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When Governor Cuomo introduced what he calls the Justice Center for Protection of People with Special Needs, he said it would establish the “strongest standards and practices in nation”. The new agency would employ a staff of special prosecutor and an inspector general to pursue allegations of abuse of the mentally and physically disabled in the care of the state. The bill would increase penalties for those convicted. It would also set up a 24-hour hotline to report suspected abuse, and create a statewide database of workers convicted of abuse to prevent them from ever being hired again.

Former and current state elected officials spent a good amount of time arguing over who should get credit for the nanotech facility visited by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. The person who was basking in the glow of recognition--Governor Andrew Cuomo--went largely unmentioned for his narrative grab on the issue, in another example of how politically untouchable the governor has become.

As we saw with campaign finance, the Republican-controlled state Senate may be the place where issues close to Democrats' hearts, like the DREAM fund, go to die.

The city has removed hundreds of police barricades from the Financial District, a day after local politicians complained to Mayor Michael Bloomberg about them. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and others said they were a nuisance to those who live and work downtown.

When Andrew Cuomo arrived in Albany, he threw open the doors to the governor's mansion and invited everyone in. Among the first to arrive was Martha Yourth, a retired state worker who dabbled in politics and lives just outside the capital.

"I loved the blue crystal chandelier in the dining room," Yourth said afterwards. "I'd love a chandelier like that. It's English crystal, I was told by the curator. But it was just a beautiful sea blue, and I've never seen that before. I would have liked to have taken a little sample of that with me. But as one of the staff pointed out 'how would we pay for it?'"

The question prompted by Yourth's trip to the governor's mansion — "How would we pay for it?" — is the big question mark looming over the head of the new governor. 

Despite the “anti-incumbent” mood supposedly sweeping through the mid-term elections, there are surprisingly few incumbents in New York State facing serious electoral challenges.

Among the most glaring examples are Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Conference Leader John Sampson: They’re Democrats who each lead one half of the often-criticized “dysfunctional” state legislature. They’ve also both refused to sign the reform pledges advanced by the group led by former Mayor Ed Koch, who, in return, branded Silver, Sampson and other hold outs “enemies of reform.”

That seems like enough fodder for a challenger.

So, how did Silver, Sampson and other “enemies” avoid serious primary challenges?

In short: Since the state has no campaign finance mechanism, challengers would have had to start revving up their fund-raising and campaign operations months in advance, well before the anti-incumbent “mood” and fever pitch for reform swelled to it’s current levels.

Or, as Jerry Skurnik, a political consultant (and one-time Koch aide) put it to me, “By the time Koch started doing this stuff, it was too late.”

Former Mayor Ed Koch is pushing candidates for state and federal offices in New York to sign onto a pledge saying they support non-partisan re-districting, expanded ethics rules and a state budget crafted by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

He’s also open to supporting another reform issue that’s being pushed by Mayor Bloomberg: non-partisan elections.

When I asked if he supports the measure, Koch said, “Up to now I have not, but I’m considering changing my position. Most of the large cities in the country do have a non-partisan elections.”

“There would no longer be primaries, anyone running for mayor,” he said, “you could identify yourself as Democrat or Republican if you wanted to.”

Turning the focus back to Albany, Koch reiterated his position that Senate Democrats will lose control of that part of the state legislature since most of them have not signed on to his reform pledge.

Koch has singled out the Democratic leaders of both chambers, Speaker Sheldon Silver in the Assembly and Conference Leader John Sampson in the State Senate, as “enemies of reform,” for refusing to sign the pledge.

But neither of them face Democratic primary challengers, nor any real general election opponent.

Koch said Silver and Sampson will get re-elected, “but they can be thrown out if the membership changes in the house that elects them.”

So, who would Koch like to see as the new Assembly Speaker and Conference Leader?

“I’m not involved in that,” Koch said. “That’s not what my burden here is.”

Former Mayor Ed Koch is pressing his case against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Conference Leader John Sampson -- two Democratic legislative leaders who are among the handful of lawmakers to not sign Koch’s reform pledge.

On Fred Dicker’s show this morning, Koch recalled his conversation with Silver about non-partisan redistricting.

Koch: “He said let's dialogue. I haven’t heard from him since.”

Koch went on to warn that Senate Democrats are "going down to a defeat," in no small part because many of them have not signed onto his pledge.

Former Mayor Ed Koch doesn't hold back with NBC's Melissa Russo.

"What should voters do about Sheldon Silver," she asked. "Throw the bum out," Koch replied. He and Silver are both Democrats from Manhattan, but they were never particularly close.

Koch goes on to say that Republicans can "rightfully" claim to be the party of reform, since more of them signed Koch's reform pledge.

A reader (thank you!) sends over this lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court recently, where Sheldon Silver, the powerful Assembly Speaker, is trying to keep a Republican opponent, Joan Lipp, off the ballot.

The lawsuit is after the jump.

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Some quick highlights from Paterson’s radio blitz this morning.

On WBEN in Buffalo, the governor said he has “regrets for not running” but doesn’t think it would have changed the budget process.

Governor Paterson forced state lawmakers to come to the Capitol for a rare Sunday evening special session, but he could not make them vote on his budget proposals to end a nearly three-month stand off. Lawmakers say they will vote on their own budget plan today, and the governor says he will veto any changes to his plan.

The message in Rick Lazio’s web ad is that Andrew Cuomo is a product of Albany, and despite his current rhetoric, holds great affection for its current powerbrokers, namely, Sheldon Silver.