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David Freedlander

By David Freedlander 12:33pm

Reforms

bloomberg-getty

Bloomberg, County Execs Team Up To Tackle Pension Efforts

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and county executives from across New York are launching a new effort to curb the state's skyrocketing pension costs.

New York Leaders for Pension Reform, as the new group is called, say they will lead a  campaign travel to Albany and across the state to push lawmakers to adopt Gov. Andrew Cuomo's pension reform plan, which includes adding a sixth tier to the pension plan and switching new employees from a defined benefit to a defined contribution plan. Read More

By David Freedlander 10:37am

2012

CarolineKennedy_1793607c

Caroline Kennedy Named Co-Chair of Obama 2012 Effort

The Obama re-election campaign rolled out 35 co-chairs of their national effort, and amidst the usual group of politicos was Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John Kennedy and one-time candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Ms. Kennedy, you will recall, made a very public effort to be named to the Senate seat being vacated by now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The decision was ultimately up to David Paterson, and after a long-drawn out process, he named Kirsten Gillibrand to the seat, and Ms. Kennedy sounded through with politics. Read More

By David Freedlander 7:48am

suggested reading

Morning Read: SuperPACapalooza; Stop-And-Frisk Goes Political; Obama Sings The Blues

Two-dozen advocacy groups are forming a coalition designed to pressure would-be 2013 contenders on stop-and-frisk and police accountability.

The NYPD apparently spied on Muslims in Newark as well. When told of this fact, Mayor Corey Booker responded, "Wow."

Mayor Bloomberg defended the NYPD's spying of Muslim students.

The Daily News slams the president of Yale University for objecting to the practice, saying, "smart people can be pretty naive."

The convention industry is skeptical about the proposed Aqueduct convention center, fearing that it is too far from Times Square. Read More

4 By David Freedlander 2/21 10:05pm

Profiles

Answering The Call Fundraiser For Haiti Earthquake Victims

The Voice of The Opposition: Can Tom DiNapoli Defend Labor From The Albany Onslaught?

Tom DiNapoli peered out of the 15th-floor windows of 110 State Street in Albany—“The Taj McCall,” the comptroller’s staff call the building, after Carl McCall, the predecessor of Mr. DiNapoli’s who shepherded the building to completion—and pointed out the landmarks below. There was City Hall. Over there, an historic church. To the side, the Hudson River. And right in front, the red granite roofs of the Capitol.

“You see, when they fire their cannons at me, they don’t quite hit. They come up just short,” said Mr. DiNapoli, tracing an imaginary shot with his finger from the statehouse to where he stood, an office just out of reach of the governor’s supposed artillery.

Among the incoming ordnance are Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to add a 401K-style sixth tier to the pension fund, a plan to take away some of the comptroller’s ability to audit government contracts, and the governor’s push for greater flexibility over governmental spending. Read More

1 By David Freedlander 2/21 1:40pm

Congress

ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit 2011, Washington,DC

Steve Israel: GOP Didn’t Take House in 2010–Rove and the Koch Brothers Did

Steve Israel, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, appeared on CNN this morning in order to explain why he is confident that the Democrats will retake the House in 2012--and why it is okay for them to take SuperPAC money.

The answer is that in 2010 the Democrats didn't so much lose to the Republicans as they did to GOP money men and masterminds like Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers, who were able to flood the zone with unrestricted SuperPAC dollars. Read More

By David Freedlander 2/21 7:41am

suggested reading

Morning Read: De Blasio Staffs Up; LGBT Schism; More Trouble for Espada

Andrew Cuomo says he is not backing off his threat to veto the LATFOR lines.

Bill de Blasio has staffed up for  a likely mayoral run, hiring Obama adviser John del Cecato and Anna Greenberg as pollster.

Anthony Weiner and wife Huma Abedin were seen spotted around the Flatiron District with their two-month old son strapped to his chest.

Joe Nocera sees Andrew Cuomo's embrace of gay marriage as a way to appeal to progressives while being a fiscal conservative in advance of 2016. Read More

1 By David Freedlander 2/20 11:45am

stockpiling

money-bag

White Shoe Law Firm Named Top Donor To NY Delegation

A report out today from MapLight, a research organization that studies the influence of money on politics, came out with a report today detailing which companies give the most to each state's congressional delegation.

In New York, that distinction goes to the law firm of Boies, Schiller and Flexner who gave close to $700,000 to current members of the House and Senate from New York.

That firm was founded by David Boies, the super-lawyer who represented Al Gore during the 2000 recount and who has since been one of the lead lawyers attempting to over California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a frequent target of the firms' largesse, was also a partner there earlier in her career. Read More