Azi Paybarah

Mayor Bloomberg says he's funding education is a major priority. (nyc.gov)

Despite higher than expected tax revenues, Mayor Bloomberg said he'll seek to reduce the size of the teacher workforce by more than 6,000 - mostly through layoffs.

Also, the mayor announced he'll only seek a 10 percent cut in spending on capital projects, down from the 20 percent he initially sought. He said the main purpose of that funding was to keep investing in needed upgrades, not simply to to create jobs.

"City government's job is not to create jobs for every construction worker," he said. "Nobody feels more strongly about building things than I do, but there's a limit as to how much we can build."

Hank Morris, a top Democratic consultant to the former state comptroller, has been sentenced to "one and one third to four years in prison, the maximum sentence available by law," according to NYS Attorney General Eric Schneidmerman's office.

Morris was a key figure in the NYS pension scandal Cuomo launched four years ago, that ensnared the former comptroller, Alan Hevesi, Obama's car czar and Democratic fundraiser Steven Rattner, and numerous other figures.

Beth Fertig spots Bloomberg's hand reaching into classrooms:

[T]he city sent a memo to principals on Wednesday telling them they’d have to give back half of whatever extra money they were planning to roll over into the next school year. Principals often stockpile unused funds to cushion against budget cuts in the year ahead. A spokeswoman for the Department of Education, Barbara Morgan, said allowing principals to rollover all of their funds for the year ahead is no longer “a prudent option” because of the current budget climate.

Randi Herman, first vice president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, which represents city principals, the city has never before asked them to give back half of their rollover funds.

“Membership is already expressing outrage at what we're calling a budgetary manipulation because it's in direct conflict with what [the Department of Education] expressed, which is to keep the budget cuts from the children in the classrooms,” she said.

Herman says principals will probably buy as many supplies as possible now so they don't have to give back half of their extra funds later.

Cuomo released plans for independent redistricting. He says a "bi-partisan" panel should draw the lines. (azi paybarah / wnyc)

Cuomo guidelines for non-partisan redistricting:

 

·All congressional districts shall be as nearly equal in population as practicable;
·Districts shall be contiguous;

·Districts shall not be established that are intended to or result in a denial or abridgement of minority voting rights including the opportunity of minority voters to participate in the political process, and to elect the candidates of their choice, including but not limited to minority populations with the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice without comprising a majority of the district; and

·Districts shall not be drawn with an intent to favor or oppose any political party, any incumbent, or any previous or presumed candidate for office;
Subject to the requirements above and those of state and federal law, all redistricting plans would be drawn according to the following principles:

·To the extent practicable, the most and least populous senate and assembly districts shall not exceed the mean population of districts for each house by more than one percent;
·Districts shall unite communities of interest;
·To the extent practicable, counties and county subdivisions shall not be divided in the formation of districts; and
·To the extent practicable, villages shall not be divided in the formation of districts.

UPDATE: The press release about this also notes "the bill require that the commission is bi-partisan, reflects the state's diversity, and is free from any conflicts of interest."

UPDATE II: GOP Senate Leader Dean Skelos hedges, saying, " we have to take a close look at what makes the most sense."

An attorney for photographer Jeff Schultz said this portrait of Sarah Palin is copyright protected. A NYC restaurant owner who used the image in '08 was asked to pay the photographer two years later. (From attorney Eric Meltzer's letter to restaurant owner Padriac Sheridan.)

A bit more about the photographer who is laying claim to a particularly popular Sarah Palin photograph.

The photographer, Jeff Schultz, took the photograph when Palin was governor of Alaska, and the image was used as her official headshot, according to Sharon Leighow, who was deputy press secretary for Palin.

"He took the picture. We were allowed to use it as the official photo," Leighow said. But Schultz always retained the rights to the photo, she said.

Leighow is now the press secretary to the current Alaska governor, Sean Parnell. But during Palin's tenure, Leighow said the official picture of Palin was widely distributed.

If you wrote a letter and asked for a picture of Palin, "you would get a photo in the mail," said Leighow.

In fact, Leighow said they may have even kept a stack of pictures in the office, in case anybody came by and wanted one.

At the end of this ad - going on TV next week - County Executive Ed Mangano gets literal about cleaning up his county, which recently fell into the hands of a financial control board.

[Via Liz Benjamin]

The Staten Island District Attorney is confirming he's sought a special prosecutor to investigate the Working Families Party and that the year-long request has still not be answered.

In a statement, his spokesman Peter Spencer explains:

“On Feb. 22, 2010, Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. filed an application with New York City Courts’ Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern A. Fisher for a special prosecutor to investigate possible violations of the state election law, local campaign finance law and other related criminality on Staten Island. As far as we know, that application is still before the judge and under seal.”

An attorney for photographer Jeff Schultz said this portrait of Sarah Palin is copyright protected. A NYC restaurant owner who used the image in \'08 was asked to pay the photographer two years later. (From attorney\'s letter to restaurant owner Padriac Sheridan.)

Two years after posting what he thought was the official portrait of Governor Sarah Palin, a Manhattan restaurant owner got a letter from a lawyer saying the image - which was still on his web site - was private property. The lawyer said his client wanted at least $30,000 in damages.

My story:

So, how did [photographer Jeff] Schultz come to own the Palin portrait, which he, and at least one attorney, are litigiously protecting?

"Jeff has had the pleasure of taking Sarah Plain's official state photo," according to a profile of him on the Copyright Alliance web site.

Indeed, smaller, closely-cropped version of the portrait of Palin appears to have been available on the Alaska governor's official web site back in 2008. It can still be found there when accessed through archive.org, a web site that allows visitors to see what web sites looked like in the past.

The portrait of Palin was used by another web site, the Catholic News Service, in August 2008 with the following credit: "CNS/Jeff Schultz, Alaskan governors office."

Schultz is a professional photographer based in Alaska. Among the copyright images on Schultz's web site are at least 280 of Palin. (Images of Palin include one where she is wrapped in an American flag, holding a freshly caught fish, playing hockey on a frozen lake and holding a shotgun over her left shoulder. Several are from Palin's time in the governor's office, including several from the "Governor's Inaugural Ball" from 2007.)

It is unclear if Palin herself is aware of Schultz's effort to guard against uncompensated usage of her image. Palin's own efforts to control her brand include an unsuccessful attempt to trademark her name and that of her daughter, Bristol.

Back in Manhattan, [Padriac] Sheridan said he still resents having paid [attorney Eric] Meltzer and his client for leaving the Palin image on his web site.

"Maybe if we had gone to court we could have proven it actually was legitimate for us to use at the time," he said.

Cuomo is among them.

Christie's big speech today is streaming here.

This unusual story is prompting one anti Wal-Mart operative, Eric Koch, to ask "who fires people for disarming a crazy gunman?"

More attention will be put on Wal-Mart employees when former and current workers testify at a 1 pm City Council hearing tomorrow.

Even though aides say they're taking out reference to the Martin Act, Cuomo's consolidation of financial regulation agencies could still give the governor broad new powers.

Nick Confessore explains:

Experts said Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would transform the existing Insurance and Banking Departments from traditional regulatory agencies focused largely on compliance and rule-making into an unprecedented amalgam of regulator, prosecutor and judge. It could have the effect of transforming the superintendent of the new agency into a second “sheriff of Wall Street,” forcing Mr. Schneiderman, a fellow Democrat with whom Mr. Cuomo has clashed in the past, to compete for high-profile cases.

Danny Kanner, a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman, declined to comment on the powers envisioned in the legislation. But in a statement, Mr. Kanner said, “The attorney general supports the concept of merging these departments for the purpose of consolidation, and looks forward to continued discussions with the governor’s office on other details of the proposal, as well as other reforms to state government.”

The legislation does not formally strip any powers from the attorney general. But while Mr. Cuomo has described the merger in part as a way to save money, his executive budget anticipates that the operations of the new agency would cost about $6 million more than its three predecessors in its first year of operation. (Aides said that merger had since been “rescored,” in budget parlance, and was now expected to result in year-to-year savings.) At the same time, Mr. Cuomo’s budget reduces the budget of the office of the attorney general by roughly 10 percent.

Historically, the attorney general and the Banking and Insurance Departments have shared a creative tension. The agencies focused on day-to-day compliance, while the attorney general’s prosecutors, under Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Cuomo, opened up large-scale cases — often against powerful firms and interests — with an eye toward tackling systemic problems, whether those were corruption among research analysts or conflicts of interest in the student loan industry.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. takes to Facebook:

"They took the Triboro, now they're coming for the Queensboro. I was the only elected I know of to oppose the triboro re-naming, and I oppose this too. They would never think of re-naming the Brooklyn Bridge, and Queens should get the same respect. Ed Koch is deserving of an honor like this, so let's re-name Gracie [Mansion], or some other suitable landmark, for him."

Michael Saul has more.

With apologies to Chris Smith, an excerpt from my story:

For the Manhattan-based Democrat who has been leading the Council since 2006, many of Quinn's proposals were aimed at eliminating the "red tape" of the "bureaucracy" surrounding city government.

Politically, it's a novel approach to proactively rebut what her likely 2013 mayoral rivals will do: tie her down to the less desirable aspects of city government. Rep. Anthony Weiner, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, City Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio are likely challengers and have less direct responsibilities over city agencies than Quinn.

Advance excerpts from the speech focused on her proposals to reduce parking violations rules. But the speech had broader, more significant proposals were announced at the speech, delivered at the CUNY Graduate Center.

The easing of parking rules on streets where multiple-day cleanings are not necessary is a proposal that will impact outer boroughs like Queens and Brooklyn — places the Manhattan Democrats has sought to focus since becoming Speaker.

It's unclear if the reduced street cleaning will result in additional street cleaning in other, more problematic streets. If not, it would be a novel maneuver: announcing a service cut as an easing of burdensome parking rules.

It includes paying up front for capital projects and nudging the mayor and labor leaders to reform pension benefits.

Excepts from the speech:

"I propose that we begin paying for a portion of our capital budget up front. We'll make a commitment that as our finances improve, we'll steadily increase the amount we pay out of pocket - until we're investing a billion dollars a year, instead of borrowing that billion dollars and leaving our kids with the bill."

"It's clear that New York City needs pension and benefit reform. Many factors have combined to create these long-term strings on the city budget. There is no single cause, nor any single group that bears all the blame. But if we want to have money to invest in a safe and livable city - if we want to avoid a tax burden that stifles economic growth 0 and if we want to safeguard the retirements of the hard working public servants of today - then our current pension and benefit structure is simply not sustainable. I urge both the mayor and our city's labor leaders to be equally open to negotiating and making fair and responsible changes to meet the difficult challenges ahead."

UDPATE: There's also this line:

"Now Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a more traditional way to lower our debt cots - a 20% cut to capital spending. That kind of across the board cut comes with serious consequences - and I simply cannot support it."

I caught the tail end of Cuomo's comments on Fred Dicker's radio show, but the chest-thumping seemed fairly direct.

Cuomo warned what would happen if legislative leaders - Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos - fail to deliver enough votes to get his budget passed: they could be painted as advocates for the special interest.

"The question is can they get it done? Can they lead? Can they get a tough budget done," Cuomo asked rhetorically.

Cuomo - whose has sky-high approval ratings right now - said if it turns out either legislative leader "favors the special interest, then we're going to have a problem."

When asked about progress on an ethics reform bill, Cuomo paid a compliment to Silver and Skelos, and then promptly downplayed it.

After saying the three parties have gotten "closer" and "closer," Cuomo said, "closer doesn't matter to me."

"It's very easy to get close to the goal line. What they excel is getting close to the goal line but not going over."

Cuomo's talk was notably assertive (can we call it aggressive, it was so pleasantly delivered?) and it put the spotlight on two legislative partners that aren't well known outside political circles.

Which is what Alan Chartock predicted.

In light of Cuomo's 72 percent approval rating, Chartock said Cuomo has "got everyone on the run right now" and "if they see poll numbers around 75 percent, they’ve got to fear him.”

Crain's notes a Deputy Mayor goes off message:

Mayor Mike Bloomberg touted New York's job growth as a model for the nation in a December speech. But Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Bob Steel painted a bleaker picture at Columbia University last week. “Unemployment is worse than [the official rate of] 9%,” he told students, because many people have been out of a job so long that they have stopped looking for work—which brings the unemployment rate down. But they are nonetheless unable to pay their bills. “This is not a situation that is getting better quickly,” Steel said. He pledged to make job creation his top priority.

Who's in charge?

Bloomberg says no matter which deputy mayor he delegates authority to, "the public expects the mayor to be the mayor."

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. says clarifying the chain of command is only part of what he wants to accomplish with his new legislation.

The other part is telling people who's in charge when the mayor is out of town, which is something Bloomberg and his aides have resisted. But Vallone says the notification is key.

"If there is a way that they can clearly delineate who is in charge for all without some sort of notification," Vallone said in an interview "that may be acceptable. I'm not exactly sure how because a component of this is whether or not the people who make up the city know who's in charge also and know who they have to obey orders from."

Cuomo announces one school district is taking his advice:

The leadership of the Bethlehem Central School District has implemented a voluntary salary freeze for its top administrators. This is a responsible and sensible first step that recognizes the state's current fiscal condition and I encourage school districts across New York to find ways to reduce costs and put children first.

Cuomo has singled out some districts - like Syosset Central - for their lavish pay.

Not a bad interviewer, that former Governor David Paterson, who was guest-hosting on the John Gambling Show this morning. GOP Rep. Peter King was a guest, and took a swipe at members of his GOP House colleagues for not putting their budget priorities where their rhetoric was:

Peter King: They're cutting very heavily in the border patrol.

David Paterson: Now that's surprising.

Peter King: Republicans can't have it both ways. You can't be banging against illegal immigration and then cutting back on the customs and border protection.

More on King, and the budget, here.

It is an early iteration of the 2013 mayor's race, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's upcoming State of the City speech is more than that, says Chris Smith:

Is she distancing herself at all from Mike Bloomberg? How much is she pandering to the constituencies she’ll need in a crowded Democratic primary, like the business community? That analysis is entirely appropriate, because the jockeying by Quinn and the many other mayoral aspirants — including Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Congressman Anthony Weiner, former comptroller Bill Thompson, and current comptroller John Liu — is well under way. Yet Quinn’s speech deserves to be taken somewhat at face value, too, because among the platitudes, her four previous SOS’s as council speaker have contained an unusually high number of actual smart ideas — things that haven’t simply sounded good on the podium only to be promptly forgotten the next day.