Mayor Bloomberg speaks at Kips Bay Showhouse President’s Dinner. April 21, 2011 (Photo Credit: Kristen Artz)

Taxes: Don't raise them on the rich; "deficits matter" says Bloomberg. [FoxNews.com]

Taxes: S&P's downgrading is a "warning" to America, says Bloomberg. [Glenn Thrush]

Taxes: There's a bipartisan failure to lead on deficit reduction. [Doug Schoen]

Bloomberg's Advice: Obama should schmooze GOP; Republicans should drop birthed talk. [Glenn Thrush]

Bloomberg's Advice: Obama "has to to go build friendships." [Taegan Goddard]

Bloomberg Property: NYC may unload underutilized office space; locations not specified.  [David Seifman]

Cuomo's Agenda: Editors want property tax cap; unhappy with closed-door negotiation on ethics. [Buffalo News]

Cuomo's Home: "Mr. Cuomo declined to be interviewed about what he identifies as his hometown." [Thomas Kaplan]

2012: "There is no one that excites me" says GOP Gov Nikki Haley of South Carolina. [Neil King and Jonathan Weisman]

Trump: McCain says the developer is having "the time of his life" with 2012. [Glenn Thrush]

Trump: He's a "New York icon" says Bloomberg. [NBC]

Trump: Oddo laughs at his candidacy; "statesman and polish" needed say Lanza. [Tom Wrobleski]

Trump:  His "companies have sought protection from creditors to avoid financial collapse at least three times." [Robert Gearty and Greg Smith]

Trump: Didn't vote in primaries for 21 years. [Michael Herzenberg]

Trump: Threatens reporter,"You're going to pay a big price because you're wrong." [Cynthia Fagen]

Gun Control: Good signs from incoming DNC chairwoman. [New York Times]

Changing Chancellors: "Walcott struggled to name any achievements for which he had been the driving force." [David Halbfinger]

Park 51: Development moving ahead. [Sharif el-Gamal]

Same-Sex Marriage: Support on the rise, in NY. [Mike Gormley]

Lobbyist:  Suri Kasirer hired by attorney connected to CityTime company. [David Seifman]

School Probe: 32BJ official wants full probe after 2 janitors with no-show jobs got good reviews from supervisor. [Rachel Monahan]

Teacher Layoffs: A teacher argues against them on HuffPo. [Arthur Goldstein]

Teacher Evaluations: State program "threatens to become the terrible teacher's protection guarantee." [Daily News]

Ticket Fixing: Cops found ways around computerized system, which Bloomberg said would cut down the problem. [Reuven Blau and Brad Hamilton]

Ticket Fixing: "[A]n accepted practice so long that no cop should have his career urinated over it." [Michael Daly]

Congestion Pricing: Nobody's s advocating for it today. [Jeremy Smerd and Shane Kavanaugh]

Hydrofracking: Green Party wants Cuomo to ban it. [Brian Nearing]

Medicaid Cuts: May drive dentists out of NY. [Cathleen Crowley]

Bike Lanes: Hardcore cyclists not in love with them. [Andrew Grossman]

Parking Placards: Hogging parking by ferry terminal."the Advance found that nearly all the parking spots on Stuyvesant were taken by cars with NYPD placards on their dashboards...Others vehicles had Patrolmen's Benevolent Association cards displayed, as if those were as good as a placard." [Tom Wrobleski] 

GOP Optimism: Reasons for hope, in Islip? [Rick Brand]

Cigarette Lawsuits: Bloomberg predicts kid will sue parents. [David Seifman]

Archives: NY Public Library won't return files donated by unhappy investigate journalist. [Michael Barbaro]

"Don't believe everything you hear," Senate G.O.P. spokesman John McCardle told me.

Below are the roll calls from the State Assembly, where a measure to offer amnesty to delinquent taxpayers passed with only two dissenters—Republicans Jim Hayes and Will Barclay. The two other bills comprising the deficit reduction plan passed 106-32, largely, though not completely, along party lines. It happened around dawn; few people were there to watch.

But in the Senate it wasn't close. The tax amnesty passed 62-0, and only three senators voted against the other components of the plan: Ruben Diaz Sr., a Bronx Democrat, and Republicans Andrew Lanza and Frank Padavan.

"We were told time and time again that there would be no cuts to OMRDD [Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities], that would impact negatively on providers of group homes and community-based facilities throughout the system," Padavan told me this morning. "Throughout the day that was changed, and I felt that was wrong."

Padavan said that the current budget, originally passed in April with no Republican votes in the Senate, set up the mid-year imbalance. Other Republicans—and Democrats—supported the plan because it did not contain painful mid-year cuts to schools.

Even David Paterson has belittled the deficit agreement (which he says he'll sign) for not going far enough. Padavan echoed that sentiment. And Tom DiNapoli, the comptroller who joined Paterson in sounding the fiscal alarm, said, "Albany shouldn't pat itself on the back."

"The Legislature has taken a positive step toward narrowing this year's budget gap. But Albany shouldn't pat itself on the back," DiNapoli said. "The deficit reduction plan approved today hasn't solved the State's long-standing structural imbalance between revenue and spending. Spin ups and one-shot revenues are like aspirin; they may ease a little of the pain this year, but the patient still needs surgery."

"We need to closely monitor revenues and spending to see if the DRP will get us through the end of the fiscal year," DiNapoli continued. "The State continues to face a significant gap heading into next year's budget. Taxpayers deserve honest numbers and realistic budgets. Moving forward, we have to make sure they get just that."

Assembly Rolls

"Due to the allegations against former majority leader Joe Bruno, the feds confiscated a number of Senate computers, which left the senate short in the number of available computers it had for staff and office use," said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Democratic majority in the chamber. "The Secretary's office had to do a re-evaluation of the computers based on full-time office staff and part-time office staff, and the amount of use each computer was getting."

Shafran said this occurred "across the board" to both Democrats and Republicans, and has been going on for months. I heard about it yesterday when I noticed State Senator Andrew Lanza, a Staten Island Republican, in a pointed discussion with Angelo Aponte, the Democrat-appointed secretary.

"This is the 21^st Century, it's a constituent services office, this is how you communicate with constituents," I heard Lanza gripe. "You had two staffers drive 173 miles to take a computer?"

Eventually, Senators Diane Savino and Jeff Klein came over and diffused the discussion. Lanza was visibly peaved.

Shafran said Lanza's staffers had volunteered the computer for re-application. Lanza didn't return a call seeking comment.

Shafran said federal authorities are slowly returning the computers. "This is a case of the right hand not knowing what he far right hand is up to," he said.

UPDATE: Lanza called me to say that "Shafran is a liar."

"We didn't volunteer anything, and I think it points to the lack of leadership there," Lanza fumed. "They can't get a bill on the floor, and what they have decided to do is send their staff people 140 miles at a cost to the state to take a computer out of an office that's probably worth $50."

"At the end of the day, I'll be buying computers with my campaign money to fill in the gap. But I think it demonstrates the complete lack of priorities, and the viciousness and the partisanship that is more than usually out of place," he said.

UPDATE 2: Shafran called back: "So he's going to be buying a computer with his campaign account. I think that's odd, because the computers are coming back, but that's his business. Does it mean that they can be used for a non-government purpose, though? Is he looking for a Joe Bruno-esque loop hole?"

UPDATE 3: Lanza called me to complain about Shafran's charge, and the two then spoke. Shafran called to "clarify" his statement; he did not mean to imply that Lanza was doing or planning to do anything improper.

State Senator Eric Schneiderman told me by phone that the meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m., will be organizational and will provide an opportunity to introduce Daniel Alonso, the attorney who will serve as the committee's counsel, to members. Schneiderman also said that Republican on the committee have designated Andrew Lanza, a former prosecutor from Staten Island, as their ranking member.

The panel was formed after Hiram Monserrate was convicted of misdemeanor assault in connection with manhandling his girlfriend. Under the legislative law, it can issue a report that could lead the State Senate to vote for Monserrate's ouster. Several senators--and other outside officials--have called for Monserrate's resignation or removal.

"It's just an organizing meeting," Schneiderman said. "We'll go over the scope of the inquiry and other organizational items."

"Given what has happened, Senator Monserrate is no longer able to effectively serve his constituents, or the people of this state, in the Senate," Espaillat said in a statement. Monserrate was convicted of misdemeanor assault last week. By phone, Espaillat told me that "his leadership is unsustainable."

Then I asked if he thought Monserrate could get a fair hearing from the bi-partisan panel chaired by Eric Schneiderman and tasked with judging him. (Espaillat is Dominican and represents Inwood and Washington Heights.) There are no Hispanic senators on the panel; two Senate sources said that a seat on the panel was discussed both Senators Jose Serrano and Martin Malave Dilan, but they decided not to accept. Along with Schneiderman, Senators Toby Ann Stavisky, Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Diane Savino, John Flanagan, Jim Alesi, Cathy Young and Andrew Lanza. The lack of Hispanics has been lamented by State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr.

"There should be somebody Hispanic in the commission. I think that's perhaps a point of weakness for the commission," Espaillat said, while noting that they have hired a Hispanic counsel. "I think that Senator Schneiderman will do everything possible to ensure that he has a fair and open process. I think that the senator is someone who has a background of being always fair and equitable and open-minded."

"I agree with him to the degree that there's a double standard, but that other cases have occurred where perhaps the senate should have taken an equally strong stand and they didn't," Espaillat added. "But that doesn't mean that I think what was done in the past was right, but that it was wrong."

The first nominee was Richard Dollinger, a former Democratic senator and formerly failed judicial candidate from the Rochester area, who watched from a gallery with his wife as his former Democratic colleagues heaped praise upon his nomination to be a Court of Claims judge. ("This sounds like a lovefest, and it should be," Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, a Westchester Democrat, said.)

Republicans were not on the chamber floor until just after the vote; five of them, however, were counted present earlier in the day to establish a necessary 34-vote quorum, clerks said.

Most of the Republicans entered just after Dollinger's vote was taken, and some were visibly upset. They groused that bells to notify them of session did not ring, and that they were unaware floor action had taken place. (I found out about the session after a text message from a Democratic source.)

Senator Andrew Lanza, a Staten Island Republican, was most upset. As other nominees were being confirmed, he rose to register an objection for the record, as well as the fact that he would have voted against Dollinger. After the session, he spoke to reporters, talking about how judgeships must be meted out based on merit.

"Here's one that I really think stinks," he said. "Judgeships should not be doled out on the basis of political favors."

Lanza noted that Dollinger ran against colleague Joe Robach (who was not in the chamber) in the last election cycle, and said this nomination was his reward. The fact that Democrats acted without Republicans was a "fraud" and "out of order."

In response, Senator Neil Breslin, an Albany Democrat, told me that "Rick Dollinger is one of the most qualified lawyers I have ever met, and in my opinion Senator Lanza can't hold a candle to him."

The chamber stood at ease just under an hour later. Both sides then retreated into closed-door sessions to discuss a draft agreement on rules reforms for the chamber. Sources say it requires proportional committee representation, allows a petition of 60 percent of the number of senators to advance a bill to the floor calendar and imposes term limits on the majority leader and committee chairs. It has not yet been approved by the conferences.

"We said we are dealing with non-controversial bills," said Senator John Sampson, a Democratic leader and an opponent of mayoral control. "In our conference, mayoral control is a controversial issue and we would like some input."

Sampson has expressed dissatisfaction with legislation that passed the Assembly, which would have extended mayoral control with some modifications, and offered his own bill, which would provide fixed terms for members of the panel for educational policy.

Sampson appeared with most of the other Democratic senators for a press conference where they declared the end of negotiations to resolve a power struggle in the chamber. They put forward an agreement that would rotate the presiding officer in the chamber, and a list of bills that they consider non-controversial. They include sales tax extenders and the extension of the Power for Jobs program. Mayoral school control legislation is not on the list.

Republicans wasted no time blasting the Democrats' position.

"It makes absolutely no sense. It's obstructing, it's irresponsible," Senator Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican who is the sponsor of the bill, said.

"Maybe he's using these 1.1 million kids as a pawn in his grab for power," Senator Andrew Lanza, a Staten Island Republican, said of Sampson.

UPDATE: Michael Bloomberg's spokesman put out a statement saying both mayoral school control and authorization to raise the city's sales tax "deserve to be brought to the floor for a vote."

Later, Austin Shafran said the sales tax measure was one of the Democrats' priorities.

Smith, when pressed by reporters at a later news conference, said that the active list is not "finalized."