Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:37:09 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Henry J. Stern :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Henry+J.+Stern istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/bring-back-new-york-citys-board-of-estimate/75592/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST A wave of complaints has swirled around the New York City Council, as we read about millions of dollars going to phantom organizations, secret transfers of public funds from one group to another, and wholesale abuse by a few nonprofits of tax dollars. Take the case of Councilman Stewart's staff where there is alleged embezzlement of council appropriated funds without any monitoring of the groups involved. Mr. Stewart's former chief of staff, Asquith Reid, and his assistant, Joycinth Anderson... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/if-paterson-has-to-resign-too/73398/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Ten days have passed since Governor Spitzer's resignation, and events seem to be running even further ahead than expected. When David Paterson was sworn in as the 55th governor of New York State, he received an enthusiastic reception from a joint session of the legislature. His speech was considered a success, demonstrating awareness of the state's acute financial crisis but not describing specific reductions. What we did not know was that a few hours later, the new governor and his wife would... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/patersons-own-history/72884/ Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST A surprise choice by Governor Spitzer as his running mate back in February 2006, Paterson gambled that an office which had previously been a pit stop on the road to oblivion, except for Mario Cuomo, would be a better career path than competing to be senate majority leader in the event of a Democratic takeover of the senate. Mr. Paterson won the gamble in a way no one predicted, with Mr. Spitzer's premature departure over issues of the flesh. He has now been thrust into office just two weeks... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/personal-weakness/72652/ Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST In writing about the crisis caused by Governor Spitzer's dalliance with a high-class prostitute, we find ourselves overtaken by events. First, Mr. Spitzer is a much more appealing figure in humiliation and defeat than he was when he was at the peak of his power. We were highly critical of the governor's first year for many reasons described at length in previous pieces. Throughout the year, however, we hoped for improvement and described Governor Spitzer as the best hope for progress in New... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/why-pataki-is-the-wrong-name/69093/ Tue, 8 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST Today Governor Spitzer proposes to name Hudson River Park in honor of the former governor, George Pataki, who in 1998 signed the legislation creating the park, the Sun reported. If that is the case, this would be the first blunder of the governor's second year. There are many reasons why such a name change, like others to be proposed, is inappropriate: Major parks have been named for centuries and should continue to be named for natural features or geographic places. Look at Central Park... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/from-the-stern-diaries/64394/ Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Day One: Everything changes. Day 282: Dopp takes flight. Recently we learned that Darren Dopp, the governor's aide at the center of what may or may not have been said or done at TrooperChopper-Gate, will not remain on the public payroll. Instead he will be a partner with the large and influential lobbying firm, Patricia Lynch Associates. Ms. Lynch was formerly a top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Her firm has both Democratic and Republican partners and clients. Mr. Dopp spent eight... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/caught-in-a-water-closet/61606/ Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST When I read the news today, I noticed how much of it consists of lies. Bruno vs. Spitzer, Roger Stone. Who knew what when? And the fire tragedy — who cut the standpipe, who stopped the inspections, who approved the gangsters, who ignored DOI, etc.? The most recent lie, however, may have been told by Senator Craig of Idaho, who insists he is not gay. The heart of that issue depends on what your definition of 'gay' is. It is similar to the 1990s question of what 'is' is. If you mean someone who... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/instant-emergency-alerts/60531/ Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Today is Day Six, or Seven, depending on when you started counting, of the 30-day period that Governor Spitzer has given the MTA to account for what went wrong with regard to last Wednesday morning's inundation of the subway system, and what the transit agency proposes to do about such events in the future. The first requirement for this debacle is a name, preferably ending with gate. Two names leap to mind: Sewergate, because the rain-clogged sewers could not handle the overflow from the... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/henry-on-eliot/59272/ Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Day One: Everything Changes. Day 207: Everything Has Changed. The governor didn't take my advice. In a piece published in Tuesday's Sun, we concluded by calling on Mr. Spitzer to "repent, before it is too late." Instead, he went to the editorial board of the Daily News with a limited denial that seemed calculated to avoid the perjury trap. The problem is, not one person in a hundred believes he is telling the truth. He lied before, about his father's loans to his campaign, and admitted it to... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/governor-repent-now/59074/ Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Oy vey. As you know, we have been critical of Governor Spitzer's behavior for six months. Not his goals, but the way he has gone about trying to reach them. Now, he has gotten himself into real trouble. The clumsy plot against the Republican Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, using the New York State Police for political reasons, is Nixonian in nature. Mr. Spitzer is now in a situation similar to the one Nixon faced in 1973. He has denied that he was aware of the plot, which, in the normal... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/least-worst-way/50900/ Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST The indictment of three police officers in the aftermath of the Sean Bell shooting is gratifying to some and troubling to others. Police officers must make instant decisions with fragmentary or imperfect knowledge. The slow and contentious procedure of criminal law is an imperfect way to determine the responsibility and degree of fault some police officers may have made in the Bell case. The 50 shots fired at Bell make people overreact, just as did the 41 bullets fired at Amadou Diallo on... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/punishment-for-sex-offenders/50246/ Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST The New York Legislature has passed and sent to Governor Spitzer a bill intended to deal with sex offenders whose prison sentences have expired. The theory is that sexual predators are likely to repeat their crimes after they are released. When the governor signs the bill, New York will become the 20th state to authorize continued "civil confinement" of sex offenders. There is substantial anecdotal and statistical evidence of recidivism by sex offenders. In the most recent widely publicized... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/spitzer-in-2012/48737/ Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST The war between Governor Spitzer and the state Legislature broke out less than a week ago, and opinions differ as to whether the new governor is simply crazy, or crazy like a fox. The last time a legislative leader was dumped was in 1994, when Governor-elect Pataki made it clear in December that he wanted a new Republican Senate leader. Incumbent Ralph Marino of Oyster Bay had treated Mr. Pataki harshly during his single state Senate term, albeit with some cause, as Mr. Pataki had opposed the... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/bloomberg-for-president-2006-08-18/38125/ Fri, 18 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Mayor Bloomberg's donation of $125 million to fight cigarette smoking, primarily in developing countries, will certainly save many thousands of lives, possibly millions. It is an extraordinary gift to an area of public health not traditionally seen as an object of private philanthropy, and hopefully it will encourage other donors to become involved in the prevention of death and disease due to lifestyle choices. The gift shows the mayor's unique ability to use his personal resources to... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/its-pr-time-again/38085/ Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Until 1938, it was called as the Board of Aldermen, informally referred to as "the forty thieves," a reference to Ali Baba. Another jest derided the lawmakers' occupations: A man near the door of the Chamber shouted, "Alderman, your saloon's on fire." The room emptied immediately. In 1965, I wrote: "The City Council is less than a rubber stamp, because a rubber stamp leaves an impression." The Aldermen were not held in high regard because, apart from their personal lack of distinction and... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/governor-silver/35350/ Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST In the last few years, the State Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, has emerged as the dominant political figure in New York State. With Governor Pataki an increasingly lame duck, and the majority leader, Joseph Bruno, struggling to preserve the Republicans' slim State Senate majority, the speaker, who leads a 105-member Democratic conference in a 150-seat Assembly, is now the strongest of the "three men in a room," the dissonant triumvirs who have presided over our dysfunctional state... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/central-park-car-test/33973/ Wed, 7 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Central Park auto traffic lightened this week as city officials closed parts of the east and west drives to countercyclical rush hour traffic. The west drive runs southbound from West 110th Street, gentrified to Central Park North, which turns into Cathedral Parkway at the park's northwest corner, officially Frederick Douglass Circle. For a six-month trial ending in November, west drive will be open mornings, and closed evenings north of 72nd street. Similarly, east drive, which runs north from... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/doing-right-by-the-gifted-pupils/33001/ Thu, 18 May 2006 00:00:00 EST The City of New York has long had an ambivalent attitude toward the education of gifted children. Years ago, bright children were skipped to a higher grade. This saved years of drudgery for them, but the skipped students were younger, and often smaller than their classmates, which was said to create or exacerbate adjustment problems. Another program was special classes for the ablest children in each grade. They were variously called Op classes (for opportunity), R classes (for rapid advance... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/teaching-facts/32340/ Mon, 8 May 2006 00:00:00 EST There is one man who appears to have taken on the entire American educational establishment. His name is E. D. Hirsch, Jr., and he is a University Professor of Education and English emeritus at the University of Virginia. He has written three books since 1987 expounding his views. The first book, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, tells us that there is an alarming deficit of knowledge among Americans, particularly young people, of basic facts about history and literature... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/shredded-principles/30368/ Tue, 4 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST Corporate America lives by the quarterly report, and reputations have been made and lost by gyrations in the figures, and the legerdemain that goes into their preparation. In government, there are no rigid time frames for reporting results, whether they are achievements or disappointments. There are timelines, such as the process of the executive submitting a proposed budget and the legislature modifying and then adopting it. This happened in Albany on Friday, March 31. This is the second... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/schools-tilt-fiscal-balance/30118/ Thu, 30 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST The Senate and Assembly are reported to have agreed on the state budget, which is required to be adopted by April 1. For 19 of the past 20 years (except 2005), the budget was not adopted until late in the year, but that goes into the category of unenforced laws. The governor is likely to veto the pumped-up 2006 budget, and the legislature may then negotiate or override. Today's arrangement provides increased spending, reduced taxes, and more borrowing, further increasing the record state debt... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/seven-year-itch/29702/ Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST One of the delights of New York City parks is the occasional dramatic appearance of a genuine wild animal. For the past two days, the unexpected visitor to Central Park was a male coyote, who followed a path very similar to his predecessor, who dropped in on us in April 1999. Spring is apparently the season when adventurous young males set forth in search of food, females, or affirming life experiences. Although we really don't know how coyotes reach Central Park, we suppose that they come down... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/subway-crime/28156/ Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST Many Americans wonder about laws that are enacted but not enforced. For example, pirated DVDs, or digital versatile discs, are sold routinely on the streets and in the subways of New York City. Thousands of New Yorkers know this because they see it every day. Why don't the police stop these illegal vendors of pirated merchandise? The discs are spread on the floor of subway arcades, usually on a sheet. The vendor stands (or sits) at the site. When a customer makes a choice, sometimes by pointing... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/another-prague-spring/27321/ Thu, 9 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST On January 27, Federal Judge John Gleeson delivered a rather remarkable decision. In a case that had been pending for several years, he wrote a 77-page opinion holding that the State of New York's constitutional provision for selecting Supreme Court Justices by judicial convention was in violation of the United States Constitution in that it deprived the people of the state of meaningful participation in the selection of judges. He found as a matter of fact that these conventions are tightly... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/held-hostage/24797/ Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST The 2005 transit strike began yesterday. We do not know when it will end, but if Roger Toussaint and his followers in Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union had any sense, the strike would end today, or better yet never would have started. The inconvenience to millions of New Yorkers, the loss of business by thousands of stores who depend on pre-Christmas sales, the loss of wages by people unable to get to work, the negative impact on corporate decisions to stay or build here, the heart... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/actual-nanny-state/20274/ Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Mayor Bloomberg has reportedly refused a demand from Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union to add 25,000 home-care workers to the city payroll, at an additional cost to the taxpayers that would range from $500 million to $1 billion a year, including pensions, overtime, and fringe benefits. As a result, the union, which is headed by Dennis Rivera, is scheduled to announce today that it will support the Democratic mayoral candidate, Fernando Ferrer. This is the opposite result... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/swan-song/17703/ Thu, 28 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST Governor Pataki's announcement yesterday that he will not seek re-election has a number of desirable aspects. For one thing, it spares him a laborious, uphill race, presumably against the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer. He will also distinguish himself from three major New York political figures who unsuccessfully sought a fourth term: Mayor Koch (1989), Governor Cuomo (1994), and Senator D'Amato (1998). His entrance into the presidential race can help him, even if he is not nominated... HENRY J. STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/trampling-on-term-limits/15396/ Tue, 14 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST Twelve years after term limits for city elected officials were adopted by referendum, the City Council is making its third attempt to overturn the decision of the public. This time it is a brazen attempt by the incumbents to extend the eight-year limit on their terms to 12 years, or possibly to abolish it altogether, notwithstanding two referenda that have been held on the subject. The first attempted modification came in 1996, when the council, under the leadership of Speaker Peter Vallone... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/questionable-judgment/14558/ Fri, 27 May 2005 00:00:00 EST An ethical issue has arisen regarding a solicitation sent by the chairman of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, requesting contributions to Leslie Crocker Snyder, an attorney who is challenging District Attorney Morgenthau in the September Democratic primary. The Commission on Judicial Conduct has 11 members, chosen by the governor, the chief judge, and legislative leaders. Its chair is Manhattan attorney Lawrence Goldman, commissioner since 1990, most recently reappointed by... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/watching-numbers-dance/13934/ Tue, 17 May 2005 00:00:00 EST For the past three years, we have written on numerous occasions, perhaps displaying mild obsession, about the annual agony of amending and adopting the city budget, a condition created by chronic fiscal insufficiency. The first near bankruptcy experience struck New York City in 1974-75, under Mayor Beame, although it had been building up during the late Lindsay years due to excessive spending and ever-increasing short-term borrowing, which the banks eventually refused to roll over, thus... Henry J. Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/mayoral-express/10147/ Mon, 7 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Despite the trepidation of some supporters, Mayor Bloomberg's re-election strategy is probably on track. The increasing unpopularity of the West Side stadium causes many to believe that the mayor should retreat from the hard line he has taken in support of the project. With legal and political obstacles springing up and 56% of New Yorkers polled opposed to the facility, it would seem that there is little chance for a groundbreaking by Election Day, a scant eight months away. Nonetheless, the... Henry J. Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/while-new-york-sleeps/9606/ Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST We recently recounted two sad stories about ethics in Albany. One was about the use of housekeeping accounts to avoid the law prohibiting political contributions by corporations, including underwriters of state bond issues. The other dealt with substantial sums being paid by competing businesses to lobbyists who are closely connected (in one case, a son) to the objects of their persuasion. These items did not elicit wide public response from our readers, because most of you already have a good... Henry J. Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/color-me-orange/9236/ Tue, 15 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Christo and Jeanne-Claude's production, "The Gates, Central Park, 1979-2005," opened Saturday morning and will close Sunday evening, February 27. Just 13 days remain for you to take in the gigantic array of public art. New Yorkers should see the exhibition for themselves before they make a judgment on its merits. We opposed Christo's original proposal in 1980, and wrote a skeptical column about the installation last April. Since then, we have essentially maintained a disciplined silence despite... Henry Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/gay-marriage-in-gotham/8966/ Wed, 9 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Thirty-one years ago, I took my seat in the City Council as the newly elected council member at-large from Manhattan. One of the first bills I signed on to sponsor was the gay rights bill, at the time a controversial piece of legislation that had not advanced in the Council since being introduced in the spring of 1971. The bill was not passed until 1986, and the determining factor then was the election of Peter F. Vallone as speaker. He was opposed to the bill, and voted against it, but he had... Henry J. Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/voting-under-the-influence/8832/ Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Today I write of "pay for play," a custom under which people who want special treatment for their personal or business needs make political contributions, usually to incumbents. Under the city's campaign finance program, these contributions are matched on a 6-to-1 basis by public funds, bumped up from 4-to-1 in a bill that the City Council passed this year. Speaker Miller originally proposed an 8-1 ratio, which he really would have preferred, but even excess has its limits. One problem in... Henry Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/politics-as-usual/7650/ Thu, 13 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Mayor Bloomberg delivered his fourth State of the City address Tuesday afternoon at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx. Last year, he spoke at the Silvercup Film Studio in Queens (old timers knew it as a bakery). And the setting two years ago was the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. All the newspapers amply reported the speech, which leaves us free to comment on its content, its import, his opponents' reactions, and its significance to his campaign. (1) The mayor has learned a great deal in... Henry Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ltat-cest-moi/7442/ Mon, 10 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST The dust in Albany is settling after Governor Pataki's 11th State of the State address and the preview of rules changes to be adopted next week by the Senate and the Assembly. The press reaction to the governor's speech has been a mix of boredom and mild derision, with a pinch of incredulity. The public and the press believed him when he promised reform in 1995, but 10 years later, skepticism is the best reaction he can hope to elicit for recycled promises. The fact that he used the adjective... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/opinion/exercise-of-folly/5666/ Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST What do you write when the major news story of the day is totally ridiculous? It was a little Danish boy, back in 1837, who said: "The emperor has no clothes," because everyone else was deluded into believing that he was wearing a magnificent suit. Our chain of events begins with the original lawsuit by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. Eleven years later, the issue of education funding has become a contretemps in which none of the parties has a rational or affordable exit strategy. When they... Henry Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/is-new-yorks-legislature-the-worst/580/ Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Democracy is based on accountability. If a public official does a good job and pleases his constituents, he deserves re-election. If he does a poor job and his constituents are unhappy, he is likely to be defeated for re-election because constituents will prefer someone else. By and large, democratic choice is a principle that we put into practice wherever we can. The more people involved in a decision, the less likely that decision is to be arbitrary or unilaterally controlled. That is why... Henry Stern http://www.nysun.com/opinion/crying-wolf-again/122/ Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EST One of the themes of this column over the past two and a half years has been that New York City is in more fiscal trouble than it is willing to admit. By scanning the articles we have written, you can see how often, back to 2002, we have warned about unresolved structural financial problems that confront the city. More specific and well-informed expressions of concern have come from the Citizens Budget Commission and the Independent Budget Office. The CBC is funded privately, and the IBO is a...