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Republican John Faso said Thursday he will decide “before too long” what, if any, office he will run for next year.

“A lot of people want me to run again for state office — comptroller primarily,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’ve done this before. I certainly am very concerned with the direction of the state and the country. But I haven’t made a decision whether it’s personally the best thing for me to do or not.”

Challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, in the 20th Congressional District is another possibility, said Faso, a former state Assembly minority leader from Kinderhook in Columbia County.

A blogger going by the name M.R. Newman this week suggested on two conservative blogs — redstate.com and oldlineelephant.blogspot.com — that Republicans should consider drafting Faso to run for Congress.

“Actually I noticed it because someone pointed it out to me today,” Faso said.

He said he does not know who M.R. Newman is.

“Haven’t a clue,” he said.

Faso was the Republican candidate for governor in 2006 and the Republican candidate for state comptroller in 2002.

Paper mills that burn “black liquor” as fuel would not lose eligibility for a cellulosic renewable energy tax credit under the latest Senate version of health care reform legislation, spokesmen for U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer, D-NY, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, said Thursday.

Cellulosic methanol, also known as “black liquor,” is a byproduct from the pulp making process.
Mills that burn it as an alternative fuel receive a tax credit now, but the House health care reform bill eliminated the credit for paper mills.

U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, cited the elimination of the credit for paper mills as one of the reasons he voted against the House bill.

This time two years ago, four candidates were actively campaigning for the Republican nomination in the 20th Congressional District race, and county GOP chairmen said to get serious consideration a candidate needed to have raised at least $1 million by around Christmas.

This time around, no Republican candidate has declared candidacy or began raising money.

The paradigm is different this race, Warren County Republican Chairman Michael Grasso said Tuesday.

“I think things are changing,” Grasso said in a telephone interview. “I think our focus is not going to be on money.”

Grasso said it’s possible that county chairmen will look outside the usual field of office seekers to find someone to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, in November 2010.

“People want to see new faces. That just seems to be the modus operandi of winning elections,” he said.

Grasso had kind words for Murphy — at least kind from a GOP perspective.

“He (Murphy) looks more like a Republican every day, which I find very interesting,” Grasso said.

U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, on Wednesday, announced legislation he cosponsored that provides federal funding for local fire departments passed the House.

The bill authorizes $2.2 billion in grants annually to help fire departments buy equipment and hire staff.

The legislation also modifies time commitments and lowers matching fund requirements to make is easier for departments to qualify for funding, according to a press release.

Local Assembly members said Tuesday they were frustrated with the slow pace of discussion about reducing the state budget deficit.

“There really seems to be not a lot of direction and not a lot of sense of what’s going to happen,” said Assemblyman Tony Jordan, R-Jackson. “It’s like listening to the crickets at night waiting for a response.”

There was little response to a package of new proposals the Assembly Republican Conference offered earlier Tuesday as alternatives to cutting education and health care funding, said Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro.

The proposal, as outlined by Sayward, included the following:

* $300 million from redirecting funding from construction projects completed under budget;

* 2.5 percent reduction in state agency budgets, with the exception of education and health care;

* 20 percent in non-resident tuition at SUNY and CUNY colleges;

* Rescinding of any member item grants that do not yet have signed contracts.

The Adirondack Phantoms did poorly on the ice on Friday evening, losing 5-0 to the Binghamtom Senators at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

But team co-owner Rob Brooks had some positive news to report on the political front.

Robert Brooks Sr., father to team co-presidents Rob and Jim Brooks, won the Murrysville, Pa. mayoral race on Nov. 3, carrying 76 percent of the vote in the Pittsburgh suburb.

Now if the Phantoms could just achieve that level of winning percentage.

New York Gov. Charles Evans Hughes had a pretty aggressive reading list for a two-week get-away to the Adirondacks in the summer of 1907.

The books he packed included “Back Home“ by Eugene Woods, “The Voyages of Champlain,” and a few novels by James Fenimore Cooper and others, according to an August 11, 1907 article in “The New York Times,” headlined “Hughes Camping on Presidential Ground.”

Hughes, vacationing with his son, stayed in a cottage at the fish hatchery camp, about a half-mile from the Saranac Inn.

Reading wasn’t the governor’s only interest, according to the report.

Hughes, a native of Glens Falls, also was contemplating forest land conservation.

“Already an enthusiast on the subject of forest protection and reforestation, Gov. Hughes has in two weeks realized, more than ever before, the necessity of enlarging the state’s forest reserves and parks in the Adirondacks by the purchase of additional wooded land,” the unidentified reporter stated.

Hughes, in fact, did call in his 1908 Message to the Legislature a few months later for the state to buy more Adirondack land as well as initiate a considerable tree replanting effort.

“It would be difficult to name any matter of greater importance to the people than the conservation of our forests,” Hughes said in the speech.

State Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, R-Willsboro, spoke with me after the Veterans Day observance in Glens Falls on Wednesday.

Q: Do you have a minute to discuss developments in Albany?

A: “Nothing is happening in Albany, so it will be a very short interview, Maury.” (Laughs)

Q: What are your thoughts about the whole deficit reduction situation?

A: “Well, I think that we should have done something while we were down there. But obviously that didn’t happen. Speaker Silver was committed to doing what was necessary to do. Our (Republican) conference was, but the Senate — we just couldn’t get any action out of the Senate. So we have put together some alternatives that we think might be helpful if we can’t agree on what’s on the table already. And we’re going to go back on Monday.”

Q: What are a few examples of those alternatives?

A: “You know one of them is no more (state) land (purchases) in the Adirondacks, which is an easy one. Consolidating some of our agencies down in Albany. … Some of the mandates that the schools have been asking for relief from we have in that package as well. And we did have a call in to our conference yesterday from the governor who wanted to talk with Brian Kolb who is our leader about some of those alternatives. So hopefully we’ll get action by next week.”

…

Q: It was reported last night that the governor said that there will definitely be a vote, I believe it was before the end of the year, in the Senate on same sex marriage. What are you hearing amongst your fellow advocates on this issue?

A: “Well, everybody’s hoping that it will come up. But whether it does or not I don’t know. … Quite frankly, as much as I advocate for this happening, because I am a supporter of same sex marriage, I think that we were back to do the business of closing the gap in the budget and that should have been our focus.”

Q: Now that there’s been a week for the dust to settle in the 23rd Congressional District race, what are you thoughts about the whole fall out from that? (Democrat Bill Owens defeated Conservative Douglas Hoffman after Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race and endorsed Owens.)

A: Well — there’s been a lot of different things. I think from my perspective being a woman — I like to think a strong representative for the people in my district — I wonder sometimes what the future is for me. So we’ll see what happens. People are not happy with government. They’re not happy with what’s happening in Albany. They’re not happy with what’s happening in Washington. And quite frankly, I can’t find a bit of argument to change their mind on that. We have to make some drastic changes. I think it’s going to take a (state) Constitutional Convention to do that. I’m certainly pushing that. And we’ll just see what happens.”

Q: When you say you wonder what the future is for you — do you plan to run for re-election next year?

A: “Absolutely — I believe I am doing a good job for the people. I’m there voting all the right ways, you know. I am fiscally conservative. I have a 95 percent rating with the Conservative Party — believe it or not. And so, I’m doing what the people are asking us to do. And if they believe that’s true, then I will be reelected. If not, you’ll be speaking to someone else in a couple of years.”

Citizen Action of New York and MoveOn.org announced two demonstrations on Thursday to protest the vote of U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, against the House health care reform bill.

Demonstrations will be at 4 p.m. outside the congressman’s Hudson office and at 5 p.m. outside his Clifton Park office.

“Representative Murphy chose the health insurance industry over his constituents when he voted against the House health care bill,” said Al Ormsby, a Democratic committeeman from Saratoga Springs, in a press release.

Voting against the House health care reform bill provides U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, with leverage to negotiate for reduction or removal of taxes on paper mills and medical device plants as the legislative process continues, said Saratoga County Democratic Chairman Larry Bulman.

“You give up your bargaining position if you had voted yes,” said Bulman, who also is state political director for New York Pipe Trades and has been active in the union’s lobbying effort on health care reform.

Bulman said unions have a vested interest in protecting jobs at area paper mills and medical device plants, many of which are unionized.

“If I was in Scott’s shoes, I probably would have voted against it too,” he said.

Bulman said the union will advocate in the Senate for changes to the bill, in hopes that Murphy will feel comfortable supporting the revised bill when it ultimately comes back to the House for a final vote.