The LI 9 tell us what they want 

Daily Point

The GOP old guard fades away in New York

Rep. Lee Zeldin’s gubernatorial bid got a big endorsement this week from Marc Molinaro, the GOP’s standard-bearer for governor in 2018, who might have run again this time rather than support the Shirley congressman.

The turn of events was even more surprising given Molinaro’s reputation as part of his party’s moderate, less flamethrowing wing. In his endorsement interview with the Newsday editorial board in 2018, he suggested that wing was the party’s future.

"I think you're finding more and more Republicans that want to be successful in New York really are a little less bombastic, not as many sharp elbows, and more pragmatic," the Dutchess County Executive said midway through Donald Trump’s presidency.

He posited that for society as a whole on social issues, "The right is a little more to the left than it once was and the left is actually a little further left than it once was."

And because most of GOP officeholders in New York are in "middle management, county and local government," Molinaro said, "we're not as burdened by national politics as perhaps others might be."

Cue the present day, when Zeldin rose to national prominence defending Trump, objecting to the certification of Electoral College votes, and wading deep into the culture wars. See his recent tweets on masks and critical race theory.

While Zeldin has tweeted and sent campaign emails about crime in New York City, Molinaro in 2018 told us this about the five boroughs: "I'm not one of those Republicans that thinks, you know, you sever it and send it off into the ocean."

In his past campaigns for Congress, Zeldin has shown an ability to shift to local, more pragmatic issues when necessary. And though Molinaro backs Zeldin now, he has hardly abandoned his middle-of-the-road pitch or his own political future, releasing a swanky soft-focus video in April about loving America and needing to "seek refuge on common ground."

But perhaps it was the party in New York that moved to a different place.

"I think you're looking at where the party is attempting to go," Molinaro told us ahead of his second-place showing in 2018. "My success or lack thereof on November 6, might determine where it ultimately goes."

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

LI state senators have their wish lists for end of session

As the state legislative session draws to a close next month, Long Island’s nine state senators are polishing their agendas. There are few transformative issues on the table — but still plenty on their to-do lists.

Phil Boyle said he’s looking for funding for road improvements and for clarification on the state’s mask-wearing rules, and noted that he’s particularly paying attention to the various COVID-19 vaccine bills that are working their way through the Senate, including one that would mandate that adult vaccination records be shared with the state. Boyle is also co-sponsoring two key bills, one prohibiting the sale of cosmetics that used animal testing and one banning the sale of pets in retail shops, which he told The Point have "a decent chance" of moving forward.

John Brooks is working on getting a solution to the New York American Water debacle. Beyond that, Brooks is sponsoring a bill to allow fire departments that control emergency medical services to set and charge a fee for their activities, a fee that would be paid by insurance companies.

Jim Gaughran points to transportation safety bills that have passed the Senate, including one where a boating while intoxicated conviction could impact someone’s automobile driver’s license, and another requiring GPS on commercial buses. He’s also hoping to push forward a bill that would require the public authorities’ budget office to have more oversight and "real teeth." Gaughran is also fighting for a self-certification bill that would allow builders to bypass overwhelmed town building departments on some projects.

Anna Kaplan is focused on the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act, which would criminalize the sale of a part of a gun that’s usually unregulated. That remains the top priority, after a year-and-a-half of pushing the bill. Also she is continuing to push a bill that would require the state Department of Education to study whether school districts are meeting state requirements on Holocaust education. The bill got through the Assembly education committee Monday, but not without significant drama and pushback.

Todd Kaminsky’s focus continues to be on environmental, ethics and voting issues. His Family and Firefighter Protection Act would ban toxic, flame-retardant chemicals from furniture, mattresses and other household items. He’s sponsoring bills to incentivize the use of low-carbon concrete, ban lawmakers convicted of a felony from continuing to hold a campaign funding account, and change the ballot to move judges from their high priority spots to the bottom to avoid voter drop-off. Kaminsky also is pushing a bill that would empower the attorney general to begin investigations without permission or a referral.

Mario Mattera is looking to make sure his district gets the grant funding that municipalities and nonprofits have requested. But he has also sponsored a bill that would require the state dormitory authority to fulfill existing, outstanding promised grants before allocating money for the next fiscal year. Mattera told The Point that he is also working with the Town of Smithtown on its sewer connection needs and hopes to secure funding for road improvements in the district, too.

Anthony Palumbo, too, wants to make sure his district’s municipalities and nonprofits get the funding they’ve requested, but said he’s also trying to make sure the small businesses and tenants and landlords in his district get the COVID-19-related relief money they’re owed. He noted that he’d also like to see a lifting of the eviction moratorium.

Kevin Thomas has three bills on which he’s focused, all consumer related. The "big one," he said, is a privacy act that would require companies like Facebook and Amazon to disclose where that data goes and to whom it is sold, and to give consumers the chance to approve the use and sale of data. Another bill would close a loophole that allows debt collectors to avoid showing proper documentation when suing a consumer, while the third would require colleges and universities to provide students with their transcripts even if they still owe tuition.

Alexis Weik told The Point she’s focused on grant funding to numerous local organizations that, she said, haven’t gotten the funding they’ve needed before, and she is hoping to pass a bill that would lift land-use restrictions on former New York Institute of Technology parcels that the Town of Islip now owns and hopes to sell.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Move along

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Final Point

Clean Slate and the suburbs

One of the criminal-justice reform proposals still up in the air at the end of session in Albany is "Clean Slate" legislation that would require the automatic sealing and expungement of certain convictions after a period of time.

The idea is that once people pay their debt to society, a past conviction shouldn’t linger behind them, potentially making it difficult to get housing or work. Not all records would be fully sealed. The measure doesn’t apply to those who have to register as sex offenders. Prospective police officers or teachers could still have their conviction records accessed.

J.P. Morgan Chase supports the measure, and it’s of a piece with other efforts by newly empowered State Senate Democrats to curb what they see as excesses in the criminal justice system. But political fallout from the last few years of reform efforts hangs over this and other 2021 criminal justice issues. Look no further than this week’s New York Post opinion piece headlined "NY lawmakers’ ‘clean-slate’ proposal is a gift to career criminals," written by Morgan Bitton, executive ­director of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.

"Lawmakers in Albany should remember lessons learned from bail ‘reform,’" Bitton wrote.

Also this week, the DA association’s president, Monroe County DA Sandra Doorley, sent a letter to the bill’s State Senate sponsor Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn, agreeing with the broader effort but suggesting multiple amendments to the bill, including more leeway for employers to seek records.

Last week, the measure squeaked out of the upper chamber’s Codes Committee, over dissenting votes from Long Beach Democrat Todd Kaminsky and GOP freshman Anthony Palumbo of New Suffolk, both of them former prosecutors. It’s a sign that suburban legislators are reluctant to defend these reforms to their more moderate constituents — including Kaminisky, who has a shot at the Nassau District Attorney slot likely to open soon with the expected confirmation of Madeline Singas to the state Court of Appeals.

Myrie told The Point he’s well aware of the politics of criminal justice reform, but says this and other Senate reform efforts have been "deliberate." He noted that a hearing was held for the Clean Slate measure and law enforcement concerns about the bill were taken under advisement.

He also noted that it could be dangerous for people to be shuttled into the underground economy and denied opportunities due to past convictions.

"At bottom we're all concerned with public safety, and I believe that this bill is a public safety bill," he said.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

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