Spin Cycle
News, views and commentary on Long Island, state and national politics
Poll shows deep mistrust of state pols
Photo credit: AP
New Yorkers hold a high level suspicion of their elected leaders, according to a poll released Monday.
More 80 percent of those surveyed by Siena College say they expect more arrests of state legislators in the near future. And, perhaps underscoring the depth of mistrust, about one-third say their legislator could be arrested. The poll also found a slight dip in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s approval...
Read more »Ex-Suffolk legis. Viloria-Fisher eyes B'khaven supervisor race
Photo credit: Howard Schnapp
Former Suffolk lawmaker Vivian Viloria-Fisher is eyeing a race against new Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward Romaine, her former legislative colleague.
Anthony Parlatore, the new town Demcoratic chairman, acknowledged that Fisher could appear before the party screening committee as early as this week.
“We were talking abnd the subvject came up and a light bulb went off in our minds simultaneously,”...
Read more »Nassau: Yevoli to chair Weitzman campaign for comptroller
Photo credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The campaign to return Democrat Howard Weitzman to the Nassau comptrollership, four years after his defeat by Republican George Maragos, is expected today to announce Lew Yevoli as campaign chairman.
Yevoli served nine terms in the state Assembly and as Oyster Bay supervisor. Weitzman hailed him for reducing government costs there.
Weitzman called Yevoli an "indispensible resource."...
Read more »WFP questions Cuomo commitment to public campaign finance
A minor party that’s been an ally of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo now wonders if he wants to back away from his commitment to public financing of elections.
The Working Families Party, a liberal group, says just when other Democrats have built momentum for public financing, Cuomo is trying to change the subject – pushing for “open primaries” as a way to take endorsements out of the hands of political...
Read more »Suffolk lawmaker's hire raises an intra-party eyebrow
Al Krupski may be the Democrats' newest lawmaker, but he raised eyebrows in his own party — naming the daughter of one-time Riverhead Republican Town supervisor Jim Stark as a $81,000 a year legislative aide.
Krupski of Cutchogue hired Catherine Stark, 49, a 17 year county veteran who had previusly been working for Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk). Stark’s name had also been mentioned as...
Read more »Nassau Democrats pick Gillen to face O'Connell for clerk
Nassau Democrats have selected a Rockville Centre attorney as their candidate for County Clerk.
Laura Gillen, 43, counsel to the litigation department at the Uniondale law firm of Westerman Ball Ederer Miller & Sharfstein, will challenge two-term Republican Clerk Maureen O’Connell in November.
A first-term candidate and mother of four, Gillen said she plans to “re-energize” the Clerk’s...
Read more »SCCC trustees seek outside counsel
On the same night they adopted a budget that raises student tuition $150, Suffolk Community College trustees last week agreed to search for a separate lawyer to represent them, even though the college already has a fulltime general counsel and deputy on staff.
Paul Pontieri, a trustee and Patchogue mayor, made the resolution that passed unanimously to seek proposals from lawyers who would...
Read more »GOP turns focus to "abuses" of publicly financed campaigns
Going on the offensive, state Republicans say they will hold a hearing about New York City’s public financing because it “appears rife with abuse.”
The GOP initiative comes days after Democrats and the Working Families Party have made a concerted effort to build momentum for public financing and pressure Republicans. Senate co-leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said recent...
Read more »Schneiderman: Expand AG's power to pursue corruption
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday his office should be given more power to investigate public corruption -- without having to wait until cases are referred to him.
But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo hasn’t included this idea in his recommendations to clean up state government after the high-profile arrests of elected officials on bribery and other charges earlier this month.
Currently,...
Read more »GOP blasts Cuomo plan to appoint election-law enforcer
The state chairman of the Republican Party on Wednesday ripped Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s plan to give himself power to appoint a new elections-law czar as “politically shallow.”
Cuomo, a Democrat, has called for creating a new “enforcement counsel” to investigate campaign-finance and ballot-related violations, in the wake of an alleged scheme to rig the New York City mayoral primary. Under the...
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