According to a Quinnipiac University Poll released this morning - “Former Congressman Rick Lazio leads businessman Carl Paladino 47 - 35 percent among New York State Republican likely primary voters in the race for Governor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. But 18 percent of Republican voters remain undecided and 49 percent of those who do name a candidate say they might change their mind before the September 14 primary.

Paladino’s support looks a little stronger as 62 percent of his voters say their mind is made up, compared to 42 percent of Lazio backers, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

There is a significant gender gap as Lazio leads 51 - 26 percent among Republican women and only 44 - 42 percent among men.”

TO read more click here.

Cuomo Tops Lazio Or Paladino More Than 2-1, Quinnipiac University New York State Poll Finds; Voters Want To Know How Cuomo Will Fix Budge

Also in a poll released yeesterday by the University they found - “New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for Governor, leads either of his Republican rivals by more than 2-1, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Cuomo tops former Congressman Rick Lazio 57 - 25 percent and leads Carl Paladino 60 - 23 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Independent voters back Cuomo over Lazio 55 - 23 percent and support the Democrat over Paladino 54 - 24 percent.

New York State voters approve 69 - 20 percent of the job Cuomo is doing as Attorney General and by 54 - 21 percent, they have a favorable opinion of him.

Lazio gets a split 25 - 24 percent favorability and 49 percent of voters don’t know enough about him to form an opinion. For Paladino, 70 percent don’t know enough about him.

Voters say 63 - 23 percent that Cuomo has not done enough to explain how he will fix New York State’s budget problems. Even Democrats say 52 - 35 percent that Cuomo hasn’t explained enough.

Asked if Cuomo is deferring to Gov. David Paterson or “ducking his responsibility as a candidate,” voters say 44 - 32 percent that he’s ducking.”

To read more form yesterday poll click here.

Daily News columnist William Hammond reminds readers that if they want things to change in Albany, to show up at the voting booth on primary day.

New Yorkers itching to clean house in Albany, be forewarned: The moment to act is coming sooner than you think.

Voters who wait until Election Day in November to vent fury at their notoriously dysfunctional and corruption-riddled state government are liable to miss the boat - especially if they’re Democrats living in New York City.

As a practical matter, the last, best chance to dislodge deadwood state legislators from seats in the five boroughs will be the Democratic primaries on Sept. 14.

That’s just two weeks from today, folks.

Mark your calendars in red. Figure out where your polling place is. Look up the names of your local senator and Assembly member. And exercise that voting finger.

Because Sept. 14 is the election that really counts when it comes to bringing much-needed change to state government, especially the Legislature.”

To read the rest of Bill’s column click here.

Unshackle Upstate, a coalition representing more than 70,000 employers with 1.5 million workers, released today its rankings of all 212 state legislators.

They have two goals for these legislative scorecards. Primarily, Unshackle Upstate wants to provide all New Yorkers with a thorough informational tool that clearly demonstrates which elected officials have acted in the best interest of the taxpayers of this state and which ones have not. Secondly, we want to encourage all elected officials to embrace our agenda of reducing taxes, fees and assessments; cutting state and local spending; reducing state borrowing and curtailing mandates.

To see your local legislator’s score click here.

The November elections will be critical to shaping the future of our state. We hope that you find the information on your Senators and Assembly Members valuable when you’re considering who to support on Election Day.

The Business Council joins Unshackle Upstate in the belief that for those elected officials that scored well, you should consider keeping them in office. For those that did not, ask them why they did not support the taxpayers of the state of New York and then ask yourself if you should support them. We encourages you to challenge our elected officials to defend the interest of taxpayers…or get a new job!

Joseph Spector writes on LoHud.com - “The crowded field for the Democratic nomination for attorney general brings varied experiences and the trading of plenty of barbs.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice has been knocked for failing to vote for nearly 20 years. State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, has been questioned on whether he can police the Legislature after being a member.

Campaign contributions from Sean Coffey and his former law firm to pension fund managers in various states have drawn scrutiny. Former Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo has had to defend his ties to his former boss, scandal-scarred former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, was labeled in a New York Times editorial as being able to claim “real accomplishments.” But the editorial also said that “his divisive style is ill suited to the job.”

The vitriol led Schneiderman to ask his Democratic foes to lower the decibel level.”

To read more click here.

The group New Yorkers for Growth has launched a guerilla marketing campaign called W.F.P. = O.U.T.

The group has produced video spots aimed at convincing voters to vote against any candidates accepting the Working Families Party line.

Their first two videos are available below.

WFP Spells O.U.T.
WFP - THe O.U.T. Door

The race for governor of New York is heating up. Both Cuomo and Lazio have released new TV ads, while Paladino takes a shot at “political correctness”. The links below connect to a cross section of the coverage from across the state.

Laura Nahmias writes on NYCapitolNews.com - “Senate Democrats may have avoided the albatross of the latest budget ever going into the fall elections, but they are still being attacked for this year’s piecemeal budget, hostile negotiations and uncertain revenue.

Elizabeth Lynam, deputy research director at the independent, non-partisan Citizens Budget Commission, criticized the budget for doing too little to address rising labor costs, which were left virtually untouched, and failing to tackle Medicaid and school aid, both programs badly in need of reform.

Revenue generators like a soda tax and a tax on income earned by out-of-state hedge fund employees, panned by the beverage lobby and some business interest groups, were left out of the budget in favor of higher sales taxes on cigarettes and elimination of a tax exemption on clothing and shoes costing less than $110.

The tax increases are “shameful,” said Heather Briccetti, vice president of governmental affairs for the Business Council of New York State.

The Council’s leadership, which represents over 3,000 employers in the state, was appalled at tax-credit deferrals and tax increases, she said.

“The state is going back on its word to not increase spending,” said Briccetti, adding that new measures seemed “blind” to the poor state of the economy and could hurt job growth.

The Business Council has never endorsed candidates in an election before, but Briccetti said members were weighing whether to come out in favor of candidates this year in response to mounting frustrations.

“There are a lot of really negative things in this budget,” and the difficult climate for businesses could force an endorsement, she said.”

To read more click here.

To send a message to Albany telling them that you have had Enough Alreadyclick here.

According to a new Siena College Poll, Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo maintains leads of more than 30 percentage points against Republicans Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino in both head-to-head and three-way match-ups, and voters think he will be more effective than either of the Republicans on seven key issues that affect New Yorkers. Paladino has closed the gap against Lazio to 13 points among Republicans.

Three-quarters of voters have been following the news about the proposed Muslim community center and mosque in lower Manhattan at least somewhat closely, up significantly in two weeks. Opposition remains strong against building the mosque, 63-27 percent, however, by a margin of 64-28 percent voters say that the developers of the Cordoba House have a Constitutional right to build it. Nearly one-quarter of voters say the position of the gubernatorial candidates on this issue will have a major effect on which candidate they support.

“With less than 11 weeks until election day, Andrew Cuomo continues to be the prohibitive favorite to be elected New York’s next governor. Neither Rick Lazio nor Carl Paladino has made a dent in the favorable view voters have of Cuomo. Nor have they made much progress in closing the large electoral gap Cuomo enjoys over both of them – individually or collectively,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.

Cuomo leads Lazio 60-26 percent (60-28 percent in July). Cuomo’s lead over Paladino is 60-27 percent, down from 64-23 percent last month. In a three-way race, Cuomo garners 56 percent to 19 percent for Lazio (identified as a Republican) and 12 percent for Paladino (identified as an independent). In a three-way race identifying Paladino as the Republican and Lazio as the Conservative, Cuomo leads 56 percent to 16 percent for Lazio, and 14 percent for Paladino. Lazio’s primary lead over Paladino among enrolled Republicans is down to 13 points, 43-30 percent, down from a 20-point lead (40-20 percent) in July.

Too read more click here.

New York Daily News columnist Bill Hammond writes about Andrew Cuomo’s efforts to reshape his party’s relationship with the public employee unions.

He writes:  Andrew Cuomo has pulled off the unlikely stunt of winning the endorsement of the state AFL-CIO without selling his soul to the usually all-powerful public employee unions.

Which is a good sign - because the last thing New York needs is another elected official who owes his job to the government workers he’s supposed to be managing.

Albany has plenty such puppets already, which is the major reason that a state with one of the highest tax burdens in the country is perennially teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Cuomo knows this, coming out strong for proposals that average New Yorkers love but public unions hate, such as capping property taxes and freezing government wages.

Those taxpayer-friendly positions cost him the support of unions that would normally be aligned with a Democratic candidate for governor: the New York State United Teachers and the Civil Service Employees Association, the state’s largest union for blue-collar government workers.

Read more here.

According to a Quinnipiac Poll, “New York State government is dysfunctional, 83 percent of voters say, the highest number ever measured in the state, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

A total of 80 percent of New York State voters are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the way things are going in the state, also the highest dissatisfaction ever in New York, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

New York State voters say 59 - 21 percent that all candidates for state office should sign a pledge that they will support the creation of an independent group to draw legislative district lines. There is no difference in support among Democrats, Republicans or independent voters.

Nineteen percent of voters would vote against a candidate who refuses to sign the pledge on that issue alone. There is little difference in support among political or regional groups.

New York State voters disapprove 76 - 16 percent of the way the State Legislature is doing its job, the highest disapproval ever recorded for this group.

To clean house in Albany, all New York State senators, even their own local senator, should be voted out of office this November, voters say 51 - 36 percent. Voters say 50 - 34 percent that State Assembly members, even their own representative, should go, too.

“New Yorkers are fed up with Albany. The resentment is bigger than we’ve ever measured. Just about half think that the whole Legislature should be voted out of office - even their own state senator and Assembly member,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.”

To read more click here.