BY Nick Reisman City of Albany

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on Thursday is set to endorse Democratic state Senate candidate Jen Lunsford for the Rochester-area district that is being vacated by Republican Rich Funke.

Lunsford is making her second bid for the state Senate in 2020.

BY Nick Reisman City of Albany

Sen. Rich Funke became the latest Republican to announce retirement plans by the end of next year.

Funke, a Republican elected in 2014 to a Democratic-leaning seat in the Rochester area, quoted the Bible, saying “for everything in life there is season. There is a time for a beginning, there is a time to end. I’ve always believed that.”

BY Nick Reisman City of Albany

Gary Greenberg for years was fed up with the state Senate and the stalled Child Victims Act, a proposal that is meant to make it easier for the survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits.

Greenberg is a victim of childhood abuse himself. But as an adult, he has money. And with that money came some power to move the needle on the issue in Albany.

BY Nick Reisman City of Albany

The re-election of Sen. Mike Gianaris, the deputy majority leader for the Democratic conference, was endorsed on Thursday by union 32BJ SEIU.

“We are proud to endorse Senator Mike Gianaris for re-election,” said union President Kyle Bragg.

BY Nick Reisman City of Albany
PUBLISHED 6:43 PM ET Dec. 11, 2019

Middle-income earners and working class New Yorkers should not take the brunt of closing a $6.1 billion budget gap, but there’s a “discussion to be had” over whether richer people should be asked to pay more, Sen. Mike Gianaris said in an interview Wednesday on NY1’s Inside City Hall.

“I think there’s a discussion to be had about whether we want to focus on some of the wealthier individuals in the state who can certainly afford to contribute a little bit more when times are tough,” he said when asked about a potential tax increase. “But that’s something we haven’t resolved yet.”