Gov. Cuomo vetoed a bill late Saturday that would have required the state to fund legal services for the poor in each county.
Cuomo’s office in a New Year’s Eve statement released just over an hour before the bill was required to be signed or vetoed said last-minute negotiations with the Legislature to address the governor’s concerns failed to yield a deal.
“Until the last possible moment, we attempted to reach an agreement with the Legislature that would have achieved the stated goal of this legislation, been fiscally responsible, and had additional safeguards to ensure accountability and transparency,” Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said. “Unfortunately, an agreement was unable to be reached and the Legislature was committed to a flawed bill that placed an $800 million burden on taxpayers — $600 million of which was unnecessary — with no way to pay for it and no plan to make one.”
***Jonathan Gradess, executive director of the New York State Defenders Association, called Cuomo’s decision to veto the bill “stunning.”
“We are all shocked that the Governor vetoed a bill that would have reduced racial disparities in the criminal justice system, helped ensure equal access to justice for all New Yorkers, provided improved public defense programs for those who cannot afford an attorney, and much-needed mandate relief for counties, Gradess said. “The governor refused to accept an independent oversight mechanism on state quality standards, and now, sadly tens of thousands of low-income defendants will pay the price.”
I know this upsets tax cut jeebus, but taxpayers are supposed to foot the bill for this, you fucking douchenozzle. Geneticists should study Cuomo, as we appear to be seeing a gene pool decline in real time.
Elizabelle
Who was behind this? The “corrections” industry? It would seem that paying for a lawyer is a lot cheaper than paying for incarceration or what comes once the individual cannot find work or housing, or meet family obligations.
Baud
I never thought he had much of a political future anyway.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Elizabelle: That’s true but irrelevant. This punishes the poor, and that’s worth whatever extra funds are necessary (in their minds).
Cuomo needs to be gone.
dmsilev
Cuomo wants to run for President, right? Has anyone told him that he’d be running as a Democrat?
Stan
Taxpayers already foot the bill for legal defense, but they do so at the county level in New York State.
This is not an uncommon problem in New York. The State frequently lays out some mandate (as they do here) and then the local governments are charged with carrying out the policy AND paying for it.
Here’s why this is so anti-progressive…..local government in New York is funded by relatively nonprogressive taxes such as proterty taxes and sales taxes. State government is funded through more progressive taxes such as income taxes. So, every time New York State makes a locality pay for its mandates, it is creating more strain on those less-progressive revenue streams.
King Andrew could have created a big win for progressive tax policy and progressive legal reform but decided not to. Those of us in New York as so sick of this guy. I’m surprised Cheeto Benito didn’t recruit him for his cabinet.
Lavocat
As an attorney in Upstate NY, this action directly affects me. Many of my colleagues thought this was a “done deal” and we are now shocked that it has been vetoed. As a progressive, I have lauded this legislation. I really hate to have to admit this, but I have a very strong gut feeling that various attorney lobbying groups were operating in the shadows to destroy this bill. After all, who benefits most from having the poor be forced to pay for their own legal defense? Disgusting.
John Cole, thank you for casting a broad net and keeping tabs on our asshole governor. This douche is nothing like his father. More’s the pity.
Lavocat
@Stan: Yes, you make an excellent argument here.
Baud
Not that I like Cuomo, but what did he want that the legislature wouldn’t give him?
Schlemazel
This short clip from Adam Ruins Everything focuses on the causes of the public defender system & is well worth watching. (The lawyer is Adams sister in real life and also a Public Defender)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koTV3EGwWDI
The entire episode on the American legal system is very enlightening & worth the 25 minute investment
kindness
What is it with the NY Democratic Party? They have a majority and certain interests refuse to work together to be a majority. So they end up letting the Senate be run by Republicans and get a series of Democratic governors who lead republican lite administrations. Must be Wall Street money. I can’t think of anything else outside ego and it sure as hell better not be that.
Stan
@kindness: It’s ego. I live here. Most politics in New York is very simply about ego…..who gets the big jobs and status. That’s about it.
I suppose the background to that is that New York doesn’t have the ideological extremes that some other states have. The republicans in New York are not nutcases like you see in, say, Oklahoma. (apologies to all the good folks in Oklahoma). There is no strong evangelical movement We’re pretty diverse.
So, people end up fighting about who gets what, with very little window dressing on it all.
The dems in the State Senate have been split into two factions for a while now. Andrew likes it that way.
Aside from not being a real democrat, Andrew is also not very bright.
CaseyL
@Stan:
He’s bright enough to stay in power, and to keep the Democrats from uniting to oppose him. That’s all the “bright” he needs to be.
Baud
@Stan:
Except for Carl.
BillinGlendaleCA
B-2 bomber just flew over my house, guess the Rose Parade can start now.
ETA: Damn cool plane to see flying.
Stan
@Baud: OK, point taken, but Carol Paladino’s political position is…..school board member. Anyone with a pulse can become a school board member in New York. I should know. I used to do it myself.
My point was, even republicans in New York do things such as : recognize facts, listen to other points of view, believe in science, and as far as I know are not generally members of the Klan. They aren’t trying to kill government itself, they just want their share of the spoils.
Lavocat
@kindness: One Andrew to rule them all and in the darkness bind them. Yes, it’s about ego: Andrew’s. With the Democratic Party in NYS split, that leaves Andrew as kingmaker, especially now that Shelly Silver (former speaker of the Democratic-controlled Assembly) no longer steals his limelight. I was hoping that Preet Bharara had some more interesting indictments and prosecutions in store, but it never happened in 2016. Let’s see what 2017 will bring.
Yarrow
This sentence reminded me of an old review of a film starring three generations of Douglases – Kirk, Michael and Cameron. The relevant bit:
Gin & Tonic
@Lavocat: His father, Mario “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo” was no saint either.
Yarrow
@BillinGlendaleCA: How’s the weather? I caught two seconds of the Today Show and Al Roker said it was drizzling and that it had only rained on the Rose Parade a handful of times.
Stan
@CaseyL: Andrew is the son of a very popular ex-governor. The NY State democratic party is just unbelieveably corrupt. You put those two things together and you get a guy that power brokers were willing to back, and whom no one in the party will oppose too strongly.
It is worth noting that Zephyr Teachout, who ran a very strong primary challenge to Andrew, was never a part of the demo establishment in NY; never held office; and got beaten badly in her congressional race.
Gindy51
@Lavocat: I would think they’d be all for this since the poor cannot often afford lawyers. Think of it as attorney welfare of a sort.
Ruckus
@Lavocat:
Correct me if I’m wrong here but wasn’t this bill meant for the state to pay the fees that the poor can not pay? And if the poor can not pay but the state can doesn’t that mean more money for the lawyers?
laura
You had me at “vile scum.”
I despise him with the heat of ten thousand white hot suns all the way from Cali.
I’m convinced he’s actively promoting republican candidates or dem’s who might as well be.
My Union Brother Sean Francis took a run for Senate against incumbent Kathy Marchionne and lost, but will hopefully try again. If you’re an Albany resident or know any, Sean Francis us the way back from Cuomo and his ilk.
Fuck Andrew with a rusty shovel sideways.
dmsilev
@BillinGlendaleCA: I saw it fly by as I was walking into work. Awfully quiet for such a big plane.
LAC
@Stan: and those jobs can separate you from the very people you are supposed to be representing. But you would think with a father like that, resistance to that mentality would have set in. Pathetic.
Botsplainer
@Lavocat:
Thing is, as a demographic, the working poor aren’t great clients (criminal or otherwise) as far as revenue is concerned. I can’t see lawyer groups lobbying that at all.
dmsilev
@Yarrow: Cloudy, but at least as of five or ten minutes ago, not actually raining.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: It’s overcast but no drizzle, I’m only about 5 miles from the parade. We did have a few periods of drizzle last night. The B-2 was lower and was lining up earlier that it did last year. It was turning from the north here last year, it flew directly from the west right over me this year, I’m thinking due to the 3000′ ceiling. Yes, I took pics, but had problems with the auto-focus.
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
It’s how I knew it was 8 and the parade was starting. Living in the parade assembly zone is fun!
BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: It’s a stealth bomber, silly.
jonas
New York’s criminal justice system makes Louisiana look good in a lot of ways. Moreover, understanding what really goes on in the back rooms between Cuomo and the leaders of the legislature makes 70’s era Kremlinology look like child’s play. It appears that Cuomo’s main complaint was that the bill not only called for the state to cover the costs of criminal defense for indigent clients, but also a lot of civil court costs, e.g. in family court, as well. Maybe. Or maybe he’s just playing hardball with some legislators over some other issue he didn’t get his way on. We’ll never know.
hovercraft
@Stan:
While this may have been true in the past, the contagion has reached the Empire State as well, exhibit A, Carl Paladino. There are other tea party republicans there too. While the NY republicans tend to focus less on the social issues, they are no less extreme in their own way, Peter King is a racist asshole who had no problem with IRA “terrorists” back in the day, but is now the most rabid supporter of muslim profiling and denial of rights that you have out there. Gulliani is also a racist hack who NYC people of color always saw him for the racist piece of shit he is.
@kindness:
Cuomo made sure that the Senate is controlled by the republicans, he doesn’t want to allow the democrats full control, because then they may force him to actually behave like a democrat. With divided government he can claim that liberal initiatives are DOA because they will never garner bipartisan support. Or in cases like this he can veto them and hope that no one notices. He is as our blog master said vile.
Schlemazel
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I had a good view of it on the TV ;)
Schlemazel
@Ruckus:
I would imagine that living in that area would suck for a couple of days at least.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Schlemazel: Yes, but did it fly over your house?
dmsilev
@BillinGlendaleCA: Then how come we could see it?
Schlemazel
@BillinGlendaleCA:
It is a stealth plane, how would I know? I have to assume it did – sneaky bastdids
Dread
If we want a Criminal Justice system, then Public Defenders should receive just as much funding, resources, and cooperation from the state that District Attorney’s offices do.
But politicians aren’t interested in justice. They’re interested in looking tough on crime. Worthless fuckers.
trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA: @dmsilev:
Wait, you can SEE it?
“Stealth,” hrrumph. Trump will paint them invisible, just you wait.
BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Shhh, that’s classified.
BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: It needs that invisible paint(pic from last year).
Another Scott
In non-Democratic-Stupidity news: Roll Call:
Good. Eyes on the prize.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
Is today a holiday? Like banks, schools and post offices closed?
Baud
@Another Scott: Great!
@Yarrow: Yes.
Yarrow
@Baud: Thanks. I’ve got appointments so I wasn’t sure. Maybe it’s one of those half holidays.
Ruckus
@Schlemazel:
Really not even 24 hours. They close the area to all but residents at 5pm the day before. We have permits which allow access but there is no street parking. Someone left a U Haul truck parked there yesterday evening and the cops promptly towed it. Someone new to the area, moving in, is going to come out of their new apt and find all their stuff gone. By about 9-10 am the place is back to normal. OK normalish. I have been hearing continuous helicopters pretty much directly over head since about 7 though. Which is only a little unusual, there is a level one trauma center 4 blocks south and we are in the flight path for it.
ArchTeryx
Ironically enough, it may be Republicans – national Republicans – that finally do him in.
They are going full speed ahead to repeal the ACA and block-grant Medicaid. That will throw several million people in New York State – many of them in NYC – off Medicaid. That’s a substantial bloc of Democratic voters. I’m one of them. By now you all know that that would be signing my death warrant, but I am hardly alone there.
Cuomo apparently tried to get out in front of that train with a press conference to the effect of “We in NYS won’t leave all these millions of
poor peopleregistered voters out in the cold.” Then someone told him that the total withdrawal of ACA funds will blow a $4 billion hole in the state budget.He held another press conference and walked it all back. When asked what he’d actually do with all us poor people on Medicaid, he basically went ¯_(ツ)_/¯, dropped the mic, and walked off.
The legislature hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about their post-ACA plans either. But for those of us still alive by the next election, he just gave us – including a LOT of his NYC base – a reason to primary him. And it might actually work this time, if we get someone not named Zephyr Teachout as his primary oppo.
Felonius Monk
@laura:
This woman is evil incarnate.
Ruckus
@Dread:
Really, they are interested in being tough on the poor. They don’t have any idea why people don’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become wealthy by honest grifting. They also figure that if they just fuck the poor as much as possible, in all manners possible, the whole concept of poor will go away. Except for all them “darkies,” they just want them to die, after of course working for free and allowing themselves to be abused in various manners.
Van Buren
@Stan: Don’t single out the Democrats in NY for being corrupt; the Republicans are pretty vile also. When I moved to the Empire State from Dixie in 1990, I found an atmosphere of cronyism and nepotism that was far beyond what a southern power structure would dare to attempt. And it has not improved one bit in the intervening years.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Today seems to be a federal holiday, although kids went back to school.
FYI: 2017 postal holidays:
Monday, January 2 New Year’s Day (observed)
Monday, January 16 Martin Luther King Jr. birthday
Monday, February 20 Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 29 Memorial Day
Tuesday, July 4 Independence Day
Monday, September 4 Labor Day
Monday, October 9 Columbus Day
Friday, November 10 Veterans Day (observed)
Thursday, November 23 Thanksgiving Day
Monday, December 25 Christmas Day
Lavocat
@Gin & Tonic: Maybe, but he was brilliant and (usually) a decent human being. Not so, Andrew. I remember when Mario took a deeply principled stand against the death penalty and he took all sorts of abuse for it – but never backed down. Mario had steel in his soul; Andrew has wet cardboard.
trollhattan
@ArchTeryx:
Suspect they’ll strangle ACA by borking the funding from various angles, not kill the law itself. A bit like killing a tree by girdling instead of a chainsaw.
“See? It was unsustainable just like we told you.”
Lavocat
@Gindy51: More money for “certain” lawyers, meaning salaried public defenders and NOT private attorneys with their own retainers. Most solo or small practice private criminal defense attorneys I know are not fans of this legislation – for obvious reasons.
ArchTeryx
@Ruckus: It’s more complicated then that in NYS. We were one of the first states to put up a state-run health care exchange and we have the largest Medicaid / public option (i.e. “Essential Plan”) state health insurance programs in the country.
Plus a lot of those “darkies” live in NYC, which is Cuomo’s voting base, and the primary reason he didn’t get primaried out by Zephyr Teachout. Upstate and West NY all voted Teachout. NYC voted Cuomo. Like with everything else, NYC easily outvoted the rest of the state.
Cuomo loses his NYC base, he’s dead meat politically. He just doesn’t figure poor people with an arrest warrant is enough of a voting base to give a shit about.
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: I think it’s one of those weird half holiday. Post offices and banks are closed. Schools might or might not be closed. Some offices are closed, some are not. I’ve got appointments so I know some places are open.
Lavocat
@Ruckus: It means more money for the counties to hire salaried Public Defenders. So, for young attorneys right out of school, this is a good thing. For solo and small practice criminal defense firms this could prove to be the kiss of death.
Schlemazel
@Ruckus:
Sounds like they do a good job then. I imagined a nightmare between getting all that set up plus all the tourists. Have you been to the parade itself? We talk about it but are not sure the event is worth the hassle of getting in and out
Yarrow
@Lavocat:
Yep. The Cuomo on TV could be even worse. He’s got a perpetual deer in the headlights look on his face. He looks like the vaguest push back from any politician would have him rolling over and showing his belly.
Lavocat
@Botsplainer: Again, I hope I’m wrong because this was a marvelous bill that was many years in the making. But there has to be some group that directly benefits from this legislation not going into effect. And I cannot think of who it could be other than those who might in some way benefit from it being vetoed. Just because one is “poor” does not mean one does not have money to keep one’s self out of jail. Fear of jail is most effective in parting people from their money.
daveNYC
@Van Buren: It takes a certain special type of corruption to work to ensure that your party does not control the legislature.
Say what you will about Republican corruption, at least those bastards want power.
Ruckus
@Lavocat:
Would they have to work x hours as a public defender at a lessor rate than what they could/can suck out of the public at large and that’s why they’d oppose it?
I believe that some states do this, I could be wrong, never had to inquire about a criminal attorney’s or public defender’s services.
Botsplainer
@Lavocat:
Here in the People’s Democratic Soc!alist Kenyan Shariah Republic of Louisville, our criminal defense bar is happy with a robust PD office. Eliminates the awkward drama of “you can ask anybody, I’m good for the money”, “can I pay you $50 a month” and my personal favorite, “I get paid next Friday and will have $200 to put toward it”.
Lavocat
@Felonius Monk: And an idiot of the highest order. Like Trump, she needs lessons in remedial public speaking. Hearing her speak is most painful.
opiejeanne
@Schlemazel: I’ve been several times and it was great, but it didn’t rain on those days and it was really cold until around 10am, cold by SoCal standards. There are places to park for a fee. There is stadium-type seating for which you can buy tickets.
We used to find a place to park legally the night before, and sleep in the car, then walk until we found a spot to sit or stand. We were a lot younger when we did that.
Ruckus
@ArchTeryx:
Isn’t that about what I said? Notice, I didn’t say that Andrew wasn’t stupid and evil.
James Powell
@Stan:
Excuse me, but Carl Paladino is on line 1 for you.
And with respect to Zephyr Teachout, define “strong”
laura
@Felonius Monk: and that’s why she’s tight with the Governor.
Lavocat
@Ruckus: Criminal defense work can be most lucrative. I know this from experience. In some cases, one can earn thousands of dollars just for a few well-placed phone calls and letters. It also tends to be a mostly cash business (as the poor generally do not have bank accounts). This bill would have the effect of shining a light where many would like the darkness to prevail. All I’m saying is this: connect the dots. But, again, this is an excellent piece of legislation and MUST be revisited as soon as possible.
Ruckus
@Lavocat:
I see how someone could make that argument, that it’s the kiss of death for them, but unless I’m totally misunderstanding, don’t you have to be too poor to be able to pay for a lawyer to use the public defenders services? Wouldn’t that make their client base about the same as it is now? Or do a lot of them work for people now and then sue/attach all their funds/property for the money?
Lavocat
@Botsplainer: I largely agree. This was and remains an excellent bill. So, WTF did Andy veto it? It doesn’t make any sense to me that a man who claims to be a Democrat in a very liberal state would veto this bill. It just doesn’t pass the smell test. And if you are familiar with NYS politics, you just KNOW that someone is benefitting from this veto. Of that I am most certain. The question, as always, is who? The why is obvious. But who?
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
He reminds me of Wiener, only with less personality.
Elie
Tsk, tsk, tsk. You all are just not recognizing the new model of leader we will have in the time of Trump. Corruption and cynicism in the service of self promotion and promotion of wealth and power are the new direction. You are just not “getting” it. What to do? I have no idea at this point in time, given we couldn’t stop an even more flagrant freight train in Trump. All the mole rats in our system all now have permission to take off their masks and be who they are. Be prepared for some frightening revelations. Getting this beat back will be the work of the remainder of this century IMO. They have gotten the jump on us and our will is not yet focused and strong enough to have our plan/s clear. Right now, we are being taken aback at what we see in all its various forms of horror. Its all just the same thing, though and our fight has not even been joined yet.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: I don’t even know what channel he’s on. I just occasionally stumble across him or see clips. I don’t get the impression he’s sexting minor pictures of his junk. Just that he wants to be “in the club” or respected and he isn’t and he’ll do anything he thinks will get him there.
Lavocat
@Ruckus: Most Public Defenders that I know are drowning in work. Several friends of mine have quit simply because they are so overwhelmed that they call it “conveyor belt justice”. Some – though they would never admit it – meet with their clients for a minute or two before a plea is entered. Some just figure “well, they must be guilty of something or they wouldn’t be here”. This bill would go a long way towards funding and streamlining the entire process, which has long been overdue. The system is broken. This would have been a much-needed bandage, at the very least. I’m soooooooooooooo glad I took a pass on being a Public Defender; it can be soul-crushing work.
BBA
Cuomo’s MO is to score symbolic wins for progressive policy to give himself cover to sell progressives out on more substantive, boring issues. Yes, he got SSM through the legislature (in exchange for giving the Republicans perpetual control over the State Senate) and a $15 minimum wage (taking effect in a few years, so it’s substantially less in current dollars) and opened the Second Avenue Subway (well, the first three stops of it, with no progress on funding the rest of the line and large portions of the MTA’s operating funds being diverted to cronies upstate)… if you’re not paying attention, he looks like the Democrats’ Great White Hope.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Lavocat:
If it had a provision in it that included some level of compensation for family law services, I can see objections from the family law bar. From my point of view, it wouldn’t be about “wanting to get more money from the working poor to take on shit cases”, but instead about having to subject paying litigants with limited funds to endless litigation over emotional issues with somebody with a free crusading lawyer and an essentially unlimited budget.
For family law to work appropriately, each party has to have some skin in the game in terms of the process.
Ruckus
@Schlemazel:
I grew up about 5 miles from here and the entire famn damily used to go to the parade. I imagine that if you’ve never been it could be fun. But I’ve grown into being an old fart and it is the same parade every year. So for me it got old long ago.
And this area, Old Town Pasadena, is an urban attraction, which was 20-30 yrs ago falling apart. It is a very much restored area, the building I live in is only 13 yrs old and there are restaurants, shops, it has a real old town feel. As a lot of CA is not nearly as old/settled as the east is, old in an attraction.
Elie
@Lavocat:
Thank you for your sharing your experience and observations. It is heartbreaking. I have no idea what is ahead, but your witness and that of many others with integrity will be essential. We cannot back off calling out what is right. We are going to see a lot of suffering if the GOP and Trump do what they say…
Ruckus
@Lavocat:
I had to do jury duty in Dec 2014 in Pasadena and sitting out in the hall watching the lawyers meet with their clients before going into court was just that, 1-2 minutes of discussion and then walking in.
Felonius Monk
@laura:
Care to explain? I’ve never heard her express anything but contempt for Andy. She’s always going into a rabid froth about the NYSAFE act. She also gets pretty frothy about gay marriage. So I am not aware of any love lost between the two of them.
She was our County Clerk for years and only got into the State Senate because she was able to primary Roy MacDonald over his vote in favor of gay marriage.
Elizabelle
Sporadically watching the Rose Bowl parade.
Wow, is the China Airlines float beautiful. Won best float from outside the US.
And loved the surfing dogs. Lucy Pets?
Cacti
Congrats to everyone for not suggesting Zephyr Teachout as a viable alternative.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Ruckus:
A million years ago when I was a PD, that was somewhat typical for noncustodial defendants on garden variety misdemeanors and low level felonies. They weren’t great about coming in for office meetings (duh, criminals), and could barely be bothered to show up to every pretrial proceeding, plea or sentencing date. Plus, the evidence of guilt was usually overwhelming, they admitted to their crimes before we ever got them AND they were eager to get their pleas made and into whatever probation or treatment regime was available.
“In custody” folks took a little more care and meetings in jail, as they usually had records, potential enhancements and more serious offenses to deal with.
Elizabelle
Yes. It is the Lucy Pet Foundation.
Lucy bears more than a passing resemblance to Lily, with her son Stanley/Thurston.
A spay/neuter and pet adoption foundation. With surfing dogs. What is not to like?
Moar Lucy and Lily. Less Trump.
ThresherK
@trollhattan: I think we call that “Amtrakking”.
Stan
@James Powell: Again, Carl Paladino holds no office unless you count local school board member. Call me when he’s in the legislature or becomes governor.
Zephyr Teachout was a complete unknown with no money running against an incumbent. She is widely regarded as having given Andrew a real black eye with her much-stronger-than-expected challenge. And she’s no politician.
SFAW
@Stan:
Not much longer, perhaps.
Hob
@Lavocat: “It doesn’t make any sense to me that a man who claims to be a Democrat in a very liberal state would veto this bill …. you just KNOW that someone is benefitting from this veto.”
“A very liberal state” compared to some, but I’m not sure how you can spend more than a brief time observing NY politics and still think that the state in general, and its Democratic officials, are so consistently progressive that every single anti-liberal action has to be due to some specific vector of corruption. Sometimes politicians, regardless of their party label, just don’t value the things you would like them to value… or, they don’t think voters value those things enough to make standing up for them worthwhile.
It’s totally plausible to me that Cuomo’s thought process was something like:
1. Helping poor defendants is on the face of it a good liberal thing to do.
2. I already got credit for making some progress in this area by agreeing to the 2014 settlement that reformed the system in five counties.
3. At that time, I took a strong position that those five counties were where the problem was, and that it didn’t make sense to prematurely extend the reforms statewide. So this bill is saying that I was wrong. That’s annoying.
4. Spending money is always a little politically risky. If budget problems become a hot potato in the next few years, it’ll be easy to attack me for signing this bill, even if the legislature was solidly behind it. Conversely, I could be the guy who stood up to his party’s excessive tax-and-spend ways [ed.: yes I know this is fucking ridiculous, but it’s an awfully popular approach for Democrats with national ambitions to sell themselves as “serious”].
5. Yeah it’s a good liberal cause, but voters in general don’t *really* give a shit about the poor, especially if they think they might be criminals.
In other words, I think an exclusive focus on “cui bono?” underestimates the importance of plain old cowardice and stupidity.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
I’m just watching it now — I love our DVR!
amorphous
Yet he continues to shovel money into a disaster of a vanity project that is NYS’S “nanotechnology” “industry” and all the jobs it “creates” upstate.
burnspbesq
@Lavocat:
Preet’s resignation, most likely. Hard to imagine Trump and his cronies wanting anything to do with an effective U.S. Attorney in SDNY.
James Powell
@burnspbesq:
My guess is the new administration will want the US Attorney for the SDNY to focus on investigating the Clinton Foundation and whatever else the boys at the FBI think is important.
burnspbesq
@Cacti:
Teachout is a well-meaning amateur. She has about as much chance of mounting an effective campaign as Cole or I have of successfully guarding Lyle Thompson.
LAO
@burnspbesq: Preet already met with Trump and agreed to stay on as SDNY US Attorney. I was surprised.
rikyrah
You are on point Cole.
LAO
As a New Yorker and a criminal defense attorney, this infuriates me. Shame on Cuomo.
Sawgrass Stan
Tax Cut Jeebus is a proper name, and should be capitalized.
Lavocat
@Elie: I’d like to think that I am a progressive attorney. This is an excellent bill. I hope that it passes someday. I could be short-sighted and say, “yeah, I’ll benefit from the veto”, and I probably will, in all honesty. But, the long-game demands that the system have integrity. The system works not merely because it is efficient and just, but because people BELIEVE that it is efficient and just. It is a matter of both building trust and managing perceptions. This requires society to make a determination that the poor are worthy of being granted substantial assistance by the state in their criminal defense – and then actively pursuing those ends. As I tell my clients: You get law in this world. If you want justice, you have to wait for the next one. And, yeah, Andy Cuomo is a douchebag. [Said Captain Obvious].
Lavocat
@burnspbesq: Last I heard, Bharara had a private meeting w/ Trump wherein Trump asked him to stay on. So, things could get interesting.
a public defender in NYS
@Ruckus:
I am a public defender in NYS. I believe part of this bill included expanding the income limits at which people were eligible for a public defender or other assigned counsel. I know that there were private attorneys who opposed the bill because they believed it would undermine their business. I doubt that their opposition had any effect on the outcome, though. This was about a governor with national ambitions not wanting to look like a tax-and-spend liberal who coddles criminals. This was a bill approved by a majority of legislators, supported by probably every county legislator and executive who wants to avoid further expensive and embarassing litigation. This was a classic play of wanting to prove you’re a tough guy who can handle a gun and then shooting yourself in the foot.
fuckwit
Hmm. I’m having some cognitive dissonance.
Bernie proposes all kinds of needed reforms, but the BJ commentariat beat the hippie-punching shit out of him because he didn’t explain how it would be paid for.
NYS leg proposes all kinds of needed reforms, Cuomo vetoes it because they didn’t explain how it would be paid for, and BJ commentariat jumps in to beat up on… Cuomo?
Consistency? Bueller?
Lavocat
@Hob: This is certainly plausible. There is some opposition to this bill Upstate, amongst the Republican counties. They see it as not only “another” hand-out to the poor, but yet more weight placed on the backs of hard-working taxpayers. As Stan noted, above, this could be an unfunded mandate that could be opposed by Upstate County Executives, although I have no idea. I have not read the bill. I only know of it and what it is supposed to accomplish. However, the devil is most likely in the details.
Hob
@fuckwit: Oh please. People here, and everywhere else on the Internet, had lots of different reasons for disagreeing with Sanders’s campaign. “Didn’t explain how such-and-such would be paid for” was one of those reasons, and there were plenty of non-Sanders-fans who didn’t focus on that. And even if they had, “hippie-punching” would be a bizarre way to summarize such a complaint.
If you were paying the slightest attention during the primary campaign, I’m sure you also noticed plenty of people pointing out that many of Sanders’s proposals were also things that didn’t have the slightest chance of getting through the legislature. That is obviously not the case with this NY bill.
Hob
@fuckwit: Btw, I’m trying to respond seriously to you because I remember enough past comments that I don’t think you’re just trolling. But right now you sure are writing like someone who just wants to trigger a bunch of fuck-yous… I mean, acting like “the BJ commentariat” speaks with a single voice is pretty much the center square in troll bingo, and so is the stupid “Bueller?” thing.
fuckwit
@Hob: have a flu and am in a shit mood
Hob
@fuckwit: Bleah, that sucks. Hope you feel better soon.
Stan
@Lavocat: This is probably New York-only trivia, but, no, county governments of any stripe would definitely favor the bill King Andrew vetoed. It would relieve counties of a cost they currently bear.
New York government is absurdly complex. The State tells localities what they must do and routinely fails to give them the money to do it. There are 10,000 local governments in NY state, give or take a few. A typical New Yorker like me is subject to taxation from the State, the county, the city or town, the school district and the library.
As I mentioned above, since State-level taxation is more progressive than local-level taxation, every time the State shifts a cost to a local government level, we become less progressively taxed. This bill would have shifted things in a more progressive direction.
Please, please, someone run against King Andrew.