Nature’s course
Retired New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter next to his number in Monument Park during the retirement ceremony of his No. 2 jersey at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on May 14, 2017. Credit: Getty Images / Elsa
Good afternoon and welcome to The Point!
Quick Points
The rundown
- After the release of the names of the members of Hempstead Town’s ethics board — which includes a deputy town attorney, a former deputy town attorney and the longtime attorney for the Nassau GOP and a bunch of agencies — it’s apparent the ethics board should have a different name: Board of Those With Conflicts of Interest Ruling on Those with Conflicts of Interest.
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to give lie detector tests to every National Security Council staff member to unmask leakers. Then he can move on to the rest of the White House.
- Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas has asked the county board of ethics for an opinion on whether it’s legal to use taxpayer-funded mailings for promotional purposes. It’s not a matter of opinion. It’s just plain wrong.
- A tweet from the sheriff in Pasco County, Florida, asked people not to shoot weapons at Hurricane Irma because that wouldn’t make the storm turn around. Here’s hoping that wasn’t really necessary, and he was just prepping for a stand-up career.
- Hillary Clinton said she coped with the “enormous letdown” of her loss to Donald Trump with, among other things, closet cleaning and alternate nostril breathing. Yes, those are high on the list for the rest of us in coping with enormous letdowns.
- Hillary Clinton says she’s done with being a candidate. Good. She also says she’s not done with politics. Oh, goody.
- The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn lower court rulings limiting President Donald Trump’s travel ban on refugees. Given that the original travel ban cited the need for a 90-day pause to examine and tighten vetting procedures, and nearly eight months have passed since then, guess those new procedures will be coming any day now.
- Sen. John McCain, battling brain cancer, responding to CNN’s Jake Tapper’s question about how he wants to be remembered: “He served the country and not always right. Made a lot of mistakes. Made a lot of errors, but served his country. And, I hope we could add, honorably.” That about says it all.
Michael Dobie
Talking Point
Playing on a different field
New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter has had plenty of endorsement deals. He’s plugged Nike and Gatorade — but never a political candidate.
Until now.
On Monday, Jeter went to bat for City Council candidate Ronnie Cho, who is running in the 2nd District, which spreads across the East Village and parts of the Lower East Side. The seat, currently occupied by Rosie Mendez, is up for grabs.
Cho, a former Barack Obama staffer and MTV vice president, faces a slew of other candidates, including Carlina Rivera, who previously served as Mendez’s legislative director. Jeter said Cho is a supporter of the Turn 2 Foundation, which the shortstop founded to help kids avoid drugs and alcohol.
Jeter isn’t the only high-profile sports figure to wade into NYC political waters this year. Soccer superstar David Villa, who plays for the New York City Football Club and recently played in a World Cup qualifying match for Spain, recorded a robocall in Spanish for Francisco Moya, an assemblyman running for City Council in Queens’ 21st District.
Moya faces Hiram Monserrate, a disgraced former councilman and state senator who pleaded guilty in 2012 to improperly using City Council funds to finance his own campaign and who was convicted of misdemeanor assault of a girlfriend in 2009.
Villa’s support is a proud moment for Moya, who said, “It’s like if Derek Jeter were calling to baseball fans.”
Randi F. Marshall
Daily Point
Cuomo seeks to nix local IDC
Lew Yevoli has not won an election since 1995, and that was his last two-year term as supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay.
He’s 78, and Tuesday’s Democratic primary could be his swan song or a new lease on life if he wins the nomination for Nassau County Legislature from the 16th District, which includes a good chunk of the town he used to run.
It’s a strange little race and hardly one that would be on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s radar screen, unless you consider the overall mood of the state’s Democrats. They want Cuomo to be more aggressive against Democrats, especially those in the Independent Democratic Conference in the State Senate, who are cozy with Republicans.
With low primary turnout expected, Yevoli might have more name recognition with older voters who remember his prior incarnations. He is challenging party designee and incumbent Arnold Drucker, who won a special election last year after the sudden death of Judy Jacobs.
But Nassau Democrats consider Yevoli, who prides himself on being a maverick, a DINO, or Democrat In Name Only. Yevoli has spent more than two decades as a paid member of the Oyster Bay Zoning Board of Appeals, courtesy of the GOP, and already has said he will not caucus with Democrats in the legislature.
That concern led Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs to ask Cuomo for help. In a robocall to the 5,000 or so party members in the 16th District this weekend, Cuomo said Drucker would “continue the legacy” of the beloved Jacobs, but the governor also struck a few notes from the national medley he is now humming.
Cuomo never mentioned President Donald Trump, but in describing Drucker, Cuomo said, “He’ll stand up for the progressive values that are important to us and the Democrats. Especially with what’s going on in Washington and the federal government, local and state government is even more important. We are the bulwark against what they are doing in Washington.”
Rita Ciolli
