Barrett to chair ORDA board of directors

The former chairman of the New York State Republican Committee unofficially took the helm of the state Olympic Regional Development Authority’s Board of Directors today.

Pat Barrett sat in as chair of Tuesday’s regular ORDA meeting, replacing Joe Martens, who earlier this month was confirmed as the new commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Barrett worked for Cuomo during his gubernatorial campaign last year, and served as chair of the state Republican committee from 1989 to 1991.

In TL, Cuomo issues stern warning

During a surprise visit to Tupper Lake Monday, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo issued a stern warning to state workers.

According to WWNY-TV, Cuomo was touring the Sunmount Developmental Disabilities Services Office and campus when he issued the following statement:

“If I was a state worker and just a resident of the state, I would be afraid of what is coming ahead,” he said.

The WWNY report states that Cuomo has been touring state facilities since being elected. During his campaign, the Democrat promised to cut state spending and slash the state workforce.

While touring Sunmount, Cuomo said layoffs cause pain for families, but that difficult decisions will need to be made in order to bring New York out of its fiscal crisis.

AP: Lazio to bow out of race

Breaking news from the Associated Press:

Conservative candidate Rick Lazio says he's withdrawing from the race for New York's governor, avoiding a potential three-way race that would have seriously hurt the chances of the tea party Republican who beat Lazio in the primary.

Lazio tells The Associated Press Monday he wants to continue to influence the race and bring a workable job creation program into a contest he says has devolved into name-calling between Republican Carl Paladino and Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

Polls, polls, and more polls...

Looks like Quinnipiac University and the Siena Research Institute have some explaining to do.

Quinnipiac came out with a poll yesterday showing that tea party Republican Carl Paladino was making huge gains on Democrat Andrew Cuomo in New York's gubernatorial race.

The numbers showed Cuomo with a 49 to 43 percentage point lead over Paladino.

Then, today, Siena answered back with a poll showing a very different race.

Something stinks in Albany... and in your mailbox!

Say what you want about Carl Paladino (and people are saying a lot), but at least he's livening up an otherwise boring gubernatorial election in New York.

Democrat Andrew Cuomo is way out in front in almost every poll, but I don't think Paladino is too concerned.

After all, the pollsters said Tuesday's primary would be too close to call, and Paladino dispatched former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio with relative ease.

Gubernatorial election could be over before it starts

More from Jon:

Poll data released by the Siena College Research Institute Wednesday indicates the race for governor could be over before it even starts.

The poll also shows that the Republican U.S. Senate candidates are facing a significant public relations problem – no one knows who they are.

The survey of 788 registered New York voters found that 61 percent of total respondents hold a favorable opinion of Democratic gubernatorial candidate and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Of that, 38 percent of Republicans polled hold Cuomo in high regard. Only 32 percent think favorably of GOP standard-bearer Rick Lazio, with Republicans polling at only 47 percent.

Working Families Party endorses Congressman Murphy

The Working Families Party endorsed Democrat Scott Murphy this week ahead of this fall’s election.

Murphy currently represents New York’s 20th Congressional District and will face off with Republican Chris Gibson this November.

Murphy won the seat last year in a special election to replace Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to New York’s junior senator seat after President Barack Obama selected Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state.

Marist Poll: Paterson’s troubles and Cuomo’s investigation hurts both men

A Marist College Poll released Tuesday concludes that the majority of New York State voters want Governor David Paterson to finish the remainder of his term and want state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to remove himself from investigating the governor.

Faced with a fast-approaching April 1 budget deadline and a $9 billion deficit, Paterson has spent much of the last two weeks defending himself against accusations that he tampered with a domestic violence victim to benefit a top aide and lied to state investigators when he said that he had paid for tickets to a World Series Game at Yankee Stadium last fall.

But the poll found 68 percent of registered voters want Paterson to remain in office for the rest of his term, while only 28 percent are calling for his immediate resignation.