Sentences with phrase «upstate members»

A handful of upstate members have realized they're likely to have better luck at seeing results on their priorities, which often differ from those of their more liberal downstate counterparts, if they band together — much like the black and Latino members have done by creating their own caucus.

«So it was hard for upstate members to get the kind of attention upstate needed, and we changed that,» Cuomo said on Thursday.

Downstate legislators see nothing in the plan for their area, he explained, while even upstate members feel left out by the attention paid to Western New York.

But Republicans, too, face their internal divisions after Flanagan was elected majority leader despite 15 upstate members backing the bid of DeFrancisco, a Syracuse Republican and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

------ John Flanagan, who replaced Skelos as Senate majority leader last week, has assured upstate members he will push for changes to Gov. Cuomo's controversial 2013 SAFE Act gun control law.

Flanagan leads a conference of 32 members in the 63 - seat chamber, and several upstate members stated publicly that they did not want to return to the Capitol and were uninterested in the passel of goods that Cuomo was pushing to assent to a pay hike.

Two New York congressmen — Reps. John Faso and Chris Collins — have tried to bring around upstate members with a provision that would require state government pick up the county share of the Medicaid program.

Another business lobbyist said, «It's hard to imagine that the Senate, with its Long Island and upstate members whose constituents depend on heating oil to stay warm on these frigid days, would consider mandating additional costs to benefit a well - connected New York City billionaire.»

He and six other upstate members of Congress, including Dan Maffei, Bill Owens and Tom Reed, signed a letter to the assistant secretary of labor for OSHA asking for consideration.

Mindful of their need for a legislative ally, real estate interests have been investing heavily to assist the Senate Republicans, whose conference is dominated by upstate members without a horse in the rent control race.

Majority Leader John Flanagan is probably receptive to this, but his moderate Long Island delegation makes up a shrinking share of the Republican conference, relative to hard - right upstate members.

Peoples - Stokes also has sizable influence as one of the few upstate members of the Legislature's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Legislative Caucus, a politically influential group whose members include Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who counts the Buffalo Democrat as among his political allies in Albany.

His elevation last May following the arrest of Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos came with the support of upstate members and others who will be watching him in the post for the first time — and hoping that his resiliency helps them as they come into a key election season.

If Flanagan is going to keep that post, he needed to bring something home for the upstate members who didn't want him to lead the chamber in the first place.

He is expected to make an upstate member his deputy majority leader, a post that Libous held and would add some regional balance to a conference some Republicans north of New York City fear is too dominated by Long Islanders.

Ideally, Sampson needs a No. 2 who's an upstater (remember that the conference lost two upstate members, Darrel Aubertine and Antoine Thompson), an Hispanic (former Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., love him or hate him, was the highest - ranking Latino leader in the Legislature — a point Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. likes to emphasize from time to time) and a woman.

The agreement comes after Flanagan, a Long Island lawmaker, had pledged to upstate members and Republican county leaders, to enact SAFE Act in part to alleviate concerns he had supported the measure in 2013.

Some upstate members were still concerned Thursday about the impact of the minimum wage hike, but downstate members — including Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan — were more willing to swallow a wage hike that they know polls well in coming elections.

Adding an income tax cut and more aid to suburban school districts was enough to win their support, even if some upstate members vote no on this part of the budget.

He's in the middle of a tour of upstate members» districts (he plans to hit all of them), during which the Bronx Democrat is trying to familiarize himself with issues outside his comfort zone of New York City.

Assembly Democratic Speaker Carl Heastie tamped down the possibility that some upstate members are unhappy with the nature of the minimum wage talks.

It's hard to imagine this kind of political jiu - jitsu — call it the Utica Maneuver — will be of much use in the Assembly, where the Democrats» overwhelming majority would seem to be a safeguard against a governor seeking to undercut a downstate majority leader by peeling off upstate members.

Now we'll see what the upstate members say about it, and I hope they're held accountable.»

Talking to Cuomo after the Utica event, the Times Union's Matt Hamilton noted that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie was that very day touring the Capital Region in an attempt to show his interest in the concerns of his upstate members.