Referring to his struggle to overcome near-blindness, Gov. David A. Paterson yesterday told the Democratic National Convention that only presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama could usher in a new era of economic opportunity for the disabled and all citizens.
Paterson, who made history four years ago as the first blind person to address such a gathering of Democrats, recounted his early years in Brooklyn and Hempstead, and being discriminated against.
But Paterson said his success as a state senator over 21 years and as governor for five months was part of the larger American Dream nurtured by previous presidents. He then blamed the Bush administration for rising unemployment among the disabled, including nearly 90 percent of the deaf and 71 percent of the blind.
"Let's give [Republicans] four more months and then elect Barack Obama," Paterson said to cheers from the New York delegation and others inside Denver's Pepsi Center. "Barack Obama will restore prosperity and will make the changes we need to write a new chapter in the story of the promise of America."
The governor, who lost his vision because of an infection while an infant, said Obama would work with congressional leaders to overturn U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have undermined the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.
The five-minute speech was the most militant and partisan that Paterson has made from a national stage since becoming governor on March 17 when Eliot Spitzer resigned. There also were echoes of Paterson's praise of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry at the 2004 convention in Boston.
On both occasions, Paterson showed flashes of his trademark humor. He feigned "shock" yesterday when the sparse crowd, responding to his open question, shouted "no" that Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain wasn't capable of bolstering the economy.
Paterson then cut into McCain, noting he had touted the Bush administration's economic policies. "If he's the answer to the question, the question must be ridiculous."
The following is a transcript of a speech, as prepared for delivery, by David A. Paterson at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, August 26, 2008:
Let me express my profound gratitude for the magnificent privilege of addressing this convention. I was born in Brooklyn, and I grew up in Harlem and on Long Island. I graduated from Hempstead High School, Columbia University, and Hofstra Law School. In 1985, I was elected to the New York State Senate. In 2006, I was elected Lieutenant Governor. And today, I am deeply honored to address this majestic assembly as Governor of New York State.
My story may be unique in its particular facts and events. But, in a fundamental way, it is not. For it is part of the promise of a glorious nation where anyone who works hard enough can make the most of their God-given potential. This is the promise of America.
What has become of this promise under President Bush? Since last summer, more than 1 million Americans have lost their homes. Wages are declining, while inflation is at a 17-year high. And, this year alone, 463,000 Americans have lost their jobs.
The promise of America has also diminished for people with disabilities. Only 37 percent of Americans with disabilities are employed. Only 30 percent of blind people are employed. And, over the past 8 years, the employment gap between people with disabilities and the general population has increased.
There is only one question in this race: which candidate offers the change we need to restore the promise of America? Is it John McCain? He claims that, under President Bush, we made "great progress economically." In 2007, he voted with the Bush Administration 95 percent of the time.
Only one candidate in this race offers the change we need to restore the promise of America: a person of integrity, honesty, and love for his country, Barack Obama. Barack Obama has the right strategy--from middle class tax cuts, to fair trade policies, to investment in infrastructure-to get our economy moving again.
And just as he fought for people with disabilities as a civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama will fight for us as president. For example, he has pledged to work with Congress to overturn Supreme Court decisions that wrongly narrowed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Here is the choice America faces in 2008. John McCain offers us four more years of the broken politics, broken policies, and broken promises of the past.
I have a better idea. Let's give them four more months--and then elect Barack Obama, who will restore prosperity; deliver the change we need; and write a new chapter in the promise of America.
When Stuart Rabinowitz, president of Hofstra University on Long Island, began his quest to play host to one of this year's presidential debates, he was told by many friends and associates that the odds were not in his favor.
The last time two presidential candidates squared off for a debate in New York State was 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon met on a stage at ABC studios for the last of their four encounters.
And as the deadline neared for Hofstra to make its formal submission to the Commission on Presidential Debates in the spring of 2007, there was much speculation that two New York politicians, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rudolph W. Giuliani, would face each other.
"A lot of people on the outside said we would never get it," Mr. Rabinowitz recalled. "They said, ‘You have not applied before.' With Clinton and Giuliani being leading contenders, they said it would be too New York-centric."
But by then, Mr. Rabinowitz had already spent some three years convincing university officials, local politicians and community leaders that playing host to a debate would be a boon for the school.
For Hofstra, whose 240-acre campus in Hempstead, N.Y., is about 25 miles outside of New York City, the hope is that the exposure is worth the cost — a $1.25 million fee to the debate commission, plus whatever is spent getting the campus ready for the October 15 debate.
"To me this is priceless advertising," Mr. Rabinowitz said. "We are a relatively young and ambitious university. I could say that 100 times in brochures and ads or whatever. But nothing would compare to the attention this will get."
For instance, he said, "Hardball" on MSNBC will broadcast from the campus in the week leading up to the debate, the last of three presidential debates.
Mr. Rabinowitz said that he first began contemplating the prospect after reading an article about the effect a 2004 presidential debate had on the University of Miami at Coral Gables, Fla.
Some 62 million people watched that contest, between Senator John Kerry and President Bush, and university officials said there was an immediate spike in applications after the broadcast. "Neither the university nor the city of Coral Gables had ever gotten that level of visibility," Donna Shalala, the president of the university, said at the time.
Ms. Shalala, who was secretary of health and human services in the Clinton administration, said the university "got on the front page of every newspaper in the country. You can invest in P.R. people, but you can't get that kind of publicity."
The debate at Hofstra caps a prolonged effort by the university to have a voice in the nation's political discourse.
Since 1982, the campus has held presidential conferences featuring high-profile public figures lecturing on presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan. More than 5,000 people packed into an auditorium in 2005 to hear former President Bill Clinton speak. It was then that Mr. Rabinowitz, a former dean of Hofstra's law school who was appointed president of the university in 2000, set out to secure a presidential debate.
The application process, however, is quite rigorous.
In addition to the financial commitments, there are a myriad of logistical requirements potential hosts must meet.
The orderly affair viewers see on television is the result of a chaotic circus behind the scenes.
Organizers expect more than 3,000 members of the news media, along with hundreds of political operatives whose job it is to push their candidate's point of view on the night of the debate. To transmit all that information instantaneously, miles of high-speed cable need to be installed and there must be a place to park hundreds of television satellite trucks.
There are also likely to be thousands of protesters of every political stripe.
Over the years, college campuses have become the preferred venues for presidential debates, and every four years dozens of schools apply for consideration. This year, there were 15 finalists. The University of Mississippi in Oxford will host the first contest; Belmont University in Nashville is the site of the second.
One vice-presidential debate is scheduled to take place at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Hofstra debate will be held in the Mack Auditorium, where Mr. Clinton spoke. It can seat 5,200 people, but to make the hall feel more intimate, debate organizers will shrink it to fewer than 1,000 seats. About 200 to 300 of those will be saved for the university, with most of those distributed to students via lottery.
To capitalize on the opportunity, Mr. Rabinowitz said the university was developing a lecture series called "Educate '08." On the lineup of speakers for the fall are George Stephanopoulos, Dee Dee Myers, Ari Fleischer, Robert Rubin and John and Elizabeth Edwards, who are scheduled to appear together on Sept. 8.
Mr. Edwards, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination this year, has kept a low profile since admitting earlier this month to an affair with a campaign worker.
From: New York Times by Jeremy W. Peters August 25, 2008
DENVER — There are the bureaucrats and hardened political hands, the newcomers and neophytes. There are some who aspire to higher elected office, and some from the political graveyard. There are names known to most everyone and others mostly anonymous outside political circles.
The 361 people who make up New York's delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver include a former majority leader of the United States Senate, two Clintons and a Cuomo. All 25 Democratic members of New York's Congressional delegation have a seat, as do the governor and 20 or so state legislators.
For some, it will be their fourth convention. For others, their first.
Like children headed off to sleep-away camp, New York delegates arrived here with a list of dos and don'ts. As in do drink a lot of water because hydration is necessary to combat the effects of high altitude. And do not consume too much alcohol because the effects of drinking are heightened in the thinner air.
"As you enjoy all the events that Denver and the convention have to offer, please monitor yourself, and remember that drinks may go to your head faster than you're used to in New York," cautions a letter from June O'Neill, the state party chairwoman.
The demographics of this well-looked- after delegation cover just about every conceivable census designation.
The average age is 53, with the youngest 20 and the oldest 84. They are split almost evenly by sex, with 180 men and 181 women. More than 200 are members of ethnic or racial minorities. There are 19 disabled delegates, and 14 are veterans.
"We are black and white and brown and everything in between," Ms. O'Neill said. "We're a very diverse group."
New York has the second-largest delegation at the convention, behind California, which has 503 delegates. The state Democratic Party booked 201 seats on two round-trip flights from New York to Denver and has virtually overrun the Sheraton hotel downtown.
Besides the party luminaries at the convention, there will be some lesser-known Democratic faithful, like a 24-year-old woman with cerebral palsy whose family ruled Nicaragua with an iron fist for more than four decades; an 84-year-old former New York City Council member and pastor from the Bronx who fled the South for New York when he was a teenager for fear he would be lynched; a 77-year-old self-described "old liberal West Side housewife politician" who gave up politics for most of the last decade and found her interest reignited this year by Senator Barack Obama's campaign; and a 20-year-old former United States ski team hopeful turned Democratic fund-raiser who is skipping his first week of college to go to the convention.
Anastasia Somoza's first brush with politics came before she even turned 10, attending City Council meetings at her mother's side. She and her twin sister, Alba, were born with cerebral palsy. Their mother, Mary, fought bitterly with the city school system to have Alba, whose case of cerebral palsy is more severe than Anastasia's, placed in a regular classroom instead of in special education.
The case drew national attention after Anastasia, who was 9 at the time, appealed to President Clinton from her wheelchair during a question-and- answer session for children at the White House.
That encounter, she said, forged her bond to the Clintons. When she was 16, Ms. Somoza volunteered for Hillary Rodham Clinton's first Senate campaign. She then interned for Mrs. Clinton after she was elected and volunteered for her again during this year's presidential campaign.
Now 24, Ms. Somoza, whose father's family ruled Nicaragua for much of the 20th century, said that as a disabled person, she admired how Mrs. Clinton continued fighting to become the Democratic nominee even after many people were counting her out. "If you believe in something, don't give up," said Ms. Somoza, who advocates for the disabled and will be an alternate delegate in Denver. "I really, really felt that she had the experience I experienced."
At 84, the Rev. Wendell Foster has the distinction of being New York's oldest delegate. He will also be half of the delegation's only father-daughter pair. His daughter is Helen D. Foster, who was elected to his old seat on the City Council after he had to leave office because of term limits.
Mr. Foster, who has largely retired from political life and now is a pastor at Christ Church in the Bronx, said he was drawn to politics as a way to fight segregation when he was growing up in Alabama. Memories like his pneumonia-stricken sister's being forced off of a crowded bus because a white person wanted to board and his mother's being told she could not vote are still raw in his mind.
"My anger stayed with me, and I discovered that politics could be a way to make things happen," he said.
Some 70 years have passed since Mr. Foster left Alabama for New York. And while he said he is proud to be serving as a delegate who will select the first black nominee of a major political party in American history, he expected it would have happened sooner.
"To see what has happened gives me pride, gives me joy," Mr. Foster said. "But it also resurrects anger in me because it took us all these years."
Ronnie Eldridge, 77, had been on a political hiatus since 2001, when term limits forced her to step down from her City Council seat. A former special assistant to Mayor John V. Lindsay and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, she became disillusioned by politics early in President Bush's first term.
She started writing a book, spent more time with her 12 grandchildren and started a weekly cable television talk show through the City University of New York. But she said she saw something in Mr. Obama that drew her back into politics. She canvassed for Mr. Obama on the Upper West Side, sold buttons and held informational events.
Having been at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when the vote to elect Hubert H. Humphrey as the party nominee was marred by bitter dissension, Ms. Eldridge said she was glad that it appears the vote in Denver will go smoothly.
"I just don't want to get into any of those floor things," she said. "It's time that we stay unified."
Until about two years ago, Arthur Leopold, 20, the youngest member of the New York delegation, was focused on skiing, not politics. While he was attending boarding school in Vermont, he was training to make the United States ski team.
"I didn't even know what a convention was three years ago, to be honest," he said. When he fell short of making the ski team — "I didn't make the cut," he explained — he began to immerse himself in politics. He interned for Representative Carolyn B. Maloney and was quickly tapped to manage her campaign for re-election in 2006.
"I definitely didn't see myself getting this involved," he said. Mr. Leopold deferred his enrollment at Duke University for two years (he will not attend his first class there until after the convention is over) while he worked for Ms. Maloney and started a political consulting firm. Using Facebook and the old-fashioned telephone, he has raised money for Mr. Obama this year — "the campaign has me at a little more than $200,000 right now," he said.
"This is my first convention, my first time voting for the president, the works," he said.
Senator Biden is a long time friend of the disability community and a champion on our issues. Here are his responses to the 2007 AAPD, SABE, NCIL, ADAPT candidates questionnaire: http://www.aapd.com/News/election/071016sjb.htm
Senator Biden was an original co-sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Education for Handicapped Children Act, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) over 30 years ago and he first came to the Senate because of his commitment to advancing civil rights.
Senator Biden has co-sponsored the Community Choice Act and its predecessors, from the original introduction of MiCASSA in the 107th Congress. He supports the appointment of a Disability Policy Director who reports directly to the President, and he has already agreed to support the UN International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities both as a signatory and through Senate ratification. He has been a champion on many issues of importance to people with disabilities and he is a familiar face at national gatherings of people with disabilities, known for making the time to meet with us and listen to our views.
The team of Obama and Biden is a strong ticket for many, many reasons and Barack Obama's choice for his running mate as the next vice president of the United States is a real reason for celebration among the 54 million Americans with disabilities, our families and our communities.
Thank you Barack Obama for choosing such a wonderful running mate! Voters with disabilities will surely add this important factor as another reason to elect Barack Obama as our next President.
From: New York Times by Jonathan P. Hicks August 23, 2008
Queens Democrats took a step on Friday toward unifying their party in an effort to unseat State Senator Serphin R. Maltese, a Republican, when a candidate withdrew from the Democratic primary, leaving one challenger to the longtime incumbent.
Albert J. Baldeo, a lawyer who ran against Mr. Maltese two years ago, announced at a news conference that he was taking himself out of the race and endorsing the remaining Democratic candidate, City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.
Mr. Maltese, who has represented the 15th District since 1988, has been deemed vulnerable by Senate Democratic leaders in their quest to regain control of the Senate, which the Republicans hold by a one-seat majority.
Two years ago, Mr. Baldeo was a little-known lawyer in Queens who came within 2 percentage points, about 900 votes, of defeating Mr. Maltese. And he achieved that with no support from the party organization in Queens and largely with his own money.
This year, too, Mr. Baldeo's desire for a rematch never acquired much support from Queens Democratic officials. They preferred Mr. Addabbo, the son of a well-known congressman.
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Baldeo said he had become increasingly aware that the party would have a better chance to topple Mr. Maltese if a divisive Democratic primary could be avoided.
"It was a gut-wrenching, difficult decision," Mr. Baldeo said. "But I decided to endorse him for the greater goal of Democratic Party unity. We want to put all of our resources behind one candidate, and that's Councilman Addabbo. I'll be actively campaigning for him."
The two men appeared together at the news conference, at Mr. Baldeo's office in Richmond Hill, Queens. The event even attracted a few of Mr. Maltese's aides, who attended with video cameras.
Mr. Baldeo has had an arms-length relationship with Queens Democrats for some time. And he has been described by party leaders as something of an unpredictable candidate. Despite Mr. Baldeo's strong showing in his previous contest with Senator Maltese, party leaders made their preference for Mr. Addabbo clear long before the councilman entered the race officially.
When asked whether he had been pressured to leave the race, either by Representative Joseph Crowley, the Queens Democratic leader, or Michael H. Reich, the organization's executive secretary, Mr. Baldeo said only that he had been "in consultations with various party leaders," and declined to be more specific.
"The important thing is that we are now united behind a candidate in the Democratic primary," he said.
Despite the withdrawal, Mr. Baldeo's name will remain on the ballot for the September 9 primary. On Friday, Mr. Addabbo called Mr. Baldeo "a worthy opponent."
He added: "I applaud his wholehearted embrace of the democratic process. The Democratic Party is the party of inclusion; it's a big tent with room for everyone, and we are stronger for his efforts."
Here is a short video clip of Obama fielding a question from a mother at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, NC (August 19, 2008). The question and response focus on labels such as "retardation,""disability," and "special needs."
by Kareem Dale, National Disability Vote Director, Obama for America Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 10:17 AM
[Note: This video comes from YouTube, so it is not captioned and I am aware of that. The campaign has not yet processed the video for Barack TV, but once it does, the video will be fully captioned.]
Please see the below blog posting by Seth, the Co-Chair of the Disability Policy Committee.
For months now, Barack Obama has been talking about disability issues with voters on the stump: how to break down the barriers that exclude people with disabilities from jobs; the importance of universal health care to Americans of all kinds, including people with disabilities; and providing the supports that people with disabilities need to live independent lives in their communities.
Unfortunately, we don't always have video of these discussions on the campaign trail. But click here for one user-generated video that's available on YouTube showing Barack Obama answering a question from the mother of a child with Down's Syndrome. Barack doesn't just show his support for Americans with disabilities and their families, although he certainly does that. He also explains why he strongly supports full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. I encourage you to spend a few minutes. It's worth watching.
As a contrast, click here for a video of Senator McCain's statement about the fact that he doesn't support the Community Choice Act. And click here for McCain's prior public statement against the CCA.
I thoughts some of you might be interested in John McCain's recent remarks about health reform and his interest in making more "home care" available. While I guess he wants more personal assistance services for all Americans EXCEPT for those with Medicaid.
The Obama and McCain campaigns released the following statement on the Presidential Debates
The Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns have agreed to hold three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in September and October sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The campaigns have come to the earliest agreement on presidential debates reached in any general election in recent history. This announcement reflects the presidential campaigns' agreement on dates, locations, and the formats for the fall debates. Campaign-appointed debate negotiators House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said they were pleased to have reached an early agreement to provide the American people with the opportunity to see and hear the candidates debate the critical issues facing the country. The two campaigns have accepted sponsorship of the debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates, subject to the debates being conducted under the terms of their agreement.
Summary of McCain-Obama Debate Agreement
The two campaigns agreed today on a framework for four General Election debates, to be sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Key elements of the agreement are:
1. First Presidential Debate:
* Date: September 26 * Site: University of Mississippi * Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security * Moderator: Jim Lehrer * Staging: Podium debate * Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment
2. Vice Presidential Debate
* Date: October 2 * Site: Washington University ( St. Louis ) * Moderator: Gwen Ifill * Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties' Vice Presidential nominees are selected.
3. Second Presidential Debate
* Date: October 7 * Site: Belmont University * Moderator: Tom Brokaw * Staging: Town Hall debate * Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.
4. Third Presidential Debate
* Date: October 15 * Site: Hofstra University * Topic: Domestic and Economic policy * Moderator: Bob Schieffer * Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table * Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate * Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.
All four debates will begin at 9:00pm ET, and last for 90 minutes. Both campaigns also agreed to accept the CPD's participation rules for third-party candidate participation.
Two Senate Republicans may soon become Senate Democrats if Nassau County Legislator Craig Johnson, the Democratic candidate for the 7th state Senate district seat, wins the special election on February 6.
"There's a real possibility that the Democrats will take back a majority in the state Senate this year," said Ethan Geto, a Democratic strategist and president of Geto and de Milly."There are two Republican state Senators who have been rumored to be talking to the Democratic Senate leadership and are prepared to jump the aisle."
The likelihood of that scenario playing out increases significantly if Craig Johnson wins his bid for the Senate seat vacated when Republican Michael Balboni accepted a post as Gov. Spitzer's deputy secretary of public safety. Johnson's win would whittle down the Senate Republican majority to two seats, and the defection of two Republicans would put both parties at 31 seats each, leaving the tie breaking vote to Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat.
Lt. Gov. Paterson has hinted at the prospect of Senate Democrats taking the majority in previous interviews with the Blade. When asked after his inauguration if the Democrats might achieve a Senate majority in 2008, Lt. Gov. Paterson said, "Give me a couple more months and it might happen in 2007."
Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith is working hard to fulfill Paterson's prophecy. Within the last couple weeks, Geto said Sen. Smith had "reiterated his strong support for passing a gay marriage bill and is looking toward cobbling together a Democratic majority in the state Senate so they can move the bill."
Geto declined to name names, but one need only survey media from around the state to drum up some theories.
Sen. John Bonacic of New Paltz has been noted repeatedly on The New York Observer Politicker blog for having led a "lonely revolt" in Albany when he was the sole senator to call for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's resignation due to an FBI probe into his business dealings. One week later, the Times Herald-Record reported that Gov. Spitzer had held an hour-long meeting with Sen. Bonacic.
Meanwhile, the Albany Times Union blog called Sen. Joseph Robach, who became a Republican when he jumped the aisle back in 2002, a "prime candidate" for switching parties again.
A Democratic Senate majority would prompt a dramatic shift in focus to the Assembly where all eyes would be on Speaker Sheldon Silver. Democrats hold a 107-43 seat advantage in the Assembly. Still, more than a few activists have noted Silver's reluctance to bring a marriage bill up for a vote if it doesn't have a chance in the Senate.
"If we capture the majority in the Senate, it makes it easier for a bill to be brought to the floor of the Assembly and voted on because there's no longer the prospect of it being a one-house bill," said Geto.
New York officials have given up on replacing the state's aging voting machines by the fall elections, and some would like to put off buying new electronic voting systems until after the 2008 presidential election, state officials said yesterday.
New York is the last state to update its machines, and the latest delay comes amid growing questions about the work of a laboratory that was hired to help test the machines being offered by five bidders.
Based in part on the problems with the testing lab, the New York State Board of Elections has pushed back its deadline for certifying which machines would be acceptable until at least May.
Given the months it would take for counties to acquire the machines and train poll workers, "that would make it impossible to replace anything more than a few isolated machines for the 2007 elections," said Douglas A. Kellner, a board co-chairman.
Mr. Kellner said it might be possible to have the new system ready for the presidential primary in March 2008. An association of county election officials passed a resolution last week urging the state to wait until 2009, and Mr. Kellner said most board members agreed that it would be better if the state did not have to make such sweeping changes amid the high turnout of a presidential election.
But because the electronic systems are easier for the disabled to use than the old lever machines, the state was required by Congress and a federal court order to make the changes more quickly. Mr. Kellner said those orders would need to be amended to allow for further delays and to let New York hold on to at least $50 million in federal funds to help pay for the machines.
Mr. Kellner said the elections board was also considering whether to terminate its contract with the testing lab, Ciber Inc., which has also run into trouble with federal officials.
The board suspended Ciber's work earlier this month after The New York Times reported that federal officials had found deficiencies in its practices and had held up its application for temporary accreditation under a new oversight program.
State election officials then asked Ciber, based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and the federal Election Assistance Commission for the reports about the deficiencies. The company turned them over on Thursday, after state officials threatened to subpoena the documents. The federal commission posted them on its Web site yesterday, along with a letter warning Ciber that it had only four to five more weeks to fix the problems.
According to the documents, a federal auditor found last July that Ciber, the nation's largest tester of voting machine software, did not follow its own quality-control procedures or conduct all the proper tests.
The documents indicate that in many cases, the lab simply used tests suggested by the voting machine manufacturers, rather than running standardized checks of its own. The auditor also criticized the lab for "acceding too quickly" to requests by the voting machine companies to modify the tests.
Voting machine experts have long been concerned about possible conflicts of interest in the testing, and some say the problems with Ciber have raised questions about the security and reliability of some of the machines now in use.
In a written response to the audit, company officials also acknowledged "relatively loose handling" of meetings during the testing. "Since we are a small group, we often just call each other down the hall for a meeting, especially if something is critical," the response said.
Ciber's spokeswoman, Diane C. Stoner, said in a statement yesterday that the company had fixed most of the problems and expected to receive the federal certification.
When he left the military in August 2005, John DeVito was hoping for a better life. It hasn't turned out that way.
The former Army tank driver, who saw six months of combat in Iraq as a member of the invading forces, was injured at a roadside check outside Baghdad. The barrel-chested 23-year-old now needs a cane to get around. He can't find a job and believes that his disability, combined with his limited work experience, has hurt his prospects.
Mr. DeVito is getting by on about $450 a month in military disability payments and staying with his mother on Staten Island while he studies computer science.
"To go back to living under Mommy's roof is never a great feeling after being independent," says Mr. DeVito, who last year was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder last year by a doctor with the Department of Veterans Affairs. "A lot of stuff gets compounded - past events from combat and my current standing - and I go through these bouts of depression."
His story is the story of thousands of New Yorkers who are struggling to re-enter civilian life after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many of them suffer from social, medical or psychological problems caused by the stresses of battle. Left untreated, such trauma symptoms - which studies indicate affect about one in five veterans - usually worsen over time.
Coming home
The vets stumble through a confusing tangle of government and nonprofit agencies offering help. It's an inadequate system that can't even muster an official, up-to-date count of how many vets are at risk.
As of the end of 2005, at least 6,000 people in the New York area had been discharged from tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. That was the last time the Department of Defense released such data. Experts estimate the current figure to be about 8,000. President George W. Bush's recent decision to deploy 21,000 additional soldiers to Iraq stands to increase the population of vulnerable returnees.
"There's a real need out there, and it must be addressed," says Robert Greene, combat veteran coordinator for New York Harbor Health Care System, a VA hospital that has registered 3,685 veterans seeking services since October 1, 2004.
An initial Crain's investigation 18 months ago found early signs of a troubled homecoming for the city's veterans (August 30, 2005, Page 1). At the time, advocates estimated that perhaps as many as 100 men and women who had fought in Iraq or Afghanistan were homeless. Today, according to the people who treat and counsel veterans, the number of homeless vets in the city probably exceeds 100 and is climbing.
New York officials have recently stepped up their outreach. Last month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced initiative "Project Welcome Home" to find housing for 100 veterans of any war within 100 days. He launched a joint task force of the city, the VA and nonprofits and charged it with finding ways to help those who served. After being lobbied by advocates, the mayor also successfully championed the cause of two VA hospitals that Washington was threatening to close.
Meanwhile, some City Council members are floating a proposal to budget $5 million to create a one-stop referral center in each borough. The centers would address a major problem: The network of agencies serving returning vets is decentralized and disorganized. A spokesman for the mayor says that Mr. Bloomberg hasn't ruled out supporting the proposal, which will be one of many options considered.
Robert Hess, commissioner of New York's Department of Homeless Services, says, "We want to try to craft a different system that identifies veterans' needs earlier to prevent them from ever ending up on the streets."
The efforts are coming not a moment too soon. Though the VA is the principal agency for discharged servicemen and women, not all are eligible for help. In addition, budget cuts have hit the agency hard.
Though the figures are rough, some advocates estimate that at least 3,000 more New York vets will need help with housing, mental health issues and job counseling over the next two years. They will turn increasingly to city agencies ill-equipped to handle the influx: The Mayor's Office of Veterans' Affairs has a budget of $180,000 and a staff of three. Veterans say they end up dialing 311 to find out where they can get help, usually without success.
"If I got out of the military right at this moment, I would have no idea where to go for veteran services in the city," says Joseph Bello, a veterans advocate.
Facing foreclosure
One female army veteran who asked not to be named says that since leaving active duty a year ago, she has made dozens of calls for assistance with job placement and legal issues. She now faces foreclosure on her late parents' home in Queens.
City and federal agencies don't have a handle on how many are in the greatest need. The city puts the overall number of homeless vets in the five boroughs at about 700, though there's no consensus even among departments. The figure probably understates the problem.
"The truth is, nobody knows with certainty" how many Iraq and Afghanistan vets are included in that tally, Mr. Hess says. "I'm sure there are a few, and I'm sure there will be more over time, tragically."
ASSISTANCE FOR VETS
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE
New York Harbor Health Care System (212) 951-3295
READJUSTMENT COUNSELING
Bronx Vet Center (718) 367-3500
Brooklyn Vet Center (718) 624-2765
Harlem Vet Center (212) 426-2200
Manhattan Vet Center (212) 620-3306
Queens Vet Center (718) 296-2871
Staten Island Vet Center (718) 816-4499
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Workplace questions (866) 4USA-DOL
NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS COUNSELING
National Veterans Foundation Hotline (888) 777-4443
GENERAL SUPPORT
Veterans of Foreign Wars (212) 807-3164
Black Veterans for Social Justice (718) 852-6004
Citizen Soldier (212) 679-2250
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (212) 982-9699
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) - Craig Johnson, a popular county legislator, was nominated Monday to run for a key state Senate seat being left vacant by Michael Balboni's departure to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer's administration as chief of homeland security.
Johnson, 35, will face Maureen O'Connell, a former Republican state assemblywoman and the current Nassau County clerk, in the Feb. 6 election.
Jay Jacobs, chairman of the Nassau County Democrats, said Johnson comes to the table with a solid record and base of supporters."He knows how to campaign, voters are used to voting for him and he has an excellent record in the Legislature," Jacobs said.
Johnson was elected to the 11th Legislative District in a special election in 2000 after the death of the former legislator, Barbara Johnson, his mother.
He was re-elected to the post in 2001 and 2003. In 2005, he received 73 percent of the votes, Jacobs said.
The race for the 7th Senate District seat is considered a possible opening for Democrats on Long Island, where they hold a slight advantage in voter registration, 78,000 to 72,000.
Long Island Democrats have pulled off impressive victories for county executive and district attorney and have dominated most congressional elections in recent years, but they have yet to crack the GOP's domination in the state Senate, where all nine seats are held by Republicans.
Balboni abandoned a possible run for state attorney general last year in part because of concerns that move could cost the GOP, which holds a 33-28 advantage over Democrats in the state Senate with his departure.
O'Connell, 56, won Balboni's state Assembly seat when he moved to the Senate in 1999 and hopes to follow the same path into the Senate. She said she is running with backing from the Conservative and Independence parties.
She also has served as a trustee and deputy mayor of East Williston and is a registered nurse and lawyer.
Jacobs said the seat has been occupied by the GOP "for about a hundred years."
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