Spin Cycle
News, views and commentary on Long Island, state and national politics
Schumer touts Irish visa, but King doesn't bite
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) held a telephone conference call Friday to tout his success at beating back a challenge in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday to a special E-3 visa to bring 10,500 Irish workers to the United States each year.
Sen. Charles Grassley (D-Iowa) had filed an amendment to alter the measure, but withdrew it after seeing no support for it on the committee.
Schumer...
Read more »Weiner's mayoral preening puts wife, Clinton back on hot seat
Whether he’s bothered to take the five seconds needed to realize it, text-vexed-but-ambitious former Rep. Anthony Weiner has put his wife — again — into the public spotlight, in an undoubtedly unwelcome way, along with her longtime boss and mentor Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As first reported by Politico, Weiner’s personal disclosure leads to the revelation that Huma Abedin, while still on the...
Read more »In case you forgot ... more from the Weiner lying tour of 2011
Just for preparation, in case this Weiner-campaign-for-mayor buffoonery is really, truly going to happen:
Listen to how sanctimoniously and condescendingly the disgraced former congressman delivers a sermon on June 7, 2011, to Jonathan Karl on ABC about public responsibilities when asked about his tweets to young women.
"It's outrageous," the since-proven liar lectures Karl...
Read more »The question is whether Lopez 'eeeuwww' moves NY forward
For the moment, the only sensible question is whether you wish to call Albany’s ethical sewer pipe half empty or half full.
Is this new gush of revolting detail about a state lawmaker’s behavior just that -- or does it mark a step on some hard-to-detect path to higher-minded backroom conduct?
Reading a state ethics panel’s 64-page report on Assemb. Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) evokes the...
Read more »Haber calls on Suozzi to return catering hall campaign contributions
Photo credit: Anthony Lanzilote
Nassau County executive candidate Adam Haber has called on Tom Suozzi, his rival for the Democratic nomination, to return thousands in campaign contributions from catering companies he is representing in a case against current and former employees over the nonpayment of tips.
In a letter to Suozzi on Wednesday — the first direct engagement between the two candidates — Haber said the former...
Read more »Charges continue to fly in Nassau over contributions
Spokesmen for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Looks Great Services, a Huntington tree removal firm, are suggesting that Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs is a hypocrite for demanding Wednesday that Republican Mangano to return about $75,000 in contributions from eight Superstorm Sandy contractors, including Looks Great.
“The facts remain that the Democrats accepted nearly the...
Read more »Boyle: I'm pushing VLTs, not casinos, for Long Island
Though he’s pushing for Long Island off-track betting parlors to add video slot machines, Sen. Phil Boyle said a bill he recently introduced doesn’t propose a major casino.
"It would not be – in any stretch of the imagination – a major casino. Or a casino at all,” said Boyle (R-Bay Shore).
Instead, his legislation, co-sponsored by Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauaket)...
Read more »Lopez: Gross details fuel the scandal, rather than end it
Two women have allowed their names to be used as victims in the Vito Lopez scandal, and his actions read revoltingly in the state ethics commission report. An Associated Press summary is here.
One headline talks of how an aide had to touch his neck and "wear skimpy clothing."
Another speaks of Lopez being "shielded" by the leadership of the Assembly, per the report.
A...
Read more »D'Amato mocks Quinn personal revelations on TV
The question may well be who former Sen. Al D'Amato was trying to help when he went on NY1 News last night and mocked Council Speaker Christine Quinn's tearful revelations to the Times of past bulimia and alcoholism. He called her a hack and said in mock whine, "I'm crying. My campaign is suffering. I'm going down."
A good roundup of it is here, from New York magazine.
D'Amato...
Read more »DA: Assemb. Lopez conduct 'alarming,' not criminal
Photo credit: Bryan Pace, 2001
A special prosecutor announced Wednesday that he won’t file criminal charges against once powerful Assemb. Vito Lopez after investigating charges of sexual harassment.
Separately, a state panel released a civil investigation that Lopez violated the state's Public Officers Law. Now, it will be up to the Legislative Ethics Commission to determine whether to sanction the assemblyman.
Staten...
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