Thursday, April 27, 2006

KingPac Gets a New Name

An Amendment was filed with the FEC adding to the name of the PAC. It's now "Know-How and Integrity for Our National Government"
Get it?
Know-how
and
Integrity
for our
National
Government

KING PAC

How cute is that?
How many man-hours were spent working that out?

The PAC has a new treasurer Christopher Ward from Political Compliance Services Inc.

The next scheduled FEC filing is May 1st.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you guys expect Denenberg to do anything in the US Congress when he can't even get the Nassau County Legislature headed in the right direction? And his party, the Democrats, are in the majority. Once again, an article you won't see on the Pete King Watch:

Nassau Legislature on a downhill path

Joye Brown

April 27, 2006

It's every man and woman for themselves in the Nassau County Legislature.

That's the legacy of the nasty leadership fight earlier this year that set colleague against colleague.

Think the fighting is over? Think again. Or just look to what the legislature managed to do during its Tuesday session.

The Nassau Legislature voted down a domestic partner registry.

Not because it was a good idea or a bad one. But because one lawmaker wanted to make sure others didn't take his vote for granted.

So there.

The Nassau Legislature voted to bar young people under the age of 19 from buying cigarettes.

Not because it was a good idea or bad one. But because a deal to give a certain legislator a committee assignment guaranteed her vote on this measure, which had been stalled since last year.

Finally.

A committee of the legislature voted to approve a poet laureate for Nassau.

That may be a good idea, but does it address a pressing county concern? Or will it adorn the resume of a legislator seeking higher office?

We'll see.

And what about a measure, approved in committee, that would ban the sale of BB guns to residents under the age of 18?

It's not a bad idea, but the bill won't stop a persistent kid from getting an adult to buy it for him.

That's why critics say they think it will be pointless. But they might vote for it anyway.

So there we have it:

Bills die because of personal pique; bills live because of personal gain. Harmless bills move fast; ones perceived to be flawed move fast, too.

That's the problem with the Nassau County Legislature these days. Every bill, every debate has subtext that has nothing to do with public policy.

That's true in any legislature, but Nassau is taking the practice to new lows. It's not just politics, it's personal enmity; the residue of a bitter leadership fight last winter that continues to pit legislator against legislator.

I talked to people on all sides this week. There's no trust, they said. And on this, even political enemies can agree:

The Nassau County Legislature is sliding into irrelevancy. It's becoming a local joke. It doesn't function, as it should, as a strong, independent institution. Some say it never did.

And that's the shame.

The Nassau County Legislature, just 10 years old, was birthed with the hope that it would function better than the Board of Supervisors it replaced. The board marched in lockstep; and, for too many years, the legislature did, too.

That changed as Nassau began its financial slide in the late 1990s.

Republicans, under former Presiding Officer Bruce Blakeman did the unthinkable by bucking the Republican county executive, Thomas Gulotta.

And in 1999, when Democrats won the majority, for the first time in almost 80 years, they coalesced as a unit to bring a more open government to Nassau.

It was a heady time. And, in hindsight, it was the legislature's best time, too.

Nassau's lawmakers - many of whom have been in office since Day One - would do well to think back.

That's when the legislature was growing in stature.

Now, it's shrinking.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Anonymous said...

Another example of Denenberg doing nothing as Nassau County falls apart.

Hospital says state must wait for plan

BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD
Newsday Staff Writer

April 28, 2006

With its bank accounts nearly empty and a $60-million deficit looming, officials of Nassau's public hospital corporation told a state monitoring board yesterday that they could not meet a deadline of next week to come up with a turnaround plan.

The report, to the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, came as Gov. George Pataki's budget vetoes of state Medicaid funding threatened to open a $30-million budget gap for the agency that runs Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. That is on top of a previously projected $30-million deficit.

"I would call it a very sobering meeting," Legislative Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs said. "This was really something between the eyes that no one anticipated."

As of yesterday, the $490 million-a-year corporation had $7.8 million in cash, including money reserved for pensions.

Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman said the vetoes Pataki issued two weeks ago could be "disastrous" for the hospital agency, whose debt is backed by the county. Shelley Lotenberg, a hospital spokeswoman, said, "The potential impact of the governor's cuts will be very serious and far-reaching."

But County Executive Thomas Suozzi, who is running for governor, addressed the issue through that prism on Tuesday when asked which vetoes he might restore. He said he supported all the vetoes, as a way to force state lawmakers to cut spending and reform Medicaid.

"I would reject everything I possibly could until there was some semblance of reasonableness by the legislature," Suozzi said.

In a statement yesterday, Suozzi added he "would never put at risk the financial stability" of the hospital agency.

Although the Assembly and State Senate overrode Pataki's vetoes, the governor says they overrides were illegal and that he would ignore them.

In early March, Suozzi sent his finance chief, Arthur Gianelli, to work at the health care corporation and produce a turnaround plan within 60 days. At the same time, the county announced it would raise $120 million by borrowing against future tobacco settlement revenues - and give $98 million to the hospital agency.

George Kalkines, a county health care consultant, said yesterday that the plan would not be ready for up to two more months. Without it, county legislators say they will not appropriate any of the money.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

Anonymous said...

wow.
The anonymous poster from Massapequa starts with regurgitating failed Nassau GOP talking-points and then tries to blame Denenberg for the failures at NUMC.
It's a tangent to go off on nassau political minutae here but to refute the anonymous poster from massapequas diatribe I have to.
REPUBLICAN County Executive Gulotta and the REPUBLICAN MAJORITY legislature needed to make some fast cash to help the county gov't they were bankrupting. Bruce Blakeman (since defeated), Peter Schmitt and Ed Ward (defeated by Dave Denenberg) decided it was a good idea to sell NUMC. A one-shot deal which was one of many that turned out to be ill-advised.
You see, part of the deal was that if NUMC had money problems, the county would still pick up the tab.
Lo and behold, NUMC which serves so many people w/o insurance did get into financial difficulties.
The choice is close the hospital or keep trying to keep it afloat.
So far NUMC which has one of the most sophisticated hypobaric chambers on the east coast is still serving the community.
The Democrats were left with a mess when they took over the legislature in 2000 and the CE seat in 2002.
It ain't easy digging out of that hole the republicans dug.
Oh and who was county comptroller for years and let debt-ridden budgets fly by? That would be Peter King before he ran for congress.

Anonymous said...

Wow. You can read the site meter and figure out where I live. Who cares? Obviously, I live in the King's district and support him. Should I start looking at the time everyone else leaves a message and check the site meter to see where they live too? The facts are the facts and the Dems said they were going to fix the problems (which admittedly are from the Republicans) nad have yet to do so. And in some instances have made them worse.

Anonymous said...

The Dems have fixed many of the problems in the county. Ask NIFA who almost took over the county because of republican malfeasence. And I bet you voted republican each and every time as they sunk the county deeper and deeper.
The county finances are getting cleaned up. Infrastructure is being rebuilt after decades of neglect by the republicans. Crime in Nassau as per the FBI and former DA Dillon is the lowest in years. The police academy is graduating full classes.
Things are getting better.
In the end, you can match Kings record against Denenbergs and King will come up lacking.
King has one of the most shallow legislative records in the republican caucus. He likes to name things like court houses and post offices other ceremonial legislation.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, Denenberg was the one who brought peace, compromise, and solution to the legislature fight earlier this year. Denenberg is a pretty dynamic guy.