What we're watching

Sorry, dear reader, for the light blogging as of late. I was in Syracuse yesterday for this story, which I'd like to write a little bit about here to provide more clarity. Now that I'm re-reading it, I sort of buried the lede a little bit.

Here's the major takeaway: The people who are pushing this project think it could happen, but the towns and villages that could benefit from it would be in a HUGE bind if it doesn't.

Why? Well, let me explain my favorite way: via metaphor.

So you're expecting your first child, and, being great parents, you'd really like her to go to X University. You let X University know this, so they send you all sorts of shwag — season tickets to the basketball games, fancy pennants, all that jazz, but only based on the understanding that your child is going to go to school at X University and pay them a boatload in tuition.

But your little girl turns 18 and guess what? She doesn't want to go to to X University. She wants to go to Y College.

Uh oh. X University is going to want you to pay for all that free stuff they sent you. And who could blame them?

In this case, the parents are the Alliance for Municipal Power, the child is the North Country Power Authority and X University is Howrey, a D.C. law firm.

The Alliance for Municipal Power got what it thought was an unassailable deal with Howrey to acquire a vast electric grid from a private company. But AMP couldn't pull off the deal itself. So it helped create a separate entity, the North County Power Authority, that could consummate the rest of the agreement. They went as far as to recommend AMP commissioners for the NCPA board, and Howrey was involved in much of the start-up of the NCPA — a two-day January session extolling the virtues of this contract included.

But the NCPA has been unable to accept Howrey's contract. The plan was perfect, except for one glitch: AMP had no way of forcing the NCPA to do its bidding. That left a legal ravine for the contract to jump over. And as of right now, it hasn't made it to the other side.

And what happens if the contract falls? Howrey has done three years worth of work for AMP. Without getting paid a dime, I'm told. They can go on and get their dime if they really want to. It's in the contract. If AMP fails to transfer its contract over to the NCPA, AMP could have to pay Howrey for its troubles — and it's estimated in the millions.

OK, that's that for now.

Other stuff

Here's what else we're looking at today.

I've packed my bags for Albany, and I'm tying up a few loose ends here before I head down for the end of session. The original intent was a sort of end-of-session retrospective, but considering what's going on right now, it could drag on a bit.

So I'll write about gay marriage, for which the debate is quickly heating up. Advocates for the legalization of gay marriage need just one more GOP vote in the Senate. It passed in the Assembly last night.

I'm also going to be following developments on rent regulations for New York City — in that it affects the Legislature's negotiations on imposing a property tax cap.