Spin Cycle
News, views and commentary on Long Island, state and national politics
Dan Janison
Dan Janison has been a reporter at Newsday since 1997, much of which was spent as a staff writer for the New York City edition. He has also served as City Hall reporter and as Deputy Long Island editor for politics. Before coming to Newsday, Janison worked as a reporter for the Staten Island Advance, Albany Times Union and New York Post.
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 »Suffolk still has an acting labor director, but a new one
The Bellone administration named a new acting director of labor relations to replace the former acting director or labor relations.
The latest fill-in is Jennifer McNamara, a senior assistant county attorney who has worked the county for nine years. McNamara, 45, will make the same $91,000-a-year salary she made in the law department. Vanessa Baird Streeter, Bellone's spokeswoman, could not...
Read more »At least $24 spent per vote in B'khaven highway race; One filing's missing
The hotly contested special election for Brookhaven highway superintendent wound up costing all sides at least $623,000 or nearly $24 for each vote cast, according to campaign reports filed at the state Board of Elections.
While Republican Assemb. Dan Losquadro won the election, final tallies shows that Democrats outspent Republicans $347,320 to $276,290, according to the 27-day post election...
Read more »State sends troopers, dogs to Nassau to increase LI marathon security
New York will send troopers this weekend to the Long Island Marathon to assist Nassau County with security, the Cuomo administration said Friday.
Though not specifying how many officers, State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said the state would supply “additional troopers and K-9s as added security measures.”
Earlier this week, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said...
Read more »Working Families Party leader takes a shot at Cuomo on bill*
Dan Cantor, executive director of the state Working Families Party, makes no secret of his opposition to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposal to repeal the Wilson-Pakula law that would eliminate the ability of party officials to screen cross-endorsements and prevent what critics of the legislation call a "hijacking" of the line. Now Cantor has put out a tart fundraising letter appealing for...
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