Gov. David Paterson indicated this morning he will move up a deadline to begin the layoff of state workers because unions have failed to negotiate a way to cut $250 million from the state budget.

Paterson said last month the layoff plan would be developed for Jan. 1, but now he says it will be sooner. It’s unclear how many workers would be affected if the plan went through.

The Democratic governor has been battling unions over how to cut the $250 million for workforce reductions, but the unions have resisted Paterson’s attempts to impose furloughs or a pay lag.

“I think the planning for layoffs is going to have to begin immediately,” Paterson said, adding no date has been set.

Paterson, after throwing out the first pitch at a tee-ball game near the governor’s mansion (left), said he will call lawmakers back to Albany on Wednesday and Thursday, but said he hasn’t made any plans to call them back every day after that until a budget deal is reached.

He said that whether he’ll call daily special sessions after that will depend on whether “they’ve awakened to the grave problems of New York’s finances.”

He was asked whether he support embattled U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Harlem, a close friend of him and his father, Basil, and the governor said he did. Rangel has been an outspoken supporter of the governor, even when Paterson himself earlier this year was in the middle of his own series of scandals which have yet to be resolved.

“I support Congressman Rangel 100 percent,” Paterson said. “I support him in his re-election bid.
Obviously, there are charges that he has to face. And I think the resolution of that is something that we don’t know until the future and until that time, it has been my honor to watch him for 40 years. I was 16 when he first got elected, and I think that he has served not just Harlem and Washington Heights and the upper West Side well, but all of America well and I wish him well and hope for the best.”

Asked about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s comments that the MTV show the “Jersey Shore” makes New Jersey look bad and that the show’s stars are from New York, Paterson responded, “Maybe they are better when they’re in New York than in New Jersey.”

He said he hasn’t watched the show, but said Christie, who Paterson called a friend, may have some extra time on his hands now that New Jersey passed a property-tax cap and New York hasn’t.

Former Yonkers Corporation Counsel Frank Rubino’s new gig at Harris Beach comes at a fortuitous time for the law firm because it filed papers on July 7 in the federal court in White Plains indicating that it will now represent the defendants in the case of Irma Marquez against police officer Wayne Simoes, the Yonkers Police, the City of Yonkers and other Yonkers cops.

Rubino was corporation counsel at the time Marquez was picked up by Simoes and thrown to the ground in a Palisade Avenue restaurant, an act caught on video and replayed often on television.

Harris Beach’s July 7 filing does not state whether Rubino, who joined the firm in May, will be involved in the defense of the firm’s new clients.

The Yonkers City Charter has a number of sections addressing  former city employees’ subsequent employment. Here’s one of them:

§C1A-10(B) imposes a lifetime ban with regard to any matter the employee worked on while with the City, defining “works on” as, “substantially involved with the matter or personally supervises or directs how the matter is to be handled.”

The issue of Rubino’s post-Yonkers work was recently raised by Hezi Aris, the author of the Yonkers Tribune.

Aris thought Rubino’s employment by Harris Beach is a conflict of interest because of Harris Beach’s work for the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, so he wrote to the Yonkers Ethics Board.

The Ethics Board wrote back indicating that it found no ethics violations, but the board’s July 19 letter did not make any reference to Harris Beach’s new status as the city’s representative in the Marquez case.

Here is Harris Beach’s court filing:

Harris Beach takes over body slam brutality suit

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch said today he plans to keep pressure on state lawmakers who signed a pledge to support good-government reforms.

Koch is the front man for New York Uprising, a good-government group that is pushing candidates to support non-partisan redistricting, a balanced budget and ethics overhaul. The group last week released a list of reform “heroes” and “enemies.”

The heroes are the lawmakers and candidates who signed the pledge to support the group’s goals, the enemies didn’t sign the pledge.

Koch, speaking on Talk 1300 AM this morning, said even though many lawmakers signed the pledge, including Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx who is currently under investigation by the attorney general’s office,  it was important to get everyone on the record to see where they stand.

And heaven help the lawmakers who back slide on the pledge, Koch said.

“There is no way, even if you have an oath, that you can compel a legislator to vote one way or the other,” Koch said. “We’re going to run around the country, that is to say the state of New York, and yell ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire!’ in every district were someone has pledged and then reneged.”

All 30 Senate Republicans signed the pledge, but the Democrat said it wasn’t about party politics.

“I’ve never flirted with the Republican Party,” he said.

Legislative leaders Sen. John Sampson, D-Brooklyn and Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, didn’t sign the pledge. Silver released a statement saying he didn’t sign pledges, a claim Koch called “baloney.”

It doesn’t bode well for Democrats in the fall, he said.

“On these three good-government issues, the Republicans oddly are the party of reform,” Koch said. “It doesn’t mean the Democrats can’t immediately become the party of reofrm by signing, but they won’t do it. I’m telling you they are going down to a defeat.”

Gov. David Paterson’s office this afternoon issued a to-do list of 10 items for lawmakers returning to Albany this week.

Paterson, who convened a special session for the state Legislature set for Wednesday at 6 p.m., is calling  for a vote on capping property taxes at four percent, a plan that would allow state college campuses and universities to set their own tuition rates and a revised plan to sell wine in grocery stores.

The agenda also calls for a vote on a bill that would enact the final tax and fee provisions for the 2010-11 state budget that the Senate must still vote on. The measure’s passage would finally complete the budget for the fiscal year, which began April 1.

The governor is also calling for the creation of a contingency fund in case up to $1 billion in federal aid from Medicaid doesn’t come to the state.

Paterson, in calling the Legislature back last week, urged lawmakers to take up the unfinished business.Lawmakers when convening a special session generally gavel in and gavel out without taking up any of Paterson’s agenda.

Some of the proposals he’s pushing, such as the property-tax cap, a tax on sugary soft drinks and wine in grocery stores measure, are being brought back from the dead. Others, like the changes to the SUNY system, have held up budget talks in the Senate where some lawmakers are holding out for the proposal’s passage.

NARAL Pro-Choice New York will endorse Democratic Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Monday, his campaign announced today.

DiNapoli, who is running against Republican businessman Harry Wilson of Scarsdale, Westchester County, will receive the endorsement of the reproductive-rights advocacy group at 10:30 a.m. at City Hall in New York.

His campaign said in a statement that, “Comptroller DiNapoli has a distinguished record of supporting women’s reproductive health and has received NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s endorsement in each of the years that he was a New York State Assembly Member.”

Gov. David Paterson said today he will call lawmakers back to the capital on Wednesday to try to complete the state budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, which started April 1.

The Legislature is threatening to vie for the state record of budget futility, set in 2004 when a final budget was passed on Aug. 11.

Paterson’s call for lawmakers to return to Albany comes as he and lawmakers have yet to agree on how to close $9.2 billion budget gap and address another potential $1 billion shortfall if federal aid for Medicaid isn’t secured.

The session is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, and Paterson vowed to keep lawmakers in town until a deal is reached.

“Governor Paterson repeatedly has said that he will do everything in his power to protect New York’s fiscal health,” said spokesman Morgan Hook. “As it stands today, the state has no budget and no plan to address a $1 billion loss in federal support.”

Lawmakers left the Capitol in early July after failing to reach a compromise on the final pieces of the roughly $136 billion spending plan. The Assembly passed a package of revenue raisers to close the budget gap, but the Senate did not.

In the Senate, where Democrats hold a narrow 32-29 majority with one vacancy, some Democratic lawmakers have held out support for the budget until there is an agreement to give the state university system more autonomy to set tuition rates.

Paterson, meanwhile, has called on lawmakers to develop a contingency plan if the $1 billion in federal aid isn’t forthcoming.

Paterson can call special sessions of the Legislature, but he can’t compel them to act. As a result, the governor’s special sessions typically end with lawmakers simply gaveling in and out and taking no action.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, said the special sessions are pointless unless the Democratic governor and legislative leaders are in agreement on a final deal. Special sessions can cost taxpayers up to $100,000 a day in expenses to open the legislative chambers and pay lawmakers their daily stipends for being in town. Legislators receive $171 a day for meals and lodging when they are in town, plus travel expenses.

Gannett’s Albany Bureau reported last month that lawmakers accrued $1.2 million since April 1 for their daily expenses to come to Albany.

“He can’t make the two majorities take up any legislation,” Kolb said. “ So all he’s doing is wasting a lot of taxpayers’ money.”

But lawmakers may be more eager to get the deal done: They haven’t been paid since April 1. Under state law, they are not paid while the budget is late.

A day after U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., was found likely to have violated ethics rules by a congressional panel, Republican Senate candidates David Malpass and Gary Berntsen are calling on their opponents to denounce the longtime Harlem lawmaker.

In a statement, Malpass, an economist and Reagan-era official, said his opponent, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, should “put your money where your mouth is” and condemn Rangel.

“Senator Gillibrand likes to talk a good game when it comes to ethics, but now is her opportunity to put her money where her mouth is and finally take a position on the corruption issues facing Congressman Rangel,” Malpass said in a statement. “I’m calling on Senator Gillibrand to donate the $29,000 she received from Congressman Rangel to an appropriate housing charity and to urge the congressman to resign. New Yorkers are fed up with political corruption and the insider system that supports them.”

Gary Berntsen, a former CIA operative challenging U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, said the state’s senior senator should cancel a Rangel fundraiser scheduled for Aug. 11.

“On August 11th, Senator Schumer is set to host a fundraiser for the very same Charlie Rangel that received a House Ethics violation charge today,” Berntsen said “What do you think Chuck will do with this one?”

Rangel, 80, is accused of accepting four rent stabilized apartments in New York City, misused a tax loophole for an oil executive pledging to make a contribution to an organization in his district and failing to report or pay taxes for a village in the Dominican Republican.

The New York Civil Liberties Union has released an analysis that found at least one in five public school districts “may be unlawfully barring or discouraging” immigrant students from enrolling. The group said 139 of the 694 school districts in the state are asking for documents that would reveal or parent or child’s immigration status in order to enroll them.

“The Supreme Court ruled 28 years ago that all children have an equal right to a public school education, regardless of their immigration status. Though some of these school districts undoubtedly seek to exclude immigrant children, many of the offending districts are surely unaware that their registration requirements are discriminatory,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement.

In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states are in violation of the 14th Amendment if they deny undocumented children the same education United States citizens receive.

NYCLU said its lawyers first initiated contact with the state Education Department on this issue in September 2009 and have sent a few letters, but the state agency has not rectified the problem. The group sent another letter today, asking the agency to issue a directive to all districts regarding appropriate student enrollment procedures, mandate that school districts revise registration forms to comply with the law and monitor districts’ compliance with the directive and federal and state laws.

The NYCLU said the practices in place at Spencerport Central School District near Rochester are “glaringly discriminatory.” In its student registration checklist, the district asks for the I-94 form or Resident Alien Card of a child who isn’t a citizen by birth and notes that expired cards are not accepted.

The Oxford Academy and Central Schools, between Binghamton and Syracuse, require Social Security numbers from students registering for school. Undocumented children are ineligible for Social Security numbers, so they would be unable to register, according to the NYCLU. The Sweet Home Central School District near Buffalo asks about a child’s visa expiration date and requires a passport and a visa to verify length of stay for non-U.S. citizens.

This is the list of schools where the NYCLU found problems:
Unconstitutional School District List 07.23.10

Carl Paladino, the Buffalo real estate developer challenging Rick Lazio for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, released his financial information to the state Commission on Public Integrity.

Paladino’s report shows has a stake in multiple limited liability corporations and development companies in western New York. He has pledged to use up to $10 million of his money to snare the Republican nomination from Lazio, a former Long Island congressman who has reported anemic fundraising totals, and challenge Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the fall. Lazio is the preferred candidate of the state Republican Party.

Paladino is also trying to petition is way onto the November ballot by way of an independent-party line called the Taxpayers line.

Cuomo and Lazio previously filed their reports, which can be found here and here, respectively.

Here is a copy of the report Paladino filed with the state:

Paladino 2009

Carl Paladino, the Buffalo real estate developer challenging Rick Lazio for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, released his financial information to the state Commission on Public Integrity.

Paladino’s report shows has a stake in multiple limited liability corporations and development companies in western New York. He has pledged to use up to $10 million of his money to snare the Republican nomination from Lazio, a former Long Island congressman who has reported anemic fundraising totals, and challenge Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the fall. Lazio is the preferred candidate of the state Republican Party.

Paladino is also trying to petition is way onto the November ballot by way of an independent-party line called the Taxpayers line.

Cuomo and Lazio previously filed their reports, which can be found here and here, respectively.

Here is a copy of the report Paladino filed with the state:

Paladino 2009

Consider this a round-up of items from the race for the 40th state Senate District, the one where Assemblyman Greg Ball and Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy are battling for the GOP nomination and Democratic Westchester County Legislator Mike Kaplowitz is waiting in the wings.

First, we have this story from the Times Union in Albany about a website that once “featured a searchable database of names and, in some instances, addresses of New Yorkers who had applied for handgun permits since 1936, when the licenses were first required.” As the story points out, the list is now gone and the website address redirects an Internet traveler to another site that is critical of Ball.

Ball last week sent out a press release touting the original website’s demise. The Times Union story points out, however, that the information is publicly available under the state Freedom of Information Law and can be legally posted.
Assemblyman Greg Ball (R,C,I-Patterson) today announced his support for the temporary suspension of a website that unlawfully posted
New York State pistol owners’ personal information. While he is pleased that the database of firearm owners on “whospackingny.com” has been inactivated, Ball is pressing to make this temporary website shutdown permanent. The information contained in the database was taken from a confidential source without the consent of New York’s pistol-permit holders and posted anonymously to a public website.
Second, is a call by Murphy to cap property taxes.
“If New Jersey can pass a property tax cap, why can’t New York?” Murphy said in a statement today. “New York’s Legislature needs new ideas and leadership to address our tax crisis, which is why I’m running for the Senate. I want to protect taxpayers and bring sound fiscal policies to the Albany.”

The Legislature, Murphy said, should enact a law that would limit local property tax increases to 2 percent a year. Larger increases, she argued, should be subject to public referendums. Limited exceptions would be permitted for emergency expenditures and certain capital expenses. New Jersey passed a similar law earlier this month.

“We need to act to address runaway spending and property tax hikes,” Murphy said.
Finally, Ball today announced he was seeking voters’ signatures to allow him to run on the independent Tea Party line on November’s ballot.
“Hudson Valley taxpayers are ready for a tax revolt and revolution from within,” Ball said in a statement. “That revolution will happen this fall as our Silent Majority comes to life and is silent no more. This Congress and our arrogant legislature in Albany are both run by elitists and the people are fed up. My top priority in the Senate will be to cap property taxes, freeze school taxes for seniors and pass term limits.”

“This new Tea Party line will represent the will of the people. I’ve never been the candidate of the good ol’ boys in Albany, and my grassroots message of reform and limited government is a threat to the power brokers in the cesspool that is Albany. I didn’t go to Albany to make friends, I went to Albany to make a difference. What the elitists in Albany’s ivory tower don’t get is that voters of all persuasions are ready to take their state back, away from the same corrupting special interests that I fight everyday. That’s what my campaign, the July 24th Tea Party and this new line are all about!” Ball said.

Ball’s campaign will seek to complete the Independent Nominating Petition at his People’s Convention, to be held Saturday, July 24 from 10AM to Noon at Northridge Farm, 683 Route 311, Patterson, NY.
That’s all for now.

About 110 people are on the “enemies of reform” list that New York Uprising just released, including Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, Senate President Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.

On the other hand, 240 candidates for the Legislature have signed the pledge. All 29 Republicans in the Senate have signed it, even lawmakers who are not running for reelection. Fourteen Democratic incumbents in the Senate have not signed.

The pledge consists of three parts, and only candidates who check all three acquire the “hero of reform” label. The candidates must agree to work for non-partisan, independent redistricting, improvements in the state budget process and stronger ethics laws.

“Everyone knows New York is in a state of utter crisis. Everyone knows our state government has turned into a national joke. So given that, you would think every candidate for office this year would embrace the opportunity to pledge to enact real, meaningful reforms to clean up state government and make our state a saner, smarter, more ethical place,” former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, founder of New York Uprising, said in a statement.

Koch added that “far too many candidates clearly want to keep our state exactly the way it is – they benefit from the corruption, the dysfunction, the inanity that defines Albany and they clearly don’t want to do anything about it.”

UPDATED: Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, who is running for Senate,  was listed on the enemies list but said New York Uprising never notified him of its campaign. Ball sent his signed pledge in Thursday afternoon and forwarded an e-mail he received from New York Uprising that confirmed it was received.

“I support all the initiatives,” he said.

This is the list of enemies:

Assembly

Patricia Eddintgon – D-3

Assemblymember Philip Ramos – D-6

Assemblymember Robert Sweeney – D-11

Assemblymember Robert Barra – R-14
Assemblymember Michelle Schimel – D-16
Assemblymember Earlene Hooper – D-18
Assemblymember Harvey Weisenberg – D-20
Assemblymember Thomas Alfano – R-21
Assemblymember Mark Weprin – D-24
Assemblymember Rory Lancman – D-25
Assemblymember Ann Carrozza – D-26
Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn – D-27
Assemblymember Margaret Markey – D-30
Assemblymember Michele Titus – D-31
Assemblymember Vivian Cook – D-32
Assemblymember Barbara Clark – D-33
Assemblymember Michael DenDekker – D-34
Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubry – D-35
Assemblymember Catherine Nolan – D-37
Assemblymember Inez Barron – D-40
Assemblymember Helene Weinstein – D-41
Assemblymember Rhoda Jacobs – D-42
Assemblymember Karim Camara – D-43
Assemblymember James Brennan – D-44
Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz – D-45
Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny – D-46
Assemblymember William Colton – D-47
Assemblymember Dov Hikind – D-48
Assemblymember Peter Abbate – D-49
Assemblymember Felix Ortiz – D-51
Assemblymember Joan Millman – D-52
Assemblymember Vito Lopez – D-53
Assemblymember Darryl Towns – D-54
Assemblymember William Boyland – D-55
Assemblymember Annette Robinson – D-56
Assemblymember Nick Perry – D-58
Assemblymember Alan Maisel – D-59
Assemblymember Matthew Titone – D-61
Assemblymember Sheldon Silver – D-64
Assemblymember Deborah Glick – D-66
Assemblymember Adam Powell – D-68
Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell – D-69
Assemblymember Keith Wright – D-70
Assemblymember Herman Farrell – D-71
Nelson Denis – D-72
Assemblymember Richard Gottfried – D-75
Assemblymember Peter Rivera – D-76
Assemblymember Vanessa Gibson – D-77
Assemblymember Jose Rivera – D-78
Assemblymember Michael Benjamin – D-79
Assemblymember Naomi Rivera – -80
Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz – D-81
Assemblymember Michael Benedetto – -82
Assemblymember Carl Heastie – D-83
Assemblymember Carmen Arroyo – D-84
Assemblymember Marcos Crespo – D-85
Hector Ramirez – D-86
Assemblymember Nelson Castro – D-86
Assemblymember J. Pretlow – D-87
Assemblymember Mike Spano – R-93
Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee – D-95
Assemblymember Kevin Cahill – D-101
Assemblymember John McEneny – D-104
Assemblymember Ronald Canestrari – D-106
Assemblymember Clifford Crouch – R-107
Assemblymember Timothy Gordon – Independent-108
Assemblymember Robert Reilly – D-109
Assemblymember Tony Jordan – R-112
Assemblymember Teresa Sayward – R-113
Assemblymember Janet Duprey – R-114
Assemblymember David Townsend – R-115
Assemblymember RoAnn Destito – D-116
Assemblymember Marc Butler – R-117
Assemblymember Addie Russell – D-118
Assemblymember Joan Christensen – D-119
Assemblymember William Magnarelli – D-120
Assemblymember Gary Finch – R-123
Assemblymember William Barclay – R-124
Assemblymember Barbara Lifton – D-125
Assemblymember Peter Lopez – R-127
Assemblymember Robert Oaks – R-128
Assemblymember Joseph Errigo – R-130
Assemblymember Susan John – D-131
Assemblymember David Gantt – D-133
Assemblymember James Bacalles – R-136
Assemblymember Robin Schimminger – D-140
Assemblymember Crystal Peoples-Stokes – D-141
Assemblymember Jane Corwin – R-142
Assemblymember Dennis Gabryszak – D-143
Assemblymember Mark Schroeder – D-145
Assemblymember Daniel Burling – R-147
Assemblymember William Parment – D-150

Enemies (Senate)
Assemblymember Gregory Ball – R-99 (sent pledge in Thursday)
Greg Fisher – D-1
Greg Fisher – D-1
Senator George Onorato – D-12
Senator Malcolm Smith – D-14
Senator Martin Dilan – D-17
Senator Velmanette Montgomery – D-18
Mark Pollard – D-18
Senator John Sampson – D-19
Senator Eric Adams – D-20
Senator Kevin Parker – D-21
Senator Carl Kruger – D-27
Senator Ruben Diaz – D-32
Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson – D-36
Senator Neil Breslin – D-46
Timothy Carney – D-46
Senator Darrel Aubertine – D-48
Senator William Stachowski – D-58
Sean Cooney – D-58
Senator Antoine Thompson – D-60

Supporters of the wine in grocery store proposal (WIGS) have a new web ad out today that knocks the liquor store industry for fighting the measure.

Gov. David Paterson has regularly included allowing grocery stores to sell wine in his budget proposals, but the Legislature continues to fight it. It would bring in about $300 million to the state through new licensing fees.

Still, New Yorkers for Economic Growth—a coalition of wineries, grocery stores and other groups—continue to fight for proposal. The 30-second ad titled ‘Bulletin Board’ says the liquor industry has been “funneling hundreds of thousands to legislators.”

Of course, supporters of the measure have done plenty of spending themselves.

Here’s the ad, which the group said it may start running on television.

Republican attorney general candidate Daniel Donovan today wrote a letter to state Independence Party chairman Frank MacKay to pull himself out of consideration for the embattled party’s nomination—at this time.

“I am committed to upholding the integrity of my office and our justice system and as a result, must request that I be removed from your consideration at this time,” Donovan wrote.

The Independence Party, founded in the early 1990s by Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano, is facing a number of controversies—from the indictment of consultant John Haggerty, the resignation of party leader Frank Morano and the questionable use of campaign funds.

Andrew Cuomo accepted the party’s gubernatorial nomination in May, but the party has put in a placeholder for attorney general until presumably after the Democratic attorney general primary in September.

Cuomo had little to say about the party’s troubles this week, saying only “I would leave the running of the Independence Party to the Independence Party.”

But Donovan, the Staten Island district attorney, said he won’t take any part of it, but didn’t shut the door completely on its endorsement in the future.

Here’s the letter.
Donovan Letter to MacKay

County Executive Rob Astorino today reiterated his budget message on Good Day New York on Fox 5, where he spoke on the county’s deficit and the housing settlement.

Read more here or check out today’s story here.

The latest radio ad today from Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino proclaims there are “two major candidates for governor of New York” and goes on to rip “career politician” Andrew Cuomo as a supporter of building a mosque near Ground Zero.

Paladino, instead of knocking his GOP primary foe Rick Lazio, has set his sights—and a duck’s—directly on Cuomo in recent days.

“Career Politician Andrew Cuomo supports the construction of a $100 million Islamic mosque near Ground Zero,” the ad states. “Businessman Carl Paladino opposes a Mosque near the the site of the 9-11 attack on America and questions the true sources of the mosque’s funding.”

Cuomo said earlier this month that governments shouldn’t pick religions and “this country is about religious freedom,” saying he is unaware of any criminality involved in building the mosque.

Paladino said he would use eminent domain to stop the mosque if elected.

Here’s the script of the ad:

There are two major candidates for Governor of New York.

Career Politician Andrew Cuomo supports the construction of a $100 million Islamic mosque near Ground Zero.

Businessman Carl Paladino opposes a Mosque near the the site of the 9-11 attack on America and questions the true sources of the mosque’s funding.

Andrew Cuomo says it’s about religious freedom and the construction of the Mosque should proceed.

Carl Palaldino says it’s an affront to those murdered on 9-11, it’s an insult to all Americans and it must be stopped.

CARL: “This is Carl Paladino. As Governor I will use the power of eminent domain to stop this Mosque and make the site a war memorial instead of a monument to those who attacked our country.”

ANNOUNCER: The Choice is clear – Paladino for Governor

Here’s the video from WNBC-TV’s interview yesterday with Sherr-una Booker, the woman at the center of the domestic-abuse case involving Gov. David Paterson’s former top aide David Johnson.

Booker spoke to the Daily News and the New York City television station yesterday, and said she plans to refile charges against Johnson, who has been suspended without pay while an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office continues.

Booker claims she was pressured by State Police to drop the charges last year against Johnson, who is accused of attacking her last year. The incident led for calls in March for Paterson to resign and led him to abandon his election campaign.

The probe, however, is reportedly nearing the end as to whether Paterson played a role in trying to get Booker to drop the charges.

“It’s not okay for anyone to put their hands on anyone else,” Booker said in the clip. “It’s not okay for someone to be fearful. It’s just not okay. Speak up. Stand up.”

In response to published reports yesterday and today that Gov. David Paterson’s administration may develop plans to layoff state workers if the state doesn’t save enough through early retirements, the state Public Employees Federation said talking about potential layoffs at this point is irresponsible.

Paterson has been unsuccessful in his efforts this year to reduce or delay benefits for state workers. He unsuccessfully sought furloughs and to implement a lag in their pay (they would get the money upon leaving state service). Unions refused to give up a contractual pay raise to help the state, which has faced a $9.2 billion budget deficit this year.

This is the Public Employees Federation statement:
PEFonDOBlayoffthreat2010

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino delivered a mid-year update Wednesday on the county’s finances, in which he directed department heads to lower costs by 20 percent, or $94 million. He also asked union leaders to agree to salary freezes and health-care contributions in effort to curb what he predicts will be a $130 million deficit in 2011.

Astorino will meet with the Editorial Board to talk about the county’s finances, budget cuts and affordable housing in an Editorial Spotlight interview at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 28.

We’ll broadcast the session live at lohud.com/editorialspotlight. To ask a question during the session, engage the CoverItLive blogging feature on the right side of your screen.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino delivered a mid-year update Wednesday on the county’s finances, in which he directed department heads to lower costs by 20 percent, or $94 million. He also asked union leaders to agree to salary freezes and health-care contributions in effort to curb what he predicts will be a $130 million deficit in 2011.

Astorino will meet with the Editorial Board to talk about the county’s finances, budget cuts and affordable housing in an Editorial Spotlight interview at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 28.

We’ll broadcast the session live at lohud.com/editorialspotlight. To ask a question during the session, engage the CoverItLive blogging feature on the right side of your screen.