Emboldened by Mayor Bloomberg’s testimony in Albany this week that the city’s taxpayers pay the state $11 billion a year more than they get back, a City Council member is offering legislation that would begin the process of having New York City secede from New York State.
Peter Vallone Jr., a Democrat who represents Queens, is pushing the idea, and the Council plans to hold a hearing on the possibility of making New York City the 51st state.
“I think secession’s time has definitely come again,” Mr. Vallone, who spearheaded a similar push in 2003, told The New York Sun yesterday. “If not secession, somebody please tell me what other options we have if the state is going to continue to take billions from us and give us back pennies. Should we raise taxes some more? Should we cut services some more? Or should we consider seriously going out on our own?”
This is pretty unlikely. Not only would New York state be a bit crazy to let them go but Article 4Section 3Clause 1 doesn’t allow it without Congress’ approval:
New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress.
However, I fully support their plan. I’m a Free State Project member and some of us feel that if things continue getting worse nationally we will start supporting a New Hampshire secession from the union. That is also unlikely but given NH has the right to revolution in its constitution at least it has some legal legitimacy.
It does seem a bit funny to me that NYC is generally known to be fairly liberal place. A whole lot of socialists here. So you’d think that their wealth being redistributed to the rest of the state wouldn’t be a problem.
And the City’s politicians and bureaucrats just like him better. And why shouldn’t they - he’s providing tax revenue that helps pay for their salaries and their pensions. Of course so does your tax money - but you have no choice and Bruce Ratner does. Don’t like it? Who cares? You are just an ordinary citizen. Bruce has friend’s in the government.
Eminent Domain is no longer about replacing slums with hospitals (if it ever was). Admit it - It’ s now just the latest trick politicians use to feed their unquenchable thirst for more money and more power over every aspect of your life.
Michael White has a great piece “Columbia Pulls a Kelo”in yesterday’s New York Sun (online version) that points out how there is money to be made in the business of seizing what you thought was your property.
A few actually seem to believe the process is moral or productive. Mayor Bloomberg once commented that potential federal limits on eminent domain would limit NYC’s ability to control it’s own future. Our mayor seemed to miss the point that eminent domain rather limits property owner’s ability to control their futures. Our mayor is famous for thinking he knows best how we all should live.
But even good soldiers in the war against personal freedom seem to admit that the process by which government seizes people’s homes and businesses is flawed at best. In August, Supreme Court Justice Stevens lamented his Kelo position saying that “the free play of market forces is more likely to produce acceptable results in the long run than the best-intentioned plans of public officials.” DUH! Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Dan Doctoroff - the guy that said the free market and the interests of the city were incompatible - has now admitted that he never should have agreed to let Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project ignore the City’s ULURP process. OOPS - None Killed. A few people lost their homes but who’s counting? We have to assume the government knows best right? If they don’t like the law - they can just get the Supreme Court to “clarify” it or ignore it altogether.
It almost looks as if they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore. They will take your home or your business - because they can. Big government costs big money. Somebody has to sacrifice. And you can bet it won’t be Bruce Ratner, or the New York Times, or Columbia or Michael Bloomberg or Dan Doctoroff.
Woo-hoo! No petitioning!! (Did I ever mention that I hate petitioning?) I just found this in the inbox from last night:
November 16, 2007
We are pleased to announce that just minutes ago, our attorney received a letter from the New York State Board of Elections informing us that Ron Paul will be on the ballot in New York!
If you’ve been braving the cold to get signatures to place Dr. Paul’s name on the ballot in New York, you can stop. No more signatures are necessary.
Thank you for being a part of our back-up plan for ballot access in your state. Your hard work and dedication makes this campaign possible.
Apparently “everything changes on Day 1″ referred only to Spitzer’s campaign promises. Remember when Eliot promised repeatedly not to raise taxes? Well, he’s at it again.
As most everyone knows, in cyberspace you only have to pay sales tax when the retailer has a physical presence in your state. So, for example, I have to pay 8.375% sales tax on electronics purchased from BestBuy.com, but not from Amazon, because Best Buy has brick-and-mortar stores here.
Now, Spitzer is claiming that any Internet retailer with an affiliate program — and at least one affiliate residing in New York — has a “physical presence” in New York and must collect sales tax on all New York sales. In other words, if you put an Amazon link on your personal site that gets 50 hits on a good day and you live in New York, you are the physical embodiment of Amazon in the Empire State. And it’s not just sales originating from the affiliate sites that are subject to sales tax. Once that physical presence is established, all sales from New York for that web retailer get taxed.
State officials estimate the new policy will bring in $100 million in new tax revenues each year. Of course, the masters of Doublethink also insist it’s not a tax increase.
UPDATE: Just minutes after uploading the post above, I read that Spitzer is backing down on this Internet sales tax scheme… for now. Apparently his aides were worried the Republicans would talk mean about him again, like they did with the driver’s license thing. The steamroller has become the steamrolled.
Sometimes I amaze myself. I never really thought of myself as much of a political strategist - duh! I’m a Libertarian after all. But today - things are different. First, I re-registered as a (gritting of teeth) Republican so I can vote for Ron Paul in the primary. Years ago I used to be a Republican - something for which I will surely go to hell - and I swore I would never do it again. But I didn’t expect Ron Paul either - so things are different. In case you are wondering I will change back to Libertarian instantly after I have voted for Ron Paul in the primary. BTW - In violation of the law - the BOE requires you to write it in on the “Other” line in order to register Libertarian.
So today we were out in Union Square registering people to vote in the primary and the Impeach Bush crowd (a fun group who do important work) from the Village Independant Democrats set up next to us. That’s when it hit me.
Democrats should re-register Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the primary in order to hand Rudy Giuliani a crushing defeat in his own back yard. And of course it will be that much more fun if Ron Paul is the guy that beats him because as we know, Rudy isn’t a fan of Dr. Paul’s non-interventionist foreign policy.
Think about it.
Rudy has already ready informed us he is the only Republican that can beat New York’s most hawkish Senator. Certainly not Ron Paul, a peace candidate who wants to abolish the IRS. I mean, the American people really LIKE war and taxes right? Ok then - so if Rudy isn’t the Republican nominee then Hillary will surely coast to victory next November. It’s not like Hillary will need the votes to win the New York primary.
As you might expect I am no fan of our junior Senator. But if you happen to be a pro-war, socialist you have to admit my logic is impeccable.
Rudy can’t get nominated without New York. He has assured us no other Republican can beat Hillary and America’s mayor wouldn’t lie to us, right?
So that settles it then. Democrats need to run out and change to Republican by October 12th. Then of course you have to remember to vote for Ron Paul in the primary - just to - as Miracle Max (almost) said - give Rudy a nice paper cut and rub lemon juice in it.
Capitol Confidential is reporting that Governor Spitzer just vetoed a bill that would have allowed Segways on roads and sidewalks. The governor gave a bunch of lame reasons for keeping them illegal, most of which boil down to he’s only happy when he’s stopping other folks from enjoying themselves.
The state’s ”dedicated” tax fund for bridge and highway repair has seen $750 million diverted to, um, undedicated boondoggle spending. (Hat tip: The Daily Gotham)
Of course, the politicians have an entirely predictable solution: newer, bigger dedicated taxes for bridge and highway repair.
Rich Cooper reimagines Choppergate as an updated Becket, with Eliot Spitzer playing the part of Henry II and Joseph Bruno as the Archbishop of Canterbury. I’ve never seen the 1964 film, but apparently King Henry relies on his henchmen to “rid him of this meddlesome priest,” just as Spitzer tried to use his henchmen to rid himself of Bruno.
Cooper is spot on when he points out that the underlying scandal — Bruno using a government helicoper for “political” purposes – is a canard:
Why do Governor Spitzer, let alone Senator Bruno or Democrat Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, have to travel outside Albany at taxpayer’s expense? Aren’t the bill signings, facility opening ceremonies and “fact-finding” visits really just trips to promote themselves, their party, and state power in general.
The distinction between official and political is false and artificial. The official visits are largely propaganda exercises.
It’s really no different than former governor Pataki running blatant campaign commercials under the guise of “public service announcments.” To paraphrase that other Englishman who is currently holding court at Giants Stadium, every breath they take, every move they make is about self-aggrandizement.
I’ve been so distracted away from politics this summer that I hadn’t even noticed that the NY legislature and Governor Spitzer quietly legalized ticket scalping last month. Gotham Gazette takes a look at the new law today in its “Issue of the Week“:
On June 1, Governor Eliot Spitzer [signed] legislation that removes from the books almost all of the restrictions on the resale of tickets that have existed since the 1920s. In doing so, New York joined other states that have relaxed laws on reselling tickets. “Ticket scalping laws historically have not worked,” said Spitzer. “I think permitting a free market to work its magic there is the smart approach.
This wonderful news leaves me with but two regrets. One, if only Spitzer could be made to understand that “permitting the free market to work its magic is the smart approach” for all business, not just for scalpers. And two, if only this had happened 10 years ago, when I was still going to a lot of concerts. Now I’m middle-aged and married with three little kids and hardly ever get to a show. The last concert I went to was a couple years ago when I took my kids to see The Wiggles at MSG. The next concert I have tickets for is The Doodlebops this October. Lame, truly lame. Oh well, the rest of you young people can go get your ya-yas out, or whatever the hip lingo is these days.
