Parting pieces: Battle for Long Island rages in top contests

Rick Lazio is making a couple of stops on Long Island today as part of his quest for the Republican and Conservative lines for governor: A "meet the candidates' night at the Deer Park VFW, and another at the East End Republicanm Club in Sayville.

Lazio's primary challenger Carl Paladino has endorsed Suffolk's Gary Bernsten for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination against Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer in November. Berntsen faces Conservative Party designee Jay Townsend in his own primary contest. There is also a three-way contest for the junior Senate seat held by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand (who faces a challenge from Gail Goode). This contest features ex-Nassau GOP legislative PO Bruce Blakeman against David Malpass and Joe DioGuardi.

On the Democratic side, Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice opens yet another front in her eleventh-hour assault on Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan) with Suffolk robo-calls about his having voted for the MTA  payroll tax . Richard Brodsky, Sean Coffey and Eric Dinallo are their rivals for the Democratic nomination.

Reid Epstein reports:

"The audio, passed along to us from a registered Democrat in Suffolk County, has a Rice supporter announcing he is “pretty tired of Schneiderman and his pals from the city passing unfair taxes onto us” and reminds that Rice is “from Long Island.”

"Our reader doesn’t happen to live in state Sen. Brian X. Foley’s district, but the Blue Point Democrat is getting pounded left and right in the general election contest for making the very same vote for which Rice’s robocall slams Schneiderman.

"We've asked Rice’s people whether this means she’s opposed to the MTA tax, without which the agency said it would be forced to slash services and raise fares, and whether she supports Foley’s re-election bid. We’ll let you know when they get back to us."

The text of the robocall is below:

Hi, this is Justin Kalp from Massapequa. Now Ive never done a call like this. But when I heard that state Senator Eric Schneiderman, the deciding vote for the MTA tax on Long Island, was running for attorney general against Kathleen Rice, I had to do something. I’m pretty tired of Schneiderman and his pals from the city passing unfair taxes on us. We need Kathleen Rice sticking up for us in Albany. She’s from Long Island, she’ll fight for us. Please vote for Kathleen Rice for attorney general this Tuesday, September 14th.