Fred Dicker

There's some movement on the local political beat!  read more »

New York Post reporter Ken Lovett is leaving for the New York Daily News, where he’ll compete head-to-head with his former partner, the Albany titan Fred Dicker.

The shift was confirmed by a reporter in Albany who said Lovett has already cleared out his desk and begun the move. A Daily News publicist declined to comment.  read more »

Midnight tonight is the deadline for state lawmakers to approve the mayor’s congestion pricing program in order to qualify for $354 million in federal transportation funds. It’s still not clear that there are enough votes to get it passed in either house of the legislature.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Joe Bruno supports it, but may not have enough votes on his side of the aisle to get it through. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been typically lukewarm and has consistently suggested that his members are not inclined to be in favor.

But Michael Bloomberg’s top aid, Kevin Sheekey, still thinks it’s less about cobbling votes behind closed doors and more about forcing legislators to vote on the issue publicly.  read more »

Here's Chuck Schumer chatting with Fred Dicker during his radio show in the Capitol building in Albany.

Schumer told Dicker he became closer to Spitzer after he became governor, but has not spoken to him since the scandal broke because he wants to wait until "the dust settles."

When Dicker pressed him on how exactly that dust will settle (with criminal charges? with jail time?), Schumer said he was unsure.

Here's the Eliot Spitzer interview with Fred Dicker. Energetic stuff.

Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson just finished an live radio interview with Fred Dicker here in Albany where Spitzer defended his plan to sell off of future lottery earnings to endow S.U.N.Y. schools, calling it “transformational” and not a one-shot revenue deal.

Also, Spitzer defended his actions that are being examined in the Troopergate investigations.

"Fred, I’ve answered all the questions,” Spitzer said. “This investigation has nothing to do with me and that is eminently clear, will be made eminently clear, has been made eminently clear. The Soares report said our behavior was totally proper.”

He went on to say, “This is not something I spend time worrying about.”

If you need reminding what happened the last time Dicker got to ask the governor questions, here's some classic footage.

According to a reader who tuned into Fred Dicker’s radio show this morning, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson was discussing what he's hearing while campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Iowa and said:

“You know who I get asked about quite a bit-–Mayor Bloomberg, at least 3 or 4 times, as successful as he has been – I did not think he had a national presence.”  read more »

Here's another clip from yesterday's rough press conference in the Red Room of the capitol. It starts off with Eliot Spitzer answering a question from Danny Hakim of the New York Times about the lack of subpoena power Andrew Cuomo had in investigating the role of Spitzer's aides in using state police to gather information about political rival Joe Bruno.

Then Fred Dicker jumps in.

At a bill signing ceremony in Albany at which Eliot Spitzer declared that he wouldn't discuss off-topic questions, New York Post state Editor Fred Dicker decided to proceed with Plan A anyway.

Dicker yelled out to ask why Spitzer said his aides fully cooperated with Andrew Cuomo's investigation when, in fact, they hadn't.

"Can you just talk to us about that a little bit?" he asked. "You got all these cameras here -- why not answer a few questions?"

"Fred," Spitzer said, smiling painfully. "We're signing three bills and these are the rules we set."

Spitzer is having another press event near the capitol later today and said he'd take more questions there.

UPDATE: More from the press conference:

Dicker: You had said on Monday that you fully cooperated with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation when you were aware that two of your top aides had refused to testify, but we were not.

Spitzer: His report has been issued, made it clear who had testified. Those individuals provided, when they were requested to testify--the request went back to them 'will you take a sworn statement?' And they did. The investigation was closed. And I'm not going to quibble--

Dicker: Your description of the facts do not jibe with what Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general, has said. Certainly as a former attorney general, I would think you'd be concerned about that. He says your aides never agreed to be interviewed and was unacceptable to the attorney general's office. On Sunday, they submit sworn statements that were never solicited in response to questions that were never asked.

Spitzer: I'm not going to get into--

Dicker: Why not? Is that appropriate for your aides to refuse to be interviewed by the attorney general's office? Do you consider that to be appropriate?

Spitzer: Fred, as I've said on Monday, and I've answered all the questions-

Dicker: You did not answer that question.

Spitzer: I answered all the questions over the course of these few days, fully, completely and with respect--

Dicker: You haven't.

Spitzer: to the fact

Dicker: If you were attorney general, would you accept that as an answer?

Spitzer: Fred, Fred, Fred...

Dicker: Let me ask the question again and I'll stop talking.

Michael Bloomberg just said there is no evidence certain neighborhoods would be turned into “parking lots” under his congestion pricing plan -- as Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested they might.

“There is no evidence that that happened anywhere else and there is no evidence that will happen here,” Bloomberg said on Fred Dicker's radio show this morning.

Before ending the interview, Dicker asked about Bloomberg’s political future, which the mayor seemed determined to talk down.

“Are you thinking of running to running for president next year?”
“No.”

“Giving any thought to running for governor?”
“Definitely not.”

“Might you at some point consider both?”
“Neither.”