The biggest increase goes to

Payday with a new boss
ALBANY -- Larry Schwartz takes home more state money than Gov. Andrew Cuomo does. In fact, the former secretary to Gov. David Paterson -- now a "senior adviser" tasked with reforming the Budget process -- makes more than everyone else in the administration's inner circle. That's because Cuomo's order to reduce the new pay for incoming staff members by 5 percent did not apply to Schwartz or other holdovers from the Paterson administration. That means Schwartz retains his $178,000 Salary from his ...

Sticky, sticky wages
THE Wall Street Journal's Sudeep Reddy has captured a lot of attention today with an interesting story on falling wages, the impact of a deep labour market slump. He writes: But the decline in their fortunes points to a signature outcome of the long downturn in the labor market. Even at times of high Unemployment in the past, wages have been very slow to fall; Economists describe them as "sticky." To an extent rarely seen in Recessions since the Great Depression, wages for a swath of the labor f...

Zardari aide is Punjab governor
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed a close aide as the new Governor of Punjab province. Sardar Latif Khosa, a senior lawyer and Veteran member of the Pakistan People's Party, succeeds Salman Taseer who was assassinated last week. Mr Taseer was shot dead by one of his Bodyguards for supporting proposed reforms to the Blasphemy law. Correspondents say it remains to be seen how the PML-N party, which governs Punjab, reacts to the appointment. Mr Taseer was a staunch crit...

Ohio Congressman Stivers talks security, office and personal pay cuts
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - First-term Ohio Congressman Steve Stivers, who was sworn-in as a Member of the 112th Congress last week after beating the Democratic Candidate he lost to in 2008, is one of the 85 fresh Republican faces who helped elect another Ohio congressman, John Boehner (OH-8) of West Chester, the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Speaker Boehner was present along with Stivers to watch as Gov. John R. Kasich, who was officially was sworn-in just past midnight Monday, ...

Cedillo's challenge of state officials' pay cut suffers setback
Assemblyman Gil Cedillo 's challenge of millions cut from the pay and benefits of legislators and other state elected officials in late 2009 has been tentatively rejected by the state. The Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board is releasing a staff recommendation today that Cedillo's claim be denied at its Jan. 20 public meeting, spokeswoman Janice Mackey said. Cedillo, a Los Angeles Democrat, had argued in a claim filed in November that the 18 percent pay and benefit cuts by the Cali...

Breslin tapped deputy leader
ALBANY -- Sen. Neil Breslin has been tapped as deputy leader of the 26-member Democratic Conference, a post that requires him to coordinate the legislative flow on the chamber floor and serve as the second-in-command to Minority Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn. "I think it brings honor to the County of Albany that I have been selected as deputy minority leader, but it also means that I will have a great deal of work to do to make sure that we get out of the $10 billion Deficit while at the same ...

Orange County supes increase paychecks on the backs of general employees
Similarly to the state of California and most of the state's cities and counties, Orange County is facing a serious Deficit this Fiscal Year that could climb as high as $83 million.  In December 2010, Supervisors voted to freeze hiring and slash five percent from General Fund departments to close the gap a bit. The supervisors are also looking for ways to reduce county Payroll and benefits another $100 million this fiscal year, but apparently do not feel that the Highest Paid officials shou...

Yoani Sanchez: Daddy State and His Frightened Children
For weeks they were afraid they would appear on the list of Layoffs on the wall, the list of names of those who -- at that Hospital -- would be left without a job in the new reorganization of labor. The doctors, nurses and Health Care technicians put in more effort and avoided walking the halls during office hours so that their heads would not be included among those who would be Laid Off. The unusually high attendance and punctuality of those days surprised the manager, but even so they could...

Co-founder of Feed the Children leaves
OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The woman who co-founded "Feed the Children" 31 years ago with her husband has cut her ties with the charity, officials in Oklahoma said. The Oklahoma City-based charity said Frances Jones, 69, resigned, but her husband Larry said she was fired, The Oklahoman reported Monday. The charity's board of directors fired Larry Jones about 14 months ago. "Mrs. Jones has expressed a desire to spend more time on personal matters," the organization said in a statement. "We a...

Some AFSCME members could lose union cards
* This bill has not yet been assigned to a Senate committee, but it’s expected that the chamber will call it for a vote… The Illinois House pushed through a bill on Monday that would limit certain state workers’ rights to join a Collective Bargaining unit. The bill, which is backed by Gov. Pat Quinn, passed on a 64-49 vote and now heads to the Illinois Senate, where it must pass before noon Wednesday in order to head to the Governor’s desk. The Legislation, Senate Bill 3644, is...

Cuccinelli & VA Family Foundation Drop Out of Anti-Choice Rally Targeting Gov. McDonell
Anti-choice Activists are hosting a rally outside the Virginia capitol on Thursday at which VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and representatives of the Virginia Family Foundation were scheduled to participate ... that is until they found out the rally was designed to pressure Gov. Bob McDonnell to place tighter restrictions on women's clinics. Both Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) and the conservative Family Foundation declined to participate in an anti-abortion rally scheduled for Thursday...

Some sit out anti-abortion rally to avoid confronting McDonnell
A split has emerged in the anti-abortion community over whether to pressure Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) to direct the state Board of Health to further regulate Abortion clinics in Virginia. Both Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) and the conservative Family Foundation declined to participate in an anti-abortion rally scheduled for Thursday outside the Capitol to avoid "confronting" McDonnell after they found out that organizers designed the event to pressure the Governor. Both Cuccinelli (R) and F...

Attorney General rejects abortion initiative
From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage --- The new state Attorney General has found a ballot initiative essentially seeking to outlaw Abortion in Alaska to be Unconstitutional. “The proposed bill meets the ‘clearly unconstitutional’ standard because it would supersede a woman’s Constitutional Right to Privacy,” said the opinion, released late yesterday. “This right is a federal Constitutional Right recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade.” Attorney General Joh

Pakistan names replacement for slain governor
Pakistan's government has named a replacement for a provincial Governor gunned down by his Bodyguard last week. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Tuesday that former Attorney General Senator Latif Khosa would get the job of Punjab governor. Khosa is a close ally of President Asif Ali Zardari. Former Governor Salman Taseer was shot and killed last week in the capital, Islamabad. His guard has confessed to the crime, saying he killed Taseer because of his opposition to laws that stipul...

Doctors: Giffords "Holding Her Own"
In this March, 2010 photo provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Giffords poses for a photo. (AP) Erica Hill spoke to Dr. Michael Lemole, chief of Neurosurgery at University Medical Center and one of Congresswoman Giffords' surgeons. C.J. Karamargin, Communications Director for Rep. Giffords, talks to Erica Hill about the congresswoman's condition and the other Staffers who were shot. Dr. Jennifer Ashton spoke with Erica Hill in Tucson, Ariz on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brain wounds ...

Top Reid Aide To Depart
The shakeup continues in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's press shop. Regan LaChapelle, who served as Reid's Deputy Communications Director, will be clearing out this week, she told reporters in the Senate press gallery this afternoon. Her move follows the departures of Jim Manley, Reid's chief spokesman, and Rodell Mollineau, who served as staff director. LaChapelle is leaving to run the press shop at the Millenium Challenge Corporation. The Democrats' communications program is in the mi...

Media Matters new gay rights initiative names staffer
Trevor Thomas, director of communications for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is joining Equality Matters, a Gay Rights and advocacy offshoot of the liberal group Media Matters. Thomas has been named Director of Programs for the new group. The move comes as Media Matters grows and expands beyond media criticism into more direct advocacy. In October, Media Matters president David Brock told Politico that the group was slowly expanding beyond its traditional role, as it collected 15,000 si...

SLDN's Comm Director Trevor Thomas joins Socarides, Eleveld at Equality Matters
This evening I received an email from Trevor Thomas, the ace Communications Director at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network announcing his move to Equality Matters, the new rapid-response LGBT venture of Media Matters for America. He will serve as Programs Director alongside President Richard Socarides and online editor Kerry Eleveld; he starts at EqM on January 24th. (MetroWeekly): Socarides: "He is an incredible advocate and forthright spokesperson. We are excited he has agreed to join us ...

Branstad to disclose inaugural donors; transition transparency questioned
Gov.-elect Terry Branstad will release the Donors who will cover the $300,000 in expenses for his inauguration on the day he takes the oath of office, a spokesman tells The Iowa Independent. But as the new administration aims to maintain its promise of more transparency, The Des Moines Register reports Sunday that Branstad has released only a fraction of the transition e-mails requested by the paper compared to his predecessor. Branstad’s staff turned over 309 e-mails, where Gov. Chet Culv...

Who wrote 'O'?
With Simon & Schuster flirtatiously revealing that the author of the forthcoming, anonymous "O: A Presidential Novel" is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have "been in the room" with President Obama, Byron and I thought we'd ask a few of the likelier suspects. Forthwith, their responses: New York Times columnist David Brooks : "Nope. No time or talent. I call that an air tight alibi." Former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers : "It...

Suspect Arrested in Threat to Democratic Rep. Michael Bennet
Authorities responded Monday to a threat against Sen. Michael Bennet's (D-Colo.) Denver office, Bennet's spokesman said. The FBI and U.S. Capitol Police arrested an individual suspected of making a threat to the Colorado Democrat's state office, said Adam Bozzi, the senator's Communications Director. "We can confirm that there was a threat against Senator Bennet's office and that the FBI is working with the Capitol Police to have arrested the individual responsible for the threat," Bozzi said in...

The Six Victims Killed in Saturday's Shooting
As the investigation continues into 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the main suspect in the Tucson shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, Dean Reynolds reports on the other Victims. Rep. Giffords Heavily Sedated after Attack (CBS/ AP) From a judge to a janitor, the victims killed in Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Ariz., targeting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords were all caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports that C.J. Karamargin, Giffords' commun...

Dan Conston leaving RPOF
Wunderkind spinner Dan Conston is leaving his communication director post at the Republican Party of Florida to become the Communications Director for Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam of Illinois, for whom he worked in 2009 and 2010. Unlike his predecessor, Conston, 25, had the luxury of being the spokesman for the party during a right-leaning election when the party dominated at the polls. Conston also didn't have to praise either former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist or former RPOF chair Ji...

Cuomo Learns From Bloombergs Snow Mistakes
Determined not to repeat the mistakes of Mayor Bloomberg and, to a lesser extent, his predecessor, former Gov. David Paterson, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is taking pre-emptive steps to prepare for the Snow Storm baring down on NYS. Cuomo announced he has directed the state Office of Emergency Management to activate the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and open the State Emergency Operations Center to ensure resources and equipment from relevant agencies are ready to clear the roads and respond to...

Green Partys Hawkins & LaVenia BLAST Wall-Street-Warrior (blechhh!) Guv Cuomo for Financial SHOCK DOCTRINE of NY Non-Elites
The Green Party blasted the Emergency Fiscal Plan outlined by Andrew Cuomo in his State of the State Message as a continuation of the failed policies of previous administrations of both major parties. "Andrew Cuomo is reading from the same 30-year old major party script, which says the bad economy and fiscal problems are the fault of Big Government and the solution is to cut taxes and spending. It's the same old Banker's agenda to make take capital off the tax roles and make labor pay all the t...