Keeping score
Nate Beeler Credit: / Nate Beeler
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Pencil Point
Winding
Daily Point
Strange bedfellows
If you’re wondering why Jack Martins is hanging out with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, it’s because the Stop Common Core Party has stopped stopping Common Core, or at least deprioritized that movement. It is now called the Reform Party, Sliwa is its state chairman and Martins is its candidate for Nassau County executive.
It’s not the first time Martins has held the Reform ballot line. He did so in his congressional run last year when Republican Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who founded the party for his 2014 gubernatorial race, held the reins. And it’s not surprising or seedy that Martins got the line, except to the extent that New York law letting any candidate run on multiple party lines is seedy. Martins actually has a history of supporting what Sliwa and his reformers are calling for, most notably term limits.
Those have never been a big favorite of the Nassau County GOP, which likes its electeds to measure their service in eons whenever possible. But Martins has not always been a big favorite of the Nassau GOP, either.
In a news conference with Sliwa on Wednesday, Martins proposed limiting the Nassau County executive to two four-year terms and county legislators to five two-year terms.
Besides its leader-juggling and its beret-wearing, radio show-hosting boss, the Reform Party differs from most other minor parties in another way. It doesn’t endorse candidates from just one major party, in the way that Working Families usually aligns with Democrats and Conservatives go with Republicans. Although Sliwa has tapped mostly Republicans, there are exceptions, particularly in the Nassau legislative races, in which Democrats Josh Lafazan, Eileen Napolitano, Alexander Melton and Kevan Abrahams have the party’s nod.
How much does it matter? It’s tough to say. The party has 173 registered members in Nassau, but it does sport an alluring name in a county badly in need of reform.
Lane Filler
Pointing Out
New York’s tie to monument
The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, whose proposed removal was at the root of the bloody protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, has a New York connection. Click here to find it out.
Talking Point
How your legislators score up
The New York League of Conservation Voters has long endorsed candidates for the State Legislature, and they tout that blessing. But this year, the group decided for the first time to evaluate the performance of those legislators.
The league released its first score card Wednesday analyzing lawmakers’ actions on 16 environmental bills during the last session, and the results are a mixed bag for Long Island.
The region’s Senate delegation had the third-highest Senate score (87 percent) among the state’s 12 regions, but the Assembly delegation (73 percent) ranked eighth in its chamber. Both delegations are dominated by Republicans.
Long Island’s top-scoring senators are Democrats — Todd Kaminsky, at 100 percent, and John Brooks at 94. Republican Tom Croci is the region’s low Senate scorer, at 71, which put him 45th of 59 senators statewide (the league did not evaluate anyone in leadership positions, like Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, because they seldom co-sponsor bills).
Among Long Island Assembly members, the Independence Party’s Fred Thiele led with a score of 100, followed by Democrat Charles Lavine at 94 percent. At the bottom were Republicans Michael Montesano (53 percent) and Michael Fitzpatrick (56). Only eight of 147 Assembly members scored worse than Montesano.
The score card will make its way into campaign literature for Kaminsky (also commended for his “Bipartisan Leadership”) and Sen. Kemp Hannon (named a “Clean Water Champion”).
Montesano’s score might be cited, too — by his opponent.
Michael Dobie
