Bain acquisition sent Holland jobs out of New York State

The workers at the Williamhouse envelope plant in the Town of Holland most likely never heard Mitt Romney's name. They just knew that an out-of-town owner bought the company and, within a few years, their jobs were shipped to Pennsylvania.

"The company was doing just fine," said Carolyn Gibbon, of West Seneca, who, with her husband, Thomas, worked at Niagara Envelope for 10 years that she now calls wasted. "Then, the following summer, we were being shut down."

Some 185 workers lost their jobs in that 1999 closing of a venerable local company previously known as Niagara Envelope. That happened two years after the company's new owner, American Pad and Paper, or "Ampad," closed the local firm's downtown Buffalo headquarters as well as the main office of a sister company in New York, eliminating 250 jobs.

To critics of Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president who will be in Buffalo on Friday for a fundraiser, all this matters in the context of the current campaign.

Full Post

Weekly Address: An All-Hands-On-Deck Approach to Fighting the Colorado W...

Oswego Democratic Legislator wants state to halt mandates

The large raise handed down by the state for Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes sparked a discussion in regard to unfunded state mandates that are strapping the county coffer.

During Monday’s meeting, the legislature’s Strategic Planning and Government Committee approved the salary increase for Oakes, which will jump from $119,800 annually to a minimum of $140,166, an increase of more than $20,000.

Legislator Doug Malone suggested that the legislature send a resolution to oppose the unfunded mandates because the raise was not budgeted.

County Administrator Phil Church said he could prepare a resolution for the next meeting that would address not only the issue of the raise, but other issues as well that impact the county budget due to unfunded mandates.

“As long as there’s enough teeth put into it,” Malone said.

Full Story

Supreme Court Health Care Decision: Individual Mandate Survives

The individual health insurance mandate is constitutional, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, upholding the central provision of President Barack Obama's signature Affordable Care Act.

The controlling opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, upheld the mandate as a tax, although concluded it was not valid as an exercise of Congress' commerce clause power. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined in the outcome.

The decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius comes as something of a surprise after the generally hostile reception the law received during the six hours of oral arguments held over three days in March. But by siding with the court's four Democratic appointees, Chief Justice Roberts avoided the delegitimizing taint of politics that surrounds a party-line vote while passing Obamacare's fate back to the elected branches. GOP candidates and incumbents will surely spend the rest of the 2012 campaign season running against the Supreme Court and for repeal of the law.

Five justices concluded that the mandate, which requires virtually all Americans to obtain minimum health insurance coverage or pay a penalty, falls within Congress' power under the Constitution to "lay and collect taxes."

Full Post

Scalia Fox News

America Doesn't Need an Outsourcing Pioneer in the Oval Office

Citizens United Gettysburg Address

Here And Now...Political News Around New York

HERE AND NOW

Oswego County legislators review new code of ethics

Members of the Oswego County Legislature’s Strategic Planning and Government Committee got a first look at a new draft code of ethics for county employees and elected officials.

During Monday’s meeting, the draft policy was handed out and legislators were asked to review it for later discussion.

The state recently made major changes to the law and local municipalities may add to, but cannot subtract from, the state laws.

The draft policy addresses disclosure of interests in legislation and other matters, the prohibition on use of a municipal position for personal or private gain, recusal and abstention, private employment in conflict with official duties, future employment, use of municipal resources, interests in contracts, nepotism, political solicitations and activity, confidential information and gifts.

The draft policy keeps the number of ethics board members at three, something some legislators oppose. Minority Leader Mike Kunzwiler, as well as other committee members, have suggested that the number of board members be increased to five or seven. Many counties in the state have more than three board members.

LINK

How Emily Benefits from the Affordable Care Act

Obama for America TV Ad: "Mosaic"

End of Session, June 22nd, 2012

Oswego legislator looks to bring local perspective to state Senate seat

Although Senate elections are months away, campaigning is in full swing for Oswego County Legislator Amy Tressider, a Democrat, who is seeking to unseat incumbent Patty Ritchie, R-Oswegatchie, for the 48th District.

Tressider currently represents the 16th District in the Oswego County Legislature, which includes portions of the city of Oswego. She said it is important to her to provide voters with legitimate choices and representation of their concerns.

“I feel strongly that our government in general should represent the concerns of the general public,” said Tressider. “I am one of those people that if I don’t agree with something, it’s up to me to do something about it.”

The two-term county legislator said state government has not changed and has become more focused on partisan attacks and special interests and not what the people are concerned about or how they want the state to function. Tressider said challengers for political office want to change what the incumbent has done and how they do it for the wrong reasons. She stated that there are a lot of back-and-forth battles at the state level that have to stop in the interests of the people.

“My goal is to work in the best interests of the people and to be more mindful of the facts and the reason for proposals. Critical thinking is lacking,” said Tressider of how she would do things differently.

Full Story

Exclusive Interview: Gov. Cuomo Discusses End of Session

Exclusive Interview: Gov. Cuomo Discusses End of Session

Weekly Address: Congress Must Act on Transportation Bill and Student Loans

Legislator objects to taxpayers footing the bill for New Haven home clean up

At the conclusion of the June 14 meeting of the Oswego County Legislature, Legislator Doug Malone said he is not pleased that the taxpayers of the county have to pay for the clean up of a Town of New Haven property.

The clean up work began Monday at the 3600 Co. Rte. 6 property, which has been littered with garbage. The property was declared a “public health nuisance” by the Oswego County Health Department.

The owner of the property, Harold Curran, died last August.

Oswego County is only permitted to clean up the garbage that poses a heath threat, but not the tons of other debris that litters the property.

Malone said he didn’t agree with the procedure taken to approve the expense. He said the legislature nor any of the standing committees were consulted prior to the clean up approval.

Full Story

Mitt Romney's Long-Term Solution For Immigration Reform Politics

Maffei Calls for Congresswoman Buerkle to Prioritize Lower Taxes on the Middle Class

On the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Bush Tax Cuts, Congressional candidate Dan Maffei called on Congresswoman Buerkle to lower taxes on the middle class, not protect tax breaks for billionaires and oil companies, and questioned her decision to prioritize the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy over middle class tax relief.

“It is very disappointing that Congresswoman Buerkle believes it’s more important to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for billionaires than to save the average working family in New York $1000 a year.  I strongly urge the Congresswoman to support middle class tax relief, and make it a higher priority than protecting tax breaks for big oil companies and the very wealthiest Americans.”

Background:

Congresswoman Buerkle voted against extending the Payroll Tax cut because it was not paid for.  [clerk.house.gov, Vote 72, accessed June 7, 2012, aurburnpub.com, accessed June 7, 2012]

Congresswoman Buerkle supports extending the Bush Tax Cuts without them being paid for.  [The Hill, accessed June 7, 2012]

Congresswoman Buerkle voted to protect oil company subsidies. Rep. Buerkle voted against eliminating various tax subsidies for large oil companies. [clerk.house.gov, Vote 153 accessed June 7, 2012]

###

Fewer of Me

Oswego County legislators spar over parliamentary procedure

Meeting procedure was once again called to question when a memorializing resolution that had been tabled the previous month had been reintroduced in an amended form.

Prior to the start of Thursday’s meeting, the legislature’s Economic Development and Planning Committee met to discuss an amended resolution opposing the International Joint Commission’s BV7 plan to regulate the water levels of Lake Ontario.

Legislator Amy Tresidder questioned the propriety of reintroducing an amended resolution when the legislature had tabled the previous resolution. A tabled resolution must be presented on the floor in its original form.

Tresidder’s comments were disregarded and Legislator Louella LeClair introduced the amended resolution during the legislature session.

Legislator Doug Malone questioned the legality of bringing the amended resolution to the floor.  He argued that the same resolution that was tabled is the one must be presented to the floor.

Full Story

Current Unemployment Rates

Unemployment Rates	May 12	April 12	May 11
Jefferson	9.6	10.0	9.1
Lewis	9.9	10.2	9.1
St. Lawrence	10.4	10.1	10.0
Oswego	10.2	9.8	9.7
New York State	8.6	8.1	7.8

Sam Donaldson Rejects Comparison To Reporter Who Interrupted Obama

Shortly after Daily Caller reporter Neil Munro interrupted President Barack Obama's remarks on changes in immigration policy Friday, Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson suggested to The Huffington Post that the reporter's actions were similar to those of former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson during the Reagan years.
In a later official statement, Carlson again mentioned Donaldson when taking issue with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer dismissing Munro as a "heckler."
“I don’t remember Diane Sawyer scolding her colleague Sam Donaldson for heckling President Reagan," Carlson said. "And she shouldn’t have. A reporter’s job is to ask questions and get answers."
But Donaldson, remembered for his aggressive questioning during the Reagan years and for sparring with White House press secretaries as an ABC News correspondent, rejected the comparison to Munro.
"I like Tucker (let all flowers bloom) but I really resent his trying to tie his reporter’s actions to mine," Donaldson wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. "He knows better."
In the email, Donaldson continued:

Never once did I interrupt a president in any way while he was making a formal statement, a speech, honoring awardees or in any other way holding the floor. Yes, almost always when he was finished in the Rose Garden or in the Briefing Room or at a photo opportunity with other world leaders I tried to question him (only rarely was it a shout on the rope line, more often a more normal tone of voice) and other reporters of course did the same thing along with me. What this man did yesterday is something new, to me wrong and unusual. I think it is probably the result of the growing incivility of the times, the competition among reporters and news organizations to be noticed not only for the work product but for the theatrics of the gathering…and there is one more factor, let’s face it: Many on the political right believe this president ought not to be there – they oppose him not for his polices and political view but for who he is, an African American! These people and perhaps even certain news organizations (certainly the right wing talkers like Limbaugh) encourage disrespect for this president. That is both regrettable and adds, in this case, to the general dislike of the press on the part of the general public.
For Tucker Carlson to say that he would if he can give this man a raise for this rude attempt to interrupt the president is reflective of what I’ve said above and, to me, lowers my opinion of Tucker.

 Full Post

The Real story of spending Under President Obama

The truth is, the President's supposed "spending binge" is nothing but a myth, repeatedly debunked by independent fact checkers. Federal spending growth has actually been slower under President Obama than under any other president since Dwight Eisenhower.

President Obama has a plan to reduce the deficit by over $4 trillion, cutting federal spending while still making critical investments in education, innovation, infrastructure, and clean energy. It's a balanced and responsible approach to creating an economy built to last.

Mitt Romney claims on his campaign website: "Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history."

 

Sources:

Congressional Budget Office (CBO), nonpartisan analysis for the U.S. Congress Office of Management and Budget (OMB) MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal

1. Spending by president begins with the fiscal year that started during the calendar year they took office
2. 2009 Recovery Act was attributed to Obama

Weekly Address: Ending the Stalemate in Washington

Obama Has a Jobs Plan. Romney Doesn't.

It’s no secret that the presidential election will be decided by the state of the economy and which candidate has a better plan for creating jobs. So, toward that end, consider a few relevant numbers:

+ 1.4 million to 3.3 million—that’s how many jobs were created or saved by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the stimulus, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

+ 1.9 million—that’s the number of new jobs the American Jobs Act, unveiled by President Obama in September 2011, would create, according to Mark Zandi of Moody’s.

- 4.1 million—that’s how many jobs Paul Ryan’s budget, which Mitt Romney called “an excellent piece of work,” would eliminate through 2014, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

+11.5 million—that’s how many jobs Romney claimed last September he would create in the first term of his administration. But true to form, Romney never said how he would create that many jobs, nor has any reputable economist backed up his claim. “Nowhere in the 160 page plan could I find a stated job creation number,” wrote Rebecca Thiess of EPI. “The math doesn’t just appear to be fuzzy—it appears to be nonexistent.” Added David Madland of the Center for American Progress: “It is a plan from the Republican candidate for president designed to maximize corporate profits. What it doesn’t do is help the middle class or create jobs.” Even the conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal called Romney’s fifty-nine-point economic tome “surprisingly timid and tactical considering our economic predicament.”
Following last month’s disappointing jobs report, Romney offered six specific ideas to lift the flagging economy. Reported Greg Sargent:

He said he would tap our energy resources to “put a lot of people to work in the energy sector.” He said he’d repeal Obamacare, which is “scaring small businesses from hiring.” He said he’d balance the budget so people know “investing in America is going to yield a return in dollars worth something.” He vowed to “open up new markets in American trade.” He said he’d revamp the National Labor Relations Board and lower tax rates on employers, both of which would make it easier to hire people.

Sargent asked a few top economists whether Romney’s ideas would actually create jobs. “On net, all of these policies would do more harm in the short term,” responded Mark Hopkins, a senior adviser at Moody’s Analytics. “If we implemented all of his policies, it would push us deeper into recession and make the recovery slower.”

Hopkins’s quote might just be the most important one of the campaign so far. Every story about the candidates’ positions on the economy should mention this essential dynamic: Obama has a jobs plan. Romney doesn’t. In fact, according to economists, Romney’s prescriptions for the economy would only make a bad situation significantly worse.

Ben LaBolt: Mitt Romney is Running for Office on a False Premise

NY True Blue For Obama

Today’s Siena poll finds President Obama has increased his lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to 24 points – 59-35, up slightly from 57-37 last month.

No big surprise here, since enrolled Democrats outnumber Republicans by about five to three statewide.
Obama has consistently led Romney by 20 or more points over the last several months in Siena surveys, according to poll spokesman Steve Greenberg.

And his current 24-point lead includes a 15 point lead among the all-important small-i independents.

Big majorities of voters polled say they believe Obama will do a better job than Romney on keeping the country safe from terrorism, fighting for middle class families, tackling health care, resolving Social Security and Medicare, and improving the economy (the GOP’s signature issue).

Obama also bests Romney on creating jobs, making the federal government work more effectively and addressing the deficit – albeit by smaller margins.

Romney dodged the draft....

Mitt Romney changed his story on poverty in St. Louis Thursday. Where in February, during the GOP primary, he said “I’m not concerned about the very poor,” today he called rising poverty rates “a moral failure” – and blamed it on President Obama. But Romney supports Paul Ryan’s budget, which would slash food stamps, Head Start, Medicaid, nutrition programs for pregnant women and their children, and his tax plan would raise taxes on the poor and working class while giving himself an extra $5 million or so. Mitt, you got it right the first time: You’re not concerned about the very poor.

But Romney’s shifting stories on his Vietnam status could have real political consequences, as an Associated Press expose revealing that he sought and got four deferments from military service during the Vietnam War gets more play. It’s not the deferments that will hurt – Dick Cheney got five. It’s the fact that over the years, Romney has lied about it.

AP politely says his story has “evolved,” but tracks the puzzling changes. Running for president in 2007, Romney told the Boston Globe, “I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there, and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam.”

But in 1994, running against Ted Kennedy for his Massachusetts Senate seat while in his “I’m not a typical Republican” phase, he admitted “it was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam.” Fair enough: His father, George Romney, turned against the war, and so did a lot of Republicans (even if party hawks would later try to hang the “loss” of Vietnam on the antiwar left and their Democratic enablers). Indeed, in 1970, at 23, Romney told the Globe, ”If it wasn’t a political blunder to move into Vietnam, I don’t know what is.”

But while telling the truth about his lack of “desire to go off and serve” in 1994, Romney lied again, telling the Boston Herald he didn’t “take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft.” That’s absolutely not true. He got his first deferment while at Stanford University, where in his prep-school prankster phase he counter-protested a Vietnam draft protest. That’s another lie, in a way:

While posing as pro-draft and pro-war, he was evading the draft with an “activity in study” deferment. After his freshman year, he got deferment status as “a minister of religion or divinity student,” which he’d keep while working in France as a missionary for his Mormon church.

Yet the AP reveals that other young Mormons were denied that deferment. And since the church itself strongly supported the war, its leaders eventually limited such deferments, but Romney kept his.

After his religious deferment, he got another academic deferment to finish school. By the time he was draft eligible, troop numbers were declining, and his lottery number was never called.

Full Post

Weekly Address: Congress Must Act to Keep our Teachers on the Job

Reagan Was a Keynesian

There’s no question that America’s recovery from the financial crisis has been disappointing. In fact, I’ve been arguing that the era since 2007 is best viewed as a “depression,” an extended period of economic weakness and high unemployment that, like the Great Depression of the 1930s, persists despite episodes during which the economy grows. And Republicans are, of course, trying — with considerable success — to turn this dismal state of affairs to their political advantage.

They love, in particular, to contrast President Obama’s record with that of Ronald Reagan, who, by this point in his presidency, was indeed presiding over a strong economic recovery. You might think that the more relevant comparison is with George W. Bush, who, at this stage of his administration, was — unlike Mr. Obama — still presiding over a large loss in private-sector jobs. And, as I’ll explain shortly, the economic slump Reagan faced was very different from our current depression, and much easier to deal with. Still, the Reagan-Obama comparison is revealing in some ways. So let’s look at that comparison, shall we?

For the truth is that on at least one dimension, government spending, there was a large difference between the two presidencies, with total government spending adjusted for inflation and population growth rising much faster under one than under the other. I find it especially instructive to look at spending levels three years into each man’s administration — that is, in the first quarter of 1984 in Reagan’s case, and in the first quarter of 2012 in Mr. Obama’s — compared with four years earlier, which in each case more or less corresponds to the start of an economic crisis. Under one president, real per capita government spending at that point was 14.4 percent higher than four years previously; under the other, less than half as much, just 6.4 percent.

O.K., by now many readers have probably figured out the trick here: Reagan, not Obama, was the big spender. While there was a brief burst of government spending early in the Obama administration — mainly for emergency aid programs like unemployment insurance and food stamps — that burst is long past. Indeed, at this point, government spending is falling fast, with real per capita spending falling over the past year at a rate not seen since the demobilization that followed the Korean War.

Why was government spending much stronger under Reagan than in the current slump? 

“Weaponized Keynesianism” — Reagan’s big military buildup — played some role. But the big difference was real per capita spending at the state and local level, which continued to rise under Reagan but has fallen significantly this time around. 

And this, in turn, reflects a changed political environment. For one thing, states and local governments used to benefit from revenue-sharing — automatic aid from the federal government, a program that Reagan eventually killed but only after the slump was past. More important, in the 1980s, anti-tax dogma hadn’t taken effect to the same extent it has today, so state and local governments were much more willing than they are now to cover temporary deficits with temporary tax increases, thereby avoiding sharp spending cuts. 

In short, if you want to see government responding to economic hard times with the “tax and spend” policies conservatives always denounce, you should look to the Reagan era — not the Obama years.

So does the Reagan-era economic recovery demonstrate the superiority of Keynesian economics? Not exactly. For, as I said, the truth is that the slump of the 1980s — which was more or less deliberately caused by the Federal Reserve, as a way to bring down inflation — was very different from our current depression, which was brought on by private-sector excess: above all, the surge in household debt during the Bush years. The Reagan slump could be and was brought to a rapid end when the Fed decided to relent and cut interest rates, sparking a giant housing boom. That option isn’t available now because rates are already close to zero.

As many economists have pointed out, America is currently suffering from a classic case of debt deflation: all across the economy people are trying to pay down debt by slashing spending, but, in so doing, they are causing a depression that makes their debt problems even worse. This is exactly the situation in which government spending should temporarily rise to offset the slump in private spending and give the private sector time to repair its finances. Yet that’s not happening.

The point, then, is that we’d be in much better shape if we were following Reagan-style Keynesianism. Reagan may have preached small government, but in practice he presided over a lot of spending growth — and right now that’s exactly what America needs.

 A version of this op-ed appeared in print on June 8, 2012, on page A27 of the New York edition with the headline: Reagan Was A Keynesian.

Chris Christie & Mitt Romney: A Lot in Common

Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Stifles Debate

The Oswego County Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee meetings run long and some legislators have been asking for a remedy.

During Thursday’s meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, the issue was expected to be on the agenda. The minutes of the April 23 meeting reference that Legislator Doug Malone requested the matter be placed on the May agenda.

It wasn’t, and prior to the start of the meeting, Malone questioned why the discussion wasn’t on the agenda.

“He cut us off on discussion,” Malone said of Legislator Jack Proud, who serves as the chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, adding that he had questions in regard to the discussion of homeless people in the county.

Legislator Milferd Potter, who serves as the chairman of the Strategic Planning and Government Committee, acknowledged that Malone did ask for the issue to be placed on the agenda.

Full Post

Gov Nominating Dennis Mehiel To BPCA: Source

Mehiel will replace former City Controller William Thompson, who resigned his position on the BPCA last month to focus on his mayoral bid.

Mehiel previously served on the Empire State Development Corp. for Cuomo.

Having made his fortune in the cardboard and paper cup business, Mehiel is a big Democratic party donor.

Since 2009, he’s given $92,000 to Cuomo in campaign donations. His wife, Karen, has donated another $44,862.

Romney Pushed State Health Bill

When Mitt Romney left office as Massachusetts governor, his aides removed all emails from a server computer in the governor's office, and purchased and carted off hard drives from 17 state-owned personal computers, according to a current state official.

But a small cache of emails survived, including some that have never publicly surfaced surrounding Mr. Romney's efforts to pass his now-controversial health-care law. The emails show the Republican governor was closely engaged in negotiating details of the bill, working with top Democratic state leaders and drafting early copies of opinion articles backing it.

Mr. Romney and his aides, meanwhile, strongly defended the so-called individual mandate, a requirement that everyone in Massachusetts have or buy heath insurance. And they privately discussed ideas that might be anathema to today's GOP—including publicly shaming companies that didn't provide enough health insurance to employees.

Full Post

Paycheck Fairness Act Fails Senate Vote

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a bill that would have ensured women are paid the same amount as their male counterparts.

The Senate failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have required employers to demonstrate that any salary differences between men and women doing the same work are not gender-related. The bill also would have prohibited employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their co-workers, and would have required the Labor Department to increase its outreach to employers to help eliminate pay disparities.

The final vote was 52-47, with all Republicans opposing the bill. That included female Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Susan Collins (Maine), Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine).

Full Post

Steny Hoyer: Romney's Business Record is Fair Game in Campaign

Weekly Address: It's Time for Congress to Get to Work