Nassau's Maragos testing the waters in CD3
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Daily Point
How many hats are too many for Long Island?
Two-term Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos is eyeing the congressional seat being vacated by Tom Suozzi, he confirmed to The Point on Friday.
Maragos recently has been polling in the newly drawn 3rd Congressional District, including measuring his own name recognition. "It’s a competitive race. No front runners," Maragos said in an email, but noted that he has not made a "final decision" about jumping into the crowded field of Democrats.
This open seat in a decidedly blue, five-county district now covers slivers of the Bronx, Queens and Westchester that border the Long Island Sound along with all of Nassau's North Shore and parts of northwest Suffolk. While Nassau and Suffolk electoral districts make up about two-thirds of the congressional district, the splintering of the local Democratic vote could open a path to victory for a non-Long Islander.
So far, State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a liberal from Pelham, is the only candidate who might have the money and organization to do that. "Clearly, that is the path to victory that Biaggi sees," said one election analyst not affiliated with any campaign. But it’s early, there is no certainty that all the Nassau Democrats stay in the race, and one of them could emerge as a front-runner able to build a base in the New York City or Westchester parts of the district, the analyst noted.
Nassau residents already running are county Legis. Josh Lafazan, of Woodbury; former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman and public relations executive Robert Zimmerman, both of Great Neck; progressive activist Melanie D’Arrigo of Port Washington; and Reema Rasool, an Oyster Bay businesswoman.
Maragos, 72, of Glen Cove, had a long career in the financial technology sector before winning his first run for elective office in 2009. He won two terms as Nassau’s comptroller on the Republican and Conservative lines before switching his registration to the Democratic Party in 2017 to make a bid for the county executive nomination. He lost the primary to Laura Curran.
If he sees a path forward, it is being the more moderate Democrat, as indicated in a recent tweet about the race. "I’m appalled, DEM NY3 candidates are trying to outdo each other as to who is more radically progressive, who can give away more & who can release more criminals onto our streets. Working families struggling to make ends meet are of no concern … "
Said an election consultant familiar with CD3, "He’d have a better chance as a Republican."
— Rita Ciolli @ritaciolli
Talking Point
Cooking with Hizzoner
There’s a lot to learn about new NYC Mayor Eric Adams from his vegan polemic/cookbook/memoir "Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses."
There’s pieces of biography that shed light on a notoriously (some would say confoundingly) private man, like a harrowing family reunion where much of the room shakes their pillboxes in unison because they all have diabetes, or "sugar." Adams also writes about his terrible dollar-menu diet while putting in "long hours on the beat" as a police officer: "I needed food that would take the edge off."
The book, which came out in 2020 with a second edition published post-primary last year, also reveals some of the stubbornness and confidence in his own counsel that New Yorkers are already starting to see in a mayor often set on hiring whom he wants to hire, criticism be damned. The defining incident in the narrative is about Adams deciding not to trust his doctor’s advice about how to treat his diabetes. Instead he — famously — starts a journey toward a plant-based diet, which he says "reversed" his diabetes, to his doctor’s surprise. Eric knows best, as the former Brooklyn borough president might say.
Though he has acknowledged that he’s sometimes imperfect when it comes to his plant-based regime, he presents as someone who doesn’t do anything "halfway," as he writes here.
The volume also shows Adams’ … weird side. The public has now become somewhat familiar with his big personality, from the contraband-searching video he shot during his State Senate days to the mayoral race tour of his, yes, his Brooklyn apartment and the talk of hanging out with the boys at night but getting up with the men in the morning.
That doesn’t seem to be an act. This sunny, upbeat, short book (one-quarter of it is recipes) strikes a friendly tone: "If you have any questions, e-mail me," he writes at one point. But there are some offbeat moments, as when he writes about the 2016 death of pioneering Brooklyn district attorney Ken Thompson from cancer: "it pains me to think what else he could have accomplished had he only understood the importance of healthy eating."
And the book’s dedication, usually a place to praise or simply name the recipient, goes to his late mother, Dorothy Adams, who joined him on his plant-based journey.
"You gave me the gift of life," the dedication says, "and then I gave you the gift of health."
— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano
Pencil Point
Putin's proud parents
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Final Point
In the news
Welcome to this week’s news quiz, based on events that took place this week. As usual, provide the answer for each clue, one letter per blank. The first letter of each answer, taken in order, spells the name of the U.S. politician who this week said: "Putin’s Ukraine invasion is the first time in 80 years that a great power has moved to conquer a sovereign nation. It is without justification, without provocation and without honor."
A link to the answers appears below.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ’ _ Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn took on this restaurant chain for its treatment of pigs sourced for its U.S. pork supply.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Federal department that suspended the right of way for a controversial proposed mining road in Alaska because of "significant deficiencies" in a Trump-administration environmental analysis of the road.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Social media app launched by former President Donald Trump and experiencing major glitches.
_ _ _ Number that was on the minds of number lovers and numerologists this week, especially on Tuesday.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Twenty-two students at Brigham Young University were displaced when a classmate unleashed a fireball in his dorm room kitchen while trying to make this.
_ _ _ _ _ _ Key Ukrainian port city attacked by Russian troops.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation to allow the state to issue licenses to farmers to begin planting this crop.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Fox News and Fox Business host who returned to his TV programs after a second bout with COVID-19.
_ _ _ _ Famed volcano that roared to life again, spewing an ash cloud 7.5 miles into the atmosphere.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Major League Baseball team that announced it will retire the No. 21 jersey at a ceremony in August.
Click here for the answers to the clued words and to the identity of the mystery politician.
— Michael Dobie @mwdobie
