Reports persist that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to take over the state Republican Party as part of a plan for him to run for governor on the Republican line in 2010.
The latest such report came in last Thursday's edition of the New York Post, which chronicled a meeting held at City Hall the previous Tuesday between the mayor's chief political operative, Kevin Sheekey, and former five-term upstate Republican state Senator Ray Meier.
Meier acknowledged in the story that the meeting took place, saying it was a broad discussion of the state party's future, including the party's state committee as well as the GOP senate leadership, which is very shaky at the moment.
But Meier didn't acknowledge that part of the story which said he was asked by Sheekey if he would be interested in running the state GOP, to which he allegedly responded "yes", according to sources.
Sheekey reportedly expressed the opinion that under the present State GOP leader, Joseph Mondello, the organization has experienced a steady decline, which leads to the obvious conclusion that he should be replaced.
It also appears that if the mayor and Sheekey are really interested in starting to make things difficult for Mondello, perhaps the mayor should start to contribute campaign funds to certain Republicans running for re-election or challenging Democratic incumbents in order to get them elected so that the GOP could maintain control of the senate.
It could be that we'll be seeing the mayor either endorsing or financially supporting Republican Senators Frank Padavan or Serphin Maltese, both from Queens and both seriously challenged this year by City Councilmembers James Gennaro and Joseph Addabbo Jr. However, there have been no such signs of any action of this sort by the mayor.
Meanwhile, Gennaro (Fresh Meadows) and Addabbo (Ozone Park) charged that Padavan and Maltese had not addressed certain issues in Albany during the recently concluded session. Among the issues allegedly overlooked by the two GOP incumbents were cleaning up toxic leased school sites, skyrocketing city water rates, a paid family leave act, and protecting the public from illegal guns.
Padavan responded, saying the senate passed his toxic school sites bill in 2007 with the support of the mayor, the city Department o f Education and the School Construction Authority. He also stated that the UFT indicated support for, and that a good working relationship with, the SCA, under the current system, which would be codified by the senate bill. He added, "Assembly version gives oversight to the city council." Apparently, the Assembly and senate bills were never reconciled, so neither passed both houses, as required.
On the water rates issue, Padavan explained that it is a city council issue, not one for the state legislature and that the state does not set water rates for any municipality.
As for other legislation cited by Gennaro and Addabbo, Padavan's responses are as follows:
•Capping property taxes: Padavan sponsored a law from more than 20 years ago (which) already caps assessment increases on residential properties to no more than 5 percent a year, or 20 percent over five years for an average of 4 percent a year. The city council sets the tax rate, which has caused increases.
•Paid leave: The Assembly version ignores the impact on small business owners, which would further jeopardize small and medium sized businesses in New York state. Senator [Thomas] Morahan (R-C, Orange/Rockland County) has introduced at least two versions of a Paid Family Leave bill, with a more balanced approach.
•The Healthy Teens Act, as proposed, minimizes parental input in appropriate sex education.
•The senate has passed legislation introduced by Senator [Martin J.] Golden (R- C, Brooklyn) to require a report to the legislature and governor on the effectiveness of micro-stamping, and questions arose regarding concerns that only one corporation has the capability of this technology.
•IDA's: New York City already has a prevailing wage, so it would have no impact on the city. The issue is upstate, where municipalities have expressed strong opposition to the prevailing wage to the extent that they would rather not have the program continue with it.
Maltese did not respond. The Gazette will try to get a response from him, although Padavan's response could actually suffice.
