other institutions are crumbling?

Now D'Amato, who has raised over $250,000 for Democratic New York Governor David Paterson, is trying to maneuver former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio, (pictured at right) who raised and spent an amazing $48 Million to lose to Senator Hillary Clinton, into the race for Governor as the Republican candidate. That way no matter who loses lobbyist and fixer D'Amato wins.

D'Amato's move is to block his longtime nemesis Rudy Giuliani, who speaks of running for Governor but will never really trade the fashionable boites of Manhattan for dingy Albany.

[His wife Judy would not let him - Betsy Combier]

Gov. Paterson Gives Huge Raises To His Staff, While Cutting the Budget

Dismay, outrage, and frustration at the "accidental Governor" has New York City and New York State residents wondering how we will not only get through to the next election for the governor's seat, but whether or not David Paterson's lack of leadership and waffling in political mud will prevent him from moving important matters anywhere.

First, there was the terrible delay as Caroline Kennedy and others waited for David Paterson to "decide" who would take Hilary Clinton's place in the Senate. Kirsten Gillibrand is just too connected politically to political has-beens (i.e. Alfonse D'Amato) for comfort. See this posting:

Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, this minute's “front-runner” for the U.S. Senate seat which is now the subject of a competitive reality show, won in a heavily GOP Congressional district in 2006 for the first time, a seat that had been held by former Republican state director John Sweeney. Given popular sentiments in her region, it is logical that she hews to a conservative line, such as her 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association, sometimes out of step with party policy. Does that change once she’s in the Senate, as a rookie under the tutelage of gun-control advocate Sen. Charles Schumer? Probably; it’s usually practicalities before principle in these situations, as the veterans might tell you.

Her family background is of interest. She’s the daughter of lawyer and lobbyist Douglas P. Rutnik, who was steeped in the Albany Democratic machine long before he was clearly an ally of Republican Gov. George Pataki and Republican Sen. Alfonse D’Amato. Her mom, Penny Rutnik, who’d been in the law firm of her husband, is the daughter of Polly Noonan, the longtime close confidant of the late great mayor Erastus Corning.

A clip from June 1988: A company represented by Douglas Rutnik leased property at the publicly owned Port of Albany for a low price and sublet the place for a much higher rent, pocketing the difference. This of course is the very definition of a sweetheart lease. It was one of two firms he represented that drew lucrative terms. If you’re cynical, or even at all skeptical, that’s standard municipal political-machine stuff. Politics ain't beanbag.

A clip from May 1997: The state Metropolitan Transportation Authority dials back on a $95 million contract for data processing with Lockheed Martin, a company barred from city contracts because of its involvement in previous corruption scandals. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani objected to their hiring. From the New York Times: “Lockheed Martin's registered lobbyist in Albany has been Douglas Rutnik, the companion of Zenia Mucha, Gov. George E. Pataki's communications director, and a confidant of Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato. Public records show that Lockheed Martin paid Mr. Rutnik $115,000 for his lobbying efforts of the last two years. But Ron Meder, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, said Mr. Rutnick was not involved in the efforts to win the M.T.A. data processing contract for Lockheed Martin Integrated Business Solutions.”

A clip from the New York Post, January 2007: “Fredric Dicker spoke to a longtime close Mucha friend, who described her as "off the wall" that Rutnik had replaced her in his affections with his second cousin, Gwen Lee, a lawyer who was a spokeswoman for Gillibrand and now works in Rutnik's office. To make matters worse, Mucha, at Rutnik's urging, hired Lee for several well-paid positions during her six years in the Pataki state house....”

Then, Gov. Paterson nominated Jonathan Lippman to the position of Chief Judge of the New York State Unified Court System, and he was confirmed in a secret meeting rushed through the Senate the day after Wayne Barrett wrote a background expose of Lippman's tie to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. I am one of many victims of Judge Lippman's corrupt management of the Courts in New York City, and can say (and I will), that this choice puts justice in a closet.



Luv From the Guv: Staffers Get Secret Raises: at least a dozen aides get pay increases, report says
Updated 6:30 AM EST, Mon, Feb 16, 2009
LINK

Gov. David Paterson issued raises for some of his aides, according to a report in Monday's Post(See article below - Betsy C.)

The state's financial crisis apparently isn't that bad.

In fact, the treasury is so fat that Gov. David Paterson has given raises -- in some cases nearly 50 percent -- to at least a dozen staffers, according to Monday's New York Post.

The pay hikes total about $250,000 annually and were issued just after Paterson's August announcement of a looming financial "emergency" that was going to eliminate raises for 130,000 state employees.

Among the most recent raises was one last month, right around the time when the governor declared the budget shortage had reached a record $15.5 billion, the Post reported.



GOV'S HY-PAY-CRISY
By FREDRIC U. DICKER, February 16, 2009
LINK

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson has secretly granted raises of as much as 46 percent to more than a dozen staffers at a time when he has asked 130,000 state workers to give up 3 percent pay hikes because of the state's fiscal crisis, The Post has learned.

The startling pay hikes, costing about $250,000 annually, were granted after the governor's "emergency" declaration in August of a looming fiscal crisis that required the state to cut spending and impose a "hard" hiring freeze.

One raise was approved as recently as last month - when Paterson claimed the budget deficit had reached an unprecedented $15.5 billion.

The raises, which have stunned the few state workers who know about them, are outlined in data obtained from the office of state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli,(pictured at left and below) prepared at The Post's request.

Two of the raises were tied to publicly proclaimed promotions - granted despite the supposed hiring freeze - of some of Paterson's most important appointees, although the announcements didn't include disclosure of the pay hikes.

The remaining 14 raises appear to have gone to individuals who remained in their same positions, despite claims by a spokesman for Paterson that they had been promoted.

"These are not raises for old positions, rather new salaries for new positions," Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield insisted.(pictured at right)

But a DiNapoli spokesman, Dennis Thompkins, said flatly, "These are individuals who stayed in their same position and received a salary increase."

Paterson's top aide, William Cunningham, a one-time law partner of the governor's father, Basil, saw his pay jump 5 percent to $178,500 - just $500 less than Paterson himself - from $170,000 on Nov. 7, after he was promoted from a temporary "acting" secretary to permanent.


New York Governor David Paterson (C), New York State Deputy Secretary for Labor Charlotte HitchCock (L) and New York Superintendent of Insurance Eric Dinallo (R) announce a deal to provide loan assistance to insurer AIG, in New York, September 16, 2008. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will lend up to $85 billion to the American International Group in a plan aimed at saving the insurer from a "disorderly failure" that could wreak economic havoc.

Charlotte Hitchcock, one of Cunningham's deputies and a personal friend of the governor's, received an $18,000, or 11.25 percent, raise on Dec. 22. While a press release said she was promoted from deputy secretary to "chief of staff" and "director of financial regulation," it made no mention of a higher salary.

Cassie Prugh, a confidential assistant, was given a 46 percent pay hike in late November, raising her annual salary to $125,000 from $85,721, while Gaurav Vasisht, an assistant counsel, received a 6 percent, $7,427 increase in December, bringing his salary to $130,279.


Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart, Mindy Bockstein, Executive Director of the NYS Consumer Protection Board and Brendan Fitzgerald representative from the office of the Governor of New York State, meet President of the Harlem Children's Zone, Mr. Canada and several children during the launch of her PSA campaign under the Consumer Protection Board’s toy safety campaign.

Brendan Fitzgerald, a special office assistant, received a 21 percent, or $15,737, pay hike only last month, bringing his salary to $90,000, while Michael Deloach, another confidential assistant, saw his pay leap 29 percent, or $18,200, to $80,000 in August.

Lauren Passalacqua, a confidential secretary, saw her salary jump $12,000, or 31.5 percent, to $50,000, while the salary of another confidential aide, Chardee Mendoza, (pictured at right) was hiked $10,000, or 28.5 percent, to $45,000.

Disclosure of the secret pay hikes comes as Paterson is under attack for spending well over $20,000 in state funds on a four-day stay for himself and several aides during President Obama's inaugural last month, and for planning a state-funded junket to Davos, Switzerland, which he canceled only after his plans became public.

Paterson, in his budget proposal outlined in December, demanded that state workers who belong to the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employee Federation forgo negotiated, 3 percent pay hikes that would kick in April 1 or face massive layoffs.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

NY Governor Paterson Under Fire for Staff Pay Hikes
by Carolyn E. Price,
LINK

After mishandling the "Kennedy / Clinton" saga last month, New York's governor, David Paterson has secretly given out pay increases ranging from 5% to 46% to his own staffers after asking state workers to give up their 3% pay increase in April of 2009.

The New York Post is reporting that Gov. Paterson has secretly given staffers pay increases over the last few months, all this after imposing a hiring freeze, proposing billions in dollars of cuts to the state budget and after asking state workers to forgo their negotiated 3% increase slated to come into effect in April, 2009.

The list of increases include:

Paterson's secretary, William Cunningham, received a 5% increase in salary when he was "promoted" from acting secretary to secretary, bumping his salary from $170,000 to $178,500.

Cunningham's deputy, Charlotte Hitchcock, was promoted from deputy secretary to chief of staff and was given an 11.25% increase bumping her salary from $160,000 to $178,000.

Assistant counsel, Gaurav Vasisht, received a 6% pay hike, to $130,279. Cassie Prugh, a confidential assistant, received a whopping 46% pay hike, bumping her salary from $85,721 to $125,000.

Press aide Erin Duggen received a 5% pay hike to $105,786 while special office assistant, Brendan Fitzgerald, received a 21% raise, to $90,000. Another confidential assistant, Michael Deloach, got a pay hike of 29%, to $80,000 and yet another press aide, Morgan Hook received an almost 13% pay hike to $79,568.

A legal assistant, Ryan Dalton received a 17% increase to $52,000 while confidential secretary Lauren Passalacqua was rewarded with an almost 32% pay raise to $50,000. Another confidential aide, Chardee Mendoza, got 28%, to $45,000 while confidential stenographer Erin Donohue received 10% to $43,000.

The increases handed out by Paterson amount to $250,000 per year, a mere drop in the State of New York's $121 billion annual budget, but surely one must see the hypocrisy of Paterson's recent actions. After asking state employees to forgo a negotiated 3% pay increase he hands out raises to his inner staff ranging from 5 to 46%?

The public sector unions in New York have responded to Paterson's requests by flooding the airwaves with advertising and lobbying campaigns. The New York Times is reporting that the radio and television campaigns are costing the health care sector alone about $1 million a week.

NY Gov Staff Gets Secret Raise Amid Pay “Freeze”
LINK

Despite asking New York State workers to forgo a 3% salary increase due to the state’s fiscal crisis, Governor David Patterson has granted pay raises to more than a dozen members of his staff totaling US$250,000 annually.

Gov. Patterson declared a “fiscal emergency” in August 2008 when the NY State budget reached US$15.5 billion and ordered a “hard” hiring freeze and cutting fiscal spending.

Those getting a raise include Paterson’s top aide, William Cunningham, a one-time law partner of the governor’s father; Charlotte Hitchcock, one of Cunningham’s deputies and a personal friend of the governor’s; confidential assistant Cassie Prugh; special office assistant Brendan Fitzgerald; and confidential secretary Lauren Passalacqua.

This is not the first time Gov. Patterson has been busted abusing tax payer money during a self-imposed “fiscal crisis”. The governor spent more than US$20,000 on hotels on himself and friends to attend Barack Obama’s innauguration last month, and was forced to cancel a trip to Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, which planned to atttend on the public’s dime.

GOP head: Paterson should return money spend on D.C. hotels
By Jay Gallagher, Ithaca Journal, Albany Bureau
LINK

ALBANY — Gov. David Paterson should immediately return the nearly $20,000 he and aides spent on hotel rooms in Washington, D.C., during President Barack Obama's inaugural celebration last month, the chairman of the state Republican Committee said Friday.

"While the governor and his entourage were staying in unbelievably overpriced $1,200-a-night hotel rooms and attending inauguration parties and events, families are slashing their household budgets and making do with the bare-bones necessities of life,'' said the chairman, Joseph Mondello.

"Even worse, while Gov. Paterson and his aides are working the party circuit, he is trying to ram through countless tax hikes that will further constrain family budgets and businesses' bottom lines,'' he said.

Gannett News Service reported Friday that Paterson and three aides spent a total of $19,350 to stay in hotel rooms for four nights during last month's festivities.

A Paterson spokesman defended the spending, pointing out that hotels required a four-night minimum stay and prices were inflated because of the event.

"Gov. Paterson, like many other governors from across the country, represented his state at a moment of national importance,’’ said spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein. “Due to the overwhelming demand that greatly exceeded supply, hotel rates in Washington D.C. were unusually high and based on several night minimums."

A further check of records Friday showed that Paterson and one of his aides who also went to Washington, special assistant David Johnson, each charged the state $947.04 for airplane tickets shortly before the inauguration. Communications director Risa Heller also charged a plane ticket for the same amount on the same day, according to state records.

There was no immediate word on what other expenses the state officials at the inaugural, which also included Paterson's chief of staff, Charlotte Hitchcock, and his secretary, William Cunningham, might have incurred and charged to taxpayers during the four-day celebration.

Paterson has been saying for months that the state faces an unprecedented fiscal crisis, and has proposed about $9 billion in spending cuts and between $4 billion and $5 billion in new taxes and fees to balance the budget. But it's clear that at least some of those cuts and tax hikes are likely to be rolled back because of billions of extra dollars the state expects to get from the federal stimulus package.

Still, according to Mondello, the spending on hotels in Washington sends the wrong message.

"The only respectable thing for the Governor to do would be to return that money immediately, so that already overburdened taxpayers are not forced to pick up the tab for his overpriced, outrageous expenses,'' he said.

PATERSON'S MOTLEY CREW ALL AT SEA
By FREDRIC U. DICKER, NY POST, February 9, 2009

GOV. PATERSON'S top staff is a rudder less collection of indecisive bureaucrats whose day-to-day operations are wracked by internal chaos and fraught with divided loyalties, key insiders have told The Post.

UNIONS INFLICTING LABOR PAIN ON GOV

Things have gotten so bad that even some of the governor's most loyal allies in the Legislature have begun clashing on a regular basis with Paterson's staffers, whom they call incompetent and politically tone deaf.

Here's how senior Paterson aides are viewed by the insiders:

* William Cunningham, chief of staff: A secretive Long Island lawyer and longtime political operative. Widely described as indecisive and unfamiliar with statewide issues, afraid to take stands during policy talks, and often seems to be checking with someone other than Paterson before giving directions to staff.

* Special adviser Jon Cohen: A politically ambitious, Long Island-connected physician with no clear portfolio. He has, according to an insider, "an incredibly inflated view of his own talent."

* Deputy secretary Charlotte Hitchcock: A former lawyer for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) who handles key financial issues for the governor, she's described as insecure, easily rattled, verbally abusive and still close to Silver's staff. "She's in totally over her head," said an experienced policy expert.

* Deputy secretary Larry Schwartz: A longtime Democratic operative in Suffolk and Westchester Counties, Schwartz began work as Cunningham's senior deputy last week.

While Schwartz is credited with administrative and political skills, he's not a policy expert and has had no experience dealing with the massive problems facing the state.

* Chief counsel Peter Kiernan: A solid, experienced lawyer with little political juice. "He's not in the room at all," was how one source put it.

* Budget Director Laura Anglin: Seen as closer to Silver's "competent" staff than what she sees as her own less-than-stellar Paterson administration colleagues.

* Director of state operations Dennis Whalen: Longtime bureaucrat and son of a former state health commissioner, he's a competent administrator but lacks strong ties and access to Paterson.

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

Who is William Cunningham?

Paterson's new senior adviser will be a 'No' man
DAN JANISON, dan.janison@newsday.com, April 14, 2008
LINK

As Albany's sudden transition keeps churning the executive personnel at the Capitol, Long Island lawyer William J. Cunningham III is preparing to become a kind of "No" man.

At least, that's how his fans like to tell it. Democratic insiders expect that as senior adviser to Gov. David A. Paterson, Cunningham will take on the role of vetting ideas and strategies. Precise duties of his $170,000 post remain hazy, but sources call him "sounding board," "minister without portfolio" and "confidant" - the opposite of a "Yes" man.

Cunningham, 56, is a longtime friend of Basil Paterson, the governor's father. They worked together until 2002 at the Garden City law firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English and Klein, where Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi's father, Joseph Suozzi, is a prominent partner.

"I've known the governor for about 15 years," Cunningham told Newsday. "I got to know David through his dad. I'd say one of the things David and I have as a common bond is we both love his parents Basil and Portia. ... Our paths would cross frequently enough that on Inauguration Day he [the governor] asked to speak with me and took me aside. I met with him the following week."

Cunningham won't oversee agencies but will take on varied projects and, as he puts it, "specific issues as they arise." He's known major-league political tempests. In 2001, fresh from serving as campaign treasurer in Hillary Rodham Clinton's first Senate run, he was thrust into a controversy over two Arkansas clients who received criminal pardons from the departing President Bill Clinton. They'd been referred, he said, by Clinton adviser Harold Ickes, Cunningham's law associate at Meyer Suozzi - whose labor practice Ickes co-chairs with Basil Paterson, while working for the Clinton campaign. Lightheartedly, he recalls that for all the furor, the firm collected a fee of $4,100 for the case.

Thomas Suozzi plucked Cunningham from the firm in 2002 to be his chief deputy. The Paterson hire was announced last Monday - just as Suozzi fervently disputed rumors that he planned to run a primary to replace Paterson in 2010. Suozzi calls the departing Cunningham "an enormously talented person dedicated to public service." He called the appointment "great" for Cunningham, Paterson, Long Island and the state.

Pushed by Suozzi in 2003, Cunningham ran a Democratic primary for county executive in Suffolk. (He lives in Bay Shore with his wife, Terry, a librarian at St. Peter's School). That contest ignited a cross-border clash with Steve Levy, who ultimately won, and his ally Richard Schaffer, the Suffolk Democratic chairman. Both men insist bygones are just that.

THE PATERSON WATCH
LINK

A shake-up in Gov. David A. Paterson's inner circle may be in the offing. After communications director Risa Heller (pictured at right) resigned, Paterson said Friday he would examine the "chemistry" within his nearly year-old administration. He should have done so earlier, he said, but was delayed by the recession and the lack of a transition period after his sudden promotion following Eliot Spitzer's resignation.

"I never seemed to get to ... my own little reorganization," Paterson said. "It's not that we haven't had good people but it's the chemistry and the system that you have. And I never had a chance to really look at it and I realize now ... that I should do that."

Paterson was roundly criticized about his selection process in replacing Hillary Rodham Clinton. Heller's departure follows that of homeland security czar Michael Balboni of Mineola, and top aide Charles J. O'Byrne. O'Byrne was replaced by William J. Cunningham III of Bay Shore.

- James T. Madore in Albany

Paterson flak resigns amid trouble for his image

And so, Risa Heller has departed as the governor's communications director. Whether she jumped or was pushed doesn't really matter from the general public's standpoint.

If anyone high up in the Paterson administration thinks they've now solved their image problems rooted in the $20,000 in inaugural hotel costs, the Caroline Kennedy leak fiasco, the zig-zags involving his appointment of a senator and a chief judge, the petty infighting between aides over office space and who-yet-knows-what-else, they are kidding themselves.

Both Heller and Paterson say in the news release she will "pursue other opportunities."

For the full bury-it-on-Friday-evening statement, click 'continued' line below.

STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR DAVID A. PATERSON

Governor David A. Paterson accepted with regret the resignation of Risa B. Heller and issued the following statement:

“My Communications Director, Risa Heller, has told me of her intention to depart state government service to pursue other opportunities. I want to thank Risa for the experience, judgment and counsel she brought to my Administration. She is an exceptional professional who has been an invaluable advisor to me. I wish her the best in her future endeavors.”

Ms. Heller said: “It has been a tremendous honor to work for Governor Paterson during the first year of his administration. He is a tireless advocate for the people of New York, and I am proud to have served him. I have decided to leave the Governor’s office in order to pursue other opportunities. My decision comes after careful deliberation. I am excited to enter this next phase of my career and look forward to many new challenges ahead.”

Ms. Heller’s resignation will become effective after an orderly transition with her successor.

Ex-Suffolk official a new top Paterson aide
spano.jpg
Lawrence Schwartz,(at right) a onetime top aide under Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin, is joining Gov. David Paterson's office as a $178,000-a -year first deputy secretary, reporting directly to the Governor and another Long Islander, William Cunningham, who is secretary to the governor.

Schwartz, who has worked as the $157,000 a year top deputy to Westchester County Executive Andy Spano (photo) for the past decade, will begin in the new job Feb. 2. In a prepared statement, Paterson said his administration “will benefit greatly” from Schwartz’s “insight and breadth of experience.”

Schwartz, 51, who grew up in Port Jefferson Station, was the hard-nosed top political aide who helped engineer Assemblyman Patrick Halpin's upset victory as the first Democrat in 18 years to win the county’s top job. But Halpin lasted only one term in the face of the 1991 economic slump, which like the current crisis, resulted in the first decline in sales tax revenue in decades.

“He has a keen political sensibilities and and an intimate knowledge of Long Island and regional issues which bodes well for both the county and the state,” said Halpin, of his former aide.

chicagotribune.com
Skelos: Paterson lied about attacks on Kennedy
BY JAMES T. MADORE, james.madore@newsday.com
January 28, 2009
LINK

ALBANY - State Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos yesterday accused Gov. David A. Paterson of being untruthful about his support for a property tax cap as well as about attacks on Caroline Kennedy after she bowed out of the U.S. Senate race.

"You see [Paterson's] history of trying to modify history. I'm not going to call him Pinocchio but ...," Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) told reporters. He cited Democrat Paterson's call last year for capping increases in school property taxes and subsequent anger when the then-GOP-controlled Senate adopted the measure.

Skelos also said he didn't believe Paterson's statement of not knowing that his aides leaked information about Kennedy to Newsday and other news outlets after she dropped her Senate bid last week. The aides alleged that her withdrawal was linked to questions about prior tax payments and reporting the employment of household help.

"I think the governor knew of some of the activities that went on. ... I can't prove that, but that's my gut" feeling, he said.

Minutes earlier, Paterson had issued another denial of knowledge of the leaks and condemned the rumormongering about Kennedy. He ruled out an investigation, however.

"I'm not going to hunt down scurrilous rumors from sources I don't know. ... I don't have any information about those types of attacks," he said. "I had nothing to do with any negative characterizations of any candidate, particularly Caroline Kennedy. "

Asked to respond to Skelos' criticism, a Paterson spokesman referred to the governor's comments made before the senator's news conference.

Paterson said that he and top aide William J. Cunningham III had spoken to staff about keeping information confidential.

Paterson also again admitted that his public musing about who should succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton was a mistake. "Revealing how I felt every day confused the process and [I] would have probably acted differently in retrospect. "

As he left the Capitol's Red Room, he would not respond to a question about whether he had apologized to Kennedy.

A Kennedy spokesman didn't return messages.

Separately yesterday, Paterson and leaders of the legislature's majority conferences - all Democrats - predicted they would reach agreement on closing this year's $1.6-billion budget deficit by Feb. 5, four days after Paterson's deadline.

He warned the deficit is growing, though at a slower pace than in late 2008.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said, "The deficit reduction plan ... we are fairly confident collectively that we will be in a position to act on it sometime toward the end of next week. "

Republican minority leaders Skelos and Assemb. James Tedisco of Schenectady weren't invited to the leaders' meeting, generating outrage from both.

N.Y. comptroller expects massive job losses across the state
Posted by jthompso November 24, 2008 11:11AM
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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the financial crisis gripping Wall Street and the world economy could cost the state and New York City 225,000 jobs over the next two years.

DiNapoli says instability in the securities industry could also cost the state and city $6.5 billion in tax revenue during that same period.

The report issued today suggests the city and state may need a federal bailout despite the efforts of Gov. David Paterson and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to close budget deficits.

DiNapoli says the financial industry in New York City has already lost more than 16,000 jobs and could lose a total of 38,000 jobs by next October.