UTICA, New York – U.S. adults are nearly unanimous in believing that reducing the national debt is important, but are divided on related issues such as tax cuts and whether the federal government should spend more infrastructure projects to create jobs and prepare for the future.

The results come from a Zogby Interactive survey of 2,068 U.S. adults conducted from Feb. 17-19, 2010. The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.2%.

Importance of Reducing U.S. Debt

Ninety-five percent of U.S. adults say it is important to reduce the debt, including 66% who say it is very important. Percentages who say debt reduction is very important are higher among Republicans (89%) and independents (71%) than among Democrats (44%). However, another 48% of Democrats say it is somewhat important. Numbers are similar for self-identified liberals, with a total of 91% saying debt reduction is very or somewhat important.

Please click the link below to view the full news release on our website:
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.cfm?ID=1830

The Zogby Interactive survey of 2,847 likely voters nationwide also found that while the President’s job performance rating among Democrats decreased slightly, support among political independents inched upward.  The survey was conducted Mar. 2 through Mar. 4, 2010 and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.8 percentage points.

The table below shows Obama’s job approval on Zogby Interactive polls since August 21.

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of Barack Obama’s job as president?

Please click the link below to view the full news release on our website:
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.cfm?ID=1828

Senator Griffo was promoted to the post of Ranking Minority Member on the Senate Energy Committee, while Senator Maziarz serves as the Committee’s Chairman.

The first visit will be to the New York Power Authority’s Clark Energy Control Center in Marcy. They will tour the center and meet with NYPA’s facility operations managers.

The second visit will be to Revere Copper Products, Inc. in Rome. The Senators will tour the facility and discuss the state’s Power for Jobs program, along with power costs for manufacturers and businesses in New York State.

Senator Griffo was promoted to the post of Ranking Minority Member on the Senate Energy Committee, while Senator Maziarz serves as the Committee’s Chairman.

The first visit will be to the New York Power Authority’s Clark Energy Control Center in Marcy. They will tour the center and meet with NYPA’s facility operations managers.

The second visit will be to Revere Copper Products, Inc. in Rome. The Senators will tour the facility and discuss the state’s Power for Jobs program, along with power costs for manufacturers and businesses in New York State.

“After the summit, there was an increase in the number of people who think health reform will pass this year,” said S. Ward Casscells, M.D., vice president of external relations and public policy and John Edward Tyson Distinguished Professor in Cardiology at UTHealth. “However, there remains an even split between President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and a Republican alternative.”

The percentage of those surveyed who thought that health reform legislation has a 75 percent chance or better of passing this year increased from 22 percent to 34 percent. Conversely, the number of people who thought that health legislation has a 25 percent chance or less of passing dropped from 38 percent to 26 percent.

“I think voters may have been impressed by the President’s determination to get healthcare reform passed,” said Casscells, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

Before the summit, 40 percent preferred the Obama plan and 40 percent preferred a Republican alternative. Afterward little changed with 43 percent preferring the Obama plan and 44 percent a Republican alternative.

What is interesting, according to Casscells, is that last year when pollsters asked adults what they thought of the U.S Senate Finance Committee’s proposed healthcare legislation, only 27 percent supported it.

When healthcare reform is described as the “Obama plan,” key components are defined and it is contrasted with a Republican alternative, support goes up, Casscells said. “This could be a testament to the popularity of the President,” he said.

Another key finding, according to Casscells, is that Democrats believe their party is being more forthright about reform than Republicans. “When asked which party is most serious about putting the nation’s needs ahead of political gain for health reform, 70 percent of the Democrats surveyed chose their party whereas only 55 percent of the Republicans selected their party,” he said.

Independents were more likely to believe that Democrats are more serious than Republicans about putting the nation’s needs ahead of political gain. Still, nearly half of the independents (49 percent) do not think either party will put the nation’s needs first, according to the poll.

The pre-summit survey of 1,665 likely voters was conducted Feb. 24-25 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points. The post summit survey of 2,805 likely voters between March 2- 4 had a margin of error of +/- 1.8 percentage points.

In the latest survey, when asked if the President’s healthcare summit increased or decreased their support of the President’s healthcare proposals, 35 percent reported it had no impact on their support, 31 percent stated it decreased their support and 30 percent reported it increased their support.

Forty-two percent of those surveyed reported that they watched the bipartisan summit on healthcare and another 43 percent watched or read news coverage about the summit. Fourteen percent did not watch or read about it.

Albany – Senator Joseph A. Griffo (R,IP,C – Rome) recently announced that the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators is now accepting applications for four scholarships to be awarded in June at their Annual Conference Weekend.

“Given the high costs of college, any opportunity to award a scholarship to a student is important. Working families are trying to meet the demands of college expenses and a scholarship, along with available financial aid are important tools.” Said Griffo. “I highly recommend that our area’s students apply to the Conference for these prestigious scholarships so that they may hopefully secure as much extra help with their expenses as possible.”

This year, the Italian-American State Legislators Conference will be awarding four $1,500 scholarships to four current or future college students from New York State. Eligibility will be based upon the student’s grade point average, interest in pursuing a higher education, involvement in the local community as well as individual financial need. All applications must be received by 5:00 PM on April 16th in order for applications to be considered for the academic year beginning in the fall of 2010.

Recipients of this year’s scholarships will be invited to Albany for an award presentation in June.

Interested students can download an application online at www.senatorgriffo.com or by contacting Sen. Griffo’s office at 315-793-9072.

Will April again be the cruelest month? The deadline to balance the state’s budget is only a few short weeks away, yet Albany appears hobbled by scandal and consumed by its own self-serving politics. The 2010-2011 budget is due on April 1, and we owe it to taxpayers to get back to work and pass it on time. With unemployment still buffeting Central New York, my colleagues and I must work to enact a fiscally responsible state budget as well, one that does not raise taxes or crowd out private-sector growth with unnecessary government spending. Lawmakers cannot let the cloud hanging over Albany, its allegations of egregious abuse and justice obstruction, distract us from the task of serving the people of the Empire State. Failure is not an option.

Jobless rates in Oneida and Oswego counties are at 8.4 and 11.6 percent respectively. For both their annual average is the highest it’s been since the unemployment of the 1992 recession nearly two decades ago. More than 800,000 New Yorkers are out of work. Meanwhile, we have some of the highest property taxes in the nation. These taxes are poised to increase yet again as counties face a sales-tax shortfall due to a severe drop in consumer demand. It seems like raising income and other taxes is the last thing a state government should do in this fragile economic environment; however, Albany’s downstate leaders are proposing another $1 billion in taxes and fees tacked onto last year’s $8.2 billion total taxes. Unfortunately, this is not a revenue problem. It is a spending crisis, and we make it worse by feeding this habit with ever-higher tax hikes.

A new forecast illustrates the extent of the problem. The two-year general fund budget deficit now stands at $9.05 billion, according to a report by the minority Ways and Means Office. It seems the administration rosily overestimates total tax receipts by $1.35 billion. Moreover, the recovery already being felt in other parts of the nation will not begin in New York until the middle of this year, according to the forecast. This despite a $1 billion tax hike approved last year – a tax increase which I voted against – and focused mostly on personal income. Now that revenue has not tracked as closely to rate increases as Albany bureaucrats had originally expected, New York’s red ink submersion grows deeper. The Empire State is hooked on income taxes – it’s approximately 55 percent of our total receipts – and when these fail to materialize, current taxpayers, already soaked by other taxes and fees, are expected to keep a bloated state government afloat.

The answer to the state’s fiscal emergency is not raising taxes on hard-working families or delaying tax refunds or pursuing another temporary federal bailout, but to focus on reducing the size of government. The only way we can hope to put people back to work and turn the economy around is to cast partisanship aside and work together to pass a budget which caps state spending and cuts taxes on the middle class. As a newly appointed member of the joint budget commission’s public protection committee, I am calling for an open and honest conversation about how we can achieve an on-time, fiscally responsible budget and get Upstate New York’s economy moving again. April, as T.S. Eliot wrote, may be cruel; but there is no reason why Albany should be indifferent.

(Verona, NY) Councilman, Fred “Fritz” Scherz, Jr. from Verona, NY, has been selected to participate in the New York State Young Republicans Leadership Conference, being held March 12th – 14th at the Hampton Inn (25 Chapel St.) in Albany, NY.  Fritz will be on the “Sitting YR Elected Officials” panel during the March 13th portion of the conference.

“I’m honored that I was asked me to participate on the Sitting YR Elected Officials panel,” said Scherz.  “I want to thank Lynn Krogh, Chair and Christopher Dziedzic, past Chair of the New York State Young Republicans for selecting me.  I look forward to taking part and exchanging best practices.”

Fritz ran for Councilman on the Verona Town Board last year and won.  He was officially sworn into office on January 4, 2010.

For more information on the conference, go to:  www.nysyr.us.

For more information on Fritz, go to:  www.fritzscherz.com or call him at:  (315) 363-3509.

Submitted by the Oneida Indian Nation

(Oneida Nation Homelands) Legal theories upon which David Vickers and Scott Peterman, leaders of Upstate Citizens for Equality, staked their credibility in efforts to rally public support against the U.S. Department of Interior’s decision to accept more than 13,000 acres of Oneida Nation reservation into federal trust, have been dismissed in yet another federal court ruling.  The decision was issued yesterday, March 4, by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn.

The federal court rejected Vickers and Peterman’s decade-long challenges to the legality of gaming at Turning Stone, which was a significant part of their opposition to Oneida trust land.  The court specifically ruled against allegations that the Oneida gaming compact is invalid and that gaming cannot occur on the Oneida reservation.  In so ruling, the Court — yet again — reaffirmed that the Oneida Nation’s 300,000 acres reservation was never disestablished.

This decision is the sixth federal court ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 City of Sherrill opinion to uphold the ongoing existence of the 300,000 acre Oneida reservation, and to reaffirm that the reservation never was disestablished since recognized in treaties entered between the United States and the Oneida Nation in the late 18^th century.

The federal court raises questions about the trustworthiness of Vickers and Peterman, along with Michael Hennessy and David Townsend, all of whom repeatedly proclaimed to the public the merits of their theories that were rejected in this ruling and the federal court’s similar ruling earlier this week against Hennessy and Townsend.  The ruling also places into doubt the ongoing relevance of UCE, which lists among its core missions its now-failed challenges to the gaming compact and the status of the Oneida Nation reservation.

“Although the Nation obviously is pleased by the outcome, we really are not surprised by it,” stated Mark Emery, director of media relations for the Oneida Nation. “It has been clear from the start of these cases, as demonstrated by the references in the federal court ruling to earlier decisions rejecting these same claims, that they never had merit.”  Emery further stated, “It is a shame that so much time and energy had to be expended addressing these allegations, but everyone has a right to their day in court.  We are pleased the long saga over the legality of gaming at Turning Stone finally is over.”

In addition to its rejection of the gaming challenges, the federal court granted the United States Department of Justice and Oneida Nation’s motions to dismiss several of the other claims on the same grounds it rejected the same claims by Michael Hennessy and David Townsend earlier this week.

(Oneida Nation Homelands) Highly publicized legal challenges by Assemblyman David Townsend, Oneida County Legislator Michael J. Hennessy and the Central NY Fair Business Association to the May 2008 decision by the U.S. Department of Interior taking take 13,000 acres of land into trust for the benefit of the Oneida Indian Nation were dealt a severe blow in a March 1 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence E. Kahn.

The federal court upheld the constitutionality of trust land in New York State, reaffirmed that the Oneida reservation was never disestablished, rejected challenges to the legality of gaming at Turning Stone, denied challenges to the DOI’s transfer of the 18 acre “Verona test site” parcel into trust, and dropped all claims against Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter.

Hennessy and Townsend touted the merits of their claims in May 2009, when they urged Oneida County legislators to reject the $55 million Oneida County Partnership Plan.  Hennessy and Townsend claimed that the County would fare better in the claims that now have been dismissed.

“Although the preferred outcome was a negotiated resolution, Oneida County’s legislature became convinced it could fare better in the litigation,” stated Mark Emery, director of media relations for the Oneida Nation.  “In the absence of a resolution, the Nation obviously is very pleased with this ruling, as it moves the trust land challenges significantly closer to closure.”

The federal court granted the United States Department of Justice’s and Oneida Nation’s motions to dismiss several of Hennessy and Townsend’s challenges, ruling as follows:

1.         rejected Hennessy and Townsend’s claims that the law authorizing the Department of Interior to take land into trust for the benefit of the Oneida Indian Nation is unconstitutional, citing numerous previous federal rulings that already had rejected those claims;

2.         reaffirmed that the Oneida Nation’s 300,000 acre reservation was never disestablished;

3.         rejected claims that gaming at Turning Stone is being conducted illegally on non-Indian lands;

4.         upheld the Department of Interior’s acceptance into trust for the Oneida Nation’s benefit the 18 acre Verona annex to the Griffiss Air Force Base, finding that the 18 acre transfer does not inflict “any harm upon a legally protected interest” of Hennessy or Townsend;

5.         dismissed Hennessy and Townsend’s allegations that the Department of Interior’s acceptance of land into trust was racially discriminatory; and

6.         rejected Hennessy and Townsend’s challenges to the Department of Interior’s 9- volume Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).