By Gerald Benjamin   The brief dustup in the Judiciary Committee regarding the nomination of Jenny Rivera for the Court of Appeals is just the latest piece of evidence that Republicans, with their Independent Democrat coalition partners, are presiding in the Senate but not governing through it. The Committee is comprised of 12 Republicans, 9 Democrats and 2 Independent Democrats; unlike the Senate as a whole, it has a Republican majority. The committee chair, John Bonacic, and some GOP members… [More]

As voters cast their ballots across the state today, they’ll decide the winners of a number of tossup congressional races and the fate of a handful or so of state Senate seats that will determine control of Albany’s upper house. Here’s a snapshot of some of the most closely watched races around New York — with a one-sided U.S. Senate race and a crowded New York City Council special election to boot.   Key Congressional Races 1st Congressional District Rep. Tim… [More]

What New York lawmakers and interest groups see as the top priorities on education… [More]

The beaches of Suffolk County and the famed shores of the Hamptons are washing away, losing between one and two feet of shoreline every year. Multimillion-dollar properties, a beach economy and the dynamic coastal environment are all at risk. Relief, in the form of sand and dredging projects, seemed to come this spring when Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration announced it would devote $22.7 million dollars from the NY Works infrastructure fund to restoring the shoreline, leveraging $86.7 million in federal… [More]

State Sen. Liz Krueger’s No Bad Apples PAC is endorsing Bridget Fleming, a town councilwoman in Southampton, against State Sen. Ken LaValle on Long Island. The endorsement is the second the PAC has made for the 2012 cycle, following its endorsement of Justin Wagner against Republican State Sen. Greg Ball. According to a release sent out by the PAC, Fleming is a former government fraud prosecutor. “Bridget Fleming is the kind of candidate I set out to support when I… [More]

Republicans have pushed a fiscally conservative message under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos this year, including offering their support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to create a less-generous pension tier for new state and city employees. Yet a number of Senate Republicans have simultaneously introduced so-called “pension sweeteners” that would increase pension costs for state and local governments, according to an update compiled late last week by the fiscally conservative Citizens Budget Commission. Democrats in the Senate… [More]

The Senate Republicans’ internal and external struggles to keep the party going… [More]

Democratic challenger comes on full force at unchallenged 34-year incumbent… [More]

Greg Fischer, a stay-at-home father and publisher of a newsletter devoted to his cause called The Political Patriot who has run for office several times in Suffolk and was himself booted from the ballot when trying to run as a Democrat for State Senate in 2008, says he plans to challenge the eligibility of Regina Calcaterra on the grounds that she does not mean the State Constitution’s five-year state residency requirement for state legislative races.… [More]