The following is part of an editorial in today’s Buffalo News which states the many reason why The Business Council of New York State and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership must maintain their member-relationship with the University at Buffalo.

“Members of the Buffalo Center Chapter of United University Professions, a union representing academic and professional staff at the University at Buffalo, evidently are unable to see clearly out of their ivory towers.

In a referendum passed 191-172 last month, they called on UB to drop out of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and the Business Council of New York State.

The university has done a lot for Buffalo, and Buffalo’s private sector leaders have done a lot for the university.

Over the years, the University at Buffalo Foundation, the nonprofit arm of UB that develops private sector support, has given tens of millions of dollars to the university.

The university benefits greatly through the various partnerships and alliances it participates in. Much of what impacts UB, good and bad, comes out of the state Capitol. Buffalo’s business leaders have traveled to Albany many times to lobby on UB’s behalf.

Pulling out of the partnership and business council, or becoming a second-class member not paying dues, would diminish the status of both groups and hurt their ability to work for UB in the private sector and Albany. You can’t have it both ways: ending membership while expecting the groups to continue working for UB.

The UB union is not only shortsighted, but is wrong in basing its stand on the belief that membership in the organizations means UB is supporting fundraising, lobbying and endorsements of political candidates. Political actions by the partnership come out of its political action committee. None of the university’s money has gone or will go into the PAC.

The university’s standing has been greatly enhanced by having its president, Satish K. Tripathi, serve as co-chairman of the Western New York Economic Development Council with developer Howard Zemsky. Their leadership won $100 million in state funds for the region, and now the council will supervise the $1 billion economic development bonanza offered by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Tripathi now works closely with the most important person in the state. Instead of reducing ties with the community, the UUP should be putting its efforts into improving them.

The stronger the relationship between “town and gown,” the more both parties will benefit.

To read more from the Buffalo News click here.

Casey Seiler of the Times Union writes:

“Wednesday’s 20-minute public session of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics was largely devoted to finding a speedy way to get to work on the backlog of matters — from policy judgments to ethics complaints — that have piled up since its predecessor, the Commission on Public Integrity, was mothballed last summer.

Commissioner Pat Bulgaro put the number in the hundreds, and growing every day.

The bulging to-do list shouldn’t come as a surprise: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced the makeup of the new ethics watchdog on the last possible day allowable by statute. This was, Cuomo subsequently admitted, partly a result of his difficulty recruiting top-caliber commissioners.”

To read more click here.

The case against New York’s 30-year-old “Triborough Amendment,” whose repeal has been a mandate relief priority of local and school officials throughout the state, is laid out in a new report issued today by the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

Entitled Triborough Trouble, the report explains how the law requires public employers to maintain all contractual perks for unionized public employees, including automatic “step” increases in pay, after the expiration of a union contract. Key findings include the following:
The Triborough Amendment gives unions an incentive to resist negotiating structural changes to their contracts, since the status quo will be preserved even if there is no contract.
Pay hikes required by the Triborough Amendment cost the state government $140 million a year and add almost $300 million a year to school budgets.
The requirement to finance automatic pay increases has undermined attempts to stretch taxpayer dollars further in a time of extreme financial stress.
Repeal of the Triborough Amendment will establish a more equitable collective bargaining system in New York’s public sector, preserving basic union rights while giving local officials the tools they now lack to negotiate needed changes to costly and outmoded contracts.
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Triborough Trouble
Taylor Made: The Cost and Consequences of New York’s Public-Sector Labor Laws
Triborough Trouble notes that pay hikes guaranteed by the law can be particularly expensive for school districts, since teachers can spend much of their careers moving up pay steps and across lanes. Using the median Suffolk County teacher pay scale as an example, the report illustrates how a starting teacher can receive pay increases averaging 7 percent a year, even when base salaries are “frozen.”

Contrary to union claims, the report says, repeal of the Triborough Amendment would not expose union members to the unilateral reduction of health insurance or other important benefits. Rather, basic terms and conditions of employment would be protected by the underlying ‘Triborough Doctrine,” based on a state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruling dating back to 1972.

The report also debunks claims by union leaders that the Triborough Amendment was a “trade-off” for the legal prohibition on public strikes. In fact, the report points out, public employee strikes have been outlawed in New York since the late 1940s. The prohibition continued, with reduced penalties, under the Taylor Law, enacted 15 years before the Triborough Amendment.

The report was written by E.J. McMahon, senior fellow at the Empire Center, and Terry O’Neil, one of the state’s foremost labor law experts, who heads the Garden City office of the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King. The Albany-based Empire Center is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a leading 501-c-3 think tank.

Peter Baynes, executive director of the New York Conference of Mayors, said the Empire Center report “clearly and unequivocally demonstrates the inequities fostered by the Triborough Amendment.”

“Rather than protecting the sanctity of public contract negotiations, the Triborough Amendment makes a mockery of the concept of fair and balanced collective bargaining.” Baynes said. “By repealing the Triborough Amendment, but leaving intact the Triborough Doctrine, employees will be protected from unilateral reductions in benefits, and taxpayers will be protected from automatic increases in taxes.”

Timothy Kremer, executive director of the New York State Schools Boards Association, said: “The Triborough Amendment acts as a disincentive for unions to settle new contracts, especially in tough times when district officials are understandably seeking cost concessions. Why accept a new contract when the Triborough Amendment allows for an automatic salary increase while refusing to settle? The Triborough Amendment puts the district’s personnel budget on autopilot.”

Robert J. Reidy, Jr., executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said: “The fundamental challenge for our schools now is to produce the learning our students need with the resources our taxpayers can provide. The state needs to be a reliable partner with local taxpayers in funding schools. But the state also needs to change some of its rules so that we can produce more impact for students with the resources the taxpayers give us. The Empire Center’s report helps explain why addressing Triborough is so important.”

Heather Briccetti, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. said: “This report clearly shows the need to repeal the Triborough Amendment. New York can no longer afford public employees’ pay to continue to increase under an expired contract, placing additional burdens on the state school districts and municipalities.”

Brian Sampson, executive director of Unshackle Upstate said: “The Triborough Amendment has long been an obstacle to making our communities more affordable because it guarantees pay increases and continued benefits - even if a contract is not in place. This creates a disincentive for representatives of state employees to come to the table and negotiate in good faith. Further, it ignores a community’s ability to pay, meaning that in these tough economic times, schools are forced instead to cut programs and eliminate teaching positions, and municipal government are curtailing services. It doesn’t have to be that way. It is time for our Legislature to do what is right for all taxpayers: Fix this issue so that we can maintain the integrity of the tax cap and we can continue to afford to live in New York.”

To view the report click here.

Eric Kirss writes in the New York Post - “There’ll be one more politician in Albany next year if state Senate Republicans have their way.

The GOP is proposing adding a 63rd seat to the Senate as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process, to the howls of Democrats who protest the move.

Republicans, clinging to a razor-thin majority in the Senate, claim they’re planning to add a seat because the state Constitution requires that they adjust their numbers to reflect a rise in population.”

To read more click here.

Jimmy Vielkind of the Times Union writes:

“More trouble for Pedro Espada Jr.: He could face another criminal charge for putting his uncle on the state payroll.

The Legislative Ethics Commission quietly issued a notice alleging the ex-senator violated the law by hiring his uncle, Juan Feliciano Jr., as an $80,000-a-year “special assistant” when he last held office in 2009-10. The notice, published with no announcement on the commission’s website Dec. 9, alleges two violations of the state’s Public Officers Law, each punishable by a fine of up to $40,000 or, if the commission so votes, referred for prosecution as a criminal misdemeanor.

It’s the latest trouble for Espada, who lost a primary last year amid questions of corruption.”

To read more click here.

Jim Odato of the Times Union writes:

“On Nov. 30 in New York County State Supreme Court, lawyer Ravi Batra made some revelations to Judge Charles Ramos that may be of interest to a wider audience:

“Your honor,” Batra said. “I have new counsel that’s of counsel to my firm: John L. Sampson, who is of counsel to my firm and has joined the defense team.”

The case pitted Reachout Wireless Inc. and American Candy Inc. against In Touch Wireless Concepts Inc. The heading on the action introduces the two sides of the civil dispute; the defense is identified as the firm of Ravi Batra with John L. Sampson as “of counsel.”

In his remarks to the judge, Batra went on to disclose that he and Sampson, the leader of the Senate Democratic conference, also recently joined the board of In Touch Wireless Concepts, the defendant in the case, “but because of his leadership role in the Senate, he was Chinese-brick-walled out of ITC business relationships in New York for obvious reasons.”

A 32-page transcript of the hearing showed Sampson said nothing more than “good morning” to Ramos and was present during Batra’s defense of ITC, during which he called the two plaintiffs “fraudsters. I mean, Reach Out Wireless for example was engaged in prepaid cell fraud selling phones, your honor, to Warren Buffett, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams … to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.” ITC, based in Nassau County, is a cellphone activation company in business in several states with numerous outlets in the metropolitan New York City area.”

To read more click here.

James Odato of the Times Union writes:

“The chairwoman of the state’s new public integrity commission conducted her first meeting of the 14-member group on Thursday and skirted the state Open Meetings Law.

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, who is heading the ethics panel unveiled on Monday, assembled the members by telephone to talk about commission affairs. The one-hour meeting included discussions about hiring staff, setting up a meeting on Tuesday in Albany and agreeing to have only two defined people speak for the organization.

Asked prior to the meeting about the need for advanced notice of the session and opening it, DiFiore said she saw no need to invite the public. The gathering was “an informal telephone conversation amongst the new commission members; how we go forward organizing ourselves,” she said.

Returning a call left at her district attorney’s office prior to her talks with commissioners, DiFiore told a reporter he would not be allowed to listen in on the telephone meeting. She said official meetings of her group will be open as the law allows.”

To read more click here.

Jimmy Vielkind of the Times Union writes:

“Former prosecutors and businessmen, a retired senator and a district attorney will make up the state’s new government ethics watchdog group.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced the 14 members of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics late Monday. The JCOPE was created in an ethics bill signed over the summer that replaced the Commission on Public Integrity and expanded financial disclosure requirements for elected officials.

The announcement came on the last possible day, just after the close of business hours. Legislative leaders appointed eight members of the commission, but the appointments were all announced in a single statement from Cuomo’s office.”

To read more click here.

To read the Governor’s release click here.

To read a story about the new ethic law in New York entitled “Ethics and Lobbying Reform In State Government (Again)” by Karl J. Sleight and Joan P. Sullivan that was originally published in the December 6, 2011 issue of New York law Journal click here.

Joseph Spector reports on LoHud.com - “he Seneca Nation of Indians said today it has filed for arbitration over what they claim is New York’s violation of its gambling compact with the state, which says it has exclusive gambling rights in 14 counties in western New York.

The arbitration filing is the latest salvo in the dispute with the state over its gambling rights and its rights to sell cigarettes tax free on its reservations.

Since January 2009, the Seneca Nation has withheld about $350 million in payments to the state from its three western New York casinos, in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca, Cattaraugus County. The Senecas claim exclusive gaming rights west of Route 14, which runs south from Wayne County to the Pennsylvania border.”

To read more click here.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli Tuesday announced the indictments of four individuals accused of participating in a scheme to pocket taxpayer dollars intended for public services in New York City. A groundbreaking public integrity initiative between the Offices of the Attorney General and State Comptroller exposed a nonprofit set up by New York State Senator Shirley L. Huntley that funneled member item funds to those associated with it, including the senator’s aide and an individual who shares a residence with the senator.

“Taking money intended for families in need is unconscionable,” State Comptroller DiNapoli said. “By combining forces, my office and the Attorney General have exposed and are prosecuting this egregious theft of state funds which were intended for the public good.”

To read more click here.