Dean Skelos

Michael Bloomberg’s tax policy is giving his political allies a headache.

At a breakfast in midtown last week, State Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos tried to send a clear anti-tax-increase message to business leaders.

“As I said before, the Senate is ready to do what’s appropriate to reduce spending, but we should not raise taxes, as some have indicated. In this fragile economy, it would be disastrous to raise taxes,” Skelos said.

The speech, hosted by the Association for a Better New York event, went over well with the pro-business crowd. But speaking with reporters afterward, Skelos had a slightly harder time dealing with a question about Michael Bloomberg's recent comments that, in order to balance the budget,  read more »

The Senate Democratic minority is seizing on Majority Leader Dean Skelos' inaccurate criticism of yesterday's Siena poll.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, emailed reporters to say, "Senator Skelos's understanding of statistics and polls is equivalent to the Senate Republicans' understanding of arithmetic and budget—both ways New Yorkers lose,"

Reacting to the Siena poll released yesterday that showed State Senate Republicans on the verge of losing their majority status, Senate Leader Dean Skelos told reporters today, "I don't think the Siena poll is correct."

After delivering remarks at the ABNY breakfast, Skelos said of the Siena poll that the Republicans have polls "that have been done within all of these districts for the past 20 years that indicate a lot differently."

Referring to Siena, Skelos said, "They used the random digit dialing. Siena has never done a poll in senate districts and random digit dialing, for all you know, all the calls could have gone into Great Neck.  read more »

Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos told business leaders this morning that the economy is in for tough times, but “we should not panic and we must not act out of fear.”

“In this fragile economy, it would be disastrous to raise taxes,” he said, speaking at the Association for a Better New York breakfast at the Hilton in midtown.

Afterwards, when asked about Michael Bloomberg’s economic plan, which would likely include repealing the seven percent property tax cut, Skelos said, “Everybody has to do what they think is appropriate for their constituents."

He went to say that raising the personal income tax “would be the worst thing that can happen in New York City or any other part of the state.  read more »

Are New York Republicans, in trying to hang onto their slim majority in the State Senate, riding the wave of excitement over Sarah Palin?

Here's an invitation to a September 9 fund-raiser with three female senators.  

That date, by the way, is primary day.

In response to David Paterson’s call for billions of dollars in new budget cuts, Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos put out a statement opposing the reduction of aid to local governments because, he says, it might force a rise in local property taxes.

Which the State Senate just voted to cap.

Skelos said in a public statement, “While we are working cooperatively to get a head start on the 2009-10 State Budget, it’s important that the Governor and Legislature not take any actions that would force local governments to raise their local taxes to make up for a shortfall from Albany. We are concerned that reducing local government assistance funding may have such an effect.”

Michael Bloomberg didn’t deny a published report that he was approached by Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos, who told him Republicans need $10 million to hold onto their two-seat majority in that house.

“I have no idea what it costs to run a Senate race or State Assembly race,” Bloomberg said when asked about it at a press conference in Foley Square this morning. “I can tell you what it costs to run a mayoral campaign. I’ve been through two of them.”

He went on to say that political races are expensive, and that “[a] lot of democracy has degenerated into fund-raising.”

Bloomberg  read more »

State Senate Leader Dean Skelos just announced he’s bringing lawmakers in his house back to Albany this Friday to pass a property tax cap bill.

It’s a measure that Skelos notes is favored by Democratic Governor David Paterson.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has said earlier that he opposed capping property taxes because that could leave school districts, which rely on property taxes, unable to pay their bills.

Which puts Silver in a familiar role of opposing the governor and State Senate leader. Just like old times.

Here’s that decade-old shark ad I referenced earlier, in which the New York Republican State Committee told upstate voters that “Sheldon Silver and the New York City Democrats just picked a New York City liberal for every major statewide office.”

And they’re going to tax and spend, the ad says. While the ad only names Sheldon Silver, it was a not-so-veiled effort to protect Republican Senator Al D'Amato from his Democratic challenger that year, then-congressman Chuck Schumer.

The regional appeal is similar -- in spirit, at least -- to the plea Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos made in his letter to upstate billionaire Tom Golisano - who says he’ll spend $5 million in this year’s legislative races.  read more »

In a letter dated today to billionaire Tom Golisano - who is vowing to pour $5 million into this year‘s elections - Republican Senate leader Dean Skelos makes the case that Republicans are the ones who have tried to make state government fiscally prudent and transparent.

And Skelos ends the letter by reminding Golisano, a Rochester man, that Democrats aren't so much from upstate. (Old theme!)

“Without the checks and balances we assure, state government would be totally controlled by Democrats from New York City. Keep in mind that a Democrat-controlled Senate would be lead by Malcolm Smith of Queens, Tom Duane from Greenwich Village (Manhattan) and Jeff Klein from the Bronx. The Assembly would be lead by Speaker Sheldon Silver of Manhattan. Thus, it is critical that you join our fight and help us achieve reform.”

Dean Skelos just ordered the State Senate back to work.

From an email his office sent to reporters:

Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos today announced that the New York State Senate will convene a special session in Albany on Friday, August 8, 2008 at 11 a.m. The special session will be focused primarily on enacting the Governor’s property tax cap proposal and passing other legislation to reduce costs for schools and ensure adequate resources for students.

Here’s a clip from last night's Captiol Tonight, with Albany television reporter Josh Robin, who hosted the relatively new State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

It was Skelos first extended television interview since assuming the position of majority leader, and it didn’t start with a softball question.

Referring to an event that took place earlier in the week, Robins said to Skelos, “Probably the biggest announcement upstate since the end of the [legislative] session was that I.B.M. deal, $1.6 billion investment in upstate. You weren’t there. Tell me why. Where were you?”

“You know what? That was Joe Bruno’s day,” Skelos replies.

In 1979, when Joe Bruno was still new to the State Senate, his office was next door to that of State Senator Norman Levy, head of the Labor Committee. Levy’s intern at the time was a young Hofstra student named Randi Weingarten.

“I watched him, as a leader, mature,” Weingarten, now the president of the United Federation of Teachers, told me. Bruno, she said, “will be sorely missed.”

There’s been speculation about what Bruno’s retirement meant for the unions and business interests he had political ties to.

“I was able to work with George Pataki. I was able to work with Eliot Spitzer.  read more »

Since Dean Skelos, the new State Senate majority leader, has said he will make addressing property taxes a major priority, and it's likely that taxes will be an issue in the upcoming election, I recently asked both candidates in the 25th Senate District about their positions on the issue.

Incumbent Marty Connor favors raising taxes on the wealthy (a "relatively small" hike, he wrote), while his challenger, Dan Squadron, wants to look to the federal government to guarantee school funds in exchange for tax cuts for the middle class. Squadron, if he wins, would likely have access to Washington because of his former boss, Chuck Schumer.  read more »

Earlier today, Michael Bloomberg defended the pledge he reportedly made to help Dean Skelos keep the narrow majority Republicans hold in the State Senate.

“Because I have said repeatedly I will help those who help this city,” Bloomberg said when he was asked why he made the promise during a Q&A with reporters in Lower Manhattan after unveiling the Waterfalls. “The Republicans in the State Senate were willing to vote for congestion pricing, and the Democrats were not. And there’s been a whole bunch of things where they have been there to help us," he added. "If the Democrats help us, I’ll support them as well.  read more »

Here’s Dean Skelos--at his first press conference after being elected State Senate majority leader Tuesday night in Albany--saying property taxes are the first, second and third priority for the Republican conference.

This also means there are more elected officials using YouTube (the video is from the State Senate's recently launched account).

Last night, newly minted State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos explained to reporters that his priorities may shift now that he’s representing a statewide conference, and not just his Long Island district.

Speaking at a press conference, he said, “Of course I have a responsibility to my constituency--I’m elected to in the Ninth Senatorial District, but I think David Paterson has shown, as he moved from being the minority leader to lieutenant governor and now governor, that your responsibilities perhaps change a little bit, and you have to amend your ways a little bit.”

One of the accomplishments Skelos highlights in his biography is that he wrote the law ending what he called the "unfair and onerous" commuter tax, which cost the city millions of dollars in lost revenue.  read more »

When Dean Skelos takes over for Joe Bruno, one of the forces he'll have to come to terms with is Michael Bloomberg, who relied on State Senate Republicans to help pass New York City-related legislation in Albany, and who, in turn, gave them lots of money to get members re-elected.

The Skelos-Bloomberg relationship, whatever else there is to it, may already be strained.

According to the biography on Skelos' legislative web site, "Senator Skelos also wrote the law eliminating the unfair New York City "Commuter Tax." That's money New York City lawmakers have been trying unsuccessfully to get back ever since.  read more »

From David Paterson's comments at a press conference in Albany right now, it seems like he will have a good relationship with Dean Skelos, who is replacing Joe Bruno as the State Senate majority leader.

Speaking to reporters in the back of the Assembly chambers, Paterson said of Skelos, “For eight years he was the deputy majority leader, and I was the deputy minority leader and we used to debate each other on the floor for all my time. He is, in a lot of ways, like Senator Bruno, but he has his own style.”

Paterson, who represented Harlem in the State Senate, added, “He and I grew up about ten minutes away from each other in Long Island.  read more »

Joe Bruno did not commit to staying in office for the remainder of his term when he addressed reporters in Albany just now, instead saying that he'll speak with his conference later today and plans to take things one day at a time.

Speaking in his third floor office in the capitol building, Bruno said he is"satisfied" with his tenure and aims to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.

I just ran into New York State Republican Party Chairman Joe Mondello at the Malden rest stop on the Thruway, just outside the Catskills. He, like me, was on his way to Albany. But unlike me, Mondello didn't seem like he had been surprised by the announcement that Bruno will not seek reelection.

“I’ve been a longtime friend of Joe Bruno, and I’ve been a political ally of Joe Bruno, for many, many, many, many years,” Mondello told me. “I’m going to miss him dearly.”

When I asked how Mondello heard the news, he said, “Well, it’s interesting that you ask that question. Joe Bruno and I have been longtime friends, as I pointed out to you, and we have been political allies and we have kept no secrets from each other throughout the years.  read more »

Advocates of legalizing medicinal marijuana in New York are now pinning their hopes on, of all people, conservatives.

Here's a pro-medicinal marijuana ad that appeared in a local Brooklyn paper this week, targeting Conservative-Republican state Senator Marty Golden, and featuring Joel Peacock, a member of the state’s Conservative Party.

The ad says that Peacock suffers from “chronic, severe pain“ from a 2001 car accident and that medicinal marijuana offers him effective and cheap relief.

The ad targeting Golden is one of eight ads aimed at Republican state Senators across New York, which also feature polling information that supporters say proves the bill is more popular among voters than lawmakers think.

The other state senators are Carl Marcellino Kemp Hannon, Dean Skelos, all from Long Island, Frank Padavan and Serph Maltese of Queens, Thomas Morahan of Rockland County and Dale Volker from upstate.

 

More on the campaign after the jump.  read more »