John Sampson

ALBANY—State Senator Hiram Monserrate is guilty--but not guilty enough to automatically lose his seat or throw the already-unstable chamber into complete disarray.

Already there are rumblings in the chamber to have a committee review the matter; under the Legislative Law, senators could then approve Monserrate's expulsion.

"Hopefully he would step aside on his own and not have to go through the committee process," State Senator Marty Golden, a Republican who has criticized Monserrate repeatedly, said.

"There's a whole series of issues here that would leave one to believe that he acted improperly. Nobody should be above the law, least of all a man that is going to be drafting legislation to protect women when he is an individual convicted of assaulting a woman her in the city.

Jimmy Vielkind

Not only Nixon can go to China.

ALBANY—State Senator Liz Krueger, the vice chair of the Senate's finance committee, said that the staffs of each legislative conference will meet with staffers from the Budget Division in a closed-door meeting tomorrow.

"My understanding is that the governor and DOB will be putting some of their proposals on the table for us to start to evaluate and discuss and perhaps propose alternatives as we evaluate the governor's proposals," Krueger said before a hearing she was holding on the costs of property tax exemptions around the state. "We're not going to be the first ones to put a proposal on the table because actually the constitution says that's the role for the governor.

Andrew Cuomo was joined by four Senate Democrats Senators this morning on the steps of the Tweed Courthouse, where they unveiled a plan to create a 13-member board to oversee the state pension fund, a change from the current structure which is under the supervision of the state comptroller, Tom DiNapoli.

“People who want to rob the state go to the pension fund,” said Cuomo.

The plan would also ban companies that contribute money to the state comptroller’s campaign from doing business with the pension fund, a change Cuomo and the senators said would be significant in and of itself.

“The system is fatally flawed,” said Cuomo.

ALBANY—David Paterson's first attempt to bridge a mid-year budget deficit will not be developed a priori, but rather is working with the legislature to develop a plan, his top budget official said on a conference call.

"We do want to work collaboratively with the legislature because we want something that works," Bob Megna, the budget director, told reporters. "We want a plan that works. We want something the legislature can feel comfortable in implementing, but I must tell you that if the legislature does not get to the point that they can provide solutions, the governor will, you know, take his position as leader of the state seriously and provide a plan to eliminate the gap.

Jimmy Vielkind

Paterson with Ravitch, without mustache.

ALBANY—David Paterson just said at a leaders meeting that he expects the budget gap to grow to $3 billion, and called on legislative leaders to a special session to deal with the problem, post haste. Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson disagreed.

"We fear that the encumbrance could be as much as an additional billion dollars," Paterson, who sat next to Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch, said. That would be on top of an already announced $2.1 billion deficit. "That is not a hard number. That is basically my estimate. It may not be as grave as I described. It may be worse.

ALBANY—Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson was in the thick of things today, shaking hands with the president and exchanging a brief pleasantry. He was reportedly dining Friday evening with David Paterson and Representative Greg Meeks when the news that the White House wanted Paterson to step aside was delivered. Sampson sat between Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, his presumed gubernatorial rival.

"I think that's an issue with respect to the president and the governor to deal with," Sampson said of his Friday dinner during a quick session with reporters that a colleague was gracious enough to share a recording of. "I think the Democrats in the state are concerned about the $2.

ALBANY—David Paterson just called legislative leaders to the table next Wednesday to deal with a $2.1 billion mid-year budget deficit.

"The longer we wait to deal with this problem, the harder the decision-making becomes. Every state in the nation is confronting the same historic economic crisis, and many states that have passed their budgets have been or will be forced to take additional action," Paterson said in a statement, echoing comments earlier today. "States that have failed to address their budget problems in a timely manner have been forced to deal with cash flow difficulties, delayed payments on critical obligations, employee furloughs, and diminished credit ratings.

ALBANY—David Paterson said he wants to avoid layoffs or furloughs for state employees, but reiterated that "everything is on the table" as state officials deal with a mid-year budget gap.

"Any time we can find a way to save jobs, we should do that," Paterson said at an event in Manhattan with the Israeli trade minister. "We have not had to furlough or lay off any workers. But the means of balancing budgets are becoming less and less available, and everything is on the table. We are going to have to make sure that New York can still meet its obligations.

ALBANY—The State Senate decided, on ethics reform, that no loaf was better than half.

Members of the chamber failed--along party lines, with Republicans voting against--to pass a bill requiring more enforcement by government watchdogs, prompting Democrats to lay aside another bill passed by the Assembly.

On the chamber floor, Republicans attacked a chapter amendment introduced by Senator John Sampson that would have created a compliance-enforcement unit with the State Board of Elections. The Republicans objected that it would cost the state money that the state doesn't have while creating inefficiency and the potential for partisan "witch hunts."

The chapter amendment--which currently has no companion proposal in the Assembly, and has difficult path to becoming law--

ALBANY—Democratic Assemblyman Mark Schroeder never planned to call State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. a thug, but now he's calling on him--and Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson, who "rushed to his defense"--to come to his Buffalo district and apologize.

On Friday, Schroeder called publicly for Espada to resign his leadership position.

"Usually, you would think, in a day or two they would have called for an apology. The only apology Espada's going to get is the one he issues to my constituents," Schroeder said. "They should come here and they should apologize for the behavior they have shown, especially in June, and now.