Low-hanging fruit

Pencil Point

Olympic rings

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Talking Point

Delayed indefinitely?

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority needs all the help it can get, but the appointment of former county Comptroller Howard Weitzman to the board by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has been awaiting the approval of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo since May.

And the delay may be about more than just the exceedingly slow rate at which the wheels of government grind.

County Executive Edward Mangano opposed Weitzman’s appointment from the get-go, arguing that, “NIFA shouldn’t be used as a springboard for political office or to carry a political agenda.” But Weitzman says he has no plans to seek elective office again after he lost his attempt to regain the comptroller job in 2013.

The larger issue is probably that Weitzman would gravitate to the faction of the NIFA board that wants to make the county balance its budget, and that faction looks at a potential “lease” plan worth as much as $1 billion for the county sewer system as a complicated combination of backdoor borrowing and balance-sheet trickery.

Cuomo has helped Mangano with sympathetic NIFA picks before. He named Jon Kaiman chairman, and it was Kaiman who helped the county end the salary freeze that had its union members and their families seething. There’s no word on the holdup from Cuomo, but three months is a long time to sit on the appointment of the eminently qualified Weitzman if there isn’t a political calculation involved.

Lane Filler

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Daily Point

Another plum

It was only a matter of time before there was a political solution to the political problem Nassau County Republicans created at the community college by sneaking Kate Murray into a $151,000-a-year job after she lost the district attorney’s race in 2015.

One of the reasons Nassau Community College’s accrediting agency cited when it took the unusual and damning step to put the school on probation was undue political interference with academic governance. The school’s new president, W. Hubert Keen, made it clear to the GOP that it had to clean up its own mess.

The proposed reset by party leader Joseph Mondello is to give Murray another plum, a state Supreme Court judgeship. In a presidential election year that favors Democrats, Murray would need a cross-endorsement deal to make the campaign and election a walk in the park.

But Nassau Democrats, remembering the brutal campaign last year that focused on Murray not having enough legal experience to be DA, don’t know how they can put forward the argument that she is suddenly experienced enough to be a judge.

Rita Ciolli

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Bonus Point

Riding into the sunset

Emperor Akihito’s hint Monday morning that he’d like to retire is a break from tradition, as Japanese emperors traditionally remain in the Chrysanthemum Throne until death. The move would require action by Parliament and is not yet a done deal. But it’s likely that Akihito’s exit would be more of a true ride into the sunset than those of two New York royals who just announced their retirements.

Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees’ one-time third baseman and designated hitter, is slotted to play his last game on Friday — and then work as an instructor with the organization next spring. If that spotlight’s too small, he’s only four home runs away from 700 and could chase that milestone with another team.

And William Bratton, the New York City police commissioner, will be moving in September to the private sector at Teneo Holdings, a global chief-executive advisory firm with Clinton connections. Politics could come calling again; otherwise, he could make like his predecessor, Ray Kelly, and get back on the book circuit.

Mark Chiusano