Key Democrat of Golden’s senate-ruling coalition already backs deBlasio’s plan
Will Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin Golden be one of the first dominoes to fall into line for Mayor deBlasio
An often quoted and well-placed GOP wag put me onto this story a few days ago. And rather than have him ring me up to ask why I haven't gone with it yet, I'll do it right now.
Everybody knows that State Senator Golden has enjoyed being the NYS Senate lap dog of the mayor. That special relationship with the Mayor of New York City looks like it may end on or about December 31st of this year. Will Golden have any hooks at all in deBlasio’s wing of City Hall? Well maybe there is a chance that he will; if he plays his dominoes correctly.
To get a clear picture of this, all one needs to do is get the answers to a few simple questions. For example, does Marty Golden support a Democratic Party proposal that’s becoming more and more popular — universal pre-kindergarten education ? If Golden says “yes” outright; or more likely, that he is willing to consider it; then ask him, how he would pay for it ( really meaning -- how would he want you to pay for it) ? And lastly, ask Golden straight out. would you consider supporting deBlasio’s “Tax the Rich” scheme ? Of course there are many more tougher questions that need to be asked about all this, but let's leave them for another day.
This all isn’t that far-fetched. Maybe, you missed this very important story in the runup to the election last week. One of the key leaders of State Senator Golden’s Albany coalition, IDC and NYS Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein already has said he would lead the fight for deBlasio’s tax in the NYS Senate ( See “Lovett: Bill de Blasio's planned pre-K tax on wealthy gets support in Legislature” by Kenneth Lovett, 11/4/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lovett-de-blasio-pre-k-tax-support-legislature-article-1.1505700]). Klein said he intended to push that new tax a part of the next budget.
One can expect that Klein’s fellow IDC Democrat colleague, Diane Savino, will be one of the first dominoes to fall into line on this because of her knee-jerk positive response to what the UFT wants. She’s also the domino next to Senator Golden’s; and he’ll need to please Savino’s UFT friends very much in 2014 for reasons that are very obvious.
Golden has paired up with Savino and Klein on interesting things in the past. And this is something that the new mayor wants and Governor Cuomo has said he’d consider. So far the GOP State Senate leadership has not said absolutely not.
What do you think Marty Golden has to say about all this ? Just as interesting, what do you think his Chief of Staff Jerry Kassar, a so-called "conservative" with "common sense," has to say about it ?
We do live in interesting times. Let’s try to keep on top of this, okay !
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BACKFILL: THE “I WISH THAT I SAID THAT” EDITION
WIDE SUPPORT FOR PRE-K PROGRAM — AND WHAT MARTY GOLDEN HAS ALREADY SAID ABOUT IT “ON THE RECORD”
According to Barron’s NY Politicks blog, “If elected de Blasio will build a movement with parents, educators, elected officials and communities to ensure Albany approves his tax on the wealthy to fund this essential investment," a [deBlasio] spokesman said. *** Mr. de Blasio will have to win over people such as Sen. Dean Skelos, the co-leader of a coalition of Republicans and Democrats who run the Senate....” (See “Albany Cold to City Taxes for Pre-K
School Proposal by de Blasio Faces Legislative Opposition” by Lisa Fleisher & Erica Orden, 10/29/13, Barron’s NY Politicks [http://online.barrons.com/article/SB10001424052702304655104579166162857763386.html?mod=BOL_article_full_more]). That post indicates that NY GOP Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is already on board this very expensive expansion of educational entitlement, as follows: “ ‘We support the concept of universal pre-k, which would help young people learn and grow. With anything, the question is “How do you pay for it?” ’ said Scott Reif, a spokesman for Mr. Skelos.”
Skelos has his own plan for increasing and funding pre-k slots: Instead of raising taxes, use about $300 million in anticipated licensing “profits to the city” from an NYPD-Microsoft Corp. data and surveillance system that is being licensed out to other cities.
Just as a point of reference, NYS already spends over $385 million in state funding for pre-kindergarten programs, but that is for programs for only part of the school day and that are far from “universal.”
Here’s what State Senator Martin Golden had to say about those programs and that level of NYS funding in 2010:
“In the face of the current budget deficit, we need to do the math and make sure we look at all types of investments and determine which ones can give us the biggest return possible. I was surprised to learn that investments in quality early care and education is a very effective way to help jump-start New York’s economy. As the America’s Edge report points out, these investments increase sales in local goods as much or more as investments in other major sectors.” – State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-NY), speaking at an America’s Edge press conference, March 11, 2010 (See “America’s Edge– New York” Sign-on Letter by NY State Senator Martin Golden, 3/11/10 [http://www.americasedge.org/what-we-support/new-york/]).
Where does Golden stand on the massive expansion of existing Pre-K programs that Mayor Elect deBlasio is proposing ?
Marty Golden. The hardest working Senator collecting a government disability check.
Once a Democrat, always a Democrat.
We should recognize the lifetime accomplishments of Senator Golden.
He retired as a narcotics detective and bought a catering hall, all cash.
Now thats a guy who knows how to use a buck.
Marty is a crook - of course he will be the first to sign with the Dems, especially if it will better himself and move him up the chain of command. Little does he know he is going to be voted out of his position this upcoming election.
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