Poozer Politics

Longtime AP photographer Mike Groll spent a decade in the Capitol capturing the state government in action. He came on the podcast to talk about the challenge of making political photos interesting, detailed his start in journalism and reminisced about the time his mother drove him to an assignment. During his extensive and varied career … Continue reading "Framing the Capitol"

Bill Hammond is the director of health policy for the Empire Center for Public Policy. He came on the show to talk about the impact of the American Health Care Act on New York, with a focus on shifting costs and changes in coverage. Bill also highlighted the challenges of implementing single-payer health insurance, benefits … Continue reading "Diagnosing New York"

Joe Spector joined Poozer Politics host David Lombardo to explore his recent article, “How VLTs saved NY horse racing.” The conversation highlighted the financial arrangements that make harness and thoroughbred racing possible in New York and examined the future competition for gambling dollars across upstate.

James Gormley has been mentoring young generations of reporters at the Legislative Gazette since 2001. Under his leadership, aspiring journalists have crafted their first lede, covered the president and launched exciting careers. He spoke with Poozer Politics host David Lombardo, a 2009 Legislative Gazette alum, about the mission of the Legislative Gazette, some of his … Continue reading "Scooping the Legislative Gazette"

We live in exciting political times, but are they historic? To put our politics into perspective I turned to SUNY Geneseo Prof. Justin Behrend (Editor’s Note: He was my favorite college professor). Professor Behrend provided background on Frederick Douglass, who is getting recognized more and more, highlighted the role of political norms and talked about … Continue reading "History 101: Podcast Norms & Frederick Douglass"

New York Now host Matt Ryan came on the podcast to talk about making his documentary on former-Gov. Mario Cuomo, “Poetry and Prose,” and chatted about the role of the media in our evolving political landscape. The episode deals with interviewing Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the media’s responsibility to act as fact checkers and David Lombardo’s … Continue reading "Matt and Mario"

The state budget – consisting of 11 bills, a handful of memos and a lot of political posturing – can be hard to swallow for the average politico. So I talked with a budget expert about how he breaks down the state’s tax and spending plan into digestible morsels. Citizens Budget Commission Director of State … Continue reading "Digesting the Budget"

If all the world’s a stage, Robert Carroll has won a starring role as a new member of the Assembly. The 30-year-old Brooklynite, who is representing the 44th Assembly District, came on the podcast to talk about growing up in a politically active family, his love of theater (he wrote a play!), the evolution of … Continue reading "Meet the (new) Majority: Robert Carroll"

Times Union State Reporter Matt Hamilton provides a behind-the-scenes accounting of covering Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s most recent budget “address” and offers insight on this year’s evolving budget process.

Finding part-time housing in Albany can be a full-time challenge for state legislators, according to Leigh Hornbeck of the Times Union. For this bonus episode, Leigh talked about her recent article that highlighted the search for housing and one legislator’s unique proposal to fix the whole problem.