Spin Cycle
News, views and commentary on Long Island, state and national politics
Suozzi lays out campaign strategy, six months out
This week marks six months until the highly anticipated Nassau County executive election and Democratic candidate Thomas Suozzi has outlined six tasks that his campaign must accomplish before it can turn out the vote.
To win in November, according to a news release issued by the campaign on Tuesday, Suozzi must:
* Open field offices across Nassau County
*Build up his volunteer...
Read more »Rep. King boosts Lhota for NYC mayor; Catsimatidis has Liberal backing
Photo credit: Getty Images
For what it may mean to GOP primary voters, Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) has endorsed former MTA chairman and ex-deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota for New York City mayor.
The backing was announced today by the Lhota camp following Lhota’s endorsement last night by the Staten Island Republican organization.
While King, from Nassau, supports Lhota, Sen. Dean Skelos, the state legislature’s top...
Read more »New Hyde Park pasta company raises funds for Sandy relief
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, still pushing for aid to some of the hardest hit by superstorm Sandy, got his first retail establishment fundraiser Tuesday: The New York Ravioli & Pasta Company in New Hyde Park.
The company, which makes 35 different kinds of stuffed pasta, is celebrating its 20th anniversary by kicking in 20 percent of their retail store sales, Monday through...
Read more »In Nassau, Suozzi hails Rep. King on Sandy $$ spat
A lot of after-the-fact political noise over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Superstorm Sandy funding seems to have offered former Nassau executive -- and current Nassau executive candidate -- Thomas Suozzi, a Democrat, a relatively risk-free way to reach across the partisan divide.
Suozzi hailed Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) for slamming Cruz’s status as upcoming featured guest at the state Republicans’...
Read more »Invite-only Senate hearing and the realpolitik of public financing
Watch for worlds to collide Tuesday when the State Senate Elections Committee -- controlled by a Republican conference that opposes public campaign financing -- questions Amy Loprest, executive director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which has run such a system for 25 years.
The panel, chaired by Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara (R-Elmira), will hear testimony in Albany -- by invitation...
Read more »Next case! Now comes Sen. John Sampson's turn to answer feds' charges
Photo credit: AP
Not that anyone was surprised. Sen. John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), former leader of his party's conference in the upper house, has become the latest corruption defendant in a state Legislature with a higher per capita crime rate than your average rough neighborhood. The move follows quickly on the heels of the revelation late last week that ex-Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) recorded conversations with...
Read more »Cuomo explores terms of revenues from Indian casinos
Two decades ago, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo signed a pact that allowed the Oneida Nation to open New York’s first casino. The agreement didn’t entitle the state to share any of the revenues – unlike every other Indian-run casino and any video slot parlor/race track that’s opened since.
Now, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration is exploring whether the Oneidas would be open to revenue sharing....
Read more »Schumer gets a 'Hi, Chuck!' from passing anglers
Something flukish happened at Sen. Charles Schumer’s Wednesday morning news conference in Freeport.
Schumer, who assembled a school of media on the Nautical Mile for his presser about Sandy aid, was interrupted by a passing fishing boat in nearby Woodcleft Canal. The fishermen on board called out, “Hi, Chuck!” in unison, drawing chuckles from the crowd.
Schumer, speaking into a microphone,...
Read more »D'Amato takes shot at national GOP on guns
Before Al D’Amato endorsed Dina De Giorgio, the sophomore GOP councilwoman running for North Hempstead Town supervisor, the former three-term U.S. senator from New York took a moment to criticize national Republicans.
He did not mince words.
“I think you’ve got to be a jackass to be voting against background checks for people,” he said, a day after a gun control drive in the Senate was...
Read more »Union signs peace pact on Suffolk security-guard status
A yearlong battle over the fate of Suffolk’s security guards has ended.
Dan Farrell, president of the Association of Municipal Employees, said the union has signed an agreement ending the contentious battle that originally involved more than 30 security personnel at county welfare centers and other sites amid the county’s 226 layoffs last year.
Since the dispute started, some officers...
Read more »
