Democrat and Chronicle du lieu suivant : Rochester, New York • Page 19

8B DFMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE. ROCHESTER. TUESDAY, MARCH 17. 1992 State Senate leader objects to pressure on budget He vows not to bend on Medicaid reform talks. "I'm being pushed to the wall closer and closer to April 1 in the hopes that I will accept less in Medicaid reform than I want," Marino said.

"That strategy is not going to work." Earlier in the day, Cuomo and leaders characterized it as an encouraging sign that they were beginning to talk about Medicaid and education, two of the most complex and contentious issues standing in the way of a budget agreement. Cuomo met with Marino and Weprin at least twice yesterday. All three sides are working toward adopting a budget by the April 1 start of New York's fiscal year. That deadline hasn't been met since 1984. Finding a solution to the complex Medicaid and education-aid issues is considered to be the final barrier to agreeing on a state budget.

All sides agree there must be cuts in the state's sprawling medical subsidy program, but no one agrees on exactly how. Marino said the three sides were at least $400 million short in reaching a goal of $1.1 billion in social service cuts. Without providing details, Cuomo said there had been progress in talks on setting limits in the level of nursing services Medicaid recipients can receive at home. Marino said the progress wouldn't affect the budget bottom line. Politically, Democrats who control the state Assembly have been trying to protect Medicaid recipients against deep service cuts.

Republicans in charge of the state Senate have resisted cutting state aid to local school districts. Despite the dawn of Medicaid and education talks, a dispute over bonding authority for low-income housing projects continued to preoccupy the leaders. Cuomo and the Assembly want to increase the state's bonding authority for home building from $740 million to $840 million. They say there is only money in the pipeline to pay for projects over the next 18 months, and home builders need to plan ahead. The Republican Senate objects more borrowing, said a spokesman for Marino.

ALBANY The Legislature's top Republican said yesterday he's being "pushed to the wall" in budget negotiations by Democrats who hope to stop cuts in the state's Medicaid program. Senate Majority Leader Ralph Marino accused Gov. Mario Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Saul Weprin of stalling in budget NYC is Albany's top lobbyist ml tH I 1 FREE rmof and revenue generating plans proposed by the state," Berman said. Commissioner Morris Klein estimated that the $30.6 million figure might be too low by $5 million or more because some lobbyists are lax in reporting all their expenses. Lobbying expenses are defined by the commission as just about any money a group or private lobbyist spends trying to influence lawmakers.

That includes money for travel, lodging, meals, employees salaries and research. IB The Associated Press ALBANY Businesses, local governments and other organizations spent more than $30 million last year trying to influence state lawmakers, with New York City leading the pack of big spenders, a state commission said yesterday. New York City reported $439,901 in 1991 lobbying expenses, according to the New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying. The Hospital Association of New York State and the New York State School Boards Association followed on the list of top lobbying spenders, reporting expenses of $401,410 and $389,962, respectively. The commission reported that the $30.6 million spent in 1991 was a 4.4 percent increase over spending on lobbyist in 1990.

That's part of a record -setting increase of 70 percent in lobbying expenses since the state's chronic budget problems began in 1987, said commission Chairwoman Carol Berman. As the state's revenue pie shrinks, competition for funding tends to be keener especially from municipal groups, she said. "Clearly the growing budget deficit has had a major impact on New York's lobbying industry. Special interest groups have been severely affected by the deepening fiscal cuts TryMG217 Psoriasis Medication REMOUNT SHOWAND SALE Become pari of the artisan's world as our master jeweler transform diamonds and precious stones into timeless masterpieces. Prices on hundreds of beautiful hand selected settings have be reduced, and our graduate gemologisis will assure the value of your creation ith a half price apprais.il.

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The Associated Press Available at 2945 Monroe Avenue one with you!" Phone: 271-4000 Escapees surrender John Moore, 18, is taken to court yesterday in Columbia County. Police said he and Christopher Shapard escaped from a Connecticut prison Friday and held a man in New Lebanon hostage in a 7-hour standoff with police before giving up. AliOTlJLS IsJJM Li JxllLiyLl I Mil 1 11 SrO i Jv i Hir p. if r-i are also paid for unused vacation time when they are laid off. Crash of home-built plane injures two men JOHNSTOWN Two men were hurt when their home-built ultralight plane lost power and crashed near the Fulton County airport yesterday, officials said.

Charles O'Neil, 67, and Robert Sowalski, 43, both of Clifton Park, were burned when the plane caught fire after crashing. O'Neil was hospitalized. Officials said the plane had recently been certified for flight. D'Amato accused of misusing mail privilege NEW YORK Democratic Senate candidate Liz Holtzman accused the Republican incumbent, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, of illegally spending $461,000 in taxpayer money to promote himself politically.

In a 13-page complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee, Holtzman said D'Amato misused his free mailing privilege by circulating a letter she characterized as lying electioneering. D'Amato mailed a letter, dated Aug. 2, 1991, to 3 million New Yorkers after the Ethics Committee concluded there was not enough evidence to charge him with wrongdoing in another case. The letter opened: "Finally, two very tough years for me personally are over. The Senate Ethics Committee has found that I did nothing wrong." It concludes, "By working hard and fighting for my fellow citizens, I will continue to be the best constituent senator in New York history," and adds a postscript of thanks for expressions of support.

Holtzman said the sentence describing the committee as saying D'Amato did no wrong was false, and the rest of the letter doesn't mention the panel's findings. D'Amato press aide Zenia Mu-cha said his office mailed the letter after checking orally with the Ethics Committee staff, which said "there was no problem." Compiled Irom reports by The Associated Press Man sentenced in Sharpton attack NEW YORK A Brooklyn man was sentenced to the maximum of five to 15 years in prison yesterday for his conviction in the stabbing of the Rev. Al Sharpton as the black activist prepared to lead a protest march Jan. 12, 1991. Michael Riccardi, 28, of Ben-sonhurst also was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Francis Egitto to 21 3 to seven years for his conviction on a weapons-possession charge, but he will serve that time concurrently.

Senate again passes bill to legalize Mace ALBANY The state Senate passed a bill yesterday that would legalize the possession of Mace and other chemical sprays used for self defense. The bill would legalize the use of such sprays for anyone older than 18 with no history of drug addiction, mental illness or criminal activity. This is the fourth consecutive year the Republican-controlled Senate has passed the bill, but it has yet to come up for a vote in the Democrat-controlled Assembly. Assembly leaders have expressed concern that misuse of Mace could make an attacker angrier and incite worse violence. State payroll costs start to decline after layoffs ALBANY State payroll costs are only now beginning to level off alter the elimination of nearly 20,000 state jobs over the last two years, officials said yesterday.

Total payroll costs are expected to decline from $7.9 billion to $7.7 billion in the fiscal year that ends March 31 and by 1 percent next fiscal year, said Claudia Hutton, spokeswoman for Gov. Mario Cuo-mo's budget division. It takes a while for savings made through layoffs to show up in the budget because job cuts are staggered, Hutton said. Employees THINK SLIMME There's never been a better time to apply for HOMEquity Line of Credit than today. Right now, your APR is the Prime rate, which is currently only 6.50.

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