Commentary & Opinion

The swirling controversies and prognostications about the future of embattled Governor Cuomo have dominated New York headlines.  One of the big questions has been, “How will the governor and state lawmakers work together to hammer out a new state budget due by the end of this month?”

It looks like the honeymoon is over for President Biden, as he is drawing heat for not punishing Saudi Arabia for the actions of the crown Prince, relative to the Khashoggi murder, and his appointment for OMB Director has been withdrawn

I wonder how many readers have heard of N. Gregory Mankiw.   He had a very distinguished career as a macro-economist in the 1980s and then in the 1990s was given a $1.4 million advance to write a textbook in Principles of Economics.  This was almost three times the previous high advance and it made him a celebrity.  That, plus his commitment to “Republican” principles of economics --- the negative effects of high marginal tax rates, the blame of persistent unemployment on the inability of prices to adjust completely – led to his being appointed head of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers in 2003.   He is now back teaching at Harvard and writes a regular column for the NY Times Sunday Business section.

Everyone talks about needing a national conversation. We’ve been hearing that for a long time. But without real proposals it’s either just talk or it’s an attack on the other guys for not listening. Mostly it’s aimed to tell decent folk to listen to extremists who of course already know everything. I love the Republican twist – blaming Democrats for Republican intransigence. Talk or attack, it’s not constructive without mechanisms to make it come about.  How?

February was not a kind month to the governor.  Earlier, the state Attorney General issued a report that documented that the Administration had significantly undercounted COVID deaths in nursing homes.  That revelation and the Administration’s admission that they had withheld data from the Legislature and the public roiled the Capitol and became Albany’s focus. 

It was recently reported in the Press Republican that the Democratic and Republican County Committees have agreed to hold a joint event for the signing of petitions in Clinton County.  This is an excellent example of a mature common-sense activity that is in the public interest by political parties.  If this could be extended to voter registration and other voting related activities it would certainly be extremely beneficial.  Kudos go to the two County Committees and their Chairs Clark Currier (R) and Jerry Marking (D) for their actions, and we can only hope that other counties take-up this unique approach which can only benefit Parties’ local citizens’ and democracy, in general.

It’s time to speak plainly about some of the most dangerous trends of our current political climate.

Before we leave Black history month, I want to address what we used to call brotherhood – I’ve looked for a gender-neutral term but I haven’t found one with the same resonance so I hope you’ll understand my use of the older term.

As an avid winter hiker, one of my favorite endeavors is walking across local bodies of frozen water.  From the tiny frog ponds of Delmar’s Pine Hollow Arboretum to the majestic spaces of Saratoga Lake, if there is a frozen body of water that I can safely traverse, I will cross it.  My wife and I recently escaped from the COVID-imposed boredom of our Albany home to Saratoga for what we called a “venue-cation.” We were working, but in someone else’s house, with four walls different from our own and a massive natural ice rink in our backyard beckoning to me to hike across it.

The Cuomo Administration has been taking a beating in the media over its months-long refusal to disclose public information to reporters and watchdog groups about COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and other similar non-hospital settings.  The Legislature, a co-equal branch of government, had also been stonewalled by the Cuomo Administration.  Republicans have called for the governor to be impeached and for a special session to be called to address the Administration’s failures.  Democrats have threatened to subpoena Administration officials and to hold public hearings on the issue.

In some local AG news, the Willsboro Research Farm (Willsboro New York) is currently doing research on super fruits which is being funded by the farmer driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.  This spring they will focus on elderberries with American and European varieties being planted, alongside already established juneberry, erronea and honeyberry, which are also undergoing trials at the Willsboro farm.  Ninety-five percent of elderberries consumed in the United States are imported from Europe so there is an opportunity for American growers to build a substantial domestic market.  The four fruits mentioned above are known as super fruits for their high phytonutrient and antioxidant content.  The results of the trial so far indicate that these four berries have adapted well to the northern New York climate.  Hopefully, this gives an opportunity to our farmers to develop yet another crop which will help create economic stability. 

The House of Representatives is getting ready to pass the American Rescue Plan. This is the $1.9 trillion dollar proposal from the Biden Administration to provide relief payments to individuals, expanded unemployment benefits, an expansion of the child tax credit, aid to state and local governments, an increase in the minimum wage and other expenditures.

Nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, America is inching toward the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

This should be a time to celebrate the romance of Valentine’s Day. My wife and I have now celebrated 54 as husband and wife, and we had a lovely dinner brought to our door. But I’m still overwhelmed by what happened Saturday.

Commentator Bill Owens shares his analysis of news and current events.

Last week, more than three months after the November 2020 election, a winner was finally chosen in the nation’s only undecided Congressional race.  In Central New York’s Congressional District 22, Claudia Tenney was declared the winner with a razor thin margin of victory over incumbent Representative Anthony Brindisi.  In addition to a new Representative, the race brought disturbing news to New Yorkers: The close scrutiny of the ballots identified serious flaws in the way the state runs its elections.

On February 4th, Molly Ball writing for Time Magazine wrote an article titled “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election.”

The “small” states at the Constitutional Convention insisted on equal representation in the Senate, which became two votes per state. As a result, a relatively small part of the American population can block what the rest of us want to do. For most of our history that meant that states which tried to break the US up by seceding and going to war on our country have been able to resist the equal rights and opportunity that the rest of us tried to secure for all Americans.

With over a decade in office, through his control of the budget process and state agencies, Governor Cuomo owns New York’s higher education policy.  As lawmakers considered his eleventh annual budget last week, there was a focus on the increasingly precarious financial situation for some of New York’s colleges and universities.

On January 26 Inequality.org released a report entitled “10 months into the crisis:  660 Billionaires see wealth rise 40%”.   The information contained in that report is quite dramatic.

The spread of false claims, conspiracy theories, and organization for events at which people have shown up armed at state houses and the U.S. Capital, has led to a lot of commentary about section 230 of the 1996 copyright revisions. That section reads:

While this legislative session will look different than previous years, the goal of my organization will be exactly the same. We will continue to highlight the need to fully fund public schools and colleges. This year, in particular, the need is overwhelming. The coronavirus has stretched many education budgets to the breaking point.

The big news in Albany last week was the dramatic report released by the New York State Attorney General’s office.  The report examined the Cuomo Administration’s estimates on the number of nursing home patients who died due to COVID-19.