Taking the Lead: A Q&A with Dean Skelos (Part 3)

On the last day of 2014, City & State Albany Bureau Chief Jon Lentz met with Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos at his district office and asked him about his party’s victories during the fall elections and the upcoming 2015 legislative session. The following is the third installment of a multi-part, edited interview. 

C&S: Shortly after the November elections you said that your top priorities would be education reform, tax cuts and easing burdensome regulations. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently sent a letter to top education officials raising the possibility of various public school reforms. Is there any specific part of the education system that you think should be reformed?

DS: The lead on this is the governor. We in the Senate believe in high standards in terms of teacher qualifications, and we want to make sure that we have the best in the classroom, whether it’s here in Rockville Centre or whether it’s in a city school in New York City. We want to make sure that all kids have quality, good teachers educating them so that they can have opportunity to succeed in their lives.

C&S: In terms of teacher evaluations, the governor ultimately vetoed a compromise bill that would have provided a safety net for poorly performing teachers due to issues with the implementation of Common Core standards.

DS: I think he felt—and again, this is just from me reading, I haven’t talked to him—that the amount of teachers that were found to be ineffective, I think he thought was very low, and he’s going to explore that. And look, we pass legislation sometimes, and six months later you say to yourself, "I don’t think I did the right thing." There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the position that the governor took, and I’m sure we’re going to work on a bipartisan basis to make sure that we have the most qualified teachers in the classroom educating our kids.

C&S: Should mayoral control be extended for New York City?

DS: We haven’t had a discussion on that yet. I know that some of the other cities are looking for that also. That will be part of the discussions that we have in the next couple months.  

C&S: Another education issue the governor raised is control over making appointments to the Board of Regents. Do you have any stance on that?

DS: I don’t know if we’ve done it in the last few years, but I know Sen. LaValle in the past has had legislation that you need both houses to separately confirm. Right now and probably for the last twenty years or more the Regents have been effectively elected by Speaker Silver. So, I would love to see that reformed.

C&S: What if the governor took control of that process?

DS: I want to look at it a little bit more. But I can’t say absolutely that would be the wrong way to go.

C&S: You’ve also made the Education Investment Tax Credit a top priority.

DS: That’s still a priority for myself, and hopefully for the governor. This would afford many parents the choice they want on how they educate their kids.

C&S: Is there any reason to think it will be more successful this year?

DS: Every year’s a different year. I know by the governor’s indication in the past that he’s supportive of it. And in fact, a large percentage of the Assembly Democrats are actually on the bill. So I’m hopeful that this will come to the floor for a vote, or be part of the budget.

C&S: Another major issue this session is criminal justice, with two NYPD officers having been shot and killed, as well as concerns coming out of the Eric Garner case. Your conference will be holding hearings on protecting police officers.

DS: We’re going to look at police safety. We’re going to look at figures. Yesterday I read that there have been in this country 50 assassinations of policemen throughout the country. We’ve seen with these two good souls who lost their lives for doing the right thing that we have an obligation in our society to make sure that as much as the police protect us, that we show them the respect and do what we can to protect them in the performance of their duties.

C&S: Democrats have questioned how the grand jury process played out in the Eric Garner case. Is there room for any reform there?

DS: I don’t believe that the attorney general should be a special prosecutor, essentially, whenever there is a killing of an individual. That’s what we have a grand jury system for. That’s why we elect the local district attorneys, because they’re responsible to that community. So I think you have to be very careful when you start tinkering with the grand jury system. It’s been set up very deliberately to protect those who are witnesses who come in, so that they can speak freely and truthfully and honestly, without fear of it becoming public. We have to be very, very careful with tinkering with the grand jury system.

C&S: Is the current system working?

DS: I think overall it’s working. I mean, there’s never a situation where you can say something works 100 percent correct. That’s not what life is, unfortunately, but I think it’s working fairly well. I’ve met with [Manhattan District Attorney] Cy Vance and others, and we’re going to have a discussion about potential reform. We’ll work with them. I’m not saying no to reform. What I’m saying is we have to move cautiously when we look at changing the grand jury system. And many times when we rush to do things because we want to be first, it ends up not being the right way to go.

C&S: Another big issue in 2015 will be rent regulations, which are expiring in June and will be up for renewal. Do you expect the ultimate agreement to be the status quo, or essentially extending them as is?

DS: That’s something that we’ll discuss, but I’ve always looked at private property as being private property, that you have the right to do with your building—or your four-unit, whatever it is, big or small—that it’s your property. You should be able to use it for the highest and best use that you can get out of it. I also believe in the marketplace—that prices and values eventually all work out. I’m sure this is going to be one of the more contentious issues in the upcoming legislative session, but we’ll work our way through it. We’ll figure it out.

C&S: And that is tied to that 2 percent property tax cap, right?

DS: There are a number of things that actually expire this time: the property tax cap, which I think should be made permanent, rent regulations, the surcharge on the PIT—I think that expires—421-a, all these. I would say there are about eight things that potentially expire this year that we’ll be taking up at some point. I know the governor vetoed the brownfield extension yesterday. That’s something that we should approve, but approve for a 10-year period so developers can come in and understand what they’re going to do when they make their investment and so that many of these blighted areas can be remediated and improved.

C&S: You mentioned the 421-a tax break for developers. Is it a top priority to extend that?

DS: Yeah, I mean that’s just part of the whole real estate package that will be discussed in the upcoming legislative session. I think Mayor de Blasio has been having discussions with some of the real estate people right now. That’s what I’m told. Whether he is or not, I don’t know.  

C&S: And it seems like these agreements on rent regulations are often for four years. Would you like to see them extended for longer than that?

DS: I’d rather have it every two years, because it adds excitement to the legislative session.

C&S: You’re joking.

DS: No, I’m not. It used to be every two years. I think so. But look, whatever happens, we’ll see.

To read the first two parts of this interview, click here and here.