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| Re: MTA state funding opportunities improve (645065) | |||
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Re: MTA state funding opportunities improve |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Jul 6 11:28:57 2008, in response to Re: MTA state funding opportunities improve, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Jul 6 11:07:50 2008. Marino's big mistake was to underestimate D'Amato's foresight in seeing that Pataki was going to be Governor. The coup against Marino was actually endorsed by Pataki, and I assume, since D'Amato is the major GOP boss and was basically Pataki's seneschal, had to be known, or even possibly OKed by him too.Don't know too much about Anderson, other than how he was deposed, so I'll just leave that dog alone. Got to give credit to Marino for the ballsy move, though, in being the downstater to move against the upstater. Even though the GOP machine on LI was then in full operation, none of them had ever been senate majority leader until Marino did it. As for Skelos, he's got to be praying and raising money. All bets are off unless he can deliver victory in the autumn. On that front, notice the very interesting NYT profile of Skelos in which it's revealed with some detail how Skelos didn't care a wit about the very important Bruno ally and big wallet donor with lots of big wallet friends....Michael Bloomberg....in the following way: Mr. Bruno, a businessman at heart, was himself a tough negotiator yet always seemed reluctant to leave the bargaining table without some kind of a deal, even when negotiating with Mr. Spitzer, with whom he had a toxic relationship. Mr. Skelos, some lawmakers say, may be more inclined to take no deal than a bad deal. “Over the years, there was a little friction,” said one Republican lobbyist, who insisted on anonymity for fear of angering Mr. Skelos. “He worked with Bruno, but he wasn’t like, ‘Whatever Joe Bruno wants.’ ” That was evident in June 2007, when Mr. Skelos helped sink a major compromise that might otherwise have given Mr. Spitzer a successful conclusion to a contentious legislative session. At the time, Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Bruno had been discussing a deal that would have imposed some form of new limits on campaign contributions, which was important to Mr. Spitzer. In return, Mr. Spitzer was to help pass a congestion pricing plan to ease traffic in New York City, a top priority for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a key Bruno ally, and provide state money for capital projects, a priority for Mr. Bruno and many upstate senators. But when Mr. Bruno presented the outline of the deal to his conference, several Republican senators said, Mr. Skelos quickly rose to condemn it. Any deal with Mr. Spitzer, he told them, especially on campaign finance, would merely give ammunition to a governor determined to destroy their hold on the Senate majority. Other senators came around to Mr. Skelos’s point of view, including his longtime rival, Senator Thomas W. Libous, a Binghamton Republican. Mr. Bruno listened and left the meeting with a new feistiness, telling reporters in the hallway that Mr. Spitzer’s “obsession” with campaign finance reform had scuttled any chance of a deal. Mr. Skelos, whose wife, Gail, is a senior Senate aide — the senator has a grown son from a previous marriage — acknowledged that he was not known to most New Yorkers. On Wednesday, in Buffalo, he began a tour to introduce himself around the state. My guess is that Skelos is busy mending relationships with Bloomberg and his wallet and his connections. (On the Democratic side, this is something that Charles Schumer is very good at -- raising oodles of money, and doling it out in return for loyalty). But if he does end up holding on to power, I basically foresee mostly a continuation of Bruno's regime. After all, Bruno never lost power to internal forces, and Skelos would sell his soul to the devil if he could still wield power at Bruno's age. So ultimately, I would expect more of the same, perhaps with some more 'feistiness', and definitely with an extra helping for LI, and LIRR too of course. |
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