The state’s projected budget gap for next year has ballooned to a record $12.5 billion, a Paterson administration source disclosed Monday. The staggering 2009-10 deficit estimate, which will be included in the midyear financial plan Gov. Paterson releases today, surpasses the previous record of $11.2 billion the state faced after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror [...]
This year’s State Senate elections are likely to be the most expensive in modern history, driven by the close battle for control of the chamber, the aggressive intervention of Gov. David A. Paterson on behalf of his fellow Democrats and unusually intense fund-raising by both Democratic and Republican candidates. Candidates and party committees have spent [...]
Democrat Alice Kryzan lost her bid to appear on the Working Families line on Election Day in an Albany state Supreme Court on Monday. Iraq war veteran Jon Powers, of Clarence, Erie County, will appear on the line. He lost to Kryzan in a Democratic primary and has since moved to Washington, D.C. In the [...]
New campaign-finance reports show that while Rochester-area billionaire Tom Golisano has put most the $5 million into some upstate races, he also doled out some smaller checks to each of the candidates his Responsible New York PAC has endorsed. Contributions to the campaigns of some candidates are as low as $250 to Republican Assemblyman Greg [...]
Betsy Gotbaum, the New York City public advocate, will not run for re-election next year, she said in an interview on Monday, drawing a starting line for what is likely to be a robust race to succeed her. With an extension of term limits approved last week, turnover in the 2009 election is expected to [...]
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will visit the area this week to campaign with Republican congressional candidate Alexander “Sandy” Treadwell. Giuliani is scheduled to appear at an event from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the West Glens Falls fire station in Queensbury, said Peter Constantakes, a spokesman for Treadwell. Giuliani will also be [...]
The eyes of the state are on the 61st Senate District, and some of those eyes have deep, deep pockets. With the election only nine days away, the race between Joe Mesi, a Town of Tonawanda Democrat, and Michael H. Ranzenhofer, an Amherst Republican, is shaping up as a $2 million contest. The campaign, one [...]
Mayor Bloomberg left the Republican Party, but his money continues to find its way into GOP coffers. Bloomberg donated $20,000 to the Republican Assembly Committee on Thursday – the same day the City Council voted to extend term limits, state Board of Elections records show. “We’ve had regular communications going back and forth with the [...]
When Nora S. Anderson rode a well-financed campaign to victory in the Democratic primary for Manhattan Surrogate’s Court judge last month, it should have cleared a smooth path to the office. She will face no challenger in the Nov. 4 election. Instead, her fund-raising efforts have drawn the attention of the Manhattan district attorney’s office. [...]
In an attempt to bolster New York‘s economy with more gambling, Gov. David Paterson and state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said Sunday they are proposing prompt development of the Belmont thoroughbred track on Long Island. Skelos, head of the Senate’s Republicans, said his plan would include video lottery terminals. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield said [...]
