Spin Cycle

McCain's campaign is in a tailspin, and as hard as they try to right the ship, they take on more water in the process.

Over the weekend -- McCain took Sunday off -- the campaign said he would be making a new set of economic proposals on Monday, getting away from the attacks of last week. But today -- there were no economic proposals. Instead, McCain premiered a retooled stump speech, casting him as a fighter (he used the word fight or variations 17 times by one count) and underdog.

His advisors said there weren't going to be any economic proposals -- until late today, when they said he would be making some on Tuesday, but they weren't sure what they'll be yet.

The Wall Street Journal described it as a day that left some "puzzled." The New Republic went with sarcasm: "That'll put the erratic meme to rest." The Times filled in some details:

"A Republican close to the campaign said Saturday that donors had been told Mr. McCain would deliver a major economic address on Monday, but a top adviser said later on Saturday that no speech had been written and that the campaign did not know what Mr. McCain was doing Saturday night, let alone Monday.

"On Sunday morning, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a confidant of Mr. McCain, said on the CBS News program 'Face the Nation' that Mr. McCain was weighing proposals to cut taxes on investors’ capital gains and dividends, even though Mr. McCain’s existing economic plan already calls for such cuts. Mr. McCain’s advisers later said they did not know why Mr. Graham had said what he did."

Brian Foley ties Caesar Trunzo to disgraced supervisor Pete McGowan in a new ad in their Suffolk senate race, saying Trunzo "supported the most corrupt administration in Islip history:"

Mayor Michael Bloomberg marched the Columbus (left) parade route alongside Gov. David Paterson, state Attorney Gen. Andrew Cuomo, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, and actor Tony LoBianco, and Bloomberg's immigration office director Guillermo Linares.

Along the route, some shouted "Four more years!" and "Three
terms!" and those receiving Bloomberg warmly genuinely appeared to greatly outnumber the few who shouted such things as "Democracy!" in protest of his term-limit lunge sans referendum, and the less-subtle "Go home!" Mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser wrote in a notebook the names, home communities and numbers of some of these fans. For others on the sidewalk, the attraction was Cuomo -- "Andrew! Mario!" and elder woman shouted as she blew kisses. A couple of younger people seemed more excited to see Paterson.

At the corner of Fifth Ave. and 73rd St., a cluster of men from a Harlem program run by the Doe Fund -- a major city contractor -- stood in matching t-shirts and caps with a nicely-coordinated set of signs that said: "Don't change horses in midstream" (though it was unclear what stream they were referring to), "We love Mayor Mike" and "Now More than Ever" as well as "Five More Years."

Must have been their impromptu decision to volunteer for this on a holiday.

Lou Matarazzo, former PBA president, and Michael Palladino, current Detectives Endowment Association president, marched at times with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Here is a real keeper from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's press conference -- at the outset of the Columbus Day parade up Fifth Avenue -- in defense of his power grab for a third term in which he provides cover for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her crew for going along for the self-serving ride:

"There's nothing wrong with changing your mind when facts change. As a matter of fact people that don't change their mind when the facts change are so dogmatic they're not very practical or effective."

Really? Has the mayor turned preachy against those who actually keep their word? The facts didn't change -- the calendar did. Enough time passed that both Bloomberg and Quinn face being bumped from office next year if their fix doesn't work.

Someone else at the parade had another thought. With the Dow up today, maybe the economy won't go all the way in the dumper. Since economic emergency is Bloomberg's vague rationale for clinging to office. would he no longer feel the need to seek a third term if the economy changes for the better?

Uh, don't bet on it.

Continue reading "Mike's "fact-change" formula: Principle='dogma'" »

Barbara Donno goes up with her second straight negative ad in her challenge to Dem Craig Johnson in the Nassau Senate race.

This one tries to tie Johnson to the double dipping school pension scandal through his law firm. The only problem: Johnson joined the firm after the events that got it in trouble had already occurred, so his connection is nil.

Statement from Johnson campaign manager Evan Stavisky: "Republican Barbara Donno seems to have taken a page right out of the Bush/Cheney/Rove playbook--using special interest money to spread lies about Senator Johnson. The facts are clear: Sen. Johnson has strongly supported reform legislation to end the pension abuses. However, Republican Barbara Donno won't let that, or the fact that it was 3 years before Sen. Johnson even joined the law firm, stand in the way of her campaign of lies."

Update: Donno's campaign responds:

"Craig Johnson might want to rewrite history, but the pension abuse at Jaspan, Schlesinger, Hoffman wasn't uncovered until after his employment, and he still hasn't denounced his law firm or said anything at all that's been critical of it's direct involvement. Residents have a right to know what side Craig Johnson is on; the side of the taxpayers or the side of his corrupt law firm."

If John McCain can't bring himself to even denounce an Obama/Osama connection... what is it that he stands for at this point?

Hockey guy Levi Johnston has quit high school so he can go to work for his soon-to-be family, plans a marriage next summer, and says he's not being forced into it by the Palins -- he loves Bristol.

A new Marist battleground poll shows Obama leading in Ohio among registered voters 48-40 and among likely voters 49-45.

In Pennsylvania: 49-40 among registered voters, 53-41 amng likely voters.

If you want to hear some utter blather from New York City's top elected official, listen to this: First on Oct. 10, then on Oct. 2, about putting term limits on the ballot, which the current mayor said for years would have to be done for him to support a change in the law. He is asked why he never acted on his creation of a charter-revision commission, which despite what he claims could still put the matter on the ballot in a special election early next year. Azi provides the entertainment here.

The Dow is up 290.

Blogging will be light today. some of us are taking the day off.

Interbank lending guarantees in Europe and a US guarantee of a Japanese investment in Morgan Stanley perk up foreign markets, with hopes for a better day on Wall Street, too.

John McCain is hitting the reset button, rolling out a retooled campaign approach potrtraying him as a never-say-die scrappy underdog.

After getting skinned alive for a couple of weeks, McCain decided to reschedule an appearance he skipped with Letterman.

Obama up 10 in a new ABC/WPost poll.

It may be too late, unless McCain turns out to be another Reagan.

Obama spent Sunday knocking on doors in Holland, Ohio.

Bill and Hillary stumped with Biden in Scranton.

Mirroring national trends, most LIers rank the economy as their primary concern, and those who do give Obama a 53-30 edge, according to a Newsday poll.

Dean Skelos is ticked at Paterson for jumping into the state Senate battle, which he purportedly promised to not do.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, showing the feisty independence of a pet gerbil, endorsed Bloomberg's plan to not let the people vote on extending the term limits that the people adopted.

Which was the most fevered lunge for self-promotion by a power player?

1) Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), who compared GOP presidential tactics to those of segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace.

2) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said Barack Obama could win Indiana or North Carolina only “if they cheat us out of it.”

3) New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who like Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed her position on changing term limits -- in a way that could benefit both of them.

It’s finally out: Levy for governor.

That domain name — LEVYFORGOVERNOR.COM — the cyber address for a potential website, has been purchased by Terry Maccarrone, a one-time Levy Assembly aide and veteran Levy campaign operative, who now works as the parks department’s $80,360-a-year coordinator of community-based programs. Before parks, he headed Levy’s citizen complaint unit.

Maccarrone, 40, of Sayville, declined to comment when called, asking repeatedly how a reporter got his number, but said no website had been created. His name and number were part of the listing on GODADDY.com, which compiles those who have purchased domain names for potential websites. Maccarone for the past two years has been a Conservative Party member, but re-registered as a Democrat in June, but the change does not take affect until After Election Day.

Levy professed ignorance of the move. “I know he meant well,’ said Levy “but it was not a bright thing to do on his part without me knowing about it.”

What makes the the domain purchase so interesting is its timing. Maccarrone acquired the domain name on March 10. That is the same day news of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s dalliance with a high-priced call girl first exploded into headlines.

Talk about naked ambition.

Rick Brand

Immigration policy has drawn remarkably little mention in this huge general-election campaign — and some want to see the presidential candidates confront the issue in their final debate Wednesday at Hofstra University.

One year ago, nothing in politics was as explosive as Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s controversial plan to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers’ licenses. The perceived presidential front-runner, Democrat Hillary Clinton, caught heat for her qualified support. But rival Barack Obama also expressed support — and it seemed then as if any GOP candidate would certainly be using this to drub the nominee this fall.

But John McCain faced fire from within the GOP for having supported President George W. Bush’s sweeping immigration bill last year. Condemned by foes as amnesty for illegal aliens, the bill died in the same type of backlash that killed Spitzer’s license proposal.

“It’s interesting,” says Patrick Young, director of the Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead and Brentwood. “Essentially, you had the two most pro-immigrant candidates win each of their parties’ nominations.”

On the GOP side, he said, “I think it’s been kept off the radar screen to give McCain some sense of cover.” As for Democrats, he observed, “Obama has made maybe only three statements on immigration since he became the nominee apparent in June.”

“They have the mainstream immigration-rights position,” said Young, who follows the issue closely and writes blog posts on it. “Protect the border, legalize those who are not criminals, deal with the future flow.”

An active Republican, who declined to be identified, believes...

Dan Janison

Continue reading "LI debate: Last chance for Obama-McCain 'illegals' clash" »

Patchogue’s Democratic Mayor Paul Pontieri (left) showed up last Monday for a confirmation hearing for a seat on the new Long Island Regional Planning Council, but was quietly told to take a powder because his resolution was being tabled.

The tabling, which delays confirmation vote until after Election Day, came after Democratic Legis. Jack Eddington raised concerns in legislative caucus several days earlier, according to county sources. “Jack made a very compelling case,” said one lawmaker who did not wish to be identified. “But I don’t think he wants to defeat him. It’s more of a chance to kiss and make up.”

Pontieri’s relations with Eddington and his Assemblywoman wife Patricia have long been strained. Last fall, Pontieri not only appeared in direct mail for Eddington’s GOP opponent Brian Egan, after doing so for Eddington, Pontieri later named Egan as village attorney....

Rick Brand

Continue reading " Patchogue pol P. Pontieri's plan-panel post postponed" »

Gov. Palin and the McCain campaign have apparently settled on a response to the finding of a Legislative Council investigation that she violated Alaska's Executive Branch Ethics Act and abused her power: Deny that it happened.

The investigative report, released Friday night, found that Palin violated the act by pursuing and allowing her husband and aides to pursue a family grudge -- getting her ex-brother-in-law, Michael Wooten, fired from his state trooper job -- but that she was within her power in firing the state's public safety director, even though the firing was partly motivated by his refusal to ax Wooten.

According to a transcript of a conference call with Alaska reporters -- in which follow up questions were banned -- Palin seemed simply refused to acknowledge the first finding, as if only facts that are good for her count.

"I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing … any hint of any kind of unethical activity there," she said in an opening statement. "Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

The first question, from the Anchorage Daily News: "Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?"

Palin: "Not at all and I’ll tell you, it, I think that you’re always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving..... So no, not having done anything wrong, and again very much appreciating being cleared of any legal wrongdoing or unethical activity at all."

The News reporter, before questioning turned to other reporters: "Have you read the whole report?"

Of course she has. But, as she noted during the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant caught on tape, she's a gal who focuses on the mountains, not the mosquitoes. Why tell the truth, when it's annoying?

Former Republican U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato is apparently playing a major role in organizing a fundraiser for Democratic Gov. David Paterson — to be co-hosted by a bi-partisan myriad of Long Island developers, lawyers, doctors and top executives, at the Coyote Grill in Island Park.

While D'Amato's name doesn’t appear on the invitation to the $1,000-per-plate fundraiser, set for Nov. 2, guests are told to respond to D'Amato's executive assistant, Dana Weisberg, in care of D'Amato's consulting firm, Park Strategies. Neither D’Amato nor Weisberg returned calls for comment.

Of 15 names on the invitation, seven are registered Republicans, two are Democrats, three are blanks and three could not be determined.

The invitation lists: former Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta; Gary Melius, owner of the Oheka Castle Hotel in Huntington; Scott Rechler, who’s partnering with Charles Wang on the Nassau Coliseum-Lighthouse project and has been listed as a finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain’s campaign; two Park Strategies’ executives, and Robert Catell, executive director at National Grid.

Eden Laikin

Suffolk’s Democratic County Executive Steve Levy wants to install former Republican Islip town board member Pamela Greene as the county’s new $107,000 a year consumer affairs director, according to several political sources.

Levy aides are circulating a discharge petition to allow a vote Tuesday to reinstate the consumer affairs post. Levy earlier told Democrats in caucus that he has someone in mind for the job, but wouldn’t tell lawmakers his choice. Levy, however, maintains he has chosen no one and is considering three or four names. He won’t say if Greene is among them, but added he thinks highly of her.

Greene, who also declined comment, lost the town supervisor race to Democrat Philip Nolan two years ago and was rumored to be in line for a job with Levy shortly after her loss. Greene and her new husband, political consultant Michael Dawidziak, are friends of Levy and his wife Colleen, and the strategist has done campaign work for Levy.

Levy needs to recreate the job, because Charles Gardner who ran the department until retiring last summer, worked under his civil service title as director of weight and measures, which gave him job protection a political appointee does not have.
While he proposed making the job a director of consumer affairs in his office, eliminating the need for legislative confirmation, Levy said he has “no problem” creating a commissioner’s post which would require appointees to get legislative approval.

Rick Brand

As widely reported, John McCain’s campaign has demanded Barack Obama’s ties to ACORN, an activist organization that runs voter-registration drives, be probed. Registration cards submitted by the group prompted fraud investigations in Nevada, Connecticut, Missouri, and at least five other states — including some in the name of Dallas football players.

Bertha Lewis, ACORN executive director well known in New York City politics, issued a detailed rejoinder with Steve Kest, saying status quo forces were playing up isolated irregularities to deter voter registration.

Just to help keep the players straight: Lewis has been co-chair of the state Working Families Party. She drew paparazzi-style notice in 2005 by grabbing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s face and kissing him on the lips when ACORN and the city reached a certain participation deal with developer Bruce Ratner on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project. That deal, preceding Bloomberg's last election, looked at the time like a nice deflection of support against the city's majority Democrats.

Seems like Bloomberg's found his own alliances with ACORN -- and Liz B reported last week that he's had his associates contributing to WFP too. Not to be New York-parochial, but should those links be investigated as well? Or does the McCain-Bloomberg cordiality rooted in the mayor's immense wealth bring with it an automatic immunity -- with ethics laws not yet caught up to the prospect of corrupt money flowing from, rather than to, the public official? The McCain people in the state were expressing concern about the group months ago but now its role is of course part of the GOP artillery. Interesting to see where it leads both before and after this election...

The photo's from a past cover of 'City Limits', whose Web site is here.

No sign yet that it's working, but the Republican National Committee is still convinced that Barack Obama's acquaintance with Bill Ayers is profoundly important. This web video is the latest. Facts? Obama's political mentor arranged for the introduction at Ayers' house, not Obama. There is, likewise, no evidence that Obama and Ayers participation together on two non-profit boards was anything but coincidental.

But facts really don't matter here, do they??

Sarah, at the Flyers game:

Palin, invited to drop the puck at the Flyers-Rangers game in Philly, hears a smattering of boos as she walks to center ice. Flyers owner Ed Snider is a McCain donor, though the hockey club says it's part of some hockey-mom promotion. But most fans prefer their sports without politics.....

AP:

"To a mixture of boos and cheers, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin dropped the ceremonial first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers’ home opener against the Rangers.

"The Alaska governor heard a few boos when she walked onto the ice Saturday night. But that soon turned to polite applause as she walked out to center ice with Mike Richards of the Flyers and Scott Gomez - from Alaska - of the Rangers.

"Palin waved to the crowd and smiled as she dropped the puck to applause and cheers."

In today's big campaign tiff, civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, cited by John McCain just a few weeks ago as one of the wise men of Washington, compared McCain's campaign tactics to George Wallace's race baiting campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s. McCain denounced the comments and Obama took a middle ground.

Things are pretty tense, and the McCain ads and Palin attacks are adding to the hostility. But McCain may have started to ratchet it back yesterday when he calmed a crowd in Minnesota, and Palin didn't bring up Bill Ayers today. Is Lewis bringing up the Birmingham church bombings a way to calm things down, or a way to exact a political price from McCain?

First, Lewis:

"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

"During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

"As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

Second, McCain:

"Congressman John Lewis' comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama's record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I've always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character.....

Continue reading "Lewis: McCain/Palin = George Wallace?" »

We posted an item yesterday linking to a CNN report that Sarah Palin was planning a campaign trip to West Virginia -- a sign of concern in a state that should be safe for McCain.

Apparently, the report was in error -- she's landing in WV, and heading across the river to campaign in Ohio. See Charleston Gazette story here.

After a week in which Republican crowds shouted "terrorist" and "traitor" and tried to bully members of the media with racial slights, much note is being taken of John McCain's effort last night to calm down a crowd in Minnesota.

He told a woman who thought Obama was an "Arab" that he was "a decent family man." Another man in the crowd said he was "scared" of an Obama presidency, and McCain responded by saying Obama was "a person you do not have to be scared [of] as President of the United States."

The problem: Why does he think people are scared? Sarah Palin has spent the past week accusing Obama of "palling around with a terrorist." McCain is running an ad, below, that he has titled, "Dangerous," that distorts facts and uses B-horror-movie organ music to paint Obama as a dangerous and risky choice.

Then, he's concerned that his crowds are "scared"? They're feeling scared and slightly frenzied because that's the way his campaign has been trying to make them feel. So, if what McCain said last night was not just a cynical gesture to appear responsible, he needs to change the thrust of his campaign -- or take responsibility for inflaming a volatile situation.

Watching TV, we hear McCain-Palin supporters trying to spin the Troopergate report as suspect because Gov. Palin was found to have acted within her powers in firing public safety director Walt Monegan, and the abuse-of-power violation was based on her failure to control the efforts of those around her to get her ex-brother-in-law Mike Wooten fired.

This is characterized as weak reasoning. But the spin conveniently ignores a few things:

1. The Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act defines the term "official action," which is a violation if taken in pursuit of a personal interest like a family grudge. That definition explicitly includes failures to act: " 'Official action' means advice, participation or assistance including, for example, a recommendation, decision, approval, disapproval, vote, or other similar action, including inaction, by a public officer."

2. The report cites 14 different occasions on which Palin, husband Todd or other members of her administration pressed to get Wooten fired, even though they knew that disciplinary action short of firing had already been taken and the case couldn't be open. Three of those occasions involved Palin herself, personally complaining; at least six involved Todd.

3. The report did not absolve her of taking affirmative steps, as well as permitting others to exert influence through their relationship to her: "The evidence supports the conclusion that Gov. Palin, at the least, engaged in official action by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired (and there is evidence of her active participation)."

4. After early pressure from Palin herself, Monegan warned her that it was a bad idea for her to be personally involved.

5. Several of the aides who sought to intervene resisted subpoenas, so questioning of them under oath about who told them to make calls was not part of the report.

6. Todd Palin provided a statement but was never questioned under oath about his wife's role in authorizing him to act, but people whom he contacted said they felt they had to listen to him because he was the "First Gentleman."

7. Sarah Palin was never questioned under oath and did not provide a statement about her role and her knowledge of what was going on.

7. Sarah Palin's e-mails were withheld from investigators.

So, they can spin away arguing that, in part, her abuse of power was based on a failure to act. But it was also based on three conversations that Palin herself had -- her own behavior. And as for the rest of the fire-Wooten campaign: Two plus two generally equals four. When your chief of staff makes three or four phone calls and your husband turns it into his personal mission in life, it's generally because that's the way you want it.