Governor Cuomo frequently asserts that his policies have ignited an economic turnaround in upstate New York, and he's been known to cherry-pick numbers to back himself up. He was at it again during a swing through the Mohawk Valley earlier this week—and, once again, the statistical cherries were in bloom. Read More
This week’s US Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME was not unexpected — and neither was the agitated, high-volume reaction from Gov. Cuomo and the public-sector union bosses who are his strongest political allies. Read More
As of yesterday, New York’s government employers can no longer deduct dues-like “agency fees” from government employees who haven’t joined a union, even if the union involved has a contract requiring them. Read More
It’s tempting to dismiss this as political posturing. Unfortunately, the governor’s rhetoric hints that his assault on the public’s right to know might not end there. Read More
Earlier this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a new disclosure standard requiring that details of proposed government union contracts be shared with the public before ratification. Unfortunately—and not for the first time—the governor has failed to meet the standard himself. Read More
The newly revealed federal probe of Crystal Run Healthcare, a large doctors group in the Hudson Valley, fits a common pattern with Albany scandals: It's not just about bad behavior but also bad policy. Read More
The report — from the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany, N.Y.-based independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank — examined the effectiveness of New York's hospital ownership laws. For-profit hospitals are not common in the state due to 1960s-era laws that generally discourage for-profit ownership and prohibit publicly traded corporations from owning hospitals, according to the report. Read More
The Empire Center broke the news this week that the state Department of Taxation and Finance is working on an unincorporated business tax that might allow partners at law firms and investment banks and similar high-paying places to get around the federal limitation on deducting state and local taxes. Read More