From James M. Odato in Capitol Confidential:

"Gov. David Paterson is directing in his budget plan that the Department of Taxation & Finance drop its policy of holding off on a plan to make sure Indian cigarette retailers sell taxed cigarettes. Paterson is telling T&F to end its Pataki-era policy of “forbearance.” The department is being asked to plan to make sure that the Indian merchants, who believe they are free to sell untaxed products, be required to get tax stamps on each pack of cigarettes sold....Budget Director Bob Megna thinks $218 million might arrive from increasing the tax on cigarettes....Efforts to tax Indian sales in the past resulted in protests and, in some cases, violent demonstrations along Indian reservations, particularly in western New York. Any plan to tax cigarettes would have to come with the expectation of substantial commitment of resources by the State Police as hundreds of troopers would be assigned to the Seneca territory alone, state officials have said. Paterson said he will try to direct his plan “in a peaceful and efficient manner.”

From Leigh Hornbeck in Capitol Confidential:

Although no candidate has stepped forward (yet) to challenge [Democrat] Rep. Scott Murphy after his narrow win in the 20th Congressional District, the freshman is building a war chest. The congressman’s staff said today he has $722,108 in the bank after raising $403,280 during the fourth quarter of 2009, Oct. 1- Dec. 31. The full report won’t be out until Jan. 31, but according to press secretary Josh Schwerin, 6,709 contributors gave money to Murphy.

Today Andrew Amelinckx in The Register Star has an excellent story about the strange Hudson school board meeting last Monday. The board had an open seat, and as they attempted to fill it, violated open meetings law while discussing it in executive session, according to an opinion from Robert Freeman, executive director for the NYS Committee on Open Government. Then, they failed to choose someone to fill the slot. The story ends with this quote from board member Peter Meyer:

“This was an insult to the four good citizens, all eminently qualified, who had answered the board’s request for volunteers and were then snubbed,” he said. “Following the bizarre vote (Dec. 14) to increase the Superintendent’s salary by 3 percent in the middle of an economic crisis, (Monday night’s) hijinks suggests that the board needs to get its act together.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-U15e2vMRU&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
From Columbia Dems:

Slideshow of fundraiser for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at Local Ocean, a brand new aquaculture facility in Greenport/Hudson NY in Columbia County, from Sat., Jan. 16, 2009.

Sponsored by the West Athens-Lime Street Fire Company #1 Inc., all proceeds at this pancake breakfast this morning benefited the Ashland Fire Department, which lost all apparatus and equipment due to a fire last week. The event was packed, standing room only.

Tomorrow, Jan. 18, WRIP (97.9-FM) in Windham will hold an 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on-air fundraiser for The Ashland Fire Department and Ashland Town Hall Restoration Fund. The station hopes to raise $20,000 in twelve hours to help after fire destroyed the town buildings last week. Proceeds will be split 50/50 between the two funds. $20 or higher donations and you can make a song request. To make pledges, call 518-734-4747.

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY.

From Karen Schoemer, a great music writer based in Columbia County, a way to help earthquake victims via a trusted local source:

"Carline Murphy runs the Haitian Community Development Project in Hudson, NY. She is working to fill a 40-foot container with supplies to go directly to friends and relatives in Haiti. Monetary donations can be sent to HCDP, PO Box 35, Niverville NY 12130."

ccScoop's Mike McCagg has a story about area community colleges that doesn't say much except this: Columbia-Greene Community College's enrollment rose to 2,048 students in fall 2009, a 12-percent increase over the last two years. The state gave the school $142,000 less than it would have for those students a year ago. So, like the libraries, community colleges have more customers and less funds during hard times.

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY.

Jim Planck in The Daily Mail reports the Town of Ashland and the Ashland Fire Department, destroyed by fire last week, are trying to bounce back this Sunday, Jan 17, 8 a.m. to noon, when West Athens-Lime Street Fire Company No. 1 will sponsor an “all-you-can-eat” pancake breakfast at West Athens Firehouse No. 2, on Leeds-Athens Road.

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY.

The Register-Star reports that a public hearing will be held at the John L. Edwards elementary school in Hudson Jan. 20 for the state approved drafts of the city’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, and the Draft General Environmental Impact Study. If passed by the Common Council the plan will redefine zoning for about half the total area of the city.

From Jamie Larson's report:

The issue that has raised the most conflict thus far resides on a rough and narrow dirt road that bisects the environmentally protected south bay between the waterfront and Route 9G.

The old causeway, which now belongs to the Holcim deep water port property was once a St. Lawrence Cement rail bed. The DGEIS calls for the causeway to be rehabilitated and used to truck road salt and gravel out of the port.

Opponents of this plan say the use of the causeway by heavy, polluting trucks would have a substantial negative impact on the historically abused marsh. They believe other alternatives, like cutting a road through the old L&B Furniture factory property would be less intrusive and allow for public traffic as well as the private truck traffic to and from the river.

Supporters of using the causeway, say purchasing the L&B property is too expensive, costing as much as $4 million, and while use of the causeway may not be ideal it will remove a substantial amount of traffic from the current truck route which runs through the most populated and economically impoverished section of the city.

FRIDAY

WGXC/Cairo Library Open Mic
at 7 p.m. at Gallagher's, 513 Main St., Cairo. Free.

Liv Carrow & The Special Feelings, The Fools, Sean T. Hanratty, A Brief View of the Hudson
8 p.m. at Spotty Dog Books & Ale, Hudson.

Abby Lappen
8 p.m. at Main Street Pub, Philmont.

SATURDAY

Elliot Park ice skating grand opening
all day at Elliot Park, Catskill, until 9 p.m.

WGXC Membership Drive
1-5 p.m. at Spotty Dog Books & Ale, Hudson.

East Meets West: Tivoli Artists
opening 2-4 p.m. at Mountaintop Gallery, Windham.

Laurie Anderson
4 p.m. at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Mass.

Bears with Wings, The Emergency Empire
5 p.m. at Jason's Upstairs Bar, Hudson. $5

GEOgraphy
opening 5-7 p.m. at Greene County Arts Council Gallery, Catskill.

Birgit Blyth: Recent Work; "10 Days in Alaska" by Michael Sibilia
opening 6-8 p.m. at Carrie Haddad Photographs, Hudson.

SUNDAY

Teaching the River of Dreams Hudson River lecture
1-4 p.m. at Olana, 5720 Rt. 9G, Hudson.

MONDAY

Rally & Speak Out for Medicare For All Not War
for MLK Day at noon-2 p.m. at 7th St. and Warren St. park, Hudson.

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY.

WGXC volunteers are working hard to launch a 3,300-watt community radio station. More than 78,000 people throughout Greene and Columbia counties will be able to receive the signal on 90.7-FM. WGXC received its license from the FCC and a grant from the US Commerce Dept that will cover 50 percent of our equipment needs. We now need to raise matching funds in order to get on the air, $71,000 by March 31.

So far, WGXC has raised $14,077, so we still need $56,923. By March 31.

So far, WGXC has raised $3,122 from benefit events; $2,670 for corporate support; $5,135 from Foundation/Organization Support; and $3,150 from Individual Memberships.

WGXC Founding Members

ELECTRODES
1 watt $25-$49 & major volunteer/equipment donations
Kyle Aguiar (Cairo)
Deirdre Astin (Athens)
Steve Ausbury (Cairo)
Ngonda Badila (Hudson)
Pamela Belfor (Catskill)
Lauren Susan Bell (Greenville)
Thomas L. Buckner (Philmont)
Ryder Cooley (Hudson)
Patrick Doyle (Hudson)
Elizabeth Ennis New York)
Marie Greco (Catskill)
Manny Greco (Catskill)
Dennis Jackson (Wilton, CT)
Daniel Karpowitz (Hudson)
Lisa Kerekes (Hillsdale)
Laura Kunreuther (Hudson)
Rachel Lentsky (Saugerties)
Lauren Levey (Catskill)
Loki
Chistine Mary Maggio (Albany)
Christina Malisoff (Hudson)
Lisa Fox Martin (Catskill)
Dick May (Catskill)
Scott McKenney (Hollowville)
Walter Neidel (Cairo)
Dennis "Rooftopper" Peduzzi (Kinderhook)
Mary Pesez-Kames (Cairo)
Nick Shiver Pomeroy (Hudson)
Jeffrey Rovitz (Palenville)
Sam Truitt (Catskill)
Nicole Vidor (Hudson)
Daniel Wall (Ghent)
Chad Weckler (Livingston)
Dylan Weidman (Germantown)
Christopher Wetmore (Hudson)
Bart Woodstrup (Troy)
Debra Kamecke (Catskill)
Nora E. Adelman (Athens)

CAPACITORS
2-4 watt $50-$124
Jenny K. Baldwin (Hudson)
David Carney (Durham)
Rory Chase (Pine Plains)
Mark Hunter (Iowa City, IA)
Claire Joseph (Iowa City, IA)
John McGowan(Ghent)
Allan Pavese (Durham)
Martin Ping (Ghent)
Janene Ping (Ghent)
Phoebe Prentice (Red Hook)
Pat Ruck (Catskill)
Nancy Shaver (Jefferson)
Nina Sklansky(Catskill)
Melissa Weidman (Falmouth, MA)

CIRCUITS
5-9 watts $125-$249
Strongtree Organic Coffee

TRANSISTORS
10-20 watts $250-$524

TOWERS
21-40 watts $525-$1,024
Helsinki Hudson

ANTENNAE
41-100 watts $1,025-$2,524

TRANSMISSIONS
101-200 watts $2,525-$5000
Samuel J. Holtzman Family Foundation (Ghent)

Please join this list!

Buy some watts and help bring community radio to Greene and Columbia counties.

We need folks to step up now and create a local community station. Become a Founding Member and get WGXC on the air and community radio will be beaming into your radio by the end of the year. We are very close to making a giant difference in the community, airing live town meetings, and giving citizens a voice with their local government officials. We are very close to bringing media training to local youth, who will then report on what is going on in the schools for WGXC. We are very close to airing live performances, festivals, and events on WGXC, and being a central information source for local farmers, artists, history buffs, and fans of interesting music. Together we can get that all and more on WGXC if you become a Founding Member.

3,300 watts at $25/watt = 82,500 &
WGXC-FM IS ON THE AIR!

Founding member levels:
ELECTRODES = 1 watt ($25 - 49)
CAPACITORS = 2-4 watts ($50 - 124)
CIRCUITS = 5-9 watts ($125 - 249)
TRANSISTORS = 10 - 20 watts ($250 - 524)
TOWERS = 21 - 40 watts ($525 - 1,024)
ANTENNAE = 41 - 100 watts ($1,025 - 2,524)
TRANSMISSIONS = 101 - 200 watts ($2,525 - 5,000)

DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.


You can become a WGXC Founding Member several ways:

*Stop by Spotty Dog Books & Ale this Saturday, Jan. 16 from 1-5 p.m. and Christina Malisoff and Tom Roe from the WGXC Radio Council will be there to help you become a member, and tell you more about community radio.

*Go to www.WGXC.org and read all about community radio. Make a donation to become a member through Paypal, or buy a t-shirt, or a ticket for a raffle to win a Les Paul Gibson guitar.

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY

From Elizabeth Benjamin in The Daily Politics:

Republican Bruce Blakeman, who has been mulling a potential challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand since last fall, confirmed that he will indeed formally announce his candidacy this Sunday.... "I will confirm that I'm announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate seat. I am doing so at my boyhood home of Valley Stream, and it will be an announcement and a rally. I will make a speech outlining what I feel are the important issues facing the state and the country as well as explaining why I'm running."

On January 18, 2010 from noon-2 p.m. a "Rally & Speak Out for Medicare For All Not War" will take place at the 7th Street Park on Warren St. in Hudson, NY to honor the late great Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. who said: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY.

From Jennifer Dlouhy in New York on the Potomac:
U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy (D-NY20) is asking his colleagues to sign on to a letter he wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., that would insist on the 72-hour time-out before any floor vote. “We believe that a 72-hour period for review is crucial before voting on a proposal as sweeping and impactful as health care reform legislation,” Murphy said in the letter he drafted to Pelosi and Hoyer. Murphy voted against the House version of the health care bill, and his letter is about the new version of the bill that will emerge soon from House-Senate deliberations.

See www.wgxc.org for more information about WGXC: Hands-On Radio for Greene and Columbia counties, NY

Dick May's Seeing Greene blog breaks several stories this week, all of them bad news:

*Catskill Mountain Foundation, in Hunter, published the "final" month of their The Catskill Mountain Region Guide monthly magazine, or is scaling back to a smaller size with shorter versions of longer web-based articles in the print version.

*InsideOut magazine (we had noticed their web site has been down several weeks) is also scaling back in Athens. "Publisher/editor Owen Lipstein feels 'uncertain' about the future but is keen to sustain the magazine, perhaps as a quarterly and an on-line periodical," reports May.

*The Union Mills condominium project on Main St. in Catskill is “eighty-five percent complete and on budget,' says Jim Cunliffe, the project’s originator and hands-on manager; but the Long Island investors have declined to commit to supplying the last quarter of projected capital," writes May. So plans there are on hold.

From The Columbia County Democratic Party:

The Columbia County Democratic Committee (CCDC), working along with Board of Elections (BOE) Commissioner Virginia Martin, the Town of Taghkanic Democratic Committee and 66 voters from the Town of Taghkanic whose constitutional right to vote had been challenged by the Columbia County Republican Committee and its counsel, John Ciampoli and Jim Walsh, scored a dramatic and decisive victory today when acting Supreme Court Judge Jonathan Nichols ordered that all 49 remaining absentee ballots be opened immediately and counted, thereby paving the way for five town races from November to be concluded and the winners sworn in.

Joyce Thompson, a candidate for the Taghkanic Town Board and a party to these proceedings, expressed the feeling of many when she commented, “Congratulations to all of the stalwart challenged voters who stood tall, were not intimidated and kept faith in the judicial system to preserve their legal right to vote in Taghkanic."

Virginia Martin, BOE Commissioner and a defendant in the original action, stated “At last, a simple process that should have been concluded fully two months ago—the counting of county residents’ legitimately cast votes—is completed. Taghkanic’s duly elected officials can finally take office and get to work doing the people’s business. This delay has cost the taxpayers dearly and has brought an embarrassing and ill-deserved cloud over this county’s electoral process. I’m enormously relieved that, at last, we can move on. We have other work to do.”

Today’s ruling was the culmination of over two months of often contentious legal proceedings between the local Republican and Democratic parties, the BOE and the candidates of the Town of Taghkanic, which included a decision on December 18, 2009 by the Appellate Division, 3rd Dept., in favor of the Democrats. That decision found, among other things, that 1) the law governing a voter’s right to choose where to vote is construed broadly in favor of the voter, and 2) the Republicans had no authority to challenge absentee ballot applications on the basis of residency once the ballots had been issued by the BOE to voters. On December 30, acting Supreme Court Judge Nichols granted the Republicans one last opportunity to challenge these ballots on grounds other than residency. At today’s hearing, the Judge reprimanded Mr. Walsh for failing to follow his specific instructions to note his objections in detail. While he limited the nature of Mr. Walsh’s objections, the Judge did allow him one final opportunity to orally specify his objections voter by voter. As it turned out, all but three of Mr. Walsh’s objections were for dual residency and the judge overruled each and every objection and ordered all of the ballots to be opened.

The result was very fortuitous for the Taghkanic Democrats as they came from behind to win all four contested races: two Town Council seats, Town Justice and Highway Superintendent.

What rankled many residents (Democrats and Republicans) in this rural county is that only Democratic-registered dual residents were challenged by the Republicans—a clear attempt to intimidate and suppress their vote.

Chris Nolan, Chair of the CCDC and a respondent in these proceedings, stated “I am extremely gratified by this decision because it confirms what we have said all along—that dual residents have the perfect right to vote from the legitimate residence of their choice. This decision has far-reaching implications for dual residents all around the state and puts a big dent in state Republicans’ plans to intimidate and disenfranchise Democratic voters this November.”

Kathleen O’Keefe, counsel for Chris Nolan, Chair of the CCDC, and the Taghkanic Democratic slate of candidates, summarized the two-month-long ordeal: “Once again, the Republican Party has decided that the way to win elections is to suppress the votes of people deemed unsupportive of their plans, in this case, in Columbia County. Unfortunately for them, a brave contingent of local people rallied to defend the right of voters to vote in Columbia County. Hopefully, this case will discourage similar efforts to illegally disenfranchise voters throughout New York State. We can only hope that that is the case."

The respondents are indebted to their legal counsel, Kathleen O’Keefe, and Dan Burstein, of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, for conducting a brilliant legal campaign that resulted in this momentous decision.

"We are pleased that the Supreme Court has joined the Appellate Division in reaffirming the established voting rights of dual residents and recognizing that these challenges were entirely frivolous," said Burstein, who represents Commissioner Martin. "This is a victory for voting rights and a rejection of this attempt to do through misinformation, intimidation, and abusive litigation what could not be done through the law: disenfranchise dual residents."

This decision follows on the heels of another ground-breaking decision last Thursday by Supreme Court Judge Patrick McGrath in favor of a citizens’ group in Taghkanic (several of whom were involved in this lawsuit) which permanently enjoined 1) Taghkanic resident Alan Wilzig from paving or using his mile-long, 40-foot wide racetrack, and 2) the Town of Taghkanic, its various town, planning and zoning boards, and other local enforcement officials, from issuing any kind of permit, certificate or approval allowing the racetrack.

There, as here, ordinary citizens had to do the job that local town and county officials should have done on their behalf.

SUPERVISOR
Elizabeth Young 335
Loretta Hoffman 320

TOWN JUSTICE
Jeffrey Tallackson 32
Raymond Dalrymple 312

TOWN COUNCIL
Joyce Thompson 320
Lawrence Kadish 318
Erik Tyree 314
Thomas Kiely 310

SUPERINTENDENT OF HIGHWAY
Thomas Youhas 33
Edward Waldron 307

"Results of the ballot opening show Republicans did a good job of analyzing who wasn't supporting them. The votes were almost completely Democratic. Jeff Tallackson came from 32 votes behind to win his race for town justice. Tom Youhas blitzed back from 13 down to capture the highway superintendent post. The two Democrats running for Town Council, Larry Kadish and Joyce Thompson, came from 41 and 39 votes behind to win their races. All four candidates prevailed on the strength of challenged ballots from relative newcomers who are changing the demographics of Columbia County."

"Walsh later dropped his objections to one of those three ballots, then argued that the two ballots remaining belonged to “zig-zag” voters, who used their New York City addresses to vote in 2006 and 2008, and their Columbia County residences to vote in 2007 and 2009."

From Paul Smart:

State Senator Joseph E. Robach, a Republican who represents part of Rochester, has proposed legislation -- co-sponsored by Senator James Seward who represents Greene County -- that would allow each of New York State's 62 counties to hold a referendum in 2010 to ask voters this question: Do you support the division of New York into two separate states?

The referendum - if it is even legal - would be nonbinding.

Four Republican senators - William J. Larkin Jr., Michael H. Ranzenhofer, James L. Seward and Dale M. Volker - joined Mr. Robach in introducing the bill this year, even though the proposal has little chance of becoming reality in a state where Democrats control the governor's mansion and hold a narrow majority in the Senate and a commanding majority in the Assembly.

Nonetheless, the proposal - which states that there is a large degree of apparent support for dividing New York into two separate states, so as to separate the distinct social and political concerns between upstate and downstate New York - reflects longstanding misunderstanding, even animosity, between the various parts of the state. The last governor who was not from either New York City or the Hudson Valley was Nathan L. Miller, of Syracuse, who served from 1921 to 1922.

From Bing Chester in The Albany Project:

When the National Labor Relations Act first passed in 1935, farm workers were excludes from the bill so that FDR could garner support from rural Senators. The campaigns of Caesar Chavez for farm worker rights fought at the state level to give rights to farmworkers through state government. In New York advocates have continued to fight for a Bill of Rights for farmworkers. With new developments and new commitments from state leaders, we may fast be approaching the day where farm workers will possess the rights of other private sector employees to organize, collectively bargain, and receive overtime pay.

Advocates and supports in Albany have dubbed the proposal the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act . The bill models itself after most other labor laws in the state and the country and provides a legal framework to provide labor rights for farmworkers. Notably it provides farmworkers the right to organize and collectively bargain, sets a standard for overtime pay for overtime hours, creates a disability insurance provision for workers, and a guaranteed day off per week. These are standard rights of workers that have largely been in place for private sector employees since the New Deal.

Unfortunately there has been a great deal of push-back from the Farm Bureau and the farm owners community. From Tonawanda News:

Tim Bigham, area field advisor for the New York Farm Bureau, described several aspects of the bill as "anti-business," saying farm owners, especially the smaller ones, simply won't be able to afford them.

Bigham said a main concern is a provision requiring forced payment of overtime rates to workers who are on the job longer than eight hours per day. Bigham argued that farm work should continue to be exempt from such overtime provisions because, by its nature, it is seasonal work, requiring individuals to put in longer hours during warm weather when work can actually be done. Such items, Bigham said, could drive up costs for area farmers, many of whom are struggling financially as it is. source

Sam Pratt is reporting from the Taghkanic absentee voter case at the Hudson Elks Club on Harry Howard Boulevard, next to the high school:

"Judge Jonathan Nichols dressed down James Walsh, attorney for Greg Fingar and the Columbia County Republicans, in court this morning. Nichols characterized the GOP's legal arguments as "completely unconvincing," and ordered 46 ballots to be opened by the Board of Elections. Court will reconvene at 2 p.m. to discuss three remaining ballots..."

"After the BOE review of ballots, all of the Democratic candidates in Tagkanic whose races were still in doubt are now in the lead or tied, with just four ballots (all presumed to be Democratic-leaning) to be ruled upon by Judge Nichols at 2 p.m. [Alan] Wilzig [local landowner, would-be racetrack builder] employee Erik Tyree is currently tied with Larry Kadish for one of the two Town Board seats."