The above clip may well go down in the annals of New York State history as the most bizarre moment of gushing hypocrisy to spill forth from that Deepwater Horizon of political corruption known as Albany. In it, State Senator Carl Kruger addresses his peers on the occasion of the 11th appropriation special extender to this year’s budget – passed on June 14.
Kruger, ever the champion of civil service, took the opportunity to remind the senators that service must come before politics. He said, “For these past 10 weeks, this Democratic majority has kept government functioning while the unanimous sentiment of the Republican minority was to close down government. Our obligation was to put service over politics … After all the rhetoric is over, and after all the speeches are made, the fact is the campaigning has to end, and governing has to begin.
“So lets talk for a moment about this extender…”
He then continued to take a fat dump upon his Republican colleagues.
Please attend the NYC Water Board Public Hearing
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
P.S. 102
211-72 nd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11209
Doors Open at 6:00 p.m.
Public Hearing at 7:00 p.m.
DEP is proposing a 14.5% increase- Let Your Voice Be Heard
Brooklyn Residents Can Not Afford This Increase
The proposed FY 2011 water rate was presented to the Water Board on April 9, 2010 by the Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for proposing a water rate that meets the financial demands required to cover the cost of providing water and wastewater services to New York City residents.
Following the public hearing, the Water Board will formally adopt the FY 2011 water rate on May 21 and the new rate will become effective on July 1, 2010. For more information on the meeting, please call Senator Golden’s office at (718) 238-6044.
The New York City Comptroller’s office invites everyone to a meeting where you can learn more about budgets and Brooklyn communities. Comptroller Liu’s office tells us that a community budget presentation will be happening in every borough.
If you’ve wanted to learn more about where the city government distributes the money, this is one way of doing so.
Here is the meeting information (with clarification added):
New York City Comptroller John C. Liu cordially invites you to a Community Budget Presentation: An Overview of the NYC Budget
Medgar Evers College
President’s Conference Center, Room B1008
1650 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11225
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Please reply to the Comptrollers Office of Community Relations:
(212) 669-3089 / communityrelations@comptroller.nyc.gov
To arrange special accommodations, please call (2121) 669-4315
Fully (handicapped) accessible facility
The New York State budget is now more than one month late. Timid “leaders” in the state legislature are so afraid to unveil cuts during an election season that we face a $9 billion budget deficit, a figure that’s rapidly increasing as the state continues to take out loans to pay for services until the budget is revealed. And New York City is being forced to submit its own budget in the face of uncertainty, as city administrators haven’t been informed of what funding to expect from the state. (Bloomberg is expecting a $1.3 billion slash in state funds).
At the epicenter of budget negotiations is the Senate Finance Committee chairman – Sheepshead Bay’s State Senator Carl Kruger. For the past month, and before it, Kruger has remained mum about budget discussions. As you can see from the video above, he has shut out even his fellow legislators. Because of his reluctance to add transparency to the process, the public remains in the dark on what funding gaps exist, and what cuts are on the table. As residents and constituents, we’re given no say on where our money will be spent, and we have no opportunity to offer solutions to the inevitable cuts.
Of course, we’ll probably never have that opportunity. Last year, the final proposal was dumped on the public (and the minority party) and a vote on it was scheduled for just hours later. As distance grows between the passed deadline and the vote, the agencies, municipalities, and the leaders that represent them are desperate for any plan at all – a situation Kruger and his crew depend on.
This is thuggish, undemocratic behavior. Open up the budget process, Senator Kruger. If you can’t get the job done on time, then let us have our say.
Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz is urging Governor Paterson and the state legislature to rekindle discussions about congestion pricing or the commuter tax in an effort to stave off increases to the MTA mobility tax.
The governor’s proposal includes a 60 percent increase in the mobility tax levied on area businesses. The tax was first enacted last year and is now being expanded to fuel revenues and close the MTA’s massive budget shortfall.
Cymbrowitz says the tax unfairly penalizes employers in the five boroughs, which will be asked to pay .54 percent per $100 of payroll, while suburban businesses get away with paying only .17 percent per $100 of payroll. Currently, inner-city businesses pay .34 percent.
“Pitting New York City’s businesses against suburban firms might make political sense for the governor, but is likely to become an economic calamity. The commuters from Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and the other nine counties that fall under the MTA mobility tax use our mass transit system just as my constituents and other New York City residents do. So, why should businesses in the suburbs have less of a responsibility to the MTA than those in the City?” Cymbrowitz wrote in a press release.
The assemblyman is asking his Albany colleagues to begin debating alternatives – including the commuter tax and congestion pricing – immediately.
Over the weekend, gay rights activists marched in front of State Senator Carl Kruger’s Mill Basin home, enraged at the senator’s recent vote against marriage equality in New York State. According to NBC New York, activists called Kruger a “bigot”, and are planning more protests in the coming weeks.
Kruger has defended his vote as a reflection of his constituents’ wishes, not of his own beliefs. He said he considers the Orthodox Jewish community a “bedrock” part of his district. He added, “When it becomes an emotional, gut-wrenching issue, when it cuts through the fabric of traditions and values, then I have my community as the cornerstone of my decision.” (Others say Kruger’s vote was the result of a “chit cashed” by fellow “Amigo” Ruben Diaz.)
What do you think? Should a senator put his constituents’ wishes before his own moral beliefs? Always/Never? And is the Orthodox Jewish community reflective of the the entire district, which includes Bergen Beach, Flatlands, Mill Basin, Sheepshead Bay, and Midwood.
Meanwhile, in other Kruger news, the good senator continues to get slammed for his budget shenangigans and role in the MTA deficit (here and here).
MTA will not raise fares in 2010, but is considering cutting services and staff to close the budget gap
MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder told reporters yesterday that the agency will avoid jacking prices next year, despite a $140 million cut from its budget.
“It is my intent to stay with the schedule of fare hikes that was agreed with the Legislature in May, which does not call for a fare hike in 2010,” he told reporters after a three-hour hearing in Lower Manhattan on the authority’s capital plan. “It is my intent to stay with that.”
Instead, the authority is looking at ways to tighten the belt in-house, and is weighing service cuts, worker layoffs, and maximizing other revenue sources to fill the gap.
Still, Walder says the agency will look to raise fares 7.5 percent in 2011 and 2013, as approved by Legislature.
In the 18th Century, Samuel Johnson said, “If you are idle, be not solitary” – and with those words, as if by magic, the New York State Senate was established; and a whole lot of otherwise idle men were grouped together, to be idle, but not solitary.
With the state facing a $3.2 billion budget gap, little has been accomplished except a continuous ticking-off-the-list of things we can’t do to fix the budget. Why can’t we do them? It’s this senator’s pet project, or that senator’s constituency (or, perhaps, campaign contributor). Meanwhile, New York State is just days away from declaring bankruptcy.
And who’s leading the shenanigans? Sheepshead Bay State Senator Carl Kruger. Continue Reading »
Angered by Governor Paterson’s moves to slash spending in education and healthcare, State Senator Carl Kruger proposed an alternative budget and blasted the governor for wantonly depicting a “doomsday scenario.”
Despite a deficit of more than $3 billion, Mr. Kruger has threatened to block any significant cuts to health care and education, the biggest spending areas in the budget. He has presented his own budget plan, which has startled even Albany veterans for its reliance on one-time maneuvers and financial gimmickry.
…
Where the governor would cut spending, Mr. Kruger and the Senate prefer one-time measures like restructuring the state’s tobacco bonds, a move that would increase New York’s debt burden. Mr. Kruger would also draw from the treasuries of public authorities to a greater degree than the governor and wants to increase gambling hours at gaming facilities.
And Mr. Kruger believes the state should set up a commission to study ways to make government more efficient, a step that could take years to show gains.
Kruger represents parts of Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest, Gravesend, Midwood, Mill Basin, Flatlands, Manhattan Beach, and Bergen Beach. In a power play over the summer, Kruger joined three other Democratic lawmakers and threatened to caucus with the Republicans, putting the Dems at risk of forfeiting their majority. He came out of the play as the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and has raised more than $2.1 million for his 2010 reelection bid – far more than any other state legislator.
Yes, it’s shaping up to be a terrible school year, and we’re not even halfway through it. That’s why, over in Manhattan Beach, leaders of the Manhattan Beach Community Group are organizing a letter-writing campaign to the state representatives in order to battle the $686 million mid-year cut. About a third of that, $223 million, is slated specifically for the city’s school system. MBCG writes:
Our children will be losing out again. Please take a moment and call our Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz and ask him to vote against these cuts … Don’t let our children get short changed. Cut the fat. Cut the waste. Leave schools alone. Let our children learn.
We agree. That’s why we’re joining them in asking all of our readers to contact your state senator and state assemblyman. Contact information for representatives in our area are below. If you need to know who represents you, click here. Remind our representatives to protect our children and their education. Tell them hands-off on schools.
