State GOP bulks up vulnerable candidates
May 6, 2008
The Republican-led Senate is pouring millions of dollars in taxpayer money into “pork” projects where GOP incumbents face difficult re-election campaigns this fall.
That pattern, and the trend by the Legislature’s majority conferences to give minority lawmakers only a fraction of the discretionary funds, is part of an “outrageous” and “indefensible” practice, said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group.
NYPIRG’s analysis of member-item data posted on the Senate and Assembly Web sites on Friday showed Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, trumping all others in member-item spending with $4.2 million for this year, up 38.4 percent from last year.
He was followed by three top lieutenants: Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, at $3.74 million, up 69.4 percent; Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, $3.49 million, up 52 percent; and Sen. Owen Johnson, R-Babylon, $3.3 million, up 20.5 percent, according to NYPIRG.
Next highest were some of the more vulnerable junior GOP members and those who face tough re-election challenges.
For instance, Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Rochester, received $2.6 million, up 27.5 percent from last year. He is expected to face former Sen. Richard Dollinger, D-Rochester, in a district that is very competitive because of its large Democratic enrollment.
Others getting ample funds for district groups included Sens. Dale Volker, R-Depew; Serphin Maltese, R-Queens; and Frank Padavan, R-Bellerose.
Mark Hansen, a spokesman for Bruno, said “member initiatives” were approved based on community needs as well as the senators’ seniority.
Dollinger said it appears politics is at work. “This is what the state Senate Republicans think of publicly funded campaigns,” he said.
The minority conference received an average of $293,348 per member compared with $2.3 million per GOP member, NYPIRG said.
The Democratic average would have been lower if not for the $850,000 Sen. Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn, received, higher than Minority Leader Malcolm Smith’s $657,000. The Queens Democrat’s allocation fell 32.6 percent from last year. Republican and Democratic legislative officials credited Kruger’s friendly relationship with Bruno.
“Karl Kruger basically works for Sen. Bruno,” said Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan.
Kruger said he got the extra funds “because I have programs that are worthy of investment,” but added, “We should either get no member items or we should get the same amount.”
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, amassed just over $3 million in member items, the most in the Assembly and a far cry from the roughly $400,000 for Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady.
Tedisco said he awarded member items based on seniority, at the insistence of Silver, who controls how much the minority gets. Silver said he generally provided funds based on years of service. He also said although his members received an average of $541,000 compared with $122,000 for Republicans, the Democrats used tens of millions of dollars in discretionary funds for programs that should have been in the state budget, such as legal services for indigents.
The system is unfair and won’t change until voters make it an election issue, said Assemblyman JamesSource: Times Union Continue reading the article here
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