Plugged In @ Hinman Straub – October 30, 2018

What’s Inside

  • Cuomo, Molinaro Meet in Testy Debate
  • Compensation Commission Announces First Meeting
  • Attorney General Sues ExxonMobil
  • Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction Releases Comprehensive Report and Recommendations
  • Former State Legislators Sentenced
  • Political Update
    • Business Council of NYS Endorses Cuomo for Re-Election
    • Molinaro Ad Hits Cuomo on Property Taxes
    • Poll:  22nd Congressional Race a Dead Heat
    • State Court System Releases Non-Partisan Voter Guide
  • Coming Up

Cuomo, Molinaro Meet in Testy Debate

Last Tuesday, Gov. Cuomo and Republican challenger Marc Molinaro met in what will likely be the only debate in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial race. The hour-long debate – which featured more bickering than substantive policy discussions — was hosted by WCBS in Manhattan. (Watch the full debate here.)

The two candidates traded criticisms and accusations as the Governor tried to link Molinaro to President Donald Trump and his policies while Molinaro sought to keep his distance from the President.

Molinaro, who is trailing in the polls, had the most to gain from the event.  He tried to present himself to voters as a moderate Republican who will address some of the state’s toughest challenges, including corruption, upstate economic development and the New York City subway system.

Compensation Commission Announces First Meeting

The 2018 New York State Compensation Commission – which is charged with “examin[ing], evaluat[ing] and mak[ing] recommendations with respect to adequate levels of compensation, non-salary benefits, and allowances” for state legislators, statewide elected officials and appointed state officials announced last week that it will hold its first meeting on November 16 in Manhattan.

Under a law passed as part of the 2018-19 state budget, the Compensation Commission is tasked with determining – by December 10, 2018 — whether these elected and appointed officials should get a salary increase. Their last salary increase for these officials went into effect in January 1998.

Attorney General Sues ExxonMobil

Last Wednesday, state Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced that she has filed a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corporation, alleging that the company misled investors regarding the risk that climate change regulations posed to its business. (Read the lawsuit here.)

The lawsuit alleges that while the company assured investors that it was accounting for the likelihood of increasingly stringent regulation of greenhouse gas emissions – which Exxon emits in large quantities – the company did not actually do so. The New York State Common Retirement Fund, the state pension fund for public employees, owns about $1.5 billion in shares in Exxon.

Attorney General Underwood said:

“Investors put their money and their trust in Exxon – which assured them of the long-term value of their shares, as the company claimed to be factoring the risk of increasing climate change regulation into its business decisions. Yet as our investigation found, Exxon often did no such thing.  Instead, Exxon built a facade to deceive investors into believing that the company was managing the risks of climate change regulation to its business when, in fact, it was intentionally and systematically underestimating or ignoring them, contrary to its public representations.”

A spokesman for ExxonMobil called the lawsuit “meritless.” He said:

“The New York attorney general’s office doubled down on its tainted, meritless investigation by filing a complaint against ExxonMobil.  These baseless allegations are a product of closed-door lobbying by special interests, political opportunism and the attorney general’s inability to admit that a three-year investigation has uncovered no wrongdoing.”

Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction Releases Comprehensive Report and Recommendations

Last Wednesday, the Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction released a report that “examines the current challenges facing individuals, institutions, and communities and provides 11 proposals to help end the state’s deadly epidemic.”

The report’s recommendations include:

  • increasing resources to support the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals trained to treat substance use disorder;
  • upgrading the I-STOP Prescription Monitoring Program to improve interstate monitoring of potential over-prescribing of opioids;
  • maximizing federal funding to help support more children at the state’s newly-established Infant Recovery Centers;
  • reducing the cost of naloxone to ensure greater access and enhancing public education and outreach on naloxone use and expiration to ensure effective treatment; and
  • exploring the further limitation of initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain to three days from the current seven days, with certain medical exceptions.

Former State Legislators Sentenced

On Wednesday, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R – Nassau County) was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.  In July, he was convicted of arranging jobs for his son at companies with business before the state. Skelos’s son was sentenced to four years in prison.

Also on Wednesday, former Assemblywoman Pamela Harris (D – Brooklyn) was sentenced to six months in jail, three years of supervised release, and 400 hours of community service. Harris had pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from the city and from federal storm-recovery agencies in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Political Update

Business Council of NYS Endorses Cuomo for Re-Election

Last week, the Business Council of New York State (BCNYS) announced its support for Gov. Cuomo for a third term as New York’s governor. The group also endorsed Cuomo in 2010 and 2014.

Business Council President and CEO Heather Briccetti said:

“In the end, our PAC decided to judge Governor Cuomo on the entirety of his eight years in office. Our members have strongly supported a number of the Governor’s most significant initiatives, including the real property tax cap, state spending constraint, significant investments in the state’s regional economies – especially upstate – and in public infrastructure statewide, business tax reform and others. The Governor has also recognized the need of employers statewide for skilled workers, and has adopted workforce development and education programs that will be responsive to current job market demands.”

Molinaro Ad Hits Cuomo on Property Taxes

Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro has released an ad criticizing for the state’s high property taxes.  The ad states that the Governor does not pay property taxes.  (The Governor has said that he and his partner Sandra Lee share household expenses, including the property tax bill.)

In 2011, Gov. Cuomo in 2011 successfully pushed for a bill that limits property tax increases at 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less, unless a larger increase is approved by a super-majority.

Molinaro is pushing for a state takeover of Medicaid costs from county governments, which the Governor has said is too costly.

Molinaro said:

“Andrew Cuomo is oblivious to New York’s property tax load because he doesn’t have to pay it himself. He pushes unbearable costs down on towns and municipalities, which are then forced to hike taxes on already overburdened families. If Mr. Cuomo actually paid property taxes he might have a clue of what his fiscal shenanigans do to family budgets. As governor, I’ll drive through a plan to cut property taxes 30 percent because my family, like millions of others in New York, understands that every nickel counts. Every nickel.”

Poll:  22nd Congressional Race a Dead Heat

A Siena College poll released last week shows incumbent Republican Representative Claudia Tenney with the support of 45 percent of likely voters, trailing Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi by one point. It also shows 9 percent of likely voters as being undecided.

 

Read the poll cross-tabs here.

 

State Court System Releases Non-Partisan Voter Guide

 

The New York State Unified Court System (UCS) has released its Judicial Candidate Voter Guide.  Their Voter Guide provides information about judges who are candidates in races for state court elections to trial courts of superior jurisdiction (Supreme, County, Family and Surrogate’s Courts) as well as District Courts, City Courts and Civil Courts of the City of New York in the November general election.

Winners & Losers

Each week, City & State New York publishes a list of the week’s political “winners” and “losers.”  Read last week’s list here.

Coming Up

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) holds its next meeting on October 30.

On October 30, Spectrum News and NY1 will host a debate between Attorney General candidates Letitia James and Keith Wofford. The debate, which will be moderated by Capital Tonight’s Liz Benjamin and Inside City Hall’s Errol Louis, airs at 7 p.m.

The state Board of Regents holds its next meeting on November 5 and 6.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 6.

On November 13, the New York State Compensation Commission holds its first meeting.

On November 15, the Assembly Elections Committee is holding a public hearing to “examine ways to improve access to voting, both in person and by absentee ballot, including through early voting and no-excuse absentee ballot reforms.

On November 16, the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee is holding a public hearing in Albany “to examine recycling-related issues.”

On November 16, the Assembly Judiciary Committee is holding a public hearing in New York City “to examine the current status and potential expansion of electronic filing of court papers in New York.”