I received this VIA email from Jim Tedisco, what a thrill this is. We are making headway in Albany, well with the Republicans anyway in the Senate and Assembly. Now will be the time to hold them all accountable and see who will be the obstructionists. Democrats sponsor or co-sponsor legislation or be labeled as obstructionists. We are tired of hearing you say “we can’t do anything about it” You can by legislation, now do it and stand up for the people of this state for once.

EDITORS NOTE: WE WILL HAVE A PODCAST LATER TODAY WITH RUS, AS HE UPDATES US ON HIS NOGITOLLS.COM CAMPAIGN

11:47pm: Just seconds ago, the New York State Thruway Authority voted yes to move forward with a 10% increase in the 2008 budget that will increase NYS tolls as soon as January.

The Authority is planning another hike in 2009 and 2010 that will be voted on in April. The State Comptroller is in the process of auditing the Authority.

Our Local representative on that board, Jeff Williams, voted no.

Yesterday I proposed two different things one to keep the toll increase from happening and even cut the tolls in half.

#1 take the Canal system from them and make it a state funded stand alone entity that saves the thruway authority and toll payers $80 Million yearly. Also dedicated funds from the federal government like the $400 Million they should have received last year at the department of transportation be applied to the thruway system. That alone would cut the tolls in half. So in this one suggestion we see $480 million dollars in savings.