Pay cut? Oh, please...

NY guv cuts own pay by 5%; will make due on $170,000...
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he's taking a 5 percent Pay Cut, along with five top aides and Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy. Cuomo says he'll return to the state that portion of the $179,000 Governor's Salary, which was set by law in 1999. It amounts to $8,950. Staff in the Executive Chamber agreeing to similar cuts from their predecessors' salaries are the Governor's secretary, counsel, director of state operations, counselor and Chief of Staff. Other chamber expenses are also under review. Cuomo says Monday t...

Andrew Cuomo pledges pay cut of 5%, and wage freeze among government workers
- Jennifer of Cubachi NY Governor Andrew Cuomo seems to be heading to a good start in combating the Budget Deficit in New York. However, a pay freeze, and cutting his own pay, is not going to resolve the massive, billions of dollars in Debt the state is in. ...

Kolb Adopts A Cuomo Argument Against Pay Cuts
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb told me on CapTon last night that while he respects Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “symbolic” 5 percent Pay Cut for himself and his top aides, he doesn’t think it’s necessary for state lawmakers to follow suit. The DN editorial page this morning noted that AG Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Tom Dinapoli have agreed to take a page from Cuomo’s playbook and voluntarily reduce their own pay. The paper called on “all electe...

Kolb Adopts A Cuomo Argument Against Pay Cuts
Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb told me on CapTon last night that while he respects Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “symbolic” 5 percent Pay Cut for himself (Read more...) ...

Gov. Cuomo To Cut Own Salary 5%
Gov. Cuomo is taking a voluntary $8,950 per year Pay Cut. That's 5% of $179,000, the state-mandated Governor's Salary, which (Read more...) ...

Cuomo to Take One for His Team
New New York (try again) Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced that he'll be returning 5% of his gubernatorial Salary. Shocking coincidence: The State of New York's contracts with many of its largest Public Employee Unions (I'm a member of one of these) will expire soon. Shocking fact: Politicians and the media are really vilifying public employees these days. I just don't have the energy to go into the war on public employees (FWIW, both my father and grandmother were also public employees, so I...

Astorino, Jenkins going to Albany
County Executive Rob Astorino and Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins are heading up to Albany for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s first State of the State Address. We’re pretty sure they’re driving up the New York State Thruway in separate cars. The address is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. While it’s no surprise that Cuomo will talk about the state’s dire condition and present his plan for putting New York back on track, the Westchester leaders just wrapped up th...

Gov.s pay cut puts joke on us
Now this is Change We Can Believe In: a .5-percent cut in pay for state lawmakers, who incidentally received a 5.5-percent raise just five years ago. Wow. Talk about real Financial Reform. Seriously, Governor, do you really expect this to pacify the outraged masses, many of whom have, in the past two years, dealt with Pay Cuts of their own in the range of 10 percent and higher? But there was Deval Patrick on Monday, the first workday of the New Year, proudly crowing that he was cutting his own s...

Cuomo gives few details on tomorrows State of the State speech
Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave few details about his State of the State address tomorrow during an interview on Talk 1300-AM radio in Albany this morning. The State of the State is at 1:30 p.m. in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, next to the Capitol, and will be broadcast on the Web. Asked if the Speech will include proposals that have been detailed in published reports, such as cutting Medicaid and replacing the state Banking and Insurance departments and the Consumer Protection Board with o...

Cuomo gives few details on State of the State speech tomorrow
Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave few details about his State of the State address tomorrow during an interview on Talk 1300-AM radio in Albany this morning. The State of the State is at 1:30 p.m. in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, next to the Capitol, and will be broadcast on the Web. Asked if the Speech will include proposals that have been detailed in published reports, such as cutting Medicaid and replacing the state Banking and Insurance departments and the Consumer Protection Board with o...

Sirius XM slashing talent salaries, says former DJ
Los Angeles (Hollywood Reporter) - After striking expensive deals with such Hollywood personalities as Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart and Jamie Foxx, Sirius XM has been asking some of its top radio talent to take dramatic cuts in pay. So said Bubba the Love Sponge, who for five years was the No. 2 talk-show host at Sirius XM until he quit a few days ago after he says management tried to cut his Salary by 80%. In December, CFO David Frear talked of "more favorable economic terms" as content deals...

Gov. Chafee takes oath of office, calls for collaboration and civility
Governor Chafee, center, with Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis and General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo, left, and Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, right, celebrate the inauguration with a lighting of WaterFire in downtown Providence. Also at the ceremony was Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts.. PROVIDENCE — His hand on his father’s Bible as he took the oath of office, his wife and Children at his side, Lincoln Davenport Chafee on Tuesday stepped into the job that his father, the late...

Report: States Consider New Laws to Limit Power of Labor Unions
Tuesday, January 04, 2011 By Susan Jones (CNSNews.com) - State officials from both parties are looking for ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, is expected to call for a one-year Salary freeze for state workers, officials in other states are pushing new laws to limit Unions' power. See Newspaper Roundup and Read New York Times report ...

CITY INSIDER / Muni plans to fix budget with more parking tickets
Drivers in San Francisco beware: The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs the city's transit and parking operations, is looking to increase the number of parking citations issued, officials announced Monday. The reason? To help close a projected $21 million Deficit in the $775 million operating Budget for the current Fiscal Year that ends June 30. The agency budgeted about $99 million for parking citation revenue this year but projections have been falling short because a...

Extreme security marks Rick Scott's inauguration as governor
Tallahassee -- Rick Scott is bringing change to the capital in more ways than one. Florida's new Governor was the star of the most security-conscious inauguration in recent memory, with elaborate Washington-style flourishes that amplified Scott's unfamiliarity with the small, informal capital city he now calls home. For two days, Scott was trailed by a cadre of dark-suited men who resembled law-enforcement agents, but were not. They wore red lapel buttons and silver earpieces, checking visito...

Leaders elected, challenges ahead
Gordon D. Fox fights back tears as he is nominated for Reelection as House Speaker by Rep. Eileen Naughton. The emphasis was on pomp and circumstance, but even amid the speeches and patriotic songs and the Reelection of familiar leaders, the 2011 session of the General Assembly managed to open with some characteristic discord. In the Senate, M. Teresa Paiva Weed was reelected president on a vote of 33 to 5. The Newport Democrat and first woman to serve in the position received glowing comments f...

Rhode Island inauguration journal
From politics to broadcasting for yet another former official. Outgoing state Rep. John J. Loughlin II, who lost the 1st Congressional District election to Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, was spotted at the State House Tuesday afternoon with a Channel 12 microphone and video camera in hand. Loughlin said it is his first day as a “stringer,” or freelance correspondent, for the TV station. State Rep. J. Russell Jackson, of Newport, presided over the first day’s session of t...

Why not unemployment compensation?
Posted by Scott at 5:32 PM Jimmy Carter famously borrowed Admiral Rickover's question to ask Why Not the Best? Less famously, Barack Obama told Governor Jindal too chill out about Obama's job killing drilling Moratorium. Those who would lose their jobs "can file for Unemployment." It could be the motto of the Obama Administration so far. Why not unemployment compensation? A reader writes with one answer to the question: The maximum, weekly, unemployment benefit in Louisana is $247! (pre-tax).....

Boehner Gets a Boost From Tea Party
The dozens of fiscally conservative new House Republicans, most calling themselves Tea Party movement members, should help incoming House Speaker John Boehner curb spending and limit appropriators from inserting Earmarks into Legislation, according to some of his advisors. "These new members will bolster Boehner's position," said one key adviser to the GOP leadership. "Not only does he get along with them very well but they think like he does. They want to cut spending and taxes...

Congress Starts Fighting before GOP Takes Power
If there were any hopes for a new spirit of Bipartisanship in the 112th Congress due to convene Jan. 5, 2011, the fighting has begun even before the gavel comes down. (CBS) (CBS) WASHINGTON - Several busloads of incoming House Speaker John Boehner's family and friends left Cincinnati before dawn Tuesday morning, bound for Washington, D.C, where outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi will formally return on Wednesday the gavel Boehner handed to her in 2007. "I don't really look back," Pelosi told report...

Familiar Faces of the 2011-2012 Assembly
 Fist votes casted by members of the 2011-2012 General Assembly were to elect the House and Senate leadership. The House, by a margin of 54 to 21 Representative Gordon Fox was elected to continue as Speaker of the House. Representative Fox became Speaker in February of 2010 after Speaker William J Murphy resigned. Speaker Fox commented that his top priorities for the House are Economic Development policies, taxes, a comprehensive Budget, municipal aid, and Education Reform. Members of the H...

Nancy Pelosi: 'No Regrets' on Last Day as House Speaker
(WASHINGTON) — Democrat Nancy Pelosi said she had no regrets on her last day as House Speaker Tuesday, a reign that lasted four years and is ending after the November Elections. Pelosi said Tuesday she looks forward to leading a loyal but tenacious opposition in the House. She started by calling Republicans hypocrites for trying to Repeal President Barack Obama's Health Care overhaul, saying it would add to the federal Budget Deficit. (See photos of Nancy Pelosi's career.) Republicans won...

Riley deputy will be top staffer for new speaker
Josh Blades, deputy Chief of Staff for Gov. Bob Riley, will finish his term with the Governor before moving Jan. 18 to work as Chief of Staff for new House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn. Hubbard said Blades has "already been working and helping and preparing and that sort of thing." "He's going to be great," Hubbard said. "He's a sharp young man." Jeff Woodard, who was the Chief of Staff for former Speaker Seth Hammett, will be moving into another role in the House, Hubbard said. Hubbard said...

Sanford releases proposed budget
COLUMBIA -- State workers would take more unpaid time off, colleges would lose at least $68 million and the state would end funding for its museum and arts programs under the $5 billion Budget proposal outgoing Gov. Mark Sanford released Tuesday, eight days before he leaves office. Sanford took time in his final executive Budget to snipe at the legislators he blames for the more than $800 million shortfall they must deal with when they return next week. That shortfall is a mix of slower state ta...

Leaving jurist spots vacant amounts to poor judgment
This is the new normal in the state's Criminal Justice system: A Circuit Court judge in Virginia Beach will travel two hours, each way, to the Eastern Shore to hear cases. (At least the traveling jurist will get reimbursed for mileage and tolls on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.) A judge based on the Shore recently turned 70, the mandatory Retirement Age. The judicial region, one of the state's busiest, is now short two judges. And it's just fine that the lone juvenile judge for the Petersburg...