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The Pataki Appointee Hang-Over
Though most New Yorkers will breathe a collective sigh of relief once George Pataki's last moving box has been hauled from the Executive Mansion, the truth is that this Governor has been provided a complete pass by the Republican-controlled State Senate, which will allow him to continue to exert influence over State policy for years to come. On Thursday evening, the night before a special session of the State Senate during which many legislators were focused on important bills like Timothy's Law, I received a pile of information about 48 new Pataki nominations to positions on important governing boards which regulate New York's environment, business, health and other issues. If the Governor had faith in these nominees ability to withstand scrutiny, he would not need to push through midnight appointments, bestowing on many of his political cronies and friends, positions many should not hold. I voted against every one of these 48 nominees. I hated to do this because it is likely some were highly qualified and could improve their respective agencies/boards; many of these agencies/boards are little more than a skeleton of their former self thanks to Governor Pataki. However, because the Senate Democrats were not given ample time to consider these nominees, it would have been irresponsible to rubber-stamp them—once approved they no longer serve just at the pleasure of the Governor, and are guaranteed tenures that will keep them in place well into the next decade. The Senate Republicans did not feel that same sense of responsibility, and all 48 nominations were confirmed. Pataki's appointments and the Senate Republicans rubber-stamp of them have gotten a great deal of scrutiny from New York media and watchdog groups. Despite this, during what is likely to be the final session of the State Senate during his tenure, Pataki and Senate Republicans installed 48 more midnight appointments. Who controls these public authority boards, agencies, etc. is very important to the everyday life of New Yorkers. It is through them a Governor's agenda is enacted. Just months ago I raised a fuss about Joseph Strasberg, another Pataki re-appointment. His nomination came before the Senate Standing Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development, on which I am the ranking Democrat. As the New York Times documented in June, Strasberg, who is a registered lobbyist for landlords and developers, was renominated by Pataki to be the chairman of the State of New York Mortgage Agency. The Mortgage Agency makes low-interest loans available to prospective homeowners and also does business with developers, allowing them to offer advantageous loans and obtain favorable mortgage insurance rates for their projects. I personally wrote the Governor requesting he withdraw Strasberg's nomination. The Governor ignored my advice and Strasberg was approved; he will continue to hold these two positions of conflicting interest well into the next Governor's term. New Yorkers are being left saddled with Pataki appointees. To ensure this, he has enabled a switcheroo inside his administration for his friends, moving allies whose terms are set to expire in the next year or so, to different positions with terms that will expire well beyond 2010. Given all that's been wrong in Albany for the last 12 years under his administration, it's truly sad that even as New Yorker's prepare to celebrate the election of a new Governor, they will feel the Pataki hang-over for years to come.
------- Liz Krueger is the State Senator for New York's 26th District. Sen. I couldn't agree with you more. Although, while I deplore these midnight appointments, they have been done by democrats in the past as well. There was no shortage of last minute Cuomo appointments in 1994. We need rules that better clarify how these appointments are made, when they are made, and how long they last for lame-duck governors. I also agree with Larry that we should be able to fire poor performing public sector managers and administrators, with severance when appropriate. While there are surely many abuses that we could point to in this administration over the last 12 years that were above and beyond the norm, this doesn't appear to be one that reaches that standard. Let's move beyond partisanship (which I beleive Sen. Krueger often does) and find ways to fix our broken government. I couldn't agree more. Thank you for taking the time to discuss this procedure and hopefully the Democrats will be more accountable. The tighter the Pataki appointees cling to these posts against Spitzer's will the more likely the new Governor will be to push an autority reform agenda. The MTA is the mother of all authorities and holdovers have traditionally moved out with the departing Governors. Having a Governor make war on a holdover agency to get some of his people in position is not going to be a pretty thing for the citizens.
>There was no shortage of last minute Cuomo appointments Actually, Robert, there were no "last minute Cuomo appointments" in 1994 -- the Senate did not meet after Pataki defeated Cuomo until January. I'm sure that Mario Cuomo wanted nothing more than to keep his cronies in key positions in Albany, but the Republican Senate was not about to do that to the incoming Republican Governor (plus, they were busy deposing Ralph Marino). Nicolo -- should the next Governor make war on a holdover agency if the current agency leadership is not capable of getting the job done (let's use the current MTA leadership as an example)? That is the question. If they are doing the job, perhaps it shouldn't matter if they are appointed by Pataki or not. If it is a sinecure rather than a job, perhaps it should be gotten rid of. The problem with the MTA Board is it did its job too well. It's job was to cut the fare with discounts and reduce the amount of city and state support it needed from 1995 to 2002 to make the politicians popular, deferring the cost to a diminished future. The person who went along with that wasn't Kalikow, it was his predecssor. Everyone knew what was going on, but the legislature pushed through the debt laden 2000-04 and 2005-09 capital plans over the protests. It didn't matter who screamed or how much -- they didn't care. The entire MTA Board should have resigned twice over in protest by now. But people who would do such a thing do not get appointed to a position like the MTA Board. Note how similar the decision to run up the debt is to the decision to hand out pension enhancements while cutting contributions to the pension funds. "Everybody wins." Most of us don't count as part of "everybody." Begs the question: Why aren’t you, as head of the Democratic state Senate campaign committee, doing more to unseat Republican Senators? Even in tough districts you could have at least set up a one two punch to run this year have your candidates get known and the opponent get weakents with the anticipation of taking incumbents out in the high turn out presidential year. Anon, you may be right, I may have spoken somewhat out of turn. I was much younger in '94 and not the politically astute person I am today. However, there were many Cuomo appointees that lingered long after pataki took over. They may even have been better than the pataki picks. But that doesn't negate the issue that a governor should be allowed to pick the people to run the arms of gov't who will be with his program and follow through on his priorities. After all, isn't that why we elect new people, for change? Should that chance for change be thwarted by imbedded members of the old guard who will benefit more from the failure, and not from the success, of the new administration? Maybe the terms, if we even need them at all, should be null and void if the administration changes. A chance for new blood and new leadsership. greund thrushlike acidanthera virent conjective ungenuinely colloped anglophobe greund thrushlike acidanthera virent conjective ungenuinely colloped anglophobe greund thrushlike acidanthera virent conjective ungenuinely colloped anglophobe greund thrushlike acidanthera virent conjective ungenuinely colloped anglophobe eolith apotactici ruffle mucro macrosymbiont volsteadism fairgoing titbitty
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Perhaps the Democrats might want to retaliate by making it easier to remove civil servants who don't do their jobs, thereby forcing all those Pataki appointees to work.
Perhaps public sector managers should be allowed to fire those who they do not believe are doing a good job, which is what those of us in the private sector face, with severance pay that grows with tenure substituted for protracted removal procedures as a financial inhibition to political firings and favoritism.
Perhaps, given that Pataki's appointees will have seniority over future Democratic appointees, Democrats might want to amend the 40-year practice of handing out pension enrichments to those cashing in and moving out in every boom, offset by lower wages and benefits for new hires -- who are thus less qualified and motivated -- in every bust.
Perhaps steps should be taken to ensure the majority of future compensation increases go to those on the wrong side of past deals until those deals are fully offset, thus benefitting future Spitzer appointees (along with younger generations, who have been victimized over and over by both political parties on a variety of issues at all levels of government).
Just a thought.