Spin Cycle

Earlier, Liz B at the Daily News put Rep. Nydia Velazquez' name on the map as "front runner" in the who-could-succeed-Hillary speculation contest should the state's junior senator leave her seat for the Obama administration.

Gov. David Paterson, would presumably be putting a U.S. Senate candidate on the same ballot as himself. As a Latina, she could help balance a statewide ticket, ethnically speaking, and obviously he'd have chosen a woman to represent another, more famous one.

Some Democratic activists, however, aren't betting the fundraising committee on her ascension.

In picking a candidate, Paterson and company are expected to consider name recognition, the ability to raise major-league funds, how the candidate polls, and any possible liabilities. New York's other senator Charles Schumer might have something to say too, which opens the related question of how he and Paterson work. One insider noted Velazquez, well-liked by leadership in the House, would find herself in a new forum devoid of seniority if she went to the Senate. And, there's geography; Paterson, now at the head of a New York City-heavy state government, might look to expand his base of elected support by picking, say, a suburbanite (Suozzi? Lowi? Israel?) or a western New Yorker (Higgins?). He might be considering a woman for lieutenant governor, said a longtime ally. Others say Velazquez -- based in Brooklyn and one of Clinton's backers for president -- is not a bad name for Paterson to leak at a time when some see as thin the number of Hispanics in his power circle. One Paterson-friendly Albany hand said, "Don't forget about Greg Meeks," the Queens Congressman.

Right now, the only official who was elected statewide for his current job is Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Paterson ran in tandem as lieutenant governor under Eliot Spitzer, and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli was chosen by the Legislature to succeed Alan Hevesi. Legislative leaders are chosen by their conferences. To some Democrats, that's an argument to make Cuomo Senator -- which, who knows, the AG may not even want.

Albany insiders wonder what happened to Gov. David Paterson’s statement last month that he was considering former family court judge Karen Burstein for his chief counsel — a seemingly elusive appointment for this executive chamber. Paterson's first pick for the post on a permanent basis, Justice James Yates, changed his mind months ago after his name was announced.

Gov. David A. Paterson appointed former state Attorney General Robert Abrams (left) to a board charged with keeping the United Nations in New York City, James T. Madore tells us.

Abrams will serve as an unpaid member of the United Nations Development Corp., which secures office and residential space for the international body.

Abrams also served on the transition teams of Eliot Spitzer to be governor and Andrew Cuomo to be attorney general. Abrams said, “I look forward to assisting the United Nations as it continues to serve the world community from its special home in New York.”

This season's campaign, today's election, today's fiscal crises and tomorrow's depression -- all may come and go. But for political honchos, the cool-weather conference in warmer climes must absolutely endure.

So despite upheaval from Wall Street to Main Street, the Caribbean Multinational Business Conference begins Thursday in St. Martins.

A list of "participants expected to attend," and an outline of seminars and speeches obtained by Newsday, includes:Gov. David Paterson and his wife Michelle Paige Paterson, speaking there between Thursday and Saturday; Rep. Charles Rangel and other Congress members including Maxine Waters, Ed Towns and others, and former NYC Mayor David Dinkins.

As with other such retreats, this will of course be billed as good for New York business and relations and economic constituency-building, etc., etc.

Two days before a hotly contested national and state election, the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce annual dinner was the scene of uncommon mutual expressions of admiration between Democrats and Republicans, Newsday's Sid Cassese informs us. He files this report:

Democratic Gov. David Paterson, a Hempstead High School graduate and the chamber’s Man of the Year, praised his former community neighbor Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre, the Republican State Senate Majority Leader, for his leadership in addressing — along with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) — the state’s budget crisis in an early session of the legislature.

Skelos, a re-election candidate sitting in the audience of about 1,000, simply nodded his head. But later, Republican Congressman Pete King of Seaford, also up for re-election, praised Paterson. “I’m proud to say that David Paterson is our Governor,” he said. “I’m proud to have him come before Congress and represent New York State, and I’m proud to stand with him.”

Former Republican U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato, who was part of a team that hosted a fundraiser Sunday for Paterson in Island Park at a minimum of $1,000 a plate, praised the governor for his decisive action in dealing with the state’s budget crisis.

“You are standing up for what is right,” he told Paterson. “We can’t continue to do business as usual.” Former Long Beach Democratic Chairman and current chamber chairman Larry Elovich told the audience to vote for Pete King.

On the eve of this political judgment day, reviews have already begun of what could have been done and what should or should not have been said. To begin honoring the wrapup of this longest-ever, costliest-ever national campaign, here's a bipartisan sampling of statements that our power players would like to have worded differently, or not made at all, or later apologized for, or would just as soon have everyone forget:

Sen. Barack Obama (April 2008): "In some small towns in Pennsylvania [with high unemployment] ... they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Sen. John McCain (December 2007): "There are more and more questions at the town-hall meetings about the economy. ... The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. ... I've got [former Fed chairman Alan] Greenspan's book."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (February 2008), comparing herself to Obama: "Speeches don't fill up your tank, speeches don't fill your prescription, or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night. ... I offer solutions. It's one thing to get people excited; I want to empower you."

President George W. Bush (July 2003): "There are some [in Iraq] who feel like uh, that if they attack us, that we may decide to leave prematurely. ... My answer is, bring 'em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."

Gov. David A. Paterson (March 2008), on past affairs: "Several years ago there were a number of women. ... I was pretty upset and I was kind of just angry and for a period of time I was using poor judgment."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (January 2004), of diet doctor Robert Atkins, killed in a fall on an icy sidewalk: "I don't believe that -- that he dropped dead slipping on a sidewalk. Yeah, right. ... The guy was fat - big guy - but heavy."

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (January 2008), on Obama, in support of Clinton: "You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."

Rep. Charles Rangel (September 2008), on how he misunderstood the taxing and finances on his Dominican Republic house in conversations with partners: "Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they'd start speaking Spanish."

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (August 2004): "And thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background, is our vice president."

Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin: Where to start?

Most of these can be categorized as statements that became invonvenient to have uttered. For flat-out flubs let us not forget the world's champion: the man from the Republican power elite who could make all Americans feel good about their own critical abilities, former Vice President Dan Quayle. For you kids watching at home, take a look at why Quayle was legendary:

When we walked into the Brian Foley-David Paterson-Malcolm Smith rally in Brentwood, the house band was two chords into the Crosby, Stills & Nash anthem "Southern Cross," which seemed an odd choice for a political rally, particularly one in which the headliner has such a public history of infidelity.

The song, which details a failed relationship, of course ends with an apologia of sorts of a life of cheating.

"We just asked for campaign music," said Brian Stedge-Stroud, who put together the event.

But then again, the song ends with a chorus of hope that perhaps Foley, Paterson and Senate Democrats can take to heart with a pivotal election a day away.

You will survive being bested.
Somebody fine
Will come along
Make me forget about loving you.
At the Southern Cross.

Earlier this month, Gov. David A. Paterson signed a sweeping package of pension-reform bills into law that will make it more difficult for recipients of public pensions to also draw public salaries.

But at least one double-dipper, Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s second-in-command, Albert Teichman, is expected to be unaffected. Teichman, 62, who retired from the Brooklyn district attorney’s office in 2001, has earned both a $150,000 salary and a $74,000 pension since he started in the office in 2006. He’s the only non-investigator in the Nassau or Suffolk DAs’ offices, or the state Attorney General’s office, with a waiver allowing him to collect a pension and a public salary.

Eric Phillips, spokesman for Rice (in photo, right) said he expects Teichman to retain his waiver under the new law. Not only is Teichman exceedingly well qualified, Phillips said, but his office twice posted Teichman’s job and received no other applications.

That’s not surprising. The description posted for Teichman’s job was so specific that few candidates — not even the district attorney — could qualify. It calls for 25 years as a prosecutor, experience supervising a staff of at least 250, and prior executive experience in a DA’s office.

The state bills also are aimed only at those hired from the effective date onward.

Ann Givens

Maybe the Garden City law firm Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein can start sharing office space with the New York State executive branch.

The resignation of Charles O’Byrne as Gov. David A. Paterson’s top gatekeeper on Friday made William Cunningham III, the firm’s former managing partner, the new number-two on the Capitol’s second floor.

This happened days after the buzz began that Nassau Executive Thomas Suozzi — whom Cunningham served as top deputy — could become Paterson’s running mate, for lieutenant governor, in 2010.

And Meyer, Suozzi is the firm where Joseph Suozzi, father of the county executive, and Basil Paterson, the governor’s father, hang their hats.

“All this could make things simpler around the holidays,” a longtime Democratic operative said lightheartedly.

Assuming Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli seek re-election, Paterson’s picking Suozzi for lieutenant governor would put three downstate Italian-American candidates on the same statewide ticket.

Dan Janison

OK, so this one's kinda wonky. But frayed relations between Washington and the states is a topic that hasn’t been mentioned in the national debates so far -- no, not even by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

And so, James T. Madore reports from Albany, Gov. Paterson, who's expected to be at the Hofstra debate, called Tuesday for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama to address the problem.

“During this debate, and throughout your presidency, I challenge both of you to address an important matter that has not yet garnered the attention it deserves: rebuilding the partnerships between the federal government and the states,” the governor wrote....

The presidential debate on Wednesday will be the first in New York State since Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy met in a television studio in 1960.

That setting 48 years ago didn’t allow for many people, beside journalists, to witness the exchange in person. So, then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller wasn’t in attendance, according to press reports.

But Gov. David A. Paterson is expected to be inside the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex at Hofstra University tonight, along with other state officials, including Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

James T. Madore

Mayor Michael Bloomberg marched the Columbus (left) parade route alongside Gov. David Paterson, state Attorney Gen. Andrew Cuomo, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, and actor Tony LoBianco, and Bloomberg's immigration office director Guillermo Linares.

Along the route, some shouted "Four more years!" and "Three
terms!" and those receiving Bloomberg warmly genuinely appeared to greatly outnumber the few who shouted such things as "Democracy!" in protest of his term-limit lunge sans referendum, and the less-subtle "Go home!" Mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser wrote in a notebook the names, home communities and numbers of some of these fans. For others on the sidewalk, the attraction was Cuomo -- "Andrew! Mario!" and elder woman shouted as she blew kisses. A couple of younger people seemed more excited to see Paterson.

At the corner of Fifth Ave. and 73rd St., a cluster of men from a Harlem program run by the Doe Fund -- a major city contractor -- stood in matching t-shirts and caps with a nicely-coordinated set of signs that said: "Don't change horses in midstream" (though it was unclear what stream they were referring to), "We love Mayor Mike" and "Now More than Ever" as well as "Five More Years."

Must have been their impromptu decision to volunteer for this on a holiday.

Lou Matarazzo, former PBA president, and Michael Palladino, current Detectives Endowment Association president, marched at times with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato is apparently playing a major role in organizing a fundraiser for Democratic Gov. David Paterson — to be co-hosted by a bi-partisan myriad of Long Island developers, lawyers, doctors and top executives, at the Coyote Grill in Island Park.

While D'Amato's name doesn’t appear on the invitation to the $1,000-per-plate fundraiser, set for Nov. 2, guests are told to respond to D'Amato's executive assistant, Dana Weisberg, in care of D'Amato's consulting firm, Park Strategies. Neither D’Amato nor Weisberg returned calls for comment.

Of 15 names on the invitation, seven are registered Republicans, two are Democrats, three are blanks and three could not be determined.

The invitation lists: former Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta; Gary Melius, owner of the Oheka Castle Hotel in Huntington; Scott Rechler, who’s partnering with Charles Wang on the Nassau Coliseum-Lighthouse project and has been listed as a finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain’s campaign; two Park Strategies’ executives, and Robert Catell, executive director at National Grid.

Eden Laikin

Gov. Paterson endorsed Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley for state Senator at the Suffolk Democratic dinner Wednesday night at Villa Lombardi's in Holbrook -- and more importantly, County chairman Richard Schaffer announced a $10,000 donation to Foley's campaign.

"If everyone paid for their ticket tonight, a little more may be coming," Schaffer added.
More than 400 party fairthful showed up for the fall dinner, where party treasurer Jeff Casale raised $150,000 and netted $120,000 after expenses.

While relations between Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and the governor have been cool since the two split on the state takeover of the highway patrol, Levy, who spoke before Paterson, said that protesters outside the dinner were aimed at him, not the governor.

Despite the differences, Levy said, "The important thing we have in common is being executives in these very difficult financial times. And in these kind of times, the people want their leaders to lead."

-- Rick Brand

New York has long reach when it comes to regulation. By all accounts, the state’s Insurance Department under superintendent Eric Dinallo (left) has been involved in helping broker a solution to a financial crisis for the most populous county — in Alabama.

David Neustadt, Dinallo’s spokesman, confirmed that “we brought people together in rooms and talked to them.” The involvement stems from the fact that New York regulates bond insurers who guarantee $2.8 billion of the county’s $3.2 billion in sewer debt, according to Bloomberg News.

Republican Albama Gov. Bob Riley called Democratic Gov. David A. Paterson, who had his regulators meet with banks and bond insurers which reportedly agreed to contribute $1 billion to a refinancing plan. The overall idea, officials said, is that it is bad for everyone in municipal bond transactions if a county goes under. (Besides, it's been said that in Birmingham they love the governor).

In this account, the full sweep of states seeking federal help is reported.

Shifting his emphasis from an earlier statement spotlighting the prospect of collusion between supervisors and employees, Gov. David A. Paterson last week applauded Long Island Rail Road President Helena Williams “for taking swift action” to help stem evident pension-disability abuses on the line that have been authorized by a federal board.

Exactly what direction are the federal and state probes taking? No exact time frame is yet available. Earlier Paterson said: “The thing that bothers me is that this had to be so rampant,” Mr. Paterson said. “I even would wonder if there was collusion between the supervisors and the employees.... You would have thought a whistleblower would have shown up by now.”

Gov. David Paterson, reacting again today to the Long Island Rail Road disability-pension scandal, leans toward the federal in his public statement:

"The Governor called on Congress to look into the workings of the federal Railroad Retirement Board, and ascertain how such a high percentage of LIRR workers were provided disability retirement benefits post-retirement, when the employees had not been deemed disabled at the time of their retirement. He also directed the MTA's Inspector General to review the operating practices of the LIRR in making work assignments to determine if the LIRR can control costs and the high annual payments made to certain employees within existing work rules and union agreements."

AG Cuomo has agreed to investigate as well.

Gov. David Paterson stumped for Democratic Assemb. Philip Ramos in Brentwood Friday calling him a “great resource” and his "partner in state government,” but added his appearance was no “message” to Suffolk County Executve Steve Levy who is backing primary challenger Waldo Cabrera.

“There are a lot of people you’ve touched in six years of service and they are not going to let anything happen to you,” Paterson told the crowd of abut 130 during the mid afternoon fundraiser at the Portuguese American Center.

The governor was joined by Rep Steve Israel(D-Huntington) the supervisors from Brookhaven Brian Foley and Philip Nolan of Islip as well as a half dozen of Ramos’ fellow Assembly members.

Cabrera, reached later, called Paterson’s comments “expected rhetoric” and his appearance a sign that Ramos “is a candidate who is floundering and needs to be propped up by the governor" and others. "If he was a solid candidate he could fight his own fight,” he added.

Paterson also appeared to make an indirect reference to the Levy’s dispute with Ramos for delaying the extension ....

Gov. David Paterson is weighing in for Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Central Islip) in the grudge Democratic primary match where Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is heavily backing challenger Waldo Cabrera.

Paterson will headline a Brentwood fundraiser next Friday for Ramos, who drew the county executive’s ire a year ago when he and members of the minority caucus held up a Suffolk sales tax extension in a bid to get a local hiring hall for immigrant laborers.

The 2 p.m. event will be held a the Portuguese Hall in at 17 3rd Ave. Ibrahim Khan, Ramos’ aide, said that Paterson’s appearance “reflects his support for Phil’s tax cutting and delivering services to the district.”

Rick Brand

Gov. David Paterson is weighing for Assemb. Philip Ramos (D-Central Islip) in the grudge Democratic primary match where Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is heavily backing challenger Waldo Cabrera.

State Senate majority leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) isn't letting up on the property tax cap.

In this clip from an interview with PBS' NYNOW program, Skelos says Gov. David A. Paterson needs to do more to support the cap he proposed. The full interview, conducted by WMHT's Susan Arbetter, will air locally at 11 a.m. Saturday on WNET/Channel 13. Full disclosure: Newsday's Albany Bureau Chief James T. Madore also will be on the program's reporters' roundtable.

Going late, simultaneous with Suffolk, was the state Legislature in Albany, where fuzzy figures of $500 million to $1 billion in new budget savings to meet a coming fiscal crunch was tossed out -- but with those all-important details still due to make themselves known. Updates due today.

Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders are still negotiating over his request for $600 million in cuts to this year’s budget – and there is no deal yet, he told reporters Tuesday.

But Paterson remained upbeat and hinted that lawmakers may need to extend their special session beyond today. "I’m confident the legislators will come up with a sound decision…I’d like it to be done today. I’m available for the rest of the week and so are the legislators."

James T. Madore

Allen Cappelli, a former consultant to New York City builders and longtime Democratic strategist, has been tapped by Gov. David Paterson for the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, subject to state Senate confirmation. He'd replace the late Frank Powers, the GOP Congressional candidate from Staten Island whose sudden death in June roiled the political scene.

Dan Janison

Gov. David A. Paterson said Monday he plans to cast his ballot at next week’s Democratic National Convention for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, despite the fact that friend and presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton also will be nominated.

James T. Madore

New Yorkers are divided over the single biggest issue they want the Governor and Legislature to address this week, according to a new Siena Research Institute poll released Monday morning. Property taxes, job creation and addressing the state’s budget deficit received 26 percent, 26 percent, and 24 percent support from registered voters polled.

Melissa Mansfield

Gov. David A. Paterson announced agreement Sunday on a new contract with the State Police union, calling for wages to increase three percent in each of the first three years and 4 percent in the final year. The new pact covers a period beginning in March 2007, when the old one expired.

Asked if the Paterson administration attempted to get some savings in contract talks because of next year’s looming budget deficit, spokesman Morgan Hooks said the union recognized the fiscal situation and withdrew some of its requests. "There was an understanding of what the state could and could not do," Hook said. "But I think the state also had an obligation to treat the PBA fairly."

The raises mirrors those given to members of the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation.

Lawmakers who view the contract as a sign the state’s budget woes may not be as dire as Paterson as made out – should think again. "This contract agreement should not be interpreted by anybody as a sign that things are better than Governor Paterson has indicated they are," Hook said.

Lawmakers are due back in the Capitol Tuesday to consider $600 million in cuts to the current budget, which totals $122 billion.

James T. Madore

We report today from the intersection of broadcast media, state government and sports.

Gov. David Paterson called into WFAN sports radio today to offer encouragement to Mike Francesa, the remaining half of "Mike and the Mad Dog," on the occasion of Chris Russo departing the station. Paterson reminisced about a number of moments on the show over many years and, being a politician and all, was flattering and upbeat about Mike's future. But the governor did demonstrate legitimate knowledge, at least judging by Fracesa's confirmations, of events and what was said about them on various occasions, including the still-shocked hours of Sept. 12, 2001 when Russo, Paterson said, was speaking not as a broadcaster but as a proud American. Paterson even said he had to make arrangements by special hookup to hear the FAN at the Executive Mansion in Albany due to some structural problem blocking out the signal.

This is the week of the broken alliance.

So on Wednesday, as noted here, the state Working Families Party, which went all out for the Eliot Spitzer-David Paterson ticket two years ago, launched an advertising assault against the new governor’s proposal for a 4 percent cap on school-related property tax increases.

“Tell David Paterson,” urges the narrator of one ominous 30-second spot, “hurting schools is the wrong answer.”

Despite this verbal whack, the minor party is backing a number of candidates this fall who support the cap. And it is too late in the election calendar for WFP to cancel endorsements for lawmakers who voted for it.

“This is a disagreement on principle between us and the governor. It’s not the first, and we had them with Spitzer as well,” said Dan Cantor (left), the party’s executive director. “If the governor continues to drift away from working families, he’s going to keep hearing about it from progressives like us.”

When money gets tight, coziness becomes the first casualty.

On the heels of last week’s Senate vote for the tax cap, the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers broke from past practice and refrained from endorsing the Senate Republicans, who backed the tax-cap.

NYSUT president Richard C. Iannuzzi ....

Dan Janison

On the same day the state's powerful health care lobby unveiled a radio ad campaign denouncing proposed state Medicaid cuts, Gov. David A. Paterson's top health officials staged a quick-response news teleconference, disputing the numbers used by 1199 SEIU and the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Health Department officials told reporters it was misleading to say that the governor was proposing $1.5 billion in health care cuts and new taxes, the number cited in a 60-second radio ad, called "Paying More," produced by 1199 and the hospital association. That figure is reached by adding up the "universe of options" the governor is giving the legislature, a list that Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines (left) referred to as a "menu" from which lawmakers can choose what to cut.

Daines would not say how much Paterson ultimately wants cut from health care to close the budget gap.

"It's very clear [Paterson] wanted to deal with the legislature as a responsible partner on this and then put up the universe of options and then negotiate with the legislature," Daines said.

Daines also said New York's hospitals have seen.....

Michael Amon

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, head of the state commission examining property taxes, today blasted the television ads and mailings by opponents of Gov. David A. Paterson’s tax cap, saying they were "flailing" and "inconsistent."

Speaking to reporters in a telephone conference, Suozzi accused the liberal Working Families Party and Alliance for Quality Education of "a personal attack" on Paterson. "It’s really shocking to me," Suozzi said, referring to the $1.5 million TV campaign calling Paterson’s tax cap a "gimmick" and urging residents to voice their opposition to him.

The TV ads, launched yesterday, and followed today by 200,000 mailers are aimed at swaying Assembly members. The State Senate voted 38-20 last week to adopt Paterson’s 4 percent cap on yearly increases in school taxes.

Suozzi acknowledged the campaign would make passage of the tax cap "tougher." He also accused the Working Families Party of failing to represent low- and middle-class families who are hurt by raising taxes.

Earlier today, the Alliance for Quality Education held a conference call with experts decrying Massachusetts’s adoption of a tax cap. They said schools there were undermined.

But Suozzi said Massachusetts leads the nation in test scores while New York is first in tax burden.

The county executive said he is working to win over skeptical Assembly members on Long Island and Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). Suozzi said he had been "given no indication" that the Assembly would act on the tax cap when it convenes Tuesday in special session.

Suozzi, a Democrat, said he would support members of both political parties if they endorse the tax cap, though he stopped short of endorsing Republican leaders. "I will stand with anyone who supports the tax cap," he said, calling it his "Suozzi Doctrine."   James T. Madore

UPDATE: D