ALBANY - As Gov. David Paterson has tried to steer New York through what he insists is a historic fiscal crisis, he's doing it more often from Manhattan than from Albany.
The shift is more obvious than ever because the governor, Senate and Assembly leaders, attorney general and comptroller are all from the New York City metro area. But it's not new.
New York City has always been the power base for state politics. The city is home of most of its political and business leaders, tax revenue and campaign donors as well as the target of most of state spending.
“I think long ago, New York City became the de facto seat of government for convenience and other purposes for the governor and top staff,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
The sentiment became more visible under Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo - who was from Queens - and Republican Gov. George Pataki, who spent so much time in Manhattan he was sometimes jokingly referred to as the governor of New York City. Less and less day-to-day government operations have been in Albany in the last 20 years and the governor's mansion in Albany has become, except for dinners with dignitaries, lawmakers and lobbyists, mostly a museum.
Faced with this criticism, Paterson said in March when he took office that he'd move his family into the governor's mansion in Albany and spend more time in the capital than his predecessors. It was welcome news to some who worried that upstate needs would be lost, heightening the upstate-downstate tension.
Yet, in practical terms it's hard to say the attention to New York City has paid off at the expense of upstate. Suburban and upstate lawmakers remain important to their majorities' strength and take a share of the largesse; Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno of Rensselaer County showered upstate and particularly his district with more pork-barrel projects than any other lawmaker over the last two decades; and Pataki rewrote conventional wisdom in statewide elections by capitalizing on the upstate vote to win elections.
But Bruno and Pataki are gone.
A November editorial in the Ithaca Journal said that with a power shift to the New York City metro area, Paterson is upstate's best hope for a protector.
“Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, must become the patron saint of upstate's needs. He can wield his considerable authority among party colleagues to ensure that this region gets the necessary resources to support its infrastructure and grow its economy. As governor for all of New York, he could be upstate's best friend ... to make sure this region doesn't get pushed to the back of the legislative agenda.”
Yet, since June, when the legislative session ended and upstate's last top legislative leader, Bruno, retired, Paterson has shifted some major press conferences, legislative leaders' meetings and even budget announcements to his Manhattan office.
“Holding the meetings in New York City? There are some advantages to that,” said NYPIRG's Horner. “That's where many of the nation's top financial figures live and it's the hub of the media market of the planet. The downside is it's not the seat of government.”
Since Oct. 3, for example, Paterson has held two budget negotiating sessions with legislative leaders in Manhattan. They met publicly once in Albany since then, the day of a special legislative session that had to be in the Capitol. He's also used the city governor's office for two major announcements - one proposing historic cuts to education and health care spending and another that would set off a constitutional challenge to the selection of New York's top judges.
Taking Albany on the road leaves taxpayers picking up the bills of staffers for $90 lunch tabs, $360 nights in a luxury hotel, and $49 cab fare in one of the most expensive cities in the world to conduct business traditionally done in Albany, according to expense records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law. That's a tiny fraction of the $120 billion budget, but can leave the governor in an awkward position after he ordered belt-tightening and sought to suspend a week's pay for other public employees to help avoid layoffs.
Over the past five weeks, Paterson's schedule released to reporters showed about five times more events in Manhattan than in Albany.
“It's a surprise,” Horner said, “since I thought the governor said he was going to live in the executive mansion.”
Paterson's spokesman said the choice is made based in part on schedules of participants.
“The choice of location for press conferences is based on the governor's overall schedule, which takes the governor throughout all regions of the state,” said Errol Cockfield. “Those press conferences are web cast, streamed via satellite and linked through teleconferencing to give members of the media extensive access to those events.”
But for news outlets from Buffalo to Albany that have Capitol offices, Manhattan meetings often lack a reporting corps with the institutional memory to provide deeper context and meaning to the actions proposed or taken. The notice of these meetings - often less than 24 hours - can mean even New York City newspapers and The Associated Press, headquartered in Manhattan, can't get their state government beat reporters to the city.
Teleconference and Web casts that often allow a few questions from Albany-based reporters. But it can be spotty.
In Wednesday's news conference, for example, Paterson ignited a potential constitutional challenge to the 31-year-old process of selecting the state's top judges. No questions from Albany were fielded because Paterson's aides said the teleconference failed. Afterward, two press officers failed to respond to one of those questions e-mailed to them after the event.
“There would certainly be more informed coverage of the government's actions in Albany because the press corps has a much better handle on how government works,” said Horner, who has been an Albany watchdog for more than 20 years and once worked in the attorney general's office on a project to improve government transparency. “It does mean there is less scrutiny of what the governor is doing.”
On Sunday, Nov. 16, for example, Paterson's budget meeting with Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos in Manhattan wasn't even announced. An AP reporter who learned of Paterson's meeting, held days before a special legislative session, was escorted from the Third Avenue high rise by a state trooper. The AP was told the building's 38th floor where the governor's office and press conference room are located, isn't public unless reporters are invited, unlike the Capitol offices.
There are arguments for doing business in the city.
Paterson lives in Harlem with his family, Skelos on Long Island and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in Manhattan, making the meetings on Third Avenue in Manhattan an easy cab or train ride away. No travel expenses are incurred for them.
And Pataki's former communications director, David Catalfamo, notes technology and the 24-hour news cycle is making the location of events less important. He said while there “has always been a dynamic of coverage that is unique to the Albany press corps” many news outlets have reduced their Capitol staffs in recent years.
Technology including blogs, YouTube.com and online news outlets are “resulting in new opportunities and new obligations for public officials,” Catalfamo said.
AP-ES-12-05-08 1545EST
New York City has always been the power base for state politics. The city is home of most of its political and business leaders, tax revenue and campaign donors as well as the target of most of state spending.
“I think long ago, New York City became the de facto seat of government for convenience and other purposes for the governor and top staff,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
The sentiment became more visible under Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo - who was from Queens - and Republican Gov. George Pataki, who spent so much time in Manhattan he was sometimes jokingly referred to as the governor of New York City. Less and less day-to-day government operations have been in Albany in the last 20 years and the governor's mansion in Albany has become, except for dinners with dignitaries, lawmakers and lobbyists, mostly a museum.
Faced with this criticism, Paterson said in March when he took office that he'd move his family into the governor's mansion in Albany and spend more time in the capital than his predecessors. It was welcome news to some who worried that upstate needs would be lost, heightening the upstate-downstate tension.
Yet, in practical terms it's hard to say the attention to New York City has paid off at the expense of upstate. Suburban and upstate lawmakers remain important to their majorities' strength and take a share of the largesse; Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno of Rensselaer County showered upstate and particularly his district with more pork-barrel projects than any other lawmaker over the last two decades; and Pataki rewrote conventional wisdom in statewide elections by capitalizing on the upstate vote to win elections.
But Bruno and Pataki are gone.
A November editorial in the Ithaca Journal said that with a power shift to the New York City metro area, Paterson is upstate's best hope for a protector.
“Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, must become the patron saint of upstate's needs. He can wield his considerable authority among party colleagues to ensure that this region gets the necessary resources to support its infrastructure and grow its economy. As governor for all of New York, he could be upstate's best friend ... to make sure this region doesn't get pushed to the back of the legislative agenda.”
Yet, since June, when the legislative session ended and upstate's last top legislative leader, Bruno, retired, Paterson has shifted some major press conferences, legislative leaders' meetings and even budget announcements to his Manhattan office.
“Holding the meetings in New York City? There are some advantages to that,” said NYPIRG's Horner. “That's where many of the nation's top financial figures live and it's the hub of the media market of the planet. The downside is it's not the seat of government.”
Since Oct. 3, for example, Paterson has held two budget negotiating sessions with legislative leaders in Manhattan. They met publicly once in Albany since then, the day of a special legislative session that had to be in the Capitol. He's also used the city governor's office for two major announcements - one proposing historic cuts to education and health care spending and another that would set off a constitutional challenge to the selection of New York's top judges.
Taking Albany on the road leaves taxpayers picking up the bills of staffers for $90 lunch tabs, $360 nights in a luxury hotel, and $49 cab fare in one of the most expensive cities in the world to conduct business traditionally done in Albany, according to expense records obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law. That's a tiny fraction of the $120 billion budget, but can leave the governor in an awkward position after he ordered belt-tightening and sought to suspend a week's pay for other public employees to help avoid layoffs.
Over the past five weeks, Paterson's schedule released to reporters showed about five times more events in Manhattan than in Albany.
“It's a surprise,” Horner said, “since I thought the governor said he was going to live in the executive mansion.”
Paterson's spokesman said the choice is made based in part on schedules of participants.
“The choice of location for press conferences is based on the governor's overall schedule, which takes the governor throughout all regions of the state,” said Errol Cockfield. “Those press conferences are web cast, streamed via satellite and linked through teleconferencing to give members of the media extensive access to those events.”
But for news outlets from Buffalo to Albany that have Capitol offices, Manhattan meetings often lack a reporting corps with the institutional memory to provide deeper context and meaning to the actions proposed or taken. The notice of these meetings - often less than 24 hours - can mean even New York City newspapers and The Associated Press, headquartered in Manhattan, can't get their state government beat reporters to the city.
Teleconference and Web casts that often allow a few questions from Albany-based reporters. But it can be spotty.
In Wednesday's news conference, for example, Paterson ignited a potential constitutional challenge to the 31-year-old process of selecting the state's top judges. No questions from Albany were fielded because Paterson's aides said the teleconference failed. Afterward, two press officers failed to respond to one of those questions e-mailed to them after the event.
“There would certainly be more informed coverage of the government's actions in Albany because the press corps has a much better handle on how government works,” said Horner, who has been an Albany watchdog for more than 20 years and once worked in the attorney general's office on a project to improve government transparency. “It does mean there is less scrutiny of what the governor is doing.”
On Sunday, Nov. 16, for example, Paterson's budget meeting with Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos in Manhattan wasn't even announced. An AP reporter who learned of Paterson's meeting, held days before a special legislative session, was escorted from the Third Avenue high rise by a state trooper. The AP was told the building's 38th floor where the governor's office and press conference room are located, isn't public unless reporters are invited, unlike the Capitol offices.
There are arguments for doing business in the city.
Paterson lives in Harlem with his family, Skelos on Long Island and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in Manhattan, making the meetings on Third Avenue in Manhattan an easy cab or train ride away. No travel expenses are incurred for them.
And Pataki's former communications director, David Catalfamo, notes technology and the 24-hour news cycle is making the location of events less important. He said while there “has always been a dynamic of coverage that is unique to the Albany press corps” many news outlets have reduced their Capitol staffs in recent years.
Technology including blogs, YouTube.com and online news outlets are “resulting in new opportunities and new obligations for public officials,” Catalfamo said.
AP-ES-12-05-08 1545EST
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Post your comment - click hereThere are 3 comment(s)
Biggguy wrote on Dec 7, 2008 8:27 PM:
scottgrimshaw wrote on Dec 6, 2008 3:46 PM:
Turn NYC into its own city state, like Washington DC, and let the rest of the state go its separate way.
Why not? "
cooldad wrote on Dec 6, 2008 11:16 AM: